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<meta Charset="utf-8" /><b Id="docs-internal-guid-4e0e0156-5f30-5d52-b7b9-4ca77c255871">Here Are The Oil And Coal Companies, Fortune 500 Corporations, And Republicans Who Want To Stay In The Paris Agreement</b>

  • With President Donald Trump reportedly poised to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, right-wing media are encouraging the move by misleading about the accord.
  • But leaving the Paris agreement would go against the overwhelming will of the U.S.
  • ExxonMobil, the nation's biggest oil company, is in favor of the Paris agreement.
  • Even one major coal company, Cloud Peak Energy, is asking Trump to stay in the accord.
Media Matters for America / Media Matters | May 31, 2017, 3:19 pm

Midday Open Thread: Swiss Switch On CO2 Capture Plant; Jealous Announces For Maryland Governorship

  • • Former NAACP leader Ben Jealous announces candidacy for Maryland governorship:
  • Jealous, 44, will seek the Democratic nomination in his first bid for political office.
  • In an interview Tuesday with The Baltimore Sun, Jealous took aim at Hogan's record on education, the economy and the environment.
  • • NYT dumping its “public editor” position: The position was established in 2003 after the Jayson Blair scandal. Elizabeth Spayd, named as the paper’s sixth public editor in 2016, is slated to remain in the post until the summer of 2018. 
rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) / Daily Kos | May 31, 2017, 2:53 pm

Elon Musk, You Said You Weighed In With Trump On Climate. How’d That Go?

  • A number of us asked a few months back why self-professed do-good corporate execs like Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had signed up for Donald Trump’s “manufacturing council.” We felt that it simply gave Trump cover for abominable policies like the Muslim ban and gutting climate change accords.
  • And on climate change, and the Paris Accords in particular, Musk said he personally raised the issue with Trump earlier this year, and he was “cautiously optimistic of a positive decision.”
  • Now that Trump is days away from deciding on whether to pull out of the Paris Accords — and all indications are that he will withdraw — corporate leaders like Musk need to reevaluate their presence on Trump’s business councils.
  • If Trump withdraws from Paris, it will be hugely devastating to the fight against climate change.
John Aravosis / AMERICAblog | May 31, 2017, 2:23 pm

Trump Reportedly Ready To Withdraw U.S. From Paris Climate Accord

  • According to reports that first broke this morning, President Trump is close to deciding to pull the United States out of the climate change accord reached in Paris in December 2015:
  • President Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, three officials with knowledge of the decision said, making good on a campaign pledge but severely weakening the landmark 2015 climate change accord that committed nearly every nation to take action to curb the warming of the planet.
  • A senior White House official cautioned that the specific language of the president’s expected announcement was still in flux Wednesday morning.
  • Still, faced with advisers who pressed hard on both sides of the Paris question, Mr.
Doug Mataconis / Outside The Beltway | May 31, 2017, 1:43 pm

Five Songs Of Resistance: Nina Simone

  • Musically, Simone was brilliantly innovative, drawing from her classical piano training, her experiences working in jazz clubs, as well as blues, gospel, soul, and folk, combining elements of these genres in groundbreaking ways.
  • Her most influential protest song of all, “Mississippi Goddamn,” was written in response to both the murder of activist Medgar Evers in the driveway of his Jackson, Mississippi home on June 12, 1963, and the September 15, 1963, bombing at the African American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which murdered four young girls.
  • The song was first released on a 1964 live album, Nina Simone in Concert, and also issued as its own single, which was eventually banned in states throughout the south.
  • But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”
Liz Pelly / Shadowproof | May 31, 2017, 12:41 pm

<em>The New York Times</em> Is Failing Its Readers By Eliminating The Public Editor

  • The New York Times is eliminating its public editor position, a move that will reduce accountability at the most powerful news organization in the country at a time when it needs it the most.
  • Current public editor Liz Spayd, who was reportedly expected to remain in the position until 2018, will leave the paper Friday, according to a note to staff from New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
  • Since 2003, the Times has employed a public editor to review criticism from the public about the paper’s ethics, the quality of its journalism, and its standards.
  • At its best, the public editor gives readers both a voice and an informed view of how the paper operates.
Media Matters for America / Media Matters | May 31, 2017, 12:18 pm

Republicans Plan To Give Elizabeth Warren The Hillary Clinton Treatment

  • Republicans are planning a big campaign against Elizabeth Warren’s 2018 Senate re-election—but it’s aimed at beating her in 2020, not 2018.
  • “We learned from our experience with Secretary (Hillary) Clinton that when you start earlier, the narratives have more time to sink in and resonate with the electorate,” said Colin Reed, executive director at the Republican outside group America Rising.
  • Reed’s group launched an effort in April to catalog and promote Warren’s mistakes, announcing that it would try to defeat the senator during next year’s race while also trying to “continue developing the long-term research and communications angles to damage her 2020 prospects.”
  • And while Republicans’ ultimate goal may be defeating Warren in 2020, or keeping her out of that race altogether, it raises the stakes for 2018 as a Senate re-election campaign:
rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) / Daily Kos | May 31, 2017, 11:44 am

Speaker Of The House Of Trump

  • A few weeks after the 2016 election, Newt Gingrich appeared at the Heritage Foundation to deliver what had been billed as a speech on the “Principles of Trumpism.” Tellingly, he spent most of his time instead talking about the brilliance of Trump the Man—his epic debate performances, his social media cunning, his utter domination of every opponent that provokes him.
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic | May 31, 2017, 9:54 am

<em>Fox & Friends</em> Calls The Paris Climate Accord "anti-Western"

  • STUART VARNEY: Well, first of all, [the Paris climate accord is] an unequal treaty.
  • VARNEY: You take money and resources off Europe and America, and you give it to other countries.
  • Fox & Friends provides platform for Scott Pruitt to mislead on Paris climate agreement
  • MSNBC Live lays out business case for staying in the Paris climate agreement
Media Matters for America / Media Matters | May 31, 2017, 9:14 am

Donald Trump Creates A National Untelligence Test With A Single 'word'

  • Like the citizens of Springfield pondering the meaning of “Gabbo” in the Simpson’s, America got to spend the evening wondering “What is ‘covfefe.’” Unlike those baffled Simpson’s folk, the dummy in this case is already here. It’s as if Trump presented the nation with, not an intelligence test, but proof that we already flunked a national intelligence test—by electing Trump. 
  • The most obvious explanation is that Trump started to type something about “negative press coverage” but missed the word so badly that even he became baffled about what he originally meant to type.
  • Four hours of Deep Thought later, Trump decided that the best use of the word would be to grind some salt into the national wound, pointing out that he didn’t merely have an aneurysm mid-Tweet, but knowingly shared with the world a blob of perfectly cromulent letters.
rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) / Daily Kos | May 31, 2017, 8:39 am

Use It Or Lose It?

  • The Supreme Court Finds North Carolina's Racial Gerrymandering Unconstitutional
  • State election officials across the country routinely remove voters who have died, moved to another state, or become otherwise ineligible to vote.
Matt Ford / The Atlantic | May 31, 2017, 6:51 am

The Role Of Journalism In Exposing A Culture Of Violence At Rikers Island

  • SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I have to start tonight on a personal note of something that happened last week. Now, I was asked by the family of the DNC staffer that was killed in July to pull back covering the story of the death because their son and their family was hurting. And now their family, out of consideration, seeing the pain that they were going through, they told me a number of times what was happening with them, and I was honestly glad to accommodate them. Because as a father I know that I would probably never recover if I lost one of my kids. I honestly don't think it is possible. I cannot imagine the pain this family has gone through. Now out of respect for the family's wishes, well, I decided for the time being not to discuss it unless there were further developments. But I also promised you, my audience, my loyal audience, that I will not stop investigating. I will not stop asking questions. And at a very high level, the bottom line here is the family wants the truth and I think the country deserves the truth, because this impacts so much of what the narrative in this country is now about, which is the left and their conspiracy theory. Now I can report, I am making progress. We will have a lot more coming probably sooner than later.
  • Hannity repeatedly pushed stories after Fox backed away from or retracted them
  • Mayor de Blasio pledged to close jail complex on Rikers Island within 10 years​.
  • This is the landmark journalism that brought public attention to Rikers Island
Media Matters for America / Media Matters | May 31, 2017, 6:12 am

Spicer's Glowing Review Of Trump's 'incredible' Trip Abroad Collides With Reality In The Briefing

  • Let’s begin by recapping the unprecedented level of sycophantic BS that flowed from Sean Spicer's lips during the first 10-plus minutes of Tuesday’s White House briefing.
  • I want to begin by recapping the incredible, historic trip that the president and first lady have just concluded because it truly was an extraordinary week for America and our people.
  • To the issue of the Russia probe, I'm wondering, Sean, if you can tell us when the president knew — whether the president knew at the time that Jared Kushner was seeking to establish back channel communications at the Russian embassy to the Russian government, and if he didn't know at the time, when did he find out?
rss@dailykos.com (Kerry Eleveld) / Daily Kos | May 31, 2017, 5:33 am

A New Jersey Mosque Wins In A Religious-Discrimination Lawsuit—Over Parking Lots

  • This case was a particularly nasty and controversial example of a local board discriminating against a religious group that wanted a place to worship.
Emma Green / The Atlantic | May 31, 2017, 3:45 am

MSNBC's Ali Velshi Honors Heroes Who Died Defending Girls From An Anti-Muslim Extremist In Portland

  • SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I have to start tonight on a personal note of something that happened last week. Now, I was asked by the family of the DNC staffer that was killed in July to pull back covering the story of the death because their son and their family was hurting. And now their family, out of consideration, seeing the pain that they were going through, they told me a number of times what was happening with them, and I was honestly glad to accommodate them. Because as a father I know that I would probably never recover if I lost one of my kids. I honestly don't think it is possible. I cannot imagine the pain this family has gone through. Now out of respect for the family's wishes, well, I decided for the time being not to discuss it unless there were further developments. But I also promised you, my audience, my loyal audience, that I will not stop investigating. I will not stop asking questions. And at a very high level, the bottom line here is the family wants the truth and I think the country deserves the truth, because this impacts so much of what the narrative in this country is now about, which is the left and their conspiracy theory. Now I can report, I am making progress. We will have a lot more coming probably sooner than later.
  • Hannity repeatedly pushed stories after Fox backed away from or retracted them
  • ALI VELSHI (HOST): As we end this show, I need to say something about this Portland stabbing.
  • Cue the heroes, Rick Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, and Micah Fletcher.
Media Matters for America / Media Matters | May 31, 2017, 3:08 am