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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

For the first time last night, and just short of his hundredth day in office, President Joe Biden addressed a joint session of Congress. He said America is on the move again, and back to stay – got it, Jack?

Meanwhile, three new studies reveal the plague of environmental racism. Lung-damaging air pollution harms Black Americans at rates more than twenty percent above the average.

And lastly, the feds raided the home and office of Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The warrant was apparently held up until Merrick Garland became Attorney General.

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It’s a wonk’s delight. The Biden administration yesterday detailed a $1.8 trillion policy plan to expand access to education, reduce the cost of child care and support women in the work force, according to the New York Times. The American Families Plan, as the White House calls it, includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits, much of which is aimed at expanding access to education and child care. The package includes financing for universal prekindergarten, a federal paid leave program, efforts to make child care more affordable, free community college for all, aid for students at colleges that historically serve nonwhite communities, expanded subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and an extension of new federal efforts to fight poverty. It’s to be financed by additional taxes on high earners. Biden presented the details to a joint session of Congress last night.

Biden spoke to a House chamber that was sparsely populated but fully masked. He listed some accomplishments from his first hundred days, including progress against the pandemic and campaigns against hunger, opioid addiction, and child poverty. He laid out what his plans could yet accomplish, such as creating jobs to replace hazardous lead pipes and providing child and elder care for hundreds of thousands of families. And he pushed back against skepticism that democracies can’t compete against autocracies in the twenty first century, by showing what government can do to meet people’s needs. He praised labor unions and criticized greedy CEOs. Biden said, "trickle down economics has never worked, and it’s time to grow the economy from the bottom and the middle out."

Air Pollution Disproportionately Harms POC

Racism is in the air we breathe. Nearly every source of the nation’s most pervasive and deadly air pollutant disproportionately affects Americans of color, regardless of their location or income level, the Washington Post reports. The news comes from a study published yesterday in the journal Science Advances, authored by researchers from five universities. The analysis of fine-particle matter, which includes soot, shows how decisions made decades ago about where to build highways and industrial plants continue to harm the health of Black, Latino and Asian Americans today. The particles studied have diameters of no more than two point five micrometers – one-thirtieth the width of a human hair – and can become embedded in the lungs. Known as Particulate Matter Two Point Five, they account for up to two hundred thousand premature US deaths each year.

The Post says the new paper, coupled with two other analyses also released yesterday, bolsters the argument that environmental advocates have made for years that Black, Latino, Asian and Native Americans bear a heavier burden. And this growing body of research is showing the full scope of the problem. Joshua Apte, one of the authors, said, "The deck is stacked against people of color, for almost every emission source."

The study found that Black people are exposed to twenty one percent more fine-particle pollution compared to average Americans, the Post reports. Exposure was eighteen percent greater for Asian Americans and eleven percent more for Hispanics. White Americans, by contrast, have eight percent less pollution exposure than the average. This is yet another urgent reason the country needs a Green New Deal.

Feds Search Giuliani's Home, Office

This isn’t how you want to wake up on a weekday. The New York Times reports that federal investigators in Manhattan executed search warrants early yesterday at the home and office of Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine. The investigators seized Giuliani’s electronic devices and searched his Madison Avenue apartment and his Park Avenue office at about 6 am.Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, called the searches unnecessary, according to the Times. Costello said, "What they did today was legal thuggery."

FBI agents on yesterday morning also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to Giuliani who had dealings with several Ukrainians involved in seeking negative information on the Bidens. Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, has also represented Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch under indictment in the United States whose help Giuliani sought. The federal authorities have focused on whether Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs, who were helping Giuliani search for damaging information on Trump’s political rivals, including Joe Biden.

The Times reports that the US attorney’s office in Manhattan and the FBI had sought for months to secure search warrants for Giuliani’s phones and electronic devices. Under Trump, political appointees in the Justice Department repeatedly sought to block such a warrant. After Merrick Garland was confirmed as Biden’s attorney general, the Justice Department lifted its objection to the search. Funny how that works.

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The city of Alameda, California yesterday identified three police officers who were placed on administrative leave in connection to the death of twenty six-year-old Mario Gonzalez, the San-Jose Mercury News reports. The officers are James Fisher, Cameron Leahy and Eric McKinley. Body camera footage shows officers pinned Gonzalez on the ground for about five minutes, attempting to arrest him. Gonzalez’s family says the footage shows the officers murdered him. After George Floyd, who can deny their outrage?

The Guardian reports crematoriums in Delhi have become so overloaded by Covid-19 deaths that they are being forced to build makeshift funeral pyres on spare patches of land. And the BBC reports that police in India are prosecuting a man who used Twitter to try to find oxygen for his dying grandfather. Officers in Uttar Pradesh state charged Shashank Yadav with spreading a rumour over oxygen shortages. That’s one way to deal with the problem.

Connecticut will no longer allow a religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities, the Associated Press reports. It becomes the sixth state to end that policy, after California, New York, West Virginia, Mississippi and Maine. More than two thousand opponents rallied outside the state Capitol building, arguing the legislation infringes on their religious liberties and parental rights. Ah yes, the god-given right to let your children contract preventable illnesses, and infect others...

Workers trying to block the sale of a Renault car parts factory held seven managers against their will for twelve hours in the latest boss-napping to hit French industry, the Guardian reports. A union rep said the union had decided to release the managers because, " they still didn’t want to have a dialogue." Well, at least they tried.

APRIL 29, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

A human rights group warns that the Biden administration is well on its way to being just as bad as the Obama regime on immigration, after 300,000 people were deported in Biden’s first 100 days in office.

Meanwhile, a scathing report says that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid for its treatement of Palestinians.

And lastly, President Biden is looking for an $80 billion bump to the IRS, ostensibly so that the agency can beef up its enforcement into rich individuals and corporations who dodge paying taxes.

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Immigration watchdog United We Dream estimates that the Biden administration has deported over 300,000 people since taking office, putting it at risk of repeating the unique failures of the Obama regime, which carried out mass deportations throughout its time in power.

Common Dreams reports that many of the Biden administration deportations have been justified under a Trump-era policy called Title 42. Human Rights Watch says that Title 42 used a 75-year-old public health law to effectively shut down the functioning asylum system in the U.S. during the pandemic.

Cynthia Garcia of United We Dream said in a statement on Monday quote: "Title 42 was designed under one of the most anti-immigrant administrations in modern history." endquote.

It’s just one of several Trump policies that, as we’ve noted before, Biden has yet to end. Despite promising a fairer immigration system and an end to Trump’s brutality, conditions at the border have only marginally improved and, as you can see, mass deportations are still continuing unchecked.

Meanwhile, Biden announced his pick for the director of ICE, nominating Harris County, Tex., Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Harris presided over a shift in his sheriff’s department that saw if cooperate less with ICE, and only help to deport undocumented people who posed a so-called immediate safety threat.

So while he may be gentler than Trump’s people, make no mistake: he’s not about to fully rein ICE in anytime soon. And all the while, Trump’s policies are still doing their dirty work.

Human Rights Report Says Israel is Guilty of Apartheid

A scorching report from Human Rights Watch blasts Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, claiming that they’ve committed the crime of apartheid.

You’ll notice that we’re using the language “crime of apartheid” rather than saying apartheid state. That’s because, as HRW explains, the latter term doesn’t have a specific definition under international law.

The organizations’ intent isn’t to compare Israel to South Africa or any other country, only to clearly delineate what their crimes and abuses are.

And on those counts, the report is unsparing. Accurately saying Israel is guilty of the legally defined crimes of apartheid and persecution rests on three main points.

One, the report claims that Israel’s policies have been designed to ensure that Jewish Israelis remain dominant in the area’s politics. Two, those policies have included systemic oppression and institutional discrimination. And three, that oppression has included inhumane acts and other abuses of fundamental rights. The report arrived at these conclusions by explicitly comparing the experiences and treatment of Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in the same general areas.

Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is a crucial, hotly contested issue, which is why it’s important to see these legal definitions so clearly laid out, without the wiggle room of rhetoric. Comparisons to other countries don’t matter: these are real lives at stake, not just a thought experiment.

Biden Seeks Beefy IRS to Catch Fat Cats

President Biden is looking to beef up the IRS. Before you start groaning, know this: the stated intent isn’t to make things more difficult for the average Joe.

Instead, Biden claims a big part of his new tax and spend plan will rest on an empowered IRS actively chasing down companies and high-earning individuals who are dodging their taxes.

To do so, he’s proposing giving the IRS an extra 80 billion over the next ten years, which he expects will turn into $700 billion in net taxes raised.

This is a good thing, obviously, but it remains to be seen how well it will actually work. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called it a good first step, and noted quote:

“Republicans have starved the IRS so it can't go after wealthy tax cheats." endquote.

She’s not wrong about that! Earlier this month, the head of the IRS told a Senate committee that the agency just doesn’t have the resources to pursue tax cheats, estimating that it could cost the government a whopping $1 trillion a year.

If that’s true, Biden’s hope that he’ll squeeze an extra $700 billion out might be shooting a bit low. We all know the richest among us have plenty to spare.

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A new report by the Trace and the New Yorker shows NRA head Wayne LaPierre brutally botching the killing of an African elephant, missing multiple shots and gruesomely wounding the animal. The barbaric killing was filmed as part of a propaganda film by the NRA, but was never released -- not because of the violence, but because LaPierre’s aim was so bad.

Nina Turner, the Bernie Sanders surrogate and former State Senator now running for the House in her native Ohio, picked up a big endorsement from staunch progressive Pramila Jayapaul today. Turner’s already smashed fundraising targets, so her campaign seems to be off to the races.

The CDC eased its long-standing mask recommendations on Tuesday, saying that it was safe for fully vaccinated adults to be outside without a mask, as long as they aren’t in large crowds like concerts or sporting events.

Joe Biden will head to Pennsylvania on Friday to attend Amtrack’s 50th anniversary party and tout his infrastructure plan. At least he’s consistent on his love for trains! Now we’ll see if we can get any more significant investments into them.

APRIL 28, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The United States announced it will share up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine with other countries -- but big pharma leaders still oppose opening up the patents so every country can make what it needs.

Meanwhile, the CEO of the vaccine production company that screwed up 15 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine sold off $10 million in stock before the mistake was announced.

And lastly, the new census numbers are in, and as we feared, Republicans are going to pick up a few key house seats in

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The United States has finally agreed to share. On Monday, the White House announced it would send up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine around the world.

The AstraZeneca vaccine isn’t even approved for use in the U.S., so it’s not like we have anything better to do with it, meaning it’s kind of absurd we hadn’t done this already. Still, the FDA wants to clear the drug before we send it overseas, though dozens of other countries are already using it and could use more.

We’re not even the first major power to do this. Russia and China have both already actively shared vaccines outside their borders. Prior to this announcement, we’d only committed to sharing a measly 4 million doses with Mexico and Canada.

It’s clear the U.S. could be doing a whole lot more to help as our own vaccine rollout continues relatively smoothly.

Perhaps the biggest impediment to global vaccination, though, is once again the capitalists in charge. U.S. drugmakers have jealously guarded their patented vaccine formulas, and thus far, Biden has let them, despite making a promise not to while on the campaign trail.

The Guardian reported recently on Biolyse, a small Canadian drug manufacturer that said it was ready and willing to devote its facility to cranking out doses of the vaccine to send to developing nations, if only one of the pharma giants would give them the recipe. So far, they’ve gotten nothing. Biolyse’s head of production Claude Mercure said quote: “I don’t understand pharma’s

stance on this. Everyone needs to make money, sure. But this is a very serious situation and there’s no reason to be this harsh.” Endquote.

The bigwigs in charge know this, but as we know by now: money comes first.

Pharma CEO Dumped Stock Before Vax Screwup

With that in mind, let’s turn to another story of unabashed corporate greed. Back in February, the pharma company Emergent Biosolutions completely messed up a massive order for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, ruining 15 million doses in a plant in Baltimore.

A new report by the Washington Post shows that at least one person saw this coming: Emergent’s CEO. Emergent boss Robert G. Kramer sold more than $10 million worth of stock in his own company in early February, right before Emergent reported the mistake and its stock price took a nose dive. If Kramer were to sell those same shares now, he’d only get $5.5 million.

It seems pretty cut and dry what happened here. The top leaders at Emergent knew something was going wrong, so they dumped their stock and hoped for the best. The Post reports that other execs at the company also sold off stocks.

In Kramer’s case, he set up the trades back in November, apparently trying to ward off complaints of insider trading. But the Post’s investigation found that Emergent’s plant was already having production problems back in October, including one earlier issue with making the J&J vaccine.

If you heard yesterday’s story on CEO pay, you’ll love this: Kramer’s total compensation went up 50 percent in 2020.

To seal the deal, Kramer’s last sell-off of his own company’s stock was in 2016 -- and guess what happened: investors sued him, saying that he had dumped his stock after misleading them about a government contract. Sure sounds like he was playing his favorite trick once again.

Republicans Make Census Gains

The Census results are in, and they don’t look good for the Democrats. Thanks to Trump’s pandemic-addled, count-disrupted Census attempt, the 2020 Census reported significant population gains in red-leaning states, which means they’ll get a bigger share of House of Representatives seats.

Texas, Florida and North Carolina are set to gain a combined four new Congressional seats after the 2022 midterms, while California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York — will each lose a single congressional seat. There are some other shifts, but those are the big ones

The nuances of how this all works is a bit more tricky. It’s not as simple as handing seats directly to Republicans, as they’ll obviously have to win elections and the new districts will depend heavily on how the lines are drawn. But in Republican led states, the GOP will hold most of the power over that redistricting, so it follows that they’ll try to gerrymander as many new safely red seats as they can.

Part of this is due to population shifts that are really happening, but the effects are likely more dramatic thanks to Trump’s efforts to disrupt the census project and add a citizenship question, likely suppressing the population of undocumented people who were accounted for.

This matters for representation, but also for the share of federal tax dollars those communities receive, meaning in many cases they’ll be paying taxes to get very little in return.

You can see who’s the clear winner in all this, and it’s not the Democrats or working people around the country.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The population of the United States grew at the slowest rate since the 1930s, the new census showed, fueled by both declining birth rates and stagnant immigration. You can pin some of that blame on Trump, but not all.

The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will hear arguments in a new major gun control case challenging a New York law on carrying guns outside of the home. The NRA has backed the challenge, which it clearly hopes will set a dangerous precedent further eroding any attempts at gun reform across the country.

A Republican-led drive to remove California Gov. Gavin Newsom from office got enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, state officials reported Monday. The LA Times reports that Newsome could see a statewide vote of confidence before the end of the year.

And finally, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it will undergo an internal review aimed at rooting out extremists and white supremacists inside it’s own ranks. The key word in that sentence is “internal.” We’ll see what they find, but don’t hold your breath for real change.

APRIL 27, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders send a bold letter to the White House on Sunday urging a major expansion to the country’s Medicare system as part of the President’s investment and tax reform plan. But will Joe Biden listen?

Meanwhile, India’s COVID outbreak is spiraling out of control, but its hard-right government is more concerned with bullying big tech into taking down criticism on social media than actually helping.

And lastly, a new report shows that CEO’s paychecks are skyrocketing, even as their companies suffer from the pandemic’s economic downturn.

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Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and a cadre of 14 other Democratic Senators sent a letter on Sunday urging Joe Biden to sign off on a massive expansion of Medicare benefits.

The letter asks for several specific things, including lowering the eligibility age for Medicare, expanding benefits to include vision, dental, and hearing, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and lower drug prices. The senators want these chances included in Biden’s American Families Plan, an estimated $1.8 trillion tax and spending package that Biden is expected to showcase during his first address to Congress on Wednesday.

There’s just one problem: Biden hasn’t committed to any of those things yet. Instead, the Washington Post reported that Biden wants to add a $200 billion expansion to the Affordable Care Act’s subsidy program, which helps people pay for private health insurance, but will not touch Medicare.

When it comes down to it, both a limited expansion to Medicare and more ACA subsidies are woefully inadequate, with the latter plan particularly weak.

It also appears like Biden is fully backing away from any kind of true public option for health insurance, instead offering up crumbs and stopgap measures. We’ll see what he has to say on Wednesday, but we’re not hoping for much.

India Censors Covid Critics

The coronavirus epidemic has spiraled to devastating heights in India. Oxygen supplies are dwindling across the country, and on Sunday alone, it recorded almost 350,000 new infections.

And experts think even those staggering numbers are underselling things. Hospitals in New Delhi are out of oxygen and beds and mass cremations are occurring across the country.

Part of the recent surge is due to India’s hard-right government, which under Narendra Modi loosened and sometimes flat out disregarded social distancing restrictions, especially at the President's large, Trump-like rallies across the country.

Modi is now trying to get the outbreak under control and promising to, “give priority to experts and scientific advice.” But he’s also cracking down on any dissent and criticism as much as possible.

According to the New York Times, Modhi has successfully petitioned several American social media platforms to delete or take down post critical of him or blaming him for the disastrous spike in cases. Modhi has often threatened to arrest local employees of tech giants like Twitter and Facebook if they refuse to take down the offending posts, which has worked on several occasions.

But all of this reflects a disturbing brand of authoritarianism from India’s government. As one professor at the University of Delhi put it:

“It’s easier to take down tweets than it is to ensure oxygen supplies.”

CEOs Reap Pandemic Payouts

To close us out today we’ve got a very simple story of American capitalism. As the pandemic ravaged businesses large and small alike, the biggest companies managed to keep one thing intact: absurdly large salaries for CEOs.

Let’s just run some quick figures by you as reported in the New York Times. You won’t need a calculator or anything, these are pretty clear. Boeing: 30,000 workers laid off, $12 billion in losses. It’s CEO David Calhoun? 21.1 million in compensation.

Let’s do Hilton. Nearly a quarter of its corporate employees laid off, $720 million in losses. CEO Chris Nassetta made $55.9 million in compensation.

There are dozens more companies like this, where CEOs reaped the benefits of laying off their own employees directly. Others, like former T Mobile CEO John Legere [LEGER] raked in over millions after swallowing competitors whole or presiding over monopolistic mergers. And this

doesn’t even touch on the tech billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk who rode the waves of fluctuating stock prices to add hundreds of billions to their net worth.

It all adds up to the same thing: the rich are getting richer right in front of our eyes. And they’ve gotten so bloated and arrogant now that they don’t care who sees it.

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Joe Biden broke decades of official silence on Sunday and officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, a brutal campaign of repression during the first world war that killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians, but has gone overlooked by many world governments for political reasons, namely the vocal opposition of NATO ally Turkey.

The Democratic establishment pulled off another victory in Louisiana over the weekend, as centrist-favored, pro-oil candidate Troy Carter beat Green New Deal supporter Karen Peterson, partially by riding a wave of Republican money, to secure a vacant Democratic house seat.

The top American commander in Afghanistan said on Sunday that the U.S. has officially begun its withdrawal from the country, transitioning bases and resources to the Afghan military. This won’t stop the U.S. from bombing whoever it wants, whenever it wants, of course, but it’s a nominal step toward the end of one chapter of the forever war.

The European Union announced that it will let U.S. tourists who are vaccinated visit this summer, after more than a year of widespread travel restrictions, but did not give a definite timeline as to what documentation would be required or when specifically the restrictions would lift.

APRIL 26, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The United States once again wants to be a world leader in the fight against climate change. But activists say the Biden administration’s new targets don’t go far enough.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon thinks that mysterious symptoms afflicting some troops and diplomats might have been caused by directed-energy weapons. But if so, who made them?

And lastly, the White House is considering a substantial increase to the capital gains tax to fund social programs. And Wall Street is not happy.

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This is how you’d hope a president would talk. Joe Biden has called upon the world to overcome the existential crisis of our time, as he unveiled an ambitious new pledge to slash US planet-heating emissions in half by the end of the decade, the Guardian reports. Addressing a virtual gathering of more than forty world leaders in an Earth Day climate summit yesterday, Biden warned that time is short to address dangerous global heating. Shortly before the start of the summit, the White House said the US will aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least fifty percent by 2030, based on 2005 levels.

Biden said a shift to clean energy will create millions of good paying union jobs and that countries may reap the economic benefits of the clean energy boom that’s coming, the Guardian reports. The Biden administration also outlined a plan to double the amount of funding the US gives to developing countries to adapt to the ravages of drought, flooding and other climate impacts. Biden said, "This moment demands urgency – good ideas and good intentions aren’t good enough."

Some activists have said Biden needs to do even more, however, according to the Guardian. Evan Weber, the political director of the Sunrise Movement, said, "While many will applaud the president’s commitment to cut US emissions by at least half by 2030, we have a responsibility to tell the truth – it is nowhere near enough." Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, acknowledged that more needs to be done, claiming that the new US emissions target was a way of building back American credibility that was destroyed under Donald

Trump. Of course, the real test will be whether the whole of society can change to meet Biden’s targets. Count us as hopeful.

Military Briefs Congress On Mystery Weapons

Here’s a strange piece of intrigue. The Pentagon warned lawmakers this week about the growing threat of directed-energy attacks on US troops, four people briefed on the matter told Politico. Two Defense Department officials briefed members of the House Armed Service Committee about the phenomenon in a classified setting on Wednesday, the people said, and told lawmakers they are increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of US troops in places such as Syria, Afghanistan and various countries in South America. Briefers pointed to Russia as a likely culprit, the people told Politico, but didn’t have a smoking gun, citing difficulties in attributing the attacks. The Pentagon opened an investigation last year after suspected directed-energy attacks occurred on an unknown number of troops.

Officials told lawmakers that the phenomenon of suspected directed-energy attacks on US personnel is growing across the world, Politico reports. The attacks may cause a mysterious illness similar to the Havana syndrome reported by American spies and diplomats starting in late 2016. The briefers also told lawmakers that the origin of the technology required in such attacks is "more likely than not in Russia." One person familiar with the briefing said the briefers also pointed to China as a possible culprit, and didn’t know for sure who was behind the attacks.

Politico reports that people affected by attacks report symptoms including acute ringing and pressure in the ears, as well as loss of hearing and balance, fatigue and residual headaches. Some victims have suffered long-term brain damage. Close to fifty officials have reported such symptoms, known as Havana syndrome, among US diplomats posted in Cuba since late 2016. The CIA set up its own task force this year to look into the problem. It sounds like they’re still quite a ways away from solving this mystery.

White House Weighs Taxing Investors More

Soak the rich! President Biden will propose almost doubling the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to help pay for a raft of social spending that addresses long-standing

inequality, Bloomberg News reports. For those earning $1 million or more, the new top rate, coupled with an existing surtax on investment income, means that federal tax rates for wealthy investors could be as high as forty three point four percent. The new marginal thirty nine point six percent rate would be an increase from the current base rate of twenty percent, people familiar with the proposal said. A three point eight percent tax on investment income that funds Obamacare would be kept in place, pushing the tax rate on returns on financial assets higher than rates on some wage and salary income.

The proposal could reverse a long-standing provision of the tax code that taxes returns on investment lower than on labor, Bloomberg reports. Biden campaigned on equalizing the capital gains and income tax rates for wealthy individuals, saying it’s unfair that many of them pay lower rates than middle-class workers. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, asked about the capital-gains plan yesterday, said, "we’re still finalizing what the pay-fors look like." Biden is expected to release the proposal next week in the forthcoming American Families Plan.

Other measures that the administration has discussed in recent weeks include enhancing the estate tax for the wealthy, Bloomberg reports. Biden has warned that those earning over $400,000 can expect to pay more in taxes. The White House has already rolled out plans for corporate tax hikes, which go to fund the $2.25 trillion infrastructure-focused American Jobs Plan. Corporate America is going to scream about all this, but just remember, it’s working people who’ve given the wealthy the lifestyle they enjoy.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that judges need not determine that juvenile offenders are beyond hope of rehabilitation before sentencing them to die in prison, the New York Times reports. The six-to-three decision, concerning a teenager who killed his grandfather, drew a caustic dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who noted that seventy percent of youths sentenced to die in prison are children of color. More everyday American barbarism.

For the second time in history, the House passed legislation yesterday to make the District of Columbia the nation’s fifty first state, the Washington Post reports. Democrats unanimously approved Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Washington, DC Admission Act. The bill, symbolically titled HR 51, now heads to the Senate. It will be amazing if this becomes law.

The University of California and California State University announced yesterday that they intend to require Covid-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff on campus properties this fall, according to the Los Angeles Times. The directive is the largest of its kind in US higher education, affecting more than one million members of the two public university systems. And it seems entirely reasonable, as there are already mandatory shots for measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox.

The Senate yesterday passed an anti-hate crimes bill aimed at addressing a surge in attacks on Asian Americans amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Politico reports. The measure would create a Justice Department position focusing on the issue and beef up state and local hate crime reporting. Missouri Republican Josh Hawley was the only vote against the bill. What a way to make your mark, being the anti-anti-hate crimes guy – but that’s Josh Hawley!

APRIL 23, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Police in Minneapolis, Minnesota just watched one of their own go down for murder. Now the federal government wants to throw open their books and make sure something like the George Floyd killing doesn’t happen again.

Meanwhile, Republicans looked on in horror as racial justice protests swept the country. Their response is to push for bills that would criminalize free speech in thirty four states.

And lastly, you may have heard the slogan sex work is work. Well, it’s a job that’s going to get a bit safer in New York, thanks to a policy change by the Manhattan District Attorney.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Now the real work begins. The Justice Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after a former officer was convicted in the killing of George Floyd there, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced yesterday, according to the Associated Press. The decision came a day after the former officer, Derek Chauvin, was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death last May, a verdict that set off a wave of relief across the country. Floyd’s death had led to months of mass protests against policing and the treatment of Black people in the United States.

The Justice Department was already investigating whether Chauvin and the other officers involved in Floyd’s death violated his civil rights, the AP reports. But Garland said that Tuesday’s verdict does not address systemic policing issues in Minneapolis. The new investigation is known as a pattern or practice – examining whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. It will be a more sweeping review of the entire police department. It may result in major changes to policing in the Minnesota city. It will examine the use of force by police officers, including force used during protests, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. It will also look into the department’s handling of misconduct allegations and its treatment of people with behavioral health issues and will assess the department’s current systems of accountability, Garland said.

The AP says a public report will be issued if the department finds a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. The government also could bring a lawsuit against the police department, which in the past have typically ended in settlement agreements or consent decrees to force changes. Forcing changes? Gosh, what’s that squealing sound?

Republican Bills Punish Dissent

This disturbing update on the reactionary forces arrayed against change comes from the New York Times. Republican legislators in Oklahoma and Iowa have passed bills granting immunity to drivers whose vehicles strike and injure protesters. A Republican proposal in Indiana would bar anyone convicted of unlawful assembly from holding state employment, including elected office. A Minnesota bill would prohibit those convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving student loans, unemployment benefits or housing assistance. And in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation this week that created a harsh new level of infractions – a bill he’s called, "the strongest anti-looting, anti-rioting, pro-law- enforcement piece of legislation in the country."

The Times calls the measures part of a wave of new anti-protest legislation, sponsored and supported by Republicans, in the eleven months since Black Lives Matter protests swept the country following the death of George Floyd. GOP lawmakers in thirty four states have introduced eighty one anti-protest bills during the 2021 legislative session – more than twice as many proposals as in any other year. The Florida law imposes harsher penalties for existing public disorder crimes, turning misdemeanor offenses into felonies, creating new felony offenses and preventing defendants from being released on bail until they have appeared before a judge. The law also increases penalties for taking down monuments, including Confederate ones, making it punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. State Senator Shevrin Jones, a Democrat from Broward County, calls the law, "racist at its core."

So far, three bills aimed at limiting protests have been signed into law – Florida’s and new laws in Arkansas and Kansas that target protesters who seek to disrupt oil pipelines. Others are likely to come soon. Clearly Republicans only care about free speech when it suits them.

Manhattan Decriminalizes Sex Work

Here’s a welcome development. The Times reports that the Manhattan district attorney’s office announced yesterday that it would no longer prosecute prostitution and unlicensed massage, putting one of the most high-profile law enforcement offices in the country behind the growing movement to change the criminal justice system’s approach to sex work. The district attorney, Cyrus Vance Junior, asked a judge yesterday morning to dismiss nine hundred and fourteen open cases involving prostitution and unlicensed massage, along with five thousand and eighty cases in which the charge was loitering for the purposes of prostitution. The law that made the latter charge a crime, which had become known as the walking while trans law, was repealed by New York State in February.

The announcement represents a substantive shift in the Manhattan DA’s approach to prostitution, according to the Times. Many of the cases Vance moved to dismiss dated to the 1970s and 1980s, when New York waged a war against prostitution in an effort to clean up its image as a center of iniquity and vice. In a statement, Vance said, "Criminally prosecuting prostitution does not make us safer, and too often, achieves the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers."

The Times reports that the office will continue to prosecute other crimes related to prostitution, including patronizing sex workers, promoting prostitution and sex trafficking. The office said that its policy would not stop it from bringing other charges that stem from prostitution-related arrests. That means, in effect, that the office will continue to prosecute pimps and sex traffickers, as well as people who pay for sex, without punishing the people who for decades have borne the brunt of law enforcement’s attention. So, it’s not an anything-goes libertarian fantasy, but it’s still a victory for sex workers.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

President Joe Biden yesterday called on businesses and nonprofits to give employees paid time off for Covid vaccinations, the Washington Post reports. He also touted government funding to underwrite some of the costs of that time. Which is all as it should be.

The Post reports that police yesterday identified the officer who fatally shot a Black teenager in Colombus, Ohio. Officer Nicholas Reardon fired the shots that killed sixteen-year- old Ma’Khia Bryant outside a residential home on Tuesday afternoon. The girl’s aunt told the Post that police body camera footage showing the girl holding a knife, "doesn’t show the truth of what occurred." We’ll keep an eye on this one.

Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill that would add gender identity and gender expression to anti-discrimination statutes, the AP reports. The bill would prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, financial services, health care, funeral arrangements, access to public services, education, youth services, criminal justice and transportation. It is headed to the Senate floor for debate, then to the governor for consideration. Cheers to that.

The Guardian reports that a public sector worker described as the king of absentees by the Italian press is said to have broken the national record by skipping work for fifteen years. The hospital employee allegedly collected a monthly salary totaling $647,000 despite not turning up to work since 2005. Now aged sixty seven, he faces charges of abuse of office, forgery and aggravated extortion. Alas, all good things must come to an end.

APRIL 22, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Accountability, yes. Justice, not yet. A jury returned three guilty verdicts for George Floyd’s murderer, the ex-cop Derek Chauvin, and the public began celebrating with relief.

Meanwhile, what do Mike Bloomberg and Sheldon Adelson’s corpse have in common? A new study finds they were two of the top political donors of the past decade.

And lastly, AOC and her Senate ally have reintroduced the Green New Deal as a bill in Congress. And they’ve got support from the White House for some elements of the plan.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Guilty, guilty, guilty. Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted yesterday of three counts of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck, the Associated Press reports. The case touched off worldwide protests and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the US. Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades. People elated by the verdict flooded the surrounding streets downtown upon hearing the news. Cars blared their horns, and people ran through traffic, waving banners. Floyd family members could be heard cheering from the next room as each verdict was read.

The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial people came back with its verdict after about ten hours of deliberations, according to the AP. Chauvin was found guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. His face was obscured by a Covid-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom. His bail was revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. Sentencing will be in two months. At the intersection where Floyd was killed, a crowd chanted, One down, three to go! – a reference to the three other fired police officers facing trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who oversaw Chauvin’s prosecution, told reporters the verdict represented accountability but not yet justice, which was now in the hands of the people. And he praised the people who attempted to intervene to save Floyd’s life, and who filmed his final moments under a the knee of a murderous cop. He said, "They knew it was wrong, and they were right."

Study Names Political Megadonors

It’s like buying yourself extra votes. A dozen megadonors and their spouses contributed a combined $3.4 billion to federal candidates and political groups since 2009, accounting for nearly one out of every thirteen dollars raised, according to the New York Times. A new report, produced by Issue One, a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics, shows the top twelve donors split equally between six Democrats and six Republicans. The list includes multiple Wall Street billionaires and investors, a Facebook co- founder, a shipping magnate and the heir to a family fortune dating back to the Gilded Age.

The study quantifies the increasing role of the super rich in American politics, the Times reports. The loosening of restrictions on political spending by the US Supreme Court more than a decade ago is to blame. The study found that the top one hundred ZIP codes for political giving in the United States, which hold less than one percent of the population, accounted for roughly twenty percent of the $45 billion that political groups raised between 2009 and 2020. Some of the top ZIP codes for giving weren’t even populated by any people at all; instead, they were primarily associated with skyscrapers and post office boxes that were used as business addresses by the wealthy.

The Times reports that the single biggest spender on federal campaigns from 2009 to 2020 was Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, who spent $1.4 billion. Of that, $1 billion went toward his own failed campaign for president in 2020. The largest Republican contributor was Sheldon Adelson, the late casino magnate. He and his wife Miriam contributed $523 million to Republican campaigns. Just think, if Bloomberg turns Republican again, he can be number one in both categories.

AOC Reintroduces Green New Deal

It’s ba-aack! Senator Edward Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reintroduced the Green New Deal yesterday, two years after it first became a progressive

wish list for Democrats, CBS News reports. The original proposal called on the country to take a leading role in helping the planet reach net-zero emissions by the year 2050. To reach that lofty goal, the plan called for the US to wean itself off of fossil fuels and create high-paying green energy jobs. But the resolution was stopped with a cloture vote in the then GOP- controlled Senate before it could proceed.

With Democratic control of Congress and the presidency, CBS reports, progressives on Monday broadened the Green New Deal to include a proposal geared toward addressing pollution in low-income communities and one focused on cities with lead in their water supply. Ocasio-Cortez and Markey also introduced yesterday the Civilian Climate Corps Act, a nod to the group created by the original New Deal, which President Joe Biden said should be brought back in an executive order he issued in January.

Separately, the Washington Post reports that Biden this week will pledge to slash US greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by the end of the decade. It’s part of an aggressive push to combat climate change at home and convince other major economies around the world to follow suit. The move comes as Biden convenes a virtual summit of more than three dozen world leaders on Thursday, aimed at ratcheting up international climate ambitions and reestablishing the United States as a leader in the effort to slow the planet’s warming. The planned US pledge represents a near-doubling of the target that the nation committed to under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Why stop there? The Green New Deal awaits your signature, Joe!

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

President Idriss Déby of Chad died of wounds sustained in clashes between insurgents and government soldiers, the New York Times reports, one day after he had claimed victory in his re-election campaign. Déby brooked no dissent and was feared by his own people. Except, you know, by the insurgents.

Reuters reports that hospitals in the Indian capital of Delhi will start running out of medical oxygen today as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country faced a coronavirus storm overwhelming its health system. India, the world's second most populous country and currently the hardest hit by Covid-19, reported its worst daily death toll yesterday.

The Biden administration issued a policy position yesterday in support of DC statehood, forcefully backing legislation to make the District the 51st state ahead of a House vote scheduled for Thursday, the Washington Post reports. It is the strongest backing the statehood cause has ever received from the White House. Maybe this time will be different?

A breeding herd of elephants in South Africa’s Kruger National Park trampled a suspected rhino poacher to death over the weekend, the Post reports. Gareth Coleman, the park’s managing executive, said that the weekend had brought fruitful anti-poaching operations, adding that several suspected rhino poachers had been arrested and one had died of injuries sustained in the trampling. It’s an occupational hazard.

APRIL 21, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Derek Chauvin trial hears closing arguments, and the jury begins to deliberate on the legal case which will undoubtedly set the tone for protests throughout this summer.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren suggests that military aid to Israel should be restricted so it can’t be used against Palestinians.

And lastly, the largest mine workers union in America said that it supports a switch to renewable energy, provided the Biden administration works with them to protect their jobs and ease the transition away from coal and natural gas.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The trial of Derek Chauvin is almost over. Judge and jury heard closing arguments today from both Chauvin’s defense and the prosecution, which is seeking to hold the former Minneapolis cop responsible for killing George Floyd last May.

Chauvin’s defense leaned heavily on their plan all along: to sow doubt that it was Chauvin’s knee that killed George Floyd by suffocating him to death. But prosecutors were relentless in showing just how cynical, cruel, and brutal Chauvin’s conduct at the scene was.

Prosecutors final words to the jury were: “The reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.”

The jury began deliberations on Monday evening. As they did, the defense lobbed a hail-mary attempt to get a mistrial by complaining that prosecutors suggested they were lying.

Rep. Maxine Waters also caused a stir this week by telling protestors on the street in nearby Brooklyn Center that if the jury acquits Chauvin, quote:

“We’ve got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active.”

The defense is also alleging Waters’ comments may have threatened or intimidated the jury. Per the New York Times, Judge Peter Cahill says Waters quote “may have given the defense something on appeal.” endquote.

In other words, despite the upcoming verdict, we may be headed for more legal battles in an appeal. This may not be decided today, but one thing is for sure: protests and the police violence against them will continue.

Warren Wants Accountability for Israel Aid

At an insider’s conference in Washington D.C. on Monday, Elizabeth Warren had a surprising idea: maybe, it’s not a good thing that Israel uses the billions of dollars it gets in U.S. aid to oppress Palestinians.

Warren’s quote was hedged a little, of course, such is politics. Here’s what she said in context: Quote.

“I support military assistance to Israel. But if we’re serious about arresting settlement expansion and helping move the parties toward a two-state solution, then it would be irresponsible not to consider all of the tools we have at our disposal.

One of those is restricting military aid from being used in the occupied territories. By continuing to provide military aid without restriction, we provide no incentive for Israel to adjust course.”

This would be a pretty good start! Right now, the U.S. gives Israel a blank check to buy guns, planes, drones, bombs, and basically anything else you can think of, and asks very little questions as to how they use it. More often than not, it gets used on Palestinians.

The problem with what Warren is suggesting is that it would be pretty hard to enforce. The end goal of course is maybe spending a little bit less on directly funding the military of an apartheid state. Warren’s record doesn’t suggest she’d go that far -- but at least she appears to be thinking about things from a slightly more progressive perspective than many of her peers.

Coal Miners Union Signals Support for Green Future

The largest coal-miners union in the country has made a shocking, and promising concession: they’re open to working with the Biden administration on new climate legislation and a gradual shift toward clean energy.

Leadership for the United Mine Workers of America said in an interview on Monday that they were amenable to a shift towards a greener future provided the government made real steps to preserving their jobs in the short term.

The decline of the coal industry has ravaged towns and work forces in states like Joe Manchin’s West Virginia, partially explaining some of the rogue Senator’s resistance to core Democratic party goals.

To try to stem this blood flow, the UMWA has largely fought tooth and nail against vital climate legislation. But in comments today, the union signaled that it was looking for a better way to help the people connected to the industry move toward a greener future -- as long as the Government makes some concessions to them.

In the short term, they’re asking for government help protecting jobs and collective bargaining agreements, but in the long term, the union said it would need support to help coal employees transition into careers in renewable energy.

It’s not the coal miners fault that their industry is dying -- but for the good of all of us, it’s got to go. Now it’s the government’s job to make that transition as quick and as painless as possible.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

After the pandemic disrupted routine medical visits for a year, the Washington Post reports that doctors are now seeing the consequences, as patients suffered more damage from untreated heart disease, missed cancer screenings, and put off treatment for lingering illnesses.

The White House proclaimed on Monday that every adult in the U.S. is now eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine. Some states are still struggling with distribution, but in others there are doses to spare and appointments ready for anyone who has yet to get a jab.

Elon Musk’s futuristic car company is once again under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after one of its cars caused a fiery crash that killed two people. Musk claimed that the car was not equipped with his so-called “autopilot” feature, though police alleged that there was no one at the wheel when it crashed.

The RWDSU on Monday formally filed 23 objections against Amazon alleging a range of illegal conduct during the fierce union battle in Bessemer, Alabama. While Amazon’s workers lost their vote to unionize, the RWDSU could strike some blows in legal challenges, as listeners of this program will know that Amazon’s conduct was truly reprehensible.

APRIL 20, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Another week, another tragic mass shooting in America. This time, a gunman used two newly-purchased semi-automatic rifles to murder eight people at a Fed Ex facility in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci says the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will most likely be back in action on Friday, which is good news for the half of American adults who haven’t gotten a shot yet.

And lastly, some of the worst Republican ghouls in the House tried to form a so-called Anglo Saxon Caucus, but scrapped their plans after being deluged in the valid criticism that they were acting like massive racists.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

This weekend, it was Indianapolis’s turn to grieve. A 19-year-old gunman murdered eight people at a Fed Ex facility in the city late on Thursday night, the latest mass shooting in an already-bloody spring.

The shooter, whose name we don’t have to use, was a former employee of the facility. Records show that he was able to legally purchase the two guns used in the shooting even after police removed a shotgun from his possession last year.

Let’s break that down for a minute. In May 2020, the shooter’s mother contacted the police over concerns for her son’s mental health, and police took a shotgun from him. They did not, however, appear to seek a court order under Indiana’s red flag law, which would have barred him from purchasing subsequent weapons.

Before the deadly shooting last week, he did just that. Just months after cops took his shotgun, the shooter bought two semi-automatic rifles, both of which were used in the attack. He killed eight people and shot seven others, then took his own life.

Four of the shooter’s victims were members of the local Sikh community, which has weathered frequent persecution and racism in this country for decades. Community leaders said they did not know whether the attack was targeted or was a coincidence.

J&J Vax Coming Back

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is likely to be back in action on Friday, when the CDC and FDA are expected to have finished their research on its potential to increase the risk of blood clots.

The J&J vaccine was paused nationwide after it was tentatively linked to blood clots in six women who had received it, a tiny number compared to the 7 million other Americans who got it without serious side effects. Fauci said the government agencies were unlikely to ban the vaccine outright, and would instead issue additional warnings or restrictions on it.

But once again, we have to stress how small the risk appears to be. Fauci told NBC’s Meet the Press, “I think it’ll likely say, ‘Okay, we’re going to use it, but be careful under these certain circumstances.’”

That seems pretty reasonable. A resumption in the J&J vaccine would also help boost the U.S.’s overall numbers, which are starting to look pretty good. The CDC reported on Sunday that half of all American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Still, that doesn’t mean that the risk is gone. Cases rose by about five percent over the past two weeks, and 750 people are still dying of the disease every day. We’re not out of the woods, but we’re pretty damn close.

GOP Tries, Fails to Create Anglo Saxon Caucus

Have you ever looked at the United States Congress and thought: boy, I wish that white people had a little bit more representation here? If so, congratulations -- there’s a good chance you’re a racist. And even better, a group of the worst possible people in Congress would agree with you.

We’re kidding of course -- AM Quickie knows its audience better than that. And apparently so do Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, and Louie Gohmertz.

All four of those names were linked to the formation of a new America First Caucus, enthusiastically promoting the idea on Twitter on Friday. The draft proposal for the new caucus, obtained early by Punchbowl News, included this quote:

“America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”

This one in particular led to most people just referring to the America First caucus as the Anglo Saxon caucus. And if that quote didn’t make things clear enough, the document also included

references to, “European architecture,” and other dogwhistles. You can see where this one is going!

However, it appears that the Anglo caucus overplayed its hand a little. The backlash to the overtly racist announcement was so strong, including from other members of the Republican party, that Taylor-Greene scrapped the plan. She blamed the media for focusing on race, of course, so it’s clear that her actual views haven’t changed, but at least the white nationalist caucus in Congress won’t get official recognition for the time being.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Closing arguments in the Derek Chauvin trial are expected on Monday, as ongoing protests for the killing of Daunte Wright can surely be expected to boil over if the jury does not return a guilty verdict. We’ll have more on that story tomorrow once we see those arguments and get a timeline on the jury’s deliberations.

One COVID wrinkle that in hindsight we should have seen coming: the Washington Post reports that scammers are listing blank Coronavirus vaccination cards on Ebay, opening an avenue for vaccine skeptics to endanger others with bogus records. Land of the free, home of the scams, baby!

Capitalism has struck a brutal blow in the already ravaged world of international sports, as 12 of Europe’s largest soccer teams agreed on Sunday to form an exclusive so-called Super League designed to make them even richer. What they’re leaving out is that such a move would destroy the sport for smaller teams in their home countries and throw players’ lives into chaos. But hey: money!

Andrew Yang remains the frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race, leading a poll among Democrats aged 50 or older, a key voting demographic. Make of that what you will! If he wins, he’ll be confronted by an extremely low bar set by Bill De Blasio.

APRIL 19, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

He had his hands up. Newly released body camera footage shows Chicago police gunning down a child who was not, as originally claimed, armed with a pistol.

Meanwhile, tensions are rising between the US and Russia. Will a new round of sanctions help or hinder the cause of peace?

And lastly, some Congressional Democrats are pushing to expand the Supreme Court ahead of the Biden administration’s timetable. They say leadership needs to take a stand over the two seats stolen by Republicans.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

It could’ve been any Black child in this country. A thirteen-year-old boy who was shot and killed in Chicago by a police officer had his hands up when the cop fired his weapon, new videos show, according to BuzzFeed News. The city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability posted the videos online yesterday along with police reports related to the shooting of Adam Toledo, following weeks of protest over the boy's killing and demands to release the body camera footage to the public.

BuzzFeed reports that Mayor Lori Lightfoot described viewing the footage as "excruciating." She also urged Chicagoans to respond peacefully and cautioned that the videos should not be viewed by children. On March 29, a police officer shot the boy to death in an alley in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood after a foot pursuit. Officers were responding to a call of shots fired when they chased Toledo and twenty one-year-old Ruben Roman, who officials said fired the initial gunshots that brought police to the area. Body camera footage shows the cop running after the boy, yelling, "Stop, stop right fucking now." The boy is then seen with his hands raised as the officer fires one round, causing Toledo to fall backward to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A gun is not visible on the body. Prosecutors initially said the boy had a gun in his right hand.

The officer who shot Toledo has been placed on administrative duties for thirty days, BuzzFeed reports. Toledo's death has sparked outrage across the city. He had a big imagination and curiosity and loved animals, riding his bike, and zombies, his mother, Elizabeth Toledo, said in a statement. Protests will continue through the weekend.

Biden Sanctions Russia

Here’s a clear departure from the foreign policy of the Trump era. The Washington Post reports that the Biden administration yesterday imposed the first significant sanctions targeting the Russian economy in several years in order to punish the Kremlin for a cyberespionage campaign against the United States and efforts to influence the presidential election. The administration also sanctioned six Russian companies that support Russian spy services’ cyberhacking operations and will expel ten intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover in the United States. It formally named the Russian intelligence service SVR as responsible for the hacking operation commonly known as SolarWinds.

The measures were taken under a new executive order, the Post reports. They are an effort to make good on President Joe Biden’s vow to hold Moscow accountable for a series of operations, including the election influence and the cyberhacks, that compromised nine federal agencies and about one hundred private firms. Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a call on Tuesday that Washington would be taking actions in the coming days to defend US national interests, without specifying the exact timing or measures. Biden also raised the possibility of a summit with Putin in the coming months in a third country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Russia viewed any US sanctions as illegal and would retaliate in kind, according to the Post. Peskov said sanctions would not be helpful in the lead-up to the proposed summit. The SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence ageency, dismissed the accusations it was involved in cyberattacks as "nonsense." It’s such a shame when people don’t take pride in their work.

Democratic Bill Would Expand Supreme Court

They should call it right-sizing, maybe. A group of congressional Democrats introduced legislation yesterday to add four seats to the Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports. It’s a long-shot bid designed to counter the court’s rightward tilt during the Trump administration. President Biden last week created a commission to spend the next six months examining the politically incendiary issues of expanding the court and instituting term limits for justices.

But the bill’s introduction had an inauspicious start, according to the AP. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she might not bring it up for a vote if it advanced out of committee. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was noncommittal as well. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would wait for the commission’s work to play out, before taking a position on the matter.

Democratic lawmakers and groups supporting the court expansion bill gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court to make their case, the AP reports. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, New York Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, said "Some people say we’re packing the court. We’re not packing it. We’re unpacking it." He said the GOP had packed the court over the last couple of years and called the proposed expansion a necessary step in the evolution of the court. Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, went right to the anger and frustration that so many Democrats have with the judicial conformation process under GOP stewardship. He said, "The Republicans stole two seats on the Supreme Court and now it is up to us to repair that damage." When you put it like that, doing nothing seems like the worst option. Joe Biden, are you listening?

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The AP reports that former officer Derek Chauvin chose not to take the stand as testimony at his murder trial ended yesterday, passing up the chance to explain to the jury and the public for the first time what he was thinking when he pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck. Closing arguments are set to begin Monday in Minneapolis. To call the atmosphere tense would be an understatement.

Former Vice President Mike Pence underwent surgery on Wednesday to implant a pacemaker in his chest after experiencing a slow heart rate, the New York Times reports. Maybe it’s a sign from God telling him to retire.

House Democrats approved legislation yesterday that they say would help close the gap between what men and women are paid in the workplace, the AP reports. The bill would, among other things, make it easier to sue employers over pay discrimination. It would also ban employers from prohibiting employees from discussing their salaries. Overdue!

The spring wave of the pandemic has driven hospitalizations above forty seven thousand, the highest since March 4, according to the Washington Post. Thirty-eight states have reported an increase during the past week in the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19. Take care on the way to your vaccination appointments, folks. The end is in sight.

APRIL 16, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn