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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Coronavirus surges around the United States as the country reaps the consequences of Donald Trump’s policy of denial. Republicans at all levels seem determined to expose the public to unnecessary harm.

Meanwhile, Trump’s steamrolling of the judiciary continues with a party-line vote favoring Republicans in the US Senate. But the House hears testimony that could spell bad news for Attorney General Bill Barr.

And lastly, state attorney generals push back on the power of big money. In California, Uber and Lyft may be forced to treat their so-called independent contractors like full employees.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Coronavirus Denialism Kills Thousands

Trump may be in physical and mental decline, but he still has great power over matters of life and death for the entire planet. Yesterday a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told NBC News that Trump plans to end federal funding for coronavirus testing around the country. As many have attested, it’s not easy in many cities to get tested, which is a problem, because testing is most effective in a limited window of time after exposure to the virus. This week there were no appointments available at any of the forty testing sites in Los Angeles, per the LA Times. And some sites were closed. Trump’s policy of denialism guarantees that the pandemic will get worse and worse. Let’s be clear: he owns this. As he recounted to all of six thousand people who showed up to his hate rally in Tulsa, QUOTE I said to my people, slow the testing down, please ENDQUOTE. May he choke on a swab.

Record case numbers were reported in at least five states. Nationwide, yesterday saw a record one-day surge in new COVID-19 cases. Texas is enduring what Republican Governor Greg Abbott called a massive outbreak, and Houston’s director of emergency medical services told reporters their infrastructure was overwhelmed. The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced a mandatory quarantine for visitors from nine other states where coronavirus was spreading out of control. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, over the last two weeks, cases have risen by eight-four percent in states that don't require

masks. But in states with mask orders, cases actualy fell by twenty-five percent. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee yesterday announced a statewide mask order. It was immediately undermined by a rightwing county sheriff who went on TV news and told people not to act like sheep. That pretty much sums up where we’re at with the pandemic. Who, ladies and gentlemen, is the real sheeple? Someone who acts with care and concern for their neighbors, or someone who denies all reality because their precious leader told them to?

200 Judges For Trump

Assistant US Attorney Aaron Zelinsky testified to the House Judiciary Committee yesterday and, as expected, said he’d been pressured to give Roger Stone a break because Stone is friends with Trump. Zelinsky, who remains a federal prosecutor in Maryland, made Attorney General Bill Barr look even more corrupt than was previously evident. But until Barr can be impeached or otherwise removed, Trump continues to rack up wins within the judicial branch. Yesterday the Senate confirmed Trump’s two hundredth judicial nominee. Cory Wilson of Mississippi has joined the Fifth Circuit Court of appeals for life.

These federal judgeships are lifetime appointments. On a largely party-line vote of 52 to 48, the Republican-led chamber approved the nomination of Cory Wilson of Mississippi to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. This new judge is another career Republican hack who called President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care act both illegitimate and perverse. Also yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, overruled Judge Emmet Sullivan in the case against Trump adviser Michael Flynn. Sullivan had decided the case against Flynn must continue despite Bill Barr’s decision to drop it, but the appeals court said Sullivan did not have that power, as a judge. So it’s too soon to celebrate Barr’s evisceration in the House.

Uber, Lyft Mistreated Workers

There were a few victories in the struggle against greedy corporations yesterday. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (HAV-EE-AIR BAY-SERRA) filed for a judicial injuction against Uber and Lyft to immediately halt the unlawful misclassification of their drivers as independent contractors. Per a press release, the California AG was joined in the motion against the companies by the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. Their lawsuit says the gig economy giants are depriving workers of QUOTE critical

workplace protections such as the right to minimum wage and overtime, and access to paid sick leave, disability insurance, and unemployment insurance. Misclassification often results in workers being significantly more likely to draw on government-funded income supports to make ends meet, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill in lieu of big business ENDQUOTE.

In Minnesota, AG Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, three companies owned by the Koch family, and an oil industry trade group for lying to the public and the government about climate change. And Germany’s Bayer corporation, which owns Monsanto, agreed to a $10.9 billion settlement over the cancer-causing chemicals in Roundup, the widely available weedkiller. That was owing to a class action lawsuit filed against the companies in California.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Prosecutors in The Hague indicted the president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi (HASH-EEM THAT-CHI), on war crimes yesterday for his role in a campaign of murder and torture. Nearly one hundred victims were claimed in the indictment that named nine other commanders in the Kosovo Liberation Army. Thaci cancelled his imminent visit to the White House, which he was traveling to when the news was announced.

A grand jury in the state of Georgia indicted three white men for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who they chased and shot down for jogging while black. In Oregon, the self- proclaimed foot soldier for Hitler Jeremy Christian was sentenced to two life terms without parole. Christian killed two men and injured a third who rose to defend two black women he was harrassing on a train. The survivor of Christian’s attack, Micah Fletcher, said he hoped Christian would spend the rest of his life in jail, but still hopefully benefit from therapy.

A Bank of America analyst named Kamal Sharma called the British Pound QUOTE an emerging market currency in all but name ENDQUOTE. This is the bank’s way of saying rightwing austerity policies combined with pandemic denialism and the rejection of international agreements has put the former imperial power in the same place as one of its former colonies. Blimey!

A great plume of dust from the Sahara Desert is blanketing the globe and causing severe air quality problems in the Carribean. The dust plume, kicked up by powerful storms over central and western Africa, should hit the US today -- beginning with Texas. Another good reason to mask up!

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

June 25, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn