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Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The Supreme Court rules that much of the state of Oklahoma rightly belongs to Native American tribes. Republicans, predictably, freak out. Meanwhile, Joe Biden unveiled a new campaign slogan in Pennsylvania. It’s union-made and wrapped lovingly in Old Glory. And lastly, do not mess with the TikTok teens. Repeat: Do Not. Mess. With. The TikTok. Teens. Or they will mess with you. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: A large swath of Oklahoma including the state’s second largest city, Tulsa, belong to Native American tribes, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. In a five-to-four decision, the Court sided with the Muscogee (MUSK-OH-GI), also known as the Creek Nation. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who usually votes with the conservatives, here sided with the majority. The case concerned a tribal member named Jimcy McGirt who was convicted of sex crimes. His defense argued that only the federal government, not state authorities, could prosecute him. They argued that was the case because the crime took place on land that had not been ceded by the tribe to the state of Oklahoma, and Congress had never clarified the matter. The court found this convincing. Justice Gorsuch wrote, QUOTE, “On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise... Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law. Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word ENDQUOTE. There’s a first time for everything, huh? Native groups hailed the ruling. But Republicans freaked out. Ted Cruz, the Senator from the neighboring state of Texas, had a juvenile freak-out, and Tweeted that Neil Gorsuch and the four liberal Justices just gave away half of Oklahoma, literally. Manhattan is next, Cruz said. On Fox News, Lou Dobbs said the Supreme Court was compromised by the Deep State, was out of control, and acting like squirrels. What does that even mean? Squirrels? Is that a Q- Anon thing? Or did he just coin a slur? The areas affected by the ruling also affect other tribes: the Cherokee, the Choctaw (CHOCK- TAUGH), the Chickasaw (CHICKA-SAW), and the Seminole. The nations also promised to coordinate law enforcement with state and federal officials, since Oklahoma state courts have lost jurisdiction over much of the eastern half of the state. The ruling means hundreds of convictions could be overturned. It also means that McGirt, the alleged sex criminal who prompted the fight over jurisdiction, may be tried federally. But ultimately, as the Cherokee writer Rebecca Nagle put it, the decision affirms that it’s been Indian country all along. Biden: "Build Back Better" Joe Biden’s presidential campaign rolled out a new slogan yesterday. Are you ready? It’s Build Back Better. Biden called his new slogan both bold and practical. The former vice president spoke yesterday at a metal works in Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Advisers told reporters the new campaign focus takes aim at what they call Trump’s two main issues: the economy and nationalism. If Trump’s slogan is America First, Biden’s new message might be called, America, Seconded. In Pennsylvania Biden talked about rebuilding the country’s manufacturing base, and announced two new spending programs: $300 billion for high-tech research and development and $400 billion for new federal procurement of products made inside the US. He praised the middle class and working families. He attacked Wall Street bankers, CEOs, the wealthy investor class, and shareholder capitalism. Aside from the flag-waving stuff, he sounded a lot like Bernie Sanders. Biden said, QUOTE You know who built the middle class? Unions built the middle class ENDQUOTE. Trump campaign aides were both surprised and annoyed by Biden’s new focus on American- made products. According to the Washington Post, Trump’s people were preparing to roll out their own Buy American campaign before Biden beat them to the punch. And they point out that Biden supported free-trade agreements that are now widely unpopular among members of both major parties, both during his time in Congress in the 90s and as vice president in the Obama administration. But with record unemployment, a looming wave of evictions, and all the other signs of economic disaster, who besides members of the Trump cult can believe that he will really turn things around with another four years in office? TikTok Teens Target Trump The TikTok kids mean business. And they’ve claimed another victory. This time, users of the short-video social network flooded the Trump 2020 campaign’s official campaign app with negative reviews. Allow us to quote some of them here: Disgusting – don’t download. Total trash. Scarred for life. Do not download – dog held hostage. Thanks for killing grandma, Trump. This app ruined my life. Absolutely horrible. Worst app ever in history. You get the idea. As Bloomberg News reported, TikTok fans left the bad reviews as a means of retaliation. Trump threatened to ban the app. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, and hugely popular with American teens. One 19-year-old user in California told Bloomberg, QUOTE If you’re going to mess with us, we will mess with you ENDQUOTE. Okay then! AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: In another ruling yesterday, the US Supreme Court decided that Trump’s tax returns must be released to prosecutors in New York. However, the Court decided that Congress, which also wanted access to Trump’s financial records, will have to wait. Some political observers called it a win for Trump, however, bottom line, the Court rejected Trump’s claim of blanket immunity during his tenure as president. According to the Associated Press, federal authorities feared that Ghislaine (GILL- AYNE) Maxwell might kill herself while in custody, in much the same manner as her alleged accomplice, the late Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell was arrested last week in New Hampshire. Per the AP, she is now confined at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with federal guards from outside the Bureau of Prisons. One in seven state lawmakers in Mississippi has the coronavirus, according to PBS Newshour. It’s the largest outbreak in any elected body in the US. Although many Republicans with a national profile, like Mike Pence, have taken to wearing masks, it has reportedly been rare to see a Mississippi legislator from either party wearing a mask. Now at least twenty-six members have tested positive, though none have yet been hospitalized. Palantir (PAL-ANN-TEER), the super-creepy surveillance startup founded by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel (TEEL), wants to go public. The Wall Street Journal says the company has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin the process of selling shares publicly. The company is deeply involved with Trump’s deportation machine. And it’s worth pointing out that for many Silicon Valley companies, an initial public offering is not a sign of success, but rather, the final toss of a hot potato. July 10, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump is a menace to public health and also to school district budgets. Federal funding could be at stake for districts that don’t hold in-person classes in the fall, pandemic be damned. Meanwhile, a Supreme Court ruling revokes birth control coverage for thousands of women. Employers can now claim a religious exemption under the Affordable Care Act. And lastly, Washington, DC, is set to restore voting rights for incarcerated citizens. In forty- eight states, people who are or have been in prison for a felony still can’t vote. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Trump threatened yesterday to cut off federal funding for school districts that don’t fully reopen with in-person classes in the fall. Luckily, in the US, most school districts don’t rely completely on federal funding, instead raising money through local property taxes. But Trump’s threats do unfortunately put emergency pandemic funds at risk everywhere. Many if school districts started rolling out their reopening plans this week, and many are on course to defy Trump’s wishes. The country’s largest school district, New York City Public Schools, plans as of yesterday to send students back for in-person classes only two or three days each week, in order to maintain social distancing. At more crowded schools, the New York Times reports, students might receive only one day per week of in-person instruction. And there is still no plan to provide families with childcare on days when the kids are doing their lessons online. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the plan will influence how the rest of the city reopens. As in many states, the governor also has authority over when and how schools reopen. Andrew Cuomo has yet to comment on de Blasio’s plan. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom wants to leave many details of reopening up to local districts. But in a leaked recording obtained by the Los Angeles Times, LA County’s top public health official told district superintendents that they needed to be ready to hold all classes online come fall. Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the superintendants it would be irresponsible not to have a backup plan that included all distance learning, all the time. If that’s irresponsible, what can one say about Trump’s threats? That they’re outrageously reckless? Borderline homicidal? Mike Pence announced yesterday that the Centers for Disease Control would be release new guidance for schools next week. He made it clear the new guidelines will favor in-person classes, just like Trump wants. Sure seems like health experts have different ideas. But when is the last time this government listened to them? The public health director in Tusla, Oklahoma, said a surge in coronavirus cases followed Trump’s rally there two and a half weeks ago. Separately, Johns Hopkins University reported that US coronavirus cases passed the three million mark. That’s one case for every a hundred people in the country. The virus is out of control, and it seems like the White House is determined to make sure every American gets exposed. It’s just nuts. Supreme Court Upholds Patriarchy More than a hundred thousand women, and millions more in the future, stand to lose their health insurance coverage for birth control, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling yesterday. With a seven-to-two vote, the Court upheld a Trump administration regulation that grants employers a religious exemption to providing birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. Justice Elena Kagan voted with the patriarchy, I mean the majority. Which is technically a patriarchy. But still. The case stemmed from a challenge by the states to the Trump rule creating a religious exemption for birth control. Pennsylvania and New Jersey argued that the state treasuries would be left to pick up the tab for health care that should fall to employers. A federal appeals judge granted an injunction last year that preserved health care for many women – but the Supreme Court’s word is now final. I guess we’ll just need to find a better Supreme Court. DC Enfranchises 4,000 Voters City leaders in the District of Columbia are preparing to end voter disenfranchisement for felons, at least locally. If Mayor Muriel Bowser signs an emergency bill put forward by Councilmember Charles Allen, more than four thousand people will regain their right to vote. The emergency measure is expected to pass. And Councilmember Allen told The Appeal, a news website covering justice issues, that the Council could make the measure permanent as part of its budgeting process later this month. The emergency bill will let convicts and incarcerated felons vote in the November election, by request. Beginning next January, DC will be obliged to provide voter information and ballot access to people in prison. The bill also includes some limited police reform, including bans on chokeholds, tear gas, and rubber bullets. DC will join Maine and Vermont in allowing all incarcerated people to vote. According to The Appeal, DC has a higher incarceration rate than any state – and over ninety percent of its incarcerated population are Black. It’s nice to see a win for voting rights, for a change. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Newly released transcripts based on body camera footage show that George Floyd told Minneapolis cops more than twenty times that he couldn’t breathe, before he finally died under Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee. The transcripts were contained in court filings. According to the New York Times, which reviewed the texts, Chauvin told Floyd to stop talking after Floyd said officers were going to kill him. He added, QUOTE it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk ENDQUOTE. Chauvin faces second-degree murder charges and up to forty years in prison. A new study by a former Google worker revealed thousands of previously unreported contracts between Silicon Valley companies and the US military. The researcher, Jack Poulson, protested Google’s work with Chinese censors and the US security state, before quitting the company in 2018. Per NBC News, he analyzed thirty million government contracts and subcontracts from the Defense Department and federal law enforcement going back five years. He found that Amazon had more than three-hundred fifty subcontracts since 2016, and Google had two-hundred fifty. Microsoft had more than five thousand, most of which, I’m guessing, involve asking the feds if rebooting their computers solves the problem. Torrential rains and severe flooding in Japan have killed at least fifty-eight people, according to the Washington Post. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on lawmakers to declare an extreme disaster. Landslides are also reportedly wreaking havoc in affected areas, mostly southern and central Japan. Those parts of the country still face another foot of rainfall in the forecast this week. A new DNA study claims to have proven once and for all that people from the Polynesian islands share an ancestral connection to Native Americans from Mexico down to Chile. The study appeared in the Journal Nature. The findings confirm that Polynesian sailors traversed more than forty-two hundred miles of open ocean to travel to South America some eight hundred years ago. That’s several hundred years before that enormous poseur, Colombus. And not only did the Polynesians bring sweet potatoes to the New World, they managed to avoid waging a murderous religious crusade across two continents. Give them a statue, for chrissake. July 9, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: U.S. coronavirus cases passed 3 million on Tuesday, a grim milestone that we flew past a breakneck speed, as Florida’s ICU’s start to hit capacity all at once and the president uses his time to officially withdraw the country from the World Health Organization and push to reopen schools. Meanwhile, a new report by the Intercept shows that oxycodone death-dealer Purdue made political contributions even after it went bankrupt, showing that there are no depths too low for the Sackler family of murderers. And lastly, Tucker Carlson launched a wave of aggressive, racist attacks against Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Ilhan Omar, who dared to suggest that the U.S. supports a quote “system of oppression.” THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The coronavirus hit a grim new milestone on Tuesday: 3 million cases in the United States alone. According to CNN, the country averaged almost 50,000 new cases per day last week, more than double the rate of a month ago. Texas alone reported more than 10,000 cases on Tuesday. Trump’s head of the coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, noted that the Administration hadn’t expected the massive community spread among young people, who had generally been pretty diligent about social distancing. Put this all together, and we’ve got a horrifying summer ahead. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is following through on its flailing attempts to pass the buck to the WHO, formally announcing on Tuesday that the U.S. will leave the international organization. It’s still a mostly empty threat: the U.S. won’t back out until April of 2021, so if Trump loses in November, Biden or whoever ends up in the Oval could just keep us in. But Trump’s not content to just sabotage U.S. participation in international organizations -- he’s actively making the crisis worse at home. The new benchmark the Trump admin wants is for schools to reopen in the fall, which is a step that many schools do not want to do. Yesterday we talked about the completely absurd student visa rule, which the New York Times reports could be part of Trump’s plan to exert pressure on schools to offer in-person classes. In other words, he’s holding schools’ students hostage in deportation purgatory to try to force them to reopen in a pandemic. Just so we’re clear about what’s going on here. Bankrupt Purdue Bankrolls Politicians Purdue Pharma, the drug company owned for years by the Sackler family, is one of the most evil corporations in the world. That much is not really up for debate at this point: for decades, Purdue almost singlehandedly created the modern U.S. opioid crisis by aggressively marketing their deadly narcotic oxycodone to any patient who had so much as a toothache. Last September, Purdue filed for bankruptcy, the product of a mountain of lawsuits filed by cities seeking some sort of justice for the addiction epidemic it unleashed on their streets. But the Sacklers pulled a fast one on the plaintiffs, making off with over 10 billion in company funds. According to a new report by the Intercept, the drug giant still had enough left over to make political donations. The Intercept reports that Purdue gave $50,000 to both the Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association in December of 2019, months after filing for bankruptcy, and right on time to sway politicians as states debate whether or not to put more taxes on opioids. To date, only 5 states have implemented a tax on opioids. The 50 grand to Dems and Republicans might not seem like much, but remember that Purdue was donating much larger sums to parties involved in these decisions before it got sued into oblivion. The company itself may be bankrupt, but the Sacklers are doing just fine, and their billions will surely keep growing, fed by the blood of the American working class. Tucker Carlson Does Racism Again Tucker Carlson is at it again. And by “it,” we mean racism and general bigotry. Imagine that! The latest controversy swept up both Rep. Ilhan Omar, a favorite target of the ruling racists in the country, as well as Sen. Tammy Duckworth. It all culminated in an unforgettable Tucker moment in which he put up photos of Omar and Duckworth side by side with a full-screen chyron stating quote “We have to fight to preserve our nation and heritage.” Endquote. That’s only ten words, but it’s pretty close to white nationalist America’s favorite 14-word slogan. It started on Monday night, when Carlson mocked Duckworth for saying that we needed to have a national conversation over the removal of racist Confederate monuments. Carlson acknowledged Duckworth’s military service, but then called her a quote “deeply silly,” “unimpressive person,” and suggested that she hates America. Duckworth, who lost both of her legs in Iraq, shot back on Twitter, asking Carlson to quote “walk a mile in my legs.” Carlson wasn’t cowed, and dragged Ilhan Omar into the already-stupid hating American controversy on Tuesday night, after the congresswoman said in a press conference that America had a quote “system of oppression.” All of this led to the unforgettable chyron during Tucker’s show on Tuesday night. There’s some context to this: Duckworth is reportedly on the long or maybe short list for Biden’s VP slot, and Omar is one of the racist Conservative press’s favorite targets. Linking the two of them is probably advantageous to everyone, like Tucker, who wants to see Trump get a second term. Let’s uh... make sure that doesn’t happen, especially to see the look on Carlson’s face. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: July 8, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Another day, another pipeline bites the dust. A district court ordered that the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was fought for years by indigenous activists, must be shut down and emptied of oil by August 5, pending a fresh environmental review. Meanwhile, Trump passed down one of his most spiteful and pointless immigration orders yet today, ruling that students in the U.S. whose universities were switching to online classes would have to return to their home countries until their schools resumed in-person learning. And lastly, new data that the New York Times had to sue the government to get shows the horrifying racial inequalities in the coronavirus pandemic, and all the while, states are still struggling to perform adequate testing. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Courts Slap Down Dakota, Keystone Pipelines It’s only Tuesday, and it’s already been a massive week for environmental and indigenous activists fighting the big oil and gas companies trying to skewer their lands with destructive pipelines. On Sunday, two energy giants canceled the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and on Monday, a district court struck a massive blow against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dakota victory is huge. Here’s how it went down. A D.C. district court essentially struck down a prior federal permit that allowed the pipeline to continue flowing while the Army Corps of Engineers did an extensive environmental review. The new ruling is that the pipeline has to shut down and drain itself of oil by August 5, following early court decisions that said the government hadn’t done its full due diligence in figuring out how destructive the pipeline would be. For the indigenous activists who put their bodies on the line for years at Standing Rock, this is a much needed reprieve. The Texas energy company that owns the pipeline said it would file a motion to stay the decision and keep the oil flowing, and potentially appeal the case to a higher court. But even further up in the courts, activists can’t stop winning. In another huge decision yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump Administration’s request to go ahead with construction on parts of the Keystone XL pipeline that had been blocked by a federal judge in Montana. The Keystone pipeline got held up when a Federal judge deemed that the government had violated the endangered species act. It’s pretty clear that these pipelines wreak havoc on the land they go through. But it’s also clear that oil companies are willing to spill as much blood and oil as they need to to get their payday. But if activists keep winning the battles in court, there may be some way to stop them. Trump Kicks Out Foreign Students The Trump administration added yet another ridiculous, destructive immigration policy to it’s long list on Monday. The policy was a subtle one that flew under the radar of a lot of major media coverage, but is going to have a profound effect on thousands of students around the country. On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it would no longer honor visas for non-immigrant students whose universities are only offering online classes in the fall semester. ICE says that those students either have to go back to their home country and take online classes, or transfer to a university that offers in-person classes. For students who have physically moved to a new city or country to study, this is clearly a ridiculous proposition. It’s ICE literally turfing students out of their homes and saying that because their classes are online, they have no reason to be in the country. If students don’t comply, ICE’s announcement threatened to start deportation proceedings. This is obviously going to cause havoc on universities, particularly research institutions with a large number of foreign students who contribute to laboratories that have already been disrupted by the coronavirus. It also serves no practical purpose: kicking out students who have already been here isn’t going to make our already-out-of-control domestic pandemic any better. It’s just pure vindictive spite from the Trump administration, on a level that we should expect by now but that isn’t any easier to swallow. NYT Sues CDC for Corona Data We’ve known for some time that the coronavirus pandemic was hitting some communities harder than others, but for months, the largest and most important source of data was absent. The CDC was being tight lipped about their data -- so quiet, in fact, that it took a lawsuit for them to cough it up. The New York Times sued the CDC for a full accounting of the pandemic, and the data they got back shows that Black and Latino people have been disproportionately ravaged by the disease, despite their location in the country or age groups. In other words, it’s not about urban versus rural: the disease is hitting communities that are already underserved by health care systems, impoverished, or otherwise isolated from the care and resources they need. In America’s racist system, those communities are black and brown. According to the Times, federal data showed that Black and Latino americans are three times as likely to get the disease as white people. All of this comes as testing remains a struggle in many metropolitan areas. The fresh wave of cases across the country has left even increased testing resources stretched thin, and it doesn’t show any signs of letting up. Texas topped 200,000 cases, just 17 days after topping 100,000 cases. Many other places in the country don’t look much better. Unless we get realistic about who’s being hurt by this disease and what we have to do to help them, the country is resigning itself to thousands upon thousands more deaths. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: New data shows that while most of the government’s small business loans went to restaurants and car dealerships, President Trump’s personal lawyer and multiple high-profile lobbying firms also all took a cut of the federal pie. The Supreme Court ruled that states can abolish faithless electors, or electoral college voters who decide not to cast their ballots for the candidate their state selects. A better system would be abolishing the whole electoral college, but sure, we’re getting there. Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, declared a second, six-week lockdown on Tuesday, citing “unsustainably high numbers of new cases” of coronavirus. The city had previously started to reopen, only to see cases start to skyrocket again. And their outbreak was nowhere near as bad as the one here, for the record. Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro is once again displaying symptoms of coronavirus, and was tested for the disease on Monday. He’s presided over one of the worst outbreaks anywhere in the world (outside of the U.S.), and multiple members of his inner circle have already had the disease. His administration said they should have the results back on Tuesday, so we’ll see how they decide to play it from here. That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Sam’s out on vacation, but the Majority Report team will have more live-to-tape content lined up later this afternoon. July 7, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Trump leaned into nationalism and the culture wars in events across Fourth of July weekend, although he appeared to flounder in front of lackluster crowds and a strange, sad party at the White House. Meanwhile, the ongoing protests in Seattle suffered yet another tragedy on Saturday, when a driver plowed through protesters on a closed section of Interstate 5, killing one person and seriously injuring another. And lastly, two of the nation’s largest utility companies announced that they would be canceling the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a destructive natural gas line that would have hacked its way through the Appalachian trail. It’s a huge win for environmentalists, who have been suing the project into oblivion for years. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Trump Grasps for Nationalism We’ll start today with a quick wrap-up of Donald Trump’s weird, sad weekend, which kicked off on Friday night with a jingoistic rally in front of Mount Rushmore aimed almost entirely at stoking racial and cultural resentment among his white base before election day. In other words, business as usual. But let’s pull a quick snippet from the Rushmore Rally to illustrate just where he’s coming from. During the rally, he said quote “this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution,” endquote. He then continued, saying that the left’s goal was to quote “end America.” endquote. The rest of the speech leaned into similar themes: the end of western civilization, calling on the American people to stop their history being taken away from them, all that kind of stuff. You can see how that directly ties into the bigoted arguments like “heritage not hate” that racists use to try to justify monuments to the confederacy. Trump followed the Rushmore speech with a strange party on the White House grounds, complete with fireworks, a military flyover, and a Navy band singing songs from the Lion King. Pretty surreal stuff, in other words. It’s worth putting all this stuff in context: Trump is absolutely floundering right now. His poll numbers compared to Biden are circling the drain, per a new Monmouth poll that came out last Thursday Even his most stable age groups, like the 50-64 demographic, are starting to slip away -- He’s down 5 points in that group. He’s clearly hoping that by ralling the fires of white nationalism he can scare people into re-electing him. And in the mean time, he seems to be distracting himself pretty well with golf -- visiting one of his courses for the 273rd time on Friday. Protester Killed By Car in Seattle Seattle’s protest movement suffered another violent tragedy this weekend, after a protester was killed and one other seriously wounded after a driver plowed through a demonstration on Interstate 5. The murdered protester was identified as 24-year-old Summer Taylor. Another protester, 32-year-old Diaz Love, is in serious condition. The driver was identified as Dawit Kelete, 27. The authorities don’t have any guess as to motive at the moment, but regardless, it’s another tragic loss that’s part of a frightening trend of protesters being killed while participating in the broader social movement against police brutality. In Louisville, for instance, on protester at a vigil for Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in late June. Throughout the protests, multiple people have been killed by police; in the same city, cops shot a local barbecue owner while enforcing a curfew in the early nights of the protests. Seattle has also suffered more than its share, as shootings plagued the autonomous zone set up by protesters in the city center. Seattle police announced that they would no longer let protesters march on Interstate 5 as a response to the deaths. Conservative media, unsurprisingly, has focused almost entirely on vandalism, like burning Wendy’s, and overlooked the fact that Americans are literally dying for the cause on the streets. Environmentals Smack Down Pipeline To close out our main stories today, we’ve got a huge environmental victory to share. A few months back we talked about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a major natural gas line that was poised to slash through the Appalachian trail and numerous communities along the way. On Sunday, Duke Energy and Dominion Energy, the two power companies trying to build the pipeline, announced that they were canceling the project, saying that it was taking too long and costing too much to build. These delays and price spikes are the direct result of lawsuits filed by environmental activists and dedicated protesting against the pipeline. The energy companies themselves admitted that the lawsuits had driven the pipeline’s expected costs from around four and a half billion dollars when it was announced in 2015, to a whopping 8 billion dollars. The environmental lawyers did not mince words: they’re definitely rubbing this one in. Gillian Giannetti, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council said QUOTE “As they abandon this dirty pipe dream, Dominion and Duke should now pivot to investing more in energy efficiency, wind and solar — that’s how to provide jobs and a better future for all.” The victory was so crushing that Dominion Energy is getting out of the industry altogether, selling its gas transmission and storage assets to a firm linked to Berkshire Hathaway. So the rich are probably still getting richer, but today, it’s environmentalists that get the win. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The Aurora Police Department fired three officers who took mocking chokehold selfies outside of a memorial for Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old slain by police. Interim Chief Vanessa Wilson called their actions quote “a crime against humanity and decency.” Donald Trump’s favored Senate Candidate to take on Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama used to be a hedge fund manager -- and it turns out he wasn’t very good at it. A New York Times report on Sunday found that Tommy Tuberville was sued by his investors for fraud, and his business partner was sentenced to ten years in prison for various shady financial crimes. Sounds like Trump’s kind of guy! Iran acknowledged a destructive fire at one of its major nuclear fuel plants, which it says will set its nuclear program back months. Iran and some unnamed intelligence officials say that Israel planted a bomb in the facility. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Israel or the U.S. for that matter had attacked the Iranian nuclear program. While the rest of the country was celebrating July 4th, the U.S. military was once again on the move: Two aircraft carriers are on their way to the South China Sea in a significant show of force, ostensibly to stage a rival boat party to China’s planned military exercises in the region. Because sure, we might as well throw more armed tension on top of a global pandemic. Why not! That’s all for the AM Quickie today. Sam’s on vacation this week, but keep tuning in to the Quickie -- we’ll keep you posted on what’s going on in the world every morning. July 6, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Confirmed cases of coronavirus are rising in forty states, according to the Associated Press. Trump will speak at Mount Rushmore today, once again, we expect, without a mask. Meanwhile, a new study finds that up to sixty percent of fish face extinction due to climate change, if nothing is done. The consequences to the ecosystem would be catastrophic. And lastly, federal prosecutors in New York arrest Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged accomplish. She was in hiding in New Hampshire, in a luxury home. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Trump Rally Insults Sioux Donald Trump will be holding another of his hate rallies tonight, this time at Mount Rushmore. Masks will be optional. South Dakota’s Republican Governor, Kristi Noem (NOAM), says wearing a mask – or not – is a personal choice. Public health officials fear another surge in cases as a result of the rally. There will also be a large pyrotechnics display. About that: the former superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, who retired last year, told PBS that it is not a good idea to light fireworks in the middle of a forest! Native American groups are not pleased about Trump’s decision to come and spread a deadly disease on their sacred lands. Tribal members from the area plan to protest Trump’s rally. In a statement this week, Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux (SOOH), said the faces on Mount Rushmore serve as a constant reminder of deceit and oppression. He said QUOTE We are now being forced to witness the lashing of our land with pomp, arrogance, and fire, hoping our sacred lands will survive... Visitors look upon the faces of those presidents and extoll the virtues that they believe make America the country it is today. Lakota see the faces of the men who lied, cheated, and murdered innocent people, whose only crime was living on the land they wanted to steal ENDQUOTE. Frazier volunteered to take down the monument by himself, if necessary. Honestly I don’t see why anyone should stop him. Vice President Mike Pence made a personal choice to wear a mask at a rally yesterday. More and more Republican officials, minus Trump, are wearing masks in public as coronavirus case numbers spiral out of control. Pence was visiting Florida just as state health officials confirmed ten thousand new cases in a single day. Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain also made a personal choice to not wear a mask at Trump’s rally two weeks ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yesterday Cain confirmed that he tested positive for COVID-19. Cain was hospitalized with serious symptoms but, per his statement, remains confident that with god’s help he will soon resume hosting duties for the two talk shows he hosts, one on his personal website and another on Newsmax TV. Ocean Life in Peril A new study published in the journal Science suggests sixty percent of fish species will die off by the end of the century. The reason? Climate change. The researchers examined how warming water temperatures affected seven hundred different fish species, both those freshwater and seawater varities. The expected rates of exctinction are so dire because higher water temperatures interfere with fish embyos, as well as with the development of young fish. Sixty percent was a worst-case scenario in the study, based on global temperatures that are seven to nine degrees Farenheit higher than pre-industrial levels. But it’s also a conservative measure of how fish might be effected by climate change, because it doesn’t take into account several other related problems, such as ocean acidification and overfishing. In the best-case scenario in the study, only ten percent of fish species went extinct by the end of the century. However, scientists told the Guardian that best-case scenarios was especially difficult to model. That’s because losing one species can throw the whole ecosystem out of whack – not just underwater but on land, as well. Some of the at-risk species are commercially harvested, including Atlantic cod, swordfish, Pacific salmon, and Pacific cod, which, as the Guardian notes, is used to produce frozen fish sticks. Separately, Gizmodo reported that ongoing wildfires in Siberia have released record amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. So maybe don’t sweat the best-case scenario too much. SDNY Charges Ghislaine Maxwell Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been in hiding since before the late sex trafficker died in prison last year. But today, she is in federal custody. Maxwell was arrested yesterday by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the direction of Audrey Strauss, Acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Her case is a sordid tale of conspiracy and corruption. Maxwell allegedly helped Esptein recruit, groom, and abuse girls as young as fourteen for his elite sex trafficking ring. Dozens of girls were abused by Epstein, Maxwell, and their associates at properties in New York City; Palm Beach, Flordia; Santa Fe, New Mexico; London, England and elsewhere. Maxwell herself has been photographed with an astonishingly long list of the wealthy, powerful, and famous. She is the daughter of a British media tycoon, Robert Maxwell. Prosecutors also provided some insight as to how Maxwell has been living this past year since Epstein’s death. Using shell companies and cash transfers, she purchased a luxury home on a large property in small-town Bradford, New Hampshire. She was reportedly arrested there without incident yesterday morning. Later in the day, a judge reportedly remanded her to the custody of the US Marshals service. During the telephonic hearing, a woman with a British accent, whom several reporters said could be Maxwell, was heard pleading and sobbing. Before the line was muted, the woman said, QUOTE, I don’t understand, I don’t understand ENDQUOTE, according to the Miami Herald. Epstein’s victims praised Maxwell’s arrest. One attorney representing more than twenty victims told the Herald that her arrest was a long time coming, and that his clients feel relieved that justice is being served. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Several countries – notably the US, Britain, Taiwan, Australia – are making preparations to take in refugees from Hong Kong as China arrests hundreds of dissidents there. Thousands more await trial. Advocates told the Washington Post that they don’t know what to expect with China’s new security law in Hong Kong, and they’re advising protesters who catch serious charges to leave the country if they can. The German government this week disbanded a special forces unit riddled with Nazi ties. The parliamentary commissioner for defense said urgent action was needed to not only disband the KSK but to root out the extent of fascist influence in the armed forces. Twenty KSK commandos from the force of fourteen-hundred are being investigated for far-right ties. But the scandal goes deeper, as large quantities of explosives and ammunition are missing... The US government is attempting to seize four gasoline tankers en route from Iran to Venezuela, in an escalation of sanctions, lawfare, and other destabilizing measures by the right-wing superpower against the left-leaning oil state. US prosecutors filed a lawsuit seeking court permission to seize the tankers on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal first reported. Yesterday that suit was followed by allowing US forces to seize more than a million gallons of gas onboard the four ships. Next, expect a US court to order Venezuela to stop hitting itself_._ Police in Fort Lauderdale, Flordia, released body camera footage this week showing cops laughing and celebrating after shooting protesters with rubber bullets, NBC reported. Among other outrageous remarks, an officer can be heard bragging, did you see me eff up up those mother-effers? No, missed that – but can’t wait to see you lose your job! That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. July 3, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The uprisings against police brutality are holding strong even if much of the media has moved on. And elected officials are increasingly making common cause with protesters. Meanwhile, an analysis by the Washington Post finds that at least six hundred thousand Americans have voted for candidates who support the Q-Anon conspiracy theory. The analysis assumed that Donald Trump does not himself go for the Q stuff, which, frankly seems rather generous. And lastly, pharmaceutical researchers in the United States and Germany reported promising results in a small coronavirus vaccine trial. Now, if regulators approve, thirty thousand people might be selected for participation in a larger vaccine study. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Seattle Police Clear CHOP Police in arrested hundreds of people on suspicion of promoting independence for Hong Kong as a new security law emposed by Beijing took effect. Across the Pacific, in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and many other cities uprisings continued to defy authorities at all levels of government. In Seattle, the so-called autonomous zone in Capitol Hill was cleared with force by police on the order of the mayor, Jenny Durkin. One day before making the order, Durkin accused socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant of contemptuous behavior for letting protesters into City Hall. Today, Sawant shamed Durkin in turn, and expressed solidarity with organizers at the autonomous zone, Black Lives Matter, and QUOTE everyone fighting for a society free of oppression ENDQUOTE. Protesters were gathering at another police precinct in Seattle last night. In Oregon, state House Speaker Tina Kotek criticized a fellow Democrat, Portland mayor Ted Wheeler, for allowing police to violate a state judge’s order that they stop using tear gas. Police the other night deployed tear gas indiscriminately in a neighborhood in a futile attempt to disperse protests that, as elsewhere, have held their momentum for over a month. Two people were arrested in Provo, Utah, on charges including attempted aggravated murder after driving through and then shooting a gun into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters. In Houston, Texas, six police officers were charged with fifteen felonies related to shooting deaths in a no-knock raid, according to a Houston Chronicle reporter. In California, the Los Angeles City Council voted to cut the police budget by $150 million. Only two of fourteen Council members opposed the move to defund the police. In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was removed – with a crane – to cheers from an approving crowd. And in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a statue of the late serial sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared overnight on city property. The statue – actually a mannequin painted bronze – was removed yesterday. A plaque explained, in part, that Epstein had a home in New Mexico and QUOTE was also a rapist who died in prison ENDQUOTE. Congressional QAnon Caucus Feared Earlier this year, Media Matters identified fifty-nine candidates for the US Congress who expressed support for the Q-Anon conspiracy theory. Now, with most of their primaries out of the way, the Washington Post assessed how they’ve fared in this year’s elections. Elevent of the Q candidates have won, including one Democrat. Thirteen are in races that have yet to be determined. And all together, those pro-Q candidates candidates have won more than six hundred thousand votes. The Post notes that the vote totals don’t mean all those voters were conspiracy-obsessed loonies. However, they do indicate that belief in Q-Anon theories is not disqualifying for Republican candidates. It’s hard to see those results as anything but disturbing. The good news is that many of the Q Republicans who won their primaries are in heavily Democratic districts. Most probably won’t join Congress next year, because they’ll likely lose to Democrats in the November general election. However, there is the possibility of a small Q Conspiracy Caucus forming in Congress, no matter what happens to Trump. Promising Coronavirus Vaccine Study It’s far from a sure thing, but scientists in the US and Germany yesterday reported encouraging results in a small coronavirus vaccine trial. Forty-five people received a series of doses of the experimental vaccine. After the second dose, scientists noted a boost to antibodies in subjects’ blood, meaning their immune systems were better prepared to fight off the virus. The results were encouraging, according to the Washington Post. Scientists who weren’t involved in the study said the told that Post that the vaccine deserves a larger clinical trial. And it may get one at the end of this month, pending regulatory approval. The vaccine study has not been peer reviewed. However, the data was published online, which outside scientists commended as a mark of transparency. A German company called Biontech sponsored the study, and the Big Pharma giant Pfizer managed the trial. There were a few caveats. First, the test subjects were mostly young and not in the top COVID-19 risk groups. Second, most people who got moderate doses of the experimental vaccine developed fevers, chills and other unpleasant symptoms. But those symptoms only lasted a day, and most people would consider some temporary discomfort a small price to pay for a drug that could bring an end to this pandemic. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The US government will be thirty percent owner of one of the largest trucking firms with a union contract, under a bailout deal announced yesterday by the Treasury Department. The company, YRC Worldwide, is valued at $70 million, but the Treasury loan is valued at $700 million. Two years ago the Justice Department accused the company of defrauding the government by falsifying records in a Defense Department contract. Seems legit! Food delivery drivers were on strike in Brazil yesterday. Online videos showed masses of cyclist gig workers filling the streets in Sao Paolo, and one left-wing journalist declared it could be a historic strike for the international labour movement. Delivery drivers in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala also reportedly participated. Russians yesterday voted in favor of constitutional changes that will allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power through 2036. The parliament already approved the changes favoring Putin, although he wanted the referendum to heighten the appearance of legitimacy. Congratulations! Police in Southern Italy claimed a world record shipment of amphetamines, allegedly sourced from ISIS militants in Syria and destined for the mafia organization known as the Camorra. The drugs were allegedly hidden in large paper and metal cylinders. Police found fourteen tons of Captagon tablets in the shipment, valued at $1 billion. You know... give or take... That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 17, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: World health officials warn that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, as much as we’d like it to be. In the US, states on both coasts once again broke records for new cases. Meanwhile, what purports to be secret, heavily edited recordings of Joe Biden have emerged in Ukraine. Whether real or not, they’re already making the rounds on Trump-friendly propaganda networks in the United States. And lastly, journalists working for newspapers and broadcast stations across the country are treating old reliable police sources with long-overdue skepticism. Apparently the brilliant police strategy of shooting reporters in the face at protests has backfired. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Dire Warnings Over Coronavirus Six months on, the World Health Organization warns that the coronavirus pandemic is actually speeding up – particularly in countries like the United States that flubbed the response. The consequences go beyond public health. Between the pandemic itself, the related economic crisis, and school closures affecting one-billion-and-a-half billion children, the United Nations warns that the most vulnerable people are being forced into some of the world’s most dangerous and exploitative jobs. At least six states in the US again set records for new COVID-19 cases in a single day: Alabama, Florida, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina and Oklahoma. Cailfornia reported eight thousand new cases – breaking its daily record for the third time in eight days. In Washington, DC, Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, told a Senate committee that the US could soon see a hundred-thousand new cases every day, up from forty-thousand currently. In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas received a threat of lynching after announcing a mandatory mask order. And just over the border in Mexico, the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in a refugee camp with two thousand people. Finally, the Guardian reported that the Trump administration bought up the entire global supply of the first drug it approved to treat coronavirus, remdesivir, for the next three months. The drug is under patent by Gilead pharmaceuticals, and the going rate is thirty-two hundred dollars for a six-dose course of treatment. But other countries may override the US patent if they deem it necessary to ensure public health. Biden Ukraine Tapes Emerge According to White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, speaking yesterday from the press room podium, Donald Trump is QUOTE the most informed person on planet Earth ENDQUOTE. If that’s true, maybe he could shed some light on some curious stories out of Ukraine. For about a week, the Washington Post reports, Ukrainian media have been reporting on heavily edited audio recordings of Joe Biden’s telephone conversations with former president Petro Poroshenko. From there, the recordings have made their way to the Trumpist propaganda outlet One America News. The Post says their authenticity cannot be verified. Poroshenko says the recordings are fake. The Biden campaign calls OAN a conduit for Kremlin disinformation and says the recordings show routine international diplomacy. Among other things, the tapes reveal Biden threatening to withhold a one billion-dollar loan guarantee from the US unless Poroshenko fires a certain prosecutor. Trump’s campaign claims this shows Biden bullying the Ukrainian leader to protect the business dealings of his family, as Biden’s son Hunter held a board seat on the energy company Burisma. The Post says there is no evidence to support that, and Poroshenko denies his involvement in international corruption. The scandal is useful for Republicans because their claims against Biden in many ways mirror the Democrats’ case against Trump during his impeachment trial. In the meantime, the current government of Ukraine wants to outlawing the publication of secret recordings of public officials. Well, that’s one way to fix the problem. Also yesterday: Forbes reported that Biden has more billionaire donors than Trump: that’s one-hundred and six for Biden, and ninety-three for Trump. Congratulations to all the big winners! Journalists Rethink Police Sources American journalists have for many decades relied on law enforcement sources, often anonymous, to supply the most basic information in local news reporting. But rising awareness of police misconduct, caught on camera, combined with police assaults on working reporters, might finally put an end to that practice. According to the Washington Post, newsrooms around the country are rethinking their over-reliance on police sources. Too often, video evidence has emerged showing a completely different series of events than police depicted in their internal reports, and in their public statements. As the Post noted, Minneapolis police failed to mention that an officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. They said Breonna Taylor in Atlanta suffered no injuries though they shot her eight times. In Buffalo, police said Martin Gugino, who they shoved to the ground so hard his skull split open, QUOTE tripped and fell ENDQUOTE. And so on. As one journalist told the Post, police statements are equivalent to rumors and should be handled as such in news stories. Because this awareness is growing, many newsrooms are shifting resources from old-fashioned if-it-bleeds-it-leads crime stories from the cops to more comprehensive coverage that takes systemic biases into account. And there is pressure from the public to go farther, and stop reporting routine crime stories entirely. A coalition of forty community groups in Philadelphia is asking their daily newspaper, The Inquirer, to stop running stories that rely on the police as the sole source of information. They are also asking for an appeals system so that people named in crime stories can have articles removed. That step will prove less popular in newsrooms, but expect to see more such efforts nationwide. Separately, in Portland, Oregon, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit against the city on behalf of journalists and legal observers targeted by police in recent protests. The ACLU says the targeting of observers spreads fear among those who might otherwise bear witness to police abuse. Which is, of course, the point. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: White centrist candidate Amy McGrath claimed victory yesterday in Kentucky’s Democratic party primary for US Senate. McGrath raised nearly $41 million according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. Her Black progressive challenger Charles Booker raised not quite $800,000, but still came close to winning. Maybe next time. At least thirty-six members of the House of Representatives have signed on to a resolution that could lead to the impeachment of Attorney General Bill Barr. The resolution, introduced yesterday by Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee, calls for an formal inquiry into Barr and cites multiple cases where the AG abused his office to benefit Donald Trump. Cohen says Barr undermined our judicial system and perverted the rule of law. Among other things, yes. A young woman in Oklahoma was shot four times after removing a Nazi flag from a man’s house in the town of Hunter north of Oklahoma City. The homeowner, Alexander John Feaster, forty-four, was arrested and charged with shooting with the intent to kill. The woman who tore down his swastika flag, age twenty-six, is reportedly expected to recover. A New York State Supreme Court judge ordered a temporary halt to the publication of a new book by Donald Trump’s only niece, Mary Trump, detailing abusive behavior in the family. Judge Hal Greenwald reportedly plans to hold a hearing on July 10 to determine whether the book violates a confidentiality agreement signed during a dispute over the estate of Donald’s father Fred Trump. A lawyer for the author called the order prior restraint on core political speech that flatly violates the First Amendment. Where are the free speech warriors at? That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. July 1, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The Russian government allegedly placed bounties on American troops in Afghanistan, hoping to provoke the Taliban and other extremist fighters to further enflame the endless conflict there. New reports show that Trump was briefed months ago about this, and did, well, nothing. Remind me why we’re even in Afghanistan anymore? Meanwhile, the Supreme Court struck down a Lousiana law that could have decimated the state’s remaining abortion clinics, thanks to Chief Justice John Robert’s switch to side with the liberals. He’s still a conservative, so don’t take this as any more than a lucky break. And lastly, the Kentucky Senate primary between progressive Charlie Booker and establishment darling Amy McGrath in Kentucky is still too close to call, but should be resolved later today when the last of the state’s absentee ballots are counted up. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Russian Bounty Boogaloo A new story involving the Russians and America’s neverending war in Afghanistan is sweeping through the media. Here are the broad strokes: multiple outlets have now reported that starting as early as 2019, the Russian military was offering bounties to the Taliban and other extremist groups in Afghanistan for successfully killing U.S. troops. The U.S., of course, has been half-heartedly trying to negotiate and uphold a peace deal with the Taliban, but it makes sense that Russia would want to throw a wrench in that process by any means necessary. But the scandal now has become when, exactly, the Trump administration was aware of the fact that a foreign power was putting out hits on its troops. The Trump administration has stressed that the president wasn’t briefed on the issue, but several reports say that’s B.S. The Associated Press reports that quote “top officials” in the White House were aware of the intelligence report way back in 2019. The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that our spies gave Trump himself a written briefing on the matter in February. Russia, of course, denies putting out the bounties. Sure. If Trump knew about it month or even a year ago, many Republicans and Democrats in Congress are understandably pissed off that he didn’t do anything or respond in any way. The problem is there’s no real winner here: if Trump knew about it and did nothing, that sucks, but at the same time, Trump’s response to Russia’s action could have been disastrous. He can’t exactly be trusted to put out a logical, measured response, let alone a decent one, like, say, just getting all of our troops out of Afghanistan in the first place. Warhawks will want to weaponize this story to goad the U.S. to further conflict with Russia, or Afghanistan, or whoever else gets in the way, which we should have learned by now is a bad idea. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a mess, but it’s almost certainly going to dominate headlines for the next few days, so keep an eye out for updates. John Roberts Temporarily Rescues Abortion Rights The Supreme Court delivered its second shock ruling in as many weeks on Monday, as Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Court’s four liberal justices to strike down an abortion law in Louisiana. If upheld, the law could have reduced the state to a single solitary abortion clinic, and obvious massive barrier to a woman’s right to choose in the state. Roberts’ decision to side with the liberals enraged conservatives: Ted Cruz, for instance, ranted about Roberts’ quote “political gamesmanship,” endquote. But before we get too hopeful, it’s useful to look at why Roberts made the decision he did. Sure, he sided with the liberals on this one case, but not really for altruistic reasons. The law in question was almost identical to a Texas law the Supreme Court rejected in 2016. Roberts only voted against the Louisiana law because of stare decisis -- the theory that courts should be bound by their past decisions. But what he also did was point the way that conservatives could write a more legally sound law that would get through the court, and crush abortion rights that way. This is similar to Robert’s ruling on the DACA program, which he upheld last week. He sided with the liberals, but only because the conservative case was so legally sloppy he didn’t want to rubber stamp it. In other words, Roberts is just telling the conservatives who want to do more fascism toward immigrants and women that they need to do their homework and get back to him. For now, abortion clinics in Louisiana are safe, relatively speaking. But if the courts stay in Roberts’ hands, it’s only a matter of time before the conservatives come for them again. Kentucky Primary Too Close to Call Elections aren’t one-night affairs anymore, and Kentucky’s Democratic Senate Primary has lasted a whole week. The race, between progressive Charles Booker and the former fighter-pilot, Democratic establishment darling Amy McGrath, is way, way closer than anyone thought it would be. A few months ago, it looked like McGrath had the whole thing locked up, with a massive campaign warchest and the endorsement of pretty much everyone who’s anyone in the Democratic old guard. But with just weeks to go before the election, Booker started surging, as people realized there wasn’t much to Amy besides a fat wallet of DNC cash. Booker, meanwhile, stepped up during the nationwide protests against police brutality and continued to push his progressive, medicare-for-all and universal basic income platform. Now, the two are neck and neck. As of early Tuesday morning, McGrath is up by under 3,000 votes, and there’s still a ton of absentee ballots to count. Booker has been crushing it in in-person voting, but the worry is that some of the mail-in ballots were cast before he got his big surge in momentum. Most of the absentees that are still out are from Fayette and Jefferson Counties, the state’s most populous areas. The county election boards are expected to convene early Tuesday morning to tally up final results, which should be announced sometime in the late morning today, but could very well get pushed to the afternoon. You know how these things go. I’m sure we’ll be discussing it on the full show this afternoon. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: China passed a sweeping, controversial new law that gave the mainland government a massive amount of power to crack down on dissent in Hong Kong, a move which is almost certain to enflame the massive protest movement there. This would be a huge change for Hong Kong, which until now has largely existed with civil liberties the heavily repressive Chinese government denies the rest of its people. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city council appear to have agreed on a budget that sort-of-not-really cuts $1 billion from the NYPD’s budget. Activists warn though that the bill is mostly a load of B.S. aimed at shuffling money around, and not actually defunding the department. Elsewhere in out-of-control police, Aurora, Colorado’s local CBS outlet reports that at least three Aurora Police officers are under investigation for taking inappropriate, disrespectful photos after violently breaking up a peaceful vigil for Elijay McClain, a young man who was killed by the same department last year. Officers reportedly re-enacted the chokehold that killed him. And lastly, big pharma continues to take lives for money, as Gilead Sciences announced an absurd price of around $520 per dose of a new coronavirus treatment drug. Advocates claim the drug could be produced for as little as $1 a dose, but you can’t tell that to the capitalists in charge of healthcare in this country. June 30, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump retweeted, then deleted, a video of a clash between elderly protesters and senior citizen Trump fans at a retirement community, in which one of the Trump supporters clearly and loudly chants white power. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter protesters weathered a weekend of violent attacks, as a man shot into a crowd of demonstrators in Louisville, Kentucky, and a driver plowed through protesters outside of Tampa, Florida. And lastly, tensions are boiling over at coronavirus testing sites in hard hit states like Arizona, Florida, and Texas, as panicked crowds jostle through long lines to get a test. Meanwhile, VP Pence is still pushing the lie that increased case numbers are just a result of increased testing, not an explosion in the virus. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Trump Tweets White Power Clip Look, by this point we all know Donald Trump is a white nationalist. The evidence is overwhelming at this point. But in case it’s not, let’s present the latest data point! This weekend, Trump retweeted a clash between geriatric protesters and elderly residents of The Villages, a 98 percent white enclave of Florida where 56 percent of the population is over the age of 65. Just so you know what we’re dealing with here. In the video, a procession of tricked-out golf karts covered in Trump signs and flags rolls past several counter-protesters. The key moment of the video is when a protester yells “where’s your white hood” at a Trump kart, and the man inside shakes his fist and yells “white power, white power!” Trump retweeted the video and added quote “Thank you to the great people of the Villages!” endquote. Just so you know where he stands! The administration’s response to this scandal has been about as dumb as it gets, of course. Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said the President quote "did not hear the one statement made on the video,” endquote. That’s almost believable except for the fact that the white power part is literally 8 seconds in. We know Trump has a short attention span but come on. And even if he didn’t hear it, the White House didn’t even bother to say “yeah, our bad,” or decry the statement itself. They’re pretty much cool with that! What this ends up as is another explicit endorsement of white nationalism for Trump’s white nationalist supporters to run with, and another idiotic, not-so-plausible deniability excuse for the press office’s talking heads to run with. Where are we at the end of it? With a white nationalist in the White House, still Protesters Weather Attacks Protesters demonstrating against police brutality weathered a striking weekend of violence, as various elements of the country’s racist core started to rear their heads against them. In Louisville, a gunman opened fire on a peaceful protest, killing a photographer and injuring one other. In a strange turn, the gunman, Steven Lopez, had also previously participated in protests, and the shooting appears to have been over a dispute he had with another participant. Bystanders shot back at him, wounding him in the leg, and he was arrested at the hospital later that evening. In Tampa, meanwhile, a driver plowed through protesters in Hyde Park, carrying one who landed on his hood for several feet. When he eventually stopped, police arrested the protester and not the driver, setting up an extended, tense protest at the nearby jail. Things defused when it turned out that the protester had been taken to the hospital, not the jail. That wasn’t the only vehicle incident this weekend: a video that surfaced on social media late Sunday night appears to show a Detroit Police Department vehicle driving aggressively through protesters, bowling them over in the street, reportedly causing a handful of injuries. In New York City meanwhile, the NYPD resumed their violence against protesters, pepper spraying and charging a crowd of protesters in Washington Square Park who were protesting and celebrating Pride weekend. Nice of them to commemorate Stonewall with more police brutality! And in perhaps the strangest example of violent posturing, two homeowners in the St. Louis area showed up on the front driveway of their megamansion to brandish guns at protesters walking by, repeatedly pointing the weapons at protesters in the street and yelling at the crowd. Luckily, they didn’t squeeze any rounds off, but judging by the instantly historic photos of the event, it was a pretty near miss. Coronavirus Overwhelms Testing Centers Last up for tonight: the coronavirus outbreak. The New York Times reports that testing sites in several states are being overwhelmed by a large number of scared patients, as the worldwide death toll tops 500,000. In Texas, Florida and Arizona, the Times reports that some patients have been turned away from testing sites that simply can’t keep up with the demand. Those who make it in have to deal with pushing, yelling, and massive overcrowding, which certainly isn’t going to make things any better. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t get tested: if you think you’ve been exposed to the disease, testing is the way to protect everyone around you. But check in with local networks to see what the wait times are like. Nationwide, Coronavirus cases have gone up 65 percent in the past two weeks. The virus is surging all over the country, and it may be even worse than our data suggests. The CDC released a report last week that warned that infections could be ten times worse than we think in many regions. Keep in mind that the Administration’s big lie on this is that the increase in cases is only due to an increase in testing -- that there isn’t actually a massive surge, it’s just that we’re testing more. This would only make sense if the rate of positive tests was holding steady, but guess what, it’s not: in Texas, for instance, the rate of positive tests has gone up from 4 percent to 13 percent in the past month. By now, you all know the drill: wear a mask. Stay at home if you can, and keep your distance from others if you can’t. And if it’s at all possible, get the test. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The number of forest fires in Russia’s vast Siberian region has increased fivefold, according to Russia’s aerial forest fire management authority. It’s almost certainly a sure sign of climate change, considering much of the region has faced record-hot temperatures that have neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit. A quick check in with the Senate shows that Mitch McConnell is still hammering the judiciary with more and more conservative judges, getting his 200th confirmed by the Republican-held Senate last week. That’s a pretty grim reminder that even if we get Trump out in November and or take back the Senate, there’s just so much work left to do to pull the country left. CNN’s Van Jones fully sold out to the Trump administration, according to an explosive report by the Daily Beast. The CNN political commenter allegedly chatted with Jared Kushner about the administration’s new, lackluster police reform order, and then went right on CNN and praised it, without disclosing that he helped set it in motion. The NAACP, meanwhile, said Trump’s order showed that he had quote “no intention of advancing these critical reforms.” Endquote. Apparently Van disagrees. John Hickenlooper, now running for Senate in Colorado after a limp attempt at the Presidency, is facing calls from Indigenous activists to drop out of the primary, after photos surfaced of him wearing a native headdress at a racist event called the One Shot Antelope Hunt. He faces a more progressive opponent Andrew Romanoff in Colorado’s election on Tuesday. That’s all for the majority report’s AM quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam later this afternoon. June 29, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Middle-aged white cops in North Carolina got caught on tape fantasizing about killing black people en masse. But Donald Trump says Black Lives Matter is the real problem. Meanwhile, the Supreme Courts strip refugees of their lawful human right to a judicial hearing. Dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggests her liberal colleagues succumbed to political pressure. And lastly, former Vice President Joe Biden continues to gain in key polls against Donald Trump. The signs are encouraging, but overconfidence has plagued the Democrats before. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Racist Cops Praise Murder Trump yesterday on Twitter accused Black Lives Matter protesters of treason, sedition, and insurrection. Back in the real world, a second New York City cop was arrested and charged with violating a new state law banning the police from using chokeholds. In Wilmington, North Carolina, three cops were fired after accidentally recording themselves during an extended racist tirade. One, Officer Michael “Kevin” Piner, predicted BLM protests would lead to civil war, adding QUOTE we are just going to go out and start slaughtering them F-word N-words... Wipe 'em off the Eff-ing map. That’ll put 'em back about four or five generations ENDQUOTE. Another, Corporal Jesse Moore the Second, said a black woman recently arrested should instead have been shot. Moore said QUOTE She needed a bullet in the head right then and move on. Let’s move the body out of the way and keep going ENDQUOTE. Is that what they call cop humor? A new study by the McClatchy news service links excessive force cases to police departments that received military surplus weapons. The analysis found that between 1990 and 1999, the Defense Department transferred more than thirteen thousand weapons to US police departments. In the past decade, it sent many times more wepons to police – nearly two-hundred and two thousand guns and gun accessories, such as assault rifles with night vision sights. What’s more, McClatchy found that seven of the top 15 police departments with the highest number of police officer-involved fatalities — when adjusted for population — also received a higher share of the Defense Department’s excess guns. Those departments were in Orlando, Florida; Bakersfield, California; Spokane, Washington; Aurora, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico.; and Tucson, Arizona. In 1990, the military transfered four- hundred and forty thousand dollars worth of guns to police departments. Last year, it shipped two-hundred and ninety millio dollars’ worth of hardware to the cops. And now those same cops are turning those weapons of war against peaceful members of the public. So who is really out there promoting insurrection? BLM or the DOD? SCOTUS Sells Out Refugees The US Supreme Court wants you to know that in spite of upholding the Obama-era program that protected the children of migrants from deportation last week, it is not in the business of doing good. Yesterday the court ruled that asylum seekers who get turn downed by federal immigration agents do not have the right to take their case to a judge. This ruling gives Trump what he wants: the power to turn away migrants to the US for any reason, without judicial review, and deport people more quickly – or at whatever pace he feels like. The ruling was seven to two in Trump’s favor, with only Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissenting. The liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer sided with the rightwing majority on the court. In her dissent, Sotomayor said QUOTE Today’s decision handcuffs the judiciary’s ability to perform its constitutional duty to safeguard individual liberty and dismantles a critical component of the separation of powers ENDQUOTE. She also alluded to political concerns and other, as she put it, burdens on the judiciary that influenced the outcome. The plaintiff in the case that led to the court’s decision was a Sri Lankan farmer who described being beaten by strangers before fleeing his country. He was arrested in California in 2017 only yards away from the Mexican border. Immigration agents said he failed to establish that he was persecuted. Justices Breyer and Ginsburg agreed, arguing, per The New York Times, that the farmer’s stories of being beaten were too vague to be considered credible. One wonders how they might have fared in his shoes. Biden's Lead Still Growing Polls show that Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in key swing states continues to grow. A New York Times poll with nearly thirty-nine hundred respondents showed Biden up by eleven percentage points over Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin; ten percentage points in Pennsylvania, nine in North Carolina; seven in Arizona; and six in Florida. Those are all states that Trump won by some margin in 2016. The results indicate that if the election were held today, and Biden held all the states Hillary Clinton won in 2016, Biden would sweep with at least three-hundred and thirty three electoral college votes. Trump is fully aware that his reelection effort is not going well and has been lashing out at the fake news, fake polls, and et cetera. He was in Wisconsin yesterday to visit a private shipyard with US Navy contracts. Fox News host Sean Hannity joined Trump on Air Force One. They also recorded a town hall event in Green Bay that was broadcast last night. Biden is making the most of Trump’s malaise. The presumptive Democratic nominee compared Trump to a whining, self-pitying child, and said QUOTE this pandemic didn’t happen to him. It happened to all of us. And his job isn’t to whine about it, his job is to do something about it ENDQUOTE. Trump did do something, though. Remember? He told people to try injecting themselves with disinfectant chemicals, or maybe sunlight. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The head of the US Centers for Disease Control, Robert Redfield, told reporters yesterday that the actual number of coronavirus cases in the country is likely ten times higher than officially reported – so, twenty-three million instead of two-point-three million. Texas halted its reopening because the virus is so out of control. In Houston’s Texas Medical Center, the intensive care unit is entirely full – they have no beds – but the hospital CEO says that’s no cause for alarm. Whatever you say, pal. A former Republican elected official in Mesa, Arizona, Paul D. Peterson, pleaded guilty on charges of conspiracy to smuggle humans. Peterson ran a scheme that paid pregnant woman in the Marshall Islands up to ten thousand dollars to travel to the US and give up their babies for adoption. He was reportedly arrested last October and resigned from his job as Maricopa County’s tax assessor in January. A wild story about worker abuse in the Washington Post: Workers at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, were fired for following instructions. When Elon Musk kept the factory open in spite of a county lockdown order, workers were told that if they felt uncomfortable returuning to work, they should stay home. But multiple workers who did just that were fired. That’s Elon for you. Whattaguy! Also yesterday, for the fourteenth week in a row, the latest Labor Department figures show that new unemployment claims exceeded one million. Pakistan International Airlines grounded one-hundred and fifty pilots for having bogus aviation credentials. The action resulted from an official investigation following a PIA crash last month that killed ninety-seven people. Pakistan’s aviation minister said that more than one in three pilots had either cheated on their exams or had a fake license to fly. So hopefully at least one person in the cockpit actually knows what they’re doing, at any given time. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 26, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Coronavirus surges around the United States as the country reaps the consequences of Donald Trump’s policy of denial. Republicans at all levels seem determined to expose the public to unnecessary harm. Meanwhile, Trump’s steamrolling of the judiciary continues with a party-line vote favoring Republicans in the US Senate. But the House hears testimony that could spell bad news for Attorney General Bill Barr. And lastly, state attorney generals push back on the power of big money. In California, Uber and Lyft may be forced to treat their so-called independent contractors like full employees. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Coronavirus Denialism Kills Thousands Trump may be in physical and mental decline, but he still has great power over matters of life and death for the entire planet. Yesterday a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told NBC News that Trump plans to end federal funding for coronavirus testing around the country. As many have attested, it’s not easy in many cities to get tested, which is a problem, because testing is most effective in a limited window of time after exposure to the virus. This week there were no appointments available at any of the forty testing sites in Los Angeles, per the LA Times. And some sites were closed. Trump’s policy of denialism guarantees that the pandemic will get worse and worse. Let’s be clear: he owns this. As he recounted to all of six thousand people who showed up to his hate rally in Tulsa, QUOTE I said to my people, slow the testing down, please ENDQUOTE. May he choke on a swab. Record case numbers were reported in at least five states. Nationwide, yesterday saw a record one-day surge in new COVID-19 cases. Texas is enduring what Republican Governor Greg Abbott called a massive outbreak, and Houston’s director of emergency medical services told reporters their infrastructure was overwhelmed. The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced a mandatory quarantine for visitors from nine other states where coronavirus was spreading out of control. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, over the last two weeks, cases have risen by eight-four percent in states that don't require masks. But in states with mask orders, cases actualy fell by twenty-five percent. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee yesterday announced a statewide mask order. It was immediately undermined by a rightwing county sheriff who went on TV news and told people not to act like sheep. That pretty much sums up where we’re at with the pandemic. Who, ladies and gentlemen, is the real sheeple? Someone who acts with care and concern for their neighbors, or someone who denies all reality because their precious leader told them to? 200 Judges For Trump Assistant US Attorney Aaron Zelinsky testified to the House Judiciary Committee yesterday and, as expected, said he’d been pressured to give Roger Stone a break because Stone is friends with Trump. Zelinsky, who remains a federal prosecutor in Maryland, made Attorney General Bill Barr look even more corrupt than was previously evident. But until Barr can be impeached or otherwise removed, Trump continues to rack up wins within the judicial branch. Yesterday the Senate confirmed Trump’s two hundredth judicial nominee. Cory Wilson of Mississippi has joined the Fifth Circuit Court of appeals for life. These federal judgeships are lifetime appointments. On a largely party-line vote of 52 to 48, the Republican-led chamber approved the nomination of Cory Wilson of Mississippi to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. This new judge is another career Republican hack who called President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care act both illegitimate and perverse. Also yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, overruled Judge Emmet Sullivan in the case against Trump adviser Michael Flynn. Sullivan had decided the case against Flynn must continue despite Bill Barr’s decision to drop it, but the appeals court said Sullivan did not have that power, as a judge. So it’s too soon to celebrate Barr’s evisceration in the House. Uber, Lyft Mistreated Workers There were a few victories in the struggle against greedy corporations yesterday. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (HAV-EE-AIR BAY-SERRA) filed for a judicial injuction against Uber and Lyft to immediately halt the unlawful misclassification of their drivers as independent contractors. Per a press release, the California AG was joined in the motion against the companies by the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. Their lawsuit says the gig economy giants are depriving workers of QUOTE critical workplace protections such as the right to minimum wage and overtime, and access to paid sick leave, disability insurance, and unemployment insurance. Misclassification often results in workers being significantly more likely to draw on government-funded income supports to make ends meet, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill in lieu of big business ENDQUOTE. In Minnesota, AG Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, three companies owned by the Koch family, and an oil industry trade group for lying to the public and the government about climate change. And Germany’s Bayer corporation, which owns Monsanto, agreed to a $10.9 billion settlement over the cancer-causing chemicals in Roundup, the widely available weedkiller. That was owing to a class action lawsuit filed against the companies in California. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Prosecutors in The Hague indicted the president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi (HASH-EEM THAT-CHI), on war crimes yesterday for his role in a campaign of murder and torture. Nearly one hundred victims were claimed in the indictment that named nine other commanders in the Kosovo Liberation Army. Thaci cancelled his imminent visit to the White House, which he was traveling to when the news was announced. A grand jury in the state of Georgia indicted three white men for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who they chased and shot down for jogging while black. In Oregon, the self- proclaimed foot soldier for Hitler Jeremy Christian was sentenced to two life terms without parole. Christian killed two men and injured a third who rose to defend two black women he was harrassing on a train. The survivor of Christian’s attack, Micah Fletcher, said he hoped Christian would spend the rest of his life in jail, but still hopefully benefit from therapy. A Bank of America analyst named Kamal Sharma called the British Pound QUOTE an emerging market currency in all but name ENDQUOTE. This is the bank’s way of saying rightwing austerity policies combined with pandemic denialism and the rejection of international agreements has put the former imperial power in the same place as one of its former colonies. Blimey! A great plume of dust from the Sahara Desert is blanketing the globe and causing severe air quality problems in the Carribean. The dust plume, kicked up by powerful storms over central and western Africa, should hit the US today -- beginning with Texas. Another good reason to mask up! That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 25, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Tuesday was election day in both Kentucky and New York, where voters mostly embraced vote-by-mail, with some hiccups. We’ll take you through the big primary races at stake. The European Union is considering banning travelers from the United States, claiming that our government’s abject failure to control the coronavirus presents a direct risk to its own member states. And lastly, guess what? More corruption! A federal prosecutor is expected to tell the House today that the highest levels of Trump’s Justice Department pressured lawyers to cut Roger Stone a break during the notorious con-man’s trial, mostly because he was buddies with the President. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Bowman Blasts Off New York may have pulled off the second major progressive upset of an incumbent Democrat in as many election cycles. In the state’s 16th House District primary, Jamaal Bowman seems almost certain to beat incumbent Eliot Engel, an entrenched centrist who serves as head of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Engel had been completely checked out of the race until it was too late, at one point getting caught on a hot mic saying that he wouldn’t even be there if he didn’t face a primary challenger. But oh boy, did he get a challenger. Bowman is a middle school principal backed by Justice Democrats who racked in the support of AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and a whole host of other progressive figures. Meanwhile, the entire establishment rallied to try to save Engel’s seat, including Hillary Clinton. As of Wednesday morning, it’s not looking so good for the incumbent, who was elected in 1988. Bowman is currently up by around 25 points, a huge lead despite the fact that there are still a ton of votes to count thanks to vote-by-mail. Bowman took a victory lap anyway on Tuesday night, saying quote: Bowman, speaking earlier tonight at a not-quite-victory-yet party: "Eliot Engel -- I'll say his name once -- used to say that he was a thorn in the side of Donald Trump. But you know what Donald Trump is more afraid of than anything else? A black man with power.” We won’t know the real outcome for a few days most likely, but right now Bowman’s in a very, very good spot. Let’s talk about some of the other races while we’re at it. AOC crushed her primary, beating her weak challenger with over 70 percent of the vote. She’s sure to get another term, but it was always hard to see her losing that seat anytime soon. In New York’s 15th district, openly-gay city councilman Ritchie Torres has a double-digit lead over his nearest competition in a wide-open primary. In Kentucky’s primaries we’ve got an interesting race. Progressive Charlie Booker is down by 8 points or so to the centrist wing of the party’s handpicked candidate Amy McGrath. The winner there will challenge Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat -- definitely a tall order, but a race the Democrats really want to hit hard in November. Again, still a lot of votes left to count. E.U. Doesn't Want U.S. The European Union is poised to give Trump a taste of his own closed-border medicine, as it considers whether or not to ban Americans from traveling to its member states due to the government’s complete failure to control the coronavirus pandemic. The New York Times viewed a couple of early draft lists of who will or won’t be able to go to the EU as international travel starts back up over the next few months, and right now, Americans are on the chopping block. That would put us on the same level as Russia and Brazil, two other countries ruled by open fascists who have decided to let the disease run rampant through their people. Some of this could be petty payback by the E.U. leadership in Brussles, which was reportedly furious when Trump banned most EU citizens from traveling to the U.S. in the early days of the pandemic. This would effectively be an extension on a travel ban that’s been in place since the middle of March. The EU is going to open back up to travel on July 1 to pretty much everywhere else, including China and many less-developed countries than the U.S. Right now, it’s not looking good that we’ll make it on the list: cases are surging across the country, throwing a massive wrench in reopening plans in Texas, California, Florida and Arizona. With that in mind, the E.U. is probably smart to keep Yankees away for the time being. DOJ Goes Corrupt for Stone Roger Stone is one of the most fascinatingly weird figures associated with the Trump administration, and seems to function as a magnet for the dumbest attempts at corruption possible. Today a federal prosecutor is expected to tell members of the House of Representatives that the non-partisan government officials prosecuting Stone were pressured by some of the senior-most Department of Justice officials to give Stone a break. In other words, Trump’s pet AG Bill Barr tried to get Trump’s buddy Stone a cushy deal, and it didn’t work. Aaron Zelinsky, an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland who previously served on former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team, and another DOJ employee are both expected to tell the House that Barr ordered them to do Trump’s bidding. This isn’t surprising in the slightest, but it is one of the most blatant instances of corruption the Trump administration has gotten up to lately, which is a pretty high bar to clear. According to a copy of Zelinsky’s prepared remarks obtained by the Washington Post, Barr and DOJ leaders wanted prosecutors to quote “to water down and in some cases outright distort events” endquote, in order to give Stone a break. Their reason, Zelinsky wrote, was that Stone had a relationship with the president. Cool! Honestly, there’s not much Trump has to lose by just throwing out a pardon to Stone. It’s not like he’s being subtle about things at this point, might as well go ahead and pull the trigger. What’s gonna happen, the House impeaches him again? We all saw how far that got in the Senate. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A new poll by the Associated Press shows that a vast majority of Americans favor a number of key police reforms, including body camera requirements and use of force guidelines. These measures don’t fully address the systemic problem of police violence, but it’s clear that the public is coming around to the fact that the status quo just doesn’t work anymore. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser ordered the dispersal of an autonomous zone occupied by protesters on Tuesday, sending in riot cops who deployed pepper spray. DC’s autonomous zone is one of several small areas of protester-occupied space in cities around the country modeled on Seattle’s original community near a police precinct. Minneapolis’ Police chief said in a statement that Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd was murder, noting that Chauvin had recently attended training in how to restrain suspects without preventing them from breathing. Sounds like maybe more training and reform aren’t what the police system needs, if the murders won’t stop. And finally, the White House Correspondents Dinner, a strange excuse for DC politicos to lick each other's boots that should have died long ago, will be canceled this year due to the coronavirus. Spare a thought for all the cable news types who won’t get to do mild dunks on the Trump administration this year. June 24, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump moved to suspend new work visas, barring hundreds of thousands of workers from getting jobs in the U.S. as skilled workers and seasonal laborers that drive massive parts of our economy. Meanwhile, multiple reports show that a U.S. army soldier plotted a terrorist attack on his own unit after joining a neo-Nazi satanist group. And lastly, less than two weeks after NASCAR banned any display of the Confederate Flag at their races, Bubba Wallace, the only black driver in the competition’s top tier, found a noose in his garage ahead of the Geico 500. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Trump Pulls Visas Donald Trump made another stupid, destructive immigration policy on Monday, moving to suspend broad categories of new work visas and extend restrictions on new green cards in order to further make our country into an isolationist state. This one has Stephen Miller written all over it, obviously: the ban blocks both skilled workers here on the H1-B visa as well as seasonal or temporary workers like students on work-study, hospitality workers, and many others. All told, it could keep around 525,000 people out of the country for at least the rest of the year. Miller has been pushing for a policy like this for years, using the familiar racist argument that anyone coming here to work from another country takes American jobs away. In reality, the move is only going to hurt American businesses, who often depend on the visa system to recruit talent from abroad. Trump is also reportedly planning changes to existing immigration laws that would further persecute people applying for asylum in the U.S., making it even harder for them to get a work permit after they’ve fled violence in their home country. It’s all pretty much more textbook closed-border fascism at work, and he’ll keep doing it as long as he’s in office. The bright side is that like most of Trump’s hasty immigration plans, most of these changes can be challenged in the courts, so expect to see more lawsuits soon. U.S. Soldier Helped Satanist Nazis Federal Prosecutors accused a U.S. army soldier on Monday of taking part in a criminal conspiracy to murder members of his own unit and other military personnel alongside a satanic white-supremacist group. That may sound like the devil’s version of mad-libs, but it’s all in the report. According to an indictment released Monday, Private Ethan Phelan Melzer gave confidential information to a group called the Order of the Nine Angles. O9A is a British occult Nazi group that’s popular with the U.S.-based white-supremacist milita Atomwaffen, which has also recruited current or former U.S. service members. Their deal, broadly, is worshiping Hitler, although their founder at one point converted to Islam and said nice things about Al Qaeda. The ideology may be a bit inconsistent, but their thirst for violence isn’t. Per the indictment, the O9A people said their plans were quote “literally organizing a jihadi attack” on U.S. troops. Melzer allegedly shared info relating to his own unit’s movement, location and security, hoping to help the Nazi satanists plot an ambush during the units upcoming deployment to Turkey. Unfortunately, one of the people he was chatting with was an FBI informant. Their plan wasn’t to attack the unit themselves, but instead pass the information to a Turkish terrorist group with the intention of dragging the U.S. into another bloody, costly and endless war. Fortunately for, well, everyone but the Nazi satanists, they were not successful. NASCAR Noose The top level of NASCAR racing, one of the most popular sports in the country, has precisely one black driver: Bubba Wallace. On Sunday, he found a noose in his garage, right before the Geico 500 race in Talladega, Florida. Wallace has resisted engaging with the more racist elements of NASCAR fandom for years. But after the killing of Ahmad Aubry, the New York Times reports that he felt compelled to push back, wearing Black Lives Matter shirts before races and pressuring his fellow drivers to speak up. Two weeks ago, NASCAR finally banned the Confederate flag from being flown at any of its events. This decision was met with appreciation from some fans, of course, but others, well. On Sunday, someone with access to his garage left a noose there. NASCAR has opened an investigation, and the garage reportedly had security cameras, but it’s still a grim sign for the sport as a whole. As Wallace said quote: “Today’s despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism.” Wallace finished the race in 14th, after making a strong push for the lead in the race’s second half. At the finish line, he left the car and walked toward the crowd, right fist raised AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said on Monday night that the city would move to reclaim the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, the autonomous section of the city that had become a police-free haven for protestors, but unfortunately was the site of two shootings over the weekend, one of them fatal. It’s unclear how this process will go, but considering the Seattle Police have been brutal with protesters so far, it probably won’t be pretty. The Nashville Tennessean fired an ad manager who somehow approved a full-page, extremely racist, utterly incoherent anti-Muslim ad in the paper’s Sunday print edition. A sales executive flagged the ad for review, but the manager let it in the paper anyway. If you’ve seen a picture of it, you’ll understand immediately why that was such a bad call, it’s completely unhinged. Saudi Arabia will severely limit the number of people it allows to participate in the Hajj, the traditional journey to Mecca that is one of the five pillars of Islam. Almost 2 million people traveled to the Kingdom last year to participate, this year the government says only “very limited numbers” will be allowed in due to the coronavirus pandemic. An off duty LAPD officer claimed he found a tampon in his Starbucks Frapuccino, joining the proud tradition of cops screaming bloody murder about their food being sabotaged. They’re usually just lying, of course, like the viral story of the NYPD officers who thought they’d received poisoned milkshakes. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned with the full show with a still mustache-free Sam this afternoon. June 23, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump threw a rally in Tulsa on Saturday evening, and it was a total dud. Coronavirus concerns and some shrewd maneuvers by teens on social media combined to make the administration think it was getting a record crowd, when only a few thousand showed up. Meanwhile, Trump made it official and fired Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who’s prosecuted several cases against his inner circle. And lastly, even the White House admits that the fall could bring a very dire spike in COVID-19 infections. Cases are on the rise in 18 states already, and the projections for coming months don’t look good. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Teens Help Sink Trump Rally Donald Trump tried his very hardest to get another hit of that old rally feeling this weekend, but fell massively short. The massive crowd the Trump team was predicting in Tulsa on Saturday didn’t really show up. Before the rally, Trump’s campaign boasted that it would completely fill Tulsa’s BOK Center, which seats more than 19,000 people. On the day of, only 6,200 showed up, according to Tulsa’s Fire Marshal. Part of this huge gap might have to do with a massive social media prank pulled by teenagers on Tiktok and Korean pop music fans, who directed followers to sign up en masse for spots at the rally to make the campaign think they were pulling huge numbers. Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale appears to have bought it hook line and sinker, claiming last monday that they’d gotten more than one million requests for a ticket. Those fake registrations wouldn’t have necessarily taken spots from Trump fans, as the rally was free and you could just walk in -- no mask required!. Still, they certainly delivered an ego-blow to the Trump baby-brigade, who spent most of the weekend blaming protesters and trolls for keeping attendance low. Sure, it’s a far cry from an electoral victory, but anything that makes that moron-in-chief feel shame is probably a net win. Trump Fires Berman Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is out. Why is he out, you may ask? Well, Berman had the inconvenient habit of investigating and prosecuting several members of Trump’s inner circle, including former legal fixer Micheal Cohen. Trump has been gunning for Berman for a while, and late on Friday night, his pet Attorney General Bill Barr tried to get Berman to step down. Berman refused, forcing Barr into an awkward position -- he’s not used to direct defiance. Barr was trying to replace Berman with a transparent Trump crony, SEC chairman Jay Clayton, last seen golfing with the president in New Jersey last weekend. Berman wasn’t having any of it. So Barr had to go above his head, instead saying that Trump was firing Berman instead of just replacing him. Berman agreed to go this time, because instead of Clayton, his longtime deputy Audrey Strauss would be taking over. Strauss is ostensibly an actual public servant, like Berman, so it’s highly possible that Barr will be coming for her next, but for the time being she’s promised to continue Berman’s investigations. The New York Times reports that Barr wasn’t able to strongarm Clayton into the spot because multiple Republican Senators indicated that the corruption apparent was too obvious even for them, and they wouldn’t confirm him. Man, if what you’re trying to pull is too sketchy for Lindsey Graham, you’re really doing something wrong. Government Braces For Fall Covid Spike The coronavirus is still spreading and in some cases increasing drastically. California reported 4,515 new cases on Sunday -- the highest increase in a single day in that state. 12 other states also hit their record for new cases in the past week. What this means is that this thing is going to hit the rest of the country hard, despite the fact that it’s a bit more under control in hot zones like NYC. But the parts of the country who reopened way before their peak show no signs of attempting to put new restrictions in place, meaning things are going to get much worse. While Trump is convinced the whole thing is going to go away, Peter Navarro, the White House director of trade and manufacturing policy said on CNN that the government is quote “doing everything we can,” endquote to get the country ready for another spike in the fall. It’s hard to take a quote like that at face value considering the administration’s abysmal record so far, but at least someone in the building is willing to admit there’s still work to do. The good news is overall deaths are still down. But new infections have risen 15 percent nationally over the last two weeks, which means the toll could start to climb back up as patients get sicker. Epidemiologists now aren’t saying the disease will come in waves, but continue to spread like a quote “forest fire” endquote. Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm told NBC quote: “I don’t think this is going to slow down. I think that wherever there’s wood to burn, this fire is going to burn it.” And if there’s one thing Trump’s shown so far, it’s that he doesn’t care who he feeds to the flames. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department shot and killed 18-year-old Andres Guardado on Thursday. Guardado was working as a security guard at an auto shop, and ran from police who showed up responding to reports of a man with a gun. Deputies pursued him and killed him, claiming he was armed. His killing has sparked a fresh round of protests across the city. The New York Times reports that after Derek Chauvin was arrested for the murder of George Floyd, the superintendent of the jail he was taken to ordered only white officers to supervise him. According to complaints filed by multiple staffers of color, the superintendent prevented them from even being on the same floor as Chauvin, solely because of the color of their skin. A new, strange detail emerges from the devastating shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, Canada in April. According to Macleans, the shooter withdrew $475,000 Canadian dollars in cash using the same procedures the Canadian police use to get cash to confidential informants -- but the cops there claim they had no “special relationship” with the killer. And finally, it was the hottest day ever recorded in the Arctic circle on Saturday, as Verkhoyansk, Siberia hit 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The reading hasn’t been fully verified yet, but either way, that kind of heat in the Arctic circle is a pretty dire warning that despite our other global woes, climate change is only getting worse. That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today! We’ll have some slightly more fun topics this afternoon than the earth’s gradual heat death and police brutality, so keep your eyes on YouTube and your favorite podcast app for the show. June 22, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: California becomes the sixth state to require masks out of doors. But a lot of other states have leaders who are happy to pretend the pandemic is over and done. Meanwhile, Facebook penalizes Donald Trump’s reelection campaign for promoting organized hate. This may or may not surprise you, but Trump’s advertisements featured genuine Nazi iconography from the 1930s. And lastly: good news for millions of American families. The Supreme Court intervened to stop Trump from deporting DACA recipients. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: California Says Mask Up As the global death toll from COVID-19 nears half a million people, the overall government response in the US remains chaotic. California’s Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, announced a new statewide order requiring masks outside the home. Masks will now be required in public indoor settings, and outdoors when it’s not possible to stand six feet apart. California joins Michigan, New York, Maine, Delaware and Maryland in requiring masks during the pandemic. Newsom’s order includes several exceptions, including walking, hiking, running and bicycling – but social distancing is expected for those exercising outside. The announcement did not mention any penalties for people who break the rules. The mayor of Costa Mesa in Orange County told the Associated Press QUOTE nobody wants to have to arrest people for not wearing a facial covering. We just want people to care about others, so people don’t die ENDQUOTE. It’s a different story over in Nebraska. Republican Governor Pete Ricketts has threatened to deny federal aid money to local governments that require pepole to wear masks in public. And in China, where COVID-19 was first detected, lockdown measures are being reinstituted in light of a new wave of cases in Beijing. The pandemic isn’t over folks, don’t kid yourselves. Even the communications director for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is advising supporters in high-risk categories to watch tomorrow’s presidential hate rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on television, rather than expose themselves and their families. Facebook Permitted Trump Propaganda If the Trump’s public health messaging seems confused, at best, his campaign’s neo- Nazi propaganda is crystal clear. Yesterday Facebook removed Trump ads targeting disparaging antifascists that featured unmistakable Nazi symbolism. The campaign placed eighty-eight ads different in all fifty states featuring a large inverted red triangle. The accompanying text spoke of QUOTE dangerous mobs of far left groups...running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem ENDQUOTE. Back in the 1930s and ’40s the German Nazi Party used the red triangle to identify suspected communists, social democrats, liberals, Freemasons, and other opposition members in their concentration camps. As for the eighty-eight placements – that number is widely used by neo-Nazis as a kind of code for praising Adolf Hitler. The paid posts on Facebook featuring this iconography were reportedly sponsored by accounts belonging to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, as well as the official Team Trump campaign page. It’s not the first time Trump campaign or his administration has used Nazi iconography, but it is one of the more egregious. The ads were viewed nearly a million times before Facebook removed them yesterday, after getting questions from the Washington Post. The company says the ads violated its policy against organized hate. Supreme Court Upholds DACA The Supreme Court intervened yesterday to stop Trump from canceling the DACA program that protects child migrants from deportation. In a five-to-four decision, the Court ruled that Trump lacked sufficient justificatin to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, instituted by President Barack Obama in 2012. DACA confers a temporary protected status to non-citizens who came to the US as children and are American in every sense that counts except for some paperwork. Because of the ruling, some eight-hundred thousand people may be spared deportation. More than a million families will be spared the pain of separation. One of the beneficiaries the program – a Dreamer named Marisol Montejano (MONTAY- YANO) – told the New York Times QUOTE I feel like I can breathe. I feel like I can tell my kids it’s going to be OK ENDQUOTE. As the Times reported: the decision not only paves the way for immigrants to continue renewing their protected status, it also opens the program to some 66,000 undocumented young people who had been excluded from the program since the Trump administration began winding it down. Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the liberal wing of the Court to secure the decision. Trump seemed caught off guard, accusing the court of firing QUOTE shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives ENDQUOTE. Not quite, but we’re only halfway through the year 2020. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Washington State activated the National Guard to help process unemployment claims. Not coincidentally, the federal Department of Labor released new figures yesterday showing another one-and-a-half million Americans filed for jobless benefits last week. Steven Ray Baca, the New Mexico man who fired into a crowd of protesters this earlier week, managed to avoid charges in the shooting. Albuquerque press say the state police have taken over the investigation, which the District Attorney called fundamentally incomplete. Baca’s lawyers are claiming self-defense. The US House of Representatives will hold a vote on statehood for the District of Columbia on next Friday, June 26, Democratic leadership announced. House rules prevent DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton from participating in the vote. She first brought a statehood bill to Congress in 1993. Dutch police are chasing a new lead in the case of a stolen Vincent Van Gogh painting from a museum in The Netherlands this past March. A famous art detective, Arthur Brand, tipped police after he found a photo of the painting being shared in QUOTE mafia circles ENDQUOTE. The oil-on-paper work by Van Gogh depicts a garden, and is valued at $6.3 million. But what about the movie rights? That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report, with guest Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez! Please have a good Juneteenth. June 19, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Another killer cop catches a murder charge, this time in Georgia. But human rights advocates say we are a long way from justice for police brutality. Meanwhile, essential delivery workers are having a lot of problems with police during this time of curfews. Millions more people each week face an untenable economic situation. And lastly, why is it so satisfying to see conservatives lose their minds over the police-free zone the lefties set up in Seattle? We bring you the latest from the CHAZ – or the CHOP – whichever, take your pick. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Killer Atlanta Cop Charged The United Nations Human Rights Council held an urgent session in New York yesterday on racism and police brutality. The UN’s chief of human rights, Michelle Bachelet (BATCH-EH-LETT), said during the proceedings that QUOTE Too little has changed over too many years. The scale of today's protests point at the sea change. We need a decisive action around the world ENDQUOTE. It’s far from decisive, but there was one sign of progress in yesterday’s headlines. The fired Atlanta cop who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, a twenty-seven-year-old restaurant worker, caught felony murder charges yesterday. In addition to the murder charge, Garrett Rolfe will face 10 other offenses for shooting Brooks twice during a suspected drunk driving stop. Prosecutors say they have video showing Rolfe kicked Brooks on the ground after shooting him. The Brooks family’s attorney told reporters QUOTE Was this justice today? Not yet ENDQUOTE. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday reported on a sudden string of hangings that has killed six black and Hispanic Americans in four states. The people fear lynchings, but police have ruled each case a suicide. Across the country, Oakland, California’s mayor announced a hate crimes investigation after nooses were found hanging from trees on public land. But after the mayor’s announcement, Oakland police put out a statement that the ropes could simply have been part of someone’s exercise routine. So, yeah, we need decisive action around the world to end racism and police brutality. Curfews Punish Gig Workers If anybody’s essential, it’s the person delivering your Phad Thai. Gig workers are increasingly facing arrest for violating curfew, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Many delivery apps like Caviar, Uber and Instacart have kept operating during periods of coronavirus curfew around the country. But they aren’t always letting their drivers know the legal risks they might face – not to mention threats to life and limb from the police. The companies say they have instituted changes to keep workers safer, like distributing face masks, but critics and labor advocates say it’s not enough. What’s more, their workforce has expanded dramatically as a result of the pandemic and economic crisis. Hundreds of thousands people have joined the gig economy labor pool in recent months. And they’re finding out the hard way just how cruel and unjust the lords of Silicon Valley can be. One in thirteen San Francisco renters has broken their lease in the past hundred days. That’s according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which says that people are walking out on their leases rather than fall behind on rent. The top category of renters to bail on their leases were those between eighteen and twenty-five years old. But all kinds of people are suffering all over the place. Reports from Kentucky yesterday showed eight-hour unemployment line. That’s thousands of people standing for hours in the sun, lined up along along a road. And, presumably, getting more angry by the minute. This is what you get with a capitalist economy in free-fall that provides no meaningful safety net. CHAZ Freaks Out Squares The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ -- also known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP – continues to drive Republicans insane. The gentrified Seattle neighborhood has been occupied by protesters who are determined to keep the cops at bay. They’ve held their ground for eleven days now, and reclaimed some public land in the process. This week some members of the CHOP community met with elected officials and bureaucrats from the city of Seattle to agree on new borders. These were described by local alt-weekly The Stranger as slightly smaller, but more permanent. The newspaper reported fruitful conversations between residents and the city over the last few days[. Now] the Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Public Utilities, and the Seattle Department of Transportation are removing the old flimsy barriers at the intersections and installing concrete barriers wrapped with particle board... Honey Buckets are being rearranged. [And] The No Cop Co-Op is moving down the street a bit. The idea is to allow greater access for emergency vehicles, including fire trucks. It seems the only people who are taking the words autonomous zone literally work in conservative media. Far-right websites put out a call for so-called patriots to QUOTE end domestic terrorism ENDQUOTE in the CHOP with an event scheduled for today. Local activists don’t seem too worried, as past incursions by the far right ended in humiliation for the reactionaries. Showing just how obsessed the right is with this anarchist experiment in Seattle, Florida drunk driver and Congressman Matt Gaetz yesterday went on a wild rant about the CHOP. He asked the majority Democrats if they’d host a Congressional delegation to Seattle so they could assess conditions for themselves. Evidently he believes Trump, who claimed Seattle has been taken over by domestic terrorists. Gaetz then got into a heated back-and-forth with Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond, who suggested Gaetz might have a conscious racial bias. Gaetz responded by shouting Who in the hell do you think you are?! This is outrageous! But Richmond, who chaired the Congressional Black Caucus until last year, had the final word: If the shoe fits, he said. Matt Gaetz? Racist? Yeah, that shoe fits just fine. Here’s what Gaetz could see happening in the CHOP if he actually cared to look: A young black Stanford graduate with training in degrees in energy and sustainability, who started a vegetable garden in a Capitol Hill park. The urban farmer, Marcus Henderson, told The Stranger his work on the CHOP farm seeks to remedy historic injustices. One way systemic racism in America has worked is by depriving blacks of land. Henderson runs a small organization called Black Star Farmers, which is also the name of his website and his Instagram page. If you’re in the Seattle area, they are seeking donations of organic compost, mulch, river rocks, cinder blocks, worms, and other small-farm necessities. Oh no: anarchy! AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton’s book is the talk of the Beltway, especially since the White House is basically trying to ban it. In excerpts widely reported yesterday, Trump is revealed to have asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping for held getting re- elected. The walrus moustache always laughs last. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer endorsed New York Representative Eliot Engel yesterday. Engel, a hawkish centrist, faces progressive favorite Jamaal Bowman in the New York Democratic primary next Tuesday, June 23. Chuck would’ve been smarter to sit this one out. Honest-to-goodness pirates are menacing the Gulf of Mexico, or so says the US State Department. The latest travel advisory for Mexico warns that armed criminal groups have been known to target and rob commercial vessels, oil platforms, and offshore supply vessels in the southern Gulf_._ Good to know someone out there is still making an honest living. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 18, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Armed militants allied with Donald Trump have begun showing up at Black Lives Matter uprisings around the country. It’s not right to call them counter-protests, when their goal is to intimidate! Meanwhile, soldiers for two nuclear-armed states are going at each other with clubs and fists in one of the most remote parts of the world. We give you the best information we have on the Himalayan border conflict between India and China. And lastly: Oxford University researchers report a breakthrough COVID-19 treatment. Better still, it involves a cheap steroid drug that’s widely available across the world. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Trumpist Militants Swarm BLM Peaceful protesters in at least ninety-eight cities across the US suffered chemical attack by police departments in recent weeks, according to the New York Times. Such indiscriminate use of tear gas has not been seen stateside since the 1960s and ’70s, when police used it to disperse civil rights and anti-war marches. But these crowd-control weapons are even more dangerous now, on account of the coronavirus. In Buffalo, New York, the seventy-five-year-old white man attacked by police last week remains in rehab. Martin Gugino’s lawyer told CNN the police left him with a skull fracture, and he can no longer walk. In a statement through his lawyer, Gugino said QUOTE there are plenty of other things to think about besides me ENDQUOTE. All the same, best wishes. Nearly sixty Buffalo cops resigned from their department emergency-response unit after the attack on Gugino. CNN also reported that officers in South Florida, Atlanta, and Minneapolis were resigning from crowd-control assignments – or from policework entirely. In Richmond, Virginia, the chief resigned after a police SUV drove through a crowd of protesters. Donald Trump met privately with the family of Ahmaud Arbery, the young man murdered by white suburbanites while jogging in Georgia. Trump also signed an executive order yesterday banning police chokeholds – unless the officer fears for his life. As critics noted, Trump’s order has loopholes big enough to drive an armored vehicle through. Reactionary forces appear to be escalating their violence ahead of Trump’s rally in Oklahoma on Saturday. Some press are calling these counter-protests, but it’s more accurate to say they are shows of force by pro-Trump militants -- who are, to varying degrees, in league with police. In Missoula, Montana, hundreds of people rallied to protest the recent appearance of such militants at pro-BLM events. In the small town of Bethel, Ohio, seven hundred right-wing militants – some armed with guns or baseball bats, and belonging to motorcycle gangs -- showed up to intimidate a group of eighty BLM demonstrators. Police joined a Back the Blue event in South Philadelphia to defend a Columbus statue, and to support a police captain who accused journalists of inciting a riot. In Seattle, known members of violent rightwing groups showed up to make trouble at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. In Troy, New York, several men were arrested after bringing body armor and assault rifles to a BLM event. Police said they also carried a tactical manual from the rightwing New England Militia. And in Albuquerque, New Mexico, rightwing militia claimed they had no knowledge of a man who was arrested after firing shots into a crowd of protesters. The shooter, Steven Ray Baca, sought to protect a statue of a sixteenth-century conquistador who slaughtered indigenous people. Police radio reportedly described the rightwingers as QUOTE armed friendlies ENDQUOTE. Despite such threats, uprisings continue around the globe. Our best count has more than thirty-five hundred protests since May 25, most of them in the US. India-China Conflict Kills 20 Border skirmishes between India and China have escalated, and this is very bad news for the whole world. Both countries have nuclear weapons. At least twenty Indian Army soldiers died in fighting along the contested border with China in the Himalayas on Monday. They were the first soldiers to die along that border in forty-five years. Indian sources claimed the Chinese also suffered casualties, but China did not confirm this. China may have captured dozens of Indian soldiers, according to the New York Times. Good information from the remote border region is hard to come by. Neither side claims shots were fired. Reports say the opposing soldiers went after one another with rocks, clubs, and fists. Some of the clubs may have been studded with nails or wrapped with barbed wire. That this could take place in 2020 shows you how much sense it makes for any country to maintain nuclear weapons. The whole thing may have begun after an Indian officer fell into a gorge, leading to a call for reinforcements, according to the Guardian. This is not the first recent skirmish in the border area, as listeners know, but it is the most deadly. China sees an ulterior motive in India’s expansion of road infrastructure. And the suspicion goes both ways. China has also fortified its position. Everybody, keep it cool. Please? Breakthrough Coronavirus Treatment Reported Scientists reported a major breakthrough in coronavirus treatment. For the first time, a randomized clinical trial showed that a cheap, commonly available drug can increase the chance of survival in COVID-19 patients. The drug, dexamethasone (DEXUH-METHO- ZONE), is used to treat the inflammation that goes with many conditions, including arthritis and asthma. The clinical trial was carried out by researchers at Oxford University. The results have not been peer reviewed. But doctors and scientists expressed strong optimism about what their British counterparts reported. Per the BBC, the trial found patients on ventilators who received the steroid drug were one-third less likely to die. And the drug may also prevent some of the organ damage caused by people’s own immune systems that can happen with COVID-19. The lead researcher, Martin Landray, said the benefits are clear, and the drug is globally available. Essentially, he said, it costs thirty-five pounds -- or forty-four dollars -- to save a life. But what will the insurance companies say? A breakthrough couldn’t come at a better time: yesterday Florida, Texas and Arizona all reported record one-day increases in coronavirus cases. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Pacific Gas and Electric pleaded guilty to eighty-four counts of manslaughter for its role in the 2018 Camp Fire. That fire claimed as many lives as there were manslaughter charges – plus one death, ruled a suicide. Yesterday the California utility’s CEO, Bill Johnson, stood in Butte County court and answered guilty to every criminal charge. That certainly hurt more than the modest three-point-five million dollar fine agreed to in the plea deal with prosecutors. A new book by Donald Trump’s only known niece describes the family as QUOTE a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse ENDQUOTE. The author, Mary L. Trump, is a trained clinical psychologist. Her book is titled Too Much and Never Enough. The publisher, Simon and Schuster, is also putting out former Trump adviser John Bolton’s book, which the White House is attempting to suppress. The German public broadcaster reported yesterday that for three decades before reunification, officials in West Berlin knowingly placed homeless children with foster parents who were pedophiles. Researchers at Hildesheim University interviewed victims and pored over records to make the shocking determination. They found the so-called experiment was effectively sanctioned at the highest levels, and included prominent academics. An internal Central Intelligence Agency report -- released yesterday to the public in redacted form -- found the largest data theft in Agency history took place because the people involved were too focused on building new weapons. The data theft took place in 2016 and was revealed in 2017 by Wikileaks, in the release the website called Vault Seven. No doubt everyone at the CIA has learned a lot of valuable lessons since then. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 17, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: In a stunning 6-3 decision led by a conservative justice, the U.S. supreme court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights act protects gay and transgender people from workplace discrimination. Meanwhile, new audio obtained by the New York Times shows that Vice President Mike Pence urged state Governors to repeat a B.S. claim about coronavirus infection rates in order to make the White House’s complete failure look a little less bad. And lastly, a new report by the Intercept shows that Eliott Engel, the dinosaur Congressman from New York’s 16th district, has been taking dark money from a GOP linked group in order to fight off an insurgent primary campaign by a progressive middle school principal. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Supreme Court Sides With Trans Rights The Supreme Court ruled on a historic set of cases on Monday that firing an employee for being gay, lesbian or transgender violates the 1964 civil rights act. The court took into account two lawsuits over discrimination of gay men and the case of Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who was fired from her job after she came out to her employer. Stephens died in May, but her estate continued her case. The decision was shocking, as Trump’s two Supreme Court picks had basically locked in the majority of the court to the conservative side. But both Chief Justice John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch voted with the more liberal members of the court, leaving only Alioto, Clarence Thomas and of course, Bret Kavanaugh, to dissent. Gosuch, who was Trump’s first appointment, wrote the majority’s opinion. But as we mentioned in yesterday’s quickie, this doesn’t mean trans rights are safe from the Trump administration -- last week, the administration made a rule change that severely endangered trans rights in respect to discrimination suits connected to healthcare. The Trump administration has made it very clear where it stands on trans issues, and the three conservative judges who dissented also made it clear which side they’re on. If you want an example, look no further than the court’s other major decision today: to not hear any cases on the doctrine of “qualified immunity,” which has served to protect police officers from facing consequences for mistakes they made on the job. Gorsuch and Roberts sided with liberals on the Equal Rights Act decision, but if their votes are what the greater struggle for progress relies on in the future, we’re still in a shaky place. Pence Pushed Coronavirus Lies Meanwhile, the liars in Trump’s inner circle just can’t stop. According to audio obtained by the New York Times, Vice President Mike Pence personally encouraged state governors to spread a debunked claim about the relationship between widespread testing and coronavirus infection rates. The claim is basically that upticks in infection rates are just a result of us discovering more cases through testing, and don’t represent the virus actually resurging. But experts have found that the rate of cases is increasing faster than the increase in testing. Pence, or whoever writes his talking points, surely knew this, but they pushed it on governors anyway, asking them to QUOTE “Encourage people with the news that we’re safely reopening the country.” ENDQUOTE. Pence minimized all this, of course, because human life clearly doesn’t matter when the big strong president’s optics are concerned. This is what the Administration’s response has always been: claiming that everything was fine, claiming that they were doing great when things were clearly proven to be not fine, and eventually just claiming that the whole crisis is over and we won. None of these things are true, of course. The virus is rising in 22 states, and we have a long road ahead even in places where the curve has flattened out. But it is helpful to have concrete examples of how far the Trump administration is willing to go to preserve its image. Engel Takes Dirty Dark Money New York Rep. Eliott Engel, the current head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is in deep trouble in his primary for re-election. And a new report by the Intercept shows he’s willing to accept pretty much any help he can get to win -- even if it comes from the Republicans. Engel represents New York’s 16th district, which is safely blue. But his primary opponent is a young, energized middle school principal named Jamaal Bowman. Bowman has recently picked up a number of high profile endorsements including AOC, Bernie Sanders, and the New York Times. Engel, meanwhile, got Hillary Clinton’s endorsement on Monday, and other establishment Democrats figures are circling the wagons around him. According to a new report by the Intercept, Engel’s campaign is benefitting from a weird dark money chain by a GOP-linked super PAC. The group, called Americans for Tomorrow’s Future, isn’t spending directly on his campaign, probably because it also funnels money to overwhelmingly Republican causes including Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign. Instead, Americans for Tomorrow’s Future gave $100,000 to another Super PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, which is in turn doing attack ads on Bowman. Pretty shady stuff if you ask me! If the GOP is this interested in making sure Engel keeps his seat, maybe he’s not the best representative of the so-called opposition party. Just a thought. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A man shot a protester at a demonstration in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday night, following a confrontation in which protesters attempted to tear down a racist monument to a spanish Conquistador and were opposed by an armed far-right. Police responded to the scene and arrested members of the militia, and then faced off with protesters instead of taking their statements as to the shooting. It’s unclear if the shooter was a member of the militia, but this is sure to be a big story today, keep an eye out for more details as they come out. The New York Police Department is eliminating the massive force of plain-clothes police officers that make up the force’s anti-crime teams, which have been responsible for numerous shootings and accusations of excessive force over the years. The officers aren’t getting fired of course, just reassigned, so it remains to be seen how much of a real reform this is. After making a big splashy statement by painting Black Lives Matter on 16th street, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser has decided that well, that’s as far as she’s going to go. In an interview with NPR on Monday, she said she was still committed to her original budget, which proposes a 3.3 percent increase in the DC police’s funding. North Korea is making a ruckus again, threatening to send troops into the Demilitarized Zone with South Korea if defectors don’t stop sending leaflets over the border. Early on Tuesday morning, South Korean authorities reported that the North had gone a step further, blowing up the joint liaison building where the two countries had previously negotiated. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon. June 16, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: In Atlanta, a police officer shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, who fell asleep in his car in a Wendy’s drive-through on Friday night, touching off another round of furious protests across the city, despite some promising steps to reform around the country. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are on the rise in 22 states, as the disease’s first wave never really ended in many states. And lastly, amidst national unrest, the Trump administration continued its assault on vulnerable Americans, scrapping Obama-era nondiscrimination protections for Trans and nonbinary people, non-English speakers, and people seeking abortions. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Another Death in Atlanta As nationwide protests continue, this weekend brought yet another tragedy in Atlanta. On Friday night, Atlanta police officers shot and killed Rayshard Brooks after an extended interaction in a Wendy’s parking lot. Brooks’ death was caught on video both by bystanders and by the officers’ body cameras. Brooks was detained by officers after falling asleep in his car; he said he was within walking distance of his sisters’ house and could just go home. When they attempted to arrest him, he struggled, eventually taking one of the officers’ Tasers and running away on foot. Officer Garrett Rolfe pursued him and shot him three times in the back. Rolfe was fired on Sunday. Shortly after the shooting, Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, resigned. The other officer involved, Devin Brosnan, has been placed on administrative leave. It’s hard to know what to say at this point. There have been nationwide protests against police brutality for two and a half weeks, but Black Americans are still dying in the street. The highly charged political climate is having other potential fallout as well. In California, two black men have been found hanging from trees in the past 10 days within 50 miles of one another. The cops ruled both to be suicides, but both families have doubts, and are urging the authorities to make a full investigation. What all this is showing is that we have a very long road to changing the system. Still, there are some baby-steps of progress already: in San Francisco, for instance, Mayor London Breed announced that police officers will be replaced with trained social workers for non-criminal emergency calls. This is one part of the big change many advocates say needs to happen before everyone in our country is free: stop sending people with a gun to address situations that don’t call for violence. We can only hope that more cities follow suit. Coronavirus Comeback Meanwhile, the country’s other crisis is starting to get worse. The CDC reports that the coronavirus death toll could be as high as 140,000 by July 4, according to the New York Times. The rate of infection is rising in 22 states, staying level in 8, and decreasing in the rest. CDC officials say the spikes is caused by states opening up too early in many cases. While the news cycle has shifted to cover the vital protest movement sweeping the streets, the coronavirus is still ripping through many communities. In New York City, where things were looking up, Governor Cuomo is now threatening to slow the next phase of his re-opening plan if people aren’t careful about masks and social distancing. What’s interesting is CDC experts say the risk of spreading the disease is less at an outdoor protest where most attendees are masked, than at, say, an indoor Trump rally where no one is required to have a mask. And sure enough: Trump is making everyone who shows up to his June 19 rally sign a waiver that says they won’t sue if they get the disease. All of these signs point to the disease continuing to disrupt us on a major scale for months on end. Trump Tears Up LGBTQ Protections It’s a familiar refrain at this point: while massive changes are happening to the rest of society, the Trump administration is trying to slip more unjust policies under everyone’s radar. This week, it’s a new rules package that overturns Obama-era anti-discrimination protections. Trump’s new rules eliminate language that protected transgender people from being discriminated against in healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Under Obama, the language specified that it was illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their sex, which was ruled to be all encompassing across the sex and gender spectrum. But Trump is trying to change the rule to make “sex” in that context only mean men and women. ACLU deputy legal director Louise Melling was furious, saying quote: "This is deadly and all of us should be outraged. This is beyond heartless." Endquote. The end result of this rule change is that it could make it more difficult for transgender people to access health care -- they could be turned away or denied a procedure, like a transgender man being denied or charged more for ovarian cancer treatments. Trans people are already vulnerable to this kind of lack of access, and of course Trump is making it worse -- it’s our job to make sure he doesn’t get away with it. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: e New York Times endorsed Jamal Bowman, the middle school principal challenging entrenched dinosaur Eliott Engle for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 16th Congressional district. The Times’ endorsement is the latest high profile win for the progressive Bowman, who has also picked up the support of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and NYC public advocate Jumaane Williams. Senate candidate Kris Kobach, a former Kansas Secretary of State known for his staunch opposition to any gun control laws, had four firearms stolen from his vehicle over the weekend. To be fair, with things as they are in Kansas, he should have no problem replacing them. Denver Riggleman, a freshman Representative from Virginia, appears to have lost his seat in the primary election to Bob Good a strict “biblical conservative,” who blasted Riggleman over officiating a same-sex marriage. The upset may be a boon to Democrats, however, as Good neglected to correctly file the paperwork to appear on the November general election ballot. He may still get on it, but it’s clear the bible-basher isn’t running the tightest ship in the game. And to close us out this morning, Trump’s strange appearance at the West Point Graduation ceremony has raised some questions about his health. Trump appeared to struggle to drink water during the speech, and slowly tottered down a very short ramp off the stage. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon. June 15, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump threatens another American city with military invasion, and places sanctions on members of the International Criminal Court. You never go full dictator, man! Meanwhile, unemployment continues to climb amid the coronavirus pandemic. Who will be left with any money to shop in all those businesses that are reopening? And lastly, organized labor takes a stand against police violence and white supremacy. West Coast dockworkers are calling for a Juneteenth general strike next Friday, and plan to shut down the ports. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Biden Fears Trump Coup Joe Biden said yesterday he fears Donald Trump might try to steal the election in November. However, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president also said he was confident the military would escort Trump from the White House, if he refused to recognize a loss at the polls. Separately, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley apologized for making himself seen on the ground last week in Washington, DC, as Attorney General Bill Barr ordered an assault on protesters. As a comissioned, uniformed officer, Milley said, it was a mistake I have learned from. And I sincerely hope we all can learn from it. Oh, we’re learning, alright. We’re all learning a lot about America. As if we didn’t already look like a failed state, Trump found a way to make it worse. Anonymous White House officials yesterday told reporters that the US government is placing sanctions on the International Criminal Court. The Court, based in The Hague, investigates war crimes and human rights abuses by armed groups all over the world. One-hundred and twenty-three countries recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction – but the US is not among them. Trump is angry the court is looking in to US war crimes in Afghanistan. So, he is placing economic sanctions and travel restrictions on ICC workers who are investigating America’s role in torture, rapes, and other horrific abuses during the early stages of occupation. Way to convince the world you’re not an insane bloodthirsty dictator, Donny. This is just nuts. Separately, the Center for Civilians in Conflict, a US-based aid group advocating for the lives and rights of civilians in war zones, made a statement on Trump’s domestic deployment of military forces against peaceful protesters. The statement said QUOTE the public is not an armed opposition group ENDQUOTE. To be fair, Trump does need clarification on this point. Yesterday he taunted politicians in Washington State and said if they didn’t take back Seattle from the anarchists who set up a police-free festival zone in an upscale, left-leaning neighborhood, then he would. Things were peaceful there through the day. As dusk fell, reporter Robert Evans described the scene at the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone as a very large block party with a lot of free food and art projects and, perhaps, the potential to be the nexus of real resistance to the police. Amen. Trump’s threats get harder to take seriously the more his weaknesses are exposed by uprsisings around the country. Police also seem to be losing authority, through their own egregious conduct. In Chicago, Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush gave a news conference with an old rival, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and claimed city police had burglarized his office during protests last week. Surveillance footage from Rush’s office showed officers helping themselves to snacks and lounging around with their feet up on his furniture as protests raged outside. At least thirteen Chicago cops were involved, including three supervisors. Rush co-founded the Illinois Black Panthers before joining Congress in 1993. Coronavirus Surging, Economy Floundering Anyone planning on attending Trump’s hate rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week needs to be aware of the risks. These could include permanent organ damage or even death -- so we really don’t recommend it. But should you register for tickets in Tulsa, you’ll first have to sign a liability waiver. That is, if you want to see Trump speak, you have to agree not to sue him if you catch COVID-19. And here we thought coronavirus was no big deal in MAGA-land! News of a surge in coronavirus cases across the country prompted the largest single-day stock market drop in three months. The Labor Department said another million-and-a-half Americans filed unemployment claims last week. On top of that, seven-hundred thousand people filed for benefits under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, designed for freelancers and others who aren’t eligible for traditional jobless benefits. In Houston, Texas, local officials warned the city was on the QUOTE precipice of disaster ENDQUOTE, and facing a spike of coronavirus cases. County officials may try to reinstate lockdowns despite orders by the Republican Governor, Greg Abbott, mandating that businesses reopen. Georgia and Iowa are set to remove all capacity restrictions on restaurants and bars. Public health officials warn this will lead to preventable illness and death. When did stopping the spread go out of fashion? Is this some national death wish? Dockworkers Back Juneteenth Strike Pressure is building on organized labor to cut ties with so-called police unions. The Writers Guild of America, East, a union representing TV writers and digital journalists, this week called for the expulsion of police associations from their shared umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO. In a statement reported by The Guardian, the guild said: As long as police unions continue to wield their collective bargaining power as a cudgel, preventing reforms and accountability, no one is safe. Therefore we believe that police unions do not belong in our labor coalition. The AFL-CIO has fifty-six union affiliates representing nearly thirteen million members. The Writers Guild is the first affiliate union to formally call for the expulsion of the International Union of Police Associations, which represents the cops who’ve been beating up workers from coast to coast. On the West Coast, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union this week staged an action demanding an end to racist police murders. The ILWU represents more than thirty- three thousand dockworkers and others in the US and Canada. On Tuesday ILWU members stopped working for eight minutes and forty-six seconds to honor the life of George Floyd and all victims of police brutality. ILWU organizer Clarence Thomas told Jacobin magazine that labor must fight white supremacy within its ranks as well as outside the movement. So next Friday, June 19 , the union will shut down all twenty-nine shipping ports on the West Coast for eight hours. And they’re calling on other unions across the country to join them. It’s time, Thomas said. Labor must begin to take a lead in the fight against racist police terror. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The federal agency that processes visa applications for visitors and immigrants to the US announced plans to take three-quarters of its workforce off the job. Next week US Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin sending furlough notices to fifteen thousand of its nineteen thousand workers. The agency, a division of Homeland Security, is funded by fees, and claims it needs an emergency appropriation from Congress to avoid the dramatic staffing cuts. A California man accused of attacking Santa Cruz County deputies wrote messages in blood referencing a far-right extremist movement before he was arrested, NBC News reported. Steven Carrillo, former US Air Force sergeant, allegedly threw pipe bombs and fired shots at officers, killing one and seriously injuring another, on June 6. Last night, local press reprorts citing police linked him to a May 29 attack on police in Oakland. The teleconferencing company, Zoom, was reportedly shutting down the accounts of Hong Kong activists known to be critical of the Chinese government. Several activists told the Guardian their accounts were blocked before they could host planned online memorials of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Zoom called the censorship regrettable but unavoidable. Easy for them to say! Ithaca, New York, this week became the first city in the US to cancel rent during the coronavirus pandemic. A new city council resolution gives the mayor power to cancel rent debts for residential and small business tenants for the last three months. It also, according to Fast Company magazine, freezes rent increases, and requires landlords to offer lease extensions. Unfortunately, thanks to an order from Governor Andrew Cuomo, the resolution can’t take effect without approval from the state. Ithaca Autonomous Zone, anyone? That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 12, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Hundreds of former federal prosecutors call for an investigation into Attorney General Bill Barr. And Trump plans a rally in Tusla to gloat over the bodies of those killed by white supremacists. Meanwhile, Joe Biden says he wants to give more money to the police. The man is on a mission to prove there’s no problem that can’t be solved with small business tax credits. And lastly: Black Lives Matter wins massively in new public opinion polls. Anybody still crying over some fallen statues is deeply out of touch with the rest of the country. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Veteran Prosecutors Blast Barr So much for law and order. Donald Trump’s campaign for permanent Republican Party rule keeps hitting one snag after another. Even the feds are getting – sorry -- fed up. Yesterday more than twelve hundred former Justice Department workers demanded an investigation of Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump’s authoritarian enabler. According to the Washington Post, the dissenters sent a letter to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. They expressed deep concern about Barr’s role in ordering a violent assault on peaceful protesters last week in Lafayette Square near the White House. The signatories are career prosecutors, managers, and lawyers from both parties. Separately, former federal judge John Gleeson, who was appointed to oversee the case against disgraced Pentagon intelligence chief Michael Flynn, filed court papers calling out Trump and the DOJ for brazen corruption. Flynn had already admitted lying to the FBI over his contacts with foreign powers. But Trump and Barr came to his rescue. Gleeson called the case against Flynn was straightforward aid said his attemped exoneration was a gross abuse of prosecutorial power. Barr recently boasted that history is written by the winners. I wonder if he feels so confident now? Trump yesterday held another photo op, this time with black supporters who praised him up and down. He said that under no circumstances would he rename US military bases dedicated to the Confederacy. His campaign also announced its next big event. On June 19th Trump will hold a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The timing and location are provocative. Ninety- nine years ago this month, Tulsa was the location of one of the worst racially motivated massacres in US history. And next Friday will be Juneteenth, the annual holiday commemorating black emancipation. Also yeseterday: George Floyd’s brother testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Philonise (Phi-LOW-niss) Floyd said QUOTE they lynched my brother... he didn’t deserve to die over twenty dollars... Make it stop. ENDQUOTE. The Minneapolis Police Department, whose officers killed George Floyd, said it was ending contract negotiations with the city. Local officials want to start from scratch. But leaders in neighboring Saint Paul are reportedly not on board. In Louisville, Kentucky, police finally released an autoposy report for Breonna Taylor, shot by cops in her home three months ago. The four-page report was mostly blank. It said she sustained no injuries, though she was shot at least eight times. All three officers involved remain on the job. In San Francisco, police told the transit agency to QUOTE lose our number ENDQUOTE after the agency said it would no longer ferry cops to protests. In New York, conditions in jails where protesters have been sent are reportedly abysmal, with people denied water and masks to protect from coronavirus. And in Arizona, migrants in federal custody were ordered to clean a private prison where COVID-19 has spread out of control. Inmates are pleading for protective gear and fear for their lives. There you go: that’s what law and order means in America today. Biden: Fund The Police! With nearly three thousand protests growing around the world, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Joe Biden, yesterday made his most extensive statement on police brutality. It was not what protesters hoped to hear. It was, however, perfectly in line with Biden’s message that nothing will fundamentally change if he wins the White House. In a column for USA Today, Biden called for an extra three hundred million dollars in federal funding to QUOTE reinvigorate community policing in our country. Every single police department should have the money it needs to institute real reforms ENDQUOTE. Got that? With at least ten thousand Americans arrested over the past two weeks for exercising their First Amendment rights – and many times that number still out on the streets chanting defund the police – Biden wants to throw more money at the cops. He advocated several other no- brainer reforms such as banning chokeholds and a national use of force standard. But the protests have raised the bar for policy proposals, and Biden came up short. He even worked in a mention of tax credits for small business. Also in election news, the Associated Press called the Georgia Democratic primary for US Senate in favor of Jon Ossoff. Yesterday’s vote was marked by absurdly long lines, machine malfunctions, missing poll workers and other forms of voter suppression. If the AP’s call proves accurate, Ossoff, a former journalist, will challenge first-term Republican Senator David Perdue in November. Even Perdue called yesterday’s election a meltdown. But he and his fellow Republicans have their own reasons for casting doubt on the results. If people think their votes don’t count, they won’t bother. Georgia was of course only the latest state to go sideways on election day. Per NBC News, experts are warning that Americans won’t know who won the presidency on election night come November. Michigan and Pennsylvania in particular are expected to have problems with a big wave of mail-in ballots. The delays, NBC warned, could be used to undermine confidence in the outcome. Gee, who might benefit from that? BLM Winning Public Opinion Amid all this apparent chaos, there is plenty of hopeful news to be found. Polls show a dramatic shift in public opinion in favor of Black Lives Matter protesters and away from the instituions of racist policing. Online opinion research cited by the New York Times shows Americans favor the protesters by a twenty-eight point margin. Just a couple of weeks ago, that margin was only seventeen percent. Other polling sources show declining trust in the police and increased understanding of the discrimination faced by African-Americans. The Times concluded that Trump’s inflamatory Tweets on this issue may be counterproductive. This rapid shift in opinion may be permanent, because it jibes with long-term trends. Monuments to racism and oppression continue to fall. Protesters in Saint Paul, Minnesota, pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus. Afterward, members of the American Indian Movement chanted and drummed in victory over the statue. In Virginia yesterday, a self- professed member of the Ku Klux Klan was arrested after driving through a crowd of protesters on Sunday. In Richmond last night, protesters took down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Eighty miles away in Portsmouth, four Confederate statues were beheaded and then toppled. Finally, in Washington, DC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is making himself useful again. In a floor speech, Sanders called on Congress to ban the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray on protesters. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Twenty-one states are reportedly seeing increases in coronavirus infections, but reopening continues. At least two million cases have been recorded in the US, with more than one-hundred and twelve thousand dead. Even in deep blue California, polticians are at odds with health officials over the pace of reopening. Governor Gavin Newsom said the state will force workers to risk exposure QUOTE in a responsible way ENDQUOTE. Police in Sweden closed the case on the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme. The left-wing and anti-apartheid icon was shot in the back in 1986, but the culprit was never caught. Most independent investigators placed blame on a wider right-wing conspiracy. Prosecutors concluded that an ex-military far-right extremist, Stig Engström, killed Palme. But fans of the novelist Stieg Larsson, who was obsessed with the case, may never be satisfied. A Mayan spirit guide was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in Guatemala over the weekend. Villagers reportedly accused him of witchcraft, set him on fire, and then posted videos of the killing online. The murdered Mayan herbalist, Domingo Choc Che, was working with international researchers to develop new cures based on traditional medicines. The Federal Reserve predicts fifteen million people will still be unemployed through the end of this year, with high jobless rates for years to come. This was the takeaway in a news conference yesterday by Fed chairman Jerome Powell. Separately, a former Macy’s executive told CNBC he expects one-third of America’s shopping malls to close for good this year. Maybe we can tear up the parking lots and plant trees, huh? That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. June 11 , 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Georgia’s primary election devolved into an absolute mess on Tuesday, as voters and poll workers reported major problems with new voting machines and extremely long lines in a state that has struggled with overt voter suppression by the ruling Republican party for years. Meanwhile, Donald Trump falsely accused the 75-year-old protester who was brutally injured by Buffalo, New York police of being a quote “Antifa provocateur,” further pushing the baseless conspiracy that blames widespread protests on far-left radicals. And lastly, protesters in Seattle establish a quote “autonomous zone” on the city’s Capitol Hill, created when police abandoned their embattled East Precinct after days of demonstrations outlasted the cop’s brutal response. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Georgia Primary Mess It was election day in Georgia on Tuesday, and across the state, people struggled to vote. Georgia has a particularly troublesome history with voter suppression, and this election cycle was no different. Nikema Williams, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, told the New York Times that she got 84 text messages complaining of voting problems just 10 minutes after the polls opened at 7 a.m. The main problem this time around appears to be the voting machines, which appear to have failed on a widespread scale, as well as new delays caused by sanitizing the machines and social distancing, which led some in-person voters to wait six to seven hours. If you remember, this is the same state where Bryan Kemp won the race for Governor after leading widespread voter roll purges during his time as Georgia Secretary of State. Kemp’s own Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, ostensibly mailed everyone in the state a vote-by-mail ballot, but some people said they didn’t get them, and were forced to vote in person. Raffensperge blamed the long lines and voting delays on poll workers not knowing how to operate the new machines. Shouldn’t it be his job to, you know, teach them? The chaos is bad for Georgia’s primaries, which will set the ballot for a lot of consequential state house and national offices in November, but it’s even worse as an omen for how that election will go. Georgia is expected to be a battleground state between Trump and Biden in November, and it’s clear that the Republicans are already testing out the various suppression measures they’ll use to keep it from being a fair fight. Case in point: many of the delays and issues were worst in the two counties that comprise metro Atlanta, which lean Democratic. And it wasn’t just Georgia: voters in South Carolina’s primary yesterday also reported long lines at polling stations. This is definitely going to be a nationwide trend in November, and it’s important that we recognize what it looks like before it happens. Trump Claims Elderly Pacifist is Antifa Donald Trump sank to, well, not his lowest point of the current news cycle, but certainly a new depth on Monday, when he said that the 75-year-old man critically injured by Buffalo police during a protest was a quote “Antifa Provocteur.” endquote. In reality, Martin Gugino is a long-time peace activist, who marched in the Buffalo Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrated for many other causes over the years. On Thursday night last week, Buffalo police shoved him to the ground so violently that he cracked his head on the concrete. He’s still in the hospital. That didn’t stop Trump from tweeting on Tuesday that Gugino was connected to a conspiracy theory promoted by the president’s new favorite source, One America News Network, that alleged Antifa were trying to knock out police radios with scanner devices. This obviously makes no sense whatsoever: Neighbors, friends, and fellow activists described Gugino as an inquisitive, gentle and friendly person who loved to attend speaking events at the local radical bookstore and was once asked to critique student presentations for an environmental studies class at the University at Buffalo. Gugino is still in a delicate state in the hospital, as friends say he’s still in immense pain whenever he sees bright light or moves his head. He may not consider himself antifa, but it’s pretty clear that he’s not on the same side as the fascists that nearly killed him. Seattle Protesters Set Up Autonomous Zone Protesters in Seattle have won a victory of sorts, setting up a semi-autonomous zone outside of police control in the vicinity of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct. The cops abandoned the precinct on Monday, evacuating most of their supplies and reportedly moving in a mobile shredder unit to destroy documents. The Seattle Police has been particularly brutal with protesters, waging battle with rubber bullets, flash bang grenades, pepper balls and massive amounts of tear gas night after night, despite elected officials’ promises to push them to de-escalate. But protesters have weathered it all, creating their own riot shields and steadfastly returning to the area around the precinct night after night to protest, according to Capitol Hill Seattle. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan says that the police’s retreat from the East Precinct was a deliberate attempt to de-escalate the strategy, and protesters have filled the void of violence by creating a strange, peaceful autonomous zone in the blocks surrounding it. On Tuesday afternoon, the Capitol Hill Seattle blog reported that the protesters have used abandoned police barricades to block off sections of the area to traffic, creating a twisting maze and setting up tents to keep themselves dry when it rains. Activists also reportedly planned to stay the night on Tuesday night. The conservative rumor mill, however, is convinced that antifa means to burn down the precinct, whereas leftist protesters worry that right wing agitators or the cops themselves are going to try something to incite more blame. Either way, it’s a fascinating development to how the protests are remaking urban spaces and challenging the police’s role and presence in our cities. Keep an eye on this story today to see how the autonomous zone shakes out. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The boutique fitness world is in turmoil as CrossFit’s CEO Greg Glassman stepped down on Tuesday after telling gym owners that quote “we’re not mourning for George Floyd.” His comments provoked many gyms, which pay money to the global CrossFit brand to use its trademarks, to separate themselves from the system. Vincent D’Andraia, the NYPD officer who was captured on video violently shoving a young woman to the ground, has been arrested and charged with assault. New York prosecutors are considering bringing misconduct or criminal charges against as many as 40 other NYPD officers in connection to their behavior at the protests. The U.S. may be slowly reopening, but around the world the coronavirus is on the rise, particularly in Latin America, where many countries are being pushed to the brink by rising cases. On Sunday, new cases reached a global high at 136,000, mostly in that region and parts of South Asia. And finally, remember Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, the so-called Democrat running against AOC in the primary for her seat in Congress? You know, the one who criticized AOC for living in a quote “luxury apartment” in DC? Turns out, she has a $40 million investment portfolio. AOC was a bartender until 2018, so it seems like Caruso-Cabrera probably shouldn’t try to pull the working-class card on here there. That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show from Sam this afternoon! June 10, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Joe Biden’s campaign said today that he is against the notion of defunding the police, which is a pretty good indicator of how much things would actually change for black people under his presidency. Meanwhile, Propublica reports that Capital One and other major debt collectors are still coming after thousands of Americans, despite the economy-crushing pandemic. And lastly, the much-needed aid set aside in the coronavirus relief CARES act for food banks and other key social welfare programs is way, way delayed: billions of dollars are still sitting around while needy people and programs starve. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Joe Biden’s campaign was never going to be on the far left of police reform, but a spokesperson for the presumptive Democratic nominee made it official on Monday: Biden opposes defunding the police. This is slightly more coherent, but still consistent with Biden’s past comments on the subject, in which he suggested that the police perhaps shoot people in the leg instead of killing them. On Monday, campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates offered up this absolutely nothingburger of a statement to NPR. QUOTE: “Vice President Biden does not believe that police should be defunded. He hears and shares the deep grief and frustration of those calling out for change, and is driven to ensure that justice is done and that we put a stop to this terrible pain." ENDQUOTE. Great, glad that’s out of the way. But what would Biden support? Probably something along the lines of the new legislation introduced on Monday by Democrats in Congress, who marked the occasion by doing a photoshoot wearing traditional Kente cloth. The package is definitely a step further than democrats have proposed before, calling for widespread reforms that include removing legal protections that enable police abuses, new restrictions on cops using deadly force, among others. But the key word there is still reforms -- the bill stops short of meaningfully changing the way police departments are funded and run in America. On the surface, things would probably get a little better, but all the systems that got us to this point stay right in place. Can’t think of a better analogy for the Biden campaign than that! Capital One Keeps Chasing Debt Working Americans have had a hard go of it during the coronavirus pandemic, which created an economic recession that has destroyed service industry jobs and forced layoffs in so many other industries. But according to a Propublica report, the predators at the top of the capitalist food chain haven’t stopped hunting: lenders like Capital One are continuing to garnish hurting Americans’ wages, if they’re lucky enough to still have a job. They’re helped along by a court system they created, which allows credit card companies and other lenders to exact millions of dollars in judgements which are then paid out by seizing debtors wages. According to ProPublica, states like New York passed down orders that suspended new wage garnishments, but have failed to give relief for ones leveled before the virus hit. The New York City Bar urged Governor Cuomo for a moratorium, but so far he hasn’t done it. The New York State courts told Propublica that wage garnishments continued because they were quote “existing orders were considered essential matters.” endquote. That’s right -- credit card companies managed to make taking people’s wages an essential service. The Propublica story has several testimonies from people affected by this practice, and shows how a credit card balance of a little as $1,900 can hang over people’s heads for years with the big banks breathing down your neck. The banks and collection agencies made generic comments to Propublica that they were trying to go easy on people affected by COVID-19, but it’s pretty clear where their priorities lie: in getting back what they’re owed no matter what it does to people struggling to pay the bills. Congressional Relief Going Nowhere Fast The federal government was supposed to help during all of this -- but like most things passed down through Congress, it hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. According to the Washington Post, food banks, nursing homes, childcare facilities, firefighters, and a whole list of other essential social programs have only received shreds of the money ostensibly allocated to them by the CARES act. Let’s look at some numbers, per the Post. Congress allocated $850 million for food banks, but less than $300 million has made it to them yet. It allocated 9 billion for community development block grants that can fund elder care, child care, health facilities and the like. So far, only $250 million has made it to specific programs. Of the $100 million of that was earmarked specifically for nursing homes not a penny has gotten spent. Same thing for the $100 million FEMA was supposed to use to get more PPE for firefighters. It’s a little unclear what the specific problem is here: Democrats aren’t saying that the Trump admin is slowing down the funds on purpose, just that the federal bureaucracy in general is really bad at getting things done on time. What’s missing, they say, is any sense of urgency -- while the meager stimulus checks with Trump’s name on them got out the door quickly, the nuts and bolts of actual economic stimulation is still mostly just sitting around. Who knows, maybe by November we’ll have someone new in charge who can get the wheels turning. Hopefully by then it won’t be too late. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The leadership council for the Writer’s Guild of America, East, a major union that represents workers at many of the biggest digital media organizations, voted unanimously on Monday to urge the AFL-CIO to disassociate itself from the International Union of Police Associations, arguing that organized labor shouldn’t put up with the abuses of cop unions any longer. Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, appeared in court for the first time on Monday, where his bail was set at $1.25 million. He’s charged with second degree murder and second degree manslaughter, and faces 40 years in prison. Add another line to the protests’ list of incremental accomplishments: the New York State Assembly passed the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act 140-3 on Monday. While we’re waiting for systematic reform, the more bills passed the better. And finally, the upheaval in media continues, as both the editors in chief of Bon Appetit Magazine and Refinery 29 stepped down on Monday. The former was pictured in blackface at a party, and both had been accused of running organizations that were hostile to non-white employees for years. June 9, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis city council pledged to disband the city’s police department, following over a week of worldwide protests against police brutality. Meanwhile, New York City, the hardest-hit region of the U.S., is starting to take baby steps back toward normalcy, beginning phase one of reopening as the coronavirus epidemic begins to subside. And lastly, New York Times Opinion section editor James Bennett resigned today after admitting that he didn’t even read Senator Tom Cotton’s racist, misleading, and downright dangerous op-ed about deploying troops to police American cities. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: In a historic, almost-unprecedented move, the Minneapolis city council announced on Sunday that it had a veto-proof majority of members pledged to disband the city’s police department. In a written statement, City Council president Lisa Bender said QUOTE: “It is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety isn’t working for so many of our neighbors. Our efforts at incremental reform have failed.” ENDQUOTE. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said he opposes disbanding the department, which earned him a chorus of boos and jeers on Saturday night. But if the city Council goes through with their plan, it’ll be out of his hands. The question now is what community safety will look like in the absence of the MPD. The city council hasn’t offered any specifics. Camden, New Jersey, famously disbanded its police force in 2013, but then re-hired most of the officers in a new county-wide organization focused on community policing. It was a big improvement, but definitely shied more on the side of reforming, rather than abolishing, a deeply broken system. In other words, the organization might change, but a lot of the cops probably aren’t going anywhere. New York City, after bungling nearly every other aspect of the government response to the protests, is also planning some reform. Mayor Bill de Blasio finally backed down and lifted the city’s arbitrary curfew, and just in time, as he was about to get sued by the New York Civil Liberties Union. Big de Blas also committed to diverting a token amount of funding from the NYPD’s absurd $6 billion budget to social services. He didn’t say how much, but we’re pretty sure it won’t be enough. What we’re seeing all over, however, is that the direct action of widespread protests is truly making an impact. NYC Re-Opening New York City felt the effects of the coronavirus harder than anywhere else in the country, but after 22,000 deaths and more than 200,000 cases, the city is very slowly starting to lift its lockdown restrictions. On Monday, the city will start phase one of its reopening, which allows construction, manufacturing, and retail to start up again. Retail stores will still operate in a limited capacity -- you probably won’t be able to browse like before, but they’ll do curbside and in-store pickup for most orders. After initially failing to control the disease’s spread, New York’s leadership has poured money into testing and contact tracing. The New York Times reports that new cases are down to about 500 per day. Next down the line is phase two, in which New Yorkers will finally be able to get a haircut again, and most offices will open, given social distancing can be enforced. The problem is the damage has largely already been done. Because the city and state’s leaders failed to get out in front of the disease, New York’s lockdown has been crushing for businesses, axing 885,000 jobs. The city’s economy isn’t expected to really rebound until 2022. New York Times Editor Resigns The New York Times Opinion section has been controversial for years, but last week, it finally jumped the shark -- and now the section’s top editor is taking a hike. James Bennett, the editor of the Times’ Opinion section, resigned on Sunday after his team published a deeply flawed, largely inaccurate, and incredibly racist op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton. The op-ed, titled quote “Send in the Troops,” endquote sent the Times’ newsroom into a frenzy, seeing as it misused historical comparisons and spread blatant fake news in order to make the case that the U.S. should send in the military to inflict further violence on protesters across the country. The Times usually has a pretty strict wall between the reporters and journalists in its newsroom and the opinion-havers in Bennett’s section. But the Cotton op-ed was a step too far, sending the newsroom into open revolt, as the Times’ notoriously buttoned-up employees threw down the gloves and started firing back, posting a unified message on Twitter that running the Cotton piece could directly endanger Black staff members. It turns out, Bennett didn’t even read the op-ed before it was published. His supporters -- the usual cast of conservative big-brains -- are trying to paint this thing as another censorship of right-wing voices scenario. You can sort that one out for yourself, but know that Cotton’s piece claimed that police had quote “borne the brunt” of the violence in the recent unrest, which he blamed on antifa. And it’s not like turning down Cotton’s essay is denying him a platform -- he’s literally a sitting U.S. Senator. Times Opinion has some great, thoughtful, incisive writers, but it’s also got people like climate change denier Bret Stephens and college-obsessed PC-culture critic Bari Weiss, not to mention the dusty old guard of David Brooks and Thomas Friedman. That’s all to say it’s definitely ripe for a change. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The ghouls at the White House are still doing what they do best. On Friday, Trump signed a proclamation handing over 5,000 square miles of previously-protected waters off the coast of New England to commercial fisherman. Common Dreams reports that activists are worried the move will put several endangered species and delicate ecosystems at risk. According to the Seattle Times, a man drove into a crowd of protesters on Sunday evening, then got out and brandished a gun, shooting and wounding a protester who tried to stop him. In the same city, police ran rampant again, covering streets in tear gas just days after they’d promised to stop using it for a month. Speaking of protesters, one thread to follow is that crowd size is not in any way dying down. Protests in New York City, LA, and several other major cities were absolutely massive today, according to anecdotal reports on social media. It’s hard to estimate crowd size when there are dozens of protests across a city in a single day, but one things’ for sure: they were big. Cops in Austin, Texas posted pictures of a massive pile of thank-you notes, which they claimed were from quote “several community members to include kindergartners and Austin families.” Endquote. Funnily enough, many of the cards were addressed in the same handwriting, and all of the kindergartens in Texas are still closed because of coronavirus. Since the protests started, the Austin Police Department has shot two people in the head with beanbag rounds. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show this afternoon. June 8, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The police slaughtered peaceful people in cities across America, in a coordinated assault, journalists confirm. This could be it. Meanwhile, Facebook is helping to incite violence with ads and propaganda. Other media companies were reportedly compromised. And lastly, in Forks, Washington, four high school students used chainsaws to rescue a multi-racial family from Spokane accused of being Antifa. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The local, national, and global situation is uncertain, but for one thing: the power of all people united can overcome any terror. Video reports gathered from trusted sources from around the US show men in uniform firing into peaceful crowds. Official sources have denied using tear gas. So what kind of gas is it? It seems war has come to many places all at once. Peace is all we want. Early in the day Chief Pig of the United States Bill Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray gave a press conference. Neither could name a single extremist group behind the chaos now playing out across the US and the world. Army secretary Ryan McCarthy posed for a photo op with South Carolina National Guard some hours before the fighting began. At 8pm Eastern Time yesterday, the former Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Martin Dempsey, condemned the domestic deployment of the military but praised police for knowing their communities. Boris Johnson made an overture for EU workers to one day return to the UK. Kashmir entered its third consecutive day of 2G Internet shutdown. The region has been cut off since August. Here in Western Canada, there are sirens, but no gunshots. We are planning for a long trip. Elsewhere in the US: reports of white nationalist militia in suburbs from Kennewick, Washington to Long Island, New York. Seattle labor unions fought to expel the pigs’ so-called union. Habeas corpus is suspended in New York. But together we will be free Online Disinformation Everywhere Asked to address police brutality against African-Americans today at a choreographed press conference, Donald Trump said he had talked enough about George Floyd. Trump attacked the media and said he can get his word out QUOTE beautifully on social media ENDQUOTE. Facebook ran an ad from Georgia Republican Paul Brown, shown holding an AR-15, encouraging violence. Facebook eventually removed it -- but only after a reporter called the company out. The top trending video on Facebook yesterday was reportedly Candace Owens calling for QUOTE justice ENDQUOTE for George Floyd, who she blamed for his own death. Facebook employees reportedly denounced Mark Zuckerberg. New York Times journalists lambasted Opinion staffer Bari Weiss, who was reported to have approved of the publication of Senator Tom Cotton’s call for military suppression of US dissidents. Journalists in Buffalo, New York, published a viral video of uniformed men brutally charging an elderly white man, pushing him to the ground, and splitting his skull. One tried to help the old man but another cop moved him along. Later, two Buffalo police were reportedly charged. But at least three of the men shown were involved. Journalists were again targets for attack by police at many peaceful gatherings. Journalists of color at the Philadelphia Inquirer organized a sick-out after the paper ran an editorial titled QUOTE Buildings Matter Too ENDQUOTE. Why do cops get to have all the surveillance gear in the world, but we can’t film them? Oregon Republicans helped fascist propagandist Andy Ngo file a $900,000 lawsuit against Rose City Antifa and others, seeking discovery of evidence. Campers Framed by Locals as ANTIFA Trusted journalists in Washington State reported that in the town of Forks, a multi- racial family was accused of being members of Antifa. They were followed and prevented from leaving their campsite, local deputies said. Four high school students cut the trees blocking their campsite with chainsaws to allow the family to leave, according to a press release signed Sergeant Ed Anderson. The local Sheriff’s Office is actively conducting a criminal investigation into the incident and is seeking information regarding those involved, Anderson said. Before camping, the family was confronted in town by seven or eight carloads of douchebags carrying what appeared to be semi-automatic rifles. They told deputies they heard gunshots and power saws nearby. Local teens cleared the roadway for the family with chainsaws. LUCIE: And now for some Quicker Quickies. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Journalist David Sirota reported the pigs donated $1 million to Andrew Cuomo. A Minneapolis City Council member said on Twitter he agreed with Attorney General Keith Ellison that the MPD should be dismantled and replaced with a QUOTE transformative new model ENDQUOTE. The AFP reported that a sex worker was arrested on manslaughter charges following a man's death during a mystic ritual in which he inhaled psychedelic toad venom. Actor Dwayne Johnson asked, QUOTE Where is Donald Trump? ENDQUOTE. Your guess is as good as ours. May 27, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: People in thousands of cities and towns around the world joined uprisings against police brutality and systemic oppression, from London, England to Whitefish, Montana. Mass protests were ongoing across the United States, where security forces led violent and coordinated attacks on peaceful demonstrators. Meanwhile, governments across the world struggled to keep a handle on rapidly developing events in the US – while facing crises of their own. At least one US embassy in Europe was attacked, apparently by protesters; border tensions were reportedly growing between China and India. And lastly, some perspective, with a remarkable discovery from a lost civilization. A reminder that the monuments of oppression will not survive – but will protesters tear them down before Mother Nature does the job? THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: We hope you are doing okay out there. Here is how I feel this morning: [AD LIB]. And here’s what’s happening as of recording at [CURRENT TIME]. It seemed that everywhere across the US yesterday there were peaceful, powerful demonstrations calling for an end to police brutality, systemic racism, inequality, and injustice. And most places, it seemed, the authorities did not take kindly to these most basic demands. The police – and, in some places, the US military – responded to these acts of Constitutionally protected speech with horrifying violence and cruelty. Local news and activist videos suggested police reserved special mistreatment for blacks, Latinos, trans people, suspected anti-fascists, and other targeted groups first. But police attacks were also indiscriminate. Many it seemed were driven not only by their orders, which remain unclear, but by fear and paranoia. Disinformation abounded especially concerning outside agitators and threats to police. The tension was not helped by conflicting reports about what the US military was doing at the highest levels to support police violence. If you happen to know, please do share with the rest of us. The morning began in Washington, DC, with more soldiers bearing no insignia or name tags surrounding the Episcopal Diocese while clergy staged an event inside. Some of the secret forces were widely identified as Bureau of Prisons Special Operations unit from Texas, others were said to from National Guard and other agencies. Donald Trump denied he had retreated to a bunker earlier this week but his story was quickly debunked by the Washington Post, which reported that the Secret Service rushed him away after two protesters tipped a movable barricade outside the White House. False claims about acts of terrorism by protesters around the country, featuring images sourced from local police, were posted then removed from the official White House Twitter account. The Post reports the following states have sent or will send National Guard troops to DC: Utah, Ohio, South Carolina, Indiana, New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee. States that reportedly declined: Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Some Guard and active-duty soldiers were refusing to deploy against civilians and are instead joining the peaceful uprisings against police brutality and for black lives. Such scenes were shown on ABC News before a young protester told people to get their news online as she was effusively praised by the anchor. There were doubts about how long Defense Secretary Mark Esper would keep his job. The Joint Chiefs of Staff released a statement saying they were sworn to uphold the Constitution. A new ad by Joe Biden said QUOTE Donald Trump has turned our country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears. He thinks division helps him ENDQUOTE. Former President Barack Obama also released a video saying that your lives matter. And former Defense Secretary James Mattis also made a statement critical of the police and military crackdown. Outside the bunkers of the wealthy and powerful, thousands suffered senseless violence by authorities. The NYPD charged into crowds with batons, fired gas and committed other assaults. Disinformation abounded regarding the extent of police injuries and several police radios were reported missing. The FBI was paying visits to protesters and asking about anti- fascist sympathies. Civil rights groups advised people to say nothing and ask for a laywer. An inmate reportedly died after being pepper sprayed in the Metropolitan Detention Center. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said of Bill DeBlasio, QUOTE What happened to the mayor that ran on the blood and the tears of black lives? What happened to that man? He has disappeared ENDQUOTE. Three people were arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of terrorist acts intended to stoke a civil war. In Minnesota, all four cops seen lynching George Floyd on video were at last criminally charged. But the police chief has stopped responding to the press and called for backup when a reporter knocked on his door. In New Orleans, police reportedly gassed protesters on a freeway causing a stampede. In Iowa City, police tear-gassed a peaceful crowd and were seen to assault medics. An incident in Huntsville, Alabama, illustrated the current risk to journalists and demonstrators: local and state police fired on a peaceful crowd, and directly at a reporter, while anchors in studio cast the protesters as criminals. They are saying police had no choice but to do what they did. It is a lie. The ACLU of California demanded an end to curfews and First Amendment violations. Protesters in Oakland formed a white wall around black demonstrators to protect them from police. Diverse young people made powerful speeches for justice, peace, equality, and revolutionary change. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, in Vallejo, police shot dead a twenty-two- year-old man named Sean Monterrosa. They cops say he was looting. He was kneeling. Free Speech Threatened Internationally Outwide the US, the movement for justice spread rapidly. But the full extent of the reaction is uncertain and no doubt changing by the minute. A crowd of what appeared to be demonstrators torched the US Embassy in Athens, Greece, with molotov cocktails. There were also calmer rallies and demonstrations outside other American embassies, in solidarity with the oppressed, demanding justice and fundamental change. Not all developments were encouraging. The border standoff between India and China intensified, according to reports from both countries. Hong Kong media said the Chinese government was eager to test new weapons systems in the contested region with India. That conflict was also said to be playing out over social media. And on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Beijing reportedly imposed a new law in Hong Kong that banned mockery of the Chinese national anthem. Confederate Statue to Fall Wonders never cease. Scientists discovered the largest and oldest known monument built by the Mayan civilization in Mexico. It is called Aguada Fenix and they say it was built around one thousand years BC. It was discovered using survey lasers and if you can find a picture online it’s quite something to behold. And to think about. All over the world, monuments to colonial oppression are falling -- or at least being defaced. There may be armored vehicles on the streets of Virginia, USA, but Governor Ralph Northam announced plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, in Richmond. It is a start. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: How is the weather? There was a five point one magnitude earthquake outside Los Angeles as police attacked protesters in the streets. The Los Angeles Times reports there have been five quakes of magnitude three or greater in the past ten days near Ridgecrest. A tropical storm was headed for Mexico’s Gulf Coast of Campeche. state and may near US shores on Sunday. The official who devised Sweden’s hands-off pandemic strategy for coronavirus reportedly admitted he was wrong to do so. Global deaths due to COVID-19 passed 385,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than a third of those were in the US. The virus was also reported to be spreading fast and claiming lives in Brazil in record numbers. There was an online dust-up over another terrible New York Times opinion column yesterday. This time around, the social justice warriors were up in arms over a piece purportedly written by Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who called for the military to be deployed against civil rights protesters around the country. Cotton no doubt imagines he could be the next dictator. One wonders what his editors at the Times were thinking! The governor of Tokyo announced next year’s Olympic Games may need to be QUOTE simplified ENDQUOTE. What shall it be, then? Running? June 4, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Which story indeed: there are curfews in place and war crimes underway across America. The world is watching in horror as Donald Trump, Bill Barr, the Pentagon brass and an army of cops turn the arsenal of an empire against its citizens. Meanwhile, there were elections in a number of states yesterday. But Trump’s dictator act – not to mention corona – made a free and fair vote all but impossible. And lastly, do not forget, that justice will be won for George Floyd, his family, African- Americans, and all of the oppressed people in this country. In Minnesota, where the uprisings in Floyd’s name began, elected officials are now talking seriously about disbanding a corrupt police department – and a lot more. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: You may be hearing different things about what happened in the United States yesterday depending on where you live and who you are. Propaganda and disinformation abound -- and not just on social media. But here is what people in other countries are hearing about our situation. From The Guardian: Soldiers reportedly poised outside Washington as curfews set in. From the South China Morning Post, in Hong Kong: Protesters defy curfew in New York after Trump threatens crackdown. From Deutsche Welle: Germany urges press freedom at US protests. This is a serious problem – for you, us, everyone. Journalists, dissidents, and human rights advocates are at this moment being targeted by police, paramilitaries, and at least some of the armed forces. Hundreds have already been have arrested around the country. Hundreds more have been attacked without provocation. Government agents are committing war crimes on American soil -- and it is no secret, it is streamed and broadcast live around the world. At the same time top military commanders have announced they were unaware of developments unfolding around them. By all evidence the ruling Republican Party in cooperation with Donald Trump, organized crime, and a faction of the state security forces at the direction or influence of Attorney General Bill Barr. Mainstream press reports including by correspondents for national networks offered ample video evidence that the forces carrying out Trump’s crackdown have at times inflamed, exploited, and at times even stage-managed this crisis. A nationwide protest movement has in a matter of days led to a full-blown authoritarian crackdown by the executive branch. The integrity of the Congress and the judiciary is uncertain, as even federal court buildings have been seen filled with soldiers. Here is more of our latest information. As of yesterday, before curfew, there were at least 550 active protests in all fifty states. Arrests of demonstrators began on both coasts before the announced start of the curfew. Shown among the marches in Washington, DC, Massachussetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren told world press that Trump was QUOTE imposing violence on our people ENDQUOTE. The US Army’s Eighty-Second Airborne Division was deployed to Washington, DC from North Carolina – these were active- duty forces deployed against civilians, and armed with bayonets. Videos showed some soldiers mixing with crowds, and appearing ill at ease with their mission. Others, taking up riot formations, engaged in brutality. One resident reported his daughter picked up an unexploded police grenade that could have seriously injured her. Reporters spotted new secret police around DC who wear no insignia and who say only that they work for Barr’s Department of Justice. Barr granted the Drug Enforcement Agency extraordinary powers to surveil and arrest protesters, and Trump sought to federalize the DC police department. In New York City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, whose daughter was arrested and threatened by police yesterday, praised the police even as they attacked thousands of his constituents on Manhattan Bridge and around the city. Police even boasted over public radio channels about shooting protesters. In Portland, Oregon, protesters intentionally took a bridge and laid down in a show of passive resistance. But activists reported pre-curfew visits by police and they, along with journalists and the homeless, were gassed indiscriminately. In Los Angeles, police backed by soldiers dragged groups of people out of cars for no apparent reason. In Denver, one officer bragged on social media that the police were starting a riot. In Flordia and some other states, local law enforcement urged homeowners to take up arms to defend against any criminals who threaten their property. Across the country, mayors and Congressional representatives offered little in the way of substantive resistance. Even Republicans refused to comment on their own leaders’ violent and treasonous power grab. The alleged driver of a semi truck that plowed into a protest in Minnesota on Sunday night was released yesterday by the county attorney without charges being filed. Curfews Undermine Election Integrity There were primary elections in eight states and the District of Columbia. Joe Biden reportedly swept in most states with between sixty-one and eighty-five percent of the vote. Bernie Sanders, who suspended his campaign but also hoped to keep collecting delegates, did best in Rhode Island, with nearly thirty percent of the vote. He did worst in Marland with only six percent. In New Mexico, former Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame lost her bid for Congress to a progressive, Teresa Leger Fernandez. In Iowa, white nationalist Republican Representative Steve King lost his primary to Randy Feenstra. The results were a mixed bag for progressive candidates in Maryland, Montana, South Dakota, and DC, all of which also had elections scheduled for yesterday. But it is hard to imagine anyone, including professional election monitors from this country and other countries, ever accepting the results as legitimate. And here’s the thing. You would expect some questions about the quality of yesterday’s vote, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the miliitary and police curfews around the country, and widespread reports of voter intimidation and suppression by forces loyal to Trump. But that was only the beginning of the problems. The Washington Post reported that in several places, in-person voting was severly restricted as the number of polling locations were cut back. Complete results were not available. Some states said they won’t be ready until next week. Lines were long and voters reported feelings of intimidation and confusion around dates and deadlines. Minneapolis Politicians Consider Abolition As stark and frightening as the news has been, there are also many hopeful and heartening signs. In Minneapolis, where protests against the lynching of George Floyd by four city cops inspired the nationwide democratic uprisings, one ward representative spoke of dramatic changes that might have seemed impossible two weeks ago. The city’s Ward Three Representative, Steve Fletcher, said he was working with other members of the council to totally disband the MPD. From there the council could QUOTE start fresh with a community- oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach capacity ENDQUOTE. Fletcher also described how police had traditionally extorted councilmembers by allowing crime to increase in their districts as punishment for unfavorable votes, and by intimidating local business owners to lobby on the department’s behalf. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a civil rights lawsuit against the MPD. The state’s Human Rights Commissioner, Rebecca Lucero, joined the complaint. She told local TV their first goal was to negotiate a consent decree with the city. Then, courts could enforce it by issuing injunctions and unspecified financial penalties. In the meantime, the popular movement for justice for George Floyd continue to take positive action that is too often underreported. A group of protesters took over a former Sheraton Hotel in an area that reportedly saw theft, vandalism and arson. The building now houses two hundred people who were previously homeless, for free, and it’s managed by volunteers. We’ll see how that goes, but in the meantime, at least people are not in the street, or more likely in this new age of arbitrary curfews, in jail. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The World Health Organization funded a major new study that suggests the US Centers for Disease Control has been dangerously compromised by Trump’s personal interests. The journal Lancet published an analysis, funded by the WHO, of one-hundred and seventy-two different studies about the effectiveness of N95 respirator masks, versus ordinary surgical masks, to protect against the coronavirus. The New York Times says the new study confirms what scientists were already saying about the importance of medical personnel and other high-risk workers actually having N95 masks to wear. Police seem to have plenty available! When financial markets reopened this week, Goldman Sachs bet against the US dollar. Goldman, which looted the Treasury so thoroughly in 2008, has now established short positions on the value of the dollar. The details are complicated, but the upshot is that the more expensive and difficult things get for you as the economy suffers under Trumpism, the more Goldman wins. A rare cyclone headed for Mumbai last night had prompted tens of thousands to evacuate the city on India’s west coast. According to the BBC, it would be the first major cyclone to hit the city in over a century. The Indian Meterological Department was calling it a severe cyclonic storm. The poor will suffer worst and the government is no help. Two weeks ago another cyclone hit the east coast of India, and Bangladesh. Banking regulators in New York have been carrying out a secret investigation of Donald Trump’s lender of last resort, Deutsche Bank. But the investigation reported by The New York Times yesterday is not like other investigations into the bank’s ties to Trump. It involves Deutsche Bank’s relationship with the well-connected serial sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison last year. The state Department of Financial Services wants to know why the bank kept doing business with Epstein after employees raised concerns about his transactions with federal regulators. Unclear if they’ve tried asking Bill Barr, but he is pretty busy right now. June 3, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Mass protests against police brutality continued across the country on Monday night, as Donald Trump ordered State governors to quote “dominate” protesters and seek retribution, threatened to invoke the insurrection act, and tear-gassed peaceful protestors so he could do a photo op. Meanwhile, a private autopsy confirms what everyone who’s seen the traumatic video of George Floyd’s death could tell: asphyxiation was at least part of the reason he died. And lastly, two spots of progress throughout the chaos: The police chief in Lousiville, Kentucky has been fired after it was revealed that two of his officers who murdered a store owner early Monday morning did not have their body cameras on. And in New York, lawmakers are already moving to repeal a law that shields police disciplinary records from the public. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The gloves are off and Donald Trump is out for blood. In a call with state Governors today, Trump was unhinged, raving that protestors were quote “going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks.” endquote. He followed quote: “Someone throwing a rock is like shooting a gun. You have to do retribution. You have to arrest people, and you have to try people, and they have to go jail for long periods of time.” Bear in mind, this is coming from a guy who is deeply, deeply scared. Earlier on Monday, Trump tear-gassed a group of peaceful protestors near the White House so he could walk to St. James Cathedral and hold up a bible in the air. Literally, that’s all he did -- wandered over and held up a bible. At one of his deranged press conferences later Monday, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection act, which would allow him to deploy active duty troops to inflict further violence on protestors. That hasn’t happened since the 1992 Rodney King riots in L.A. Even mayors and governors in the blue states are cracking down in support of the police. L.A. moved up its curfew to the absurd hour of 1pm on Monday, and NYC instituted an 11pm curfew despite plans for mass demonstrations. Autopsy Confirms Floyd Was Suffocated A private autopsy ordered by the family of George Floyd indicates what all of us pretty much already knew: he suffocated to death at the hands of police. Dr. Allecia M. Wilson of the University of Michigan and Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, found that Floyd died both from the knee on his neck and the other officers compressing his lungs as they held him down. A lawyer for the family said: QUOTE: “Not only was the knee on George’s neck a cause of his death, but so was the weight of the other two police officers on his back, who not only prevented blood flow into his brain but also air flow into his lungs,” ENDQUOTE. This appears to fit with recently uncovered security footage that shows other angles of the arrest. The New York Times published a video investigation of the event that in one image shows another officer, obscured from sight in the main video, also pressing on Floyd’s back while Derek Chauvin held him down. So far, Chauvin is the only one who’s been arrested, although the three other officers clearly contributed to his murder. And even their chief isn’t denying it -- in an interview on CNN on Sunday, MPD chief Medaria Arradondo said that Floyd might not Louisville Chief Out, NY Law on Chopping Block Progress on police brutality has been slow to say the least, but the recent round of protests appears to be moving the needle ever so slightly. Or, at least acknowledging that there is a needle? We’ll take what we can get. In New York, lawmakers are reportedly flirting with the idea of getting rid of a longstanding state law called 50-a, which hields police personnel records from public view. It’s absurd that these anti-transparency measures are even on the books in the first place, so getting them out of here would be a huge step for some semblance of justice, and good precedent for other states. The other bright point is in Kentucky, where the Lousiville police chief has been summarily ejected for his enabling of a reckless and violent department, particularly in the case of a shop owner killed by police early on Monday morning. Chief Steve Conrad probably will never face charges, but it’s good to see a head rolling at the highest level. Two of his officers shot a business owner in the wee hours of Monday morning, and did not have their body cameras on, a serious breach of policy. The killers have been placed on Administrative leave, so we can only hope they face some actual consequences as well. We’ll either look back on these steps as the first inklings that things were getting better, or as a false hope of progress in an increasingly authoritarian state. Time will tell. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A new watchdog report found that the IRS has neglected to audit a large portion of rich people who haven’t filed tax returns, which means the government is missing out on billions of dollars in revenue. In other words, the government can’t even bring itself to enforce the pitiful amount of taxes it’s supposed to collect from the rich. Great going. Facebook employees organized a virtual walkout on Monday, taking the day off from work to protest Mark Zuckerberg’s complete inaction on moderating Donald Trump’s violent posts. It’s the first walkout in Facebook’s history. A white nationalist group got caught posing as Antifa on twitter. According to NBC news, the white nationalist group Identity Evropa [EUROPA] posed as a national antifa group in order to incite violence. This is an old tactic, and one that usually fails almost immediately, and this time was no different. A federal judge denied a right-wing group’s request to block the use of absentee mail-in ballots in Virginia, handing a major victory to voting rights groups. If the law holds against future challenges, it’ll mean that anyone in Virginia can use an absentee ballot without needing an excuse, effectively legalizing vote-by-mail. May 27, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Massive protests against police brutality swept across the country this weekend, and in almost every major city the police responded with disproportionate, indiscriminate violence, attacking protestors, bystanders and journalists almost every weapon in their arsenal save for live rounds. Meanwhile, Donald Trump declares Antifa a terrorist organization, making it the official position of the U.S. government that fighting fascism is an illegal act. That would make them the fascists, then. And lastly, Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. is terminating ties with the World Health Organization, as the worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus approaches 375,000. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The police are out of control. In almost every major city in America, widespread protests broke out on Friday night and continued through the weekend in response to the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of the police. Local police in nearly every city responded with indiscriminate violence, taking their cues from the bloodthirsty cops in Minneapolis. In New York, police pepper sprayed crowds at Brooklyn’s Barclays center on Friday night and beat protesters in the street, setting off multiple clashes throughout the city that continued on Saturday and Sunday nights. Protesters burned multiple police vehicles, but came off far worse in the clashes, as cops rammed them with cars, beat them with clubs, and arrested hundreds. Mayor and failed Presidential candidate Bill de Blasio’s own daughter was arrested with the protestors, which didn’t stophim from siding with the cops in a public statement. Speaking of an incident in which the NYPD rammed protestors with cars, he said quote: “If those protestors had just gotten out of the way we wouldn’t be talking about this situation.” ENDQUOTE. In Louisville, seven people were shot during the first night of widespread protests on Friday, though no one was killed. Police claim they weren’t behind the shootings. Demonstrations in Dallas saw chaos as well, as a man rushed protesters with a machete. In Salt Lake City, a man with a bow and arrow tried to shoot at protesters, who then burnt his car. And in Minneapolis, a tanker truck tried to ram through protesters occupying a highway. Throughout it all, the police continued an all-out offensive on both demonstrators and the press, firing rubber bullets and pepper balls directly at journalists in multiple cities. So where’s our leadership? Well, in Washington D.C., protesters set fires near the White House on Saturday night, forcing the Secret Service to turn off the building’s exterior lights and fire tear gas at protesters. Meanwhile, Donald Trump hid in the underground bunker reserved for terrorist attacks. Joe Biden is largely silent, and many of the country’s governors or mayors are convinced the protests are being fueled by quote “outside agitators,” because they’re desperate for any excuse to not examine their own failures. The police are the only ones in power, and they’re just using it to inflict pain. Trump Names ANTIFA Terrorists While hidden in his bunker below the White House with all the lights off on Sunday, Trump tweeted that the U.S. government would be quote: “designating ANTIFA as a terrorist organization.” Endquote. The wording here is important, mostly because it doesn’t mean anything legally -- the United States doesn’t have a domestic terrorism statute, so it can’t designate a homegrown group as a terrorist organization. It also doesn’t mean anything because ANTIFA just stands for anti-fascist -- it’s not one organization or group. It’s more of a shared ideology and commitment to direct action against fascists. The proclamation comes hand in hand with the government’s insistence that much of the protesting has been inspired by outside agitators, a conspiracy that NBC News found had little bearing in fact. But try telling that to Trump. It’s clear from this tweet that the president is paving the way to start cracking down on organized leftism, and scapegoating a familiar conservative media boogeyman at the same time -- which will surely be weaponized as protests continue across the country. If Anti-fascists are considered terrorists, the U.S. might as well up and change the stars on its flag to a different symbol. U.S. Cuts Ties to WHO And lastly, even outside of the massive crisis of police violence, Trump’s government continues its slow erosion of every international norm we’ve ever worked to build. On Friday, Trump announced that the U.S. would be terminating all ties to the World Health Organization, putting the cap on a months-long campaign to malign the international organization and deflect blame for his own abysmal leadership. We’re just a few thousand deaths away from 375,000 worldwide. More than a quarter of those -- over 100,000 -- are in the U.S. There’s no way that’s the WHO’s fault, but Trump is grasping at straws and willing to drag the world down with him. The U.S. provided $893 million to the WHO in 2018 and 2019. Hopefully, Trump won’t be in office long enough to really blow out the organization’s budget, but there’s no way around it: the U.S. cutting off the WHO will be disastrous for global public health. Fortunately, it’s not like we’re in any kind of massive pandemic that’s expected to keep happening as new diseases arise. Oh wait AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The New York Times has a new exhaustive video breaking down the moments of George Floyd’s death, which adds much needed context to the traffic stop that led to his murder, thanks to security camera and other witness videos that show how the police breached their own policy multiple times. Protesters lit fires in the Daughters of the Confederacy building in Richmond, and defaced a statue of Robert E. Lee while they were at it. Couldn’t have happened to two nicer and more important parts of our country’s heritage, could it. A new Washington Post and ABC News poll shows Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump by 10 percent, 53 to 43 percent, as the president’s approval rating continues to drop during the pandemic. That said, there’s still a long way to go until November. Democratic incumbents are massively out-raising Republicans in key House races coming up in November, and the GOP is pretty worried that it’s losing any shot of taking back the House. Money in politics may be a fundamentally broken game, but hey, at least the slightly-less-bad party is winning? That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon. June 1, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Minneapolis authorities again refused to hold local police accountable for the gruesome videotaped killing of a helpless man, a racist act of cruelty and impunity that has shocked the world. Instead of justice for the victims of police violence, they sent in the National Guard to clamp down on protests, which escalated as a result of the failures of accountability. Meanwhile, Donald Trump managed to attack the First Amendment as well as the legislative powers of Congress with a single executive order yesterday. He’s mad that Twitter tagged a correction on one of his dangerous lies this week, and he wants to intimidate his critics. And lastly, civil liberties groups are suing a company that sells powerful facial recognition tools to police. They hope the courts can avert a privacy-ending nightmare scenario and put Clearview A.I. out of business. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Minneapolis uprising continued for a third night. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, called in the National Guard after groups of angry protesters faced off with police around the city. Fires again broke out around – and, last night, amazingly, even inside -- the city’s Third Precinct station. News videos showed police driving near crowds and spraying chemical agents indiscriminately. Solidarity protests sprung up in cities around the country to demand justice for George Floyd, the middle-aged black man slowly suffocated by a white officers while on camera, in a grisly mirror image of civil rights activists taking a knee. Some of those also turned violent – again, with the most egregious violence directed at those demanding justice. In Denver, Colorado, an SUV driver appeared to deliberately turn around to run over a protester. Federal authorities said their criminal investigation into Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police was a top Justice Department priority. The American Civil Liberties Union called for the state attorney general to appoint an independent prosecutor. The county district attorney gave a flustered press conference that failed to explain his decision not to prosecute. Even some police chiefs and unions expressed outrage and disgust over the conduct of the Minneapolis officers. Chiefs in Houston, Miami, Tuscon, and Los Angeles, and unions in the Bay Area, issued statements supporting the immediate firing of the four officers involved in Floyd’s killing. But if local protests and online reactions are anything to go by, they also struggled to convince people that the police were not themselves a leading threat to public safety. The University of Minnesota said it would cut ties to the MPD after Floyd’s killing. Various news outlets reported on the lengthy miscoduct record of officer Derek Chauvin, who killed Floyd. A man who was shot in his home by Chauvin during a domestic violence call twelve years ago told the Daily Beast the killer cop got a slap on the wrist. He added that if Chauvin was reprimanded after the shooting, George Floyd would still be alive. It also emerged that Senator Amy Klobuchar – now being vetted by Joe Biden’s campaign as a possible vice presidential pick -- declined to prosecute Chauvin for shooting a Native American man in 2011, when she was a prosecutor in Minneapolis. TMZ reported that the seventeen-year-old girl who filmed Floyd’s killing was being hounded by vicious online trolls who questioned her motives. And what’s even worse than the compounded trauma is knowing that there is no public agency her family can trust to ensure their safety. And the same may be true for the entire community. Trump Targets Online Critics Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday intended to punish Twitter for posting a disclaimer on one of his more egregious recent lies -- and potentially opening up critics of the president to libel claims. After Trump posted tweets earlier this week claiming the next election would be rigged by his enemies, Twitter decided enough was enough and posted a disclaimer to the president’s lies about mail-in voting, as a responsible news organization might have done in the age before social media. Trump responded by accusing the company of election interference and vowing retribution, which he delivered yesterday with the stroke of a pen. Trump’s order seeks to override a law passed by Congress in 1996 giving widespread immunity to tech companies for content posted by users. The provision, known as Section 230, has always had critics from across the political spectrum. However, Trump is attempting here to brazenly rewrite the laws without regard to Constitutional processes – and he’s doing it to directly attack the First Amendment. All the while, he’s the one crying censorship. Yesterday, Trump claimed there's nothing he’d rather do than get rid of his Twitter account. Yeah, sure. Without Twitter, he could not have so easily shared a video featuring the message, QUOTE the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat ENDQUOTE. As he did yesterday, at the stroke of midnight. Without Twitter, he’d have to have called a press conference. Or bought an ad. And then people might see that he was not really joking. Facial Recognition Contractor Sued The ACLU filed a lawsuit yesterday against one of the most disturbing tech companies around, which sells facial recognition software to police departments. Calling the company, Clearview A.I., the embodiment of a nightmare scenario, the civil liberties suit claims it also violated state law in Illinois. Companies doing business there are forbidden from using people’s fingerprints or face scans without consent. But this is exactly Clearview’s business model. They reportedly scraped the internet for more than three billion photos, then used them to build the company’s facial recognition database. They make money by renting the database out to law enforcement – but also to pretty much anyone who’s willing to pay. There are concerns that pretty sketchy customers have made use of this company’s services. And there are concerns that employees and insiders have improper access to law enforcement investigations as they are happening. ACLU laywer Nathan Freed Wessler told The New York Times that if left unchecked, Clearview’s product will end privacy as we know it. And this is the outcome the lawsuit seeks to prevent. The law firm that helped in the preparation of the case, Edelson PC, has won previous class action suits against tech companies over privacy violations. For instance, they won a $550 million settlement from Facebook over facial recognition technology, and that was also in Illinois. Here’s hoping they drive put this monstrosity out of business for good. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Another week’s jobless claims offered no new hope for averting a Greater Depression. Another 2.1 million people, at least, filed for unemployment, bringing the total to 40 million out of work since mid-March. That means one in four American workers has lost their job in the pandemic. At least! And so far. A rare case of real-life vote-by-mail fraud was reported yesterday. But it’s not the kind of fable you hear from Republicans in election years. Prosecutors in West Virginia charged a postal carrier, Thomas Cooper, with attempted election fraud after altering eight people’s ballot requests. On five of the ballot requests he handled, Cooper allegedly changed their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. In an affidavit, prosecutors say he at first denied then later admitted to altering the voters’ preference – as a joke. Yet another reason as Harry Shearer says to leave comedy to the professionals. The progressive British news site OpenDemocracy reported yesterday that the US State Department is funding a fake news site in Armenia that is spreading disinformation about the coronavirus. The website in question is part of a network of far-right propaganda sites that sprung up after the so-called velvet revolution there two years ago. It received $50,000 from the department’s Democracy Commission Small Grants program. Lately it has been urging Armenians to refuse any future vaccination for the coronavirus, described it as a fake pandemic, and claimed victimes families were being bribed to blame the pandemic. The State Department declined to comment on its funding for the propaganda site. Vanity Fair reported this week that the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, Stephen Hahn, made a personal effort to help an obscure upstate New York doctor promote a bogus miracle treatment for COVID-19 favored by Trump. Hahn personally called Doctor Vladimir Zelenko to ask how he could help. The doctor responded with a demand for thousands of pills including hydroxychloroquine. Initially baffled, Hahn ensured Zelenko got everything he needed from the federal stockpile. Hey, we found the looters! That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. May 29, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Multiple crises are unfolding with China as the country engages in a border standoff with India and cracks down on protests in the streets of Hong Kong. And Donald Trump’s government seems determined to make the most of the situation. Meanwhile, one-hundred thousand Americans, per the official figures, have now died from COVID-19. As cases climb, why are Democratic governors reopening their states? And lastly, demands for accountability grew in what Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called a police murder in Minneapolis. Protesters there took over a police station last night in a show of outrage over the killing by suffocation of an unarmed black man, George Floyd. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: As of yesterday at least three-hundred and sixty people had been arrested in resurgent protests in Hong Kong. The central government in Beijing passed a new law restricting speech, assembly, and political autonomy for the former British colony. Beijing says the law is necessary to counter foreign interference. And however the US was already mixed up in the Hong Kong protests, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday threw gas on the fire. Pompeo sent a notice to Congress saying Hong Kong should no longer be considered autonomous. This is a prelude to diplomatic escalation. We could see more trade restrictions like higher tariffs and sanctions on Chinese officials. We could see visa restrictions. We could see more than that, depending. Pompeo’s counterpart, Chinese foreign minister Zhao Lijian, said the country would QUOTE take necessary measures to fight back ENDQUOTE against the US. However the diplomacy plays out, it’s not a good time for the people of Hong Kong. Beijing has ordered thousands of armed police into the streets. They’ve shot pepper spray into crowds and are rounding up and detaining dissidents and students – again. At the same time, China is engaged in a simultaneous border dispute with India. Both countries are sending large numbers of troops to a contested area in the Himalayas. Each has claims about why the other made them do it. Yesterday Trump said he would be willing to mediate the border dispute. As though anyone asked. China certainly wouldn’t see him as an honest broker. America’s relations with its largest trading partner keep getting worse under Trump. And this is no accident. He needs a great big scapegoat to distract from his failure to protect Americans from the coronavirus. And what bigger scapegoat could there be than the world’s most populous country? 100,000 US Coronavirus Deaths The official pandemic death toll in the US passed one-hundred thousand yesterday. More people have died in this country from COVID-19 than any other in the world. And that’s entirely because of the failures of our government, mainly in the White House but to some degree at every level. Experts have reminded the public that those numbers are too low for a variety of reasons, from statistical manipulations to lack of testing and reliability problems with the tests themselves. Cases continue to rise as states reopen. California has become one of four states – after New York, New Jersey, and Illinois – to report a hundred-thousand corona cases. And state health officials there took the opportunity to deliver a grim warning: we are reopening too quickly. As public health officer for Santa Clara County, Doctor Sara Cody led the campaign for a shelter-in-place order in the San Francisco Bay Area. That March 16 decision was one of the earliest lockdown orders in the country, and became the model for similar orders elsewhere. But now Governor Gavin Newsom is letting some counties reopen, and Cody says this will lead to a surge in cases. She says politicians need to wait for at least fourteen days after lifting restrictions to see if new cases subside. But American politicians aren’t heeding this advice. Instead they’re listening to business owners who want their workers to ignore the risk and don’t want to pay taxes to subsidize their wages during the pandemic. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area has a coronavirus death rate of six per one hundred thousand residents. In New York, by contrast, the virus has killed one-hundred and forty nine people for every hundred-thousand residents. That’s because Newsom listened to Cody before. Government action matters. And what good work has been done to save lives in spite of Donald Trump could be undone because Democratic governors got scared about keeping campaign donors happy. Rioters Occupy Minneapolis Precinct The chorus demanding accountability in the police killing of George Floyd is getting louder. Yesterday the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey; Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar; and Governor Tim Walz all added their voices. Mayor Frey said the county attorney should bring charges against the arresting officer, Derek Chauvin. Videos showed Chauvin suffocating Floyd with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes as other officers look on. Representative Omar said the officer who killed Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man recently laid off from his job at a restaurant, should be charged with murder. Someone had called the police on Floyd, claiming he passed a counterfit $20 bill. Yesterday the Minneapolis police department fired four officers involved in Floyd’s killing. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation was reportedly investigating. But none of this was enough to quell growing public disgust with police violence against black and brown people. Protests continued for a second night in Minneapolis. With riots ongoing, Governor Walz said QUOTE our feelings of anger, anguish, and disillusionment are justified ENDQUOTE. Police once again shot tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds indiscriminately. Angry locals took over a Target, an Arby’s, and a Dollar Tree. They also took over a police station, which is not something you see every day. A diverse assemblage of rioters threw bricks and broke windows at the city’s Third Precinct station, where the officers who killed Floyd were based. As night began to fall some got inside and took over the building. At last report, police were still dealing with that situation and with arsons in the immediate area. In Los Angeles, Black Lives Matters protesters demanding for justice for Floyd’s murder shut down the one-oh-one freeway. A California Highway Patrol car drove through a crowd. Video shows a crowd surrounded the state police vehicle on the freeway. It then accelerated after several people were already on the hood. At least one person was injured. It’s hard to miss the contrast in the police response, compared to the recent armed takeovers of multiple state capitols by white, Trump-supporting organized fascist groups. There was no official count of arrests, so you can credit the Chinese Communist Party with more transparency than some American police departments. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Anthony Fauci is now the first Trump official to clearly say that the president’s favorite miracle cure does not work. The federal infectious diseases director went on CNN last night and said the evidence against hydroxy as a COVID treatment was becoming clear. France this week banned the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. The World Health Organization also paused trials. Now it’s going to be a big scandal that an American official dared tell the truth. Just because one corrupt idiot took has a personal interest in the matter. A new book by two young conservative journalists claims Bill Clinton was having an affair with Ghislaine Maxwell, alleged accomplice to the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The book, A Convenient Death, will be published by Penguin Random House, so a libel lawyer at least looked at the claim. The source was reported to be someone who QUOTE witnessed the relationship ENDQUOTE. This was all reported by the New York Post yesterday and the book comes out on June 2, so expect a Trump tweet around then. Police in Brazil raided more than two dozen key online boosters of the president, Jair Bolsonaro. The president’s son Carlos is reported to be a key figure in a well-funded propaganda ring being used to attack political opponents and intimidate dissidents. Opposition politicians praised the move but the regime said it was the victim of a leftwing attack. Several pro-Bolsonaro lawmakers were targeted in the police raids, along with political operatives, at least one far-right blogger and a real-estate tycoon. Trump’s new campaign chief of staff had one big qualification, it turns out: in 2016, she was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate state election laws. Business Insider broke the story last night. The campaign official, Stephanie Alexander, got promoted on Tuesday from her previous job . The charges were dropped without explanation in 2017, to the dismay of investigators. Alexander allegedly participated in a scheme to conceal dark- money donations. The crime was discovered through text messages after her Republcian operative boyfriend got busted for cocaine. May 28, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in a horrific incident captured on video Monday night, which shows an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he struggles to breathe. Widespread protests broke out across the Twin Cities on Tuesday night, which law enforcement responded to with more violence, firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Meanwhile, Amazon’s high-powered PR unit sent around a pre-prepared script and news package to local stations across the country -- and at least 11 of them fell for it, airing the uncritical segment just as the company wanted it. And lastly, President Trump launches into the conspiracy theory that MSNBC Host Joe Scarborogh killed a staff member while he was a Congressman, and Twitter made the weakest possible response, despite the pleas of the staffer’s surviving husband. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Twin Cities area of Minnesota erupted on Tuesday night following the tragic killing of an unarmed black man by police the previous day. On Monday night, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for several minutes, all of which were captured on video by a bystander. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Chauvin had previously been involved in multiple shootings over his 19-year career, wounding a suspect in one. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said on Tuesday afternoon that Chauvin and other three officers who were on scene for Floyd’s death had been fired. But that action didn’t stop massive protests breaking out across the Twin Cities area, as thousands took to the streets to call for justice. The cops, however, reacted about how you’d expect: meeting protestors with force, firing rubber bullets, marking rounds and tear gas into crowds that battled them for hours in the rain. Floyd’s death was one of the most brutal captured on tape. In the video, Chauvin kneels directly on Floyd’s neck for an extended period of time while Floyd and several onlookers plead for Chauvin to release the pressure. Floyd eventually passes out, after saying quote “I can’t breathe, they’re going to kill me.” endquote. He was pronounced dead in the hospital. Mayor Frey said he had originally been stopped on suspicion of forgery. That’s all it took for the police to murder him in broad daylight. Local News Parrots Amazon PR Amazon’s PR machine has kicked into overdrive during the coronavirus crisis, in large part due to the fact that it has fired organizers within its ranks left and right while neglecting its already oppressed workforce. While diligent reporting by Vice News, the New York Times and others has held Amazon’s feet to the fire, other outlets… aren’t doing so great. On Sunday, Amazon sent around a prepared news segment specifically crafted to show the company in the best possible light. Most reporters, like Zach Rael at Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate KOCO, who first publicized the pitch on Twitter, brushed it off. Rael, for example, instead asked Amazon to let journalists into the facility to do a story for themselves. But reporting by Courier Newsroom found that at least 11 stations around the country fell for the obvious PR job and ran the story exactly as Amazon scripted it, with anchors repeating the spokesperson-provided lines verbatim. The story is a troubling reminder of what our media could look like if corporations are allowed to completely control the conversation. There’s already a shortage of critical reporting in the country, and even the best-funded outlets often fall in line with what’s comfortable for the various powers that be. It’s just usually not this obvious. Twitter Delivers Weak Rebuke of Trump A strange, chaotic news day wouldn’t be complete without the president spreading conspiracies and lies online -- and it looks like Twitter, his platform of choice, isn’t willing to do much to stop him. On Tuesday, Trump again tweeted several references to the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, a congressional staffer for then-Representative Joe Scarborough. Trump and Scarborough have been feuding over the usual petty cable news crap for months, and recently the president has decided to bring up the popular conspiracy that Scarborough was involved in Klausutis’s death. In a letter published in the New York Times, Klausutis’s husband plead for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to delete Trump’s tweets about the conspiracy. In response, a company spokesperson mustered up a pitiful response, expressing some token sympathy and saying QUOTE: “We’ve been working to expand existing product features and policies so we can more effectively address things like this going forward.” That means effectively nothing, obviously, but the company did take one concrete step. Late into Tuesday afternoon, it attached two advisory tags to Trump’s tweets -- not the ones about Kausutis, but instead Trump’s lies about vote by mail. The tags merely redirect users to Twitter’s news page for vote-by-mail stories and urge them to “get the facts.” Great job everyone, they fixed it. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The white woman who attempted to call police on a black man birdwatching in Central Park has been fired from her job at the investment bank Franklin Templeton. The woman, Amy Cooper, implied that she would use the police to inflict violence on the birdwatcher, repeatedly mentioning to the operator that he was “African American.” The altercation started after the man asked her to leash her dog. Four Uber and Lyft drivers in New York filed suit with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, arguing that the state had failed to provide drivers with unemployment benefits. A 2018 decision ruled app-based drivers should be classified as employees and eligible for unemployment, but the drivers say the state is failing to process their claims quick enough to help them pay the bills. Congress’s pandemic EBT program, an emergency relief measure intended lessen child hunger during the pandemic, is way behind schedule and application, according to the New York Times. Congress approved the act in Mid March -- in Mid May, the Times reports only 15 percent of the kids it was supposed to feed are getting what they need. And finally, the Trump Justice Department is closing insider trading investigations into three U.S. senators previously caught trading stock they may have had advance tips on due to their position on Congressional committees. The only one still under investigation is GOP Senator Richard Burr, the former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- but the other three appear to be getting off scott free. Funny how that works! That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Catch the full show this afternoon. May 27, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Republicans have declared all-out war on vote-by-mail, suing the California government over its plans to mail out a ballot for the November general election to every voter. This is the hill they’re going to die on, so be ready. Meanwhile, Trump’s decision last month to declare meatpacking plants part of the country’s critical infrastructure is having predictable consequences, as the virus rips through massive factories that are failing to track the number of sick employees. And lastly, in a deranged demonstration started by gun rights activists in Kentucky, protestors hung an effigy of Governor Andy Beshear in front of the state capitol building, lashing out against the Democratic leader’s public health measures. Very normal country we’ve got here! THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Every election cycle, the Republican party does whatever it possibly can to suppress voting, particularly among demographics it can’t win. The reason for this is simple: Democrats have the numbers, and Republicans know the only way they can win nationally is to keep turnout low and hope to squeak by in the electoral college. This year, it’s now clear what their main attack will be: voting by mail. On Sunday, the Republican National Committee filed suit against the state of California to stop its government from distributing vote-by-mail ballots to ever voter in the state for the November election. The Republican argument is that voting by mail quote “invites fraud” endquote. There’s no evidence that vote-by-mail or voting in general invites fraud, but that’s what they’re going with. According to CNN, the GOP is spending more than $20 million on various attempts to block vote-by-mail nationwide. This lawsuit is aimed at California, but as every state prepares to figure out how to administer the November election and mitigate the risks of COVID-19, we’re bound to see many more battles like this along the way -- so keep an eye on California to see if the GOP’s lawsuit makes it anywhere in the courts. COVID Grinds Through Meatpacking Plants In the month since Trump declared America’s meatpacking plants part of the country’s critical industry, things have only gotten worse for the working people on the line. The New York Times reports that hundreds of meatpacking plants across the country are being tight-lipped about their coronavirus cases, refusing to publish the number of employees who have fallen ill. State and local officials also won’t give or don’t have the data. The CDC estimates that at least 5,000 meatpacking workers across the country have gotten the disease, but last week one nonprofit estimated that there could be as many as 17,000 cases in the industry. The fact that the big corporations are keeping mum about the stats doesn’t look good, because it only benefits them to keep things quiet. As more and more workers get sick, it could cause the shortages that keeping the plants open was supposed to prevent -- one study estimated supply drops of 35 percent and price increases for whatever’s left. To give you an idea of what the government thinks of all this, on CNN on Monday Kevin Hassett, a senior economic advisor to the president, said quote “Our human Capital stock is ready to get back to work,” endquote. That’s right -- he referred to the people putting their lives on the line in the same terms as the animals they butcher. That about says it all. Protestors Hang Beshear Effigy The ill-advised protests against public health measures reached a new, surreal height in Kentucky on Sunday, when a group of gun-rights protestors got agitated about Governor Andy Beshear’s policies and decided to hang him in effigy. The protestors strung up a stuffed dummy with a picture of Beshear’s face on it in a tree on the Capitol lawn. A freelance journalist, Gary Seavo James, got the whole thing on video. He told CNN that the effigy was a final extreme act even though many people had already left the protest, calling it quote “chilling.” Beshear has been relatively evenhanded in his approach to public health, relaxing restrictions on his state very gradually compared to some of his fellow governors in the midwest and south. The protests against these measures are limited -- polling shows that these are mostly a very loud minority. But hanging Beshear in effigy is a good signifier of the level these people are playing on -- their goal is to polarize and further inflame the discourse around the issue in the hopes of forcing more people to take a side. Seeing as the president appears to be mostly on their side, it could work -- which makes it all the more important for the rest of us to stay the sane and rational course of maintaining social distance and not toting guns around government buildings. Big ask, I know, but that’s not the move right now. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The first of two oil tankers from Iran has arrived in Venezuela to alleviate the country’s dire gas shortage, brought on both by the dysfunction of the authoritarian Maduro regime and crippling U.S. sanctions on the country, which have largely harmed its civilian population. The move was strongly opposed by the Trump administration, which has pushed to further cripple or even overthrow Maduro’s government, pushing Venezuela even closer to Iran. Progressive influencer Shaun King’s strange money troubles continue to mount -- after raising a significant subscriber base bringing in up to $1.5 million a year, King’s latest venture into journalism has failed to materialize, according to a new report by the Daily Beast. The project, called the North Star, has largely fallen apart, according to more than half a dozen former staffers, who called King, in so many words, an incompetent control freak. Joe Biden made his first public appearance in an unannounced visit to a veterans park near his home in Delaware, where he and his wife Jill placed a commemorative wreath. Both wore masks, which quickly inspired a truly dumb take by Fox News analyst Brit Hume, who implied that Biden looked stupid in the mask. Got him! And finally, a royal commission in Australia found that the summer of devastating brushfires caused an estimated 445 deaths and hospitalized 4,000. The deaths are more than four times the country’s death toll from coronavirus to date, highlighting how dire the climate crisis is outside of the pandemic currently dominating headlines. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon. #AMQuickie - May 26, 2020 HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. are approaching 100,000, as experts warn of a second wave sweeping the country and the President responds by banning travel from Brazil, and pretty much nothing else. Meanwhile, in Florida, a federal judge delivered a massive victory for voting rights, ruling a draconian, racist law that forced felons to pay fines in order to vote unconstitutional. And lastly, Joe Biden went on the Breakfast Club, a hugely-popular, nationally-syndicated radio program, and you’ll never guess what happens next. Spoilers: he said something cartoonishly stupid and racist. In that respect, he’s truly a match for Trump. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The U.S. is about to reach a grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic -- 100,000 deaths. The number is staggering in its own right, especially as it didn’t have to be this way. Trump’s latest action on Saturday was to ban travel from Brazil, citing the fact that it had the third highest number of cases in the world -- and ignoring the fact that the U.S. is already number one in the world. The president then spent the rest of the weekend playing golf and throwing tantrums on Twitter, as usual, rambling about Obamagate, mail-in ballots, and Hillary Clinton. Let’s take a look at the few words he’s said lately that matter: Trump insisted last Thursday that he won’t shut the country down again, even though experts worry that we’re going to see a second wave of the virus -- or just a perpetual continuation of the first wave -- as states start to re-open. Lockdown orders are usually the purview of state governors, of course, but what Trump is signaling here is that he’ll likely give flak to any governor who tries to crack down on the virus if things start to get out of hand. And we’re already seeing some distressing trends across the country: the Washington Post reports that the disease is already starting to surge in rural areas even as it slowly wanes in major metropolitan areas like New York City. We’re still at the beginning of a long fight, and the President and his ilk are doing everything they can to pretend that they’ve already won. Voting Rights Victory for Florida Felons On Sunday, a federal judge resoundly struck down one of Florida’s worst voting laws, and singlehandedly paved the way for thousands of felons to reclaim their right to vote. The fact that many federal prisoners -- people who are literally wards of the State -- cannot vote is a peculiar injustice in American society. But even those states that allow felons to reclaim their right to vote often impose restrictions or further punishments on citizens after they get out. In 2018, Republicans in Florida passed a restriction that said felons have to pay any and all court fees or fines they’re responsible for to get back their right to vote. Judge Robert L. Hinkle, who presides over a district court in Tallahassee, wrote that imposing this condition creates quote “a tax by any other name,” endquote on these citizens’ right to vote. The implications of this are huge -- the 2018 fine rule was itself an attempt by Florida Republicans to keep felons from voting, even after the state gave them back their right to vote through an Amendment that year. This was a sneaky way to do it, as few voters knew that every felon also gets slapped with hundreds of dollars in fines and fees as their case goes through the court. But fortunately, Judge Hinkle saw through the obvious injustice at play here. And now thousands of prospective voters may be back on the rolls, and likely not very predisposed to vote for the party that stripped them of their right in the first place. Biden Decides Who's Black And now, let’s check in on the Joe Biden campaign. On Friday morning, Biden himself stopped by the Breakfast Club, a huge radio show hosted by emcee Charlamagne Tha God that’s considered a cultural touchstone for black America. That’s about all the context you need -- If you haven’t heard the quote, brace yourself. In the final minute of the interview, Biden leaned forward and said QUOTE: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” ENDQUOTE. This is, as you can imagine, not a great thing to say in any context. Biden had been forced to play defense for much of the 18-minute interview, thanks to Charlamagne’s confrontational questions about his atrocious record on busing, marijuana, and the 1994 crime bill. This is probably exactly why the Biden campaign tried to prevent the candidate from going on the show for so long -- according to Charlamagne, they repeatedly tried to send a black surrogate on the show instead of Biden. Eventually, though, the campaign caved to pressure and sent the candidate himself. And this is what happened. It’s almost like he may not be the right guy for the job. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The actress Lori Loughlin pled guilty on Friday in the obscene college admissions case, which hauled in several B and C-list celebrities and other various rich people on charges of wire and mail fraud for their roles in buying their childrens’ way into prestigious colleges. It’s not exactly justice for years of a discriminatory education system leaving behind millions of deserving children, but hey, it’s a start! As if Murder Hornets weren’t enough to deal with, the CDC issued a warning on Sunday that the rat populations of major cities are becoming more and more aggressive -- mostly to each other, as their usual steady supply of leftover restaurant food has been interrupted by the pandemic. It sounds funny and dystopian, but you know something’s gone truly wrong when even the rats are feeling the pain of a crisis. After a few months of pandemic-enforced peace, major street protests broke out in Hong Kong on Sunday, as protestors lashing out against the authoritarian mainland government’s new proposed security legislation, which would tighten its grip over the semi-autonomous region. Mitt Romney spends a lot of his time cosplaying as an honorable person, but new reports in Politico Common Dreams suggest that the Republican Senate could be trying to slip a bill gutting social security benefits into the next coronavirus relief package. He can tut-tut Trump all he wants, but we all know what team he plays for in the end. That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Catch the full show with Sam this afternoon. AM Quickie - May 25, 2020 HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump – flouting the state’s mask order -- rolled out some blatant Nazi rhetoric while giving a speech at a Ford factory in Michigan. This criminal ghoul, who is responsible for thousands of deaths, has not lost the power to disgust. Meanwhile, young adults need to be looking out for symptoms of an inflammatory condition that was, until recently, thought to affect only children. It is linked to the coronavirus and doctors are still trying to figure it out. And lastly, the University of California system is getting rid of the SAT and ACT admissions tests. It’s a victory for critics who argued the tests were biased against minorities. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Most Americans know the name Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. Many, although probably not most, know Ford was one of this country’s most notorious anti-Semites. At the peak of his wealth and power, Ford bought a newspaper in Dearborn, Michigan, and published conspiracy tracts ranting against Jews. He was, in fact, one of the only Americans to earn a medal from Adolf Hitler. He and Ford had a real mutual admiration society going, back in the day. Donald Trump’s defenders will tell you that the president is one of those Americans – maybe the majority -- who know nothing about this history. Maybe. Maybe not. One of his ex-wives claims Trump used to keep a book of Hitler speeches by the bed. He likes to talk about his good German genes. However he feels about them, Nazis certainly love him. Whatever the case, it doesn’t excuse what Trump pulled yesterday. He went to Michigan, a disaster area, to speak to workers at a Ford factory. The main point seemed to be to flaunt the fact that he wasn’t wearing a mask, even though the company – and top state officials -- asked him to. Because everyone there is required to. You know, to keep everyone safe. But Trump didn’t. Of course. And then he went and talked about how Henry Ford, the friend of Hitler, had, QUOTE, good bloodlines. Good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff. He’s got good blood! ENDQUOTE. Draw your own conclusions, folks, what he meant by that. Blood and soil is what they chanted in Charlottesville. And Munich before that. No word on Trump’s plans to invade Poland. However, he did withdraw from another crucial arms control treaty yesterday – the third such peace-keeping agreement he has gotten rid of since taking over the White House. The Open Skies Treaty, signed in 2002, allows thirty-five – well, now, thirty-four – countries to fly over each other’s territory and observe their militaries. The US is out of the treaty as of today. Trump says Russia made him do it, by violating the treaty. European diplomats said they saw this coming and will still honor the treaty. Syndrome threatens young adults There is mystery syndrome, an inflammatory condition, that doctors think is linked to COVID-19, with symptoms a lot like something called Kawasaki disease. When they first noticed the trend in cases, they thought it only affected children. Now, according to the Washington Post, doctors say they are seeing the condition affect young adults as well. In fact, the mystery syndrome may be more severe when it attacks young adults as opposed to children. A pediatric diseases specialist at New York University, Jennifer Lighter, has been studying the condition. She told the Post that the Kawasaki-like symptoms – like swollen blood vessels – seem to occur in children with the condition. But when it hits older adults, the response is more severe and can involve the heart and other organs. The children with Kawasaki symptoms began showing up in US hospitals in March and April. Many had trouble breathing and active coronavirus infections. The Post says the newer wave of patients are mostly previously healthy children, as well as young adults, who all of a sudden come down with fever, abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting and rashes. These symptoms, they say, can can be sign of a more serious problem that is under-diagnosed and not fully understood. The reason doctors think it is linked to coronavirus is that patients with the condition test positive with corona antibodies. So they think the mystery condition might be a delayed immune system response to coronavirus infection. And they say doctors and the public need to be aware, even though the syndrome is relatively rare. They are calling it MIS- C, for multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children. Again, it is rare but can be dangerous. Most are said to recover, but parents who think their kids might have this condition are advised to seek an urgent medical evaluation California ditches SAT, ACT There is some better news, for young adults, not to mention teachers and students everywhere. One of America’s largest education systems, the University of California, will be doing away with the SAT and the ACT, two out-dated, pointless, and demonstratably racist admissions tests. The vote by the board of regents was unanimous. There are ten schools in the UC system, plus a law school and a national research laboratory, and thousands of people have been denied access to these public institutions because of these biased tests. And the regents admitted as much in taking this vote. One said enough was enough boasted that the decision marks the beginning of the end for the SAT. And honestly who will shed a tear for it? The UC system plans to come up with its own admissions test within five years. But they did allow for the possibility that a new test won’t be ready by then. In which case, decisions about how to admit new students will be left up to the judgment of campus admissions officials. Even if some of them do a bad job, they won’t be forced to consider the results from a test they know is both bogus and racially biased. Plus: one less piece of stress- producing busywork to torture young people with. Like we don’t have enough forms to fill out. There is some better news, for young adults, not to mention teachers and students everywhere. One of America’s largest education systems, the University of California, will be doing away with the SAT and the ACT, two out-dated, pointless, and demonstratably racist admissions tests. The vote by the board of regents was unanimous. There are ten schools in the UC system, plus a law school and a national research laboratory, and thousands of people have been denied access to these public institutions because of these biased tests. And the regents admitted as much in taking this vote. One said enough was enough boasted that the decision marks the beginning of the end for the SAT. And honestly who will shed a tear for it? The UC system plans to come up with its own admissions test within five years. But they did allow for the possibility that a new test won’t be ready by then. In which case, decisions about how to admit new students will be left up to the judgment of campus admissions officials. Even if some of them do a bad job, they won’t be forced to consider the results from a test they know is both bogus and racially biased. Plus: one less piece of stress- producing busywork to torture young people with. Like we don’t have enough forms to fill out. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Much of the country is being prodded to go back to business as usual. And business as usual, in the USA, means mass shootings are back too. A twenty-year old man who self- described as an incel shot up a shopping center in Glendale, Arizona. Three people were injured and one is in critical condition. Prosecutors say the wannabe-mass murderer was targeting couples and hoped to kill at least ten. And in Texas, someone with a gun was killed while attacking Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. No details were released but the shooting was said to be terrorism-related. Another weekly tally of unemployment claims was released. Add 2.4 million new filings for a total of 38.6 million Americans who’ve lost their jobs in the nine weeks since the lockdowns began. And that’s an undercount because most people who’ve lost work either aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits for whatever B.S. reason, or literally can’t file a claim because the states were caught flat-footed. What’s worse, a study reported in the New York Times estimates that forty-two percent of these new layoffs will be permanent. Which means those jobs aren’t coming back. What are leaders not getting? People. Need. Help. Hong Kong, which has seen massive a popular upheaval over the past couple of years, may be losing what remains of its political autonomy. The Chinese central government yesterday imposed a new national security law intended to put an end to what it called foreign interference in last year’s massive street protests. The former British colony was returned to Chinese government control in 1997. Anonymous officials told the South China Morning Post the new law targeted QUOTE secessionist and subversive activity as well as foreign interference and terrorism in the city ENDQUOTE. Foreign interference all over, huh! Hawaii’s Democratic party primary concludes today. On-site voting was canceled due to coronavirus and everyone there is voting by mail. And they’re one of five states to use ranked-choice voting, so the results will be interesting, even if Joe Biden remains the presumed presidential nominee. Yesterday Biden’s campaign said they would begin vetting Amy Klobuchar as a possible vice presidential nominee. Does that Biden picked Klobuchar for VP? Not necessarily! But people seem to like having this to talk about. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn #LEFTISBEST

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Dramatic flooding in Michigan takes out two dams, threatens a nuclear reactor, and forces ten thousand people to evacuate. And that’s just one natural disaster related to climate change that is happening, very inconveniently we might add, during this pandemic. Meanwhile, health authorities are warning the world that, whatever the state of lockdown is were you are, this week saw the single largest daily increase in cases since coronavirus began to spread. The places where things are getting worse have something in common: terrible far-right governments. And lastly, a wave of wildcat strikes sweeps the United States as essential workers are pushed to the breaking point. Hundreds of agricultural workers in Washington State walked off the job, as did McDonald’s employees around the country – and more power to them. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: There are massive floods in Somalia. India is getting hit hard by a cyclone. And the state of Michigan also cannot catch a break. Ten thousand people evacuated their homes yesterday after two separate dams failed on the Tittabawassee River (TIT-UH-BUH-WAH- SEE) in the city of Midland near the Saginaw Bay. The flooding followed days of heavy rains. What’s worse, the floodwaters threatened a toxic Superfund site as well as a Dow chemical plant that has produced Saran Wrap and Styrofoam as well as Agent Orange and mustard gas. The factory also contains what The New York Times described as a tiny nuclear reactor, and Dow filed a so-called unusual event notice with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the floodwater threat. As it happens, a former Dow lawyer who helped the company mislead regulators is now in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund cleanup program. Thanks to Donald Trump. Dow Chemical will be fine, but the public sewer and water systems are at risk. Not to mention members of the general public. No casualties were yet reported, but any disease from pollutants could take years to manifest. Five hundred people who were forced into emergency shelters were being tested for coronavirus. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency and called the situation devastation. The National Weather Service said it was catastrophic. On the very day of this disaster, Donald Trump threatened to revoke federal aid from Michigan. His beef is that the state might go for mail-in voting. In recent weeks Trump has cheered on armed goons as they stormed the state capitol and shut down democracy. Now Michigan faces a disaster on top of a pandemic, and he’s threatening the right to vote. According to the Washington Post, sixty percent of Superfund sites are in flood-prone areas. Last year, an Associated Press investigation found more than sixteen hundred dams around the country to be at high risk of failure. Experts say climate change played a role in this Michigan flooding. So maybe two dams failing in one big storm is part of this horrifying new normal we all share. We desperately need better leaders. WHO Warns Coronavirus Surging If you got fooled into thinking -- even for a second -- that the coronavirus was on the way out, pretty please, reconsider. Yesterday the World Health Organization reported the largest increase in confirmed cases in one day since the pandemic started. In a single twenty- four hour period, the WHO recorded one-hundred and six thousand new cases around the world. WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (TED-ROSS AD-ANOM GAY-BREE- ASUS) said two-thirds of the new cases were in four countries: Russia, Brazil, India, and the great US of A. Is it a coincidence that these countries have fascist leaders who are all buddies with each other? It could be a coincidence! Doctor Tedros didn’t say. But it’s probably not. Trump, Putin, Modi, and Bolsonaro have all denied and stonewalled as the coronavirus spread. Millions live inside their alternate reality bubble where this historic plague is fake news. Here are a couple of headlines you won’t be hearing in today’s White House press briefing: Montgomery, Alabama, is one-hundred percent out of room in its intensive care units. The mayor said hospitals through the region are at capacity and that if you need an ICU bed, QUOTE you’re in trouble ENDQUOTE. In Georgia, a church has closed two weeks after reopening, because several families came down with coronavirus – expect to see many versions of this story as states re-open. Finally, a new survey of twenty-three thousand nurses in all fifty states by National Nurses United found that eighty-seven percent had been forced to re-use protective gear like masks. The union’s executive director, Bonnie Castillo, said QUOTE They did not sign up to die needlessly on the front lines of a pandemic. ... For our sake, for the public’s sake: give us PPE. ENDQUOTE. Seems like a reasonable ask! Wildcat Strikes Across US The PayDay Report, a labor news publication that keeps track of these things, counted two-hundred and ten strikes ongoing in the US as of yesterday. They’re calling it the COVID-19 Strike Wave. This figure includes wildcat strikes that aren’t legally recognized. The website’s Mike Elk reports as follows: In some places, workers are simply calling out sick en mass and refusing to show up so bosses shut dow their plants. Many areas have no reporters with connections to the labor movement so many strikes are going completely uncovered. In other places, workers have protested for an hour or two before bosses have agreed to workers’ demands. Also, some union leaders are hesitant to get the media involved out of fear of retalation. That was from PayDay report. McDonald’s workers around the country were on strike in their Fight for Fifteen campaign. And in Yakima, Washington, fruit workers entered their second week on strike. The local newspaper there reported that two workers commenced a hunger strike. Other striking agricultural workers said they’d gotten threats violent threats. We’re talking about white men with guns threatening Latino workers holding only signs. Charges have not yet been filed. These people on strike, facing threats, are keeping us fed. They’re demanding hazard pay and safety measures during the pandemic. Hundreds have walked off the job. And there is a verified GoFundMe for these essential workers, please check the Majority Report and its Twitter account for those details. Elsewhere in labor news, New Zealand’s increasingly popular prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, proposed moving to a four-day work week. Sold! AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The US Supreme Court yesterday blocked House Democrats from accessing material from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump. The decision overturned an appeals court opinion, and effectively blocks the opposition party from accessing the full Mueller report. Justices gave no explanation. None dissented. The Supremes went along with what Trump wanted and didn’t even explain why they were snubbing Congress. It’s a bit weird. Thousands of ballots are still uncounted in Oregon after Tuesday’s primary election. Republicans there nominated a Q-Anon nut as a candidate for the US Senate. Jo Rae Perkins swept with over fifty percent of the vote in a four-way race. Perkins posted, then deleted, a video promoting that conspiracy theory ahead of the election. Apparently she thinks Trump is Q, or one of the Qs? I don’t know. The good news is, a progressive district attorney won in Portland, and city voters passed a big business tax to fund homeless services. The only man convicted over the nine-eleven terrorist plots, Zacarias Moussaoui (ZACK-UH-RYE-ASS MOOSE-OWIE) said in a court filing that he is renouncing terrorism and Al Qaeda. Moussaoui is fourteen years into a life sentence at a federal prison in Colorado. His handwritten petition for a reprieve denounced Osama Bin Laden as QUOTE a useful idiot of the CIA slash Saudi ENDQUOTE. He also requested that either Rudy Giuliani or Alan Dershowitz be appointed to represent him in future court proceedings. Sure why not. Scientists working for NASA in Antarctica detected the existence of a parallel universe where time runs backwards. A series of experiments with NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, known as Anita, made the conclusion after looking closely at the paths of neutrino particles. The scientists reportedly saw the particles moving in impossible ways. They decided the simplest explanation was that the particles were coming from another universe, right next to ours, where time moves in reverse. Count me first, or last, in line to go. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. May 21, 2020 #LEFTISBEST HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump seems to have successfully bullied the country into ignoring all the experts he fired and pretending like the coronavirus isn’t real. But thousands are still dying every day and we will continue to give you the truth as best we can tell it. Meanwhile, Hungary, which was until recently a democracy, passes a new law designed to target every transgender person in the country. One human rights organization calls it a return to the dark ages in Europe. And lastly, a new alliance forms among Democrats in Congress against their own leadership. The fight over pandemic relief legislation shows that swing-state Democrats are worried House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t bringing her A-game this election year. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Democrats in vulnerable Congressional districts are getting together with progressives to push necessary measures past their own obstructioninst leadership. This is according to The Intercept, which reported on a new alliance challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi. There has been growing dissent within the House Democratic Caucus since last year’s botched impeachment effort. It’s grown more urgent as Congress has failed to produce anything resembling aid for ordinary Americans during this pandemic. Ten Democrats in swing districts have now rushed to support dozens in the progressive caucus in backing the Paycheck Recovery Act. Its most vocal proponent is Washington State Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. A previous version of Jayapal’s bill was included in the last coronavirus relief package, but Pelosi took it out on the grounds that it didn’t have Republican support. Now Jayapal progressives, joined by vulnerable Democrats in swing districts, are pushing forward with separate legislation. Pelosi or no Pelosi. Republicans or no Republicans. The bill would do for American companies what dozens of other countries’ governments have done, and subsidize private company payrolls in order to keep people employed through the pandemic. So far the bill has ninety-three cosponsors, including those ten front-liners identified by The Intercept – who constitute one-quarter of the vulnerable Democratic seats this year, and include some moderates. The new alliance is reportedly a threat to Pelosi’s domination of the party in the House. Judging by the results she’s been getting, that’s good news. Deaths Climb, States Reopen All fifty states are set to begin lifting pandemic restrictions at least in part by today, according to the Washington Post. In terms of population, that means roughly one third of the country, a hundred-million people, are getting to be out and about again. What that looks like depends on where you live. There’s basically no consistency across states or even within states. Missouri last night held the first execution of an inmate during the pandemic. Walter Barton, sixty-four, was executed for a murder that he maintained until his death he didn’t commit – and many experts including judges who later looked at the case came to agree with him. But there you go, folks: Donald Trump wanted us to get back to business as usual. And what could be more usual in the USA than executing somebody, evidence or no evidence? The premature lifting of the lockdown shows that Trump and the Republican Party have succeeded in their efforts to spread lies and confusion about the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time he’s pooh-poohing the dangers, Trump said yesterday he will be taking advantage of this crisis to push through more cuts to federal regulation for the benefit of his corporate donors. So there’s hope yet if you’ve managed to avoid wrongful execution, or catching coronavirus without access to healthcare. You might just be lucky enough to get sick from exposure to industrial waste or tainted foods. Another thing Trump said yesterday, he is positive that everyone who’s dying is doing so just to make him look bad. Remember there was a Veterans Administration study of this malaria drug he’s been shilling for coronavirus, that found it actually produced negative results? He actually suggested the people who fared poorly in that study were his enemies and did so in order to spite him. Next they will be trotting out a cherry-picked group of pro-Trump doctors to support this reopening push, no matter what the Centers for Disease Control guidelines were supposed to say. Here’s what’s really going on: at least ninety thousand dead across the country from coronavirus. An international humanitarian aid group, Doctors Without Borders, dispatching teams that usually go to war-torn former colonies in the global south, instead now to rural areas within the US. A pandemic that is already reported to be coming back with a vengeance everywhere restrictions were prematurely lifted. And a massive, pointless sacrifice of human life by our corrupt ruling class, who seem to think they are immune from judgment as well as consequence. But they are wrong. Hungary Targets Transgender People Hungary continues to supply bad omens to other countries struggling to hold on to basic rights. Earlier this year, Hungary lost its democracy when the fascist prime minister Viktor Orban claimed the power to rule by decree. But Hungary still makes law through a simulation of the ordinary parliamentary process -- especially when the regime wants to launder some especially toxic piece of legislation. A bill passed yesterday by a nearly three-to-one margin makes it impossible for transgender people to receive legal recognition and equal treatment throughout the country. The new law makes it so people must list their sex at birth on official documents instead of simply indicating their sex. It also makes it so this can’t be changed at a later date. Lest there be any confusion that this was intended to discriminate, Orban’s deputy proposed the bill on March 31, the International Transgender Day of Visibility. One opposition member of parliament described the new law as evil. It certainly does empower bigots to target people who have already changed their gender and could be outed by the new paperwork rules. Commissioners for human rights with the United Nations and the Council of Europe made more restrained expressions of concern before the proposal passed. As did some members of the European Parliament. An Amnesty International researcher told reporters the decision pushes Hungary back to the dark ages and tramples on the rights of transgender people. Indeed. Once again, Orban is daring the European Union to stand by its stated principles. He’s making a pretty safe bet that they won’t, considering that Europe’s institutions utterly failed to impose any consequences on Orban for suspending democracy. Now targeted minorities are being made to suffer. Who will be next? And which one of Orban’s fascist allies abroad will be the first to follow his lead? AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Many know the woman best-known as Jane Roe for her role in the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, later in life became anti-abortion activist. Yesterday it emerged that the woman, Norma McCorvey, was paid by right-wing Christian groups to lie about her beliefs. Now on her deathbed, McCorvey makes the confession in a new FX documentary. The former leader of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue told the Los Angeles Times QUOTE, What we did with Norma was highly unethical. The jig is up. ENDQUOTE. McCorvey jokes that she was a very good actress. A federal appeals court judge has affirmed a lower court’s ruling that New York’s Democratic primary must continue on schedule. The state had appealed the ruling in favor of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang demanding that his voters, as well as those supporting Bernie Sanders and others, have the right to be counted. Oregon, which always vote by mail, held its primary election yesterday. Also yesterday, a federal judge in Texas ruled that all registered voters under sixty-five can apply to vote by mail during the pandemic – too late for the state’s primaries but not too late for November. A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change found coronavirus has caused greenhouse gas emissions to decline by nearly one fifth worldwide. Scientists warned the decline is only temporary and nowhere near the targets they say are necessary to prevent total catastrophe. The seventeen percent decrease reported sounds big, and it is, but it only brings global emissions down to 2006 levels. As the study’s lead author put it, behavioral change is not enough – we need structural change. Ghislaine (GILL-AINE) Maxwell, the alleged accomplish of the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, filed new court papers yesterday. At least, her attorneys did. Maxwell’s own whereabouts remain unknown. The new filings, reported by the New York Daily News, concern a civil case filed by one of Epstein’s victims. Maxwell’s attorneys argue she can’t be questioned under oath in the lawsuit because she is under criminal investigation. The victim’s attorneys, naturally, disagree. A judge will hear the matter on Friday. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. May 20, 2020 #LEFTISBEST HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump abruptly announced that he was taking Hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug that is completely unproven to treat the coronavirus. Whether or not he’s actually taking the drug is still up in the air, but this is definitely the president’s strongest endorsement of a potential quack cure to date. Meanwhile, new evidence uncovered by House Democrats shows that Donald Trump’s firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was even more corrupt than previously thought. Surprise! There’s an arms deal with Saudi Arabia involved. And lastly, a Massachusetts drug company reports promising results in its first limited human trial for a coronavirus vaccine. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Donald Trump took a swan dive into the deep end of the pseudoscience pool today, publicly announcing that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, the unproven malaria drug he and other conservatives have said can treat coronavirus. Trump did not say that he HAD coronavirus, but claimed he’d been taking the drug for about 10 days as a precaution after being exposed to the virus. Listen to this doofus: QUOTE: “All I can tell you is, so far I seem to be OK. I think it’s good. I’ve heard a lot of good stories. And if it’s not good, I’ll tell you right. I’m not going to get hurt by it.” ENDQUOTE Trump’s personal physician, Sean P. Conley, appears to be going along with this, saying in a statement that ENDQUOTE “After numerous discussions he and I had for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks.” ENDQUOTE You’ll notice that this statement does not actually confirm that Trump is taking the drug. For all we know he could be making stuff up again -- but what’s more important is that he’s once again promoting an unproven and possibly dangerous drug from the biggest podium in the country. Not great! Meanwhile, the Administration is also waging war with the World Health Organization, as Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar fired shots at the international organization, blaming its response in China for costing lives. Late Monday Night, Trump joined in, threatening to permanently pull funding from the WHO unless it started serving America’s interests. We have a president promoting unreliable drugs and a government that utterly failed millions of dead, distraught, and jobless Americans, so are we really one to talk about the WHO’s mistakes? Linick Was Investigating Saudi Arms Deal Outside of the pandemic, Trump’s latest blunder into crony corruption might be even worse than we thought. Yesterday Lucie told you about Trump’s firing of State Department Inspector General Steven Linick, his latest unceremonious axing of a key watchdog supposed to keep his administration in line. Linick was allegedly investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a whole host of policy violations, like making staffers walk his dog and pick up his dry cleaning. But on Monday, Senate Democrats reported that they had discovered Linick was investigating something far more serious: Pompeo bulldozing past Congress to push through the Trump administration’s controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Pompeo and Trump pushed the Arms deal through despite widespread uproar by both Republicans and Democrats over Saudi Arabia’s killing of Jamal Khashoggi [JEMEL KHA-SHOCK-GEE YT pronunciation link] and their brutal, indiscriminate war in Yemen, using an emergency declearation to basically override Congress’s protest. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliott Engel said Monday that aside from the dog-walking, Linick was investigating that quote “phony declaration.” The end result of all this is largely the same: Trump will probably skate. But the implication is that if Congress actually manages to nail the Administration on the Saudi arms deal, which was one of Trumps rare moves that notable members of both parties disagreed with, it could give them slightly more leverage the next time the President tries to sell millions of dollars of guns to a country that murders journalists on a whim. Vaccine Trials Show Promise Developing a vaccine is not a quick process, as everyone currently stuck inside their house or apartment can probably tell you. But the combined efforts of basically every virologist on Earth are getting some results. Moderna, a Massachusetts drug company, announced on Monday that the first vaccine to go through human testing appears to be safe and able to stimulate an immune response. In other words, it’s not hurting the people who get it, and it’s fighting the disease. Granted, this is a really small study: eight patients, injected with two doses each of the experimental vaccine. It’s going to need much, much larger trials before we know if it’s the real deal. The gross part, however? When Moderna announced the news, its stock price soared -- and turning the hunt for a cure into a capitalist rat race is sure to leave a lot more bodies than if we had a functioning healthcare system that could work on this thing together, outside the bounds of the free market. The government does have a hand in things though: The New York Times reports that Moderna produced the vaccine in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the last sane man left in Trump’s corona crew, is leading the clinical trials -- so it’s nice to know that while Trump is gabbling about ingesting miracle cures, someone behind the scenes is still doing the actual work. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A new report by the San Francisco Chronicle shows that the country’s immigration courts are utter chaos right now, with hundreds of thousands of cases delayed due to the pandemic, and compounded by the federal government’s haphazard response. In China, another flare up of the disease forced the government to slam down harsh lockdown restrictions on over 100 million people in the Jilin province, highlighting just how serious proper containment of the disease is. Meanwhile, several U.S. states are throwing caution to the winds and re-opening everything. Rebekah Jones, the data scientist who designed Florida’s helpful, easy-to-access COVID-19 dashboard for tracking the disease has been fired because she refused to censor data on behalf of the government, which is preparing to re-open the state. In a heartfelt note to her colleagues and members of the public, Jones noted she would quote “not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency,” in their new data releases. Attorneys for Ahmaud Arbery confirmed on Monday that the video which depicts Arbery’s murder at the hands of two white men is more than 4 minutes long, meaning that Arbery was pursued for much longer than originally reported. If that’s not a premeditated murder, I don’t know what is. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for Sam with the full show this afternoon. May 19, 2020 #LEFTISBEST HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The Trump administration fired yet another key watchdog from the government, this time giving the boot to the State Department Inspector General that was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Not too subtle, is he? Meanwhile, Betsy DeVos is also doing some corruption in plain sight, by funneling coronavirus relief funding to private and religious schools that she’s long tried to foist on the Federal government. And lastly, there may be some hope in weakening big Tech’s grasp over, well, everything: according to several reports, the Justice Department and several state AGs are planning to level an antitrust case at Google sometime in the next few months. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Donald Trump fired yet another key federal watchdog on Friday, eliminating yet another check on his administration’s ability to do whatever it wants, regardless of those little things called laws. On Friday, Trump fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, the main watchdog in charge of making sure State Department officials are playing by all the government’s rules. Guess what Linick’s latest project was? Investigating Mike Pompeo. According to NBC News, Linick was investigating Pompeo’s alleged use of State Department staffers to carry out personal duties -- everything from walking his dog to picking up his dry cleaning -- which is a pretty big breach of policy for public servants. This is all part of a trend, remember? He canned Christi Grimm at Health and Human Services after she issued a report criticizing his coronavirus response, and also fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector who handled the whistleblower report that got him impeached. It’s pretty surreal that Trump can just do this with little to no consequences. Congressional Democrats say they’re investigating, but what’re they going to do -- impeach Trump all over again before November? Not at the pace Pelosi and Schumer move, so it’s more than likely Trump will get away with putting one more watchdog to sleep. DeVos Does Corona Corruption Schools may be closed, but fortunately Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been hard at work during the pandemic. Unfortunately, her job is mostly corruption. According to the New York Times, DeVos has been pushing parts of the massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief effort into her pet projects, which are private and religious schools. The New York Times reports that DeVos used $180 million of the $30 billion plus allocated in the CARES act to push states to create quote “microgrants” that parents can use to pay private school tuition. And universities didn’t escape her bias either: she funneled most of a $350 million fund set aside to help struggling colleges straight to small, private, and often religious institutions, even if they didn’t need the money. In one case, the Times reports, a tiny private college that has a full website claiming that it isn’t a cult, got almost half a million dollars. I don’t know about you, but there aren’t a lot of public universities that have to debunk cult rumors on a regular basis. Maybe we should make sure federal money is going to them! And not, you know, cults. DeVos might have to wait a bit to get her claws on the next round of money. Google Antitrust Case Brewing It’s basically a fact of life now that Google owns, and will make money off of, almost every possible revenue stream based on the internet. That’s what used to be known as a Monopoly, which is a great thing if you’re playing the capitalist dystopian board game but not so great of a thing if you’re, you know, trying to exist in real life. Fortunately, federal and state regulators may be on the brink of filing an antitrust case against the internet giant. According to CNBC, the case will likely focus on Google’s advertising business -- something it has wielded iron-clad control over to the massive detriment of many industries that rely on ads for money. Both the Federal Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of several states are expected to join in on the suit, following a multi-state investigation. It’s hard to overstate how big such an investigation would be -- this would be one of the biggest antitrust actions by the federal government since the 90s. The investigation is likely trying to build a case around some truths that we all know: Google has way too much power over the way we shop, search, and speak online. Breaking up its grasp over the advertising industry can only be good for people who don’t want to welcome in a Silicon Valley owned world order anytime soon. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A Washington Post report confirms one of the most tragic and predictable effects of the coronavirus pandemic: truly essential transit workers are paying the price. One NYC bus driver told the Post that by his count, 129 transit workers have died of COVID, and the distressing trend is playing out in cities all over the U.S. We’re moving swiftly towards full dystopia: according to the Intercept, the federal government has ramped up spending on security and police, even writing orders for new riot gear for some security forces at Veterans Affairs facilities under a specific justification that cites the pandemic. Despite recent turmoil, including a horrific terrorist attack at a maternity hospital, U.S. officials say they’re on schedule to keep pulling forces out of Afghanistan as part of an agreement with the Taliban. Officials say we’ll be down to 8,600 troops by July 15 and will be abandoning five bases. It’s only about 19 years too late. A U.S. district judge smacked down infamous Pharma bro Martin Shkreli’s [SCHKRELLY] petition to be let out of prison in order to put his expertise as a pharma bro to use on a coronavirus cure. Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, in a no-nonsense ruling, said that Shkreli’s ask was the kind of quote “delusional self-aggrandizing behavior,” that put him in jail in the first place. Points for trying though! That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie Today. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon. May 18, 2020 #LEFTISBEST HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Armed supporters of Donald Trump force the suspension of democracy in Michigan. Trump and his cronies warn that Pennsylvania could be next if the governor doesn’t go along with Trump’s plan to reopen the country, pandemic be damned. Meanwhile, Trump’s international hotel business enlisted government security forces in Indonesia to intimidate villagers who opposed his new golf resort there. Then Trump went ahead and dug up their community graveyard without permission – just a very classy move. And lastly, as global health experts warn the US is setting itself up for an even more deadly second wave of the coronavirus, there’s another country that is getting rave reviews. People in Vietnam are pulling together to offer their own organs to save the life of a foreigner on life support who they fear could become the country’s first recorded COVID-19 death. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The terrorists won in Michigan. At least for now. Two weeks ago dozens of armed Trump supporters swarmed the state capitol in Lansing in support of the Republican campaign to force people back to work despite the ongoing pandemic. Yesterday, legislators abruptly canceled their session for fear of more armed incursions by Trumpists wearing masks and fatigues and carrying rifles. News reports and investigations by civil rights groups have confirmed that the ranks of these thugs include white supremacists who advocate lynchings and civil war. They outfit themselves in the fashion of paramilitary death squads. But they also play to the cameras. Yesterday in Lansing, one of the people carrying an AR- pattern rifle also wore a big yellow inflatable Pikachu costume. But the sideshow element distracts from the fact that Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and lawmakers were receiving credible death threats. Organizers of yesterday’s successful fascist rally to shut down democracy called their event Judgment Day. Since the last rally, Michigan Democrats spent their time debating whether and how to ban firearms on the capitol grounds. It seems they moved too slowly. With Michigan thoroughly intimidated, Republicans began turning their attention to Pennsylvania. Donald Trump held a rally at an Eastern Pennsylvania factory yesterday to pressure the Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, to reopen. He also teased the audience for standing six feet apart and said it was time for that to end. Don Junior published a column in Breitbart attacking Wolf, and Tea Party USA president Charlie Kirk called Wolf a tyrant like Michigan Governor Whitmer and said both needed to be stopped. At another reopen on New York’s Long Island, Trump supporters threatened and chased a local TV news reporter. While denying its danger, Republicans are using the pandemic to wage a widespread and coordinated assault on democracy. Don’t expect things to get calmer by November. Trump Desecrates Muslim Graves When it comes to Trump, there is corruption and there is sacriliege. There is corruption, like Trump’s companies getting paid at least nine-hundred and seventy thousand dollars from the US Treasury, since he took office, for renting his properties to government personnel. That figure was in the Washington Post yesterday. There is sacrilege, like how yesterday in Pennsylvania he said the sight of doctors and nurses rushing to their own deaths in hospitals overflowing with COVID cases was, as he put it, beautiful. And sometimes you get both! Corruption and sacrilege in one deal. The Post also reported that Trump’s big resort project in Indonesia tore apart a Muslim burial ground without informing or compensating families whose relatives were buried there. It’s unclear whether the excavation for Trump’s hotel and golf course in West Java was even legal. The local contractor claims it was. It doesn’t hurt their case that the construction crews were backed by state security forces. Apparently they were afraid of poor and unarmed villagers opposed to the desecration of their family grave plots. One woman who spoke to a reporter had two daughters buried at the site. She said, QUOTE Who did they think my children were — dogs? ENDQUOTE. We’re talking about the Trumps? The answer is quite possibly yes. Vietnam's Pandemic Response Praised The country of Vietnam is reportedly pulling out all the stops to prevent its first recorded coronavirus fatality. Skepticism in the official figures are warranted, as it is anywhere in the world. But even the financial news service Reuters, along with other international news media with a presence on the ground in Vietnam, said the story is not off base and the country’s response has been miles ahead of most of the world. And this assessment was backed up by independent international human rights groups, health officials, and diplomats quoted in their reports. Here’s how Reuters summed it up: Through aggressive testing and a mass, centralised quarantine programme, the Southeast Asian country has kept its tally of coronavirus cases to just 288 and has reported no deaths. Australia’s public broadcaster agreed that coordinated and quick government action was key to Vietnam’s success and said QUOTE most experts believe Vietnamese authorities are being honest about coronavirus statistics ENDQUOTE. As of yesterday ten people had volunteered to donate a lung to the one coronavirus patient who was reportedly on the brink of death. The sick man is known only as Patient 91. He is a foreigner: a forty-three year-old British citizen who apparently caught coronavirus at a bar in the financial district of Ho Chi Min City. Patient 91 is a pilot who works for the national airline. One of the people who volunteered his lung was a seventy-year-old veteran of the communist People's Army of Vietnam. (Doctors turned him down.) The government has spent $200,000 to keep this man alive for more than thirty days on life support. The well-being of this foreigner, from a one-time imperial power, is now a matter of national pride in Vietnam. It’s a story to remember as Americans hear more and more from their own government how their utter failure to contain this disease is all the fault of some wicked regimes over in Asia. Last night the lead World Health Organization doctor on COVID-19 told CNN that the some country’s are better-prepared than others for the virus’s second wave, and the US is reopening too quickly. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A new Columbia University study covered by the Los Angeles Times predicts a forty-five percent increase in homelessness this year in the US. Going by the federal figures, that would mean at least a quarter million more Americans will be living on the streets by the end of the year. The professor who led the study called the economic situation unprecedented, noting that no one living had seen double-digit increases to unemployment in a single month. Interesting times indeed. A couple of wins for the titans of industry: Despite a court order, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has decided not to impose any limits on a toxic chemical called per- chlorate that is linked to brain damage in fetuses and infants. And California’s Public Utility Commission voted unanimously to waive a $200 million fine against PG&E for negligence causing catastrophic wildfires. The decision overruled a judge’s finding agains the company. The state could use that money. Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday announced more than $6 billion in budget cuts including ten-percent salary cuts for state workers. Politico reports Congressional Democrats are backing out on a student loan forgiveness plan that was until recently included in a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package of legislation. House leadership was reportedly concerned about the cost of the plan, which grew markedly in a Congressional Budget Office estimate that was released just as the bill was being finalized. Democrats’ own amendments will cut the number of borrowers eligible for relief by half. The White House last night was threatening to veto the bill anyway. Richard Burr of North Carolina yesterday stepped down as chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, one day after the FBI seized his cell phone in an investigation into his stock trades following a coronavirus briefing. Federal investigators are also investigating Senators James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, and Dianne Feinstein of California. Feinstein is the only Democrat. Burr’s loss of leadership on the committee is reportedly temporary, but, of course, that all depends what Attorney General Bill Barr decides to do with the case. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. #AMQuickie - May 15, 2020 HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: A federal whistleblower who pushed back on Trump’s favorite coronavirus miracle drug tells Congress we are headed for a very bleak winter. And it emerges that Trump’s obsession with this drug may have been sparked by a random internet person who is really into Nazi stuff -- can you hear how shocked I am? Meanwhile, a judge decides the Mike Flynn case will move ahead despite the wishes of Bill Barr and Donald Trump. Will the courts reassert their independence? And lastly, Joe Biden makes another play for disaffected Democratic Party progressives with explicit support for rent forgiveness during the coronavirus pandemic. It’d be hard for any politician to weasel out of that one, considering how many people need help. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: A top US government vaccine expert who was forced out of his job and has filed a whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration will testify to Congress today. Rick Bright ran the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at the National Institutes of Health until last month, when he was forced out of his role for raising doubts about a malaria drug Trump was pushing to treat coronavirus, hydroxychloroquine (HIGH- DROXIE-CLORO-QUEEN). In his prepared testimony, Bright says administration negligence is leading the country toward what he calls the darkest winter in modern history. Doctors and public health experts expect a second and possibly much worse wave of coronavirus in fall and winter if social distancing measures end prematurely, as they are in many states. The advice Bright gives in his testimony is much the same as that coming from experts in viral pandemics who still have their jobs. He says the education campaign around distancing, handwashing, and masks needs to continue. He says production of medical supplies must increase to end shortages. He says the state-versus-state competition for supplies arranged by Trump needs to end. And he says the US needs a national testing strategy because the coronavirus is now everywhere. As for testing, the Washington Post reports that a particular coronavirus test promoted by Trump, the five-minute Abbott test, missed a third of positive samples in a study by New York University. One wonders where Trump comes up with these recommendations. Yesterday the Huffington Post reported new details on how hydroxychloroquine came to Trump’s attention. Previous reports mentioned how a misleading paper on the drug written by a couple of cyptocurrency investors, caught the attention of a self-proclaimed Australian philosopher, Adrian Bye, who works in tech and lives in China. What they failed to mention was that Bye is apparently an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist. He started promoting chloroquine as QUOTE a Nazi drug that is here to teach a lesson to leftists about bias ENDQUOTE. From there, it led to the bogus paper, which caught Elon Musk’s attention, then Trump’s. So the idea for using this drug went from some Nazi-booster to Musk to Trump. It’s relevant to say here that Musk supports Trump’s insane Reopen America campaign. And Trump in turn has supported Musk’s decision to open a California Tesla plant against state orders. Similar state efforts to combat coronavirus are facing coordinated challenges from the right around the country. Also yesterday, the state supreme court in Wisconsin yesterday ruled in favor of businesses that sued over the coronavirus lockdown. Stay safe out there! Flynn Judge Seeks Reinforcements The judge in the Mike Flynn case yesterday decided that proceedings will continue despite Attorney General Bill Barr’s decision to engage in a brazen official cover-up for Trump, and drop charges after Flynn admitted guilt. Judge Emmett Sullivan appointed a retired federal judge, John Gleeson, to decide how to respond to the Justice Department’s latest filings, which, echoing Trump, portray Flynn as a victim of unjust prosecution. This is, again, even though Flynn admitted guilt – and even though Trump himself previously denounced Flynn for lying to the FBI. The retired judge, Gleeson, was a Bill Clinton appointee and this week put his name on an opinion piece in the Washington Post titled, QUOTE the Flynn case isn’t over until the judge says it’s over ENDQUOTE. So Bill Barr can say history is written by the winners, but this decision means, at a minimum, that Judge Sullivan does not seem confident that Trump, Barr, and Flynn will be the winners when everything is said and done. Sullivan’s order to Gleeson asks him to decide whether Flynn should face a criminal contempt charge for perjury. Which, frankly, would still amount to a slap on the wrist considering what Flynn was up to that he wasn’t even charged with – like selling nuclear secrets and plotting kidnappings, and we probably haven’t heard the half of it yet. Biden Supports Rent Forgiveness The Joe Biden campaign appears to be getting more serious in its attempts to win over progressives, socialists, and other voters on the left side of the Democratic Party coalition. Yesterday, in an interview with Vanity Fair on Snapchat, Biden called for federal rent and mortgage forgiveness during the coronavirus pandemic. To be clear, Biden said QUOTE Forgiveness. Not paid later, forgiveness ENDQUOTE. Meaning, rather than making tenants and homeowners responsible for past-due payments after a deferral period, the government would pick up the tab for the period when the coronavirus meant they were unable to pay for housing. That’s the idea, anyway, and it’s straight from the Bernie Sanders campaign. The policy announcement comes after Senator Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Biden policy task forces. Also yesterday, Sanders and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar wrote to the leaders of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund demanding debt forgiveness for some fo the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. The letter by Omar and Sanders addresses a long-standing demand of not only progressives in the US but advocates for the poor worldwide, as well as some of the world’s smartest voices on economics. In fact, Sanders and Omar were co-signed in their effort by more than three hundred lawmakers from two dozen countries. However you feel about next election, it’s nice to get the occassional reminder that the movement for justice is global. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The US Senate yesterday voted to dramatically expand government surveillance authority by giving police access to people’s internet browsing histories without a warrant. The provision was included in a reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act. Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden and Montana Republican Steve Daines tried to get it removed but fell short by one vote. Nine Democrats voted against the amendment. Several others who would’ve voted yes reportedly did not show up, including Bernie Sanders. The FBI seized a cellphone belonging to Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina after obtaining a search warrant to investigate his suspicious stock trades after a briefing on the coronavirus. Reports last night indicated Burr surrendered the phone after agents served a warrant on Burr’s iCloud account and obtained data from Apple. As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr was thoroughly briefed on all the investigations leading to Trump’s impeachment, and the president reportedly sees him as a threat. It’s not just you. CNN reports that grocery prices around the country are soaring as prices for pretty much everything else, from clothes to cars, go down. The new Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show prices for eggs going up sixteen percent last month. Other basic foods like bread and juice were up between two and four percent. Donuts were up five percent, but I guess we’ll survive somehow. Robin Hood hackers forced the state of Ohio to give up on a website they set up for employers to snitch on workers who they claim refused to work during the pandemic, in case they claim unemployment benefits. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported that state officials were re-evaluating the policy. The anonymous hacker told Vice News that their effort was A form of direct action in support of working people. Hey, it worked! That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: House Democrats unveiled a massive, $3 trillion relief package on Tuesday -- but once again, all that money leaves out relief for working people and provides a way for corporate lobbying groups to get small business loans. And that’s before the Republicans even got to work on it! Meanwhile, Democrat Christie Smith lost the special election for former Rep. Katie Hill’s seat in California’s 25th district, falling to a Republican defense contractor. In case that wasn’t bad enough, Democrats also picked up a loss in the special election for Wisconsin’s 7th district. And lastly, Joe Biden’s campaign may have signed its first actual progressive: per CNN, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has agreed to co-chair a task force on climate change for the Biden campaign, clearly hoping that she can push for some positive changes from inside the rusty Biden machine. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW It’s unfair to say that you can never count on Nancy Pelosi for anything. If you’re a corporate lobbyist, for instance, you can certainly count on her to have your back. House Democrats under Pelosi’s charge unveiled a new massive coronavirus relief package on Tuesday, and while it once again skips vital, people-first relief like direct payments or mortgage and rent suspension, it DOES include specific provisions that let corporate lobbying firms apply for federal bailout money. So that’s great for them, at least! For almost everything else, the bill is another miserable disappointment. Here are the scraps: $25 billion for the Post Office, which is sorely needed, but will likely be first on the Republican chopping block; one more round of measly $1200 stimulus checks for adults making less than $75,000, and some kind of hazard pay for frontline workers. There are some feeble stabs at other relief, but the whole thing is so thoroughly means-tested it’s hard to tell who it will actually help. Again, this is the starting point. Republicans haven’t even begun to strip this thing for parts yet. Pelosi is expected to push it through the House on Friday, at which point it will go to Mitch McConnell’s Senate, which is already howling that it goes too far and spends too much. There are Representatives yelling at Pelosi to do better, like Rep. Pramilla Jayapaul, but if the Speaker decides her corporate lobbyist bailout bill is going forward, we’ve seen time and time again there’s little that the lonely progressive caucus can do to stop it. Democrats Lose in CA and WI To add injury to insult, Democrats also lost two elections on Tuesday. In the special election to fill Rep. Katie Hill’s seat in California, Democrat Christy Smith lost to Mike Garcia, a Republican former pilot who most recently worked as a defense contractor. Smith and Garcia will get an almost immediate rematch, as both say that they plan to run for the seat in the November general election. The results in this round aren’t great: early on Wednesday morning Garcia was up by double digits. Part of that probably has to do with turnout. The special election sent out vote-by-mail ballots to every voter. As of Monday, tracking data showed 40 percent of Republicans had sent theirs back in, compared to only 27 percent of Democrats. Democrats also lost another contentious special election in Wisconsin’s 7th district. This one, to fill former Rep. Sean Duffy’s seat, wasn’t supposed to be close, but analysts were looking at it to gauge relative party enthusiasm in the swing state going into the general. Trump carried the district by more than 20 points in 2016; Duffy won it in 2018 by 22 points. Democrat Tricia Zunker lost to Republican Tom Tiffany, but only by about 15 points, which means the gap is closing, marginally. In a general Presidential election, Biden is up just three points over Trump in the state. But that’s assuming we even get an election. On Tuesday, milksop son-in-law Jared Kushner said he was quote “not sure I can commit one way or the other” to having the General election in November. It’s long been a worry that Trump would try to postpone the election if he thinks he’s going to lose, and while nobody’s outright saying it yet, Kush-boy’s wishy-washy response doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in democracy. AOC Joins Team Biden Joe Biden appears to have opened the door a tiny, tiny crack to the progressive wing of the party. That might be giving him too much credit, but here’s one good thing at least: the campaign has managed to convince Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to co-chair a task force on climate change. A spokesperson for AOC confirmed to CNN that she was involved with other members of the Climate Justice community. Sure, some on the left will probably shout at her for being a sellout, but if Biden is to be the nominee, it can only be a good thing if someone with a proven track record of standing up to the establishment is in a position to hassle him over climate change. She certainly hasn’t pulled any punches in prior statements, saying quote “if Biden is only doing things he's comfortable with, then it's not enough," endquote in an interview with the New York Times last month. The bigger question is what will happen to the task forces -- which were first announced when Bernie Sanders endorsed Biden -- in the event that the former VP actually does beat Trump in November. AOC will surely work hard to lay the groundwork, but then it’s still a leap of faith that a Biden administration won’t ice her out after that. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: In a recent court filing, the FBI accidentally let slip a major state secret: the identity of a Saudi embassy official in Washington who was suspected of helping two of the hijackers on 9/11. It’s the first on-record confirmation that the FBI believed it had found a link between the Saudi Embassy and the hijackers, which could have major ramifications for a lawsuit against the Saudi government brought by families of 9/11 victims. The coronavirus has been detected for the first time among some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Refugee camps in both South Sudan and Greece’s Aegean Islands reported cases, meaning that the disease could soon compound the already dire refugee crisis worldwide. A new study estimates that over 100,000 small businesses have been forced to shut down permanently since the beginning of the pandemic, according to researchers at Harvard, University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois. The researchers estimate that is roughly 2 percent of all small businesses in the country. And lastly, Rep. Greg Stube, one of the biggest goons in Congress, owned himself in delightful fashion this week, when he introduced a bill specifically targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar over campaign spending on her now-husband’s company. What he didn’t realize is that the bill’s sloppy wording would also prohibit President Trump’s re-election campaign from spending any money at Trump properties as well, something it is certainly dying to do. Oops! That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show this afternoon! HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump stormed out of a strange, deranged, and racist press conference today after rambling about Obamagate and telling an Asian-American reporter she should quote “ask China” her question. Just another Monday for the big wet baby-boss. Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci prepares to tell the Senate a hard truth: that the U.S. will face even more death if it opens up too soon. And lastly, big-brain inventor boy Elon Musk is having one hell of a meltdown May: after suing Alameda County for keeping his car factory closed, he’s restarting production in defiance of official orders and allegedly bullying his employees into going back to work alongside him. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW Donald Trump threw a classic tantrum at a strange press conference in the Rose Garden today, after multiple reporters challenged him with actual questions. The show started when Phillip Rucker of the Washington Post asked the President to specifically identify the crime that he thinks Barack Obama committed in “Obamagate.” Trump launched into a completely nonsensical, meaningless response, finishing with: QUOTE “You know what the crime is, the crime is very obvious to everybody, all you have to do is read the newspapers -- except yours.” ENDQUOTE Things moved from simply deranged to openly racist when CBS News’ Weija Jiang, who is Chinese-American, asked Trump why he was treating the pandemic like a quote “global competition.” Trump shot back quote: “Maybe that’s a question you should ask China.” CNN’s Kaitlin Collins then moved in to ask a question, and the press conference derailed from there, as Trump fled the stage when Collins continued to press him. This may be classic idiocy from the crybaby-in-chief, but Trump was clearly rattled afterwards, repeatedly firing off on Twitter about how fake news was colluding against him. Meanwhile, the White House has mandated mask use for all of its staff to control the coronavirus cases in its ranks, with the exception of Trump, who won’t be wearing one. To top it all off, Trump’s recent planned visit to an American facility that was producing protective equipment had to be scrapped, as the factory’s management were worried a Presidential delegation could expose their workers to the virus. That’s right -- the President and his inner circle are now more exposed to the virus than the workers who make the masks Trump refuses to wear. Fauci's Warning Dr. Anthony Fauci is at least trying to mitigate the Trump Administration’s disastrous coronavirus policy, but who knows if it’ll be enough. Today Fauci is set to testify before the Senate, where he plans to state that Americans will go through quote “needless suffering and death” endquote if they country relaxes its restrictions too quickly. And so far that’s exactly what’s been happening. States have been slowly casting off social distancing and isolation measures for weeks, which has researchers extremely nervous, especially as many places haven’t controlled the virus as tightly as some European countries that are also opening back up. France, Spain, Germany and Italy all loosened lockdown restrictions after weeks of strict isolation, letting their citizens go grocery shopping without permits, gather in small groups, and even visit gyms in some areas. It’s both an encouraging sign for the future and a massive warning, as the virus threatens to come back at any moment. Just look at Wuhan, the epicenter of the global pandemic, where officials reported six new cases in one neighborhood in the last few days. Experts think that if the U.S. opens up too soon, the second wave of the virus won’t even wait for fall -- it’ll flare up in a series of surges. And because the virus often lays dormant for a while, a period of calm after a state re-opens could just mean that a deadly reckoning is on the way when newly-infected patients need hospitalization. Fauci will do his best today to convince the Senate of this fact -- and then brace himself for the fallout from the Oval Office. Musk Meltdown Trump wasn’t the only one having a good old-fashioned meltdown yesterday. Big-headed billionaire Elon Musk just celebrated the birth of his ridiculously-named seventh child, but that hasn’t stopped him from throwing an absolute fit over California’s cautious re-opening policies. Musk announced on Twitter on Monday that his Tesla vehicle factory in Fremont, California would start production again in defiance of Alameda County’s rules. The county health inspector has repeatedly told Musk that he wanted to work together to get the factory open again on May 18, but six days was too long to wait. Musk claimed that he would be quote “on the line” with his workers, and said that he would be first to be arrested. The difference of course is that Musk is a literal billionaire, and all of these workers’ boss. He’s also been allegedly coercing them to show up to work by saying that despite county rules, previously furloughed workers will be on “unpaid leave” if they don’t come in. Musk and Tesla are also suing Alameda county over the plant’s shutdown. His main gripe is that the county kept Tesla’s plant shut down despite a statewide exemption for transportation business to stay open, which Musk thinks should apply to his luxury car factory. The county, meanwhile, says it’s been trying to work with the company to put together a safe reopening plan. But whatever efforts they’ve made weren’t good enough for Musk, who has built a career off of doing things his own way at all times, even when they’re illegal. At least he hasn’t called anyone a pedophile this time. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Lis Smith, the Democratic mastermind behind Pete Buttigieg’s always-on air campaign, suggested that Joe Biden should put on a live show in the videogame Fortnite, just like rapper Travis Scott. We’ll let that idea speak for itself. Doctors Without Borders, the famous international medical organization usually found providing aid on battlefields and disaster-stricken countries, is deploying a team to the Navajo Nation in the American Southwest, to help treat a hard-hit community. The U.S. looks more and more like a failed state every day. Judicial Watch, the right-wing legal gibberish organization most notable for putting its weirdly ripped president Tom Fitton on TV, has decided to dabble in a little bit of vote suppression. The organization filed a suit at the end of April intended to strong-arm several Pennsylvania counties into an aggressive voter purge, which the ACLU warns could strip eligible voters of their right before the November election. The Los Angeles City Council recently passed a law that allows tenants to sue their landlords if they violate the city’s order suspending evictions during the pandemic. Councilman Bob Blumenfeld said the law was about quote “giving the tenants a big stick.” endquote. That’s what we like to hear, Bob. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Coronavirus has taken hold in the White House, after Vice President Mike Pence’s spokeswoman -- who is also Stephen Miller’s wife -- became the latest person working in West Wing to test positive. Fear is understandably spreading through the halls, per recent reports. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is reportedly putting together a coalition of quote “Republicans for Biden,” which he says includes “major officeholders.” On the bright side there’s no way any of that could go wrong and he’s sure to open the same door to progressives any day now. Let’s stay optimistic! And lastly, a huge win for the budding labor union at Hearst magazines. Hearst’s fully unhinged leadership has done everything they could to fight their employee’s union drive with the Writers’ Guild, but the NLRB shot down their complaints on Friday, setting the stage for a long-awaited vote on the union THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The White House has coronavirus, and there’s a very good chance it has spread to Donald Trump’s inner circle. Here’s what we know so far: one of Donald Trump’s personal valets tested positive for the virus. So did Katie Miller, Vice President Pence’s spokeswoman and wife of Stephen Miller. We knew the valet was positive last week, but Miller’s positive test only came out late on Friday. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that other West Wing staffers are now scared to go to work, but are still reporting for duty. And isolation protocols aren’t exactly being followed -- many staffers who came in contact with Miller or the valet are still showing up to meetings. Pence is not quarantining, even though he was almost certainly exposed. Maybe he thinks he can pray it away, but regardless, he’s putting the rest of his staff at risk. Per the Times, Trump is still refusing to wear a mask, but is starting to get cranky when people get too near him. And everyone realizes the hypocrisy of telling states to ditch social distancing guidelines while the White House frantically tests and contact-traces. Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, is at least doing his best to not catch the virus. Fauci will enter a modified quarantine after coming into contact with one of the infected staffers; he’s set to appear before a Senate committee on Tuesday, but will do it over video conference. Fauci has long been the only rational adult in the room, but now hopefully he’s in a very different room, by himself, and not anywhere near the West Wing plague den. Biden Goes Republican Joe Biden is reportedly assembling a crack team of Republicans, including some quote “major officeholders” endquote, to help him get elected. Biden let slip that this Republicans for Biden movement was growing in an Instagram Live video at the end of April, but the Daily Beast tracked down some high-profile NeverTrump Republicans who confirmed that the campaign had something up its sleeve. The Beast reports that this might look like either an external PAC or an internal operation where a couple Republicans join the campaign publicly. Either way, the whole thing seems half-formed and ineffective -- in other words, perfect for the Biden campaign! What this tells us, of course, is that Biden would rather play Charlie Brown with the Republicans’ football make any sort of actual overtures to the progressive wing of the party. He’ll spend millions of dollars to get what probably won’t amount to anything more than a boilerplate endorsement from a dweeb like Jeff Flake, but can’t even pretend he’d consider the idea of passing Medicare for All if Democrats took back the Senate during his Administration. The whole thing is a joke. And meanwhile, Democrats in the House aren’t doing much better. Per an Axios report, Nancy Pelosi is currently rolling up her sleeves to get down to the absolutely ludicrous business of “means testing,” relief packages and unemployment expansions to prevent people quote “abusing the system.” Officials are now predicting that the unemployment rate will surpass 20 percent next month, and this is what the Democrats in power are worrying about? Hearst Bosses Fall to Labor Law The National Labor Relations Board just smacked down the greedy, money-grubbing bosses in charge of Hearst Media, handing a major victory to the magazine chain’s union movement. Hearst employees have been working to unionize with the Writers’ Guild of America, East, for more than six months, and the company bosses have pulled out all the stops to break them down. We’re talking cartoon-villain stuff here: the Hearst bosses tried to classify six union employees as management, and made up new meaningless categories for its portfolio of magazines to try to split up the union into six different bargaining units. They also tried one of the dirtiest tricks in the anti-union handbook -- claiming that their employees already had a union, based on a potentially illegal “company union” set up by bosses. The Trump-led NLRB hasn’t exactly been a friend of organized labor. But even it was forced to admit that the Hearst management’s tactics weren’t going to fly. The NLRB threw out all three of Hearst’s main arguments and is now ordering that a union election go forward with an in-person OR by-mail vote. Seeing as there’s no better way to build support for a union among employees than trying and failing to break it up in a comically evil fashion, the road forward looks pretty good for Hearst’s battle-hardened workers. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A new whistleblower report shows that the federal government passed up on an offer from an American company to manufacture up to 7 million N95 masks per month all the way back in January, a move which could have saved countless lives which were endangered during the country’s dire shortage of protective equipment. Georgia’s Attorney General is seeking a federal probe into local law enforcement’s handling of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, after two local prosecutors recused themselves from the investigation in what quickly became a farcial miscarriage of justice. A new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation predicts that up to 43 million Americans may lose their health insurance as a result of the pandemic recession. At this point every day in an employer-provided insurance system is an utter travesty. More than 70 people in Wisconsin who said they had attended a “large gathering” have now tested positive for the coronavirus. Coincidentally, a recent protest against stay-at-home laws at the Wisconsin capitol recently attracted 1500 people, though state officials can’t confirm that all of the 70 plus cases originated there. This would be an extremely funny example of karmic justice, except that each of the morons who caught it there could have spread the disease to untold numbers of innocent people. That’s all for the AM Quickie today, stay tuned for Sam and the full Majority Report this afternoon. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump loses it after the person who feeds him tests positive for coronavirus. And once again, the White House has been busted censoring public health information. Meanwhile, the Justice Department drops its case against Trump’s favorite spy, Mike Flynn – even though Flynn already pleaded guilty. It’s a great week for public corruption, all around. And lastly, a civic coalition in Toronto succeeds in stopping a corporate takeover downtown. Instead of a private neighborhood for Google, now they might build public housing. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: One of Donald Trump’s personal White House valets has tested positive for the coronavirus, CNN reported yesterday. This person serves in the US Navy, and their duties include serving Trump meals, and shining his shoes. When Trump found out, he didn’t offer sympathy. Instead, staff claim, he got QUOTE lava-level mad ENDQUOTE. Apparently Trump expects staff to protect his health at the same time they’re stuffing his face with cheeseburgers. He and Vice President Mike Pence are still said to be ’rona-free. But Trump told reporters he will now be getting tested daily, instead of weekly. This is the same guy who just said it’s not important for us to get tested. May he gag on a swab. Also, the Associated Press reported the White House is preventing federal experts from telling the public how to stay healthy. Trump’s lackeys suppressed a seventeen-page the Centers for Disease Control report that contained step-by-step guidance for schools, bars, churches, and so on, about reopening safely. But the White House doesn’t want people to be too safe, you see. The document said restaurants that reopen should make sure diners are seated six feet apart. That advice was removed, along with many other specifics. The CDC document was supposed to be published today. The new advice is... I don’t know, work hard and pray? Trump isn’t the only one who’s taken to blaming the help. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told members of Congress that dirty, filty workers were to blame for spreading coronavirus in meat packing plants across the country. According to Politico, Azar blamed unsanitary working-class homes -- rather than, say, factory conditions – for major workplace outbreaks in the food industry. At least two dozen meatpacking plants have closed and supermarkets are facing some shortages. Instead of improving conditions at factories, Azar suggested sending more police into workers’ communities to enforce social distancing. Does he really think putting more people in jail will slow the spread of COVID-19? Or is just the classist garbage it seems to be? These people running the country are truly twisted. DOJ Drops Flynn Case Crime does pay if your name is Mike Flynn and you are the former National Security Adviser to Donald Trump. Twice, he admitted guilt in lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But yesterday the Justice Department said it was dropping all charges against Flynn. Again, he’d already pleaded guilty. And, typically, prosecutors, including Attorney General Bill Barr, prefer to secure convictions. Instead of, you know, letting criminals free after they admit guilt. Let’s just say it very, very rarely happens that they up and drop a case like this. The new DOJ filings basically say Flynn did nothing wrong and echo Trump’s own view of the case. Prosecutors didn’t try to argue that Flynn actually told the truth, simply that he never should have been interviewed. Imagine if Flynn stole a forty-ouncer from the corner store. If every defendant got this treatment, America’s jails would be empty. Responding to the news, Trump ranted about punishing those responsible for a treasonous conspiracy. Elsewhere in justiceland, the Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision, overturned the convictions of two Chris Christie associates involved in the 2013 Bridge-gate scandal. One, Bridget Anne Kelly, wrote the infamous email telling saying it was QUOTE time for some traffic problems ENDQUOTE, before closing the world’s busiest bridge as political payback. The other lucky wire fraud convict, Bill Baroni, worked at the Port Authority. The Supreme Court did not say Kelly and Baroni weren’t corrupt -- only that it wasn’t the kind of corruption the court was concerned with. See? Crime does pay sometimes. The former New Jersey Governor got to brag he was vindicated. Whatever you say, man -- you’re still Chris Christie. Toronto Defeats Google Takeover Google is pulling the plug on what was supposed to be showcase for its effort to take over urban planning, city by city, around the world. The company is blaming coronavirus for its decision. But locals in Toronto are crediting two years of political pressure by a broad coalition of local interests_._ Toronto is where Google’s Trojan Horse subsidiary, Sidewalk Labs, had hoped to build a private neighborhood called Quayside on the downtown lakeshore. The project was at one point supposed to encompass over one-hundred and ninety acres. That’s well over one-hundred city blocks. This proved controversial. Especially since planners approved a more modest, twelve-acre project -- before Google came back with this crazy plan to take over the city. Some of the company’s ideas weren’t even legal. It wasn’t even critics saying that, it was Waterfront Toronto, the quasi-public agency that was Google’s partner in the deal. In addition to the expanding size of the project, many locals were concerned about digital spying. Naturally, Google’s idea of a smart city is one that’s totally covered in cameras and sensors. Others warned that Google wanted to claim an ownership interest in the work done by small businesses in the neighborhood. According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, it was activism around these kind of issues, as much as the real estate downturn, that made Google give up. Now Waterfront Toronto says it might build more public housing at the site. Wait, the real estate people want to do something helpful? And necessary? Are they feeling okay? AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A California newspaper obtained what it says is the first known public record confirming sexual assault allegations by Tara Reade against her former employer, Joe Biden. A court declaration from 1996 found by the San Luis Obispo Tribune shows Reade told her ex-husband about the alleged assault in 1993. It doesn’t prove Biden assaulted Reade – but it does show Democrats were not smart to base their defense of Biden on a lack of records. Separately, Fox News released part of its interview with Reade. She says it’s too late for an apology and Biden should end his presidential campaign. If you live on the East Coast, or the West Coast, expect a spell of intense weather starting today. But as some forecasters are saying, it’s like the coasts will be entering different seasons. Out West, there will be record heat. Back East, record cold. On Saturday, Anchorage, Alaska, will be fifteen degrees warmer than Washington, DC. The weather folks say it’s not normal for so much arctic air to head south at this time in the spring. As you may have noticed, climate change is making extreme weather more common. Two white men in Georgia were finally charged for the murder of a young black man jogging through the suburbs. The arrests took place yesterday, more than two months after the killing but only days after a graphic video emerged. Gregory and Travis McMichael, sixty- four and thirty-four years old, chased down twenty-five-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in their truck and shot him unprovoked. Prosecutors in two counties initially declined to pursue the case. State police made yesterday’s arrests only after public outcry. Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he believes in extraterrestrials. Reid, now eighty, retired from the Senate in 2017. In Congress, he was responsible for funding at least two formerly secret programs to investigate UFOs. But his Vice News interview published yesterday was the first time he linked that subject to a search for alien life. He said his former colleagues in Congress should pursue the subject even if their staff try to convince them otherwise. Anything else you want to tell us, Harry? That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. And remember, this Sunday is Mother’s Day. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Desperation is growing in the failed states of America. Reports show millions of families in the richest country in the world aren’t getting enough food and clean water. Meanwhile, as hospitals were scrambling for supplies, the Transportation Security Administration hoarded well over a million N-95 masks. And TSA officials still won’t explain why they aren’t sharing their stockpile where it’s needed – which is not at the airport. And lastly, I guess we’re lucky that rich people also use the US Postal Service. A few companies with a lot of money on the line have joined the fight to save the Constitutionally protected US Mail from Donald Trump’s plan to destroy it. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The European Union’s top economists are predicting the worst economic recession there since the end of the Second World War. The worst effects will be felt in countries that depend on tourism – Europe, Spain, Greece, and Italy. But even though many EU countries will fare worse than the United States on paper, economists say they will still do better in terms of saving jobs. The US unemployment rate is already worse than what’s predicted for the EU. Most European governments have chosen to cover the cost of people’s salaries during the pandemic. America is now the place where rulers say let them eat cake. A new survey by the Brookings Institution shows that childhood hunger in the US has tripled from its worst point during the 2008 recession. One in five American mothers today say their children aren’t getting enough to eat. Families are skipping meals and reducing portions. Democrats in Congress want to increase food stamp benefits by fifteen percent, as they did in that prior recession. Republicans say nah. Access to clean water is also an urgent problem for more and more people. More than two million Americans lack indoor plumbing. Millions more don’t trust their water. The Washington Post says stores are restricting purchases for rural people who rely on bottled water for cooking and drinking – not to mention hand-washing. Prices are going up, and some say the rationed amount isn’t enough. It’s a real bad scene out there. As always, some are facing greater risks. New research by the Associated Press confirms that people of color are faring worse, not only from COVID-19 but from the economic fallout. Black and Hispanic Americans were twice as likely as whites to have lost work, or to report trouble making rent and paying bills, since the pandemic. All of this is fixable, but we need people in power who care. TSA hoarding deprives hospitals Air travel is down ninety-five percent at US airports since the pandemic. So it doesn’t make a lot of sense why the Transportation Security Administration has decided to hoard more than 1.3 million N-95 respirator masks. This is at a time when doctors around the country were literally begging for donations of that exact piece of equipment. ProPublica broke this story yesterday, but there aren’t good answers as to how and why it happened. A TSA attorney, Charles Kielkopf (KYLE-COUGH), filed a whistleblower complaint over the stockpiling this week. Kielkopf first raised the matter last month after TSA got the masks from Customs and Border Patrol, which found them in a warehouse in Indiana. The whistleblower and other officials repeatedly told higher-ups that the masks should be given to hospitals, where they were – and are – desperately needed. Instead, management decided to hold on to their hoard, even as it cut the schedules for most of its workers – because, remember, the airports are like ghost towns. Then TSA field offices started getting thousands of masks for workers who weren’t there. As state governors started pleading for donations, TSA management refused suggestions to give the masks to hospitals. Bad call! Separately, the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into a fake medical supply company founded by two Republican political operatives that conned its way into hundreds of millions of dollars in public contracts. The company, called Blue Flame Medical, was founded just six weeks ago. But as the Washington Post reported, its founders used their connections with former federal officials to land government contracts – including a $457 million contract with California for 100 million masks. The consultants, Michael Gula and John Thomas, claimed to have a solid connection with a Chinese government supplier. Guess who they blamed when they couldn’t deliver? China, of course. Retailers demand USPS rescue A few big corporations are doing something useful with their money for a change, and asking the government to save the US Postal Service. Last night a group of online retailers including Amazon and CVS launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to pressure Republican lawmakers to reject Donald Trump’s plan to jack up postal rates. Democrats have a different proposal to make up for stretched budgets at the Postal Service as a result of the pandemic: give it more money in the budget. According to the New York Times, Democrats want to allocate $25 billion to make up the Postal Service shortfall. No, no. Definitely not. That would be too simple. Trump is reportedly refusing to sign off on any USPS funding that doesn’t quadruple rates for packages. So wherever you see Shipping and Handling charges, multiply that by four. The retailers hired a former Army secretary, John McHugh, to make the case for the Democrats’ plan. McHugh says Trump’s plan is dangerous, especially with people relying more and more on deliveries. The pressure ads by the retail lobby started airing last night on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News – so Trump definitely saw it. They’re calling themselves the Package Coalition. And they say Trump’s plan is QUOTE a massive package tax ENDQUOTE. Listen. They’re spending $2 million on this ad campaign. You’d think they could come up a way to avoid making everyone say the word package so much_._ AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Guess what, some of the people at the pro-Trump “re-opening” rallies have been stockpiling explosives as well as guns. In at least one case, a white supremacist involved in recent open-carry rallies prompted Homeland Security to issue an alert over threats to law enforcement. The subject, Bradley Bunn of Loveland, Colorado, was arrested before a May 1 lockdown protest. Bunn bragged to an undercover about killing FBI agents with the pipe bombs he’d built. At least they are stupid terrorists... One in seven humans live in a place that will endure unbearable, Sahara-like temperatures within fifty years. That’s the most optimistic scenario in a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors examined migration patterns and found that 1.2 billion people live outside the so-called climate niche of our species. The pessimistic scenario has one in three people dealing with unbearable heat in the pretty-near future. Either way, these scientists say we should expect more change in the next fifty years than in the previous six thousand. Fingers crossed! The ignorant billionaire Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, laid out new rules yesterday for how schools deal with allegations of sexual assault and harassment. The new rules narrow the definition of harrassment, and require that it be severe and pervasive. They also give abusers the right to cross-examine accusers in campus hearings. DeVos claimed it’s about due process, but feminist critics said the changes are really about silencing survivors. US military recruiters say the coronavirus is changing the way they do business. Instead of stalking campuses and high school hangouts, the main focus of their efforts is moving to online games like Call of Duty and Fortnite. The McClatchy news service says the Army and Navy are sponsoring gaming tournaments and e-sports teams to engage in what they call prospecting activity. We call it getting paid to play video games with high school kids. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

TODAY'S HEADLINES: There’s been some progress in the Republican position on public health versus the right of business owners to make a profit. They’ve progressed from denying there would be a problem, to pretending to take it seriously -- and now, to acting like nothing needs to be done while admitting they know this means people will die. Meanwhile, business interests from Bill Gates on down to the Wisconsin Restaurant Association are taking advantage of the pandemic to push their agendas. Some, it seems, are going so far as to say lobbying itself should be considered an essential service. And lastly, California takes Uber and Lyft to court and asks them to pay up. A new lawsuit by the state says the companies exploited hundreds of thousands of workers. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: What’s a scandal in the morning becomes conventional wisdom by afternoon. Yesterday, the scandal was leaked audio from a private call with Texas Governor Rick Abbott. On the call, Abbott makes he understands that lifting business restrictions too soon will cause more people to die from coronavirus. But he did it anyway. So you can see why it scandalized people. Then along came Trump to make it seem normal. In a series of interviews and events, Trump rolled out the new signature Republican policy: You are going back to work now, and we don’t care if it kills you. Asked if people should have access to COVID-19 tests before going back to work, Trump told a reporter they should have no problem. The word should is doing a lot of work there. Separately, Vice President Mike Pence said his coronavirus task would be winding down by the end of the month. That’s it, folks: Mission accomplished! Seventy thousand deaths as of yesterday, officially, in the US. Expect another two or three thousand today. And tomorrow and the day after. The Republicans aren’t doing this to win a popularity contest. They’re doing it to please big business. A new poll commissioned by the Washington Post found sizable majorities of Americans against the reopening of business as usual at this point in the pandemic. Roughly eighty percent of people said they’d be uncomfortable eating at a restaurant, working out in a gym, or watching a movie in a theater. Crucially, the poll found that people’s discomfort did not significantly change in states with looser restrictions compared to more strict ones. Republicans were generally more supportive of reopening businesses, but even so, sixty percent of Republicans said restaurants should not be reopened yet. We’re talking, this morning, about a small ruling elite that wants to feed everyone else into a meat grinder. Which, again, should be conventional wisdom by this afternoon. Lobbyists claim lobbying essential As the pandemic drags on, many in the political world are using the crisis to press their agendas. Trump once again explicitly said the emergency aid states receive is contingent on doing what he wants with tax cuts and immigration policy. Basically, he’s enacted sanctions on Democratic states, and is asking governors to bargain over people’s lives. And he may produce the most obscene examples of it, but Trump isn’t the only one using his leverage in this situation. The National Enquirer, for instance, is asking the government for an emergency small-business loan. How could Trump say no? This is the company that was the conduit for his hush money to Stormy Daniels. But Democrats are not above exploiting the pandemic. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a partnership with Bill Gates to QUOTE re- imagine ENDQUOTE the state’s education system. The Gates Foundation made itself an enemy of teacher’s unions around the country by meddling in schools, with programs that failed even by the Foundation’s own estimation. But Cuomo seems to think the pandemic gives him a mandate to turn over kids’ minds and futures to an oligarch? Why? Here’s how out of hand America’s corruption problem has gotten: lobbyists in Washington, DC are asking lawmakers to bail out... the lobbying industry. They say it’s in the national interest that they continue to lavish members of Congress with corporate cash to advance a narrow set of interests, all of whom are incredibly selfish. Well, that’s not exactly how they put it. This was all reported by The Intercept. The American Society of Association Executives – that is, the lobbyists’ lobby – claimed in its gimme letter that Congress already relies on lobbyists to decide how to spend money during this pandemic. Therefore, when you think about it, lobbyists are basically first responders. And that is why they make the big bucks. California sues Uber, Lyft California’s Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, filed a lawsuit yesterday against Uber and Lyft. The AG claims the two companies have exploited hundreds of thousands of workers – and violated state law -- by claiming their workers were independent contractors. City attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego joined the state’s lawsuit, so it’s basically a signal that some California Democrats are getting serious about pushing back on the tech industry’s abuses. While the stand for worker’s rights may be long overdue, the state’s lawsuit hinges on a new law known as A-B Five. The law seeks to force companies to afford proper benefits to freelancers and contractors when they are in fact more like employees. The state’s complaint says the time has come for Uber’s and Lyft’s massive, unlawful employee mis-classification scheme to end. The sooner the better for California: it’s full of companies like Uber and Lyft that have not been paying what they owe in to the state unemployment fund. This kind of mis-classification rips off workers, sure. It also rips off everyone who needs help from the state when they lose their job. And that’s a lot more people that it was a few weeks ago. Which means you might see more cases like this in the future. Better late than never! AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized yesterday. According to a statement by the court, Ginsburg had nonsurgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Reportedly, she had a gallstone that caused an infection. Ginsburg, eighty-seven, plans to participate in oral arguments via teleconference today. Many still remember Elizabeth Warren’s big moment in the Democratic presidential primary debates, when she took Mike Bloomberg apart over misogyny in the workplace. So many took note this week when the Massachusetts Senator said she thought Joe Biden’s denial of sexual assault allegations was credible and convincing. When asked, Warren did not endorse an independent investigation into the claims made by former Biden aide Tara Reade. Horrific video emerged from Georgia of two white men in a pickup truck shooting and killing a young black man who was simply out jogging. Twenty-five-year old Ahmaud Arbery lived in Glynn County, Georgia. He played football in high school and liked to run to stay in shape. He was shot running through a suburb on February 23. Three white men thought he looked like a criminal, drove him down, and shot him. Two prosecutors recused themselves before a third in another county brought charges. Donald Trump said yesterday he had absolutely nothing to do with an apparent bungled operation by American mercenaries in Venezuela. More details about Silvercorp, the Florida outfit with members now in Venezuelan custody, including Tweets from the company to the president bragging about the operation. Vice reported that one of the mercenaries, Airan Berry, was really into Q-Anon. And that Silvercorp did security for Trump events. It’s a curious story, that keeps getting curioser. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: As more and more states begin to open for business, scientific models clearly show U.S. deaths from the coronavirus continuing to rise. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government says it has captured two Americans allegedly involved in a strange, clumsy attempt to infiltrate the country and capture its leaders. And lastly, an Amazon Vice President Tim Bray resigned from the company today, in protest of the online shopping empires’ treatment of warehouse workers and white-collar dissenters alike, several of whom have been fired in recent weeks. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The coronavirus is still spreading throughout the country, but you wouldn’t know it by the widespread plans to begin opening states. According to a report by the New York Times, the president’s own administration is predicting a rise in the country’s death rate as a result. By June 1, 3000 people a day will be dying from the disease, according to new government modeling. FEMA also predicts that by the end of May, there will be 200,000 new cases every day. For reference, right now there are about 25,000 new cases per day. That hasn’t stopped many governors from beginning to open up businesses in their states. Missouri Governor Mike Parson has even given the green light for concerts and other large gatherings to resume, with some social distancing rules in place. But really -- social distancing at a concert? Meanwhile, the White House has barred members of its hand-picked coronavirus task force, and their aides, from appearing before Congress, unless they get the express approval of the White House chief of staff. Clearly, Trump doesn’t want anyone talking to the lawmakers tasked with keeping him accountable. Nor does he want to help the world: the U.S. contributed precisely zero dollars to a recent international fundraising event to support research into a vaccine. And beyond the deaths, it’s also clear that the Federal relief meant to bail out small businesses is woefully inadequate. Congress’s last $310 billion expansion of the Paycheck Protection Plan is already half-committed, just one week after it was released. This is an institutional failure on every level, and the people responsible will likely escape the consequences. To be fair, they’re not even trying to hide their evil anymore. Take it from Chris Christie, who said QUOTE “There are going to be deaths no matter what,” ENDQUOTE which is apparently fine by him. Mercs Fail to Invade Venezuela There was once a time when the United States was relatively proficient at overthrowing Latin American leaders, but it appears to have passed. Now, who knows what we’re doing. On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that he had captured two American citizens who were allegedly part of an armed operation to infiltrate the country, incite a rebellion and capture its leaders. The two men appear to be affiliated with a Florida-based mercenary company called Silvercorp, according to the company’s owner, a former Green Beret named Jordan Goudreau. Gourdreau wasn’t exactly subtle, claiming that he was launching quote “Operation Gideon” on Sunday with the stated goal of toppling Maduro. They then allegedly attempted to invade Venezuela in speedboats, but were stopped off the coast in a gunbattle with Venezuelan forces, who knew they were coming. For what it’s worth, both the state department and the Venezuelan opposition under Juan Guidao want nothing to do with these guys. Goudreau says he’s got a lawyer in Venezuela and is currently begging the State department for help getting his men out. Obviously, the facts around this are murky to say the least and it’s already a pretty wild story, but stay tuned for what the Trump Administration’s response will be: at this point, it could be pretty much anything. Amazon VP Quits in Style Cracks are beginning to show at Amazon. On Monday, Tim Bray, a Vice President and distinguished engineer at the company quit, torching the company on his way out for its firings of several white collar and warehouse employees who protested its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Over the past few weeks, the company has fired multiple warehouse workers who spoke up about their working conditions and at least two white-collar tech employees who tried to organize their colleagues to support warehouse workers. Bray did not mince words when placing the blame directly on the company, calling Amazon cowards in polite and impolite terms, and noting that all of the fired employees were either people of color, women, or both. "At the end of the day, it's all about power balances. The warehouse workers are weak and getting weaker, what with mass unemployment and (in the U.S.) job-linked health insurance. So they're gonna get treated like crap, because capitalism. Any plausible solution has to start with increasing their collective strength." Sounds like Bray has a pretty good grasp of what’s going on at Amazon and across the country as well. Pity they couldn’t keep him around, but it’s clear he’s going to move on to better things. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The NRA is being forced to lay off dozens of staffers, cut pay, and scale back its fundraising after the coronavirus exacerbated the organizations already-chaotic financial situation. Couldn’t have happened to nicer folks. Shortly after Trump made meat processing plants “critical infrastructure,” 373 workers at a Triumph foods plant in Missouri tested positive for the disease. Almost all of them were asymptomatic, meaning they could have shown up to work just find and continued to spread it. The Senate claimed that it could not legally turn over records requested by the Biden Campaign that could pertain to Tara Reade’s allegations against him. The campaign requested them as an attempt to be transparent, so now they can throw up their hands and shift the blame to the Senate. Clever. And finally, after San Diego County made it mandatory for citizens to have face coverings in public, a man was photographed wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood while shopping in a Vons supermarket. He was asked to remove the hood, but refused to do so until he was in the checkout line. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Catch the full show with Sam later on. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump is forced to admit that the coronavirus death toll will be higher than he first predicted, while new reports show his administration was just waiting for a pandemic to enact fascist policies. Meanwhile, after a horrific mass shooting, Canada acts swiftly to ban semi-automatic firearms and other assault weapons. And lastly, the Senate will reconvene today, but will they get anything done? Here’s what to look for out of Congress this week. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Donald Trump predicted on Sunday night that the U.S. death toll of the novel coronavirus would reach 100,000, finally acknowledging that the pandemic is far more devastating than he thought. While it’s nice that the President now appears to inhabit a similar reality to the country he leads Trump’s now-accurate predictions do absolutely zilch to help the millions of people affected by the virus thus far. Trump changed his predictions during a Fox News town hall on Sunday night, while still claiming credit for responding to the diseases when he did. Meanwhile, a New York Times report shows that his Administration was just waiting for something like this to happen: not so they could respond swiftly, but so they could make things a little bit more fascist toward immigrants. The Times reports that Stephen Miller, perhaps the most comically racist of Trump’s stacked lineup of racists, had been looking for a way to use public health powers to shut down immigration for years. Miller’s idea was essentially to find any way to seal the borders for public health reasons -- he tried it twice in 2019 but was talked down by other officials. With the coronavirus, it seems like Miller’s wish came true. Canada Bans Assault Weapons Canada moved swiftly to ban assault weapons across the country this weekend, responding to the horrific Nova Scotia mass shooting with swift legislative action. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a blanket ban on the the sale, transport, and use of about 1,500 different kinds of “assault style” semi-automatic weapons, effective immediately. Canadians who already own such weapons have two years to dispose of them, and Trudeau said his government is working with the legislature to figure out a way to compensate them for the loss of property. The Nova Scotia shooting on April 18 and 19 was one of the deadliest mass-murders in Canada’s history. The shooter, who was armed with multiple weapons he purchased in both the U.S. and Canada, shot and killed 13 people, and killed 9 more in fires he set as the rampage continued. He was not licensed to own a gun in Canada, yet still obtained many, at least one of which came from a U.S. source, according to Canadian authorities. The ban isn’t perfect: trying to draw distinctions between what is and is not an assault weapon is often a nearly impossible task, and one that would surely meet widespread resistance in the U.S. But it also shows what’s possible with quick, unilateral executive action. Senate Reconvenes, But Will They Help? The Senate is going back to work today, largely because Mitch McConnell has an interest in making Trump look good by getting one House of Congress back to work. It remains to be seen if any of that work will help American people, but here’s what we’re looking for. Progressives are currently calling for the next coronavirus relief bill to finally address the needs of working people, largely by stopping mass layoffs, direct financial relief and expansion of financial relief programs like food aid, health coverage for frontline workers, and national vote-by-mail for the November elections. While those goals are a long shot with McConnell in charge, this is the best time for Democrats in both the Senate and House to start pushing back in a more meaningful way against whatever bogus bill the Republicans put forward next. Things will move slowly, of course. Nancy Pelosi says the House won’t return to D.C. until May 11. When it does, however, there’s some good bills: Rep. Pramila Jayapaul, for one, announced legislation that would expand Medicare and Medicaid to millions of Americans during the crisis and force private companies to pay for patients stricken with the disease. It’s not quite full single-payer, but it’s a good start -- now we wait to see if the Democrats decide find the courage to support it. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: On top of everything else the U.S. is dealing with at the moment, we now have murder hornets, an invasive predator from Asia that wreaks havoc on already-fragile honeybee hives, by decapitating the little pollinators with their gigantic jaws. Did we mention they can grow up to two inches long and have a sting that kills up to 50 people a year in Japan? Betsy DeVos, determined to make the most of her potential for evil as Secretary of Education, has decided to garnish the wages of nearly 300,000 people who have student loans, in the middle of the pandemic. In other news that should surprise no one, the notoriously dumb anti-vaccine movement has started to glom on to the equally stupid anti-social-distancing protest movement. The New York Times reports that prominent anti-vaxx organizations have been spotted at protests in at least three states. And finally, on Friday, Trump announced his intentions to replace HHS Inspector General Christi A. Grimm. This may sound like small-fry personnel changes inside the Administration, if Grimm weren’t the one who blew the whistle on the dire shortage of protective equipment and virus tests in U.S. hospitals just a month earlier. To use a golf metaphor Trump would surely understand: cheap retaliation is par for the course at this point. That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Check out the full show this afternoon, wherever you get your podcasts. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn