A federal judge ruled Saturday that former national security adviser John Bolton can move forward in publishing his tell-all book despite efforts by the Trump administration to block the release because of concerns that classified information could be exposed.The decision from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth is a victory for Bolton in a court case that involved core First Amendment and national security concerns. But the judge also made clear his concerns that Bolton had “gambled with the national security of the United States” by opting out of a prepublication review process meant to prevent government officials from spilling classified secrets in memoirs they publish.Trump Unleashes Attacks on Bolton BookUS leader says former national security adviser John Bolton’s account of his 17 months in the White House is ‘a compilation of lies and made up stories’The ruling clears the path for a broader election-year readership and distribution of a memoir, due out Tuesday, that paints an unflattering portrait of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy decision-making during the turbulent year-and-a-half that Bolton spent in the White House.Nonethless, Lamberth frowned upon the way Bolton went about publishing the book. Bolton took it “upon himself to publish his book without securing final approval from national intelligence authorities” and perhaps caused irreparable harm to national security, Lamberth said.Trump Engaged World Leaders for His Own Gains, Bolton Says Former national security adviser shares damning allegations against the US president But with 200,000 copies already distributed to booksellers across the country, attempting to block its release would be futile, the judge wrote.”A single dedicated individual with a book in hand could publish its contents far and wide from his local coffee shop,” Lamberth wrote. “With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe — many in newsrooms — the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo.’ 
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It was June 2015, and Democrats felt the nation’s political and cultural winds blowing their way. The Supreme Court ruled in President Barack Obama’s favor on landmark gay marriage and health care cases. The White House was awash in rainbow light, a symbol of a liberal cultural takeover that seemed unstoppable.  The following year, Donald Trump was elected president, propelled by a revolt of voters who weren’t on board.  As he barrels toward the November election, Trump is again positioning himself as the spokesperson for voters resisting a new wave of cultural change, ready to ride any backlash from the protests calling for racial equality and police reform and this week’s Supreme Court rulings extending protections to gay workers and young immigrants.  “THE SILENT MAJORITY IS STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE,” Trump tweeted Friday, aligning himself with those who believe their voices are increasingly missing from the national dialogue.  In truth, Trump has never had support from a majority of Americans, nor has he seen a political imperative in trying to. He lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 but offset that by boosting turnout in crucial Midwestern battleground states among disaffected, largely white, voters. That’s the same narrow path he’s trying to replicate against Democrat Joe Biden.  Yet Trump’s efforts to harness the culture wars to mobilize many of those same voters in 2020 may be more difficult than it was four years ago. Polls show that some of the cultural shifts that took hold during Obama’s presidency have continued during Trump’s tenure, signaling that his election alone couldn’t hold back the evolving views of an increasingly diverse nation.  As a result, Trump has found himself out of step in recent weeks, even with some of his usual allies.For example, polls show the majority of Americans support the nationwide protests over police brutality — demonstrations Trump threatened to crack down on by deploying the military. The outcry prompted the NFL to shift its position and apologize for not supporting players who protested police bias by kneeling during the national anthem, abandoning Trump on that debate.This week’s Supreme Court rulings also put the Trump administration — which argued against extending federal employment protections to LGBTQ Americans and in favor of rescinding deportation protections for immigrants known as “Dreamers” — on the opposite side of the vast majority of Americans.  A CBS News poll conducted earlier this month showed 82% of Americans believe gay people should be protected under civil rights laws. The same survey showed 85% of Americans say the “Dreamers” — young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children — should be given legal status. Trump has said he’s open to legal protection for them but still sought to rescind their current protections to gain leverage in any immigration negotiations in Congress.  Yet some of Trump’s supporters believe the nation is in a similar place to where it was during those heady days for liberals in 2015, with cultural trends and even court decisions papering over deep resentment and unease among many Americans.  “There is a mob mentality out right now that if you don’t agree with what certain people want you to think, they attempt to shame and silence people,” said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. “Yet when you go to the voting booth, you’re going to vote the way you want to.”Some of the president’s advisers privately acknowledge that many of the base voters Trump is appealing to aren’t representative of the majority of the country. They are instead banking on those Americans being more fervent, more likely to donate to his campaign, to show up at rallies, and most importantly, to vote in November than Democrats or independents.  “There is going to be a massive turnout from people who see this cancerous political correctness coming from the major media companies, the social media companies, all of the elite institutions, including the Supreme Court,” said Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union and a Trump ally.  The president has made clear that as he embraces the culture wars in the months leading up to Election Day, he’ll put the Supreme Court in his crosshairs. He said this week that he would soon release a list of contenders for any high court vacancies during his second term.  That’s the same move he made in 2016 as he sought to energize conservatives eager to tip the balance of power throughout the judicial system and offset what they argue are “activist” liberal judges. They’ve since cheered Trump’s two nominees to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and the 200 federal judges who have been confirmed during his term.  So this week’s rulings were a jolt for many Trump supporters, one some conservatives say was needed to show the president’s base that even more like-minded judges are needed.  “I can’t think of much else that fires up conservatives than the makeup of the Supreme Court,” said Jason Chaffetz, the former Republican congressman from Utah. “They’re willing to forgive a lot knowing that Donald Trump is going to do the right thing in picking conservative justices.”Much of the conservative outrage over this week’s court rulings has centered on Chief Justice John Roberts, who was nominated by President George W. Bush and sided with the majority in both cases. But Roberts was joined in the LGBT employment case by Gorsuch.  To Democrats, the rulings — and particularly Gorsuch’s majority opinion on the gay rights case — were another sign that Trump is increasingly an outlier on political, social and legal matters, even in forums in which he seemingly has an advantage.  “What are they fighting for if Trump tries to enact his policies and they get overturned?” Jennifer Palmieri, a Democratic strategist who worked for Obama and Hillary Clinton, said of Trump supporters. “Trump has to worry about his base feeling like he’s ineffectual, even with a Trump Supreme Court.” 
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Beyoncé did not let Juneteenth pass without dropping one of her signature surprises — a new single called “Black Parade.””I’m going back to the South, I’m going back where my roots ain’t watered down,” Beyoncé sings, opening the track. At several points on Friday’s release, the singer tells listeners to “Follow my parade.”Proceeds from the song will benefit black-owned small businesses, a message entitled “Black Parade Route” on the singer’s website said. The post included links to dozens of black-owned businesses.”Happy Juneteenth. Being Black is your activism. Black excellence is a form of protest. Black joy is your right,” the message said.Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. While the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the South beginning Jan. 1, 1863, it wasn’t enforced in many places until after the end of the Civil War two years later. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas.”We got rhythm, we got pride, we birth kings, we birth tribes,” Beyoncé sings toward the end of the nearly five-minute song.Juneteenth — typically a day of both joy and pain — was marked with new urgency this year, amid weekslong protests over police brutality and racism sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody.Beyoncé spoke out on social media in the wake of Floyd’s death.”We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalize this pain,” she said in an Instagram video that called for people to sign a petition demanding justice for Floyd.The singer also joined the call for charges against the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor, who was gunned down in March by officers who burst into her Kentucky home. Beyoncé wrote in a letter Sunday to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron that the three Louisville police officers “must be held accountable for their actions.” Cameron has asked for patience amid a probe, but Louisville’s mayor announced Friday that one of the officers would be fired.The release of “Black Parade” is the singer’s latest philanthropic effort. In April she announced her BeyGOOD charity would partner with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Start Small campaign  to provide $6 million in relief funds to a variety of groups working to provide basic necessities in cities like Detroit, Houston, New York and New Orleans.It’s also the latest surprise release from the singer, who along with husband Jay-Z released the nine-track album “Everything Is Love” in 2018 with no notice. In 2013, Beyoncé released the self-titled album “Beyoncé,” also without any notice.”I hope we continue to share joy and celebrate each other, even in the midst of struggle,” she wrote in an Instagram post announcing the release of “Black Parade.” “Please continue to remember our beauty, strength and power.”  
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Activists and religious leaders are holding a virtual march Saturday to highlight the plight of poor people in the United States.The Poor People’s Mass Assembly and Moral March on Washington was to be held in front of the White House, but the coronavirus pandemic forced organizers to instead mount a digital gathering.Organizers began making plans for the event two years ago, seeking to focus attention not only on the poor, but also on the systemic racism in the U.S., a theme that has been highlighted in recent demonstrations across the U.S. and around the world. following the death of George Floyd, who died after a police officer in Minneapolis held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.Poor people will talk about their lives in the online campaign that will be streamed on various media outlets, including MSNBC and Radio One.Organizers of the event are also looking to focus attention on the country’s systemic ecological devastation that disproportionately affects poor communities.Dr. William J.  Barber and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis are the co-chairs of the virtual event. Hosts of the event will include former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Danny Glover, Jane Fonda, David Oyelowo, Wanda Sykes, and Debra Messing. 
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In a surprise move, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday that it was replacing Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan whose office has been investigating Rudolph W. Giuliani, the personal lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump.Attorney General William Barr said in a news release late on Friday evening that Trump intends to nominate Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to replace Berman as head of the Southern District of New York.The reason for Berman’s departure could not be immediately determined.”I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,” Berman said in a statement.pic.twitter.com/hFNvQs5orV— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) June 20, 2020He said that until a presidentially appointed nominee was confirmed by the Senate, the office’s “investigations will move forward without delay or interruption.”Since being appointed to the post in January 2018, Berman has not shied from taking on powerful figures in Trump’s orbit.He oversaw the prosecution of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, indicted two Giuliani associates and launched a probe into Giuliani in connection with his efforts to dig up dirt in the Ukraine on Trump’s political adversaries.While the Senate considers Clayton’s nomination, Trump has appointed Craig Carpenito, currently the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, to serve as the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District, Barr said in his statement.Berman, who served on Trump’s transition team, could not immediately be reached for comment. Berman had replaced Preet Bharara, who was himself fired soon after Trump became president.Bharara said the timing and manner of the move to replace Berman was strange.”Why does a president get rid of his own hand-picked US Attorney in SDNY on a Friday night, less than 5 months before the election?” Bharara wrote on Twitter.Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer seen as a bipartisan consensus-builder during his time leading the SEC, also could not immediately be reached for comment. 
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The United States Supreme Court this week delivered legal setbacks to the Trump administration with rulings on immigration and LGBTQ rights — two issues important to the president’s supporters. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report on the president’s reaction to these decisions and how they may impact him politically ahead of the November election.
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Forcibly displaced by drought and extremist violence in southwestern Somalia, Fadumo Mohamed Abdi thought she had found safety in the Puntland region’s northeastern city of Bosaso.But one day in May 2019, while she and three other women were gathering firewood on the outskirts of their camp, they were accosted by four armed men, she said.”The other three women managed to escape, but unfortunately I could not. They raped me repeatedly and left me unconscious,” Abdi told VOA’s Somali service in a phone conversation Friday.Abdi was hospitalized for several days and, more than a year later, still bears trauma from the episode. Her disabled husband and their nine children had depended on her to collect fuel, but she remains too fearful to venture back into the woods. Instead, she relies on her sisters and friends.The toll of sexual violence extends well beyond a single person or family, the United Nations said in marking Friday’s annual observance of International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.”It reverberates throughout communities and societies, perpetuating cycles of violence and threatening international peace and security,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the challenges in areas with armed conflict, Guterres said, because “reporting crimes may be difficult; shelters and clinics may be closed.”Guterres commended frontline workers who have found ways to support survivors “despite lockdowns and quarantines.” And, his statement concluded, “We must prevent and end these crimes; place survivors at the center of our response; hold perpetrators accountable; and expand support for all those affected.”Abdi said that, as far as she knew, there has been no investigation and her attackers are still at large.”We are poor. We cannot afford a lawyer” to help the family seek justice, she said.According to U.N. Women, an estimated 35% women globally have suffered sexual violence. Risks exist even at home. The group reported in April that an estimated 243 million females experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month span.In Somalia last year, 241 of 744 reported rapes involved conflict-related sexual violence, the U.N. office there found.Rape and other acts of sexual violence often go unreported and unpunished in the Horn of Africa country, groups such as Human Rights Watch say, because of a culture of impunity and stigma.2 Children Brutally Raped in Field Near MogadishuAuthorities have arrested a number of suspectsSomalia, wracked by civil war since its central government collapsed in 1991, divided itself into regions and fiefdoms ruled by rival clan leaders and warlords. There’s no strong, common rule of law.Legal changesChanging attitudes have brought some legal developments.In 2016, semiautonomous Puntland became the first regional state in Somalia to criminalize sexual assault. In February, authorities executed two men convicted of the abduction, gang rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in 2019.In 2018, the northern region of Somaliland passed a law that allows prison sentences of up to 30 years for convicted rapists. That same year, Somalia’s cabinet ministers drafted legislation, still being considered by the Parliament, to outlaw sexual offenses, including exploitation, trafficking, slavery and forced marriage. It would require investigations into rape allegations and ban clan-based settlements of sexual violence charges.Abdulkadir Mohamed Warsame, an activist in Puntland, said assaults on minors have brought “a traumatic pain in the hearts of Somalis. … Although steps were taken toward bringing the culprits to justice, that is not enough to eradicate the crime,” he added, calling for establishing “a special unit that monitors sexual violence in conflict.”An assault in April sparked a public outcry and more demands for action.Two girls — ages 2 and 3 — were abducted from their home in Afgoye, a town about 30 kilometers southwest of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in an area frequented by al-Shabab militants. The next day, a farmer found them in a field, alive but sexually assaulted and traumatized, the town’s mayor told VOA.James Swan, the U.N.’s special representative for Somalia, is urging the country’s leaders and residents to do more “to assist and listen to victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.””Conflict-related sexual violence inflicts deep personal wounds and remains a violation of the human rights of the victims,” he said. “It also scars the fabric of society and the country and has no place in the modern, emerging Somalia.”
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected a request to require everyone attending President Donald Trump’s campaign rally Saturday in Tulsa to wear face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The state court ruled Friday that several local residents who made the request for all rally attendees to wear face masks could not establish they a had clear legal right to seek such a mandate. The Trump campaign said organizers would be providing masks and hand sanitizer to all who want them. Organizers will be checking the temperature of all attendees to guard against the spread of the virus. The campaign said it is taking “safety seriously” as some health experts have warned that the large gathering could promote the spread of the coronavirus.  Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump camp near the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 19, 2020.The managers of the Bank of Oklahoma Center, the indoor multipurpose arena in Tulsa where the rally will take place, have asked the president’s campaign for a written health and safety plan. BOK Center officials said they requested the plan because Tulsa has experienced a recent increase in coronavirus cases.   The arena has seats for 19,000 people, and the Trump campaign says more than a million people have sought tickets. Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum says crowds of 100,000 or more people are expected in the area around the rally.  Bynum declared a civil emergency and set an overnight curfew for the area around the arena, citing the unrest that followed some of the recent protests across the country against police brutality. However, Trump tweeted Friday that he spoke to Bynum and there would not be a curfew.I just spoke to the highly respected Mayor of Tulsa, G.T. Bynum, who informed me there will be no curfew tonight or tomorrow for our many supporters attending the #MAGA Rally. Enjoy yourselves – thank you to Mayor Bynum! @gtbynum— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020The mayor’s office originally said the curfew would remain in effect from 10 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday and would again be in force on Saturday night.  Bynum said in his order, “I have received information from the Tulsa Police Department and other law enforcement agencies that shows that individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other states are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally.” Bynum did not identify the groups to which he was referring.  Trump tweeted on Friday, “Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!”Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020A White House spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, said Trump was referring to violent protesters, not peaceful ones.  The Tulsa rally was originally scheduled for Friday but was pushed back a day after criticism that it fell on Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the United States, and takes place in a city where racial killings occurred in 1921 that left several hundred African Americans dead. It is Trump’s first major reelection event since a coronavirus shutdown across much of the country and recent nationwide protests sparked by the death of African American George Floyd while in the custody of white police officers in Minneapolis last month.
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The U.S. Navy will not reinstate Captain Brett Crozier after faulting his response to the outbreak of the coronavirus aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and is also putting an admiral’s promotion on hold, sources told Reuters on Friday.Top Navy leaders were expected to announce the decisions Friday at a news conference.Crozier’s crew hailed him as a hero for risking his job by writing a letter, which later leaked, calling on the Navy for greater safeguards for his crew.A previous Navy investigation had recommended reinstating Crozier. But results of a more in-depth probe, which were to be disclosed at least in part on Friday, are expected to detail concerns about his response to the virus, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. It was unclear whether that would include his failure to address those concerns through proper channels.The Navy is also expected to call for further investigation into Crozier’s boss at the time, Rear Admiral Stuart Baker. The Navy will announce that Baker’s planned promotion to a second star is being put on hold.More than 1,200 sailors aboard the Roosevelt have tested positive for the coronavirus, including one sailor who died from it and several others who had to be treated at a hospital in Guam. The Navy has not explained publicly how the virus got aboard the ship.Crozier was fired by the Navy’s top civilian, then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, against the recommendations of uniformed leaders, who suggested he wait for an investigation.Modly’s decision backfired badly, as members of the crew hailed their captain as a hero for risking his career out of concern for their health, in an emotional sendoff captured on video that went viral on social media.Embarrassed, Modly then compounded his problems by flying out to the carrier to ridicule Crozier over the leak and question his character in a speech to the Roosevelt’s crew, which also leaked to the media. Modly then resigned.
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World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared Friday the coronavirus pandemic is “accelerating” and warned that lockdown measures are still needed to halt it. “We are in a new and dangerous phase,” Tedros said at a news conference in Geneva. FILE – World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wears a protective face mask after leaving a ceremony for the restarting of Geneva’s landmark fountain, following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Geneva, June 11, 2020.Tedros said more than 150,000 cases worldwide were reported Thursday, the largest one-day increase since the outbreak began in December. Significant numbers of the new cases were in South Asia and the Middle East. As of Friday, there were more than 8.5 million cases worldwide, a quarter of which were in the U.S., the world leader with over 2.2 million, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. Brazil is next with more than 978,000 and Russia comes in third with more 568,000. Experts at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine told the U.S.-based broadcasting network CBS News that according to their model, Brazil’s death toll is poised to surpass that of the United States as early as next month.  Hopkins reports a U.S. death toll of 118,435 and a death toll of 47,748 for Brazil. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has dismissed COVID-19 as being nothing more than a “little flu” and said anyone worried about the virus is being neurotic. He has encouraged Brazilian businesses to reopen and states to lift their lockdowns. Oklahoma rallyThe managers of the Bank of Oklahoma Center, the arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where U.S. President Donald Trump is holding a Make America Great Again rally Saturday, have asked the president’s campaign for a written health and safety plan for the massive rally that is being held in the midst of a global pandemic.  Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump camp near the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 19, 2020.BOK Center officials said they requested the plan because Tulsa has experienced a recent uptick in coronavirus cases.  BOK officials said they will share the plans with the local health department when they receive them from the president’s campaign.  The campaign has already agreed to conduct temperature checks on all attendees and to distribute masks and hand sanitizer to everyone.  The BOK Center holds 19,000 people. Campaign officials say more than one million people have expressed interest in attending the rally.Victims of abuseMore and more children are victims of hate, bullying and violence because of the coronavirus pandemic, a new United Nations report says.  According to the experts, without access to support networks such as educators, friends and extended families they usually find at school, some children have been stranded in abusive homes with no place to turn for help as schools are locked down to control the spread of COVID-19. Overall, about a billion children suffer from physical, sexual or psychological abuse each year, especially in places where the governments have failed to set up support programs. COVID-19 isolation is making the problem worse. “There is never any excuse for violence against children,” WHO chief Tedros said.  Lifting restrictionsIn Iran, officials say regular Friday prayers will resume in Tehran next week despite a jump in the number of coronavirus cases over the past few weeks.  Iran had reported 197,647 confirmed cases and 9,272 deaths as of Thursday, according to trackers at A woman wearing a face mask walks past a fountain amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, in San Diego, California, June 18, 2020.Californians are now required to wear face masks in most indoor and outdoor settings, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered Thursday. “Science shows that face coverings and masks work,” Newsom said. “They are critical to keeping those who are around you safe, keeping businesses open and restarting our economy.” The governor said since restrictions started to be lifted last month on restaurants and some stores, not enough people have been taking the proper precautions by covering their faces.  Wayne Lee, Fern Robinson and Kenneth Schwartz contributed to this report.
 
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