Events to Know

Your Regularly Scheduled Illegality.  Trump is now facing yet another sexual assault allegation from the 1990s, this time by model Amy Dorris, who joins over a dozen women to have made similar allegations.  Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr has signaled he wants to charge protesters who damage property with sedition, which is… a disturbing expansion of governmental power, to say the least. And in sketchy election news, the administration has signaled it may host a campaign event at the White House on Election Day, which would be a very blatant violation of the Hatch Act as well. Of course, this is hardly surprising given the giant indoor campaign rally Trump held this week, addressing thousands of people in clear violation of Nevada law.  These constant, conspicuous violations of law are exhausting, but we need to pay attention to them anyway, because if we stop responding to them they will continue to get worse.

Key links:

1. The Guardian – Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by former model Amy Dorris
2. CNN – Attorney General William Barr suggests charging violent protesters with sedition
3. NBC – Trump Campaign Weighing White House Event Around Election Day
4. Associated Press – In Defiance Of Nevada Governor, Trump Holds Indoor Rally

Fire Crisis on the West Coast.  We’re experiencing an unprecedented rate and range of wildfire all along the American West coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle, and it’s only the beginning of fire season.  At the time that I type this, over five million acres have burned, and more than two dozen people have died.  In many places, the entire sky is orange, and air quality is dangerously poor along points on the entire coast. These unprecedented fires are not a coincidence; data shows that climate change is causing increasingly dangerous conditions–though of course, Trump is claiming the opposite.

Key links:

1. CBS – Wildfire Burning In Northern California Is The State’s Largest On Record
2. New York Times – As Wildfires Burn Out Of Control, The West Coast Faces The Unimaginable
3. NBC – California, Oregon And Washington Wildfires Create Dangerous Air Quality Throughout West
4. CNBC – ‘I Don’t Think Science K

The Passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Long-time Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on Friday evening, apparently from complications due to pancreatic cancer.  Needless to say, the nation is devastated, and this has a lot of implications for the Supreme Court and our government.  NPR reports that a few days before her death, she informed her granddaughter, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”  Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to act immediately, despite his refusal to confirm Obama nominee Merrick Garland under less extreme circumstances.  Trump has also signaled he will nominate a new justice “without delay,” apparently meaning before the next Presidential debate (let alone the election).  It’s still an open question whether the Senate has the votes needed to confirm an unknown nominee, and it’s also possible the identity of the nominee will prove relevant.  It is extremely important that we call our Senators repeatedly to urge them to postpone a Senate vote until after the election, and ideally until the next Presidential term.

Key links:

1. NPR – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87
2. Washington Post – Nine implications of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death – for 2020 and beyond
3. New York Times – Trump Presses for New Justice ‘Without Delay’ as Election-Season Battle Looms

Recent Resilience

Recent Court Resilience.  We had a few promising court cases this week.  A federal court refused to let the Trump administration drop undocumented people from the census (again), ruling that it would violate the Fourteenth Amendment and federal law.  In Seattle, a federal judge blocked the current Postmaster General’s attempted operational changes to the mail system, calling them “a politically motivated attack.” And a different federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from sending voting disinformation to denizens of Colorado, finding that the state would suffer irreparable harm if the mailer went out.

Key links:

1. Politico – Federal Judges Block Trump Census Order On Undocumented Immigrants
2. Associated Press – US judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mail
3. CNN – Colorado Secretary Of State Sues USPS Over Election Mailers She Says Misleads State’s Voters

Things to Watch

State of the COVID-19.  Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s laughably inadequate new COVID response bill was introduced in the Senate this week, where it promptly failed in a matter of days.  The situation at schools also remains messy, with many remote learners experiencing tech glitches and colleges struggling to quarantine infected students or sending them back to their hometowns.  Meanwhile, the administration’s obvious interference with the vaccine process has prompted many pharmacy CEOs to take a voluntary pledge that they will engage in safe practices.  And many countries are experiencing a surge in cases, making experts worry about another wave of outbreaks.
Key links:

1. Politico – Senate Democrats Block Republican Covid Relief Proposal
2. New York Times – College Quarantine Breakdowns Leave Some At Risk
3. Washington Post – Vaccine CEOs Issue Safety Pledge Amid Trump’s Quest For Pre-Election Approval
4. CNN – ‘Play It Down’: Trump Admits To Concealing The True Threat Of Coronavirus In New Woodward Book
5. New York Times – Covid World Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak

Immigration Updates.  There’s a lot of immigration news to watch right now, and almost all of it is pretty dire.  The Ninth Circuit undid protections for people sheltering in the United States due to catastrophe in their home country, which throws the fate of nearly 400,000 people into limbo.  Meanwhile, the Second Circuit undid protections for people seeking lawful permanent status in its jurisdiction, permitting blanket denial of disabled and indigent applicants to be enforced across the country.  In Georgia, an ICE whistleblower alleges that an ICE medical vendor performed so many medically unnecessary hysterectomies on detainees they started calling him “the uterus collector.”  News also broke that the U.S. has expelled nearly 9,000 unaccompanied minor children since the pandemic began, which is an incredibly high number and strongly suggests that legal process has not been followed.  And finally, the Washington Post reported that high coronavirus numbers in ICE custody can be partially linked to failure to follow protocols about transporting patients, which were themselves brought about so that ICE agents could be deployed at protest sites.
Key links:

1. Washington Post – ICE Flew Detainees To Virginia So The Planes Could Transport Agents To D.C. Protests. A Huge Coronavirus Outbreak Followed.
2. Politico – Appeals Court OKs Trump Plan To End Protected Immigration Status For 4 Countries
3. Law And Crime – ‘Like An Experimental Concentration Camp’: Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies At ICE Detention Center
4. Reuters – U.S. Has Expelled 8,800 Migrant Children Under Coronavirus Rules
5. NPR – Biden Pledges To Dismantle Trump’s Sweeping Immigration Changes — But Can He Do That?
6. New York Times – 400,000 Immigrants Can Be Forced To Leave The U.S., Court Rules

Election Oddities (Again).  There was a significant amount of odd election news even discounting the sketchy Trump shenanigans listed above.  In Florida, a federal appeals court blocked the re-enfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of denizens with criminal records who cannot afford to pay court fines.  In slightly more positive Florida news, Mike Bloomberg also promised to spend at least $100M in the state to help Joe Biden’s campaign–and though he said he would support the campaign of whoever wins, this kind of donation from a former candidate has got to be an election first.  The Fourth Circuit is considering a North Carolina law that would require voters to show ID, which has been enjoined by state courts already and hopefully will remain enjoined through the November election. And of course, the news about Ruth Bader Ginsburg above creates a whole new spectre as we enter the final fifty days of the election process.
Key links:

1. New York Times – Court Ruling Deals Blow To Ex-felons’ Voting Rights In Florida
2. Washington Post – Mike Bloomberg To Spend At Least $100 Million In Florida To Benefit Joe Biden
3. Washington Post – Court Examines North Carolina’s New Law That Requires Photo Ids For Voting

Actions for Everyone

Keep your face masks and respirators close. Who could have guessed they’d be preventing the spread of COVID19, helping breathing during facist teargas raids and also through wildfire smoke?

End ICE: As if DHS wasn’t the worst already (besides FEMA and the NWS, it’s the worst) news broke this week thanks to a whistleblower within an ICE facility alleging a lack of medical care and unsafe work practices that facilitated the spread of COVID-19. She also says that immigrant women received questionable hysterectomies, an allegation that lawmakers seized on in statements issued Tuesday.

Forced, or non-consensual sterilization has been a tactic the US has imposed on womxn of color before – even in the US. This 40-min documentary titled “La Operacion” explores the mass sterilization of Puerto Rican women during the 1950s and 1960s.

We need to be calling for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement! For starters, tell your public officials to call for ICE to keep people healthy and safe by releasing them quickly and preventing COVID19 outbreaks. American Friends Service Committee have an Action Center if you want to take further actions, check them out. 

Help Prevent Forest Fires: Fires across the West coast are still flaring, displacing thousands of West coasters as well as destroying millions of acres of habitat as they continue to blaze. The climate change denying administration isn’t helping, and with extreme drought creating wildfire conditions in California and beyond, we have to call for big changes and environmental justice.

For information on that, I went to the Environmental Defense Fund for 4 ways the right policies can help us confront wildfires. Beyond making sure that you are constantly checking and shrinking your environmental footprint, I think this action item is to read up on the right policies and then call your Senators about them. You can also get more involved with the Environmental Defense Fund through their Get Involved portal.

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Events to Know

Your Regularly Scheduled Illegality.  By this point, the Trump administration blatantly breaks laws so often that the question isn’t whether they did anything illegal this week, it’s simply a matter of what. The first story of the week, unsurprisingly, involves Postmaster General Louis DeJoy yet again. This time, he’s in the news for pressuring workers at his former company to donate to GOP campaigns, which would then be ‘rewarded’ with reimbursement bonuses. (For those of you playing the home game, this is pretty obviously illegal even in a private context, as it appears to be a way around campaign contribution limits). Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is already calling for an investigation, which Trump doesn’t appear to be blocking. To be fair on that last point, though, Trump may be distracted by this week’s failed attempt to end the Census early, which is the second illegal activity of the week. I say “failed” because a federal judge ended up weighing in on this one, issuing a restraining order that keeps the administration from changing anything before a hearing can happen mid-September.  Finally, in a stunning show of “l’etat, c’est moi,” the Justice Department has intervened on 45’s personal defamation case against a woman who alleges he raped her.

Key links:

1. CNN – Washington Post: DeJoy Reimbursed Former Employees For GOP Donations
2. The Hill – Schumer Calls For Investigation Into Reports Of Campaign Finance Improprieties By Dejoy’s Former Company
3. New York Times – Federal Judge Blocks, For Now, Further Winding Down Of The 2020 Census
4. Washington Post – Justice Dept. Intervenes On Behalf Of Trump In Defamation Case Brought By Woman Who Accused Him Of Rape

Trump vs the Military. Trump managed to sink his relations with the American military even further this week, which is rather impressive all things considered. First the Atlantic ran a story that Trump referred to fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers” when refusing to visit an American military cemetery in Paris in 2018. An AP reporter confirmed the story, and so did the National Security correspondent at Fox News. Trump then responded by calling for the Fox News staffer to be fired. Folks, I know it’s 2020 and we get inured to a lot of nonsense, but I want to take a step back and really look at that last detail for a moment–a sitting U.S. President called for a journalist to be fired because she publicly confirmed sources on a story about him that she didn’t even write. (Needless to say, Fox supported its correspondent on this one.) The whole thing also made more people notice the administration’s attempt to cut funding to a military newspaper, the Stars and Stripes, which Trump announced would be walked back.

Key links:

1. Atlantic – Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’
2. Newsweek – Fox Reporter Hits Back After Trump Calls for Her Firing Over Atlantic Story
3. The Hill – Trump Says He Won’t Cut Funding for Stars and Stripes

“Anti-American” Diversity Training. Because the first two paragraphs weren’t enough for one week, the Trump administration also announced by memorandum that federal employers may not conduct diversity trainings, which the memorandum refers to as “anti-American propaganda.” The memo also instructs federal agencies to come up with a list of all training contracts that include the terms “critical race theory” or “white privilege.” Needless to say, this is not a view shared by all Americans, especially given the tense race relations we’ve experienced over the past several months.

Key links:

1. BBC – Trump Bans ‘Anti-American’ Diversity Training
2. Washington Post – White House Directs Federal Agencies To Cancel Race-Related Training Sessions It Calls ‘Un-American Propaganda’

     Recent Resilience

No More ICE Academy (for now).  This week, ICE announced that it will be postponing its plans for a vigilante group in Chicago it was calling a “Citizens Academy.”  Though ICE is claiming the postponement was due to COVID, it seems equally likely that the sustained advocacy campaign against the project had something of an effect.  Either way, we now don’t have to worry about this particular form of threat until the spring, and I’ll take it.

Key links:

1. Chicago Sun-times – ICE Postpones Controversial ‘Citizens Academy’ In Chicago

Things to Watch

State of the COVID-19.  COVID news is a bit more mixed than usual today, which might be attributed to the approaching election as well.  The CDC issued a nation-wide eviction moratorium, which will prevent nonpayment evictions until the end of the year.  And new studies confirm that steroids can help people who become severely ill due to COVID infection.  But Trump has refused to work with the WHO to develop and distribute a vaccine, and yet his CDC is telling states to prepare for its distribution as early as October–which, incidentally, is a good six months before the WHO thinks vaccines will be ready.  Meanwhile, FEMA is saying it will no longer fund cloth masks for schools, despite the increasing chaos at college campuses, and a newly-released tell-all book says Trump has known how deadly COVID would be since March despite leading the public to believe otherwise.  Finally, at least one federal official has started advocating for a herd immunity strategy, which is both ignorant and callous from a public health perspective–definitely not prevailing medical approach in the country or the world.  We’ll need to keep a close eye on this.
Key links:

1. NPR – CDC Issues Sweeping Temporary Halt On Evictions Nationwide Amid Pandemic
2. Associated Press – Steroids Confirmed To Help Severely Ill Coronavirus Patients
3. Washington Post – U.S. Says It Won’t Join WHO-Linked Effort To Develop, Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine
4. CNN – CDC Documents Say States Should Prepare To Distribute Covid-19 Vaccines As Soon As Late October
5. New York Times – A New Front In America’s Pandemic: College Towns
6. CNN – A Herd Immunity Strategy To Fight The Pandemic Can Be ‘Dangerous,’ Experts Say. Here’s Why

Black Lives Still Matter.  This was another rough week for brutality against Black Americans.  In Rochester, New York, a video was released from March that showed police fatally suffocating 41-year-old Daniel Prude with a “spit hood.”  Prude was apparently one of several Americans who have been injured or killed by this type of restraint, and he’s also one of many Americans killed by police while in mental health crisis.  Meanwhile, Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend is suing the Louisville police for misconduct.  And in Portland, police fatally shot a man suspected of shooting a conservative counterprotester, rather than apprehending him alive.  Needless to say, there’s a lot to watch here.
Key links:

1. New York Times – 7 Police Officers Suspended as a Black Man’s Suffocation Roils Rochester
2. Washington Post – Daniel Prude’s Death Highlights Dangers of ‘Spit Hoods’ and Calls for Regulation
3. Mental Health America – Position Statement 59: Responding To Behavioral Health Crises
4. CBS – Breonna Taylor’s Boyfriend Files Lawsuit Over His Arrest The Night She Was Killed By Police
5. NBC – Suspect In Fatal Portland Shooting Is Killed By Law Enforcement During Arrest Attempt

Election Oddities (Again).  Other than a bright spot when Ed Markey won the Democratic primary here in Massachusetts, this week was a surreal nightmare on the election front.  Trump decided to fight mail-in voting by suggesting to his supporters that they should try to vote multiple times, presumably because there will definitely be evidence of voter fraud if his followers create it.  This left officials in multiple states scrambling to remind constituents that this is, in fact, illegal.  It is also closely related to the current Russian tactic for interfering with our election, shocking no one.  And speaking of Russia, a senior Department of Homeland Security alleged in a whistleblowing complaint this week that he was instructed to stop reporting on Russian interference, because it “made the President look bad.”
Key links:

1. CNN – Sen. Ed Markey Defeats A Kennedy In Massachusetts
2. The Hill – White House Seeks To Clarify Trump Remarks On Voting Twice
3. CNBC – North Carolina Warns Voting Twice Is Illegal After Trump Urges People To Do So
4. ABC – Russia Is ‘Amplifying’ Claims Of Mail-in Voter Fraud, Intel Bulletin Warns
5. Washington Post – Senior DHS official alleges in whistleblower complaint that he was told to stop providing intelligence analysis on threat of Russian interference

Actions for Everyone

Last Monday we celebrated Labor Day, a day chosen to celebrate the working class.  We have a lot to thank the labor movement and worker’s unions. Because of union’s, some workers have benefits like healthcare, sick days, vacation days and protective gear in the workplace. Union’s helped establish a minimum wage, got the workday down to 8 hours and fought for our right to have a weekend. Yes, the weekend IS A RIGHT! You literally have a right to party.

Labor Day is a great day to reflect on the power of the working class. We still have a long way to go. We must keep on going to have wage equality, to raise the minimum wage, to establish universal healthcare, to fight against discrimination, to stand up for the enslaved prison-workers and to make the world a more just place for all. It’s easy to fall into the abyss of the media, the darkness that permeates our nation right now, but to keep looking onto the future, keeps our heads up high. Happy Labor Day to all the workers’ of the world.

Here is some more info on Labor Day. 

Prison Reform: A lot has been said about defunding and reforming the police, and the same can be said about the prison system. USA is #1 in the amount of imprisoned people. The rate of imprisonment has risen 500% in the last 40 years. There are around 2.2 million prisoners in the USA right now. That’s more than the entire population of New Mexico. Prison labor is basically modern slavery. Take for example California prisoners who are working as firefighters; these men who have risked their lives to extinguish wildfires are not eligible to become firefighters because they have a criminal record. There are more jails than colleges in the USA. Because of all of this and more, this country needs prison reform asap. What can you do to help?

Always talk to your representatives.

Check out The Sentencing Project and The Anarchist Black Cross

Talk about it. This is a topic a lot of people either don’t know about or choose to ignore.

Keep pestering the Senate: The Senate is back in session as of September 8th and they are probably counting to keep ignoring a Covid relief package and on how to help the hurt USPS. Don’t stop calling! Demand they vote on the Heroes act (They’ve had it since MAY!) and to pass the Delivering for America act.

Milwaukee Freedom Fund: The Milwaukee Freedom Fund was started by Black and Brown Milwaukee organizers who wanted to see residents supported as they asserted their rights to protest for justice. Since May, Milwaukee Freedom Fund has been collecting and distributing funds for bail, court-related costs, rides, food, water, and other needs of those who are asserting their rights to protest for justice.

Although it’s based in Milwaukee, it has recently extended to Kenosha to support the most recent uprising there. Please learn more about the Milwaukee Freedom Fund and donate to support those dedicated to protesting for justice.

Here are some Things That Made Me Smile!

Instant karma memes at the Trump Boat Parade

Celebrating National Mushroom Month and learning there is such a thing as the Mushroom Council

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Events to Know

Who Needs a Post Office, Anyway. We saw a further push against the post office, this time from its own postmaster, who issued a memorandum this week dramatically changing a number of procedures. The biggest immediate change for consumers will be that some letters will now get left at distribution centers, but the memorandum seems to indicate a sea change in general. Needless to say, an internal memorandum comparing the post office to private institutions that can go bankrupt is not normal, but for this administration it’s just Tuesday.

Key links:

1. Washington Post – Postal Service Memos Detail ‘Difficult’ Changes, Including Slower Mail Delivery

Election Oddities (Again). This week’s weird election news is that Trump has canceled the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, which he insisted move to Jacksonville in the first place.  In true Trump fashion, he’s claiming “the timing wasn’t right,” but it’s presumably canceled because Jacksonville couldn’t make it safe to attend.  Unsurprisingly, the GOP is now fighting with itself, and it’s likely not a coincidence that Republican Senators also overwhelmingly voted for a bill provision Trump publicly hates.

Key links:

1. NPR – President Trump Cancels Jacksonville Component Of Republican National Convention
2. Politico – ‘We Can’t Pull It Off’: Florida Sheriff Says He Can’t Muster Security For GOP Convention
3. Reuters – U.S. Senate Passes $740 Billion Defense Bill, Bucking Trump On Confederate Names

Immigration Updates.  We had a significant amount of bad immigration news this week.  Trump announced that he’s going to instruct the U.S. Census to stop counting undocumented people, which is both illegal and probably a bluff, because it’s unclear how he would even implement this with the census halfway done and no citizenship question.  (That said, it can and probably will have a chilling effect on immigrant populations completing the survey.)  The administration was also in the news for holding migrant kids in hotels and then deporting them, which is a pretty clear violation of the Flores agreement that requires them to matriculate unaccompanied minors through shelters and into sponsors’ homes.  Against that backdrop, it’s unsurprising that Canada concluded this week that their asylum treaty with us should be invalidated, because the U.S. is not a safe country for asylum seekers anymore.

Key links:

1. NBC – Trump Signs Memo To Omit Undocumented Immigrants From Census Apportionment Count
2. AZ Family – Migrant Kids Held In Phoenix Hampton Inn Hotels, Then Expelled
3. NPR – U.S.-Canada Asylum Treaty Unconstitutional, Judge Finds, Citing ‘Cruel’ U.S. Behavior

Recent Resilience

Recent Racial Change Resilience.  On the more positive side, we have promising follow up on several stories from earlier newsletters.  The NFL team based in Washington has settled on–wait for it–the ‘Washington Football Team’ as their name for the next season.  (They say it’s temporary, but I hope they keep it forever, because this is hilarious.)  In Chicago, an official decision to temporarily remove statues of Christopher Columbus from two park locations was enacted without incident.  The House voted to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. capitol.  And in Philadelphia, the District Attorney publicly outlined his plan for arresting and charging any federal agents who engage in the abduction methods reported in Portland.  It’s not comprehensive, by any stretch, but progress is progress.

Key links:

1. ESPN – Washington NFL Team To Use ‘Washington Football Team’ For 2020 Season
2. ABC – Mayor Cites ‘Public Safety Concerns’ In Decision To Remove Columbus Statues In Grant Park, Little Italy
3. New York Times – House Votes To Remove Confederate Statues From U.S. Capitol
4. Bloomberg – Philadelphia’s Top Prosecutor Is Prepared To Arrest Federal Agents

Things to Watch

State of the COVID-19. COVID news remains a mess on an impressive number of levels.  We continue to break records about daily infection rates, and death rates are rising again as well. At the time that I type this, over 4 million Americans have been infected and over 145,000 people have died–or at least, that’s our best understanding of the numbers, as data may still be having issues.  Unemployment rates are still rising, possibly because PPP money is running out.  And speaking of running out, a lot of workers are poised to run out of $600 unemployment supports on Friday, and the federal eviction moratorium is ending too. The Senate has not yet passed a final version of the Heroes Act, and Mitch McConnell says getting an agreement could take “weeks”–though his final version of the bill looks pretty sparse, so he might just be estimating how long they’ll be fighting over the difference between versions.  An ICE facility was in the news for having staggeringly high infection rates–more on the below–and major league baseball experienced disruption due to an outbreak among members of the Miami Marlins.  Studies were also published about the quick rate of antibody decay, prompting question about whether people can be infected twice or more–which in turn prompts further questions about what this means for vaccines.  (Antibody tests also suggest that rates of infection are much higher than reported, which is pretty disturbing given how high the report rates are.)  Oh, and 4,000 federal employees have contracted the virus at work, apparently including Trump’s own national security advisor.
Key links:

1. New York Times – Coronavirus In The U.S.: Latest Map And Case Count
2. CNN – This Is The Last Week Of $600 Unemployment Benefits
3. Washington Post – Here Is What’s In The Senate GOP’s $1 Trillion ‘Heals Act’ Package
4. Washington Post – Can You Get Coronavirus Twice? Doctors Are Unsure, Even As Anecdotal Reports Mount
5. Bloomberg – Trump National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien Has Coronavirus

Portland Pressure Cooker. The situation in Portland continued to escalate for another week, and it doesn’t show signs of abating as I type this. Trump’s federal CBP agents teargassed the mayor, who was standing with protesters in an attempt to heal the city’s rift, prompting said mayor to call Trump’s response “flat-out urban warfare.” Now both CBP and Portland’s police are under independent investigation. Meanwhile, Trump is sending agents into more cities, such as Chicago and Kansas City, under a banner he’s calling “Operation Legend”. Unsurprisingly, this is increasing civil unrest in several more cities as well, such as Seattle and Oakland, even though the administration claims the push is crime-related. Several cities declared riots to authorize further force against protesters, and one man was fatally shot in Austin. The weekend closed out with the U.N. calling us out and Trump sending even more troops to Portland.
Key links:

1. BBC – Trump To Send ‘Surge’ Of Hundreds Of Federal Agents To Cities
2. Washington Post – Department Watchdogs To Investigate Federal Law Enforcement Conduct At Protests
3. Al Jazeera – Trump To Send Federal Officers To Us Cities To Tamp Down Unrest
4. The Hill – Protests Erupt Nationwide In Solidarity With Portland Demonstrations
5. Insider – Police Reveal Identity Of Man Killed At Black Lives Matter Protest In Austin, Texas
6. Washington Post – U.N. Human Rights Office Calls On U.S. Police To Limit Use Of Force

Actions for Everyone

How are we doing? Hopefully healthy, staying safe, using masks and washing our hands! We got this! We are strong, even when we don’t feel like it. Please, remember to take time to process the times we are living in right now, take time for yourself, even if it’s a 5 minute sit-down, remember feeling scared and vulnerable and anxious is normal. I wish you all a great week! I’ve personally been using the app Relax Melodies, to help me fall asleep quicker.

Resistbot!: I wanted to share with you this amazing tool. It’s called Resistbot! Created after the outcome of the 2016 elections, ResistBot It’s a tool used to contact your representatives, local and federal, so you can voice your concerns and show your support for different pieces of legislation. It also helps with voter registration and education on different pressing and current topics .It will help you find your representatives and also deliver the message you want, all in one service. It is free but it runs on donations. Research shows representatives take written letters and emails into account more than phone calls.  Support this useful tool that helps our democracy.

You could use ResistBot this week to contact your representatives in the Senate to show support for the HEROES Act. At the moment, the Senate has introduced a lesser proposal, instead of passing the Heroes Act which already passed in the House in May. They have waited two months and are now trying to pass a bill that would leave out help for states, the USPS, no extra funds for SNAP Benefits when the unemployment rate is at its highest it has been since the Great Depression, lessen Unemployment assistance and more. Basically, trying to spend way less money during an international pandemic and the disastrous handling of it nationally.

Use ResistBot and let them know we deserve better.

The USPS is struggling. How else can you help?

• Give your carriers PPE and hand sanitizers
• Ask your carriers what you can do for them and be grateful
• Buy extra stamps!

#JusticeforBreonnaTaylor: The organization UltraViolet has a campaign going to bring Justice for Breonna Taylor after she was murdered by police in March while she slept in her house. Protesting helps, calling your city if you live in Louisville, KY helps, signing petitions helps, keeping her name alive helps.

Less than 100 days to VOTE! – You still have time to register to vote. Do it ! Helps others do it too!

Things That Made Me Smile:

This video made me laugh for almost 10 minutes straight. Please enjoy!

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Events to Know

Messed Up Trump Response: COVID Edition. Of course, we also had a lot of Trump-flavored COVID news this week (and let me tell you, that is not a quality product). In addition to the smear campaign against Fauci, which I think we talked about last week, hospitals were ordered to give COVID data to the Department of Health and Human Services instead of the CDC, which had been previously keeping track.  This was promptly followed by the disappearance of said data, which did eventually reappear after considerable complaint but will not be updated further by the CDC.  It also coincided with news that the CDC was prevented from testifying before Congress, and as other countries get their outbreaks under control, it becomes more and more starkly apparent just how badly the United States has handled this crisis.

Key links:

1. New York Times – Trump Administration Strips C.D.C. Of Control Of Coronavirus Data
2. CNN – US Health Department Directs CDC To Add Hospital Data Back To Its Website
3. Politico – House Education Democrats Say CDC Director Blocked From Appearing Before Congress
4. Washington Post – Unlike The United States, More And More Countries Are Making Masks Mandatory

Election Oddities (Again).  There was a fair amount of unusual election news this week.  Jeff Sessions lost his primary in Alabama, which feels fitting but does illustrate the strange times we live in.  After considerable back-and-forth the RNC will be scaled back when it’s held in Jacksonville next month (but more on the COVID news that prompted this below).  Perhaps the oddest news, though, is that Trump has already replaced his campaign manager, which reflects his unusually low polls as well as his high turnover rate in general.

Key links:

1. The Hill – Jeff Sessions Loses Comeback Bid In Alabama Runoff
2. Washington Post – Republican Convention In Jacksonville Will Be Scaled Back Next Month
3. NBC – Trump Shakes Up Campaign Staff, Demotes Top Manager Brad Parscale, As Polls Show Him Behind Biden

Confounding Shooting.  The household of the judge assigned to an Epstein-related Deutsche Bank civil case was attacked this week when a shooter showed up at their door dressed like a FedEx employee.  Judge Salas’s son was killed in the attack, and her husband remains in critical condition.  Confusing things further, the believed assailant was found dead this morning, about two hours away from the site of the shooting, and appearing to have shot himself.  Said assailant was a self-described “antifeminist” who had brought a case in front of her last year, but hadn’t had any contact with her since–and the shooting occurred the day after Judge Salas was assigned the Deutsche case, with no recent threats issued against her.  I’m sure you don’t need me to point out how incredibly sketchy this entire story is, but uh… this entire story is incredibly sketchy and disturbing, no matter what was motivating the shooter.

Key links:

1. New York Times – Husband And Son Of A Federal Judge Are Shot In New Jersey
2. CBS – Investigators Believe Federal Judge Was “Intended Target” Of Attack That Killed Her Son And Wounded Her Husband, Source Says
3. Bloomberg Law – Deutsche Bank Investors Sue Over Epstein Ties, Stock Drops

Recent Resilience

Recent Court Resilience.  In Missouri news, the gun-toting married couple that brandished weapons at protesters in St Louis a few weeks ago are now facing criminal charges.  That said, it’s likely their case is being diverted to a civil court, so they’re unlikely to actually experience said criminal charges at all.  Still, it’s closer to actual sound public policy than it could have been, so for now I’ll take it.

Key links:

1. NPR – St. Louis Prosecutor Charges White Couple With Threatening Protesters With Guns

Things to Watch

State of the COVID-19. COVID news remains a mess on both national and state levels.  We continue to break records about daily infection rates, and death rates are rising again as well. Unemployment rates are still rising too, with over a million new claims filed for the seventeenth week in a row.  Despite this news, a lot of workers are about to run out of benefits, because this is the last week of the extra $600 created by federal legislation. The Senate is expected to debate and/or vote on some version of the Heroes Act this week to respond, but current drafts include horrorshow provisions about forcing schools to reopen and shielding businesses from consequences if they make workers sick.  And though more and more franchises are requiring that their customers wear masks, Georgia’s governor has forbidden municipalities from requiring them, and is even suing Atlanta for ignoring his utterly bananas decree and requiring masks in public anyway.
Key links:

1. Reuters – U.S. Shatters Coronavirus Record With Over 77,000 Cases In A Day
2. ABC – Another 1.3 Million Workers Filed For Unemployment Insurance
3. CNN – This Is The Last Week Of $600 Unemployment Benefits
4. AP – GOP Leaders, Trump To Discuss Virus Aid As Crisis Deepens
5. Washington Post – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Sues Atlanta Over Mask Requirement As Coronavirus Surges In The State

News Out of Portland. News out of Portland, Oregon is pretty extreme, and we need to be talking about it. As is true in many cities, protests there have been ongoing since the George Floyd murder–about fifty days all told, by the time that I write this. Protesters already had a lot of stories about tear gas being abused and police brutality in the city. But this week, they also began reporting that unmarked vans containing military personnel were snatching people off the street to take into custody, in sudden and unpredictable patterns that looked more like abduction than law enforcement. Incredibly, CBP has since confirmed this allegation, and government officials signaled that we can expect this pattern to continue and even spread to other cities. This statement was made despite a pending lawsuit, the obvious hostility of city officials, and mounting evidence that the federal agents have no training. This is all incredibly alarming, and we need to be acting on it immediately.

Key links:

1. Rolling Stone – RS Reports: Progressive City, Brutal Police
2. OPB – Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets
3. NPR – DHS Official On Reports Of Federal Officers Detaining Protesters In Portland, Ore.
4. New York Times – Federal Officers Deployed In Portland Didn’t Have Proper Training, D.H.S. Memo Said

Black Lives Matter News.  We touched on some of the biggest BLM news above, but there were some other things to know as well.  Demonstrators in Louisville were charged with felonies for protesting Breonna Taylor’s murder, though the police that actually murdered her have not been arrested, let alone charged.  A town near Seattle declared writing “Black Lives Matter” in chalk a crime as well.  Meanwhile, the military issued a broad rule apparently intended to remove confederate flags, which was probably so broad to avoid backlash from Trump, who keeps insisting those flags are a point of Southern pride.

Key links:

1. New York Times – 87 Face Felony Charges After Protesting Breonna Taylor’s Death
2. Seattle Times – Seeing ‘Black Lives Matter’ Written In Chalk, One Yakima County Town Declares It A Crime
3. Washington Post – Defense Secretary Effectively Bans Confederate Flags From Military Bases While Rejecting ‘Divisive Symbols’

Actions for Everyone

Watch Portland: I just learned that a George W. Bush staffer called Portland “Little Beirut” because of the protestors he encountered during a visit there. It’s no stranger to protests, but from footage and first hand experiences being shared, it sounds like what’s happening in Portland is closer to a civil war. The ACLU of Oregon filed a lawsuit that prohibited police in Portland from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or directing physical force against journalists or legal observers, but we know, because of news coming from The white House (intentional lowercase I’m trying out), that Federal police will be sent to quell protests in many cities across America.

Since this involves our First Amendment Rights, I figured it was important to link to Know Your Rights resources. For starters, The National Lawyers Guild has a live hotline for activists and lawyers to report incidents of federal repression, such as FBI “door-knocks” at activists’ homes, grand jury investigations and subpoenas, and any other federal law enforcement efforts to undermine civil rights, including federal grab squads and the use of unidentified federal agents to police protests. The line is live at: 212-679-2811. As always, study the ACLU’s Know Your Rights for Protestors page.

End ICE: Speaking of secret police, ICE has been detaining people from right off the streets for no probable cause other than the color of their skin for years. Let’s end ICE too! The American Friends Service Committee is working on just that, and they could use your support. Check them out, https://www.afsc.org/abolish-ice.

Also, the ACLU has an Immigrant Rights page of resources that you should also check out. Did you know, for example, that the US spends 1.84 billion dollars detaining immigrants?

Create Consent Culture Shifts: This week, Burger Records announced they were shutting down after stories surfaced involving some of their staff and talent being sexual assault and misconduct assailants. In my opinion, these brave souls coming out of the #MeToo movement are making huge waves, and I’m here for it.

It takes a lot of courage to come forward with stories of sexual harassment, assault, and misconduct because we live in a culture that isn’t designed to believe womxn and non-binary folks when they explain their experiences. Burger Records shutting down sends the message that they won’t participate in that culture. These are the culture shifts we need to see. I want to share RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). After an experience of sexual assault or misconduct, it’s hard to know how to react. I wanted to share RAINN for the resources it has available. Misconduct is a spectrum of actions that can make a person feel unsafe and uncomfortable, which is why it’s so important to build a culture of consent.

Because of COVID 19, right now is a great time to get some great consent building experience by asking questions about your physical proximity to other people – “Can I sit this close to you?” “Are you hugging, elbow bumping, or do you prefer not to be touched?” Think of a question that is appropriate for your co-workers, your family, or quaranteam.

A thing that made me smile this week:

This video of Erykah Badu surprising Marc Rebillet. It’s a 7 minute video that feels like an emotional journey through 2020 put to music.

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