The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 today in support of a Christian Colorado baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.  (full pdf below)  The majority of the justices’ decision revolved around the severity of anti-religious bias displayed by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission when it originally ruled against the baker Jack Phillips.  According to the ruling the commission violated Mr. Phillips’ rights under the First Amendment.

The court did not rule upon whether Mr. Phillips held a first amendment right to refuse to bake the cake; the court ruled Mr. Phillips first amendment rights, religious liberty, was actually violated by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission itself.  Much irony here.

Due to the severity of discrimination, exhibited by the Colorado Commission, against the first amendment right of the baker to hold and express Christianity as a foundational moral value, the Supreme court ruled against Colorado to support the rights of the Mr. Phillips.

(Via AP) […] Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that the larger issue “must await further elaboration” in the courts. Appeals in similar cases are pending, including one at the Supreme Court from a florist who didn’t want to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for Monday June 4th.  Anticipated start time 2:15pm EST:

UPDATE: Video Added

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appeared earlier today on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing aspects of Spygate etc.  WATCH:

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As CTH shared over a week ago, the investigative focus has shifted toward a larger backstory within the CIA and professional counterintelligence actors, ie. spies. Within this line of inquiry it is dangerous to take current presentations and overlay them against their historic footprint. Inevitably the discussion leads to contradictions and forces the conversation into the world of mirrored halls filled with purposeful disinformation.

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On the same day Vice-Chairman Kim Yong Chol arrives back in Beijing en route to North Korea from a meeting with President Trump, Yonhap News is reporting that the top three officials in the North Korean military have been replaced:

SEOUL/TOKYO, June 3 (Yonhap) — All of North Korea’s three top military officials are believed to have been replaced, an intelligence source said Sunday, in a move that could be aimed at taming the military ahead of a denuclearization deal with the U.S.

No Kwang-chol, first vice minister of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, replaced Pak Yong-sik as defense chief, while Ri Myong-su, chief of the KPA’s general staff, was replaced by his deputy, Ri Yong-gil, according to the source.

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Oh boy… subtle like a brick through a window.  Lest there be any debate remaining about the U.S. position toward China in the ongoing Dragon/Panda diplomatic dance, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just delivered a message.

Against the jousting backdrop of Chinese influence over North Korea; and remembering that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is –right now– in Beijing discussing the future of U.S. and Chinese trade relations; and understanding that even mentioning the 1989 Tiananmen uprising/massacre is forbidden in China….. well:

On the 29th anniversary of the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, we remember the tragic loss of innocent lives.

As Liu Xiaobo wrote in his 2010 Nobel Peace Prize speech, delivered in absentia, “the ghosts of June 4th have not yet been laid to rest.”

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President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, appears on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd to discuss the Mueller investigation and the upcoming IG report on DOJ and FBI conduct.  Interesting interview:

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The essential argument made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during this interview was already addressed in the preview segment prior to broadcast – SEE HERE –  However, here is the full interview as broadcast on NBC Meet The Press with Chuck Todd.

The interview is a typical narrative engineering attempt by Chuck Toad; however, beyond the narrative, for those who pay close attention to the economic issues, there are some key elements which deserve attention:

• @04:05 Trudeau admits the problem with corporate transshipment of Chinese Steel into the U.S. market – through Canada via the NAFTA loophole.  While Justin from Canada frames the issue from their own national efforts to stop the practice, you’ll note how he avoids taking ownership…. it’s called ‘willful blindness‘.
• More importantly at @08:17 the topic of NAFTA surfaces. Pay close attention.  Not only does Trudeau speak in past tense (reinforcing the reality that all parties have accepted that NAFTA is essentially dead), but moments later @09:00 he admits the Canadian trade and manufacturing economy is set up as a brokerage (ie. multinational corporate investment) dependent, exclusively dependent, on access to the U.S. market.

WATCH:

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Once you see the strings on the marionettes, you can never go back to a time when you didn’t notice them.

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White House Director of Trade Policy Peter Navarro appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss U.S. trade policy, steel and aluminum tariffs.

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