Bob Woodward talked out of exposing Brett Kavanaugh as anonymous source by Washington Post editor: report

By Joe Concha - 06/29/20 09:16 AM EDT

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/504980-bob-woodward-talked-out-of-exposing-brett-kavanaugh-as-anonymous-source-by

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Woodward was reportedly set to expose Kavanaugh as an anonymous source for his 1999 book "Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate." At the time the book was being written, Kavanaugh served as a lawyer on independent counsel Ken Starr's team in its investigation of President Clinton.

The revelation would have publicly contradicted what Kavanaugh said in a letter to the Post in 1999, the Times noted.


Woodward's unmasking of Kavanaugh was set to be published in October 2018, according to the Times, which added that Post executive editor Martin Baron urged Woodward to not burn his source because it would be "bad for Bob" and the newspaper itself if Kavanaugh were exposed.

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During his Watergate investigative reporting and for decades after, Woodward, along with Carl Bernstein, steadfastly protected his primary source, known only as "Deep Throat." In 2005, former FBI Deputy Director William Mark Felt publicly confirmed he was the source.

https://occupydemocrats.com/2020/06/27/trump-fills-his-twitter-feed-with-wanted-posters-for-people-attacking-federal-monuments/



Donald Trump may not have any great love for the U.S. Postal Service — in fact, he seems to be doing everything possible to hasten its demise, particularly since it will be the method that so many mail-in votes for Joe Biden will be delivered to election authorities — but today the president tried to emulate a post office wall on his Twitter feed.

Having come back from his morning golfing excursion — you know, the one that he took to his Virginia Trump National golf club after canceling his trip to his rainy New Jersey Bedminster resort supposedly because he was going to “make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced” — the president fulfilled his promise to keep “the arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators” at bay in a way that few would have initially expected.

Trump’s idea of ingenuity in enforcing the law against those who would tear down his precious monuments to those defenders of slavery and the Confederacy enshrined in marble and granite was to transform his Twitter feed into a series of 15 wanted posters featuring photos of protestors who tried to bring down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House.

Formatted as an “Attempt to Identify” the individuals whose photos are included in the posts by the United States Park Police, Trump’s use of his Twitter feed to turn attention away from the major news of the day — that Russia paid the Taliban a bounty for each U.S. soldier that they killed — and his failure to address that hostile act was somewhat laughable given that, unlike the Trump followers who risked COVID-19 to attend his rallies this week, many of the people in the photos have their faces covered by protective masks that have the added benefit of concealing their identities while providing anti-viral protection.

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To "President" Trump. I am Spartacus. I did it. Come and fucking get me.

And if it wasn't me, I sure wish it was,

You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument

The black people I come from were owned and raped by the white people I come from. Who dares to tell me to celebrate them?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

By Caroline Randall Williams



Ms. Williams is a poet.

June 26, 2020

NASHVILLE — <snip> A tough, tough snip.

Dead Confederates are honored all over this country — with cartoonish private statues, solemn public monuments and even in the names of United States Army bases. It fortifies and heartens me to witness the protests against this practice and the growing clamor from serious, nonpartisan public servants to redress it. But there are still those — like President Trump and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell — who cannot understand the difference between rewriting and reframing the past. I say it is not a matter of “airbrushing” history, but of adding a new perspective.

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It is an extraordinary truth of my life that I am biologically more than half white, and yet I have no white people in my genealogy in living memory. No. Voluntary. Whiteness. I am more than half white, and none of it was consensual. White Southern men — my ancestors — took what they wanted from women they did not love, over whom they had extraordinary power, and then failed to claim their children.

What is a monument but a standing memory? An artifact to make tangible the truth of the past. My body and blood are a tangible truth of the South and its past. The black people I come from were owned by the white people I come from. The white people I come from fought and died for their Lost Cause. And I ask you now, who dares to tell me to celebrate them? Who dares to ask me to accept their mounted pedestals?

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The dream version of the Old South never existed. Any manufactured monument to that time in that place tells half a truth at best. The ideas and ideals it purports to honor are not real. To those who have embraced these delusions: Now is the time to re-examine your position.

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This is an important piece. Its almost rendered to a fraction of what it is by snipping. I've tried to give it justice.

America’s pandemic response doesn’t bode well for a potential cyberattack

Opinion by
David Ignatius
Columnist
June 25, 2020 at 5:51 p.m. CDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/americas-pandemic-response-doesnt-bode-well-for-a-potential-cyberattack/2020/06/25/8031f094-b720-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html

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This stark message was contained in a little-noticed white paper recently released by the bipartisan Cyberspace Solarium Commission, titled “Cybersecurity Lessons From the Pandemic.” As the paper highlighted, the covid-19 outbreak has been a stress test for our national crisis-management system — and that system has, to a frightening extent, failed. The challenges of a cyberattack would be even greater.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the panel’s co-chairs, describe the disorganized response to covid-19 this way: “The pandemic produces cascading effects and high levels of uncertainty. It has undermined normal policymaking processes and, in the absence of the requisite preparedness, has forced decision makers to craft hasty and ad hoc emergency responses.”

President Trump’s chaotic and sometimes counterproductive personal management of the covid-19 crisis has underlined the need for clear executive authority that can coordinate different federal agencies and state and local responders. Trump dismantled or disdained the management tools that might have been useful — and seemed to develop a love-hate relationship with experts who could have helped frame a coherent response, such as Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

This problem of coordinating the executive branch in a national crisis was the centerpiece of a report issued in March by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The group brought together Congress, the executive branch and private experts to recommend how to cope with the threat of a crippling cyberattack. As the report was released, covid-19 was beginning to spread in the United States, and I wrote that the pandemic was a foretaste of what we’d experience in a debilitating cyberattack. Now, after three months of White House missteps, the commission’s findings are even more relevant.

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CDC chief says coronavirus cases may be 10 times higher than reported

Agency expands list of people at risk of severe illness, including pregnant women

Lena H. Sun and
Joel Achenbach
June 25, 2020 at 4:05 p.m. CDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/25/coronavirus-cases-10-times-larger/

The number of Americans who have been infected with the novel coronavirus is likely 10 times higher than the 2.3 million confirmed cases, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Using that methodology pushes the tally of U.S. cases to at least 23 million. Redfield said the larger estimate is based on blood samples collected from across the country that look for the presence of antibodies to the virus. For every confirmed case of covid-19, 10 more people had antibodies, he said.

Redfield and another top CDC official said that young people are driving the surge in cases in the South and West. They attributed that to the broader testing of people under 50. “In the past, I just don’t think we diagnosed these infections,” Redfield said.

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For the first time, agency officials also said pregnant women may face higher risks of severe illness from the virus than nonpregnant women, including needing treatment in intensive care units and respiratory help with ventilators. However, they do not face higher risk of dying. Officials said they are still researching the effects on newborns.

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A lot more information at link. A lot more information!!

Roger Stone seeks to delay prison, citing virus concerns

His attorneys warn that prison could put Stone’s life at risk.
Roger Stone



By JOSH GERSTEIN and KYLE CHENEY

06/24/2020 12:01 AM EDT


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“I’m fighting for my life,” Stone warned in one video Tuesday, wearing a face mask emblazoned with the words “Free Roger Stone!.” In the social media messages, Stone says he is 67 years old, suffers from asthma and has a history of respiratory problems.

“Incarceration at a facility with COVID-19 during a pandemic is a deep state death sentence. Roger Stone did nothing wrong. Justice for Roger Stone,” Stone said.

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Jackson seems not to have taken that representation at face value. In a brief order Tuesday night, she directed prosecutors to file something “in writing” by Thursday explaining the reasons for their stance. She has not indicated whether she plans to hold a hearing on the motion.

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At Stone’s sentencing in February, Jackson acknowledged he suffered from unspecified health conditions and anxiety, but said those issues didn’t seem to prevent him from keeping up a robust travel schedule.





Further in the article the Judge noted that Stone's health has not seemed to have been "compromised" by his "Public appearances or private gatherings".

Only 37% Of Trump Voters Would Want Friends And Family To Know How They Voted

Artivia Tahir

https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/only-37-of-trump-voters-would-want-friends-and-family-to-know-how-they-voted-ko8xKY5Rm0qDpzLlqiSq5A?utm_source=maven-coalition&utm_medium=salish&utm_campaign=email&utm_term=notification&utm_content=unread-notification

Jun 17, 2020

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Sean Spicer, President Trump’s former White House press secretary, has theorized that his former boss is trailing Joe Biden in the polls because Trump voters do not want to admit they are voting for him, according to The Independent.


“Crucial takeaway in new poll showing why polls will continue to be an issue: ‘only 37% of @realDonaldTrump voters would want their friends and family to know how they had voted while 74% of @JoeBiden supporters are comfortable with it being known.”

Spicer was referring to the concept of silent voters, which has had implications for election results in the past. Trump even tweeted regarding the idea, writing: "THE SILENT MAJORITY IS STRONGER THAN EVER!!!"

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Spicer cited a poll that was done by a British tabloid that shows the president beating out Biden 48 percent to 47 percent but with 5 percent undecided and a +/- 2.5 percent margin of error. A CNN/SSRS poll from approximately the same dates contrastingly shows Biden leading Trump 55 percent to 41 percent.

Harley-Davidson severs ties with dealer over Black Lives Matter post
2 min read . Updated: 24 Jun 2020, 12:29 PM IST Bloomberg

Polaris and Harley’s actions are the latest indication corporate America is taking a harder line against systemic racism in the business world.

https://auto.hindustantimes.com/


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“I’m sick of this black lives matter," read the post, which then used an expletive to call for Black people to return to Africa. Abernathy has said his Facebook page -- which features a photo of him standing next to a motorcycle and pointing up at a Confederate flag -- was hacked, according to Honda.

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Harley said Tuesday it has decided to cut ties with Abernathy, almost a week after Polaris announced it would part ways with him.

Polaris and Harley’s actions are the latest indication corporate America is taking a harder line against systemic racism in the business world. Polaris is headquartered in a suburb of Minneapolis near where George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died late last month after a city police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. The maker of all-terrain vehicles said June 3 it would donate $250,000 to local charities supporting racial equality.

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“Racism, hate or intolerance have no place in the Harley-Davidson community -- employees, dealers, riders or enthusiasts," the Milwaukee-based manufacturer said in a statement. “The dealer owner in question will no longer be part of our dealer network and we are finalising details on the dealer owner’s exit."

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