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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Attorney General Bill Barr testified to Congress yesterday, and folks, it was not a reassuring performance. Listening to America’s top cop defend human rights abuses across the country, it’s easy to understand why over a hundred genocide experts signed a letter warning of mass atrocities against civilians in the United States

Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats signaled their willingness to give up fighting for extended unemployment benefits for tens of millions of Americans thrown out of work during the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats, we’re begging you: Do better.

And lastly, the American Federation of Teachers national convention was held yesterday, online. Members will go on strike in the fall if the government cannot ensure the safety of students and educators alike.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

One of the highest-ranking officers in the Washington, DC National Guard who was present for the violent clearing of Lafayette Square last month testified to Congress yesterday.

Major Adam DeMarco, an Iraq war veteran, told an investigative panel in the US House of Representatives that the crowd of protesters was peaceful before they were, “subjected to an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force.” DeMarco said he believes people’s First Amendment rights were violated. He also said he saw Park Police attack protesters who were fleeing with clubs and chemical agents.

Attorney General Bill Barr, who oversaw the violent June 1 crackdown, also testified to the House yesterday. The questioning was intense and at times emotional. Representative Cedric Richmond of Louisiana told Barr to keep the name of the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis out of his mouth. Barr had mentioned Lewis in his opening statement. Barr insisted the police aren’t racist and praised the abuse of protesters by federal forces in DC and in Portland, Oregon, where local leaders have called for a federal “cease-fire.” Barr also made no apologies his intervention in the criminal case of former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, whose sentence Trump commuted.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York asked Barr what he would do if Trump loses the election but refuses to leave office. Barr said he himself would leave office “if the results are clear.” Barr also declined to answer whether the president can move the date of the presidential election, although, as the American Civil Liberties Union noted, the Constitution grants that power to Congress alone.

Separately, a group of over one-hundred human rights, counterterrorism, and democratization professionals with experience in war zones and authoritarian countries issued a joint warning statement yesterday. The signatories included Elizabeth Shackelford, a career diplomat who served in South Sudan during the civil war, and who resigned from the State Department in 2017 in protest of the Trump administration’s disdain for human rights.

The experts’ letter said, in part: “We write to issue an unequivocal warning to the leaders of the United States of America that without urgent action the country risks having a mass atrocity event and constitutional crisis that will threaten both human security and the future of the republic.”

The group urged local authorities to regain complete control of their police and and mandate an immediate cessation of violence against civilians and the press. They also urged Congress to make preparations for Trump’s refusal to leave office.

Democrats Caving on Unemployment

Bad news from Congress for thirty million unemployed Americans. The US House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, told CNN yesterday that Democrats are willing to concede on the six hundred dollar monthly benefits bonus that expires in three days. The party’s position, Hoyer says, is not, as he put it, six hundred dollars or bust. He said Democrats entered into negotiations over the expanded unemployment benefit with values, not redlines. I tell you what, a lot of people would value that money. Six hundred bucks wasn’t enough, anyway!

Mckayla Wilkes, Hoyer’s progressive challenger in Maryland’s fifth congressional district, who lost the Democratic primary in June, spoke for many yesterday. On Twitter, she asked, QUOTE Why are we immediately publicly caving on the only thing keeping millions of people afloat? What is the point of this? ENDQUOTE.

According to CNN, Hoyer conceded the Republican’s argument that the soon-to-expire $ six hundred dollar benefit was too generous and created a disincentive for people to return to work. Republicans want to cut the enhanced benefit to two hundred dollars for two months

only, after which, people would receive a paltry seventy percent of their prior earnings. If the Democrats go along, they’ll ensure that some families will go hungry and homeless in the weeks ahead. In the richest and supposedly greatest country in the world, there is no excuse for this kind of cruelty.

Separately, House Democrats Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut joined California Senator Kamala Harris to introduce a bill that would fund legal assistance for twelve million Americans facing eviction soon. Not housing – legal assistance.

Teachers Plan Safety Strikes

The American Federation of Teachers is considering of so-called safety strikes to protect teachers, kids, and families from the coronavirus as many public schools prepare to reopen in a matter of weeks. In a speech to members attending the union’s national convention yesterday, AFT president Randi Weingarten said strikes would be a last resort. She promised that just as organized labor has fought to protect healthcare workers, her union would fight on all fronts for the safety of students and their educators.

The union’s executive committee approved a resolution that effect last Friday. Union members were polled in June about returning to work, and seventy-six percent said they would be comfortable doing so if proper safeguards were in place. But now, Weingarten said, they are angry and afraid. Many are quitting, retiring, or writing their wills, she said.

In so many words, Weingarten told Congressional Republicans and the White House to sit in the corner and think about what they’ve done. She said Trump offers no funding, has no plan, and has, frankly, no idea what he is talking about when he calls on schools to hold classes as normal during the pandemic.

The AFT represents some one point seven million members. Its resolution says that in addition to providing protective gear and enforcing distancing protocols, districts should only reopen schools in areas where the infection rate for coronavirus is below five percent and where the transmission rate is below one percent. Sooooo.... Strikes it is, then!

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A nonpartisan election watchdog, the Campaign Legal Center, yesterday filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission against Trump’s reelection campaign. The complaint says the campaign intentionally obscured the recipients of one-hundred and seventy million dollars in expenditures, using so-called pass-through vendors. The ultimate recipient of the funds remains unknown, but former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is implicated in the scheme.

Construction commenced yesterday in France on the world’s largest nuclear fusion project. French president Emmanuel Macron congratulated representatives from the European Union, Britain, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US who are contributing to the twenty-three-billion-dollar Iter project. First conceived in 1985, the reactor is supposed to be up and running in a little over five years from now.

Twitter placed restrictions on the account of Donald Trump Junior after he shared a viral video with a dodgy doctor promoting a bogus cure for COVID-19. The Daily Beast reports that the doctor, a Houston woman named Stella Immanuel, also believes that demons have sex with people in their dreams, reptilian aliens run part of the US government, and that witches are trying to seize control of children. Aliens and demons and witches, oh my!

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced his plan for Black, Native American and Latino Americans to overcome poverty. Are you ready? It involves spending thirty billion dollars on something called a small business opportunity fund for entrepreneurs. The plan also includes as refundable tax credits for first-time home buyersfklakdkflknz sz zzz. .. Sorry, must’ve dozed off there for a second.

July 29, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn