Tag: portland

The Past 24 Hours or So – Protests/Racial & Social Issues, Trump Administration, and Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 11 Minutes

Protests/Racial & Social Issues

  • Protests erupted in Los Angeles after a Black man was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies in the city’s Westmont area.

The man was seen riding a bicycle Monday afternoon and allegedly violated a vehicle code.

The sheriff’s office reported that the man was holding some “clothing items” in his hand as deputies made contact. He allegedly punched one officer in the face before dropping the bundle, and deputies said that a black semi-automatic handgun was among the items he dropped.

Two deputies opened fire and the man, who was in his 30s, was struck multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

  • Authorities in Oklahoma are investigating the arrest of two black teenagers who were accused by white police officers of jaywalking.

Tulsa police released two body camera videos of the officers who handcuffed two black teenagers for allegedly jaywalking after a video of their arrest went viral on social media.

  • Charles McMillon Jr., his son, and a friend were dropping off a U-Haul van in Tallahassee, Florida when they were shot at. An older couple came toward them, both pointed guns in their direction and yelled “Don’t move!”

The group sped off in a panic as they heard more gunfire as they fled. A police officer who happened to be in the parking lot intervened after the shooting began.

The two shooters, Wallace Fountain, 77, and his wife, Beverly Fountain, 72, own the strip mall and were staking it out inside a U-Haul of their own. They said they were having problems with people stealing gas and wanted to scare off any culprits.

Tallahassee Police Department officers arrested the Fountains on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. They were found carrying several pistols, including a .357-caliber Magnum and a Glock 19. Officers also found a shotgun in their U-Haul.

  • A Florida man, Daniel McMahon, 32, who called himself “the Antifa hunter” was sentenced to more than three years in prison for using social media to threaten a Black activist. McMahon also admitted that he threatened to sexually assault the young autistic daughter of a North Carolina woman who protested against white nationalists.
  • President Trump offered up a vague and unsupported conspiracy theory during an interview with Fox News, claiming nefarious unidentified individuals are controlling Democratic nominee Joe Biden from “the dark shadows.”

“They’re people that are on the streets, they’re people that are controlling the streets,” Trump said, before appearing to reference a false viral post from earlier this summer about alleged Antifa protesters.

  • Kenosha police said they arrested a total of 175 people between last Monday, when protests erupted after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, and this Sunday. Of the 175 arrests, 102 listed addresses from outside of Kenosha and spread across 44 different cities.
  • President Trump criticized Democratic leaders and asserted that his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin would help mend racial divisions.

Trump criticized the recent unrest in Portland, Oregon and took credit for the ease in violence in Kenosha after the state’s Democratic governor called up the National Guard.

“I think a lot of people are looking [at] what is happening to these Democrat-run cities and they are disgusted,” Trump told reporters;

“One of the reasons I am making the trip today in going to Wisconsin is we have had such a big success in shutting down what would be right now … a city that would have been burned to the ground right now,” Trump said.

  • President Trump refused to answer whether he thought systemic racism is a problem.

“You just keep getting back to the opposite subject,” Trump said when a reporter asked if he thought systemic racism was a problem. “We should talk about the kind of violence that we’ve seen in Portland and here and other places, it’s tremendous violence.”

The president also dismissed the notion that police brutality was systemic, pointing to “some bad apples” and the idea that police officers “choke sometimes” while under the pressure of their jobs.

  • The Portland, Oregon Fire Department clapped back after President Trump railed against the city, declaring “the entire city is ablaze all the time” due to protests, saying “WE ARE NOT ABLAZE IN PORTLAND,” adding no recent incident has even required more than 1 fire engine.
  • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said that “citizen soldiers” should mobilize to “overwhelm rioters” on the streets of America.

Johnson declared that “the way you stop the violence, the way you stop the rioting, is you surge manpower and resources, citizen soldiers, National Guard, and you overwhelm the number of rioters.”

  • Brookhaven Fire Department officials apologized amid the uproar caused by a viral social media post showing a Confederate flag draped on the side of a department fire truck. 

A photograph of the truck decorated with a Confederate flag, went viral on Sunday and led Chief of Department Peter Di Pinto Jr. to apologize to the community, EMS workers and firefighters for the flag that was draped on the side of the fire truck. 

Di Pinto Jr. said in a letter posted on Facebook. “The unauthorized action was done without the knowledge of the leadership team and is condemned in the strongest terms. 

Di Pinto added, “We can assure our community that Racism has no place in our Firehouse.”

  • The district attorney for Bronx County, New York announced that her office would recommend that charges be dropped for more than 300 protesters who were arrested during a protest in the borough for violating the curfew.
  • New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has signed a bill that makes it a crime to call 911 or file a false police report to solely intimidate someone because of race, ethnicity, religion or gender. The law went into effect immediately.

California lawmakers also passed similar legislation.

  • New Orleans Pelicans guard Josh Hart mocked President Trump after he railed against the NBA and claimed that player protests caused the league’s ratings to slump: “What a dumbass”
  • Naomi Osaka, the highest-paid female athlete, wore a face mask with the words “Breonna Taylor” during her victorious first-round match at the U.S. Open.
  • Virginia’s Commission on African American History Education recommended this week that students be required to obtain a credit in African American history in order to graduate and also recommended that all teachers licensed in the state obtain certification in the subject.
  • The NFL will be installing messages against social injustice in the end zones of every stadium when the season begins. The end zones are set to include “End racism” and “It takes all of us.”

Trump Administration

  • President Trump denied having “a series of mini-strokes” as he sought to respond to a bombshell new report that he was poised to hand over power to Vice President Mike Pence during a mysterious visit to Walter Reed Hospital last year

“Never happened to THIS candidate – FAKE NEWS,” Trump tweeted.

Trump was responding to excerpts from a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt that shed new light on the extraordinary measures taken during the still-unexplained trip to the hospital.

Curiously, the report never claims that Trump suffered a “mini-stroke” or any other specific medical condition.

  • President Trump blasted Matt Drudge, owner of the right-leaning Drudge Report website, for the site’s coverage of his remarks from earlier in the day denying that a series of “mini-strokes” had sent him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“Drudge didn’t support me in 2016, and I hear he doesn’t support me now. Maybe that’s why he is doing poorly. His Fake News report on Mini-Strokes is incorrect. Possibly thinking about himself, or the other party’s ‘candidate,'” the president tweeted.

  • White House physician Sean Conley maintained that the president has not had any heart issues after Trump himself denied having a series of “mini-strokes.”

“I can confirm that President Trump has not experienced nor been evaluated for a cerebrovascular accident (stroke), transient ischemic attack (mini stroke), or any acute cardiovascular emergencies,” Conley said in a statement issued at Trump’s direction.

  • A federal appeals panel has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that would have forced President Trump to comply with a subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance for eight years of his financial records.
  • The federal government will pay South Carolina $600 million and clean up weapons-grade plutonium to settle a long-running dispute with the state.

The agreement, announced Monday by Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, calls for the removal of 9.5 metric tons of plutonium and resolves years of litigation over the issue.

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents lack the training to take over the initial processing of asylum claims, a federal judge ruled.

For nearly 20 years, officers from Citizenship and Immigration Services have conducted all interviews with asylum-seekers and made what are called “credible fear determinations” for those who arrive at the nation’s borders while fleeing to the U.S. to escape persecution.

But in January, Department of Homeland Security officials issued a memorandum delegating authority from CIS to Customs and Border Protection to allow CBP agents to handle the early screenings, arguing that their training was comparable to that of CIS. 

“Poppycock!” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote in his opinion blocking CBP from conducting the interviews of asylum-seekers.

  • Top Interior Department officials misled Congress when they claimed high office rent in Washington, D.C., was a factor in the need to move the Bureau of Land Management to a new headquarters in Colorado, according to a new report from a top government watchdog.
  • The Trump administration finalized a rule that gives the Bureau of Land Management permission to issue massive widespread cuts to critical fees that companies pay the government in exchange for permission to mine on public lands. Critics argue that the move will help industries that are harmful to the environment at taxpayer expense.
  • The Trump administration is seeking to end endangered species protections for gray wolves throughout the nation by the end of the year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  • Army leadership has removed the commander of Fort Hood from his role and barred him from a planned position at another Texas base following multiple high-profile deaths under his tenure including Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, who was found hanging in a tree last week, and Pfc. Vanessa Guillen, 20, who went missing in April before her body was discovered.

Presidential Campaign

  • Democratic nominee Joe Biden has received the endorsement of an interfaith collective of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh spiritual leaders ahead of November’s US election, with the group calling on the candidate to “restore the soul of this nation”.

Faith 2020 said America had lost its “moral clarity” under Donald Trump and that its 350 members are “seeking change”.

  • Joe Biden’s campaign is expected to have raised more than $300 million in August, surpassing the Democratic presidential nominee’s previous monthly record for fundraising, which is believed to be $193 million collected for former President Obama’s campaign in September 2008.
  • Animal Crossing users will now be able to add Joe Biden campaign yard signs to their villages. The campaign released four styles of campaign signs: the official Biden-Harris logo, the “Team Joe” logo, the “Joe” Pride logo, and an image of aviator sunglasses shaded in red, white, and blue.
  • A group of Republicans who want to rid their party of President Trump is making a hefty investment to turn Florida blue.

Officials with Republican Voters Against Trump said they would begin a campaign dubbed “Project Orange Crush” aimed at persuading politically moderate Floridians to back Joe Biden, hopeful that the support of those voters can swing the battleground state — and possibly the presidency — toward the Democratic presidential candidate this fall.

The effort is expected to spend $8M to $10M over the next two months and will include TV, social media, and digital ads. It will target nearly a half-million voters in the state, including independents and moderate Republicans who are wary of Trump but have not yet committed to voting for Biden.

  • The Lincoln Project announced nearly two dozen veterans, advocates, Blue Star and Gold Star family members and others who will serve on a leadership coalition for the Republican anti-Trump group: “Our veterans, service members, and their families know what a leader should be and have seen first hand how Donald Trump has failed his sacred duty as Commander-in-Chief.”
  • The infamous St. Petersburg troll group that was part of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election are trying to target Americans again, Facebook announced Tuesday after receiving a tip from the FBI.

The disrupted operation used fake personas including realistic-looking computer-generated photos of people, a network of Facebook accounts and pages that had only a small amount of engagement and influence at the time it was taken down, and a website that was set up to look and operate like a left-wing news outlet.

  • A majority of Americans said in a new poll that they plan to vote early, including 19 percent who plan to vote in person and 33 percent who plan to vote by mail. About one in three adults say they plan to vote in person on Election Day.
  • President Trump reiterated his call for both candidates to take a drug test ahead of the presidential debates, claiming without evidence that Democratic nominee Joe Biden is “on some kind of an enhancement.”
  • Twitter removed a video from one of President Trump’s tweets that featured Eddy Grant’s hit song “Electric Avenue” after the musician sued the president’s reelection campaign, alleging it amounted to an infringement of his copyrights.
  • Nate Lucas, a sports radio host in Missouri, was taken off the air for using an offensive, sexist slur to describe Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes,  Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Protests/Racial & Social Issues, Trump Administration, and Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Protests/Racial & Social Issues

  • Former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall shared an emotional video of him facing the security guards who called the police on him while he and his family were trying to move into their new home in Florida: “There was no threat for you to call the cops. This is what we’re seeing every single day. This is what we’re seeing every single day. I got two kids in the car right now.”
  • Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned violence in Portland, Oregon after police said one person was fatally shot amid clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and counterprotesters.

“I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.

  • President Trump and Portland, Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) traded jabs over who was responsible for the rise in violence in the city between Black Lives Matter protesters and counterprotesters. 

Wheeler placed the blame on Trump during a press conference, Trump fired back on Twitter while the press conference was ongoing, and Wheeler responded to the tweets.

“Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence?” Wheeler said. “It’s you who have created the hate and the division. It’s you who have not found a way to say the names of Black people people killed by police officers even as people in law enforcement have, and it’s you who claimed that white supremacists are good people.”

“He has an opportunity to uplift us and bring us together and help us move through this difficult situation in our nation’s history, and instead he chooses to play petty politics and divide us. That’s my reaction,” Wheeler said. “So I’m going to do the work I need to do here in my local community with my local officials to take accountability for what’s happening on our streets.”

“I’d appreciate either the president support us or he stay the hell out of the way,” the mayor added. 

Trump tweeted a response almost immediately.

“Ted Wheeler, the wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland, who has watched great death and destruction of his City during his tenure, thinks this lawless situation should go on forever. Wrong! Portland will never recover with a fool for a Mayor,” Trump tweeted. 

“He tried mixing with the Agitators and Anarchists and they mocked him. He would like to blame me and the Federal Government for going in, but he hasn’t seen anything yet,” the president added. 

“We have only been there with a small group to defend our U.S. Courthouse, because he couldn’t do it,” Trump continued, seemingly referring to when the Trump administration sent federal law enforcement officials to Portland amid protests. 

“The people of Portland, like all other cities &  parts of our great Country, want Law & Order. The Radical Left Democrat Mayors, like the dummy running Portland, or the guy right now in his basement unwilling to lead or even speak out against crime, will never be able to do it!” Trump said.

  • President Trump will visit Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday following days of unrest in the city in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Trump “will meet with law enforcement and survey damage from recent riots,” a White House spokesperson told reporters

  • Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) urged President Trump on Sunday to “reconsider” his plans to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin which has been rocked by unrest for the past several nights following the shooting of Jacob Blake by police.

In a letter to the White House, the governor warned that Trump’s presence could “hinder” the state’s attempts to heal after a video of Kenosha police shooting Blake seven times in the back sparked a week of protests that in some cases descended into violence.

Trump Administration

  • Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Sunday defended his announcement that in-person election security briefings to Congress will end, saying the move was necessary to prevent leaks.
  • Former White House counsel Don McGahn raised concerns about the security clearance of the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, in a memo to then-White House chief of staff John Kelly in early 2018, according to a new book.

In a memo, McGahn reportedly warned Kelly that Kushner should not receive a top-level security clearance. “The information you were briefed on one week ago and subsequently relayed to me, raises serious additional concerns about whether this individual ought to retain a top security clearance until such issues can be investigated and resolved,” the memo reportedly stated.

The memo is the most direct evidence yet reported pointing to significant security issues raised during Kushner’s FBI background check. It had previously been reported that McGahn’s office had recommended against Kushner receiving a top-secret clearance and that Kelly had authored a memo noting at the time that he had been “ordered” by President Trump to override that recommendation and grant the clearance to Kushner anyway.

  • Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is launching a hedge fund named Exegis Capital that aims to bet on financial services stocks.
  • U.S. Defense officials said two Russian planes conducted an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. bomber over international waters Friday.
  • Energy industry owners and operators are growing increasingly nervous about new rules proposed by the Trump administration in an effort to limit foreign threats to the grid.

The rules, proposed by an executive order to protect the bulk power system signed by President Trump in March, could severely restrict the ability for grid equipment and other critical technology to be manufactured in countries deemed threats

Presidential Campaign

  • Joe Biden (D) will campaign in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday to deliver remarks that will serve as his first major campaign address following this month’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) and marks a return to the campaign trail after the coronavirus shuttered in-person events months ago.
  • Joe Biden pledged that he would re-launch “PREDICT,” a program launched after the 2005 H1N1 virus that was designed to help detect and combat potential pandemic threats like Covid-19 if elected.
  • Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Sunday that he didn’t know the naturalization ceremony that he conducted last week would be featured during the Republican National Convention.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes,  Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So

Protests/Racial & Social Issues,
Trump Administration, and
Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 9 Minutes

Protests/Racial & Social Issues

  • On the anniversary of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech, thousands took part in the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” march in Washington, D.C. to denounce racism 
  • Two police officers deployed tasers in failed attempts to stop Jacob Blake before one of the officers shot him multiple times in the back with a gun, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said, unveiling new details of its probe into the shooting.
  • Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth is facing renewed criticism for controversial comments he made in 2018 amid protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake and the fatal shooting of two protesters. 

“I’m to the point where I think society has to come to a threshold where there are some people that aren’t worth saving,” Beth said after five people were arrested for shoplifting and leading police on a chase. “We need to build warehouses to put these people into it and lock them away for the rest of their lives.”

  • Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot multiple times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer, is no longer handcuffed to his hospital bed, a detail that drew viral attention after Blake’s father revealed he was restrained.
  • Jacob Blake’s father said that he and his family have not heard from President Trump. However, he did speak to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, describing it as “speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters.”

“I appreciate everything that they’ve done and everything that they’re doing because they keep my son in mind, and President Biden kept telling me his own issues with his family, that he identifies with what I’m going through. I didn’t have to keep telling him, he knew. It felt like he knew … Vice President Harris felt like they knew what was going on.”

Blake said his calling of the candidates “President Biden” and “Vice President Harris,” was intentional as the November election approaches.

  • Dwindling numbers of anti-racism protesters milled about the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, as a tense calm prevailed for a second night following a wave of unrest.
  • Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell announced he is donating $45,000 raised from sales of his latest shoe release to help fund the education of the children of Jacob Blake, with Adidas announcing it would match his donation and bring the total to $90,000.
  • President Trump described protesters who surrounded the White House during the final night of the Republican National Convention as “thugs,” and suggested he was looking at invoking the Insurrection Act to send troops to quell protests in U.S. cities.
  • Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) fired back at President Trump after he suggested sending the National Guard to Oregon’s largest city to deal with protests saying “no thanks” and “stay away, please.”

In a scathing letter, Wheeler wrote, “We don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery. Portlanders are onto you. We have already seen your reckless disregard for human life in your bumbling response to the COVID pandemic. And we know you’ve reached the conclusion that images of violence or vandalism are your only ticket to reelection.”

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took responsibility and faulted his company for not removing the page and event for a militia group before two people were killed at a protest in Kenosha, saying it was “largely an operational mistake.”
  • The Baltimore Ravens in a statement demanded the arrests of the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in March, as well as those involved in the shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday.

“With yet another example of racial discrimination with the shooting of Jacob Blake, and the unlawful abuse of peaceful protesters, we MUST unify as a society. It is imperative that all people — regardless of race, religion, creed or belief — come together to say, ‘Enough is enough!'” the NFL team said.

“This is bigger than sports,” they continued. “Racism is embedded in the fabric of our nation’s foundation and is a blemish on our country’s history. If we are to change course and make our world a better place, we must face this problem head-on and act now to enact positive change.”

  • NBA star, LeBron James, has become an increasingly influential political force as issues of racial justice and voter suppression move to the forefront in the November presidential election.

James, an outspoken activist and frequent critic of President Trump, helped form a group that will spend millions of dollars to battle voter disenfranchisement in predominantly Black communities ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

He also has helped push the National Basketball Association to recognize racial justice issues and the Black Lives Matter movement, including the decision to postpone playoff games this week after a player boycott to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake.

  • A New Jersey 18-year-old says she has been billed nearly $2,500 in police overtime costs after she organized a Black Lives Matter rally in her town over affordable housing, even though the protest only included no more than 40 people who were not disruptive and even cleaned up their trash after protesting. Police reportedly complained to the mayor about overtime costs and the “extensive preparation” required to respond to the protest.
  • The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced that the league will return to playoff games on Saturday and will commit to converting arenas into in-person voting locations during the November general election to “allow for a safe in-person voting option for communities vulnerable to COVID.”

Trump Administration

  • The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee announced contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing his refusal to comply with a subpoena for records into his “transparently political misuse” of department resources.
  • U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected in July, boosting expectations for a sharp rebound in economic growth in the third quarter, though momentum is likely to ebb as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers and money from the government runs out.

The Commerce Department reported a rise in personal income after two straight monthly declines, but a large portion of the increase was from unemployment benefits, which were bolstered by a weekly $600 supplement from the government that expired on July 31. Both consumer spending and income remain well below their pre-pandemic levels.

  • The Boston Globe ripped Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in an editorial following his testimony on Capitol Hill, calling for his resignation and blaming him for a host of problems that have plagued the Postal Service in recent months.

“These supposedly cost-saving measures have resulted in slowing down mail delivery, potentially disenfranchising voters at a massive scale come November if their mail-in ballots are not processed or delivered on time,” the editorial stated.

  • The U.S. government warned Brian Kolfage. a co-defendant of Steve Bannon, chief executive of Donald Trump’s 2016 election, that he should not make social media posts that could undermine a fair trial on corruption charges tied to the U.S. president’s effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Kolfage’s online descriptions of their case as a “witch hunt,” an effort to take “political prisoners” and an “assault” on the freedom of donors to his “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign created a substantial risk that pretrial publicity could make it hard to find an impartial jury.

  • Trump administration officials are reportedly interviewing to replace President Trump’s Federal Trade Commission Chair Joe Simons, who would be in charge of implementing Trump’s new executive order targeting social media companies but has reportedly resisted Trump’s crackdown. One of the replacements being considered is reportedly a Fox executive.
  • A coalition of 21 states sued the Trump administration for rolling back what they say is a “rule that is, at its heart, the gutting” of America’s bedrock environmental law.

The White House in July finalized a rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which for 50 years has required the government to weigh environmental and community concerns before approving pipelines, highways, drilling permits, new factories or any major action on federal lands.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) called the law the Magna Carta of environmental law.

  • A University of Pennsylvania professor is asking the school to launch a probe into the allegations that President Trump faked his admission exam. 

When six faculty members asked the school’s provost to investigate the claims in mid-July, the provost said that although they found the allegations concerning, “this situation occurred too far in the past to make a useful or probative factual inquiry possible.”

Presidential Campaign

  • In another example of how President Trump has deployed government resources to further his political ambitions, the head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Lynne Patton, told a leader of a tenants’ group at the New York City Housing Authority that she was interested in speaking with residents about conditions in the authority’s buildings, which have long been in poor repair.

Four tenants were interviewed by Ms. Patton. Three of the tenants said they were never told that their interviews would be edited into a two-minute video clip that would air prominently on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention and be used to bash Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“I am not a Trump supporter,” said one of the tenants, Claudia Perez. “I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back.”

  • President Trump’s convention speech drew fewer views than former Vice President Joe Biden’s, according to preliminary numbers released by Nielsen Media Research.

An estimated 19.9 million Americans watched Trump’s speech on television, while Democratic nominee Joe Biden drew 21.7 million viewers.

  • The estate of Leonard Cohen said it was considering legal action over the use of the Canadian singer’s “Hallelujah” at the Republican National Convention, calling it a brazen attempt to politicize the song.
  • A California gas station reportedly purchased six pro-Trump billboards just months after securing a coronavirus relief loan between $150,000 and $350,000  from the Paycheck Protection Program, which is meant to help struggling businesses avoid layoffs during the pandemic.

The total cost of the billboards was $120,000.

  • Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told lawmakers that he did not foresee the military playing a role in the election process or resolving disputes that may come during the November presidential election

President Trump has made unsubstantiated allegations that voting will be rigged and has refused to say whether he would accept official election results if he lost.

  • At a campaign stop in New Hampshire, President Trump said he would support seeing a female president, but not Sen. Kamala Harris, adding that people tell him they want his daughter Ivanka Trump to be president, prompting cheers from the crowd.
  • The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has purchased the web domain for President Trump’s reelection slogan “Keep America Great,” using it to list campaign promises they say Trump broke. Inexplicably, no one on the Trump campaign team had acquired the address. 
  • The president of University of Notre Dame said that the school does not endorse any candidate, political party or the views of Lou Holtz after the former football coach participated in the Republican National Convention and accused Joe Biden of being “Catholic in name only.”

“We Catholics should remind ourselves that while we may judge the objective moral quality of another’s actions, we must never question the sincerity of another’s faith.”

  • A coalition of more than 350 faith leaders endorsed Joe Biden for president, citing a “need of moral leadership” and “hope for a better future.”

“This election presents a stark moral contrast between the common good values of the Biden-Harris agenda and the divisiveness of the current administration.”

  • Battleground states are seeing a drop in the number of likely voters planning to vote by mail, according to a newly released poll that follows reports of the U.S. Postal Service instituting changes that have delayed mail, including the removal of mail sorting machines and mailboxes.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes,  Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Coronavirus/COVID-19 

  • The U.S. reported 46,295 new cases and 1,024 additional deaths. At least 6,913 Americans died this week as a result of COVID-19.
  • The number of people who have been infected with the novel coronavirus globally surpassed 23 million on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University. JHU is reporting more than 801,000 people have died from the virus.

The United States has the highest numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths in the world.

  • The World Health Organization said children aged 12 and over should wear masks to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic under the same conditions as adults, while children between six and 11 should wear them on a risk-based approach.
  • President Trump accused the FDA of making it difficult for drug companies to test possible coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics on people.

“The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” Trump tweeted.

  • Schools across the U.S. are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP and Dell, have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, in some cases exacerbated by Trump administration sanctions on Chinese suppliers, according to interviews with over two dozen U.S. schools, districts in 15 states, suppliers, computer companies and industry analysts.

  • Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) announced on Saturday he has tested positive for COVID-19. 

The Pennsylvania Republican said that he is complying with health guidelines and postponing public events following his diagnosis.

  • Springfield, Massachusetts police are looking for a man who allegedly gave a Walmart shopper a “Covid hug.” 

The suspect, whom the victim had never seen before, took an item out of his hand and then gave him a hug.

“Just giving you a Covid hug. You now have Covid,” the suspect said before laughing and walking away, according to the Springfield Police Department.

The victim is a cancer survivor, the police department said, adding that the suspect did the same thing to several other customers.

  • New Jersey reported its lowest number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations since March 24.
  • Georgia surpassed 5,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
  • A 6-year-old girl from Hillsborough County became the youngest person to die from coronavirus complications in Florida.
  • The number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in Mississippi dropped below 1,000 for the first time in two months.
  • Covid-19 hospitalization rates in Los Angeles County are the lowest since April.

Trump Administration

  • Maryanne Trump Barry was serving as a federal judge when she heard her brother, President Trump, suggest on Fox News, “maybe I’ll have to put her at the border” amid a wave of refugees entering the United States. At the time, children were being separated from their parents and put in cramped quarters while court hearings dragged on.

“All he wants to do is appeal to his base,” Barry said in a conversation secretly recorded by her niece, Mary L. Trump. “He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this.”

Barry, 83, was aghast at how her 74-year-old brother operated as president. “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”

Barry also said at one point, “It’s the phoniness of it all. It’s the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel,” according to the audio scripts and recordings.

According to the Washington Post, Barry said to Mary: “He went to Fordham for one year and then he got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams.” “No way!” Mary responded. “He had somebody take his entrance exams?”

Barry then replied, “SATs or whatever…I even remember the name. That person was Joe Shapiro,” Barry said.

  • The U.S. was further isolated over its bid to reimpose international sanctions on Iran with 13 countries on the 15-member U.N. Security Council expressing their opposition, arguing that Washington’s move is void given it is using a process agreed under a nuclear deal that it quit two years ago.
  • The House on Saturday passed legislation that would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from making any changes to its operations that could slow delivery of mailed-in ballots for this fall’s elections.

It would also provide $25 billion for Postal Service operations, which is an amount originally recommended by the agency’s board of governors. House Democrats also included the funding in the $3.4 trillion coronavirus relief package that they passed in May.

  • A California Superior Court judge has ordered President Donald Trump to pay $44,100 to Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, to reimburse her attorneys’ fees in the legal battle surrounding her nondisclosure agreement.
  • TikTok plans to sue the Trump administration over its executive order banning transactions between U.S. companies and the popular video-sharing app as well as its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Protests/Racial and Social Issues

  • Federal authorities on Saturday forced demonstrators away from a plaza near a federal building as dueling demonstrations in Portland by right-wing and left-wing protesters turned violent. No arrests were reported.
  • A Kansas City police sergeant has been indicted on a felony charge of third-degree assault after he allegedly kneed a 15-year-old boy on his neck and head and forced his head into the pavement while the teenager repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” a Missouri prosecutor announced Friday.
  • Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) said she will veto City Council-approved proposals that would include reducing the police department by as many as 100 officers through layoffs and attrition.
  • Westerly, Rhode Island Police said Friday that they caught two people red-handed trying to vandalize a statue of Christopher Columbus.

Westerly Police Chief Shawn Lacey said the two had been among a group that tried to spray paint on the Columbus statue across from town hall at around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday.

  • Someone sprayed black paint on a giant mural of George Floyd at the Minneapolis intersection where he died in May. A Minneapolis police spokesman said the department hasn’t taken any reports about the vandalized mural.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Trump Administration

  • The Trump administration announced it will further tighten restrictions on Chinese telecom giant, Huawei Technologies, aimed at cracking down on its access to commercially available chips.

The U.S. Commerce Department will expand restrictions aimed at preventing Huawei  from obtaining semiconductors without a special license.

The administration added 38 Huawei affiliates to the U.S. government’s economic blacklist raising the total to 152 affiliates since Huawei was first added in May 2019.

  • President Trump dismissed a Democratic push for billions in U.S. Postal Service funding as a “con game” and shrugged off concerns from lawmakers that he is undermining the agency ahead of November’s election. 

Trump complained that the agency has lost tens of billions of dollars over the last several years, though it is a government-funded service that is not designed to make a profit.

  • Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, August 24.
  • Two Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, Ted Lieu (CA) and Hakeem Jeffries (NY), urged the F.B.I. director to open a criminal investigation into the role that the postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, played in mail delays that they said threaten to compromise the November election.
  • Senate Republicans are preparing to unveil a smaller coronavirus relief package as soon as Tuesday that is expected to include billions in new funds for the Postal Service.
  • The Trump administration announced that it officially approved a plan to open a pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil drilling. 
  • A federal appeals court in New York refused to re-hear a case and will allow a group of hotel and restaurant owners to sue President Trump for allegedly violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The lawsuit claims the president violated the constitutional provision by refusing to put his business assets in a blind trust while in office and profiting off the presidency, to the detriment of industry competitors.

  • U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Iran offered bounties to Taliban fighters for targeting American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, identifying payments linked to at least six attacks carried out by the militant group just last year alone, including a suicide bombing at a US air base in December.
  • California finalized fuel efficiency agreements with five automakers in an attempt to undercut the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era standards.

As part of the deal, BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo agreed to annual fuel economy improvements that align more closely to those required under the Obama administration compared with the less stringent ones just finalized.

Protests/Racial and Social Issues

  • Michigan police apologized after a Black reporter was arrested while covering a Proud Boys rally and counter protests. Samuel Robinson, had tweeted coverage from the protest throughout the day. He tweeted that he had been arrested and charged with impeding traffic.

“KDPS arrested an MLive reporter who they believed to be interfering or obstructing with their operations,” Kalamazoo Police Department Chief Karianne Thomas said during a press conference. “This person was wearing visible credentials and should not have been arrested.”

  • Police said protesters in Portland, OR, chased a truck before it crashed and then assaulted the driver late Sunday. It has yet to be determined what the impetus for the crash and assault was.
  • The Washington Football Team has named Jason Wright as its president, the first time an NFL team has named a Black man as its president.
  • Disney debuted its first bisexual lead character in its animated series “The Owl House” on the Disney Channel, just three months after Disney’s Pixar Studios introduced its first gay character in the short film, “Out.”
  • Three top producers at “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” were fired Monday after the show launched an investigation into claims from former employees of sexual harassment and abuse.
  • Citing health concerns, the president of the National Organization for Women stepped down, amid a flurry of allegations of racism at the nation’s oldest and largest feminist organization.

Van Pelt’s resignation follows an internal investigation that concluded “governance issues and evidence of a toxic work environment.”

The Daily Beast reported in June that there had also been multiple allegations of racism at the senior level of the organization, but NOW’s internal examination claimed those accusations could not be substantiated.

  • A former Minneapolis police officer who was fired for decorating a Christmas tree with racist items two years ago should get his job back, an arbitrator has ruled.

The arbitrator said that Mark Bohnsack was wrongly terminated for the November 2018 incident that also resulted in the firing of another cop, but that Bohnsack must serve a 320-hour suspension without pay, officials said. The city has a right to appeal the decision.

Presidential Campaign

  • The president tweeted: “Some states use “drop boxes” for the collection of Universal Mail-In Ballots. So who is going to “collect” the Ballots, and what might be done to them prior to tabulation? A Rigged Election? So bad for our Country. Only Absentee Ballots acceptable!” 

NOTE: Dropboxes are usually monitored by constant video surveillance and weigh about 600 pounds. They are actually considered a way to give the voter more control over their ballot. Election officials pick them up directly, eliminating the USPS (and potential delays) from the process.

  • In a campaign speech on the tarmac at Mankato Regional Airport, Trump once again repeated the false claim that: “I was man of the year eleven years ago in Michigan.” There was no such award or recognition. 
  • President Trump falsely asserted the only way he will lose the November election is if it is “rigged” further casting into doubt the presidential election results as he’s repeatedly attacked mail-in voting as being a source of widespread voter fraud without evidence.

“The only way we are going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” Trump told supporters. “Remember that. It’s the only way we’re going to lose this election, so we have to be very careful.”

  • Miles Taylor, the former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff under President Trump, endorsed Joe Biden for president. 

In the video endorsement, Taylor said that Trump sought to stop FEMA from sending wildfire relief funds to California because “he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him, and that politically it wasn’t a base for him.”

Taylor also claimed that Trump wanted to restart the “zero tolerance” policy that led to family separation at the border and wanted to go even further by having a “deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents” in order to deter illegal immigration.

  • The couple from St. Louis who waved guns at Black Lives Matter demonstrators in a video that went viral will participate at the Republican National Convention next week.

The Trump campaign said Mark and Patricia McCloskey would endorse the president for reelection during an appearance in the virtual program. The couple was previously featured in a Trump campaign virtual event.

  • The Trump campaign launched the sale of branded face coverings, months after the CDC first recommended masks as a way to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The campaign store features a red “Trump” mask and a blue “MAGA” for $15 each.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Protests/Racial & Social Justice, Trump Administration, and Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 5 Mniutes

Protests/Racial and Social Justice

  • A Utah officer accused of unnecessarily siccing his police K9 on a Black man, who was on his knees with his hands up at the time, has been suspended.

Authorities launched an internal investigation into the incident, most of which was captured on body camera video.

  • A Virginia mayor is facing calls for his resignation over a Facebook post in which he said that Joe Biden “just announced Aunt Jemima” as his running mate.

Luray Mayor Barry Presgraves posted the comment last weekend on his Facebook page. The comment was condemned by members of the Luray Town Council and other residents before he took it down.

  • Police declared a riot late Wednesday night after hundreds of demonstrators returned to downtown Portland after more than a week when the biggest events were held in other parts of the city. As many as 300 people had gathered by about 9:30 p.m.

The gathering remained largely peaceful until about 11 p.m., when a couple of small fires were lit near the federal courthouse. A fake pig’s head and a Trump flag were set ablaze in the middle of a major thoroughfare. Some fireworks and other objects were thrown over the fence surrounding the courthouse.

Oregon State Police troopers, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Portland police officers took to the streets to disperse the crowds, making arrests and deploying tear gas as they moved.

  • Oregon State Police said they were withdrawing protection from Portland’s federal courthouse over frustration at a prosecutor’s decision not to indict many people arrested in protests there.
  • Protesters in Minneapolis are demanding that 24 conditions be met before the cement barricades around the George Floyd memorial are brought down. 
  • A Ronald McDonald House in Chicago where over 30 families were staying was damaged amid looting in the city early Monday morning, according to multiple reports.
  • As FC Dallas and Nashville SC players took a knee during the national anthem ahead of their soccer match, fans at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX began booing them.
  • Dolly Parton voiced her support for the Black Lives Matter movement in a recent interview saying: “Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”

She went on to discuss changing her dinner show attraction name after she was told its name with “Dixie” in the title was offensive, saying it was an easy decision. “As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass.”

  • Los Angeles police are investigating the attempted “swatting,” or making a hoax emergency call to send heavily-armed police to an address of a local Black Lives Matter activist.

Melina Abdullah, a professor at Cal State Los Angeles, on Wednesday streamed a live video on Instagram of the officers outside her home.

In the stream she said, “They have guns pointed at my house. There’s a helicopter overhead. Nobody’s knocked at the door, but apparently they’ve made announcements for people to come out with our hands up. My children are in the house. My children are in the house. I don’t know what this is.”

“We got a call to this location that there is a male in there holding you guys hostage, and he wants a million dollars or he’s going to kill you within an hour,” an officer said in the video.

LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein told the Times the incident was “most likely a swatting” and that the Major Crimes Division is investigating it.

  • City council members in Austin, Texas, have just approved a new budget slashing nearly $150 million from the city’s police force. Some of the funding that would have gone to police will be redirected to alternative forms of public safety, such as social work involvements.

Trump Administration

  • White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien called for President Trump to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed in a new interview that he and the Pentagon issued a warning to Russia over the reported bounties placed on US troops in Afghanistan.

“If the Russians are offering money to kill Americans or, for that matter, other Westerners as well, there will be an enormous price to pay,” Pompeo said.

  • The Trump administration has accused Yale University of illegally discriminating against white and Asian American applicants in favor of Black and Hispanic applicants, and threatened to file a civil rights lawsuit against the school if it refused to change its admissions practices.

Yale is refusing to change procedures, setting up a potentially high-profile court battle.

Presidential Campaign

  • Trump said that he does not want to fund the Postal Service because he wants to prevent mail-in voting during the pandemic, making explicit the reason he has declined to approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the cash-strapped agency.

“Now, they need that money in order to make the Post Office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo. He added: “Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.”

  • The day before publicly opposing funding to accommodate an expected surge in Americans voting by mail in this year’s presidential election, President Trump and the First Lady requested mail-in ballots to vote in Florida’s upcoming primary.
  • The U.S. Postal Service warned Pennsylvania officials earlier this year that the state’s election deadlines were too tight for the service’s “delivery standards” and could result in mail-in ballots being delayed for several days in a key 2020 battleground.
  • The Supreme Court denied the Republican Party’s request that it reinstate witness requirements for absentee ballots in Rhode Island after the state agreed to waive the restrictions in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded to President Trump’s insult calling her a “poor student” by challenging the president to release his own college transcripts.

“Let’s make a deal, Mr. President: You release your college transcript, I’ll release mine, and we’ll see who was the better student. Loser has to fund the Post Office.”

  • President Trump has reportedly confirmed he will accept the Republican nomination from the White House lawn, despite criticism about the location and some allegations it may violate the Hatch Act.
  • President Trump is facing swift backlash after he refused to shut down a baseless and racist conspiracy theory that Sen. Kamala Harris would not be eligible to serve as vice president, and instead entertained the idea saying, “I’ll take a look.”
  • “I can’t believe I have to say this, but we can’t let Donald Trump open up the Grand Canyon for uranium mining,” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden recently said as he vows to undo President Trump’s controversial mining projects.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So

Read Time: 8 minutes

Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

  • The U.S. reported 42,003 new cases and 427 additional deaths.
  • President Trump repeated his false assertion that children are “essentially immune” from COVID-19 while downplaying a new report showing nearly 100,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of July, and said he does not think it means schools should stay closed.

“There may be a case, a tiny, a tiny fraction of death, tiny fraction, and they get better very quickly,” Trump said at a press briefing at the White House.

  • According to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, there were 179,990 new Covid-19 cases among US children between July 9 and August 6.
  • President Trump lashed out at Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) after he criticized the president’s executive action over the weekend.

“RINO Ben Sasse, who needed my support and endorsement in order to get the Republican nomination for Senate from the GREAT State of Nebraska, has, now that he’s got it (Thank you President T), gone rogue, again,” Trump tweeted.

  • Sasse defended his opposition and indicated he would rather have the discussion privately with Trump – “since you moved our conversation from private to public, here we are.”

“On the topic that had you mad this weekend: No president — whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC — has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or to cut taxes or to raise taxes. This is because America doesn’t have kings,” Sasse wrote.

  • President Trump revealed that he is considering a capital gains tax cut in an effort to create more jobs.

NOTE: Studies have shown that reducing taxes on capital gains cannot be expected to generate significant new investment or jobs.

  • Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the administration is “prepared to put more money on the table” as stalled stimulus negotiations continue on Capitol Hill.
  • Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) denied President Trump’s claim that Democrats called him to resume negotiations, and said he has not seen any evidence that the President is personally involved in the negotiations for the next coronavirus relief bill.

“Fables from Donald Trump,” Schumer said in an interview on MSNBC.

  • Actress Alyssa Milano revealed that she was hospitalized for complications due to COVID-19 in April and that she still had symptoms of the disease months later.
  • Actor Antonio Banderas disclosed on Monday, his 60th birthday, that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
  • The Mountain West Conference postponed all fall sports. 
  • President Trump is calling on college sports leaders to allow the student athletes to play this season.
  • The NHL announced no new positive test results during the past week inside the league’s two hub cities of Toronto and Edmonton.
  • 107 school districts in New York state haven’t submitted plans for reopening.

“How you didn’t submit a plan is beyond me,” Gov. Cuomo said. “If they don’t submit a plan by this Friday, they can’t open.”

  • A Cedar Knolls, NJ QuickChek cashier suffered burns when John Dedolce, 42, of Randolph, threw his hot coffee on her after she asked him to readjust his face mask.

Dedolce refused to fix his mask, prompting the cashier to cancel his order and ask him to leave.

Dedolce then threw the food he was attempting to purchase onto the floor and threw hot coffee at the cashier before leaving the store, authorities said.

  • A teen employee at Sesame Place had to undergo surgery after being punched by a man he told to wear a face mask. Police are still searching for the suspect.

The employee asked a man to wear a face mask, noting they are required in the park. Police say the man later confronted the teen at a ride and punched him in the face.

Park security chased the man, but he and a woman fled and reportedly were last seen driving away in a vehicle registered in New York.

  • The Cherokee County School District in Georgia reported that 826 students and 42 staff members are in quarantine due to possible exposure to Covid-19.
  • Florida reported 4,155 new cases and 91 additional deaths. The number of new infections is the lowest increase since June 23. 
  • More than 40 members of a family tested positive for coronavirus after an infected relative from another state attended a funeral in West Virginia. 

Several received medical treatment due to worsening conditions. The latest, a 2-year-old girl, was diagnosed Sunday night after being taken to a Huntington hospital with a high fever.

  • Twenty-two schools in Mississippi are reporting positive Covid-19 cases. There have been nineteen cases reported among students and fifteen cases among staff.
  • In Kansas, fifteen counties with mask mandates reduced coronavirus case numbers, Lee Norman, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told the Kansas City Star.

“Some counties have been the control group with no mask and some counties have been the experimental group where masks are worn, and the experimental group is winning the battle. All of the improvement in the case development comes from those counties wearing masks,” Norman told the Kansas City Star.

Trump Administration

  • President Trump said he has asked that the G7 meeting be postponed until after the election in November, after a previous delay due to Covid-19 concerns.
  • The deficit climbed to a record $2.8 trillion during the first 10 months of fiscal 2020, roughly doubling the biggest annual deficit, according to figures released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
  • The EPA is set to end requirements this week that force gas and oil producers to find methane leaks, meaning some leaks could go unaddressed even as methane is 25 times more impactful than carbon dioxide and a major contributor to human-linked climate change. The rules will roll back requirements on smog as well.
  • Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen in the highest-level meeting between officials of the two nations in decades. China, which considers Taiwan a part of the country, condemned Azar’s visit.
  • China sanctioned eleven U.S. politicians and heads of organizations promoting democratic causes after the Trump administration leveled sanctions against eleven individuals last week over Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong.

Presidential Campaign

  • In a tweet, the president announced the two locations being considered for his acceptance speech: ”The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C. We will announce the decision soon!”
  • The Sierra Club, one of the nation’s most influential environmental groups, endorsed Joe Biden for president on Monday saying that “No president has been worse for our environment or our nation’s public health than Donald Trump,” and they are “confident” in Biden’s work for climate justice.
  • Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis tweeted a link to an article in which Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, asked people to stop misgendering her. Ellis wrote in the tweet: “This guy is making decisions about your health.”
  • Federal Elections Commission Commissioner Ellen Weintraub warned that a shift to mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic means there is a “substantial chance” that the results of the presidential and down-ballot races may not be called on election night.

“Let me just tell everybody, we’re all going to need to take a deep breath and be patient this year because there’s a substantial chance we are not going to know on election night what the results are.”

Protests/Racial and Social Justice

  • Hundreds of people swept through downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores, confronting police and at one point exchanging gunfire with officers, authorities said.

More than 100 people were arrested according to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown. Thirteen officers were injured, including a sergeant who was hit by a bottle. A civilian and private security guard were shot and wounded.

City officials said the seeds for the violent crime spree were sown on social media Sunday afternoon following an officer involved shooting in the Englewood neighborhood. Officers shot and wounded a 20-year-old man Sunday after he fired shots at them while being chased, authorities said.

“This was not an organized protest,” Brown said. “Rather this was an incident of pure criminality. This was an act of violence against our police officers and against our city.”

  • Portland police declared another riot on Sunday night after fireworks injured two officers during demonstrations around the Portland Police Association office. Police said protesters barricaded streets with dumpsters and fencing and a fire was lit on the sidewalk outside the police association office. 
  • The Seattle City Council approved proposals that would reduce the police department by as many as 100 officers through layoffs and attrition — an action supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but strongly opposed by the mayor and police chief.
  • Multiple police officers in Santa Clarita Valley, CA are under scrutiny after footage went viral showing them pointing guns at a group of Black teenagers shortly after the teens were attacked at a bus stop. 

In footage, three officers could be seen pointing guns at the teens, who had their hands raised, as people could be heard repeatedly yelling to them off-camera “It’s not them” and “It’s the other guy.”

The mother of one of the boys said the police arrived on the scene shortly after her son and his friends had been attacked by a homeless man. The man had initially approached her son and his friends to ask them “if they had any crack, then tried to take their things.” 

The man allegedly became aggressive, removed his shirt, and “pulled out a knife and whip,” attempting to stab the group.

  • Opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement have shared a viral video of the protesters interrupting a church service in New York, blasting them for protesting at a church, but an investigation reveals the video was shared without the context that its pastor has a history of racist and inflammatory comments.

The church’s pastor, John Koletas, is a self-proclaimed “bigot,” subscribes to the “Curse of Ham,” a fringe Christian belief that Black people are the descendants of Noah’s son Ham and cursed by God.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Protest/Racial & Social Justice, Trump Administration, and Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 2 Minutes

Protests/Racial and Social Justice

  • President Trump insisted that federal agents would not leave Portland until Democratic Oregon Gov. Kate Brown “clear[s] out” protesters from the city, a day after Brown announced that she had reached an agreement with Trump’s administration to begin a phased withdrawal of federal tactical teams.
  • A middle school teacher in Kentucky has resigned instead of facing disciplinary proceedings, after making racist online comments. Responding to a video of protestors apparently in a road or parking lot, she suggested that, if run over, the victims would “blend in with the pavement.”
  • Amid the ongoing clashes between protesters and federal officers in downtown Portland, the Department of Homeland Security created intelligence reports about two U.S. journalists it claims reported on leaked, damning information about law enforcement operations.
  • Michael Jordan and his Jordan Brand are set to donate $2.5 million to organizations combating voter suppression of Black Americans across the country.
  • Players with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Utah Jazz restarted the NBA’s season by kneeling during the National Anthem.

Moments before tipoff on Thursday evening, the players, who were joined by coaches and game officials, all took a knee.

The players also wore black “Black Lives Matter” shirts both during warm-ups and the National Anthem.

  • Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has been permanently banned from Twitter for repeatedly breaking the social media site’s rules blocking hate speech.

Trump Administration

  • President Trump expressed his sadness over the death of Herman Cain, who passed away from Covid-19 after spending nearly a month in the hospital with the virus. “He was a very special person, and I got to know him very well.” 
  • Amazon has received authorization from the FCC to proceed with Project Kuiper, its initiative to launch a fleet of low-orbiting satellites that would be used to provide broadband internet access to underserved communities in the U.S.
  • Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and other top officials reportedly worked to preserve memos by former FBI Director James Comey and other key documents in the Russia investigation amid fears that President Trump would interfere in the probe.
  • Federal prosecutors lifted a gag order on Michael Cohen, allowing President Trump’s former attorney to continue writing a tell-all memoir as he serves out his three-year prison sentence at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) has proposed a new bill aiming to prevent oil and gas drilling near polar bear dens, targeting the Trump administration’s plans to open up a wildlife refuge in Alaska for drilling.
  • A federal appeals court will revisit an earlier decision ordering a district court judge to allow the Department of Justice to withdraw its criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Presidential Campaign

  • Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) reportedly declined to answer at a closed-door committee hearing whether he has received materials from Ukrainian sources meant to damage former Vice President Joe Biden’s reputation ahead of the 2020 election.
  • The Trump campaign has paused its digital advertising efforts to “review” its strategy, a campaign official told NBC News. The campaign official pointed to the recent changes in staff as the reason.
  • 47 percent of Democratic or left-leaning Generation Z voters said in a new poll that they have seen far more ads from President Trump’s reelection campaign online than ads from former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Protests/Racial and Social Justice, Trump Administration, and Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Protests/Racial and Social Justice

  • Democrat Jaime Harrison went off on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for running a Facebook ad that features an apparently darkened image of the Senate hopeful, blasting Graham for “playing a part in a 400-year history of an Old South that had no room for people who looked like me.” Harrison has fought hard in the race to unseat Graham, who is facing one of his toughest reelection bids yet.
  • Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) said the federal government has agreed to withdraw agents from Portland, a step toward ending a standoff with President Trump over the use of federal force, although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would maintain its presence until conditions improved.
  • A number of people arrested at Portland protests say the terms of their release prevent them from attending protests going forward — a stipulation First Amendment experts have called cause for concern.
  • The City Council in the border town of Laredo, Texas, voted to paint “Defund The Wall” on the street in front of a downtown federal courthouse in a similar fashion to the many “Black Lives Matter” streets painted in cities across the country.
  • Douglas County (NV) Sheriff Dan Coverley told a local library not to bother calling 911 for help after it expressed support for Black Lives Matter. 

In a statement The Douglas County public library had denounced, “all acts of violence, racism and disregard for human rights.” “We support #BlackLivesMatter.” “We resolutely assert and believe that all forms of racism, hatred, inequality and injustice don’t belong in our society.”

Coverley posted an open letter on the sheriff’s office website, “Due to your support of Black Lives Matter and the obvious lack of support or trust with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, please do not feel the need to call 911 for help,” Coverley wrote.

“I wish you good luck with disturbances and lewd behavior, since those are just some of the recent calls my office has assisted you with in the past.”

  • In what the state attorney says appears to be a case of racial profiling, Luis Santos, a former Florida theme park security guard, has been arrested for falsely detaining a Black teen who was on his way to basketball practice, prosecutors said.

“You work here? You live here?” asked Santos, 54, as he recorded with a cellphone, according to excerpts released by prosecutors. The teen stopped and answered Santos’ questions before the situation escalated.

“You’re not going anywhere,” said Santos, stepping out of his vehicle. “You’re being detained. You’re not going anywhere.” Santos held his hand over his pocket as if he had a weapon. He also forced the victim to put his hands in the air.

Santos called 911 claiming that the unidentified teenager was seen on video “breaking into cars” and that he thought the teen had stolen a bike. Prosecutors with the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office said there was no evidence of any crimes.

Trump Administration

  • The U.S. military unveiled plans to withdraw about 12,000 troops from Germany, in fallout from President Donald Trump’s long-simmering feud with Berlin, but said it will keep nearly half of those forces in Europe to address tension with Russia.

U.S. officials stressed that only a relatively small number of advanced units would move anytime soon. The rest of the troop movements would take years to fully implement, in part given the potentially billions of dollars in additional cost.

  • Lawmakers in both parties are panning the Trump administration’s plan. 

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) blasted the move as a “grave error,” while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NB) said President Trump shows a “lack of strategic understanding.”

“Once more, now with feeling: U.S. troops aren’t stationed around the world as traffic cops or welfare caseworkers – they’re restraining the expansionary aims of the world’s worst regimes, chiefly China and Russia,” Sasse said in a statement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin “are reckless – and this withdrawal will only embolden them,” Sasse added. “We should be leading our allies against China and Russia, not abandoning them. Withdrawal is weak.”

  • The Trump administration is sending additional federal agents and funding to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Detroit, expanding a program that has targeted Democratic-run cities facing increases in violent crime.
  • The Trump administration’s controversial “public charge” rule that would make it easier for immigration officials to deny entry to people likely to rely on government assistance has been blocked by a federal judge who cited the coronavirus pandemic.
  • President Trump mistakenly tagged an Ohio HVAC company as Air Force One in a tweet, prompting the company to offer its services.

“As a family owned business, we don’t take sides in politics but we were flattered by the mention… but if this is an invitation to provide mechanical services in the White House or on Air Force One, we’re all ears!”

  • President Trump attacked Fox News tweeting:“I was on Air Force One flying to the Great State of Texas, where I just landed. It is AMAZING in watching @FoxNews how different they are from four years ago. Not even watchable. They totally forgot who got them where they are!”
  • President Trump confirmed that he has never confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin with intelligence reports that Russian units paid Taliban-linked militants to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

During a clip from an interview with “Axios on HBO,” Trump said he “never discussed it” with Putin during a phone call last week.

“That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news,” Trump said when pressed about why the matter wasn’t raised.

NOTE: The CIA has been analyzing the intelligence for several months and has assessed that the Russian program is real. Intelligence analysts believe that the bounties resulted in the deaths of three Marines killed in April 2019 when the vehicle they were traveling in was blown up just outside Bagram. 

  • More than 50 facilities across the country that have faced enforcement actions for alleged Clean Water Act violations are among those taking advantage of an EPA policy that lets companies forgo pollution monitoring during the pandemic.
  • In a tweet, the president suggested delaying the November election because of the false claim there are problems with the legitimacy of mail-in voting: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
  • The U.S. economy contracted at its steepest pace since the Great Depression. The  economy shrunk at a rate of 32.9 percent during the second quarter of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic spurred an economic collapse of record-breaking speed and size, the Commerce Department reported.
  • The Labor Department reported that initial unemployment claims rose for the second week in a row, with 1.4 million registering for benefits for the first time.

Presidential Campaign

  • President Trump’s reelection campaign has halted new ad buys in Michigan in recent days as polling shows former Vice President Joe Biden  with a widening lead in the state. 

Trump’s recent withdrawal came as his campaign shifted advertising dollars to other battlegrounds like Iowa.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Protests, Trump Administration, and Presidential Campaign Updates

Read Time: 3 Minutes

Protests/Racial and Social Justice

  • Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly who oversees the transportation bureau said the city is fining the federal government $500 every 15 minutes – the maximum charge allowed — until it removes an unpermitted fence blocking a bike lane on Southwest Third Avenue.
  • On the sixty-second consecutive night, protests continued in downtown Portland with hundreds of demonstrators converging on the area of the Multnomah County Justice Center and federal courthouse.

Around 9:30 p.m., the Wall of Moms, a group of moms that received national attention for positioning themselves between demonstrators and police during recent protests, joined demonstrators already gathered in downtown Portland.

  • Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan (D) said U.S. agents deployed to the city to protect federal property have left after local officials complained their presence was escalating tensions.
  • Seven people were arrested in connection to a Black Lives Matter protest in Tempe on Monday night, according to officials.
  • Police say a man captured on surveillance video breaking windows at a south Minneapolis auto parts store in the days after George Floyd’s death is suspected of ties with a white supremacist group and sought to incite racial tension.

Police identified the 32-year-old suspect through an emailed tip last week and, though police will not release his name, he is understood to be a Hell’s Angels member who was bent on stirring up social unrest.

  • A GOP state lawmaker in Alabama is facing criticism and calls for his resignation after he posted on social media about honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate army general and founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

“Had a great time at Fort Dixie speaking and giving the invocation for Nathan Bedford Forrest annual birthday celebration,” Rep. Will Dismukes wrote in a since-deleted post.

  • The American Civil Liberties Union petitioned a federal court to hold federal agents in contempt for alleged attacks on journalists and legal observers at protests in Portland.
  • A Black family in Florida received a racist note last week over decorations outside their home celebrating their twin daughters’ graduation from high school.

Trump Administration

  • The Trump administration says it will renew deportation protections for DACA recipients for one year instead of the usual two years while it reviews the Supreme Court ruling that stopped Trump from ending DACA. But, any new applications for DACA will be rejected.
  • Attorney General William Barr faced criticism from Democrats as he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. 

For a thorough recap of the proceedings, visit The Hill https://bit.ly/thehillbarr

  • The head of the Park Police said he knew that President Trump was going to Lafayette Square on June 1, but denied that was why protesters were cleared from the area before the president’s visit, which ended with him posing with a Bible outside St. John’s Church.
  • California sued the Trump administration to require it to count undocumented immigrants in the census for the purpose of allocating congressional representation.

Presidential Campaign

  • Rock legend Neil Young said he is now exploring the possibility of suing President Trump for using his music after previously saying he believed he had no legal recourse against it.
  • A nonpartisan watchdog filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee alleging President Trump’s reelection campaign broke the law by “laundering” $170 million in spending in an effort to conceal payments to people close to the Trump family and campaign.
  • Joe Biden Tweeted: “My housing plan will give a $15,000 tax credit to first-time home-buyers, expand affordable housing, and reverse President Trump’s efforts to gut fair housing enforcement. We’re going to remove the barriers to homeownership that hold back too many Americans of color.”
  • Joe Biden told reporters he would name his running mate in the first week of August, days before he formally accepts his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
  • Joe Biden was photographed during an event holding talking points about Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a former rival in the Democratic presidential primary who is in top contention to be his running mate.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post