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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Republicans are trying to suppress the vote in future elections by attacking mail-in balloting at the state level. They blame it in part for Donald Trump’s loss in November, but they also think anything that makes it easier for people to vote is a threat to their power.

Meanwhile, there is a growing fissure in the Black Lives Matter movement. At least ten local chapters have taken aim at national organizers over, among other things, money.

And lastly, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court took the side of Muslims targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Three Muslim men were targeted with reprisals after refusing to work as informants, so they sued – and won.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Sore losers that they are, Republicans are attempting to undermine the future use of vote-by-mail, the New York Times reports. Absentee ballots constituted nearly half the votes cast in the 2020 election. Experts call the experiment in mass voting by mail a remarkable success. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans eager to appease Donald Trump, who falsely and cravenly equated mail-in ballots with voter fraud.

This week in Georgia, the Times reports, Republican state senators pledged to eliminate no- excuse absentee voting, require a photo ID to obtain a ballot, and outlaw drop boxes. They also want to scrap a court agreement to quickly tell voters about signature problems on ballots so that they can be fixed. Separately, the GOP filed a lawsuit in Atlanta seeking to curtail the use of drop boxes in next month’s runoff elections for the United States Senate. The suit claimed it was illegal to let absentee voters deposit ballots after business hours, which has to be one of the stupidest legal arguments ever committed to paper.

And Georgia has company, the Times reports. In Pennsylvania, Republicans are seeking co- sponsors for bills to stiffen identification requirements for mail ballots, tighten standards for signature matching and to repeal the law that allows anyone to vote absentee without an excuse. Michigan Republicans want to review a 2018 ballot initiative approved by two-thirds of voters that authorized no-excuse absentee balloting as well as same-day registration and

straight-ticket voting. Texas Republicans have filed bills that would crimp officials’ ability to distribute absentee ballot applications and even make it a felony to offer to help a voter fill out a ballot. They really do hate democracy, don’t they?

Internal Feud Threatens BLM

Movement politics can get messy. Now Politico reports that the Black Lives Matter movement is buckling under the strain of its own success, with tensions rising between local chapters and national leaders over the group’s goals, direction – and money. After a summer of protests that made BLM a household name, those atop the movement are organizing a political action committee, forming corporate partnerships, adding a third organizing arm and demanding an audience with President-elect Joe Biden.

The moves have triggered mutiny in the ranks, Politico reports. Ten local chapters are severing ties with the Black Lives Matter Global Network, as the national leadership is known. They are furious that Patrisse Cullors, its remaining co-founder, named herself executive director of the group and made these decisions without their input. Local BLM activists say national leaders cut them off from funding and decision-making, leaving them broke and taking the movement in a direction with which they fundamentally disagree. Sheri Dickerson, lead organizer of BLM Oklahoma City, told Politico QUOTE We're not a brand. We are a revolution ENDQUOTE.

Ten chapters signed an open letter last week that laid out a half-dozen points of contention and long-standing grievances. They said there’s a lack of transparency over $13 million in donations the movement has raised and how chapters can access it. Local organizers said they saw little or no money and were forced to crowdfund to stay afloat. Some organizers say they were barely able to afford gas or housing. With so much money and energy going toward this movement in the past year, it seems wrong for local organizers to get left out in the cold.

SCOTUS Ruling Favors Muslims

It’s not every day that Christian activists rally for the civil liberties of Muslims targeted by the US government. But yesterday the Supreme Court – minus new Justice Amy Coney Barrett – ruled unanimously that three Muslim men may seek monetary damages from

individual government agents, the Washington Post reports. The agents reportedly placed the men on a no-fly list because they refused to become FBI informants. In response, the men filed a lawsuit in 2013 under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which provides relief from government actions that substantially burden a person’s religious beliefs.

Muhammad Tanvir and two other men alleged that they were asked to spy on their friends and fellow congregants at mosques in the New York area, the Post reports. They refused, and later discovered that they were placed on the no-fly list. As a result, Tanvir lost the ability to fly home after trips he made as a long-haul trucker. He also lost money on plane tickets he had purchased to see relatives in Pakistan. Throughout the years, he said, agents told him they could get him off the list if he became an informant. Tanvir and the others sued instead.

As their lawsuit progressed toward a hearing, the men were told that they were no longer on the list, according to the Post. A federal judge said that made their case moot. But a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed, saying the men could bring their claims for damages. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed an amicus brief in the case, and said the ruling was important because government officials often try to get rid of lawsuits by simply stopping the alleged illegal behavior. Senior counsel Lori Windham said QUOTE the government can’t expect to be let off the hook by simply changing its tune at the last second ENDQUOTE. It’s like many of us learned on the playground: No takebacks!

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Joe Biden will nominate Denis McDonough, a former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Washington Post reports. Biden has also picked Susan Rice, Obama’s former national security adviser, to run the White House Domestic Policy Council. The more things change, huh?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday there was a strong possibility Britain and the European Union would fail to strike a new trade deal, Reuters reports. That would mean Britain would see trade barriers imposed with the EU, its main economic partner, in just three weeks. Another broken promise from the Brexit boosters – blimey!

The Justice Department is investigating the finances of Biden’s son, Hunter, including scrutinizing some of his Chinese business dealings, the Associated Press reports. There is no indication that the investigation has anything to do with Joe, but whoever he appoints as Attorney General will take over the case, assuming it’s still going on then.

The longest-serving nonviolent cannabis prisoner was released this week with help from activists, the AP reports. New Yorker Richard DeLisi, now seventy one, was sentenced to ninety years for marijuana trafficking in 1989 at the age of forty. Welcome back, dude!

DEC 11, 2020 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn