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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Biden will announce his VP pick tomorrow, or maybe he won’t!. Also, AOC at the DNC, Trump wants to break the law at Gettysburg, and more: we’re doing a politics funbag at the top of the night.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s administration is circulating a proposal that would crack down on immigration on the Mexican border to absurd levels, even preventing some legal citizens from entering the country if they’re suspected of carrying the coronavirus.

And lastly, Chicago police say they’ve arrested over 100 after a night of chaotic protests and looting broke out on Sunday following a fortunately non-fatal shooting by the police.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Joe Biden has selected a vice presidential running mate. Or maybe he hasn’t! Either way, he’s not telling, but that’s not stopping literally anyone from speculating wildly.

Take the New York Times, for instance, published a full story on Monday basically saying welp, he’s talked to everyone! Now the decision will come... some time. It might be today, but other people think it might be wednesday. And no one knows who it’ll be, though Kamala Harris, Susan Rice, and Elizabeth Warren are all in the running, along with a handful of others.

Anyway, let’s move on to more concrete news: the DNC. Against all odds, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is getting a speaking slot, playing opener to Bernie Sanders. Kinda wild the DNC took this long to announce that, considering they had literal Republican John Kasich all lined up weeks ago.

Over on the Republican side, Trump is planning some more breaches of decorum and possibly the law: he wants to accept his party’s nomination at Gettysburg. But that’s a major breach of ethics, as doing partisan business on federal property is generally seen as a no-no. He’ll probably end up doing whatever he wants!

In the final miscellaneous event of note today, Trump was rushed out of a press briefing by the Secret Service after a shooting outside of the White House. Secret Service agents allegedly shot someone after a disturbance near the fence. Trump walked back into the briefing after a

few minutes, perhaps in an attempt to save face from the time he got caught hiding in the presidential bunker during protests.

Trump May Try to Stop Citizens at Border

LUCIE: The Trump administration is reportedly considering its harshest immigration restriction yet, in this case circulating a proposal that would preventing some legal citizens from entering the country from Mexico if they’re suspected of carrying the coronavirus.

That Trump is singling out the Mexican border isn’t surprising, but it is open evidence that there’s nothing behind this order other than blatant racism.

It would have literally no effect on cases in the U.S., as the disease is spreading unfettered in our own communities here, but would largely make the lives of latino Americans and their families incredibly difficult on the border.

What Trump is doing with this order is again trying to use Mexico as a scapegoat for all his problems. He figures if he can blame rising coronavirus on Mexico, it’ll distract some of his core base from realizing how utterly he failed them this year.

And he’s clearly willing to do whatever it takes to do that, including barring U.S. citizens from their own country.

Keep in mind, he might not have the legal authority to do it, of course, and none of this is law yet. But if it does come down, we all know what it’s for.

Chicago Protests Flare Up

In Chicago, a day and night of confusion on Sunday ripped up parts of the city, as protesters took to the streets after reports of a police shooting.

On Monday, Chicago police said they’d arrested over 100 people, and that 13 cops had been injured during the demonstrations, which also spilled over into widespread looting.

Part of the community’s fury on Sunday night was driven by mistaken rumors, that said the police had shot dead a 15-year-old boy. However, authorities claim that the police were fired upon by a 20 year old suspect, who they shot but did not kill. The suspect is reportedly in stable condition at the hospital.

The suspect’s brother, however, denied that his sibling fired at the police in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the looting was quote “straight up felony criminal conduct,”and quote “an assault on our city” endquote, but it’s pretty clear that the public’s relationship with the police is so strained it could boil over at any second, which is always going to cause collateral damage.

Chicago police closed down roads and streets in the business district that saw much of the looting and in downtown Chicago on Monday night as well.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Belarus also erupted in protests after its strongman leader Aleksandr Lukashenko won a ludicrous 80 percent of the vote in a highly sketchy election and then cracked down on dissent. Lukashenko’s police have brutally attacked protesters and arrested at least 14 journalists for covering the demonstrations.

NCAA football players are undergoing a remarkable organizing push under two joined campaigns, hashtag #WeAreUnited and #WeWantToPlay, which unite two groups of players pushing for a college football season to go ahead, but only if the schools involved commit to stringent coronavirus prevention protocol and support for the athletes involved. It’s not quite a college football players union yet, but it’s getting there.

The newspaper guild members of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette voted overwhelmingly, 88-31, in favor of authorizing a strike at the paper. If the News Guild leadership signs off on it, it’ll add a huge weapon to the arsenal of a group of journalists who have been fighting their owners’ anti-union lawyers over a new contract for three and a half years.

A freak storm packing 100 mile per hour winds, known as a “derecho” swept across the Midwest on Monday, snapping trees and flipping vehicles across Iowa, Indiana, Michigan and other regions, leaving several injured and thousands without power. Just a sneak peak of what climate change has in store!

Aug 11, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn