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  • April 24, 2020: Trump Says Inject Chemicals
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    07:48

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Donald Trump gives more terrible medical advice from behind a podium. Public health officials in Washington State likened it to telling people to eat Tide pods – and by the time you hear this, he might’ve already caused people to hurt themselves.

    Meanwhile, Joe Biden is taking a very Jimmy Buffet approach to campaigning, with two appearances in two weeks. But so far, it doesn’t appear to be hurting him in the polls.

    And lastly, a federal appeals court in Michigan says children have a right to a basic education. What it took was teachers who were forced to do janitorial work and kids who weren’t getting taught to read.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Sometime today or tomorrow, the official coronavirus death toll in the US will pass fifty thousand. Expect this number to continue to rise. As Germany’s leader, Angela Merkel, told people of that country yesterday, QUOTE Nobody likes to hear this but it is the truth. We are not living through the final phase of this crisis, we are still at its beginning. We will still have to live with this virus for a long time ENDQUOTE.

    In the US, perhaps one-fifth of the COVID-19 deaths have taken place in nursing homes. At least eleven thousand Americans have died in nursing homes from this disease and the federal government still isn’t collecting, or reporting, data. And as bad as those numbers are they are based on guesswork. Most nursing homes aren’t able to test residents. As multiple news organizations reported yesterday, they are begging for tests. Federal agencies like Heath and Human Services, run by Trump cronies, say there are plenty of tests. But Trump’s own coronavirus adviser, Anthony Fauci, is also urging for a massive ramp-up in testing.

    Trump said last night he doesn’t agree. Then why keep Fauci around? The doctor himself must wonder sometimes. Here was Trump’s big contribution to the discourse last night, in case you still wonder what happens on those briefings: He wondered aloud whether maybe injecting people with disinfectant, like rubbing alcohol, would be helpful. Or maybe somehow doctors could shine a light under people’s skin. I’m just telling you what he said, I don’t know what he meant. I should also add, do not try this at home. Unless you are a Trump voter. In which case, use your best judgment.

    Larry Summers advising Biden

    Another four and a half million people filed unemployment claims last week, the fifth straight week of mass layoffs, with some 27 million Americans losing their jobs since mid- March. And yet, as of this week, the same portion of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction as thought so one year ago. That’s according to a nationwide poll commissioned by the Associated Press and conducted by the University of Chicago, released yesterday along with those new unemployment numbers. One year ago, there was no coronavirus pandemic. We’re talking about thirty-six percent of people who think everything’s going A-OK. So I guess you can figure roughly one in three Americans has absolutey no idea what’s going on around them, or simply refuses to listen.

    A number of other polls looked pretty good for Joe Biden in some key swing states. Even Fox News’s poll showed Biden beating Trump by eight percentage points in Michigan. But it’s too soon to say whether those leads will hold, or how everything will play out with the election. Over forty percent of voters have no idea what Biden has to say about the coronavirus. And they don’t necessarily trust him with the economy. Bloomberg News reported that Larry Summers, who has been mismanaging the economy for various US presidents since Ronald Reagan, is advising Joe Biden on the economy. The Biden campaign had previously concealed Summer’s involvement, probably because some voters remember him as one of the guys who told Barack Obama to bail out Wall Street back in 2008. That is, if they don’t remember him for becoming a national symbol of sexism as president of Harvard. Or for hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein well after Epstein’s was convicted of raping a minor. Surely there’s another rich guy Biden could hire to tell him how to give more money to banks?

    Politico came out with its own investigation of former Biden staff member Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations against the candidate yesterday. Like The New York Times, they were unable to find other former Biden staff to corroborate her account of an assault – which may not be surprising. However, Politico did speak to Reade’s brother as well as an old friend, and both said Reade told them what had happened at the time.

    Biden’s most recent campaign event was this Wednesday. Before that, he last appeared on TV to campaign the previous Wednesday, April 15. Is he doing self-care or what?

    Literacy ruled Constitutional right

    A panel of the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the Constitution confers a fundamental right to literacy, and a QUOTE basic minimum education ENDQUOTE -- for the first time.

    Lawyers representing a group of children in Detroit Public Schools sued, among others, Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder in 2016. Synder has been in charge of appointing so-called emergency managers for troubled public schools. The complaint alleged that students in the most under-resourced, worst-performing public schools were being deprived of their Constituional rights because they were not being taught to read. In 2018, a federal judge in Detroit dismissed the lawsuit. But the sixth circuit took the case on appeal -- and yesterday, two out of three judges agreed that the students were denied fundamental rights by the state. The judge who dissented was appointed by Donald Trump.

    Among the claims in the lawsuit: Some classes in Detroit schools had no teachers at all. In one instance, an eighth-grade student taught math classes to seventh and eight gradders for a whole month, because no teacher was available.

    The public schools superintendant and the mayor of Detroit praised the ruling. The case now returns to the judge who initially dismissed it. The children’s lawyer wants to see the case settled and the schools funded by the state.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    The leading fundraiser among Democratic candidates for a hotly contested Congressional seat in New York has taken a bunch of money from Republicans and dodgy defense contractors. That’s according to an investigation by The Intercept of Evelyn Farkas, a former national security official in the Barack Obama administration and a candidate for the seventeeth district seat in New York. Farkas’s big-dollar donors include former George W. Bush intelligence director John Negroponte -- a key promoter of the Iraq invasion, and a supporter of war crimes in Latin America during the Reagan administration.

    If you have an iPhone or an iPad, don’t use the Apple Mail app for a while. At least until the next system update. Use Outlook or Gmail instead. That’s the advice of computer security experts after a new bug was discovered in Apple’s software that could allow hackers to read and delete emails. If you are on iOS version thirteen dot four dot dive, you should be fine. But until you get that update, avoid the Mail app. There you go, another excuse to dodge work – you’re welcome.

    What’s the opposite of a miracle? Insane Clown Posse has canceled the 2020 Gathering of the Juggalos. The annual festival and performance had been scheduled for August in Ohio. ICP said in a statement that they QUOTE refuse to risk even one Juggalo life by hosting a Gathering during these troubling times ENDQUOTE. There you have it, folks: ICP is more responsible than the President of the United States.

    That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Corey Pein

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 23, 2020: Rental Aid Programs Insufficient
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    07:46

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Donald Trump’s choice to coordinate the government’s coronavirus response was a cross between a Labrador and a poodle -- they’re good dogs! Yet another top public health official has become a whistleblower after the White House fired them for doing their job.

    Meanwhile, lots of cities are passing emergency rental assistance programs for people who’ve lost income during the pandemic and economic crash. But a new survey finds that the need is far greater than the meager funds that have been provided.

    And lastly, more and more cities are opening streets to people walking and riding bikes. And in places where they’ve been doing this, they’re finding they don’t miss the cars.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Tremendous wealth and income inequality in the United States means the coronavirus is hitting the working poor, unemployed, and otherwise unable to work much harder. Food banks are overwhelmed. What was left of the social safety net, after decades of bipartisan disinvestment, has failed. That’s the opinion of the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. In an interview with the Guardian yesterday, Stiglitz said the US under Donald Trump looks like a Third World country. Now, we don’t have a Nobel Prize, but that seems unfair to Third World countries, many of which have governments that are actually trying to save people’s lives during this pandemic.

    Yesterday Reuters reported that the Trump administration appointed, as the key coordinator of the federal coronavirus reponse... a Labradoodle breeder. Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, a Big Pharma executive, appointed his friend and aide, Brian Harrison, to lead the response across various agencies in his purview. Harrison had no public health experience. For six years prior to joining the Trump administration two years ago, he ran a company in Texas called Dallas Labradoodles. He was reportedly known in the White House as QUOTE the dog breeder ENDQUOTE.

    Also yesterday, a former key HHS official went public with accusations he was fired for raising questions about Trump’s promotion of a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, to treat COVID-19.

    Former HHS assistant secretary Rick Bright has filed a formal whistleblower complaint. Bright said the Trump administration QUOTE pressured me and other conscientious scientists to fund companies with political connections as well as efforts that lack scientific merit ENDQUOTE. Trump didn’t mention his favorite drug, in which he was reportedly invested, in a week as results of early trials came back negative. Which is to say, people who were given the drug died at higher rates and nobody got better. But because of Trump’s absolutely flagrant corruption, shortages continue for people who actually need the drug.

    Rental aid programs insufficient

    Cities across the country have passed various emergency aid measures to help renters during the pandemic and the record unemployment that’s come with it. Many of them are failing in their intended purpose: to keep people housed during the crisis. An investigation by The Appeal, a nonprofit news website funded by the Tides foundation, at least twenty cities and counties in some of America’s most populous areas have passed some form of rent relief. While thousands of people are benefiting from these programs, they are underfunded, and most were immediately overwhelmed with demand. For example: In Orange County, Florida, a small fund of less than $2 million meant to aid fifteen hundred renters got more than twenty thousand applications in ten days.

    In San Jose, California, donations from big Silicon Valley companies gave the city one of the largest emergency rental funds in the country: $11 million. But it’s all gone. Four thousand families got aid, but the waiting list has nine thousand more – and counting. The scale of the need is staggering. Nearly a third of Americans couldn’t pay rent this month. More than twenty two million people have lost their jobs in the past month. And the efforts of federal, state, and local government barely amount to a drop in the bucket. The National Low Income Housing Coalition says it would cost at least $76 billion over the next year to provide relief to more than twelve million Americans who are, or will soon be, unable to afford housing. Congress has allocated a few billion for this at best. This is a fixable problem. Come on.

    Cars increasingly banished

    Despite oil prices falling below zero dollars per barrel, there’s something of a pedestrian renaissance in some cities under lockdown. Los Angeles residents report being able to see distant mountains for the first time because air quality has gotten so much better. As one LA Times columnist put it, QUOTE the coronavirus is making it abundantly clear that cars are their own kind of plague. And, in many ways, our lives are better when we don’t have to use them ENDQUOTE. In New York City, the council wants to mandate that seventy-five miles of streets will stay closed to cars and open to cyclists and people on foot. Mayor Bill DeBlasio has opposed the measure, following the city police department’s line. But a council bill introduced yesterday would overrule the mayor. Councilors from the most densely populated areas of the city – including many hit hard by coronavirus – said opening up this public space was essential to the health and wellbeing of their communities.

    Back West, Oakland and San Francisco city councils are also moving to ban cars on many streets. As are a number of cities around the US and in Europe. And if this becomes part of the new normal, so much the better. In Milan, Italy, they’ve started the lockdown, but they’ve decided to make the motor vehicle restrictions permanent, and expand the bicycle and pedestrian network. The deputy mayor there said that as they reopen the economy, they intend to do so on a different basis than before. Someone tell DeBlasio it’s possible to make the streets nice without cops on every street corner.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    State health officials in California announced they’d discovered at least two fatal coronavirus cases that predated what was, until yesterday, the first known fatality on February 29 in Seattle. The first of the two newly identified COVID-19 fatalities took place on February 6. What this means is that the timeline of the contagion is wrong and that doctors and officials likely missed a lot of early cases.

    House Democrats yesterday abandoned their plans to vote on whether to change the rules and allow Representatives to conduct future votes remotely – that is, without flying to DC during a pandemic. Republicans opposed the rule change, because, you know, they really want people to die, apparently. Instead of holding a vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided it would be better to set up a bipartisan group to consider the issue. Whatever.

    Trump’s Education Secretary, the billionaire Betsy DeVos, is banning colleges around the country from giving emergency assistance to undocumented students whose colleges have closed. Universities are slated to get some $6 billion in emergency relief for students on aid, but the Trump administration specifically forbids them from giving this money to students who are so much as seeking permanent legal status. Hundreds of thousands of young people will be denied housing and income as a result.

    The Trump Tweets Outrageous Thing file is endless. But it did seem noteworthy that yesterday the president – who, this week, ordered the US Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that give off a bid vibe – shared a post from terrorist cult group. Trump retweeted a post by a bot account run by the M.E.K., an Iranian exile group that was on the State Department’s terrorism list – until far-right war hawks took back the White House. Now they’re our terrorists, damn it!

    That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Corey Pein

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 22, 2020: UN Foresees 'Biblical' Famines
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    08:45

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Winter will be worse: That’s the new word from the federal Centers from Disease Control about an expected second wave of coronavirus cases. The United Nations predicts hunger will double as a result of the pandemic, and warns of unrest.

    Meanwhile, Congress passes another corporate giveaway in the guise of a stimulus bill. Just down the road, Donald Trump asks... Donald Trump... if he can get a break on a millions of dollars he owes to the US Treasury.

    And lastly, independent marijuana growers in Mexico are selling blood-free weed without the cartels. Credit goes to states north of the border that have legalized pot.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Last week there was much talk about how America had passed the peak of the coronavirus. A new statistical analysis by The New York Times suggests many tens of thousands of thousands more people are dying from the pandemic than official figures suggest. The analysis looked at so-called excess deaths in eleven countries around the world, comparing historical mortality figures with the latest available numbers. It showed total deaths are up twenty to thirty percent in some places. In New York City, four times as many people died in March and April as in a typical year. This suggests the city’s official COVID-19 death toll of over thirteen thousand people is low by about a third. It should be more like seventeen thousand.

    And now the federal Centers for Disease Control warns next winter is likely to be worse, as the United States faces a second wave of infections. CDC director Robert Redfield told the Washington Post that doctors around the country need to be prepared for more coronavirus cases on top of the flu. And he said right-wing protests backed by the White House to reopen various states to normal business were, in his words, unhelpful.

    The head of a UN relief agency said that countries must act urgently to prevent QUOTE multiple famines of biblical proportions ENDQUOTE within a few months. A new report from the World Food Program says the number of people living in hunger could double this year,

    and reach two-hundred and fifty million. Coronavirus lockdowns and austerity policies combined with record unemployment are pushing people over the edge. In the poorest and most dangerous countries, this means mounting chaos. Agriculture officials from the wealther G-20 countries met yesterday to discuss how to preserve supply chains and maintain the security of food supplies in the months ahead. Let’s hope that was a productive Zoom call.

    Trump seeks rent relief

    Congressional Democratic leadership went along with Republicans on another corporate bailout bill yesterday, this one totaling nearly $500 billion -- mostly for the same kind of small business loans that have been going to large chains, while actual small businesses report they’re unable to access the money. Smaller portions are supposed to subsidize hosptials and pay for more coronavirus testing. But who knows. An Associated Press investigation of the last round of spending on the so-called Paycheck Protection Program found nearly a hundred publicly traded companies -- some worth hundreds of millions of dollars -- had taken advantage of these supposed small-business loans. Critics pointed out that the new bill fixed none of the problems in the last bill, including banks seizing people’s stimulus funds for private debts.

    So, again, who knows where the money budgeted for hospitals or testing will go? The Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, is seeking rent relief from its landlord: the US government. The president’s company signed a sixty-year lease on the federally owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue in 2013 with the General Services Administration. Eric Trump confirmed yesterday that the company is asking daddy for a break on rent. Is it corrupt? You bet! The Trump Organization has also asked its creditors at Deutsche Bank for more time to repay its loans, according to the New York Times. Gee, where will the banks go when they need another bailout? Perhaps Jared Kushner sell all the masks and medical equipment he’s been hoarding?

    A group of RNs stood outside the White House yesterday and read the names of healthcare workers who have died around the country fighting coronavirus. The protesters, led by a labor group, National Nurses United, told reporters about colleagues who had died because they lacked protective equipment. Maybe check with them how this latest bailout goes.

    Cartels abandon Mexican marijuana

    It’s not clear what the prospects are at this point for nationwide marijuana legalization in the US. But state-level legalization is already showing some of the benefits that advocates promised for decades. Vice News reported yesterday on a small but growing new market in Mexico of marijuana being grown and sold independently of the criminal cartels that control the drug trade and wield great power over many national institutions. The trend comes as Mexico’s Congress considers a bill to legalize cannabis for most purposes – although that effort, along with everything else it seems, has been delayed by the coronavirus.

    In the meantime, independent farmers are cutting out the criminal middlemen by selling directly to dealers in the cities. Mexican consumers, reportedly, have developed an appreciation for highly refined and potent strains from the US, so they’re actually importing seeds from north of the border. The farmers are doing their growing indoors in climate- controlled greenhouses. For now, the trade is boutique small enough that the cartels are turning a blind eye. More importantly, legalization in many US states has quickly made smuggling lower-quality, outdoor-grown Mexican marijuana a bad business for the cartels. Many farmers who used to produce that commodity weed for the cartels to export have turned to other crops now fetching better prices. As for dealers, they report that being able to market their products as blood-free is good for sales.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    Once again, White House staff rushed to fill in the details of a policy after Trump announced it -- this time, with a suspension on all immigration he declared first on Twitter. In a speech last night, Trump announced a more limited sixty-day pause on green cards – that is, on people seeking perminent residence. Temporary workers would reportedly not be affected. An executive order, first expected yesterday, could come today.

    Top advisers to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are reportedly fighting over how to handle the digital side of the campaign. According to Politico, one faction in the campaign wants to outsource the work to a company called Hawkfish, owned by the failed candidate and former Republican billionaire Mike Bloomberg. Another group of Biden’s advisers say he would be crazy to place such trust in Bloomberg. This much is sure: Biden’s digital staff is one-quarter the size of Trump’s team. And it’s smaller than Hillary Clinton’s was at this point in 2016.

    A Democratic challenger to US House Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan has been caught taking illegal campaign contributions that were QUOTE pretty blatant ENDQUOTE, in the words of one law professor. The Intercept reported that Tlaib’s primary challenger, the Detroit City Council President and former Congresswoman Brenda Jones, took thousands in donations from bank executives in excess of statutory limits. The banks managed public pensions. Experts called the case a classic violation of pay-to-play laws.

    The oil price war that’s driven stock prices below zero began, apparently, with a shouting match between the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia. The argument happened last month on a telephone call between Vladimir Putin and Mohammed Bin Salman. Saudi sources told the Middle East Eye that Putin refused an ultimatum from MBS, who then made good on a threat to start a price war. Trump’s influence in the situation was reportedly negligible. And here we are!

    That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

  • April 21, 2020: AOC Plans Protest Vote
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    07:34

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    The conspiracy-driven, coronavirus-denial protests across the country have spread, and with the President’s support, led to three southern states partially ditching their social distancing guidelines.

    Meanwhile, President Trump announced a drastic executive order to suspend all immigration to the United States, and is expected to block new green cards or work visas from being issued.

    And lastly, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking a stand, indicating that she won’t vote for the second half-measure stimulus package, rejecting incrementalism and saying quote: “I’m not here for a five dollar bill. And I won’t insult my community with one.”

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    The dumbest possible future is coming to pass before our eyes: after a weekend of misguided, anti-science and conspiracy-fueled protests around the country, several Republican governors are going ahead and ditching some essential social distancing guidelines under pressure from the president to get people in their states back to work.

    The protests, it’s worth noting, were mostly small and pitiful affairs, although sometimes organized by troubling factions like hard-line gun enthusiasts or conspiracy nuts like Alex Jones. But Trump has lent his support to governors and protestors alike who want to disregard the advice of almost every medical professional and end isolation prematurely. His own coronavirus task force, for the record, is mostly trying to ignore him, according to a new report by the Daily Beast.

    Unfortunately, some state leaders aren’t. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced that gyms, salons, bowling alleys and many other businesses can reopen on Friday. South Carolina allowed retail shops to reopen on Monday afternoon as well, and Tennessee is expected to see a similar situation at the end of the month when Gov. Bill Lee’s stay-at-home order is allowed to expire.

    There’s no way any of this happens without drastically increasing the virus’s spread across the state, but clearly Kemp doesn’t care, and his constituents will be the ones who pay the price.

    Elsewhere in the country, death rates appear to be falling again -- but as we’ve seen time and time again with the virus, a decline in infection and death rates can go away in a flash as the highly contagious disease flares up again. It’s a tragedy the fate of many states is being left to the whims of their respective governors while the president continues to shout nonsense from the bully pulpit.

    Trump Bans All Immigration

    President Trump turned, predictably, to his favorite brand of fascism on Monday night, announcing over Twitter that he would temporarily suspend all immigration to the United States.

    It’s unclear how exactly this executive order will work -- expect to see the details trickle out over the course of the day today.

    Trump’s justification is that cracking down on immigration will help stop the spread of the virus, but anyone with a working brain can tell that he’s really just using the crisis to shut down the asylum system and further persecute all immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

    The New York Times reports that a formal temporary order could be out anytime in the next few days, which would temporarily suspend the government from issuing new green cards or work visas, a move which will throw thousands of families into a limbo as they try to secure a life for themselves and their loved ones.

    The Times reports that some workers in critical industries may be exempt from the ban, but who knows? Like most of Trump’s immigration orders, it’s almost certain to face a legal challenge in the courts, so one of the biggest real-time effects is just adding more chaos to a country already grasping at straws. How’s that for leadership?

    AOC Plans Protest Vote

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is once again planning a protest vote against the second major coronavirus stimulus package, arguing that she can’t support a bill that leaves behind her working class constituents once again. She previously was the only Democrat in Congress to vote against the first relief bill.

    The bill includes more money for small businesses as well as much needed funding for hospitals and testing, but other than that, stops well short of some of the meaningful changes the American people need, like rent and mortgage suspension and hazard pay for frontline workers.

    Ocasio-Cortez went off on the bill’s deficiencies in a conference call with other progressive leaders on Monday, saying quote:

    "Incrementalism is not helpful in this moment. It's like putting a Band-Aid on an enormous wound. I'm not here for a $5 bill. And I will not insult my community with one."

    Progressives are demanding big, sweeping relief changes targeted at everyday Americans, not big businesses, including $2000 per month stimulus payments and a suspension of rent, mortgages and debt collection while the crisis goes on.

    But the future bill is still shrouded in secrecy, as many lawmakers only know the details of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer’s dealings across the aisle from news reports.

    Still, it’s unlikely that a leadership-negotiated bill will fail, meaning Ocasio-Cortez’s decision is more a rejection of the party’s tactics than an actual impediment to the bill’s passing.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    A new report by Business Insider found that Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods is using a complicated scoring system to monitor its employees and construct a “heat map” for which workforces are most likely to try to unionize.

    Late on Monday night, CNN reported U.S. officials were monitoring reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was seriously ill following heart surgery he underwent last week. The South Korean government, however, says there are quote “no unusual signs” coming from the North, so who knows what’s going on? Maybe he just celebrated 4/20 a little too hard up there.

    Oil prices absolutely cratered on Monday, dropping so low that they were actually negative, meaning oil producers would have to pay their customers just to take the oil off their hands. The blame for the absurd price swing lies on both the coronavirus panic and a new oil war started last month between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Aren’t you glad we’re still using this stuff to power the majority of our society?

    And finally, a shocking study on media consumption and COVID cases shows the toll of Fox News’s blend of deadly disinformation. The study suggests that regions that preferred to watch pandemic-denier Sean Hannity over pandemic-realist Tucker Carlson suffered far more deaths, up to 21 percent per standard deviation.

    That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie. Stay tuned for the full show later this afternoon.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Jack Crosbie

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 20, 2020: New Aid Package Still Underwhelming
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    06:44

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Sixteen people are dead after a gunman went on a 12-hour shooting spree in Nova Scotia, Canada on Saturday and Sunday, one of the country’s worst instances of mass gun violence in recent history. The gunman was killed after a confrontation with police, who did not specify how he died.

    Meanwhile, Congress is approaching a deal on a new coronavirus relief bill with big bucks for small businesses, hospitals, and testing -- but once again the Democratic leadership has failed to push through several key measures, like hazard pay for frontline workers and an increasingly popular rent freeze.

    And lastly, a brave response to the virus that has gone overlooked: many school cafeterias across the country have now become de facto community kitchens, serving adults and children alike even though school is canceled. But despite their selfless work, many public schools need more support to keep feeding the needy.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    A gunman killed sixteen people including one police officer during a 12-hour shooting spree and manhunt in Nova Scotia, Canada this weekend. The mass shooting was one of the bloodiest mass killings in Canada’s recent history, as the country has been plagued by gun violence far less than the United States.

    Canadian authorities identified the shooter as 51-year-old Gabriel Worthman. His motive is still unclear, although authorities said he had a relationship to some of the victims, and the killing spree did not begin as a random act of violence.

    The shooter may have posed as a police officer and driven a vehicle made to look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police car. He evaded authorities for nearly 12 hours, killing victims along the way in several locations and reportedly setting fire to several structures.

    The suspect died shortly after being apprehended by police, who did not specify a cause of death. Witnesses reportedly heard gunfire where the suspect was arrested.

    The shootings began in the small town of Portapique [PORT-A-PECK], but spanned over a 31-mile stretch of the province. We still don’t know what kind of weapon the shooter used, or whether it was registered.

    According to the New York Times, authorities said they would be investigating whether the coronavirus pandemic had anything to do with the shooting.

    New Aid Package Still Underwhelming

    Congress is nearing a deal on a second coronavirus stimulus package. That’s good news! The bad news, of course, is that it doesn’t go far enough.

    The new bill, which Democratic and Republican leaders said they were nearing a compromise on, would include $400 billion in loans for small businesses, $75 billion for hospitals, and $25 billion for expanded virus testing across the country.

    It’s a significant step, but still doesn’t go nearly far enough -- there’s no hazard pay for first responders and frontline workers, no bailouts for states and cities which have been hardest hit, and most crucially, no mention of a nationwide rent freeze or rent suspension.

    The blame for this, once again, falls partly on Democratic leadership: Nancy Pelosi has a majority in the House, and failed to use it to push forward some of these more drastically needed provisions.

    There are politicians giving it their best shot, however: Rep. Ilhan Omar unveiled legislation on Friday that would cancel all rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the crisis, which would amount to a massive bailout of the average American. A new poll by Data For Progress shows the majority of Americans support this: if only their views were accurately represented in Congress!

    The money for testing, however, is crucial. Trump was forced to relent over the weekend by resounding criticism to actually do something about the gap in testing, saying he’d use the Defense Production Act to get an unspecified facility to produce 20 million tests per month and adding, quote: “You’ll have so many swabs you won’t know what to do with them.”

    We’ll see if he actually follows through.

    Schools Closed, Kitchens Open

    In schools around the country, the classrooms may be closed, but the kitchens are still open. As schools have closed down, their food service departments have kept working, often turning into de facto soup kitchens to serve communities struggling to cope with the effects of the disease and mandatory lockdowns.

    The programs were initially supposed to keep children who rely on a free school lunch fed during the shutdown, but have often expanded to include adult meals or full days worth of food for hungry students.

    And schools are largely accommodating for these changes out of their own pockets.

    It will cost the nation’s 12 largest school districts somewhere between 12 and 19 million dollars to keep their pandemic meal operations running through June 30, according to the Urban School Food Alliance, which represents major districts in some of the biggest cities in the country. The Urban School Food Alliance is begging Congress and the Department of Agriculture for help, but has still set up a fundraising campaign on its website.

    The work they’re doing is monumental: L.A.’s school district, the second-largest in the country, will serve its 10 millionth meal this week. Superintendent Austin Beutner did not mince words, saying quote: “This is not a school meal program. It’s a relief effort.”

    Time for the federal government to recognize it as such, and start giving it some support.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    Conservatives and conspiracy theorists in over a dozen states and cities spent the weekend protesting stay-at-home orders by, well, not staying at home and holding public rallies near government buildings. On Friday, the President openly encouraged these protests in two states, tweeting LIBERATE MICHIGAN and LIBERATE MINNESOTA in all caps. Very helpful, thank you Donald!

    Chile will become the first country to issue quote “immunity cards” to its citizens, which will allow them to move freely and return to work, provided they can prove they have antibodies to the novel coronavirus and are symptom free for at least two weeks. However, experts still aren’t sure if coronavirus survivors are fully immune, and for how long -- meaning the immunity cards may not be worth the paper they’re printed on.

    Members of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Deepwater Horizon oil spill say that their recommendations are not being taken seriously, especially by the Trump administration, placing the U.S. in danger of and unprepared for another catastrophic spill. Who would have thought the administration’s complete disregard for environmental protections would be a problem? Crazy how that works out.

    Shake Shack, the international burger chain started by celebrity Chef Danny Meyer is doing the right thing and returning $10 million it got as a quote “small business,” through Trump’s sloppy stimulus slush fund. Maybe it’ll make its way to an actual small business this time!

    That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Hope everyone’s stay well out there. Sam will be with you this afternoon with the full podcast.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Jack Crosbie

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 17, 2020: Trump Botches Stimulus Checks
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    08:25

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Donald Trump’s pandemic stimulus is getting lost in the mail, but where’s Joe Biden on the latest Democratic plan to aid working families? Well, he’s still struggling to be heard.

    Meanwhile, doctors in Mexico are struggling to get their hands on medical supplies made in factories down the road. Free trade agreements signed in the 1990s are to blame.

    And lastly, some anti-fascists have switched from punching Nazis to mixing huge batches of hand sanitizier. Talk about free trade: they’re giving it away.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Millions of Americans who expected federal stimulus cash to be deposited in their accounts have gotten nothing at all. Many parents with dependent children told The Washington Post they had not received an additional $500-per-child promised by the government. Many others who used tax prep services like TurboTax and H&R Block did not get individual payments of $1,200 they expected. Another common experience: visiting the I.R.S. website to track one’s stimulus payment, only to get the message Payment Status Not Available. Which can mean a lot of things. But nobody can say which.

    Congressional Democrats led by Ro Khanna of California in the House and Elizabeth Warren of Massachussetts in the Senate this week introduced an Essential Workers Bill of Rights. In addition to the $1,200 one-time payments the Trump administration has already botched, the progressive proposal would provide at least $2,000 every month to most Americans, for the duration of the crisis. It’s more limited than the plan proposed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders when he was still running for president. But it’s more than has yet been offered by the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden. In an online talk on Wednesay, Biden praised front-line blue-collar workers but has yet to back the bill. Last night on CNN, Biden joined another video chat. Network promotional materials gave the candidate equal billing to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan, who is a medical doctor and helps run their public policy campaigns and investments through a limited liability company, appeared with him; Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, Deborah

    Birx, appeared as well. Coincidentally, Politico also reported yesterday that Biden’s campaign was struggling to break through the noise of the new media environment.

    Mexico extorted over supplies

    Workers in so-called free trade zones in Tijuana, Mexico are suffering greatly even as they scramble to make masks and other medical equipment for export. Tijuana is one of the world’s top centers for the production of medical supplies. But shortages at the local hospitals are severe. When factory workers or their relatives there fall ill, according to a Bloomberg News report, they are unable to benefit from the products they are making to save the lives of wealthier people in foreign countries. Doctors in Baja state are QUOTE dropping like flies ENDQUOTE according to the governor, Jaime Bonilla (HI-MAY BONE-EE-YUH). He has threatened to shut down a factory that supplies parts for medical ventilators if it doesn’t start supplying clinics in the area. What’s stopping them? International free trade agreements, of course.

    The Baja California state Governor Jaime Bonilla warned that doctors there are “dropping like flies” and threatened to shut down a ventilator-parts factory if it couldn’t find a way to bypass trade rules and supply nearby clinics. The factory, owned by a British company, Smiths Medical, agreed to Bonilla’s demand. But in order to comply with free trade rules, Smiths will be shipping equipment back to Mexico from overseas. Previously, Mexican officials said they had to purchase medical supplies from China at a markup, even though they were made in Mexico.

    Separately, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, better known as Amlo, said he hoped to hear back from Donald Trump this week. Amlo recently called Trump to ask for help in procuring medical supplies. Given how several dozen governors north of the border have been faring, he maybe shouldn’t hold his breath.

    Antifa makes hand sanitizer

    A collective of anti-fascists in Portland, Oregon, have started making hand sanitizer by the gallon and giving it away to community groups like Catholic street charities, immigrant aid organizations, domestic violence shelters, metro bus drivers and delivery workers. The collective, PopMob – short for Popular Mobilization – was in the news for distributing milkshakes at protests, to taunt fascist propagandists who’d previously been doused in milkshakes by scornful members of the public. You may remember this: police said – falsely – that those milkshakes contained concrete mix.

    Well, there aren’t so many protests these days. So they’ve pivoted. To produce the hand sanitizer, PopMob is working with another group of activist street medics, the Rosehip Medic Collective. Their GoFundMe had raised just short of $10,000 as of last night. And they’d already produced more than nine thousand, five-hundred bottles of hand sanitizer, according to the Oregonian newspaper. That’s more than two-hundred and twenty-five gallons of the stuff. All made by about ten volunteers working in shifts on an assembly line set up in a room at the local queer advocacy center. Their recipe uses ethanol, xanthan gel and glycerin.

    A spokesperson for the antifa project called their pivot to medical supply manufacturing a bit of a side-step from their usual mission – punching Nazis. However, they consider it a display of everyday antifascism. QUOTE A big part of anti-fascism is community defense and supporting your community. This was a way to provide supplies to communities who had no other way of getting them ENDQUOTE said the spokesperson, who gave their name to the newspaper as Effe Baum. That’s F Bomb, spelled E-F-F-E B-A-U-M.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    Income inequality keeps growing more stark. But a new study of the aristoratic social guide, Who’s Who, found that the British elite have been trying harder and harder to be seen as ordinary. The Guardian says the study looked at seventy thousand entries in the social catalogue going back to 1897. Especially since the 1990s, elites talked more about football and pop music and less about traditional pursuits like, say, fox hunting. Some even hire consultants to tell them what they should be interested in. I’ll take that job!

    A federal judge has denied a motion by lawyers for Trump adviser and career dirty trickster Roger Stone for a new trial. Stone was convicted and sentenced earlier this year on multiple counts of witness tampering. An order filed yesterday by Judge Amy Berman Jackson requires Stone to surrender to serve his prison term, as soon as he’s notified to do so by his probation officers.

    Virginia yesterday became the latest to relax requirements for mail-in voting amid coronavirus safety concerns. The bill signed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam makes it so voters no longer need to supply an excuse when requesting an absentee ballot. Only one in five Republican state lawmakers in Virginia supported the bill. The law takes effect July 1, but Virginia still has elections scheduled in May and June.

    An Oxford University professor has been arrested for allegedly stealing ancient biblical papyrus fragments from a research archive in the United Kingdom. The artifacts, originally from Egypt, later wound up in the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, which wound founded by the billionaire evangelical Green family, who own Hobby Lobby. The Greens were previously mixed up allegedly in buying artifacts from an Islamic terrorist group. The Oxford professor, Dirk Obbink, says the charges are false and someone is out to get him. You and me and everybody else, pal.

    That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Corey Pein

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 16, 2020: Republicans Rally For Coronavirus
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    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Aging white people with guns are demanding the right to speak to the manager once more. Astrotuf rallies around the country set the stage for Donald Trump’s push to reopen the economy, even as COVID-19 claims more lives.

    Meanwhile, the last of Joe Biden’s Democratic primary challengers lends him her endorsement. But some party progressives are still waiting to be wooed.

    And lastly, companies that want a coronavirus bailout will be asked to make major concessions – in Europe. Why can’t we do that?

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Donald Trump said a few weeks ago that, virus or no virus, he wanted the country to be back to business as usual by Easter. Well, that day has come and gone. With lockdowns still in place in many states, Americans were treated to the spectacle of coordinated, Tea Party- style protests around the country yesterday. Crowds of mostly white, middle-aged supporters of Donald Trump showed up to state capitols in Michigan and Ohio -- some with guns and Confederate flags -- to demand restrictions on retail businesses be lifted. That’s right, they’re demanding the right to shop, no matter who suffers. They certainly weren’t protesting for front- line workers who are most at risk. In Michigan, members of the pro-Trump Proud Boys street gang blocked traffic – and ambulances. After a while, doctors reportedly walked into the street to ask them to let emergency patients reach the hospital.

    Scenes like that played out during the day. In the early evening, Trump went on television for another lengthy monologue and announced yet a new task force – this one aimed at reopening the economy. To Fox News viewers, the president would’ve shown up just in time to give the people what they are demanding. How about that. Among the members of this new group, which seems dedicated to putting more lives at risk, is the chairman of Carnival Cruise lines -- an offshore corporation that’s based, for tax purposes, in Liberia. More pro-Trump, pro-coronavirus rallies are being planned in other states.

    There should be no question any question that, as policy, this is insane. The pork-processing plant in South Dakota we told you about last week, that kept its workers on the job even as the virus spread, has emerged as a new national hotspot for deadly coronavirus cases. Trump wants this everywhere? As if it’s not bad enough already? In New Jersey, an anonymous tip about a corpse being stored in a shed led police to discover seventeen bodies crammed into a morgue made for four in one of the state’s largest nursing homes. The facility made an urgent call for body bags. Local members of Congress have pleaded for National Guard medics. Families of the dead were prevented from contacting relatives before their deaths. Many were never tested for coronavirus. Locals near the nursing home took it upon themselves to solicit donations. That is Trump’s coronavirus response in a nutshell. He has failed catastrophically. And now Republicans are sending in paramilitaries to demand that people who can’t even get healthcare get back to serving them. You can bet they don’t tip.

    Warren endorses Biden

    Massachussetts Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Joe Biden for president yesterday. She did so one day after their formal rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, also endorsed Biden. Neither favorite reportedly asked for or received any promises or concessions from Biden before throwing him their support. However, other progressive Democrats aren’t yet ready to lend their credibility to the establishment favorite – at least not without something they can take home to show constitutents. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx said, when asked about whether she’d be endorsing Biden, QUOTE we’ll see ENDQUOTE. These decisions always get people talking, although it’s unclear how much weight any of these endorsements will carry with general election voters in November. And for Democratic voters in the majority of states that have yet to hold primaries, the nomination process is already effectively over, with all former Democratic contenders now publicly asking their supporters to get behind Biden.

    If it wasn’t already clear, there are not going to be a lot of normal elections this year. In Texas, a state district judge ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union and others who argued that everyone affected by the coronavirus is entitled to vote by mail. But the state’s Republican Attorney General, Ken Paxton, interpreted the ruling a little differently. Paxton was criminally indicted for fraud in 2015 but has yet to face trial. Yesterday he said groups that encourage people to apply for mail-in ballots because they don’t want to contract COVID-19 could face QUOTE criminal sanction ENDQUOTE. Would that include the judge?

    Europe restricts executive bonuses

    It’s a relief to know in these difficult times that somewhere, something is being done to protect the public, or at least the public treasury. Corporations that receieve bailouts from the European Union to cover their losses during the pandemic will be held to certain standards.

    This is according to a planning document from the European Commission, obtained by the Guardian. The EU will demand shares in companies in exchange for bailout funds. That means ordinary Europeans will be, through their elected institutions, part owners of the companies that get bailed out. In the US, Boeing executives said they would refuse any bailout funds that required company shareholders to give up equity – suggesting their urgent need for government cash was not so urgent after all.

    The other things to know are that companies that take the EU bailout won’t be able to grant bonuses to their executives. Until the government gets its money back, corporate executives will receieve their base salaries only. And, further, companies that get bailout funds in Europe will be prohibited from aggressively acquiring other companies. So, they can’t use emergency funds handed out by the government to put smaller competitors out of business. Imagine that.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    A huge wildfire is spreading through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. The government is warning about radioactive contaminents in smoke from the fires, which has already been in the air for a week. Hundreds of firefighters are working – reportedly without adequate equipment – to keep the flames away from the most heavily contaminated sites. The nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl happened in 1986, but just keeps on giving.

    Federal, state and local police arrested a man arrested a man for a planned attack on a Jewish nursing home in Longmeadow, Western Massachussetts. The US attorney noted that the accused arsonist, John M. Rathburn, thirty-six, coordinated his plans in advance on white supremacist online forums. Federal investigators found one shared calendar included an entry for QUOTE Jew-killing day ENDQUOTE on this April 3, when Rathburn showed up to the nursing home in Longmeadow with a five-gallon gas canister.

    More states that allow marijuana use are declaring the dispensaries that sell it to be essential businesses during the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. And a few members of Congress, led by Colorado Democrat Ed Perlmutter, are pushing for marijuana businesses to be covered in the next federal stimulus package. Many providers say they’ve been struggling to stay afloat, as they haven’t had access to the same federal benefits as other businesses deemed essential by states.

    Masks now the rule in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an executive order yesterday requiring people to cover their mouths and noses when in public, in any situation when they’re unable to stay at least six feet away from other people. Masks are advised but bandanas, scarves, and the like will do. Violators could face fines but that isn’t settled yet. Other states and countries are taking similar measures to slow the spread of disease.

    That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Corey Pein

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 15, 2020: Trump Trashes WHO
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    06:11

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Donald Trump has found a scapegoat for his miserable handling of the coronavirus crisis: the World Health Organization. As punishment, he’s going to freeze its funding. Because if we’re going down, we might as well take an international aid organization with us!

    Meanwhile, a new report shows that banks actually have the power to take away your stimulus check if you owe them money, while millionaires are getting yet another tax break.

    And lastly, at least some people in charge have good ideas -- State Governors are quickly forming networks of their own outside the federal umbrella to manage the disease inside their states and listen to actual scientists for advice.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Donald Trump ordered his administration to freeze funding to the World Health Organization for an unspecified amount of time on Tuesday, lashing out at the international organization in the hopes that someone, anyone would stop blaming him for the horrific crisis in the U.S.

    Trump told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday afternoon that quote “So much death has been caused by their mistakes.” Sounds like a classic case of projecting to me.

    And listen to what he blamed the WHO for: trusting the Chinese government too much in the early stages of the pandemic. But recall back in January, Trump was the one heaping praise on the Chinese. And in February, he was praising the WHO.

    But then the reality of the disease hit, he was drastically unprepared, and now he needs someone to blame. As a result, a massive organization will suffer -- in 2019, the U.S. donated $533 million of the WHO’s roughly $6 billion budget. That’s a pretty sizeable chunk!

    Meanwhile, the country is still in crisis. New estimates of the death toll in New York City show that previous numbers were low, and that the real toll is somewhere north of 10,000 deaths in the city alone.

    NYC’s outbreak, per capita, is far worse than Italy and accounts for more than a third of the deaths in the country overall. And that’s on Trump, and every leader who could have done something sooner -- not the WHO.

    Banks and millionaires get bailout

    The financial crisis caused by the coronavirus is only going to get worse -- unless you’re a millionaire, of course.

    A new report by the Washington Post shows that some 80 percent of the tax benefits that got slipped into the coronavirus aid package will benefit millionaires. Less than three percent of those benefits will go to anyone making less than $100,000 per year. That’s the American Dream in action, baby!

    For those of us at the bottom, there’s even worse news. A report by the American Prospect found that there’s absolutely nothing to legally stop banks from taking individual citizens’ $1200 stimulus checks if they owe money in debt.

    How it works, basically, is that if the account the IRS is going to direct deposit your check into is in the red, or you owe money to that bank in another form, the bank can snag your check before you even get a chance to use it. The Trump administration knows this, and told the banks as much.

    Meanwhile, printing of physical checks for people who don’t have direct deposit set up with the IRS also hit a snag: the Trump administration stalled the process so that Trump’s name could be printed on the checks. You heard that right.

    And what are the Democrats doing during all of this? Glad you asked. Today, they released a plan to help laid-off workers keep their health benefits by subsidizing and extending the existing COBRA program.

    Of course, that does nothing for the people who didn’t have employer-provided health insurance, like gig workers or freelancers or part-timers, who also lost their jobs. Real good opposition party we’ve got here.

    Governors gang up

    Seeing as the federal government has proven itself totally inept in handling the crisis, state Governors around the country are starting to take matters entirely into their own hands.

    Illinois’s Gov. J.B. Pritzker is working on building a regional coalition of midwest governors to coordinate their response. On the west coast, California, Washington, and Oregon have agreed to do the same thing. And most of the North East is already cooperating in a similar group.

    The key to these inter-state coalitions is to insulate their populations from any kind of hasty or downright crazy Federal mandate. Trump has insinuated time and time again that he wants to re-open the country and try to boost the economy, but most governors desperately want to wait for scientists and public health officials to make the call on when to re-open. The president did not reassure worried leaders much either, especially after he quipped that he had quote “total authority” endquote to open up the country himself.

    Most of these governors are Democrats, of course. Republicans are taking their cues from Trump, but with some exceptions (Ron De Santis, we’re looking at you), they seem to be playing things cautiously as well.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    Rita Wilson, who with her husband Tom Hanks was one of the first high-profile celebrities to contract coronavirus, says she was given hydroxychloroquine during treatment. The drug, she said, had quote “extreme side effects,” endquote, adding that we still don’t know how helpful it is.

    Finally, after months of campaigning with the race almost certainly over, Joe Biden has Barack Obama’s endorsement. The former President endorsed his former VP in a live video on Tuesday.

    Thousands of frontline healthcare workers who are in the country thanks to the DACA immigration program are currently waiting for the Supreme Court to decide whether or not Trump will be allowed to shut the program down. The Court is expected to announce its decision by the end of June.

    In a move that should surprise no one, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency decided on Tuesday that it would not tighten restrictions on industrial soot emission, despite a new study that showed the emissions could make people more likely to die from coronavirus.

    That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Sam will be with you later for the full show, available wherever your podcasts are found.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Jack Crosbie

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 14, 2020: Biden's Bro Bernie
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    06:02

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden, starting his campaign to support the presumptive nominee just a few short days after exiting the 2020 race. Maybe that will shut up the centrists moaning about Bernie Bros for a while, but probably not.

    Meanwhile, a new study by Data For Progress shows that the coronavirus crisis has once again crushed the financial futures of millennials and young people: 54 percent of people under the age of 45 have lost their jobs or had their hours cut, leaving an entire generation in the lurch.

    And lastly, in Wisconsin, a huge win. Liberal judge Jill Karofsky, ousted conservative incumbent Justice Daniel Kelly from his seat on the state’s supreme court, which could have major general election ramifications in a key swing state currently battling conservative assaults on voting rights.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    Say what you will about Bernie Sanders, he’s never shied away from doing the work. Despite the fact that Joe Biden is about as far from him as another so-called Democrat can be, the Senator endorsed the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee in a joint livestream on Monday.

    Sanders did not mince words, saying quote: “We need you in the White House. And I will do all that I can to see that that happens.” Endquote.

    Bernie has always said he’d support the eventual nominee, just like he did in 2016. The hope is that he manages to extract some meaningful concessions from the Biden campaign in return for the endorsement -- because so far, what Biden’s offered has been almost insulting.

    The New York Times reports that Senator Elizabeth Warren, who held off on endorsing Sanders during the most competitive heat of the race, is expected to endorse Biden soon.

    The only question that remains is whether or not Bernie’s support will be enough to absolve him if Biden does lose in November. After all, Sanders’s support for Hillary in 2016 didn’t stop the bad-faith centrists in the party for blaming him for that loss.

    For the sake of his movement, Sanders really doesn’t have a choice of whether to support Biden. Fortunately, the rest of us sure do! We’ll have to wait to see if the Biden campaign can make it worth it.

    Coronavirus crushes millennial futures

    A new study by Data For Progress shows that an absolutely crushing 54 percent of people under the age of 45 have lost their jobs or had hours cut during widespread shelter-in-place orders and business closures.

    It’s clear now that the realities of the coronavirus crisis are just starting to set in, and so much of the pain is yet to come. And the data shows some people are going to hurt more than others.

    45 percent of all black people, regardless of age, have felt the same losses of work, compared to 33 percent across the entire population, based on DFP’s survey of registered voters. 62 percent of black Americans said they expect to have trouble covering costs and bills next month.

    Meanwhile, the federal stimulus checks of $1200 are completely inadequate. Forty percent of respondents said that kind of money would cover roughly a month of expenses, and 37 percent said it wouldn’t even get them that far.

    What this shows is that the rough beginning to April was just that, a beginning. When May starts and rent is again due, the country could be in an even worse place.

    Does Congress plan to do anything about it? Oh gosh, nope, they sure don’t: Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today that quote “absent an emergency, the House is not expected to meet prior to Monday, May 4, 2020.” Endquote. That begs the question… what does Congress consider an emergency, if this one doesn’t count?

    Upset win in Wisconsin's Supreme Court

    In Wisconsin, Monday was a night to break out the fancy cheese, because we’re celebrating a huge win.

    Liberal judge Jill Karofsky ousted conservative Justice Daniel Kelly from his seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a shocking victory that could have huge implications in November.

    Karofsky’s victory by over 120,000 votes was a massive upset over Kelly, who boasted a personal endorsement from Trump. And her placement on the court can’t come a moment too soon.

    The Wisconsin Supreme Court, if you remember, is the same body that shut down efforts by the Democratic party to postpone the election or move to a vote-by-mail system in order to minimize voter’s risk of contracting the deadly coronavirus.

    Come November, the court could also play a huge party in deciding which way Wisconsin swings. There’s a current case moving through the appeals process which will decide whether or not 200,000 Wisconsinites are purged from the voter rolls, and Karofsky could tip the balance to keep those voters in the mix.

    As we all know by now, more people voting is good for Democrats, which is why Republicans seem so disgusted by the whole idea of democracy or whatever lately.

    On Monday, at least, democracy had a pretty good night.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    Amazon fired two of its tech employees who were leaders in the company’s internal push for climate activism after they both helped raise awareness and money for the retail giant’s suffering warehouse workers. Doesn’t really like Amazon’s trying to hide the evil anymore -- there it is!

    In Scotland, care workers are getting an immediately 3.3 percent pay raise, backdated to April 1, as the country grapples with the very real toll of the virus in assisted living facilities. Sounds like a policy a few other countries should try!

    Miami Police are launching a probe after a viral video showed police handcuffing a black doctor who was leaving his home with supplies to aid a local homeless outreach group. Crazy idea but maybe we should… not arrest the doctors.

    And finally, in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has declared pro wrestling an essential business, exempting it from coronavirus-related business closures. I guess if we can’t find a cure for the virus, we can just suplex it on live TV.

    That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show later this afternoon.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Jack Crosbie

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

  • April 13, 2020: Trump Goes Postal
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    07:19

    Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

    TODAY'S HEADLINES:

    Donald Trump has set his sights on the U.S. Postal Service, holding the essential service hostage with veto power and throwing a tantrum in the hopes that corporations will be able to cut it up and sell it for parts.

    Meanwhile, the Department of Labor is striking blow after blow against, well, labor, as Trump’s administration enables corporations to continue using the coronavirus crisis to screw over workers in mines, farms, warehouses and more all over the country.

    And lastly, Virginia signed into a law a number of huge steps for voting rights, including automatic voter registration, absentee voting, and making election day a state holiday. As Trump continues to wage war on vote-by-mail and other vital tools of Democracy, at least one state is making some progress.

    THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    The novel coronavirus has spared no industry from hardship, and the U.S. Postal Service is no exception. But instead of helping to support one of America’s most important networks, Donald Trump wants to take out his economic rage on the mailman.

    On Saturday, Trump threatened to not sign the $2 trillion CARES act if it contained any money for the Post Office. The independent government agency is asking for some $75 billion in a combination of loans, grants and cash, but Trump is adamant on not ponying up a cent.

    His justification is that the Postal Service has been losing money for years. Sure, but for reasons that aren’t really the organization’s fault -- in 2006 Congress pushed through an insane bill that forced the USPS to pre-fund its employees retirement payments through 2056, which saddled it with a ton of debt.

    And the current crisis really hasn’t helped, as the postal service’s main moneymakers -- first class mail and commercial mail like all of the free offers and flyers that spam your mailbox -- have largely dried up.

    Relief funding for the postal service actually made it through congress, but stopped short with Trump -- analysts say it’s because he wants to privatize the service, hack it up and give it over to the corporations.

    Without a loan or a grant, the USPS could be bottom’s up by September 30. And all the while, its workers are on the front lines of the outbreak, keeping the mail coming six days a week in every corner of the country.

    The War on Labor Continues

    Under cover of the virus, the Trump Administration and its Department of Labor have been dealing blow after blow to workers, funneling money back toward the biggest, most soulless corporations possible.

    First, Trump’s Agriculture Secretary is planning to slash the wages of guest farm workers; immigrants with provisional visas who do the thankless work of feeding the country. The Trump administration wants to hand the big farms that employ them the ability to pay them less than the average wage for the area they live in.

    Next, the Labor Department quietly issued guidelines that say companies in most industries -- pretty much anything other than police, fire, EMS, or medical fields, -- don’t have to report coronavirus cases to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This gives hundreds of massive corporations plausible deniability for when the virus rips through their workforces. Great!

    Meanwhile, Trump’s Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia -- as in son of THAT Scalia -- is trying to scale back who qualifies for unemployment benefits in the new coronavirus aid package.

    And to top it all off, National Mining Association trying to use the national crisis to screw over coal miners with black lung, pushing congress to ease off on a tax that pays for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. In some states, coal mines have been ruled an essential service, meaning workers are risking catching coronavirus as well as black lung. You’d think one of those would be bad enough!

    Virginia Loves Voting

    Virginia Governor and extremely bad costume designer Ralph Northam signed a nevertheless exciting bill into law on Sunday that will dramatically change voting across his state.

    The bill provides for automatic voter registration, early voting up to 45 days before the election, and makes election day a national holiday. It also does away with Virginia’s voter ID provisions, and makes absentee voting an option for anyone regardless of circumstance.

    The voting day holiday will replace Virginia’s Civil War relic “Lee-Jackson Day.”

    Virginia’s new laws are encouraging because Republicans have spent the last several weeks (and also past several decades) trying to make it as hard to vote as possible across the country.

    Most recently, that’s come as a national push against vote-by-mail systems that could save lives during a busy election year ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. The President, of course, got in on the action as well, yelling about mail in voting leading to voter fraud on Twitter this weekend.

    For the most part, Republican legislatures and even the Conservative Supreme Court have followed his lead, dealing several blows to the ease of voting across the country. But in Virginia, at least, things are on the mend.

    AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

    He may be out of the race for President, but Bernie Sanders is still doing the work. Together with staunch ally Rep. Pramila Jayapaul, Sanders put forward a bill to allow Medicare to cover all out-of-pocket costs for the insured and uninsured alike during the Coronavirus pandemic.

    In Syria, desperate refugees are facing a terrible Sophie’s choice: risk mass infection in the crowded refugee camps on the Turkish border, or return to their homes in the Idlib province under constant bombing by Russian and Syrian regime forces. Many are choosing the latter, showing just how bad conditions must be in the camps.

    Florida Governor Ron De Santis’s office is trying to crush a public records lawsuit brought by the Miami Herald, which is demanding that the state release the names of all elder-care facilities in the state where there has been a confirmed case of coronavirus. It’s almost as if DeSantis’s pitiful response to the pandemic so far has left him with something to hide.

    One of the earliest quote “superspreading” events of the coronavirus in the United States was started by, ironically, executives at a big pharma company who caught the disease from Europe-based colleagues at their annual leadership summit in February. Authorities traced at least 99 cases, including outbreaks in Indiana, Tennessee, and North Carolina to employees of the company.

    That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Make sure to catch the full show with Sam later.

    HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

    WRITER - Jack Crosbie

    PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn