My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed. She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today. We wanted to offer some reflections on her remarkable life: https://t.co/F7T6q625PC
There was and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life. And we will spend the rest of ours trying to live up to her example. https://t.co/2gH0DPQYVb
Paraphrasing from Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” book
She asked her Mom why she was holding Barack’s hand on election night
“His father left when he was 2. He lost his mother to cancer. He was moments away from becoming leader of the free world with no parents. So I took his hand” pic.twitter.com/mjJXSMtaqw
The Marian Robinson “Opening the White House” Exhibit
On Mother’s Day, Mrs. Obama announced that the “Opening the White House” exhibit at the Obama Presidential Center Museum will be named in honor of her mother, Marian Robinson.
I want to tell you a little bit about my mom, Marian Robinson.
Growing up with my mom always was an adventure.
It entailed trips to the library as a toddler to learn the alphabet; the entire family piling into our car to go to the local drive-in—homemade chicken in hand. It included Mom inviting family over for New Year’s Eve, raising a toast as the clock struck midnight.
But above all else, my mother gave me nonstop, unconditional love in so many ways. She fostered in me a deep sense of confidence in who I was and who I could be by teaching me how to think for myself, how to use my own voice, and how to understand my own worth.
I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without her.
That’s why this Mother’s Day, I’m proud to announce that the exhibit “Opening the White House” in the Obama Presidential Center Museum will be named in honor of my mom, Marian Robinson.
It’ll be infused with so many of the values that my mother instilled in me: community, family, bringing people in— making them feel at home.
The exhibit will feature scale replicas of the East Room, where we held big dinners; the Blue Room, where we decorated a huge Christmas tree for the holidays; and the South Lawn, where we hosted Garden Tours, Easter Egg Rolls, state arrivals, and more.
When the Center opens, we want it to be a place parents and children can reflect and grow, connect and create, and discover the many ways we can all make change in the world.
My heartfelt condolences go out to First Lady Michelle Obama and her family on the passing of her beloved mother, Marian Robinson. My thoughts and prayers are with you all during this difficult time. May you find peace and strength in your cherished memories. —
Convicted felon former President Donald Trump outside the Manhattan courtroom after the verdict was read: “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It’s a rigged trial, a disgrace.” pic.twitter.com/2tOiKQOS2l
On Thursday, a Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his hush money trial. It’s the first criminal conviction for a former president in U.S. history.
Judge Juan Merchan has many options in front of him for Trump’s punishment. Sentencing for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has been set for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET — four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
The trial, which began April 15, marked the first time that a former U.S. president has faced a criminal trial. Trump’s other three criminal cases have yet to go to trial.
Prosecutors accused Trump of committing the crimes in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts and denies that he had sex with Daniels.
‘Finally’: See Mary Trump react to Uncle Donald’s historic guilty verdict
Clinical psychologist and niece to Donald Trump, Mary Trump, talks to Rachel Maddow, Alex Wagner, Lawrence O’Donnell, Joy Reid, and Ari Melber about her uncle’s guilty verdict in the New York criminal trial: “This is a moment he has been dreading his entire life.”
Jen Psaki is joined by Governor JB Pritzker for a wide-ranging interview, on topics including Trump’s guilty verdict, the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and more.
Criminal charges in GOP’s fake elector scandal reach new heights
The Republicans’ fake elector scandal from 2020 has now racked up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra.
The Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were multifaceted, but among the striking partisan tactics was the fake electors scheme: GOP officials and operatives in key states created forged election materials and sent the documents to, among others, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Archivist, as if the materials were legitimate. They were not.
Though the relevant players didn’t know it at the time, the controversy has become one of the most consequential political scandals in a generation, racking up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra.
Judge Merchan has a range of options to consider when sentencing Trump, from probation to home confinement to prison. I discussed these possibilities with @jrpsaki on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/mmQ4KsauSj
President Biden called President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico today to congratulate her on her historic election. The two leaders emphasized their commitment to continuing the strong and collaborative partnership that will advance democracy, security, and prosperity in both…
"To the ex-president, 'equal justice under the law' means one thing for him and another for everybody else."@jrpsaki has some thoughts on Trump's claims of a rigged legal system following his guilty verdict. pic.twitter.com/WMUx4rTiBs
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) June 4, 2024
.@JBPritzker: "The campaign from now until November needs to be a reminder of who these two people are – particularly that Trump, a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, is a serious contender for the presidency. I think that's going to be rejected by a majority of voters." pic.twitter.com/eaBTdqpgjK
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) June 4, 2024
.@PreetBharara: "Trump and his supporters have created a climate in which it's acceptable to talk about doxxing jurors… It's not a good thing for America or for the judicial system." pic.twitter.com/3qRdh2Ncys
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) June 4, 2024
.@PreetBharara: "I was fired by Pres. Trump because I refused to speak to him…there's an independence of the DOJ, which is triple or quadruple more infinite when you're talking about a local prosecutor who was elected by the people of Manhattan, not appointed by the president." pic.twitter.com/6BOIQ5ixJo
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) June 4, 2024
"Who the spotlight is on at the end matters more than anything."@amyewalter predicts 'double-hater' voters – who dislike both Biden and Trump – will break late in the lead-up to November. pic.twitter.com/z3dS0tSFXH
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) June 4, 2024
Trump’s guilty verdict puts America’s political system on trial
The Republican candidate’s court of appeal will be the US electorate
“I’m a very innocent man,” said Donald Trump moments after a jury of his peers unanimously pronounced him guilty on all counts.
There, in a nutshell, is the reality facing America. One of its two main White House contenders is a felon whose campaign is based on claiming the system is rigged.
Trump’s threats and bluster fail to intimidate Americans who see guilty verdict as reasonable
Rachel Maddow shows how Donald Trump routinely threatens violence and mayhem from his supporters if the American legal system tries to hold him to account, and yet at every stage of his legal prosecution, no one answers his calls for violence. Not even when he is criminally convicted. But what Trump’s supporters do instead is target with terror the specific people involved in holding Trump accountable, judges, witnesses, jurors, in the hopes of discouraging anyone else from trying it. And so, Maddow argues, Americans must support the people who are threatened and remain unafraid of Donald Trump.
Jamie Raskin: How to Force Justices Alito and Thomas to Recuse Themselves in the Jan. 6 Cases
Mr. Raskin represents Maryland’s Eighth Congressional District in the House of
Representatives. He taught constitutional law for more than 25 years and was the lead prosecutor in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Many people have gloomily accepted the conventional wisdom that because there is no binding Supreme Court ethics code, there is no way to force Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas to recuse themselves from the Jan. 6 cases that are before the court.
Justices Alito and Thomas are probably making the same assumption.
How do Democrats & Biden ensure people remember Trump is a convicted felon?
“You have to call him a convicted felon over & over & over again. It basically should be at the end of every sentence that involves Donald Trump,” @danpfeiffer explains.
“I would have liked to have testified, but you would have been, you would have said something out of whack” —Trump speaking the morning after being found guilty of 34 felony counts pic.twitter.com/RqNh8g3MMX
President Biden on Trump’s guilty verdict: “It’s reckless, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict… The justice system should be respected, and we should never allow anyone to tear it down.” pic.twitter.com/otoDm1oQx2
The Washington Post said it had the Alito flag story 3 years ago and chose not to publish
NEW YORK (AP) — Nine days after The New York Times reported about the political symbolism of an upside-down American flag that flew at U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home, the Washington Post acknowledged it had the same story more than three years ago and decided not to publish it.
The Post’s story was both an extraordinary example of journalistic introspection and an illustration of how coverage of the Supreme Court has changed since the incident itself, shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Congratulations to Molly Cook, a candidate of @LeadersWeDeserv (an @OnwardTogether partner) who won a Texas Senate seat last night. She's an ER nurse and one of the youngest people ever elected to the Texas Senate! pic.twitter.com/oSHWAMLa2x
1. Today, letters went out to parents of trans youth on UK waiting lists stating that possession of puberty blockers would be a crime after Conservative health secretary Atkins used emergency powers.
Democrats Push Biden to Make Trump’s Felonies a Top 2024 Issue
Interviews with dozens of Democrats reveal a party hungry to tell voters that Donald Trump’s conviction makes him unfit for office, and hopeful that President Biden will lead the way.
This Is How Biden Should Use Trump’s Conviction Against Him
POWER PLAY
Democrats should focus on Trump being a convicted felon as part of a broader narrative around his shameful character—and the threat another Trump presidency would represent.
Mehdi: “This is him losing…when he loses he says it is rigged.”
“World’s biggest loser, biggest man-child.”
“The idea that he’s gonna accept defeat…doesn’t accept anything that makes him a loser.”
Trump supporters try to dox jurors and post violent threats after his conviction
On social media and web forums, users called for jurors, judges and prosecutors to be killed after the former president was found guilty on 34 felony counts.
WASHINGTON — The 34 felony guilty verdicts returned against former President Donald Trump on Thursday spurred a wave of violent rhetoric aimed at the prosecutors who secured his conviction, the judge who oversaw the case and the ordinary jurors who unanimously agreed there was no reasonable doubt that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee falsified business records related to hush money payments to a porn star to benefit his 2016 campaign.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Celebrating Black Music Month
June is African American Music Appreciation Month! Created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, this month celebrates the African American musical influences that comprise an essential part of our nation’s treasured cultural heritage.
Formerly called National Black Music Month, this celebration of African American musical contributions is re-established annually by presidential proclamation. Though by no means exhaustive, we’ve prepared a primer that will guide you through some of the different genres that African Americans have created, inspired and fostered.
Michelle Obama Shares Thanks for the Love Shown Since Her Mother Marian’s Death: ‘It’s Brought Us Light’
Marian Robinson, who died on May 31 at the age of 86, lived with the Obamas during their time in the White House
Michelle Obama is expressing gratitude for how the nation responded to the death of her mother, Marian Robinson, at age 86.
The former first lady took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, June 3, to thank people for the kindness she’s received in the days since Robinson died.
Biden, with France visit, looks to past and future of global conflicts
THE WHITE HOUSE; PARIS —
U.S. President Joe Biden landed Wednesday in France to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy invasion — and plans to use the occasion to underscore the need for a strong transatlantic alliance in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Biden will meet Ukraine’s president, and with surviving American veterans of the 1944 beach invasion, said national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Biden will use the events, Sullivan said, to “talk about, against the backdrop of war in Europe today, the sacrifices that those heroes and those veterans made 80 years ago and how it’s our obligation to continue their mission to fight for freedom.”
US President Joe Biden is welcomed by France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal upon arrival at Paris Orly airport near Paris, on June 5, 2024, as he travels to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
King Charles III expresses his ‘profound admiration and respect’ for D-Day veterans
…his “profound admiration and respect” for those who took part in D-Day.
In a message in the programme for the D-Day 80 national commemoration in Portsmouth, Charles wrote: “On 6 June 1944, following an intense period of preparation uniting military planning and civilian industrial ingenuity, nearly 160,000 young men landed under enemy fire on the beaches of Normandy. Each of these courageous sailors, soldiers and aviators risked his life so that others might live in freedom and in peace. Many were never to return.
“Eighty years later, it remains our solemn duty to continue to honour the outstanding gallantry, service and sacrifice of those who took part in that perilous mission.
“We do so with the most profound admiration and respect, and with everlasting gratitude.”
(Maryam Zakir-Hussain)
—-“It is our duty to ensure that we and future generations do not forget their service and their sacrifice in replacing tyranny with freedom.”
Chris Hayes: “A wonderful occasion to celebrate guts.”
“It was pure guts, pure courage and giving for your country…climbing those ropes under Nazi machine gun fire.”
The Global Peace Summit has the potential to bring Ukraine closer to lasting and just peace. One of the most important steps on this path is the return of captives and deportees, including children who were abducted by Russia in the occupied part of Ukraine and taken away from… pic.twitter.com/G6k4nOFfCU
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 4, 2024
“They said we were all Russians and could never go home.”
—-thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children are still in Russia.
There are more people around the world who are displaced from their homes today than at any point in time since World War II. Many factors have contributed to this problem. Failing regimes and dire economic conditions afflict many countries, including several in the Western Hemisphere. Violence linked to transnational criminal organizations has displaced substantial numbers of people in Latin America. The global COVID-19 pandemic upended societies around the globe. Natural disasters have forced people from their homes.
As a result of these global conditions, we have been experiencing substantial levels of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, including at our southwest land border. In 2019, encounters nearly doubled from their 2018 level to almost 1 million. In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic led countries throughout the world to shut their borders and suspend international travel; however, once the pandemic began to recede, international travel resumed, and we again experienced elevated levels of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, including at our southwest land border.
EXECUTIVE ACTIONS TO SECURE THE BORDER
IN LINE WITH OUR LAWS AND VALUES
Happening Now: President Biden delivers remarks announcing new executive actions to secure the border in line with our laws and values. https://t.co/UnzOB8I2ut
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. I’ve come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refuse to do: take the necessary steps to secure our border.
Four months ago, after weeks of intense negotiation between my staff and Democrats and Republicans, we came to a clear — clear bipartisan deal that was the strongest border security agreement in decades. But then Republicans in Congress — not all, but — walked away from it.
Why? Because Donald Trump told them to. He told the Republicans — it has been published widely by many of you — that he didn’t want to fix the issue; he wanted to use it to attack me. That’s what he wanted to do. It was a cynical and a – extremely cynical political move and a complete disservice to the American people, who are looking for us to — not to weaponize the border but to fix it.
Today, I am joined by a bipartisan group of governors, members of Congress, mayors, law enforcement officials — most of whom live and work along the southern border. They know the border is not a political issue to be weaponized — the responsibility we have to share to do something about it. They don’t have time for the games played in Washington, and neither do the American people.
So, today, I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.
Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation, because that’s the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now — that’s broken — fixed, to hire more Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, more judges. But Republicans have left me with no choice.
Today, I’m announcing actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum. Migrants will be restricted from receiving asylum at our southern border unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process.
And those who seek — come to the United States legally — for example, by making an appointment and coming to a port of entry — asylum will still be available to them — still available. But if an individual chooses not to use our legal pathways, if they choose to come without permission and against the law, they’ll be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.
This action will help us to gain control of our border, restore order to the process.
This week at NASA, we launched two small satellites that will observe Earth’s climate, discovered a planet 40 light-years away, and peered into the dark universe.
Global carbon dioxide emissions might have already peaked, according to new estimates, signaling a potentially monumental shift.
Amid a deluge of terrifying headlines about destructive tornadoes, blistering heat waves and DVD-sized gorilla hail, here’s a surprising bit of good news: Global carbon dioxide emissions may have peaked last year, according to a new projection.
It’s worth dwelling on the significance of what could be a remarkable inflection point.
Summary
The narrative in the equity markets is that Big Oil has passed the reins to Big Tech. In a knowledge economy, compute is energy.
Tech does not match global energy investment yet, but individually, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft will spend more in CapEx this year than Exxon Mobil, Chevron, or Saudi Aramco.
Big Tech’s profits are also historic, and growing.
BigTech isn’t just similar to the energy business, it is the new energy business.AI’s growing power requirements make this concrete.
Einstein defined the 20th century with the revelation that mass is a form of energy. Today’s theoretical physics posits something more fundamental: Mass and energy are all information. The 21st century will be defined by the recognition that the most powerful form of energy is the manipulation of information: compute. The companies that control compute will be the most dominant businesses in history.
"We are experiencing, not just at the southern border but around the world, an unprecedented level of migration, an unprecedented number of displaced people. Regional challenges require regional solutions."
President Biden signs Executive Order addressing the border.
Secretary Mayorkas: “This challenge of migration is a regional challenge…throughout our hemisphere and around the world an unprecedented level of migration, an unprecedented level of regional migration. And regional challenges require regional solutions.”
House Democrats will try to force a vote to protect contraception, putting GOP on record
The measure would need majority support to come up for vote in the full House. But it’s part of a broader effort by Democrats to highlight Republican opposition ahead of November.
Vice President Harris: Donald Trump is to blame for the Supreme Court overturning Roe. He put three extreme justices on the Supreme Court with the intention they would undo Roe and since then anti-abortion laws have been passed across this country that criminalize doctors and… pic.twitter.com/VB8bOxNEnr
Our Administration will continue to fight to ensure that women can make decisions about their own health, lives, and families. pic.twitter.com/60afleTS5O
imo notes on some of their comments recently:
The ADF christian mission, looking for issues that blur the line.
How they helped orchestrate, leading up to the final decade of Roe, pushing conservative christian values in the era of trump. Not the same Christian Right group as 30 years ago. Aims to roll back the sexual revolution, trans rights, gay rights, parental rights, free speech on campuses = Blueprint for other transformation.
Black leaders call out Trump’s criminal justice contradictions as he rails against guilty verdict
NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump lambasted the guilty verdict of his hush money trial this week, he stood inside a Manhattan courthouse that was the site of one of the most notorious examples of injustice in recent New York history. And he had a part in that.
It’s the same courthouse where five Black and Latino youths were wrongly convicted 34 years ago in the beating and rape of a white female jogger. The former president famously took out a newspaper ad in New York City in the aftermath of the 1989 attack calling for the execution of the accused in a case that roiled racial tensions locally and that many point to as evidence of a criminal justice system prejudiced against defendants of color.
But on Friday, a day after making history as the first U.S. president convicted of felony crimes in a court of law, Trump blasted that same criminal justice system as corrupt and rigged against him.
Central Park Five exoneree calls Trump verdict ‘karma’
“Central Park Five” exoneree Raymond Santana called former President Trump’s verdict in his hush-money case “karma.”
“For me, it was about karma,” Santana said during his Saturday appearance on CNN with anchor Victor Blackwell, highlighted by Mediaite. “It was the example of, this is what happens when rich billionaires who stand on white privilege now have to answer, right?”
“So it becomes a surreal moment. It also becomes a moment where you just got to take it in, right? This is the stuff that we had to deal with of 1989: going through trial, hearing the conviction, hearing a guilty verdict. And then, now having to sit there and wait for sentencing. I understand that process all too well.”
Santana, now an actor, is one of the five Black and Hispanic teens who were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in 1989 in the same courthouse where Trump was tried. Each of them served time in prison until 2002 when DNA evidence exonerated them.
"Gender equality is not a zero sum game. We can do more for boys and men without doing less for women and girls. We can be passionate about women’s rights, and compassionate towards the struggles of boys and men. We rise together". Me: https://t.co/viBUV9zmt0
— Richard V. Reeves (@RichardvReeves) May 30, 2024
imho, been saying for quite a while that young men are being left out of the push for higher education. You hear them tell their friends how College is unnecessary. Same line repeated in movies. A lot of brainwashing from the right. So then they end up living hand to mouth and often single.
Covid didn’t help. Significantly fewer men than women now on campus. Big fallout from this, we must anticipate and do everything to counter the voluminous anti-education propaganda.
This Gun Violence Awareness Month, our Administration continues to call on Congress to: ☑️Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines ☑️Enact universal background checks ☑️End the gun industry’s immunity from liability ☑️Pass a national red flag law
Imho,
thinking about trump the wannabe ‘Being There’ guy, this appeared in my mind:
“If you call this a stick you are clinging, if you don’t you are ignoring the obvious.
So tell me what do you call it?”
If the double bind trump sets up when he opens his mouth defaults to ‘both sides are corrupt, both sides are wrong’ response, then how do you fight misleading words with words. Maybe poison to counteract poison – have we tried that by the way?
Trump’s use of gesture, everything he does is intended to mislead and conceal.
Imo only fearless counter action and clouting back is going to penetrate their game.
Dems pls cannot be all sweetness and light right now while the loud minority group is locking you down and guarding the doors.
At Texas GOP convention, Republicans call for spiritual warfare
At the three-day convention, delegates moved the needle further to the right, preaching Christian nationalism and approving rules that would give them unprecedented control of elections.
The Obama Diary 
The Marian Robinson “Opening the White House” Exhibit
On Mother’s Day, Mrs. Obama announced that the “Opening the White House” exhibit at the Obama Presidential Center Museum will be named in honor of her mother, Marian Robinson.
I want to tell you a little bit about my mom, Marian Robinson.
Growing up with my mom always was an adventure.
It entailed trips to the library as a toddler to learn the alphabet; the entire family piling into our car to go to the local drive-in—homemade chicken in hand. It included Mom inviting family over for New Year’s Eve, raising a toast as the clock struck midnight.
But above all else, my mother gave me nonstop, unconditional love in so many ways. She fostered in me a deep sense of confidence in who I was and who I could be by teaching me how to think for myself, how to use my own voice, and how to understand my own worth.
I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without her.
That’s why this Mother’s Day, I’m proud to announce that the exhibit “Opening the White House” in the Obama Presidential Center Museum will be named in honor of my mom, Marian Robinson.
In this exhibit, visitors will discover the many ways Barack and I—and also my mom—worked to make the White House an active place of inclusion, innovation, and culture.
It’ll be infused with so many of the values that my mother instilled in me: community, family, bringing people in— making them feel at home.
The exhibit will feature scale replicas of the East Room, where we held big dinners; the Blue Room, where we decorated a huge Christmas tree for the holidays; and the South Lawn, where we hosted Garden Tours, Easter Egg Rolls, state arrivals, and more.
When the Center opens, we want it to be a place parents and children can reflect and grow, connect and create, and discover the many ways we can all make change in the world.
—Michelle
“The whole world is full of little Craigs and little Michelles,’ she’d often remind us, underlining the beauty and potential within every child.”
(https://www.ebony.com/marian-shields-robinson-the-matriarch-behind-the-obama-family-has-passed-at-86/)
My heartfelt condolences go out to First Lady Michelle Obama and her family on the passing of her beloved mother, Marian Robinson. My thoughts and prayers are with you all during this difficult time. May you find peace and strength in your cherished memories. —
–Bernice
Forever love to the Robinson-Obama clans.
–Seeing Mrs. Robinson hold hands with PBO (photo above) was a turning moment.
May the angels now take her beloved hand and be with her on her journey.
🦋🦋
https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/1797621796457394492
First Lady Michelle, so terribly sorry for the loss of your mom. May God comfort and soothe you and your family. 🙏🏽😇♥️🌸🌻🌹🥰😍😊
First Lady Michelle, I’m so very sorry to hear about the loss of your mom. May God comfort and soothe you and your family hurt. 🙏🏽😇♥️🌻🌸🌹🥰😍😊
Pod Save America
BREAKING: Donald Trump found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business documents in New York
Unforgettable:
“Count one: Guilty. Count two: Guilty. Count three: Guilty……..(same same all the way to) Count thirty-three: Guilty. County thirty-four: Guilty.”
imho
TRUMP IS NOW A CONVICTED FELON: SAY IT. KEEP SAYING IT.
Here’s what I thought after trump was found guilty of 24 felony counts:
ARE WE GOING TO CELEBRATE THIS VICTORY OF THE RULE OF LAW
or be dragged down ever downward into the trump sunset world…?
Stephanie Ruhle: “Olympic level sycophancy involved here.” Joe Scarborough on gop: “They degrade themselves and slander Americans.”
imo more…
DISAPPOINTED that we didn’t just celebrate what happened here. 🎈🎈
We went immediately to worriting over what gop was and wasn’t going to do.
Of course they are going to distract and try to keep the truth from their duped supporters
Come on Democrats, it’s OK to be happy about finally starting to nail this guy. This is just the beginning.
Correction: 34 felony counts.
What to know
On Thursday, a Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his hush money trial. It’s the first criminal conviction for a former president in U.S. history.
Judge Juan Merchan has many options in front of him for Trump’s punishment. Sentencing for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has been set for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET — four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
The trial, which began April 15, marked the first time that a former U.S. president has faced a criminal trial. Trump’s other three criminal cases have yet to go to trial.
Prosecutors accused Trump of committing the crimes in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts and denies that he had sex with Daniels.
(msnbc)
‘Finally’: See Mary Trump react to Uncle Donald’s historic guilty verdict
Clinical psychologist and niece to Donald Trump, Mary Trump, talks to Rachel Maddow, Alex Wagner, Lawrence O’Donnell, Joy Reid, and Ari Melber about her uncle’s guilty verdict in the New York criminal trial: “This is a moment he has been dreading his entire life.”
“I think it’s a great day for America.”
—-thanks for everything Mary…you’re so fab.
‘They should renounce the violence Trump is calling for’: Gov. Pritzker urges GOP to place country over party
(https://www.msnbc.com/jen-psaki)
Jen Psaki is joined by Governor JB Pritzker for a wide-ranging interview, on topics including Trump’s guilty verdict, the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and more.
Criminal charges in GOP’s fake elector scandal reach new heights
The Republicans’ fake elector scandal from 2020 has now racked up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra.
The Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were multifaceted, but among the striking partisan tactics was the fake electors scheme: GOP officials and operatives in key states created forged election materials and sent the documents to, among others, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Archivist, as if the materials were legitimate. They were not.
Though the relevant players didn’t know it at the time, the controversy has become one of the most consequential political scandals in a generation, racking up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra.
Steve Benen: (https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/criminal-charges-gops-fake-elector-scandal-reach-new-heights-rcna155398)
Danya Perry and Jen Psaki
—CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT-ELECT CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM! ⭐️⭐️
Mexico elects its first female president
Emily Green:
(https://www.npr.org/2024/06/03/nx-s1-4989334/claudia-sheinbaum-poised-to-become-mexicos-first-female-president)
THE WHITE HOUSE
—Belated Happy Birthday to our FLOTUS !!!
Jen Psaki
–Amy Waters
Trump’s guilty verdict puts America’s political system on trial
The Republican candidate’s court of appeal will be the US electorate
“I’m a very innocent man,” said Donald Trump moments after a jury of his peers unanimously pronounced him guilty on all counts.
There, in a nutshell, is the reality facing America. One of its two main White House contenders is a felon whose campaign is based on claiming the system is rigged.
Edward Luce: (https://www.ft.com/content/fdc03850-2645-4c48-999b-2f7536918737)
btw,
GOP comparing America system to Stalin and Castro system.
Like comparing the U.S. to the show trials of the Stalin era.
—no wonder they are anti-Education.
Convicted felon trump calling Judge Merchan “corrupt’ because he served in the DOJ…
btw — falsification of business records is moved up to a felony routinely in Manhattan court.
BANNON SAYS IF ELECTED:
TRUMP WILL PULL OUT OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.
—-our response?
Trump Wishes His Trial Were Rigged
But instead he got a fair one, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.
Adam Serwer: (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/trump-fair-manhattan-criminal-trail/678557/)
Trump’s threats and bluster fail to intimidate Americans who see guilty verdict as reasonable
Rachel Maddow shows how Donald Trump routinely threatens violence and mayhem from his supporters if the American legal system tries to hold him to account, and yet at every stage of his legal prosecution, no one answers his calls for violence. Not even when he is criminally convicted. But what Trump’s supporters do instead is target with terror the specific people involved in holding Trump accountable, judges, witnesses, jurors, in the hopes of discouraging anyone else from trying it. And so, Maddow argues, Americans must support the people who are threatened and remain unafraid of Donald Trump.
FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces New Actions to Secure the Border
New actions will bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum
Biden taking action as Congressional Republicans put partisan politics ahead of national security, twice voting against toughest reforms in decades
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/04/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-secure-the-border/)
TRUMP BRAGS HE SABOTAGED THE BORDER DEAL
Jamie Raskin: How to Force Justices Alito and Thomas to Recuse Themselves in the Jan. 6 Cases
Mr. Raskin represents Maryland’s Eighth Congressional District in the House of
Representatives. He taught constitutional law for more than 25 years and was the lead prosecutor in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Many people have gloomily accepted the conventional wisdom that because there is no binding Supreme Court ethics code, there is no way to force Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas to recuse themselves from the Jan. 6 cases that are before the court.
Justices Alito and Thomas are probably making the same assumption.
But all of them are wrong.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/opinion/alito-thomas-recuse-trump-jan-6.html)
Pod Save America
Crooked Media
Jim Jordan calls for Bragg to testify after Trump verdict
Juliegrace Brufke: (https://www.axios.com/2024/05/31/jim-jordan-calls-for-bragg-to-testify-after-trump-verdict#)
imo just sayin…
WHERE ARE THE INVESTIGATIONS BY DEMOCRATS?
—WE CAN PLAY THAT GAME.
The Washington Post said it had the Alito flag story 3 years ago and chose not to publish
NEW YORK (AP) — Nine days after The New York Times reported about the political symbolism of an upside-down American flag that flew at U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home, the Washington Post acknowledged it had the same story more than three years ago and decided not to publish it.
The Post’s story was both an extraordinary example of journalistic introspection and an illustration of how coverage of the Supreme Court has changed since the incident itself, shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
David Bauder:
(https://apnews.com/article/washington-post-alito-flag-missed-story-d7cfd2e8f5271fc8987ea2b0206bb7bb)
Alito says the Supreme Court’s fake ethics code allows him to be unethical
The Supreme Court’s new ethics code is worse than nothing — Alito just proved it.
by Ian Millhiser
(https://www.vox.com/scotus/352380/supreme-court-alito-ethics-recusal-insurrection-flags#)
Ian Milhiser:
Hillary Clinton
–congrats to Molly Cook !!
Erin Reed:
Democrats Push Biden to Make Trump’s Felonies a Top 2024 Issue
Interviews with dozens of Democrats reveal a party hungry to tell voters that Donald Trump’s conviction makes him unfit for office, and hopeful that President Biden will lead the way.
Reid J. Epstein and Nicholas Nehamas
(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/01/us/politics/trump-conviction-biden-democrats.html)
MEHDI HASAN
This Is How Biden Should Use Trump’s Conviction Against Him
POWER PLAY
Democrats should focus on Trump being a convicted felon as part of a broader narrative around his shameful character—and the threat another Trump presidency would represent.
David Rothkopf: https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-is-how-biden-should-use-trumps-conviction-against-him
Mehdi: “This is him losing…when he loses he says it is rigged.”
“World’s biggest loser, biggest man-child.”
“The idea that he’s gonna accept defeat…doesn’t accept anything that makes him a loser.”
Trump supporters try to dox jurors and post violent threats after his conviction
On social media and web forums, users called for jurors, judges and prosecutors to be killed after the former president was found guilty on 34 felony counts.
WASHINGTON — The 34 felony guilty verdicts returned against former President Donald Trump on Thursday spurred a wave of violent rhetoric aimed at the prosecutors who secured his conviction, the judge who oversaw the case and the ordinary jurors who unanimously agreed there was no reasonable doubt that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee falsified business records related to hush money payments to a porn star to benefit his 2016 campaign.
Ryan J. Reilly: (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-supporters-try-doxx-jurors-violent-threats-conviction-rcna154882)
McKAY COPPINS
The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins discusses new reporting on how closely Europe is watching the coming U.S. elections.
What Europe Fears
McKay Coppins: (https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/06/nato-trump-europe-allies/678533/)
NASA
A Proclamation on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month, 2024
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/05/31/a-proclamation-on-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-and-intersex-pride-month-2024/)
Barack Obama
A Proclamation on Black Music Month, 2024
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/05/31/a-proclamation-on-black-music-month-2024/)
SMITHSONIAN.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Celebrating Black Music Month
June is African American Music Appreciation Month! Created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, this month celebrates the African American musical influences that comprise an essential part of our nation’s treasured cultural heritage.
Formerly called National Black Music Month, this celebration of African American musical contributions is re-established annually by presidential proclamation. Though by no means exhaustive, we’ve prepared a primer that will guide you through some of the different genres that African Americans have created, inspired and fostered.
(https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/celebrating-black-music-month)
Michelle Obama Shares Thanks for the Love Shown Since Her Mother Marian’s Death: ‘It’s Brought Us Light’
Marian Robinson, who died on May 31 at the age of 86, lived with the Obamas during their time in the White House
Michelle Obama is expressing gratitude for how the nation responded to the death of her mother, Marian Robinson, at age 86.
The former first lady took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, June 3, to thank people for the kindness she’s received in the days since Robinson died.
Marina Watts
(https://people.com/michelle-obama-shares-gratitude-response-mothers-death-8657902)
Biden, with France visit, looks to past and future of global conflicts
THE WHITE HOUSE; PARIS —
U.S. President Joe Biden landed Wednesday in France to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy invasion — and plans to use the occasion to underscore the need for a strong transatlantic alliance in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Biden will meet Ukraine’s president, and with surviving American veterans of the 1944 beach invasion, said national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Biden will use the events, Sullivan said, to “talk about, against the backdrop of war in Europe today, the sacrifices that those heroes and those veterans made 80 years ago and how it’s our obligation to continue their mission to fight for freedom.”
(https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-with-france-visit-looks-to-past-and-future-of-global-conflicts-/7643530.html)
US President Joe Biden is welcomed by France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal upon arrival at Paris Orly airport near Paris, on June 5, 2024, as he travels to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
King Charles III expresses his ‘profound admiration and respect’ for D-Day veterans
…his “profound admiration and respect” for those who took part in D-Day.
In a message in the programme for the D-Day 80 national commemoration in Portsmouth, Charles wrote: “On 6 June 1944, following an intense period of preparation uniting military planning and civilian industrial ingenuity, nearly 160,000 young men landed under enemy fire on the beaches of Normandy. Each of these courageous sailors, soldiers and aviators risked his life so that others might live in freedom and in peace. Many were never to return.
“Eighty years later, it remains our solemn duty to continue to honour the outstanding gallantry, service and sacrifice of those who took part in that perilous mission.
“We do so with the most profound admiration and respect, and with everlasting gratitude.”
(Maryam Zakir-Hussain)
—-“It is our duty to ensure that we and future generations do not forget their service and their sacrifice in replacing tyranny with freedom.”
Chris Hayes: “A wonderful occasion to celebrate guts.”
“It was pure guts, pure courage and giving for your country…climbing those ropes under Nazi machine gun fire.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The Global Peace Summit
“They said we were all Russians and could never go home.”
—-thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children are still in Russia.
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at Festa Italiana
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/05/31/remarks-as-prepared-for-delivery-by-first-lady-jill-biden-at-festa-italiana/)
A Proclamation on Securing the Border
There are more people around the world who are displaced from their homes today than at any point in time since World War II. Many factors have contributed to this problem. Failing regimes and dire economic conditions afflict many countries, including several in the Western Hemisphere. Violence linked to transnational criminal organizations has displaced substantial numbers of people in Latin America. The global COVID-19 pandemic upended societies around the globe. Natural disasters have forced people from their homes.
As a result of these global conditions, we have been experiencing substantial levels of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, including at our southwest land border. In 2019, encounters nearly doubled from their 2018 level to almost 1 million. In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic led countries throughout the world to shut their borders and suspend international travel; however, once the pandemic began to recede, international travel resumed, and we again experienced elevated levels of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, including at our southwest land border.
Full: (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/06/04/a-proclamation-on-securing-the-border/)
EXECUTIVE ACTIONS TO SECURE THE BORDER
IN LINE WITH OUR LAWS AND VALUES
June 4 2024:
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. I’ve come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refuse to do: take the necessary steps to secure our border.
Four months ago, after weeks of intense negotiation between my staff and Democrats and Republicans, we came to a clear — clear bipartisan deal that was the strongest border security agreement in decades. But then Republicans in Congress — not all, but — walked away from it.
Why? Because Donald Trump told them to. He told the Republicans — it has been published widely by many of you — that he didn’t want to fix the issue; he wanted to use it to attack me. That’s what he wanted to do. It was a cynical and a – extremely cynical political move and a complete disservice to the American people, who are looking for us to — not to weaponize the border but to fix it.
Today, I am joined by a bipartisan group of governors, members of Congress, mayors, law enforcement officials — most of whom live and work along the southern border. They know the border is not a political issue to be weaponized — the responsibility we have to share to do something about it. They don’t have time for the games played in Washington, and neither do the American people.
So, today, I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.
Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation, because that’s the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now — that’s broken — fixed, to hire more Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, more judges. But Republicans have left me with no choice.
Today, I’m announcing actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum. Migrants will be restricted from receiving asylum at our southern border unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process.
And those who seek — come to the United States legally — for example, by making an appointment and coming to a port of entry — asylum will still be available to them — still available. But if an individual chooses not to use our legal pathways, if they choose to come without permission and against the law, they’ll be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.
This action will help us to gain control of our border, restore order to the process.
Full: (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/04/remarks-by-president-biden-on-securing-our-border/
NASA
The Right Kind of Tipping Point
Global carbon dioxide emissions might have already peaked, according to new estimates, signaling a potentially monumental shift.
Amid a deluge of terrifying headlines about destructive tornadoes, blistering heat waves and DVD-sized gorilla hail, here’s a surprising bit of good news: Global carbon dioxide emissions may have peaked last year, according to a new projection.
It’s worth dwelling on the significance of what could be a remarkable inflection point.
David Gelles: (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/climate/carbon-emissions-falling-global.html)
Solar and battery storage to make up 81% of new U.S. electric-generating capacity in 2024. (EIA.gov)
= all new power to the grid.
Big Energy
Summary
The narrative in the equity markets is that Big Oil has passed the reins to Big Tech. In a knowledge economy, compute is energy.
Tech does not match global energy investment yet, but individually, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft will spend more in CapEx this year than Exxon Mobil, Chevron, or Saudi Aramco.
Big Tech’s profits are also historic, and growing.
BigTech isn’t just similar to the energy business, it is the new energy business.AI’s growing power requirements make this concrete.
Einstein defined the 20th century with the revelation that mass is a form of energy. Today’s theoretical physics posits something more fundamental: Mass and energy are all information. The 21st century will be defined by the recognition that the most powerful form of energy is the manipulation of information: compute. The companies that control compute will be the most dominant businesses in history.
SCOTT GALLOWAY: (https://seekingalpha.com/article/4692293-big-energy)
THE ALGEBRA OF WEALTH: A Simple Formula For Financial Security
AUTHOR:
SCOTT GALLOWAY
Secretary Mayorkas
President Biden signs Executive Order addressing the border.
Secretary Mayorkas: “This challenge of migration is a regional challenge…throughout our hemisphere and around the world an unprecedented level of migration, an unprecedented level of regional migration. And regional challenges require regional solutions.”
House Democrats will try to force a vote to protect contraception, putting GOP on record
The measure would need majority support to come up for vote in the full House. But it’s part of a broader effort by Democrats to highlight Republican opposition ahead of November.
Ali Vitali: (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-will-try-force-vote-protect-contraception-putting-gop-rcna155387)
BIDEN-HARRIS HQ
Kamala Harris
—we work for You.
President Biden Full Remarks on 80th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France
National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/05/national-day-of-remembrance-of-the-80th-anniversary-of-d-day/)
The White House
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1798485564947075109
Don’t fly the American flag upside down
Ben Rothove
https://gazette.com/news/wex/don-t-fly-the-american-flag-upside-down/article_d059a62b-1f16-5ab3-b0ed-cfc0f471d603.html
AG Merrick Garland:
“I will not be intimidated and the Justice Department will not be intimidated.”
THE FALL OF ROE: THE RISE OF A NEW AMERICA
by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer
imo notes on some of their comments recently:
The ADF christian mission, looking for issues that blur the line.
How they helped orchestrate, leading up to the final decade of Roe, pushing conservative christian values in the era of trump. Not the same Christian Right group as 30 years ago. Aims to roll back the sexual revolution, trans rights, gay rights, parental rights, free speech on campuses = Blueprint for other transformation.
Former Capitol Police Officer on what’s at stake in November.
Black leaders call out Trump’s criminal justice contradictions as he rails against guilty verdict
NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump lambasted the guilty verdict of his hush money trial this week, he stood inside a Manhattan courthouse that was the site of one of the most notorious examples of injustice in recent New York history. And he had a part in that.
It’s the same courthouse where five Black and Latino youths were wrongly convicted 34 years ago in the beating and rape of a white female jogger. The former president famously took out a newspaper ad in New York City in the aftermath of the 1989 attack calling for the execution of the accused in a case that roiled racial tensions locally and that many point to as evidence of a criminal justice system prejudiced against defendants of color.
But on Friday, a day after making history as the first U.S. president convicted of felony crimes in a court of law, Trump blasted that same criminal justice system as corrupt and rigged against him.
Aaron Morrison and Matt Brown
(https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-u-s-news/ap-black-leaders-call-out-trumps-criminal-justice-contradictions-as-he-rails-against-guilty-verdict/)
Central Park Five exoneree calls Trump verdict ‘karma’
“Central Park Five” exoneree Raymond Santana called former President Trump’s verdict in his hush-money case “karma.”
“For me, it was about karma,” Santana said during his Saturday appearance on CNN with anchor Victor Blackwell, highlighted by Mediaite. “It was the example of, this is what happens when rich billionaires who stand on white privilege now have to answer, right?”
“So it becomes a surreal moment. It also becomes a moment where you just got to take it in, right? This is the stuff that we had to deal with of 1989: going through trial, hearing the conviction, hearing a guilty verdict. And then, now having to sit there and wait for sentencing. I understand that process all too well.”
Santana, now an actor, is one of the five Black and Hispanic teens who were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in 1989 in the same courthouse where Trump was tried. Each of them served time in prison until 2002 when DNA evidence exonerated them.
Filip Timotija: (https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4698536-central-park-five-exoneree-calls-trump-verdict-karma/)
—-Dahlia Lithwick.
Melinda French Gates:
The Enemies of Progress Play Offense. I Want to Help Even the Match.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/opinion/melinda-french-gates-reproductive-rights.html)
Melinda French Gates invests in boys and men: a new era for gender equality
Richard Reeves:
(https://aibm.org/commentary/melinda-french-gates-invests-in-boys-and-men/)
imho, been saying for quite a while that young men are being left out of the push for higher education. You hear them tell their friends how College is unnecessary. Same line repeated in movies. A lot of brainwashing from the right. So then they end up living hand to mouth and often single.
Covid didn’t help. Significantly fewer men than women now on campus. Big fallout from this, we must anticipate and do everything to counter the voluminous anti-education propaganda.
= nice prey for the Bannons and Speaker Johnsons seeking low information proles.
GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH
JANUARY 9, 2020 | CLIP OF PRESIDENT TRUMP RALLY IN TOLEDO, OHIO
User Clip: Trump saying, “Lock her up.”
Donald Trump saying they should, “lock her up,” in reference to Hillary Clinton
C-SPAN:
(https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5119492/user-clip-trump-saying-lock-up)
Imho,
thinking about trump the wannabe ‘Being There’ guy, this appeared in my mind:
“If you call this a stick you are clinging, if you don’t you are ignoring the obvious.
So tell me what do you call it?”
If the double bind trump sets up when he opens his mouth defaults to ‘both sides are corrupt, both sides are wrong’ response, then how do you fight misleading words with words. Maybe poison to counteract poison – have we tried that by the way?
Trump’s use of gesture, everything he does is intended to mislead and conceal.
Imo only fearless counter action and clouting back is going to penetrate their game.
Dems pls cannot be all sweetness and light right now while the loud minority group is locking you down and guarding the doors.
At Texas GOP convention, Republicans call for spiritual warfare
At the three-day convention, delegates moved the needle further to the right, preaching Christian nationalism and approving rules that would give them unprecedented control of elections.
Robert Downey: (https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/28/texas-gop-convention-elections-religion-delegates-platform/#)
—did they consult w/Jesus lately?
—am guessing he’d say something about Truth and Love.
The Evolution of Jasmine Crockett
Long before her read on Marjorie Taylor Greene went viral, the Texas Representative has been committed to doing the work of the people.
Angela Johnson: (https://www.theroot.com/the-evolution-of-jasmine-crockett-1851514946)
–thank you Congresswoman Crockett!! ⭐️🌺❤️
New post.