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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

In Atlanta, a police officer shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, who fell asleep in his car in a Wendy’s drive-through on Friday night, touching off another round of furious protests across the city, despite some promising steps to reform around the country.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are on the rise in 22 states, as the disease’s first wave never really ended in many states.

And lastly, amidst national unrest, the Trump administration continued its assault on vulnerable Americans, scrapping Obama-era nondiscrimination protections for Trans and nonbinary people, non-English speakers, and people seeking abortions.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Another Death in Atlanta

As nationwide protests continue, this weekend brought yet another tragedy in Atlanta. On Friday night, Atlanta police officers shot and killed Rayshard Brooks after an extended interaction in a Wendy’s parking lot.

Brooks’ death was caught on video both by bystanders and by the officers’ body cameras. Brooks was detained by officers after falling asleep in his car; he said he was within walking distance of his sisters’ house and could just go home. When they attempted to arrest him, he struggled, eventually taking one of the officers’ Tasers and running away on foot. Officer Garrett Rolfe pursued him and shot him three times in the back.

Rolfe was fired on Sunday. Shortly after the shooting, Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, resigned. The other officer involved, Devin Brosnan, has been placed on administrative leave.

It’s hard to know what to say at this point. There have been nationwide protests against police brutality for two and a half weeks, but Black Americans are still dying in the street. The highly charged political climate is having other potential fallout as well.

In California, two black men have been found hanging from trees in the past 10 days within 50 miles of one another. The cops ruled both to be suicides, but both families have doubts, and are urging the authorities to make a full investigation.

What all this is showing is that we have a very long road to changing the system.

Still, there are some baby-steps of progress already: in San Francisco, for instance, Mayor London Breed announced that police officers will be replaced with trained social workers for non-criminal emergency calls. This is one part of the big change many advocates say needs to happen before everyone in our country is free: stop sending people with a gun to address situations that don’t call for violence. We can only hope that more cities follow suit.

Coronavirus Comeback

Meanwhile, the country’s other crisis is starting to get worse. The CDC reports that the coronavirus death toll could be as high as 140,000 by July 4, according to the New York Times. The rate of infection is rising in 22 states, staying level in 8, and decreasing in the rest.

CDC officials say the spikes is caused by states opening up too early in many cases. While the news cycle has shifted to cover the vital protest movement sweeping the streets, the coronavirus is still ripping through many communities.

In New York City, where things were looking up, Governor Cuomo is now threatening to slow the next phase of his re-opening plan if people aren’t careful about masks and social distancing.

What’s interesting is CDC experts say the risk of spreading the disease is less at an outdoor protest where most attendees are masked, than at, say, an indoor Trump rally where no one is required to have a mask. And sure enough: Trump is making everyone who shows up to his June 19 rally sign a waiver that says they won’t sue if they get the disease.

All of these signs point to the disease continuing to disrupt us on a major scale for months on end.

Trump Tears Up LGBTQ Protections

It’s a familiar refrain at this point: while massive changes are happening to the rest of society, the Trump administration is trying to slip more unjust policies under everyone’s radar. This week, it’s a new rules package that overturns Obama-era anti-discrimination protections.

Trump’s new rules eliminate language that protected transgender people from being discriminated against in healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Under Obama, the language specified that it was illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their sex, which was ruled to be all encompassing across the sex and gender spectrum. But Trump is trying to change the rule to make “sex” in that context only mean men and women.

ACLU deputy legal director Louise Melling was furious, saying quote: "This is deadly and all of us should be outraged. This is beyond heartless." Endquote.

The end result of this rule change is that it could make it more difficult for transgender people to access health care -- they could be turned away or denied a procedure, like a transgender man being denied or charged more for ovarian cancer treatments. Trans people are already vulnerable to this kind of lack of access, and of course Trump is making it worse -- it’s our job to make sure he doesn’t get away with it.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

e New York Times endorsed Jamal Bowman, the middle school principal challenging entrenched dinosaur Eliott Engle for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 16th Congressional district. The Times’ endorsement is the latest high profile win for the progressive Bowman, who has also picked up the support of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and NYC public advocate Jumaane Williams.

Senate candidate Kris Kobach, a former Kansas Secretary of State known for his staunch opposition to any gun control laws, had four firearms stolen from his vehicle over the weekend. To be fair, with things as they are in Kansas, he should have no problem replacing them.

Denver Riggleman, a freshman Representative from Virginia, appears to have lost his seat in the primary election to Bob Good a strict “biblical conservative,” who blasted Riggleman over officiating a same-sex marriage. The upset may be a boon to Democrats, however, as Good neglected to correctly file the paperwork to appear on the November general election ballot. He may still get on it, but it’s clear the bible-basher isn’t running the tightest ship in the game.

And to close us out this morning, Trump’s strange appearance at the West Point Graduation ceremony has raised some questions about his health. Trump appeared to struggle to drink water during the speech, and slowly tottered down a very short ramp off the stage.

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

June 15, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn