And another day of decrees, ministries, realities, momentum, stakes, misery, a lack of curiosity, nonsense, caregiving’s crucial role, propaganda, name calling, infighting, bribery, and billions of unspent dollars all comes to a close:
“This is how it begins.” — Lawrence Tribe
Deaths
US: 144,953 (+1119)
World: 619,465 (+6252)
Cases
US: 4,028,569 (+67,140)
World: 15,093,246 (+240,546)
Countdown: 105 days.
Trump consults Bush torture lawyer on how to skirt law and rule by decree. “If the court really believes what it just did, then it just handed President Trump a great deal of power, too,” Yoo, a professor at Berkeley Law, said. The supreme court has said President Obama could [choose not to] enforce immigration laws for about 2 million cases. And why can’t the Trump administration do something similar with immigration – create its own … program, but it could do it in areas beyond that, like healthcare, tax policy, criminal justice, inner city policy. I talked to them a fair amount about cities, because of the disorder.” In a Fox News Sunday interview, Trump declared he would try to use that interpretation to try to force through decrees on healthcare, immigration and “various other plans” over the coming month.
America Gets an Interior Ministry. President Trump is cobbling together something the United States has never had before—a national police force, used to quell protests. For decades, conservative activists and leaders have warned that “jackbooted thugs” from the federal government were going to come to take away Americans’ civil rights with no due process and no recourse. Now they’re here—but they’re deployed by a staunchly right-wing president with strong conservative support...One common tool for an interior ministry is a national police force. That can be a dangerous tool because an armed national police force at the disposal of the central government has a tendency to be misused. A repressive regime that is in danger, or simply faced with protests it finds troublesome, can use the national police to crack down, turning the force into an agency that protects the rulers, rather than one that defends the rule of law. Even in more democratic countries, a national police force can be a threat. In early post-Franco Spain, the Guardia Civil was a hotbed of fascist irredentism...That’s led critics toward bleaker interpretations, suggesting that Trump is trying to stifle resistance ahead of the election, suppress the vote, or prepare to contest the election if he loses. Whatever his motives, the precedents he’s creating are likely to endure: His successors will have a blueprint for the creation of a national police force that answers to the president. — The country is literally falling before our eyes.
Donald Trump's Portland Rhetoric Doesn't Match Reality. The right-wing media portrays a city under siege — but the city's real siege is from the federal government. Many people living in Portland feel they are not living in the same city they see on TV or online. They said that outside the downtown core where nightly protests take place it’s business as usual. It’s the actions of both the local police and then the Department of Homeland Security that trouble them, both of which have used tear gas and less-than-lethal weapons against protesters.
Far from tamping down unrest, the presence of federal agents on the streets of Portland, Oregon, has given new momentum to protests, even as the Department of Homeland Security says it has clear authority to protect government property.
The federal agents operating in Kansas City, Mo., will be identifiable and won't be roving the streets to make arrests, U.S. Attorney Timothy Garrison tells NPR.
A Detroit police officer faces 3 counts of felonious assault for allegedly firing rubber pellets at 3 photojournalists covering anti-racism protests in what prosecutors call an "unprovoked" attack.
What's at stake if Trump gets to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
CDC: Antibody tests show virus rates 10 times higher than reported.
With COVID-19, don't only focus on deaths. Too many Americans are alive and in misery. We are still trying to understand COVID-19, including what happens to our bodies when we have recovered from the virus. But it isn't looking good.
Trump is throwing a big wrench into negotiations between the White House and Senate Republicans over the next coronavirus relief bill by demanding a payroll tax cut be included and funding for testing be reduced or cut completely.
California governor told he had to ask and thank Trump to get help with COVID-19 response: report. White House officials told California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) he would need to personally appeal to President Trump and thank him if he wanted aid in obtaining coronavirus test swabs, according to The New York Times.
UK will be living with coronavirus for many years to come and vaccine unlikely to eliminate it for good, experts say.
British government 'lacked curiosity' to see if Russia meddled in Brexit election. The report said successive Conservative governments had turned a blind eye to inquiring into the extent of Russian influence in Britain. The government immediately rejected the committee's call and said: "retrospective assessment of the EU referendum is not necessary."
Just what does the UK's Russia report say? Key points explained.
Fact check: Donald Trump's "911" ad dishonestly tries to raise fears about a Joe Biden presidency. The ad released Monday, the latest in a series of similarly fear-mongering ads from the Trump campaign, suggests that a Biden presidency would result in 911 calls from senior citizens going unanswered. That is just nonsense. — It’s a horrible ad. Nothing but fear mongering which, of course, is all Republicans have to go on. Don’t fall for it.
Joe Biden proposes $775 billion to expand, improve care for children, the elderly and disabled. Former Vice President Joe Biden proposed Tuesday to spend $775 billion over the next decade to expand and improve caregiving for children, the elderly and people with disabilities while creating 3 million new jobs as part of his economic recovery plans.
It took a pandemic, a botched governmental response, and a recession. But at long last, a Democratic presidential nominee is promising a universal, federally backed child care program that recognizes caregiving’s crucial role in the US economy.
Pres. Trump's crusade against vote-by-mail, laced with false criticisms of the primary alternative amid the coronavirus pandemic, appears to be resonating with some voters across the country, as nearly half of Americans (49%) are convinced mail-in voting is susceptible to significant fraud...Election experts have rebuffed Trump's allegations, saying that there is no widespread fraud in mail-in voting.
When Can Kids Go Back To School? Leaders Say 'As Soon As It's Safe'.
How “Karen” became a symbol of racism. “Karen” is no longer content to speak to the manager. Now she’s calling the cops on her Black neighbors.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says that Rep. Yoho accosted her outside the US Capitol on Monday. The Hill reports Yoho told her she was “disgusting” for suggesting unemployment & poverty were leading to a rise in NYC crime and said “fucking bitch" after they parted.
Liz Cheney attacked over support for Fauci during GOP meeting. After the confrontation, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., called on Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., to resign as chair of the House Republican Conference. -- Oooh, infighting.
With millions of Americans out of work, fewer payroll taxes are coming in to fund Medicare spending — and the number of beneficiaries is rising. "I think we have a real, impending health crisis," one expert says.
Trump keeps pushing for a payroll tax cut. Here's what that means. A payroll tax cut would reduce the amount taken out of workers' paychecks to fund federal programs including Social Security and Medicare.
Trump’s New Census Directive Is Almost Certainly Unconstitutional.
Twitter bans 7,000 QAnon accounts, limits 150,000 others as part of broad crackdown. The company will classify of QAnon as coordinated harmful activity in part due to an uptick in harassment targeting high-profile critics of President Donald Trump.
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was arrested Tuesday morning in connection to an alleged $60 million bribery scheme, an official confirms to NPR. Four others, including Ohio's former GOP chairman, were also arrested. — Ah, the GOP.
Lawmakers are perplexed by billions in unspent Covid-19 testing money. Despite severe shortages in coronavirus testing supplies and lags in results, the Trump administration is still sitting on billions of dollars in unused funding that Congress allocated months ago. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have questions about why the money has not been used as testing continues to fall well short of the national need.
People are using honest obituaries to blame governors for coronavirus deaths and invite them to their loved ones' funerals.
Weather forecasts are less accurate because of Covid-19, a new study reveals.
How Many Polar Bears Will Be Left in 2100? If Temperatures Keep Rising, Probably Not a Lot. A new study projects that with no action on climate change, only a few, northernmost subpopulations of the bears will exist by century’s end.
Apple made a major commitment to fighting climate change Tuesday, announcing plans to be entirely carbon neutral by 2030. — We have to make it out of 2020 first.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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