Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is COPS: Trump Edition:
• Forecasts for 2nd Quarter gross domestic product are being downgraded: The government’s first report on GDP growth for the second quarter comes out next Friday, and it appears the rebound from the first quarter’s paltry 1.4 percent annualized growth isn’t going to be nearly as high as was being forecast earlier this year. Ten weeks ago, the Atlanta Fed was forecasting a solid 4.1 percent for the second quarter, which runs from April-June. Now, the forecast is down to a 2.4 percent annual rate for the quarter. The New York Fed is forecasting 1.9 percent, and 1.8 percent for the third quarter. If that trend continues, GDP growth in 2017 may be lower than the paltry 1.6 percent of last year.
• Rep. Mike Simpson, the Idaho Republican, tells Politico that he’s ignoring Trump:
“I don’t even pay any attention to what is going on with the administration because I don’t care. They’re a distraction. The family is a distraction, the president is a distraction. At first, it was ‘Well yeah, this is the guy we elected. He’ll learn, he’ll learn.’ And you just don’t see that happening.”
• Rosebud Sioux tribal member died last month after being Tased 12 times while handcuffed: Zachary Bearheels, 29, died June 5 after a run-in with police in which he seemed to be impaired by alcohol or drugs. According to a report in the Omaha World-Herald, he was not only Tased but struck 15 times with fists and dragged by his hair. When police delivered him to a hospital, he was declared dead. Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said a a press conference: “In this incident, despite our extensive training, we failed. The Omaha Police Department made a mistake on this occasion, and we’re doing whatever we need to to correct it.” He is recommending that the two officers be fired, and there may be criminal charges filed as well after a grand jury hears evidence in September. One of those officers had his body-cam turned off in violation of department policy. Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, a Republican, has said the incident has spurred her to set up a Native advisory board and seek cultural sensitivity training for police officers. Bearheels was on his way home to Oklahoma when the beating occurred. He was Rosebud Sioux on his father’s side and a Kiowa-Comanche-Apache on his mother’s side.
• The Washington Post’s tally of people in the U.S. killed by cops so far this year: 547.
• Got a titanium stomach? You’ll need it to watch Joe Lieberman explain the joys of centrism and why he didn’t support a public option in the Affordable Care Act.
• That plan to attract climate researchers to France? It’s working:
After his election, French president Emmanuel Macron created a program setting aside $69 million to fund researchers, especially from the U.S., to ply their trade in France. “Here, you are welcome,” Macron told scientists via Twitter, in a not-so-subtle jab at President Trump.
A month later, it appears researchers took Macron seriously. According to France’s national research agency, hundreds of climate scientists from around the world have applied for the program. Many hail from the U.S. The agency says most applicants are looking for short sabbaticals, but more than 150 applied to stay for four or more years.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, we desperately try to enter as many items on the record as possible on Russia, Trump Jr.’s treason meeting, Rohrabacher, the continuing Zombie Treasoncare debacle, and what the code word “adoption” really means. But as usual, there’s just too much!
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