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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Donald Trump pledges a peaceful transfer of power when Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th. It’s a little late now, doncha think?

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress call for Trump’s immediate removal from office, through impeachment if necessary. But they’d need to cut short their current vacation.

And lastly, California looks to extend eviction protections for renters – and to send $600 state stimulus checks to many residents. Now there’s an idea worth stealing.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Here’s the state of play following Wednesday’s insurrectionist raid on the Capitol.

After resuming its joint session Wednesday night, Congress voted to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in the wee hours of yesterday morning. When all was said and done, one hundred and forty seven Republican members of Congress – including eight Senators – voted to overrule the Electoral College results. There are now calls that they should face consequences for supporting an anti-democratic putsch, but more on that later. After certifying Biden’s win, the House and Senate adjourned for most of the next two weeks.

In a statements released yesterday, Trump offered the closest thing to a concession we will likely hear from him. In a morning statement, one day after vowing to never concede, he said QUOTE there will be an orderly transition on January 20th ENDQUOTE. In a later video, he called for calm and reconciliation in an apparent effort to appease Democrats calling for his removal. This could be how we hear from Trump going forward, in canned statements and videos from the bunker. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg yesterday announced that Trump would be suspended from the platform indefinitely, or at least until Biden’s inauguration. There were reports that Trump has made plans to pardon family members as well as himself. No shock there. More surprising: the Trump campaign yesterday dropped all of its election challenges in Georgia.

More details emerged about the mob that took the Capitol. It reportedly included a former officer of the Oakland, California Police Department, and a current sheriff’s lieutenant from Bexar County, Texas, who is now under investigation. According to Politico, more off-duty police officers and members of the military may have also participated in the mob. A West Virginia state delegate joined in and livestreamed himself pushing past police officers. A Pennsylvania Republican state senator, Doug Mastriano, also organized buses for the mob. A man who was photographed inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and stealing her mail, was identified as Richard Barnett, an avowed white supremacist. Finally, the woman who was shot and killed by Capitol Police was identified. Her name was Ashli Babbitt and she was an Air Force veteran from California, as well as a Q-Anon believer. Law enforcement sources said a Capitol Police officer was either dead or on life support last night, potentially becoming the fifth fatality related to the mob takeover. A rioter reportedly hit him in the head with a fire extinguisher. It’s all pretty grim, isn’t it?

Democrats Demand Immediate Impeachment

Many news organizations took the day to survey the fallout of Wednesday’s events. Reactions were many and varied.

Speaking by telephone to the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee yesterday morning, Donald Trump was greeted with cheers. According to the Washington Post, some shouted we love you when Trump was put on speakerphone.

Democrats were in no such lovey-dovey mood. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump should be immediately removed from office by way of the 25th Amendment, which is a long shot because it would require action by members of Trump’s own cabinet as well as his Vice President, Mike Pence. (Pence advisers told Business Insider he won’t support such plans.) Failing the 25th Amendment remedy, Schumer said, Trump should be impeached for his role in instigating the assault on Congress. The call for removal was taken up by a wide range of Democrats including Nancy Pelosi and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who stressed the need to move quickly. According to the Daily Beast, members of the House Judiciary Committee began drawing up articles of impeachment Wednesday evening. Omar sponsored them yesterday. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he supported the articles being brought directly to the House floor. Separately, Missouri Congresswoman Cori

Bush circulated a petition calling for the expulsion of those Republican members who QUOTE incited the attempted coup and white supremacist attack ENDQUOTE.

Some Republicans did pipe up, for what it’s worth. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf released a statement imploring Trump to condemn the mob violence. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced her resignation. Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the Justice Department is committed to ensuring that those responsible for the attack face the full legal consequences. Former AG Bill Barr clearly blamed Trump for the violence, saying QUOTE orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable ENDQUOTE.

The top federal prosecutor in Washington DC, Michael Sherwin, said Trump was not off limits in his investigation. The conduct of the police was heavily scrutinized. The chief of the Capitol Police resigned, and Schumer said he plans to fire the Senate sergeant-at-arms when he takes over as Majority Leader. The Wall Street Journal reported that managers of a DHS unit called Intelligence and Analysis knew of the looming mob but didn’t view it as posing a significant threat. Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser called for an investigation, noting federal cops came down harder on peaceful civil rights protesters over the summer than on violent insurrectionists this week. I wonder why.

California Plans Stimulus Checks

A state law protecting California tenants from pandemic-related evictions expires at the end of this month. So it’s good news, as the Los Angeles Times reports, that Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing to extend protections for renters and expedite distribution of $2.6 billion in federal rental assistance. Newsom said the budget he will release today would include the rental assistance money and a $600 state stimulus check to low-income residents. Under the proposals, Newsom said that Californians who have been impacted by this pandemic will get help to provide for their families and keep a roof over their heads.

Millions of Californians lost income when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, per the Times. Last summer, Newsom and the Legislature approved a bill that protected many tenants from evictions through January 31. Speaking Wednesday, Newsom did not say how long an extension he would support. A representative said that the plan is subject to negotiations with legislators.

The governor also proposed to provide a Golden State Stimulus that would refund $600 to taxpayers who received a California earned income tax credit, the Times reports. Residents may be eligible for the tax credit if they have annual incomes of $30,000 or less. Last year, nearly four million eligible tax returns were filed. The stimulus payments would be sent out in February and March. Why don’t more states do this?

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

NBC News reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is no longer the richest man in the world, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk's fortune rose to $188.5 billion. That’s $1.5 billion more than Bezos. Congratulations to the insufferable plutocrat.

Joe Biden has picked Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a former union leader, to serve as his Labor secretary, according to Politico. It’s a blow to Asian American activists who’d lobbied for California Labor Secretary Julie Su to take that position. But Walsh apparently had the support of both the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – or at least their leadership.

People with no symptoms transmit more than half of all cases of the novel coronavirus, the Washington Post reports. The new statistic comes from a model developed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I’ll say it again: stay home or stay distant, wear a mask, and wash your hands.

The Guardian reports that an Iraqi court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Donald Trump. The warrant is part of the court’s investigation into the killing of a paramilitary commander who died in the same US drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Suleimani at Baghdad Airport last year. I know where Trump might be – is there a tip line?

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

JAN 8, 2020 - 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:

Donald Trump’s minions stormed the United States Capitol in a violent attack on democracy yesterday – many are calling it an attempted coup. The Trumpistas delayed Congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election victory – and directly undermined the peaceful transfer of power.

Meanwhile, Biden will name Merrick Garland to serve as his Attorney General. It’s not a Supreme Court seat, but hey, it’s something.

And lastly, state and local politicians across the country are taking steps to speed up the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. As the latest numbers show, they’ve got a long way to go.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Well this is something. Congress went into sudden recess, the US Capitol went into lockdown, and several buildings nearby were evacuated after a large pro-Trump mob swarmed and breached the Capitol yesterday afternoon. News videos showed people banging on the Capitol doors, roaming the halls, waving Trump 2020 and Confederate flags, and fighting with Capitol Police as officers fired pepper spray. The mob erected a gallows and a cross outside. Some wore T-shirts saying MAGA civil war, and a few were identified by experts as known neo-Nazis. Some attacked journalists and trashed TV cameras. Police advised members to wear gas masks and used tear gas inside the Capitol rotunda. Police also drew guns inside the House chamber. Capitol Police shot a woman in the chest; she later died, but further details were not forthcoming. The law enforcement response, reportedly led by the Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, was criticized as exceedingly generous to the mob. Virginia, Maryland and DC National Guard eventually deployed to the Capitol. The DC Mayor imposed a 6pm citywide curfew. Shortly before that time, after four tense and murky hours, Capitol Police declared the building secure. Congress resumed its business in the evening and many Republicans resumed their objections to Biden’s certification. But it was unclear through much of the day who was in charge of the situation not to mention the government.

So far, the MAGA mob succeeded only in delaying Congressional certification of the Electoral College votes making Joe Biden the next president. But make no mistake: These were anti- democracy thugs attempting to undo the will of the people by force. A man stood on the dais in the House chamber and shouted that Trump won the election. Another man wearing a horned helm and called the Q-Anon Shaman took over the Senate chamber. There were thefts from Congressional offices. All this marked the latest and hopefully final phase of Trump’s subversion of democracy. The NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, yesterday said QUOTE the outcome of this democratic election must be respected ENDQUOTE. Foreign governments expressed concern and sypmathy. The Venezuelan government said it hoped for stability for the American people.

Speaking to supporters early in the day, Donald Trump vowed QUOTE we will never concede ENDQUOTE. At the same time, his vice president, Mike Pence, was preparing a statement, well, conceding. Pence, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, declined to join the Republican faction seeking to reject the election. McConnell warned of democracy entering QUOTE a death spiral ENDQUOTE. Of course, that right before Pence and members of Congress evacuated. Joe Biden called on Trump to go on television and QUOTE demand an end to this siege ENDQUOTE. Biden said the mob’s actions bordered on sedition. Indeed. Isolated with his loyalists, Trump last night was suspended by Twitter for twelve hours. PBS reported that he had QUOTE lost it ENDQUOTE. He faced new calls for impeachment and the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. And for his prosecution. Earlier, Trump released a prerecorded message saying the election was stolen but calling for calm. Again, he lies.

Biden Names Garland AG

: In other political news, President-elect Joe Biden has selected Judge Merrick Garland to serve as his attorney general. Garland is the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals in DC. Biden was expected to officially announce Garland’s appointment today, the AP reports. Biden will also name other senior leaders of the department, including former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general. He will also name Kristen Clarke, the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, as assistant attorney general for civil rights. Some defense lawyers and criminal justice reform advocates

have said they worry Garland’s record on the bench shows he is too deferential to the government and law enforcement, the Washington Post reports. But, according to the AP, the selection of Gupta and Clarke, two women with significant experience in civil rights, appeared designed to blunt those concerns and offered as a signal that progressive causes will be prioritized in the new administration. Which frankly can’t come soon enough.

Politicians Push Faster Vaccinations

Have you got the shot yet? Of course you haven’t. With frustration rising over the slow rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, politicians around the US are turning up the pressure to get shots in arms more quickly, the AP reports. New York’s governor is threatening to fine hospitals that don’t use their allotment of Covid-19 vaccine fast enough. His South Carolina counterpart says health care workers have until January 15 to get a shot or move to the back of the line. California’s governor wants to use dentists to vaccinate people.

More than three weeks into the vaccination campaign, just four point eight million people in the US had gotten their first shot, the AP reports. That’s out of seventeen million doses distributed as of yesterday morning. The US has an estimated twenty-one million health care workers and three million nursing home residents. The Centers for Disease Control reported just four hundred and twenty-nine thousand people in nursing homes have been vaccinated.

The slow rollout has been blamed on a multitude of problems, the AP reports. Politicians are getting aggressive in trying to accelerate the campaign. The governors of California, Maryland and North Carolina said they will use the National Guard to speed things up. State and local officials are also moving to expand availability of the vaccine to other groups. Anything’s better than letting doses expire after going unused.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

When he campaigned in Georgia, Joe Biden promised $2,000 survival checks if the Democratic Senate candidates won there. And yesterday, before all the craziness, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said delivering the checks is one of the first things he wants to do after Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are seated in the Senate. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the checks must be followed by QUOTE an aggressive agenda that recognizes the economic desperation facing so many Americans ENDQUOTE. Hear, hear.

The Louisville Metro Police Department has formally fired two of the officers involved in the March police raid that killed emergency medical worker Breonna Taylor, CBS News reports. The department last week sent pre-termination letters to Detective Myles Cosgrove, who an FBI analysis determined fired the shot that killed Taylor, and Detective Josh Jaynes, who applied for the search warrant at Taylor's Louisville home. Enjoy the job market, fellas.

A British judge yesterday refused to grant bail and release WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Washington Post reports. He will remain in a prison cell on the outskirts of London while the US government pursues its case against him. Meanwhile, the change of administrations in Washington might alter the course of the case, as the lead prosecutor, G. Zachary Terwilliger, announced his resignation on Tuesday. He’s a Trump appointee.

More than fifty people, including pro-democracy politicians and campaigners, were arrested in raids across Hong Kong yesterday, the Guardian reports. Some of the targets livestreamed their own arrests. Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state, labelled the arrests QUOTE an assault on those bravely advocating for universal rights ENDQUOTE. He also said the incoming administration would stand with Hong Kong people against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy. Or what’s left of it.

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

JAN 7, 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 Democrats just might have pulled off two massive wins and taken the Senate, as Rafael Warnock appears to have won his race in the Georgia Runoffs and Jon Ossoff is also a heavy favorite to win as we’re recording this.

Meanwhile, Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts declares that undocumented workers at the state’s meat processing plants will not receive the coronavirus vaccine, despite their already-despicable working conditions on the front line of the pandemic.

And lastly, Kenosha’s District Attorney announced on Tuesday that no charges would be filed against Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, delivering another disappointing, disgusting, and unfortunately predictable ruling.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The Democrats appear to have done it, taking the Senate back for the first time since losing it in 2014. Reverend Rafael Warnock successfully unseated Senator Kelly Loeffler, one of the most openly-corrupt appointed officials we’ve seen in the past few years. Jon Ossoff’s race against David Perdue came down to the wire, but as of midnight or so Tuesday night he was heavily favored to win.

Warnock and Ossoff rode a wave of massive voter turnout, out-performing even Joe Biden’s performance in the state.

Warnock won a bit more comfortably, with the race called by some pollsters around 10 p.m. last night, while Ossoff’s race was quite a bit closer.

David Wasserman, a pollster who has been extremely consistent this election cycle, called the race for Ossoff a few minutes before midnight, although he noted that it’s possible Ossoff’s victory could be less than the .05% margin necessar for an automatic recount. So there’s still a bit of uncertainty there, but things look good.

Warnock’s win would make him the first Black Democratic Senator from the Deep South. And indeed, it looks like it was massive black voter turnout and proactive early voting that tipped the scales on election day.

This means the Democrats now have the Senate, thanks to VP Kamala Harris’s tiebreaker vote. That’s a far slimmer margin than any ruling party wants for a new administration, but it’s one that can actually produce results, provided that so-called Democrats like Joe Manchin get on board with what the party is doing. But that’s a battle for further down the line. Today, everything looks pretty good for the Democratic party.

Nebraska Dooms Undocumented Workers

Nebraska’s governor Pete Ricketts has taken one of the most explicitly brutal and inhumane positions of the pandemic, announcing on Tuesday that undocumented workers in the state’s meat processing plants will not be eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine alongside their documented colleagues.

Ricketts, who is the son of billionaire Joe Ricketts, claimed that meat packing plants weren’t legally allowed to hire undocumented workers, so they naturally wouldn’t get the vaccine. Quote:

“Again you’re supposed to be a legal resident of the country to be able to be working at those plants, so I do not expect that illegal immigrants will be part of the vaccine with that program.”

Endquote.

But in reality, undocumented workers make up roughly 14% of the industry’s workforce, according to the Migration Policy institutue. Meat processing workers are some of the front-line employees hit hardest by the disease, as many facilities have weathered severe outbreaks among staff, even prompting a lawsuit by the ACLU.

If 14 percent of that workforce isn’t eligible for the vaccine, it might as well be crippling the industry as well as prolonging the disease. But that’s exactly the kind of smart policy you’d expect from a soulless politician working for an overtly fascist party!

No Charges In Jacob Blake Shooting

Kenosha, Wisconsin’s District Attorney Michael Graveley has finally made his decision in the shooting of Jacob Blake. There will be no charges filed.

That means that Rusten Shesky, the Kenosha Police Officer who shot Blake seven times in the back, will face no criminal penalties for his actions.

Businesses around Kenosha had boarded up their windows again in anticipation of protests, which started soon after the DA’s decision came down. Livestreams on Tuesday night showed protesters marching on the frigid, snow-lined streets, while large numbers of National Guard troops surrounded the courthouse and other federal buildings.

DA Graveley’s decision was based on a review of over forty hours of video and hundreds of pages of police reports. Wild how in all those police reports he didn’t find enough evidence to

bring charges. The New York Times reported that prosecutors thought the case against Shesky would be too hard to win, as the ironclad argument that the cop was just protecting himself would somehow apply. Again, Blake was shot seven times in the back.

Graveley, who is a white guy, admitted his own inadequacy in dealing with the case, saying quote:

“I feel in many ways completely inadequate for this moment. I have never in my life had a moment where I had to contend with explicit or implicit bias based on my race.”

Endquote.

And that, taken together, is all it took to let a cop off the hook for seven bullets that nearly ended a man’s life.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The GOP mounted a dangerous power-grab in Pennsylvania, forcing Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman from presiding over the State Senate when he opposed a Republican motion to block an incoming State Senator from taking his seat. The actual situation is a bit complicated procedure-wise, but sets a scarily chaotic tone for how the post-Trump GOP is going to conduct themselves in state governments across the country.

As a short follow-up to yesterday’s story about the Proud Boys -- a judge banned their leader, Enrique Tarrio, from the District of Columbia, in an order released Tuesday shortly after his release from jail. He’s allowed to re-enter the city to meet with his lawyer or appear in court, but definitely not to attend any more of his little rallies.

Californian workers are already feeling the effects of the state’s devastating passage of Prop 22. Earlier this week, Vons and Albertsons’ grocery stores fired all of their on-staff delivery drivers except the unionized ones in the Bay Area, shifting their jobs instead to third-party gig workers at Instacart and other companies.

In more positive news: Google has a union! A group of more than 200 employees at the tech behemoth’s parent company, Alphabet, announced that they had formed a union under the Communication Workers of America, providing a wide umbrella for more of the company’s thousands of employees to join going forward.

JAN 6, 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 Georgia Runoff elections for Senate are today, giving the Democrats a big chance to tie up the Senate at 50-50 with VP Kamala Harris as the deciding vote. Here’s where things stand as polls open.

Meanwhile, the UK re-enters widespread lockdown as a more contagious version of the virus spreads -- and New York City detects its first case of the same strain.

And lastly, the Proud Boys are introduced to the consequences of their actions, as the historic black church they vandalized in DC files a lawsuit and their founder is arrested on the same night.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Today is the day: Democrats Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will face incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the Georgia runoff elections. This is basically winner-take-all for both parties, although all the Republicans have to do to preserve their majority in the Senate is win one seat.

Still! There is hope. Going into election day, both Warnock and Ossoff have a slight lead over their respective opponents, according to the latest polls on 538. So for whatever that’s worth, we’re looking pretty good!

Keep in mind, of course, that neither candidate is expected to be a progressive trailblazer. But if the Biden administration wants to be able to accomplish basically anything in the next four years the Democrats are going to need the Senate to swing their way.

The other good news is that the GOP is in absolute disarray after Trump’s idiotic, chaotic call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Half of the party, including Georgia’s own Qanon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, is doubling down on Trump’s wildly dumb conspiracy theories about the election, while the marginally smarter half is frantically trying to move on and face the reality of the runoff election.

Trump flew down to Georgia on Monday night for one of his typical rallies to try to juice up his crowd. But early voting numbers are promising for Democrats too -- turnout in the solid-blue Atlanta area has been particularly high, which is an encouraging sign for both candidates trying to flip the seats.

We’ll be tracking this one all day, to be sure -- Sam and the gang will have more updates for you in the full show later.

UK Goes Back to Lockdown

Meanwhile, as the U.S. botches its vaccine rollout, a more infectious strain of the coronavirus is spreading in the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put both England and Scotland on similar national lockdowns in the past few days as cases continue to spike, closing schools and instructing residents to stay home for all but essential trips and errands.

Remember: this is the same strain we discussed before the holidays, which has a higher transmission rate but fortunately isn’t resistant to the vaccine.

Britain is essentially in a race right now to get their population vaccinated and break the spread of this new strain before their healthcare systems get too overloaded.

The bad news is the U.S. may be in for a similar situation. Our health networks are already stretched thin, and on Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that his state had detected its first case of the more infections strain. Other cases have already cropped up in California and Florida, whose hospital systems are under particular stress.

The CDC guidelines for this strain are the same as the normal coronavirus, of course: keep wearing your masks and washing your hands.

Proud Boys Reap What They Sowed

The racist, fascist militia called the Proud Boys may finally be facing some real consequences for its actions.

Back in December, the Proud Boys gathered in DC for a rally in support of Donald Trump’s ludicrous election conspiracies. During the inevitable chaos that followed, members of the group tore down and burned a Black Lives Matter banner hanging on a historically black church in the area. The Church, Metropolitan AME, is now suing the organization.

To top things off, the Proud Boys current leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested on criminal charges on Monday evening, largely because he was dumb enough to claim responsibility for burning the banner on a podcast days after the event. He said on the podcast quote:

“In the burning of the BLM sign, I was the one that lit it on fire. I was the person that went ahead and put the lighter to it and engulfed it in flames, and I am damn proud that I did.”

Endquote.

Tarrio can now be damn proud about his actions from inside a jail cell, as the Washington Post reported that he was arrested and charged by DC police on Monday night for destruction of property as well as two felony firearms charges for high capacity gun magazines the cops found in his car when they pulled him over.

Tarrio lives in Florida, but was in DC for a similar rally in support of the President. Looks like he might not make this one! What a drag.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A British judge rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on espionage charges, openly citing the fact that harsh prison conditions in the U.S. could cause Assange to commit suicide. The judge did not, however, agree with Assange’s defense that he was being politically persecuted by the U.S. government, meaning the ruling is a bit of a mixed bag for Assange’s supporters.

Haven, the dystopian venture started by Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway in order to disrupt the healthcare industry, announced that it would be shutting down after just three years of doing.. Well... not a whole lot. It’s almost as if putting billionaires in charge of the nation’s healthcare isn’t the best system!

In incredibly stupid incoming Congressperson news, DC police are in contact with newly minted GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, who has vowed to carry her Glock handgun in DC and into Congress. In fact, bringing a gun to Capitol Hill was one of her core campaign promises.

And finally, Arizona teachers are resigning at an alarming rate. One thousand and seventy two have quit their jobs since the beginning of this school year, which is a sharp spike from the 758 that had resigned by this point in the 2019-2020 school year.

That’s it for the majority report’s Am Quickie today! Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon.

JAN 5, 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:

Donald Trump made his most blatant attempt to prevent Joe Biden from taking office in the coming days, directly asking Georgia officials to find him over 11,000 votes to overturn the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, a new Congress takes over, and Nancy Pelosi is predictably re-elected Speaker of the House. Some things may never change!

And lastly, the U.S.’s rollout of the coronavirus vaccine is already devolving into a mess, as the predictable holiday surge of cases starts to mount.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

There are only 16 days left in Trump’s term as president, but the big guy won’t let that stop him, because we’ve got at least one more big scandal on his way out.

On Sunday, the Washington Post both reported on a taped call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the President demanded that Republican officials find him over 11,000 votes and overturn their decision that Joe Biden won the state. Here’s the quote:

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.” ENDQUOTE

Trump went through every humiliating stage of grovelling and begging on the hour-long call. The Post released the full audio, if you really want to get into that, but the highlights are mostly Trump repeatedly insisting that there’s no way that he lost Georgia while Raffensperger repeatedly has to say things like this:

QUOTE

“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.” ENDQUOTE

Meanwhile, in Congress, an alarming number of GOP elected officials have signed on to the President’s conspiracy-laden attempt at preventing a peaceful transition of power.

In the Senate alone, 11 Republican Senators or Senators-elect have said they will vote against certifying the election. They obviously don’t have the numbers to actually prevent Biden from

becoming President, but what this all shows is that with a more capable president who has control of both houses of Congress and the executive branch, this kind of coup could be a lot more successful. This is the political reality that we face from here on out, unless we figure out a better system for transitioning between administrations.

New Congress on Capitol Hill

Speaking of Congress, let’s talk about the new one. The 117th Congress was sworn in on Sunday, putting all eyes on the razor-thin race for Speaker of the House.

Democrats still have a majority, of course, meaning that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was almost certain to keep her slot, but Pelosi’s deep unpopularity with various factions of the Party and the Democrats’s slim lead in the House overall meant that the final vote tally was far closer than last year.

Still, Pelosi carried the vote over Republican Kevin McCarthy 216-208, effectively ending the argument in recent weeks that progressives like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez should use the slim margin to hold the Speaker vote hostage in order to force progress on bills like Medicare for All. AOC, who eventually voted for Pelosi, has explained that she and her Squad of like-minded legislators have used that bargaining power to seek less-visible advances than a big showy floor vote for Medicare For All. With Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush adding two more votes to the AOC-led block in the House, we’ll see how much they can get done in what Pelosi says will be her last turn in the big chair.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, the GOP is eating itself alive as the Mitch McConnell faction wars with the Trump die-hards. Mitch and most of the GOP have clearly decided to cut Trump loose, whereas the new Trump hardliners like openly corrupt Kelly Loeffler and Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville want to start their time on the hill by screaming about election conspiracies, as we mentioned in the last story block.

This strategy and infighting is going to get tested tomorrow, when the Georgia Runoff elections decide the final makeup of the Senate. If Ossoff and Warnock both win, they could hand the Democrats their first control of House, Senate and the Presidency since 2015.

COVID Vaccine Rollout Is a Mess

The U.S. is once again far behind Government targets in controlling the coronavirus, as vaccine distribution continues to lag behind across the country.

According to the CDC, more than 4.2 million people received the initial vaccination dose as of Saturday, but the government’s goal was 20 million by the end of December. That means we’re way, way behind.

Coupled with a new case surge brought on by holiday travel, that means we’re looking at some more dark months to come. According to a report by NPR, part of the breakdown is that the Federal government doesn’t have a comprehensive plan on how to allocate the vaccine, and has largely left it up to state and local governments to figure out who gets what and when.

All kinds of stuff is causing delays: shortages in virals, bureaucratic red tape, and long lines for the places actually administering the vaccine.

In New York, for instance, Governor Andrew Cuomo has placed a hefty $1 million penalty on any administrator who gives the vaccine to someone who’s not authorized to get it yet. While this is clearly intended to stop the rich and corrupt jumping the line, what it also does is adds a further layer of bureaucracy in between getting the most people the vaccine as fast as possible.

This kind of blunder is leaving millions of doses in freezers at hospitals where they could expire before they manage to actually get into peoples’ arms. NPR reports that local officials are blaming some of the holdups on the meager federal aid they’re receiving as well, which is unsurprising given how stingy the recent relief bill was.

There were almost 300,000 new cases of the disease nationwide on Saturday. We’ve got to figure this one out, quickly.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

In news that should surprise no one, Biden’s cabinet has a long track record of raking in cash for big corporate speaking appearances. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen has collected more than $7 million in the past few years, and prospective Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has also collected more than a million. So glad things are back to normal over there!

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Report, the world’s 500 richest people added a combined $1.8 Trillion to their collective worth in the past year, as the entire rest of the world struggled with a deadly pandemic and widespread economic collapse.

Israel is being touted by some as a success story in vaccine rollout, with one obvious caveat: Palestinians in the blockaded West Bank and Gaza Strip have little to no access to the treatment, while Israel’s government prioritizes illegal settlers instead.

The New Year gave us one last look at Trump’s court of fools, as the President’s Mar a Lago resort hosted its annual party complete with a performance from Vanilla Ice and hundreds of unmasked participants. With any luck, this is exactly the kind of supid, hedonistic future Trump himself will be relegated to in just over two weeks.

JAN 4, 2020 - 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:

Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell really doesn’t want you to get a $2,000 check from the government. But the fight over survival checks is shaping up to test his control over the legislative process in the closing days of the one hundred and sixteenth Congress.

Meanwhile, a new investigation reveals the use of forced labor in Apple’s supply chain. Many Muslims in China are reportedly given the choice between grueling work making iPhones or getting sent to a detention center.

And lastly, a judge in Georgia has overturned a Republican-led purge of thousands of voters. Every vote counts as the state prepares to vote in a crucial runoff elections next week.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The fate of what Democrats are calling survival checks remains in limbo as the Congressional session comes to a close at the end of the week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday thwarted Democrats’ bid to immediately increase the survival checks from $600 to $2,000, Politico reports. McConnell acknowledged Donald Trump’s conditions for signing a coronavirus and economic relief bill, which include increased payments. But he did not make an explicit commitment to tackling those issues in the coming days. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, insisted McConnell would have to offer a path forward on larger checks. That’s their demand in return for securing a quick vote to overturn Trump’s veto of the defense spending bill, which is McConnell’s priority. All of which means it’s not yet clear how much money the government will be sending you in the weeks ahead.

There’s been movement toward embracing the larger direct payments among Republicans, Politico reports. Trump and many House Republicans want it. The handful of Senate Republicans who’ve endorsed larger checks includes Georgia Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both of whom are in run-off races that will determine Senate control next year.

But getting those checks to the floor before then looks like a steep task after yesterday’s brouhaha, according to Politico. First Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to pass the House-approved bill increasing the checks to $2,000, which McConnell rejected. Then

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders asked McConnell to at least set up a roll call vote to follow the veto override. McConnell spurned that request too. Sanders responded by blocking quick passage of the veto override, leaving the possibility of keeping the Senate in session into New Year’s Day to finish consideration of the defense bill. A lot of people had to work over the holidays – the Senate can, too. Doncha think?

Forced Labor In iPhones

How much do you know about the technology you use every day? Where does it come from? Whose hands touched it before yours? One of the oldest and most well-known iPhone suppliers has been accused of using forced Muslim labor in its factories, according to documents uncovered by a human rights group and shared with the Washington Post. The documents, discovered by the Tech Transparency Project, detail how thousands of Uighur workers from the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang were sent to work for Lens Technology. The company also supplies Amazon and Tesla.

Lens Technology is one of at least five companies connected to Apple’s supply chain that have now been linked to alleged forced labor from the Xinjiang region, the Post reports. Apple has faced criticism for its labor practices in the past, particularly in China. Some Uighur workers have told human rights groups that they were given a choice between taking a job in a far-flung factory or being sent to a detention center. In some cases, workers have said that when they accept the job, they live in heavily guarded campuses and are rarely allowed to leave. Whether the Uighurs are paid, and exactly how much, is unclear.

Apple has dispatched lobbyists to Capitol Hill regarding legislation that would hold US companies accountable for using forced labor from the region, the Post reports. The lobbyists are trying to water down the bill, according to congressional staffers. Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, told the Post that the alleged use of forced labor in Apple’s supply chain may explain why the company is lobbying against a bill now before Congress that would sanction companies for their involvement in human rights abuses in China. Well, it’s probably no coincidence, that’s for sure.

Georgia Voter Purge Overruled

There’s some encouraging news for Democrats from Georgia. Two Georgia counties must reverse their decision to purge thousands from voter rolls in advance of the state’s January 5 runoff elections, the Guardian reports. As we mentioned before, the results will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the US Senate. Federal judge Leslie Abrams Gardner said in an order filed late on Monday that the two counties appeared to have improperly relied on unverified change-of-address information to invalidate voter registrations. Per the ruling, those registrations must now be honored. Judge Abrams Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams, the Democratic activist who lost a race for Georgia governor in 2018, and led a voter registration drive that was crucial to Joe Biden’s victory in the state. National Democratic Party attorney Marc Elias, who litigated the case, hailed the decision as a blow to GOP voter suppression. He said the party continues to monitor how other Georgia counties respond to the suppression scheme and QUOTE where necessary, we will sue and we will win ENDQUOTE.

Of the more than four thousand registrations that officials tried to rescind, the vast majority were in Muscogee County, the Guardian reports. President-elect Joe Biden won this county during the November election. Another one hundred and fifty were in Ben Hill county, which Donald Trump won with a sizable margin. Almost two point one million people – more than twenty-five percent of Georgia’s registered voters – have voted in the Senate runoff election that started on December 14. Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are facing off against GOP incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively.

The deeply significant runoff has prompted record-breaking fundraising, the Guardian reports. Ossoff and Warnock each raised more than $100 million in a mere two months – surpassing their conservative opponents. These races are shaping up to be very close, folks. And very hard-fought.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

NBC News reports that at the current rate of vaccinations, it will take almost ten years to inoculate enough Americans to get the coronavirus pandemic under control. Twenty million doses were promised in short order by the Trump administration – but so far, only about two million people have received a shot. Joe Biden administration hopes to pick up the pace in the

new year. The President-elect yesterday named Bechara Choucair, a Kaiser Permanente executive, to be the nation's Covid-19 vaccine coordinator.

A park ranger was seen on video tasering a Native American man who was walking his dog with his sister at a national monument in New Mexico on Sunday, NBC News reports. Darrell House, who is Oneida and Navajo, often prays at the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. The ranger tased him for refusing to show ID. Since when does one need ID to pray?

Another indigenous environmentalist has been killed in Honduras, the Guardian reports. Félix Vásquez, a veteran leader of the indigenous Lenca people, was shot dead at home on the night of December 26 – just weeks after reporting death threats linked to his work. Hopes for justice are reportedly low. But the world is watching.

Small drones will be allowed to fly over people and at night in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday, according to Reuters. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said the new rules get us closer to the day when we will more routinely see drone operations, such as the delivery of packages. Tip your delivery drivers, folks – it’s a hard job, and now they’ve got competition coming.

That’s all for the AM Quickie. The Majority Report returns on Monday, as do we. Happy New Year!

DEC 30, 2020 - 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 Democratic controlled House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming majority yesterday to increase Coronavirus relief checks to $2,000, matching Trump’s demand for bigger payments and sending the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate and a perturbed Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile, an innovative aid group is attempting to improve medical care for migrants on their way to the United States. They’ve already helped thousands of people at a refugee camp on Mexico’s border with Texas.

And lastly, tenants’ rights advocates are praising new legislation to prevent evictions just passed by lawmakers in New York. It doesn’t solve the problem of unpaid back rent, but it should save some people from getting thrown on the streets in a pandemic.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

In the House of Representatives yesterday Democrats led passage of an increase in covid payments from 600 to 2000 dollars. the Democrats voted near unanimously to support the measure and were joined by over two dozen republicans for a 275-134 vote. Because this vote required a suspension of the normal rules of the house a 2/3 majority bar had to be overcome and was.

The bill now heads to the senate where Mitch McConnell surely has plans to kill it. McConnell has a dilemma- as does his caucus- will they buck the president, the most popular politician in their party, or will they help the American people and economy with a Democratic President taking the oath only weeks from now? But even more problematic and immediate for McConnell is how denying a vote to provide hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of relief, for struggling American families will impact the Georgia run-off elections happening a week from today. Majority control of the senate hangs in the balance.

According to Politico- McConnell now has one more massive headache to deal with- Bernie Sanders. Senator Sanders announced last evening that he intends to filibuster the Senate’s vote to override Trump’s veto of the Defense Authorization Act unless McConnell allows a vote on the House approved increase in relief checks. It was this override vote that brought House and Senate lawmakers back into session early from christmas vacation.

Politico reports that in an interview Monday night Sanders said ““McConnell and the Senate want to expedite the override vote and I understand that. But I’m not going to allow that to happen unless there is a vote, no matter how long that takes, on the $2,000 direct payment,” According to Politico Sanders can’t ultimately stop the vote but he can delay it to the New Year- which will keep Perdue and Loeffler off the campaign trail in the days leading to their run off elections in Georgia against Democratic challengers Jon Ossof and Rapheal Warnock respectively.

It will also draw far more attention to McConnell’s denying of Americans the help they need. This may be a losing fight but it is one which may exact a very high price for the Republicans. Fingers crossed on the relief and the runoffs.

Migrant Aid Group Innovates

From the Associated Press comes this story of a nonprofit aid group bringing care to people stuck in refugee camps thanks to Donald Trump’s border policies. Led by US military veterans, Global Response Management is staffed primarily by American volunteers. The group also employs paid asylum seekers who are medical professionals. They have treated thousands of migrants over the past year at two clinics in Matamoros, Mexico, including one inside the camp there. Among those who’ve benefited is Aurora Leticia Cruz, who fled Guatemala more than a year ago. Cruz has tried to keep up with her blood pressure medication, but being stuck in the sprawling camp has made that hard. On one recent day, Cruz felt woozy as her blood pressure skyrocketed. It could have ended in tragedy, leaving her 17-year-old granddaughter and two great-grandchildren under 3 alone in the camp. But instead, a nurse from Oregon and a Cuban doctor were able to pull up her medical record and prescribe the correct dosage.

Medics with the group have innovated to bring care to the austere environment, building on what they learned in countries such as Bangladesh and Iraq, the AP reports. They have used telemedicine to consult specialists in the US and connected a portable device to an iPhone to perform a sonogram. They have also worked with local leaders in the camp to control the spread of the coronavirus by encouraging mask wearing, among other things. Only one person from the camp has been hospitalized with the virus, even as medical facilities in the area struggled to keep up with infected patients this summer.

With public hospitals overwhelmed by virus cases, migrants with heart conditions or problematic pregnancies have nowhere to go, the AP reports. Others have been prescribed ineffective medications because doctors lacked their medical histories. The group is working to connect migrants to health care by asking them what they need via WhatsApp. The idea is to treat their health problems before they worsen, and create a system where their records can be accessed by doctors along the way. It is a daunting task. Hats off to these aid workers who are doing their best to improve a miserable situation.

NY Passes Evictions Moratorium

SAM: Do you hear? It’s the sweet sound of landlords crying. The New York Legislature yesterday passed one of the most comprehensive anti-eviction laws in the nation, the New York Times reports. Under the new measure, landlords would be barred from evicting most tenants for at least another sixty days. A tenant in danger of being kicked out of a home could submit a document stating financial hardship related to the coronavirus to postpone an eviction. The legislation would also make it harder for banks to foreclose on smaller landlords who are themselves struggling to pay bills. But advocacy groups for landlords said the bill could leave many in a lurch. Well boo-hoo. Join the club!

As of late November, there have been thirty-eight requests for eviction warrants in New York City, the Times reports. Every one of those cases began before the pandemic. Most involved properties in central Brooklyn. Tenant lawyers and advocacy groups said the state law would prevent landlords from throwing thousands of cash-strapped renters onto the streets in the winter as virus case numbers continue to rise. Ellen Davidson, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, told the Times QUOTE It’s going to save a lot of people’s homes. It’s going to save lives ENDQUOTE.

The new law is by no means a panacea, the Times reports. Tenants will continue to owe landlords any back rent they haven’t paid, once the moratorium ends. The $1.3 billion in rent relief authorized by the federal government should help, but it will not be enough to cover all tenants’ back rent. Michael McKee, the treasurer of Tenants PAC, praised the law as close to everything his organization wanted. But he also warned that there will still be people owing thousands of dollars in back rent they cannot pay. Sounds like a job for Joe Biden.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The House of Representatives voted last night to override Donald Trump’s veto of the annual military spending bill. Trump had objected to a provision in the bill directing the military to strip the names of Confederate leaders from bases. Despite this latest failure, he may be remembered as the most successful Confederate president.

Here’s a scary story for you, folks. The New York Times reports that a small number of Covid patients who had never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms weeks after contracting the coronavirus. It really ain’t the flu, folks.

The suspect in a deadly shooting Saturday night at an Illinois bowling alley is a Green Beret, CBS News reports. Duke Webb, a 37-year-old Florida resident, allegedly killed three people and wounded three others at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford, Illinois. His commander issued a statement calling his actions abhorrent and absolutely not representative of the Special Forces Regiment, which prefers all such bloodshed to take place overseas.

The twenty-seven European Union member states yesterday gave unanimous support to a twelve-hundred page trade and security deal with Britain, the Guardian reports. But is it a better deal than Britain had before Brexit? Even the government doesn’t seem sure, with cabinet minister Michael Gove warning that the road ahead will feature some QUOTE bumpy moments ENDQUOTE. Love that British understatement!

That’s all for the AM Quickie. The Majority Report returns next Monday.

DEC 29, 2020 - 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:

After threats and waffling, Donald Trump signed the compromise-laden relief bill, meaning suffering Americans will get at least some federal aid in the coming days.

Meanwhile, authorities identified the 63-year-old man who detonated a car bomb in an RV camper in Nashville on Friday, in a bizarre attack that killed only the bomber.

And lastly, to catch everyone up -- Trump dropped some of his most outrageous pardons yet right before Christmas, wiping the sentences of four Blackwater mercenaries convicted of killing children in Iraq, as well as a laundry list of his political allies.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Here’s the good news: after an absurd period of whining and complaining, Donald Trump signed Congress’s lackluster relief bill into law on Sunday night, meaning that we’re all going to get another measly $600 from the government and state and local agencies will get some of the aid they need. We also avoided a government shutdown. Hooray.

But here’s the bad news. Once again, the bill is wildly insufficient for what Americans actually need. And to make matters worse, Trump’s delay let the expanded unemployment benefits millions of Americans are relying on expire. While those benefits have been restored for the future, it’s unclear what that will mean for the immediate week after the lapse.

Of course, while all this was going on the Trump White House was on vacation. Mike Pence is currently in Vail, Colorado, Trump himself is down in Florida as always, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin flew his private jet down to his resort in Mexico for the holidays. They’re not even pretending to care at this point.

Strangely, Trump’s initial resistance to the relief bill came because he actually wanted bigger checks to go out to everyone. Trump was pushing for $2,000, a number that sounds a lot better than $600. No one would have complained, except the Republican party of course, so Trump threw a tantrum and picked a fight with his own party and threatened to call the whole thing off.

Fortunately, he had an abrupt change of heart on Sunday night, and now the American people will get at least something to keep them going.

Authorities ID Nashville Bomber

A bizarre bombing in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday night has worried and perplexed pretty much all of us for several days. If you’re not caught up, on Friday night an RV drove through downtown Nashville, playing music and a pre-recorded message for people to evacuate because it had a bomb inside. It parked outside an AT&T transmission building, and then exploded around 6:30 a.m. Fortunately, police officers responding to reports of gunfire found the van and managed to evacuate most of the surrounding buildings.

On Sunday, authorities identified the perpetrator as 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner. Warner’s remains were found at the site of the blast. No one else was killed, and only three people were injured.

The blast knocked out cell service in some areas and briefly shut down flights at Nashville’s airport. Warner’s motive is still unclear, as is whether or not he was deliberately targeting the AT&T building.

Also on Sunday, police discovered a large box truck parked outside of a convenience store near Nashville playing the same music. That could be a coincidence, however, as no explosive device was found. We’ll hopefully know a little bit more about the motivations of the bomber in the coming days.

Trump Pardons Child Killers

Trump gave out one last round of perverse Christmas gifts last week as well. In an unexpected but somehow unsurprising move, Trump pardoned a list of corporate crooks, corrupt politicians, and outright killers.

In one day, Trump pardoned Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Jared Kushners crook of a father Charles Kushner. He also wiped the convictions of George Pappadopolous and Alex van der Zwaan, who both caught charges as a result of the Mueller investigation. Oh, corrupt former Congressmen Duncan Hunter, Steve Stockman, and Chris Collins also got a pass.

It’s pretty clear that Trump knows he’s on the way out at this point, and is using his final days to clear the records of all his buddies and bank some favors for his return to a world where he’s not President. But what’s telling is who he’s willing to let out at the same time.

See, Trump also pardoned some of the only people held accountable for atrocities during the Iraq war, a group of four former soldiers who participated in a massacre while working as contactors for the notorious mercenary company Blackwater. Blackwater, if you’ll remember, was at the time owned by a man named Erik Prince, whose sister is Trump’s secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

The Blackwater guards were convicted for their role in a massacre at a checkpoint outside of Iraq’s Green Zone in 2007, which left 17 civilians dead including two children. These are the type of people Trump wants to go to bat for, just in case that wasn’t clear.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The new strain of coronavirus that originated in the UK has jumped its borders, as several European nations as well as Japan, Lebanon, Canada and others reported cases. Once again, this is cause for concern, not panic, but it certainly means full vaccination can’t come soon enough.

A new report by Huffington Post found that Donald Trump’s donors funneled some $10.5 million into his businesses during his presidency, largely through costs charged by Trump’s golf courses and hotels. That’s shocking by normal standards of course, but in the grand scheme of things you’d expect a smarter crook to pocket more than 10 million while literally running the country.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who’s spent the last four years letting Trump officials come on his air and lie to him about whatever they want, tried to do a little bit of hand waving about it by bragging to Brian Stelter about how he’d never booked Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany or advisor Jason Miller because they quote “tell lies the way that most people breathe.” endquote. Then again, Tapper does regularly interview CNN contributor Rick Santorum, so win some, lose some, Jake.

And finally, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned once again of a surge in COVID cases after the holidays. We saw exactly this effect after Thanksgiving, and Christmas is unlikely to be any different. With the vaccine on the way, it’s crazy to start throwing caution to the winds now. Take care of yourselves out there.

DEC 28, 2020 - 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:

Senior United States military officials are increasingly nervous about what sort of orders Donald Trump might give in his final days in power. The words martial law have been used inside the Oval Office, for example.

Meanwhile, it’s another first as Joe Biden names a Latino to be his secretary of education. But he’s already reneging on promises about how fast he’ll fix the damage Trump has done to the immigration system.

And lastly, prosecutors in Pennsylvania have at long last uncovered a clear-cut case of voter fraud in the November election. Of course – of course – it’s a Trump supporter who did it.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Our mad king is making the military nervous. CNN reports that with less than thirty days to go before Joe Biden’s inauguration, there is growing anxiety in the ranks about what Donald Trump might do. Will he invade Iran? Or will he declare martial law and use some bogus emergency to stay in power? The scenarios are troubling enough that military leaders have gone so far as to say they will not play a role in deciding an American election.

CNN spoke to nearly a dozen currently serving officers and the conversations were all unsettlingly similar. Concerns have been rising since Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper last month and replaced him with acting Secretary Chris Miller, then installed political loyalists in key civilian positions. One officer said people are making lists of everything they can think of that Trump might do. Several worry there could be a round of firings or forced resignations of more top officers. That sounds bad, but it gets worse.

Last Friday night, the idea of using the military to change the election outcome reached directly into the Oval Office. Trump hosted a raucous meeting that included lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, where the idea of declaring martial law to overturn the election came up. Yeah, I’d say that sounds pretty bad. Several military officials told CNN that for the remainder of his term, if Trump issues any orders, the key will be whether they are determined to be legal. We’re guessing a self-interested declaration of martial law would be illegal, and people would resign rather than carry out those orders, but CNN isn’t totally clear on that point. Fingers crossed!

Padilla Heads To Senate

Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, was chosen yesterday by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s seat in the US Senate. The Los Angeles Times says the appointment tears down a barrier that has stood as long as California’s statehood, as Padilla becomes the first Latino to represent the state in the Senate. Also yesterday, the New York Times reported that Biden plans to name Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s education commissioner, to serve as his education secretary. This means, pending confirmation, a Latino will be the nation’s highest education policymaker. But it’s not all warm fuzzies from the Biden campaign for Latinos.

Top Biden advisers said yesterday they will not immediately roll back asylum restrictions at the Mexican border and other Trump immigration policies, the Washington Post reports. In short, the transition team is walking back some promises about what Biden will do on Day One. Speaking to reporters on a conference call, several members of the Biden transition team said the incoming administration would need time to undo damage to the US immigration system. The press call came a day after Biden advisers Susan Rice and Jake Sullivan told the Spanish-language news agency EFE that it would take months to restore asylum processing at the border.

Kennji Kizuka, a senior researcher and policy analyst Human Rights First, told the Post that migrants in Mexico are struggling to make a living and to protect themselves in high-crime border cities. Human Rights First has tracked at least thirteen hundred acts of violence against migrants in Mexico, including murder. Kizuka said there needs to be some sense of urgency from the Biden administration. He added QUOTE It can’t all happen on Day 1. But it also shouldn’t wait until June ENDQUOTE. Hear hear. We’re watching you, Joe!

One Illegal Vote Found

Hey, we found the voter fraud. And it takes a page from Psycho. Prosecutors say a Pennsylvania man admitted to illegally casting a ballot in the general election for Donald

Trump as his dead mother, HuffPost reports. The man also allegedly registered his dead mother-in-law to vote with the intent to do the same. Bruce Bartman, seventy, has been charged with two counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting. For this he is facing up to nineteen years in prison. He allegedly went online and registered both deceased women to vote as Republicans in the November 3 election, using either their driver’s license or social security number. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Bartman admitted to detectives that he did this to further the Trump campaign. Sad!

Bartman’s ballot for his mother, who died in 2008, was successfully counted in the election, HuffPost reports. Bartman, a registered Republican, also successfully submitted a ballot in his own name. Though Bartman successfully registered his mother-in-law to vote, despite her dying in 2019, he never requested a ballot for her. Bartman’s lawyer, Samuel Stretton, said his client is taking responsibility for his actions and is cooperating with authorities. Stretton said that in his political frustration, Bartman QUOTE chose to do something stupid. And for that he is very sorry ENDQUOTE. I get the sense this Bartman character is no criminal mastermind.

Stollsteimer said they are not prosecuting the case because of who Bartman voted for, HuffPost reports. The county’s top prosecutor also stressed that Bartman’s ability to cast a vote on behalf of his deceased mother is not evidence of widespread voter fraud. Of course not. But it’s rich that after all of Trump’s bluster about voter fraud, it’s one of his voters who catches charges.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

This is the deadliest year in US history, due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press reports. Preliminary numbers suggest that the US is on track to see more than three point two million deaths this year, or at least four hundred thousand more than in 2019. What can I say? It’s terrible.

Congress overwhelmingly passed a $900 billion stimulus package yesterday. Hundreds of dollars in direct payments may start going to American households as soon as next week, according to the New York Times. Who wants to be a hundredaire?

Donald Trump’s longtime banker at Deutsche Bank, who arranged for the German lender to make hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to his company, is stepping down from the bank, the Times reports. Rosemary Vrablic, a managing director and senior banker in Deutsche Bank’s wealth management division, recently handed in her resignation, though it’s unclear exactly why. Best of luck in her future endeavors!

The Justice Department is suing Walmart, alleging that the nation’s largest retailer knowingly filled thousands of problematic prescriptions that contributed to the opioid crisis, the Washington Post reports. The DOJ is seeking civil penalties that could total billions of dollars. Between 2006 and 2012, Walmart ordered five point five billion oxycodone or hydrocodone pills, which sounds like more than enough, frankly.

LUCIE: That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon for the last episode of the Majority Report in the supremely exhausting year of 2020.

DEC 23, 2020 - 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:

Scientists are monitoring a new, highly infectious strain of the coronavirus, spreading throughout the United Kingdom -- here’s what we know so far.

Meanwhile, a far-right armed mob descended on the Oregon Capitol building, to protest a special session of the state legislature, airing a confusing mess of grievances, and forcing their way into the building.

And lastly, a watchdog group finds that the New York City Police Department grossly mishandled Black Lives Matter protests this summer, violating protesters' first amendment rights, and exposing systemic flaws in the department’s organization.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The new coronavirus strain we mentioned yesterday continues to spread throughout Europe, setting off the now-familiar chain reaction of flight closures and falling stock prices.

As we mentioned yesterday, scientists don’t think that this strain is going to resist the vaccines already going out across the world. But there is some evidence that some of the new mutations have made this version of the virus more infectious, but not necessarily more deadly.

In response, various European countries started closing their borders to British travelers. The United States followed suit in some cases on Monday, as state governors like New York’s Andrew Cuomo asked airlines to require a negative COVID test before allowing passengers to fly into the city.

The big question at the moment is how far the new strain has spread. There’s a similar version of the virus in South Africa, and many of these mutations could happen concurrently. The granular level research on virus strains is a bit slower moving than other data so it may take a bit for us to know exactly where it is.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that U.S. officials should quote “follow it carefully, but don’t overreact to it.” endquote. That seems like sound advice for now.

Far Right Crashes Oregon Capitol

If there’s one thing you can count on through all this, it’s that the armed far right is always going to make a bad situation even worse.

On Monday, groups of assorted right-wing refuse gathered outside the Oregon Statehouse, staging a chaotic, violent protest against everything from the 2020 election to the state’s coronavirus restrictions. The latter grievance appears to be the main impetus behind the demonstration, where protesters clashed repeatedly with riot police and at one point forced their way into the building.

Oregon’s state legislature was having a closed-door session to push forward specific relief bills and new restrictions, like a statewide mask mandate and relief for landlords as well as tenants. They were also discussing whether or not to allow bars and restaurants to serve cocktails to go. In other words, pretty much the basic functions of a state government these days.

But the protesters outside wanted none of that, and repeatedly tried to force their way past riot police, who declared an unlawful assembly and struck back with crowd control munitions and devices. It’s one of the first times that police took a fraction of the firepower they’ve been using on leftists and Black Lives Matter Protesters, and used it on the far right.

Report Finds NYPD Guilty

A city investigation into the New York City Police Department’s conduct during widespread protests this summer found that the nation’s largest police department committed gross abuses of power, violently infringing on protesters first amendment rights on multiple occasions.

The report, released on Friday, concluded that the NYPD’s aggressive tactics often violated the first amendment, and said that police officials were unprepared and untrained for handling the large crowds that sprang up. When overwhelmed, the report says they often resorted to violence.

Margaret Garnett, the commissioner for the Department of Investigation, said at a news conference on Friday quote: “The response really was a failure on many levels,” endquote.

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio, who spent most of the summer ignoring direct evidence that his cops were out of control, finally expressed some contrition after the report was released, saying quote:

“I look back with remorse. I wish I had done better. I want everyone to understand that. And I’m sorry I didn’t do better.”

Endquote.

Obviously that’s too little, way too late, but at least he’ll be out of a job next year. And if you take a wider view, the NYPD’s response was similar to that of many other departments around the country. Also on Friday, the Appeal reported on previously unreleased bodycam footage that

showed Boston cops engaged in an ugly mob mentality as they joked about brutalizing protesters and targeting nonviolent demonstrators for arrest. These reports are just the tip of the iceberg as we continue to unpack a summer of lawlessness perpetrated by those who are supposed to protect and serve.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A new, shocking report by the Intercept shows that CIA-trained and enabled militias are still wreaking havoc on Afghani civilians even as the U.S.’s official troop presence wanes in the country. This is the future of the forever war. And it looks just as ugly as the start.

In one final, oddball decree, Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that prohibits new federal buildings from being built in any architectural style other than Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, or Art Deco. That’s right everyone: no more of that commie brutalism or anything that doesn’t smack of strong western values while Trump is in charge. This will almost certainly be overturned, but it’s equal parts funny and repressive while it lasts.

Rebekah Jones, the Florida Data Scientist who was first fired, and then had her house raided for the crime of trying to accurately track and report the state’s coronavirus cases, is suing the state’s law enforcement agency, saying it violated her rights when agents raided her house at gunpoint earlier this month.

And in one final injustice to the woefully inadequate relief bill process: the wider government funding package that the relief bill is part of also includes a final $1.375 billion for Trump’s border wall and border security. Even at the very end of his time in office, he’s still trying to build his stupid wall -- or at least toss some more slush money at various contractors and friendly agencies.

That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie. Sam, Emma and the gang will be LIVE today at noon eastern on The Majority Report.

DEC 22, 2020 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn