Common Dreams:
"NBC News reports that Melania Trump earned between $100,000 and $1 million in royalties in 2017 from the photo service Getty Images according to the president's financial disclosure form. The First Lady had a deal with Getty stating that 187 of the photos of her that it licensed to news outlets—all taken between 2010 and 2016 by a Belgian photographer named Regine Mahaux—had to be used in positive coverage of Melania Trump. ..
The photos that were subject to the First Lady's agreement are marked as 'restricted assets' on the site, and users who attempt to license them are told thay can be used only for 'positive stories.' ...
As Newsweek reported, 'Such royalty deals are common for celebrities, but one for a first lady is not and it's even rarer for a media outlet to guarantee what kind of coverage it would grant the subject of a story.' "
-->The first lady selling her images to the media, and demanding that they only be used in positive stories. How low can the Trumps go? This current disgrace, however, was not reported in the NYT.
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The Guardian UK:
"Brawls and verbal confrontations punctuated the latest in a series of far-right 'patriot movement' events in Portland, Oregon, on Friday, as around 100 attendees clashed verbally and occasionally physically with 'anti-fascist' protesters.
In such an atmosphere of tension and violence, Portland Republicans voted this week to invite heavily armed militia groups to provide security at public events.
The Portland Mercury reported the controversial move, after the text of a party resolution was leaked. In May, the Guardian reported that Multnomah County GOP chairman James Buchal was considering such a move as a result of perceived danger from anti-fascist protesters. Buchal then used a major rightwing rally in the city, on 4 June and in the tense aftermath of a racially motivated double murder on city transportation, as a recruiting platform."
-->Armed right wing militia groups to take part in rallies for the Republican Party. How close can we get to fascism before it it too late. The NYT wasn't too concerned; it didn't publish this story.
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The Intercept:
"THE HOUSE COMMITTEE on Foreign Affairs unanimously passed a measure on Thursday that would give the Trump administration power to decide how to punish U.S. companies that engage in or promote boycotts of Israel — including through criminal penalties.
The committee passed an amendment by voice vote from Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., that largely replaced the text of a bill called the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. When the original legislation was first introduced last year, it drew outrage from activists, and the American Civil Liberties Union warned that by threatening to impose steep criminal penalties on boycott activists engaged with international bodies’ boycotts, the bill was unconstitutional.
After the uproar, the initial bill, which was supported by the influential America Israel Public Affairs Committee, lost momentum. But Royce’s effort to move his version out of the Foreign Affairs Committee is part of a push to reinvigorate Capitol Hill’s efforts to use statutory means to clamp down on the growing movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the Jewish state for human rights violations against the Palestinians."
