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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
Donald Trump threatens another American city with military invasion, and places sanctions on members of the International Criminal Court. You never go full dictator, man!
Meanwhile, unemployment continues to climb amid the coronavirus pandemic. Who will be left with any money to shop in all those businesses that are reopening?
And lastly, organized labor takes a stand against police violence and white supremacy. West Coast dockworkers are calling for a Juneteenth general strike next Friday, and plan to shut down the ports.
THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Biden Fears Trump Coup
Joe Biden said yesterday he fears Donald Trump might try to steal the election in November. However, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president also said he was confident the military would escort Trump from the White House, if he refused to recognize a loss at the polls. Separately, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley apologized for making himself seen on the ground last week in Washington, DC, as Attorney General Bill Barr ordered an assault on protesters. As a comissioned, uniformed officer, Milley said, it was a mistake I have learned from. And I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.
Oh, we’re learning, alright. We’re all learning a lot about America. As if we didn’t already look like a failed state, Trump found a way to make it worse. Anonymous White House officials yesterday told reporters that the US government is placing sanctions on the International Criminal Court. The Court, based in The Hague, investigates war crimes and human rights abuses by armed groups all over the world. One-hundred and twenty-three countries recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction – but the US is not among them. Trump is angry the court is looking in to US war crimes in Afghanistan. So, he is placing economic sanctions and travel restrictions on ICC workers who are investigating America’s role in torture, rapes, and other horrific abuses during the early stages of occupation. Way to convince the world you’re not an insane bloodthirsty dictator, Donny. This is just nuts.
Separately, the Center for Civilians in Conflict, a US-based aid group advocating for the lives and rights of civilians in war zones, made a statement on Trump’s domestic deployment of military forces against peaceful protesters. The statement said QUOTE the public is not an armed opposition group ENDQUOTE. To be fair, Trump does need clarification on this point. Yesterday he taunted politicians in Washington State and said if they didn’t take back Seattle from the anarchists who set up a police-free festival zone in an upscale, left-leaning neighborhood, then he would. Things were peaceful there through the day. As dusk fell, reporter Robert Evans described the scene at the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone as a very large block party with a lot of free food and art projects and, perhaps, the potential to be the nexus of real resistance to the police. Amen.
Trump’s threats get harder to take seriously the more his weaknesses are exposed by uprsisings around the country. Police also seem to be losing authority, through their own egregious conduct. In Chicago, Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush gave a news conference with an old rival, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and claimed city police had burglarized his office during protests last week. Surveillance footage from Rush’s office showed officers helping themselves to snacks and lounging around with their feet up on his furniture as protests raged outside. At least thirteen Chicago cops were involved, including three supervisors. Rush co-founded the Illinois Black Panthers before joining Congress in 1993.
Coronavirus Surging, Economy Floundering
Anyone planning on attending Trump’s hate rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week needs to be aware of the risks. These could include permanent organ damage or even death -- so we really don’t recommend it. But should you register for tickets in Tulsa, you’ll first have to sign a liability waiver. That is, if you want to see Trump speak, you have to agree not to sue him if you catch COVID-19. And here we thought coronavirus was no big deal in MAGA-land!
News of a surge in coronavirus cases across the country prompted the largest single-day stock market drop in three months. The Labor Department said another million-and-a-half Americans filed unemployment claims last week. On top of that, seven-hundred thousand people filed for benefits under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, designed for freelancers and others who aren’t eligible for traditional jobless benefits.
In Houston, Texas, local officials warned the city was on the QUOTE precipice of disaster ENDQUOTE, and facing a spike of coronavirus cases. County officials may try to reinstate lockdowns despite orders by the Republican Governor, Greg Abbott, mandating that businesses reopen. Georgia and Iowa are set to remove all capacity restrictions on restaurants and bars. Public health officials warn this will lead to preventable illness and death. When did stopping the spread go out of fashion? Is this some national death wish?
Dockworkers Back Juneteenth Strike
Pressure is building on organized labor to cut ties with so-called police unions. The Writers Guild of America, East, a union representing TV writers and digital journalists, this week called for the expulsion of police associations from their shared umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO. In a statement reported by The Guardian, the guild said:
As long as police unions continue to wield their collective bargaining power as a cudgel, preventing reforms and accountability, no one is safe. Therefore we believe that police unions do not belong in our labor coalition.
The AFL-CIO has fifty-six union affiliates representing nearly thirteen million members. The Writers Guild is the first affiliate union to formally call for the expulsion of the International Union of Police Associations, which represents the cops who’ve been beating up workers from coast to coast.
On the West Coast, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union this week staged an action demanding an end to racist police murders. The ILWU represents more than thirty- three thousand dockworkers and others in the US and Canada. On Tuesday ILWU members stopped working for eight minutes and forty-six seconds to honor the life of George Floyd and all victims of police brutality. ILWU organizer Clarence Thomas told Jacobin magazine that labor must fight white supremacy within its ranks as well as outside the movement. So next Friday, June 19 , the union will shut down all twenty-nine shipping ports on the West Coast for eight hours. And they’re calling on other unions across the country to join them. It’s time, Thomas said. Labor must begin to take a lead in the fight against racist police terror.
AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:
The federal agency that processes visa applications for visitors and immigrants to the US announced plans to take three-quarters of its workforce off the job. Next week US Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin sending furlough notices to fifteen thousand of its nineteen thousand workers. The agency, a division of Homeland Security, is funded by fees, and claims it needs an emergency appropriation from Congress to avoid the dramatic staffing cuts.
A California man accused of attacking Santa Cruz County deputies wrote messages in blood referencing a far-right extremist movement before he was arrested, NBC News reported. Steven Carrillo, former US Air Force sergeant, allegedly threw pipe bombs and fired shots at officers, killing one and seriously injuring another, on June 6. Last night, local press reprorts citing police linked him to a May 29 attack on police in Oakland.
The teleconferencing company, Zoom, was reportedly shutting down the accounts of Hong Kong activists known to be critical of the Chinese government. Several activists told the Guardian their accounts were blocked before they could host planned online memorials of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Zoom called the censorship regrettable but unavoidable. Easy for them to say!
Ithaca, New York, this week became the first city in the US to cancel rent during the coronavirus pandemic. A new city council resolution gives the mayor power to cancel rent debts for residential and small business tenants for the last three months. It also, according to Fast Company magazine, freezes rent increases, and requires landlords to offer lease extensions. Unfortunately, thanks to an order from Governor Andrew Cuomo, the resolution can’t take effect without approval from the state. Ithaca Autonomous Zone, anyone?
That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.
June 12, 2020 - AM Quickie
HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner
WRITER - Corey Pein
PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn