8 PM
The RNC Is Paying a Former Apprentice Hand Accused of Having Trump Dirt
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-rnc-is-paying-a-former-apprentice-hand-chuck-labella-accused-of-having-trump-dirt
From August 2019 through May 2020, the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Convention made a dozen payments totaling more than $66,000 to Labella Worldwide, Inc. for “production consulting services.” The firm is run by Chuck Labella, a former NBC executive and the talent producer who worked on Donald Trump’s famous reality show.
“Chuck LaBella is consulting on a variety of efforts for convention, including talent, production, stage design, and media consulting,” said RNC national press secretary Mandi Merritt. “It’s incredibly common for large scale events such as these to receive consulting from those with backgrounds in the entertainment industry and to suggest anything other than that is not only flat on wrong, but offensive and misleading.”
California records say that Labella Worldwide, Inc was incorporated in 2017. His IMDB page lists him as a producer on The Apprentice through 2013. He also worked on the Miss Universe Pageant and was reportedly in Moscow with Trump for the 2013 event there. In March 2017, The Wrap reported that he amicably parted ways with NBC. It’s unclear what he did between then and his stint with Holey Moley in 2019.
Biden Outraises Trump for Second Straight Month, With $141 Million June Haul
Hours after President Trump’s campaign announced an enormous cash influx of $131 million last month, Joe Biden’s team said it had brought in even more.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces $678 Million Settlement Of Fraud Lawsuit Against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation For Operating Sham Speaker Programs Through Which It Paid Over $100 Million To Doctors To Unlawfully Induce Them To Prescribe No
Novartis Admits to Certain Conduct Alleged in the Lawsuit and Agrees to Strict Limitations on Its Ability to Conduct Future Speaker Programs
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “For more than a decade, Novartis spent hundreds of millions of dollars on so-called speaker programs, including speaking fees, exorbitant meals, and top-shelf alcohol that were nothing more than bribes to get doctors across the country to prescribe Novartis’s drugs. Giving these cash payments and other lavish goodies interferes with the duty of doctors to choose the best treatment for their patients and increases drug costs for everyone. This Office will continue to be vigilant in cracking down on kickbacks, however they may be dressed up, throughout the pharmaceutical industry.”
HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert said: “The various kickback schemes employed by Novartis threatened the impartiality of medical decision-making and the financial integrity of Medicare and Medicaid. Greed must never play a part in patient care. Along with our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG will continue to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable when they step over the line to maximize their market share at the expense of taxpayer-funded federal health care programs.”
The Trump administration just lent $700 million to a trucking company sued for ripping off taxpayers
The US Treasury is giving a $700 million loan to YRC Worldwide, a troubled trucking company that warned in May it was in danger of going out of business. "Treasury's determination was based on a certification by the Secretary of Defense that YRC is critical to maintaining national security," said Treasury in its statement.
Tribune Publishing adds Alden co-founder to board while extending ownership standstill agreement
The standstill agreement keeps Alden’s stake capped at 33% until after Tribune Publishing’s next annual shareholder meeting, which can take place no later than June 15, 2021, Tribune Publishing spokesman Max Reinsdorf said.
Alden now owns about 200 publications through an operating company known as MediaNews Group, formerly Digital First Media. Its larger newspapers include the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It has a track record of sweeping layoffs at its newspaper properties.
Scoop: Twitter removes photo from Trump tweet after NYT copyright complaint
Between the lines: The photo shows a picture taken by Damon Winter, a Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer for The New York Times. The photo was taken by The Times to accompany a feature it wrote on then candidate Donald Trump in 2015.
https://twitter.com/NickTimiraos/status/1278670040351596544 The bad news: The number of *permanent job losers* continued to rise, increasing by 588,000 to 2.9 million in June
The number of unemployed persons who were on temporary layoff decreased by 4.8 million in June to
10.6 million, following a decline of 2.7 million in May
Quote Tweet
Economics correspondent for the WSJ. More summary info in related tweets
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1278682101873770501 Just in: Ghislaine Maxwell arrested by FBI on charges related to Jeffrey Epstein
As COVID-19 spread in a Texas jail, an activist and a sheriff formed an unlikely alliance
Sheriff Larry Smith initially brushed off activist Dalila Reynoso. But she cornered him at a Whataburger, and now they're working together.
This article was published in partnership with KETK-TV and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for The Marshall Project’s newsletter, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
New Orleans, New York, and a few other cities have “court watch” programs to monitor judges and prosecutors. Reynoso’s work suggests what a local “jail watch” effort might look like, offering a glimpse of how activists might keep up the pressure on their local criminal justice systems even after the current protests against police violence ebb.
Still, Smith, the county’s sheriff, has done more than some of his peers to combat the spread of COVID-19. In March, after Reynoso first called attention to the dangers of overcrowding, he released a larger share of people from the jail than the statewide average. In May, he agreed to test every detainee and staffer, which is how the extent of the jail outbreak came to light. And he has encouraged Reynoso’s activism, even when it’s made him look bad. “She’s got a heart as big as Dallas,” he said. “Thank God she got involved.”
By April, the county had mostly stopped jailing anyone arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors. The sheriff was unsure whether all of the changes would stick, but said there had been no increase in crime.
deaths reported as Covid get $19,000
Facebook frustrates advertisers as boycott over hate speech kicks off
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Advertisements for more than 400 brands including Coca-Cola and Starbucks vanished from Facebook on Wednesday, after the failure of last-ditch talks to stop a boycott over hate speech on the site.
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/zuckerberg-tells-facebook-staff-he-expects-advertisers-to-return-soon-enough
Spies, Lies, and Stonewalling: What It’s Like to Report on Facebook
Facebook admits Ben Shapiro is breaking its rules
How the Facebook Boycott Could Just Make Facebook Stronger
Corporate ad boycotts have as long a tradition as corporate virtue-signaling. Don’t count on either to dent the social media titan.
Hundreds of brands are pulling ads from Facebook. Its largest advertisers aren't among them.
Facebook frustrates advertisers as boycott over hate speech kicks off
Zuckerberg Tells Facebook Staff He Expects Advertisers to Return ‘Soon Enough’
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Massachusetts City Officially Recognizes Polyamorous Relationships
July 2
The Platoon
Inside the Plot to Kill the Open Technology Fund
This U.S. program provides encryption technologies to journalists and activists living under repressive regimes. But a Trump appointee wants to tear it all down.
In Indonesia, speaking openly about LGBT issues online can result in physical attacks, online abuse, and even arrest.
That’s why Dhyta Caturani, a human rights activist who specializes in helping people to stay safe online, created a training program for Indonesian LGBT groups to track digital threats and give people the skills they need to increase their security.
Caturani’s project was made possible thanks to money from the Open Technology Fund, a U.S. government-funded nonprofit, which is part of the umbrella group called the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also controls Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
OTF’s goal is to help oppressed communities across the globe by building the digital tools they need and offering training and support to use those tools. Its work has saved countless lives, and every single day millions of people use OTF-assisted tools to communicate and speak out without fear of arrest, retribution, or even death.
These apps are not widely trusted by internet freedom experts and activists, according to six experts who spoke to VICE News. That the OTF would pivot its funding from trusted, open-source tech to more obscure, closed-source tech has alarmed activists around the world and has resulted in open revolt among OTF's former leadership.
https://twitter.com/AAKnopf/status/1278727635720273922 @davidashimer was on @CNN, discussing his new book, RIGGED
"There is a history here, and it reveals lessons that are essential to understanding why we are so exposed today and how we can defend our democracy in November . . ."
https://www.netflix.com/title/80224905 Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
New book claims Bill Clinton had an affair with Ghislaine Maxwell
May 29
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/book-claims-bill-clinton-had-an-affair-with-ghislaine-maxwell/
How Is Jeffrey Epstein Still So Elusive?
A new four-part Netflix documentary strains to handle a subject who’s always out of reach.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/316341058/Donald-Trump-Jeffrey-Epstein-Rape-Lawsuit-and-Affidavits
https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2019/07/trump-epstein-wide.jpg?resize=865,452
https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_large/public/views-article/epstein_trump.jpg?itok=PpwMbiiE
https://politicaldig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/trump-epstein.jpg
https://www.newsweek.com/judge-rules-virginia-giuffres-lawyers-must-destroy-jeffrey-epstein-files-1514909
Pride Can’t Go Back to What It Was Before
New York’s Queer Liberation March extended its celebration of Stonewall to Black Lives Matter, ditching corporate sponsorships while retaining a sense of joy.
SPENCER KORNHABER
JUNE 30, 2020
It might have been the sight of a muscled roller skater in a lacy tutu, or of a thong-clad twerker commanding an on-the-move cheering circle, or of a giant papier-mâché puppet of Janelle Monáe that sparked the epiphany. It could have been the sign that said ‘productive’ sex sucks!, or the chant about bottoms and tops both hating cops, or the beautiful graffiti-style poster of Tony McDade, a black trans man who was recently shot and killed by a police officer in Tallahassee, Florida. Maybe it was seeing neoprene fetish headgear doing the same antiviral protective work as surgical masks and bandanas.
Protests, not Parades!
Trump’s pick for ambassador involved in racist smear against black politician
According to the filing, Mark Burkhalter helped create a flier that distorted and exaggerated the features of Gordon Joyner, a candidate for county commissioner in north-central Georgia. Joyner was pictured with some features darkened, a large Afro, enlarged eyebrows and a warped eye.
“These actions should disqualify anyone from Senate confirmation,” Menendez wrote in a letter sent to White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows on Thursday. “During this time of national trauma and reckoning over violence and racist actions against African-Americans, however, it is unthinkable to nominate for a position of public trust an individual who participated in such a despicable, racist scheme. I therefore urge you to immediately withdraw his nomination.”
Zuckerberg hits back at Facebook boycott
As an advertising boycott of Facebook continues to grow Mark Zuckerberg shows no sign of backing down.
Facebook must 'develop a conscience'
Zuckerberg Tells Facebook Employees He's Not Going To Change Policies In Response To Advertiser Boycott
Calif. Man Posts About His ‘Stupidity’ in Attending a BBQ — and Dies of Coronavirus 1 Day Later
Thomas Macias visited with friends in Lake Elsinore, outside Los Angeles, in June, and shortly after, began feeling sick, according to CNN.
“I f---ed up and went out a couple of weeks ago and I contracted the coronavirus,” Macias, 51, wrote, NBC News reported. “Because of my stupidity I put my mom and sisters and my family’s health in jeopardy. This has been a very painful experience.”
“This is no joke. If you have to go out wear a mask and practice social distancing. Don’t be a f---ing idiot like me,” he wrote. “Hopefully with God’s help I’ll be able to survive this.”
Macias died one day after sharing his post.
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