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"Most Important Indian Law Case in Half a Century": Supreme Court Upholds Tribal Sovereignty in OK
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:45:45 -0400
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma, constituting nearly half the state, is Native American land, recognizing a 19th century U.S. treaty with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump nominee, joined the court's liberal wing in a narrow 5-4 ruling that found state authorities cannot criminally prosecute Indigenous peoples under state or local laws. The court's bombshell decision — which also impacts the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole Nations — is a major victory for Indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights. "It's a landmark case, and probably the most important Indian law case in the last half a century to come down from the court," says lawyer Sarah Deer, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and a professor at the University of Kansas. "The language of the decision itself goes far beyond Oklahoma."

"House of Absolute Horrors": Mary Trump's Book Reveals How Trump Family Gave Rise to a "Sociopath"
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:39:45 -0400
In a new book, Mary Trump — the president's niece — describes Donald Trump as a "sociopath" who grew up in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed and cruelty. Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert, is seeking to block the sale of the book on the grounds that it violates a confidentiality agreement, but publisher Simon & Schuster says 600,000 copies of the book have already been distributed ahead of its July 14 publishing date. Investigative journalist David Cay Johnston, who has reported on Trump for three decades, says the book is "very, very important" and helps to answer how Trump got to the White House.

Supreme Court Rules Trump Is Not Above the Law, But Public Unlikely to See Tax Returns by Election
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:32:13 -0400
In a pair of 7-2 rulings, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump's claim of absolute immunity under the law. The court ruled a Manhattan grand jury could have access to the president's tax returns, but it remains unlikely any of Trump's tax records will be seen before the election. "Legally, Trump had a big loss," says investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, founder and editor of DCReport.org. "Politically, he got a big win out of this court."

Brazilian Epidemiologist Slams Bolsonaro's COVID Response as Far-Right President Tests Positive
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:14:47 -0400
As Brazil faces the world's second-worst COVID-19 outbreak after the United States, Trump ally and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive, after months of downplaying the severity of the pandemic. Brazil has gone almost two months with no health minister. "Bad political leadership is a major risk factor for the spread of the pandemic," says leading Brazilian epidemiologist Cesar Victora, who coordinates the International Center for Equity in Health at the Federal University of Pelotas.

Headlines for July 10, 2020
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Claim of Absolute Immunity, Court Says Much of Oklahoma Remains Indian Country in Landmark Indigenous Sovereignty Case, Hospitals Face Surge as U.S. Reports Record 65,000 New Coronavirus Cases, Surge in Cases Directly Tied to Early Reopenings in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Bolivia's Interim President Tests Positive; India, S. Africa & Mexico Report New Record Highs, 1.3 Million More File for Unemployment as GOP Rejects Extending Jobless Aid, Biden Unveils $700 Billion "Buy American" Economic Recovery Plan, St. Louis Police Break Up City Hall Protest Encampment, With Veto-Proof Majority, Seattle City Council Pledges to Defund Police by 50%, Protests Erupt in Salt Lake City After Police Cleared in Fatal Shooting, Report: Dataminr Firm Used Twitter Data to Help Police Monitor BLM Protests, NYC Paints "Black Lives Matter" Outside Trump Tower, Hate Groups Receive Federal Loans Under COVID-19 Stimulus Program, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Breaks with Trump on Renaming Bases with Confederate Names, Pentagon: Reports of Russia Paying Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops Is Not Corroborated, Mayor of Seoul Dies in Apparent Suicide, Immigration Rights Groups Raise Alarm over ICE Plan to Host "Citizens Academy", Trump Immigration Filing Could Lead to More Children Being Separated from Parents, Robert Fuller's Death Ruled Suicide in California

Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family's Brutal Colonial History in Congo & Calls for Reparations
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 08:42:14 -0400
Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. have sparked a reckoning about racism and colonialism across the world, including in Belgium, where a growing movement is demanding the country address systemic racism and make amends for its violent colonial legacy. King Philippe issued an unprecedented statement "expressing regret" for Belgium's brutal colonial rule in Congo under Leopold II, who ran the country as his personal fiefdom and under whose command millions of Congolese were enslaved and killed. "It's an erased history," says Belgo-Congolese journalist and activist Gia Abrassart. We also speak with Princess Esméralda, a member of the Belgian royal family and great-grandniece of Leopold II, who says the country has taken an important first step, but adds that "we have to go much farther."

How to Stop the Next Pandemic: U.N. Report Links Outbreaks to Climate Crisis & Industrial Farming
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 08:25:51 -0400
As the unprecedented global health emergency continues to unfold, a new United Nations report says humans must lower stress on the natural environment to prevent the next pandemic. COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has a zoonotic origin, meaning it jumped from animals to humans, and the U.N. report finds that such diseases are spreading with greater frequency due to human activity, including industrial farming and the climate crisis. "Rather than focusing on the symptoms, we were looking at the causes," says Delia Grace, lead author of the report, veterinary epidemiologist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya and professor of food safety at the U.K. Natural Resources Institute.

Viagra? Yes. Birth Control? No. SCOTUS Sides with Trump & Limits Free Contraception Under Obamacare
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 08:17:53 -0400
The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to reproductive rights when it sided with the Trump administration in letting employers deny people access to free birth control based on religious or moral grounds, hollowing out a mandate under the Affordable Care Act that requires most private health insurance plans to provide cost-free birth control. "It's a really deeply disappointing ruling," says Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center. "These individuals are effectively on their own to find and pay for their contraception."

Headlines for July 9, 2020
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
U.S. Posts Another Record Daily High in New Coronavirus Cases, Anthony Fauci Absent from Coronavirus Task Force Briefing After Drawing Criticism from Trump, Trump Attacks CDC Guidance on School Reopenings During Pandemic, Hundreds Test Positive for COVID-19 at Arizona For-Profit Immigration Jail, Tulsa, OK Health Official Links Explosion of Coronavirus Cases to Trump Rally, HHS Secretary Claims Medical Workers "Don't Get Infected" After 95,000 Test Positive for Coronavirus, COVID-19 Cases Spike in Africa, While Melbourne, Australia, Is Placed Back on Lockdown, Bolivians Buried in Mass Graves as Hospitals "Collapse" Amid COVID-19 Surge, Oxfam Warns COVID-19 Pandemic Could Push 122 Million to Brink of Starvation, 126,000 Could Lose Birth Control After SCOTUS Overturns Contraceptive Care Mandate, Man Convicted of Murder at 18 Put to Death in Texas's First Execution Since Pandemic Began, Owner of Dakota Access Pipeline Threatens to Defy Federal Court Order to Stop Oil Flowing, Mexican Labor Leader Released from Jail But Barred from Visiting Maquiladora Workers, U.N. Special Rapporteur Calls U.S. Assassination of Iranian General Illegal Under International Law, Minneapolis Police Bodycam Transcripts Reveal George Floyd's Dying Words, Autopsy Finds L.A. Sheriff's Deputies Shot Andrés Guardado in the Back 5 Times, California Couple Who Defaced Black Lives Matter Mural Charged with Hate Crimes, Jackson, MS to Remove Andrew Jackson Statue, May Replace It with Medgar Evers Memorial, Tucker Carlson Echoes White Nationalists in Attack on Lawmakers of Color, Federal Court Upholds Endangered Species Protections for Yellowstone Grizzly Bears

COVID Exposes "Significant Racial Health Inequities" as Black, Brown & Indigenous People Suffer Most
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:44:18 -0400
The coronavirus continues to hit communities of color the hardest, with federal data showing African American and Latinx people are nearly three times more likely to be infected and twice as likely to die from the virus compared to their white neighbors. There were "pretty significant racial health disparities" even before COVID-19 ravaged the country, says Dr. Uché Blackstock, emergency medicine physician in New York and founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, a company working to fight racism and bias in health services. "What we saw in the pandemic these first few months is these really significant racial health inequities being exposed and even amplified." We also continue to speak with award-winning New York Times correspondent Dr. Sheri Fink.

The New NYC? Houston Hospitals Struggle with "Astonishing" Rise in Coronavirus Cases
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:33:48 -0400
As COVID-19 cases rise and hospitalizations are soaring, hospitals in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California are running out of ICU beds. On Tuesday, Texas set a grim new record of 10,000 new cases in a single day. "It's been astonishing," says Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent Dr. Sheri Fink, who has been reporting from Houston's largest hospital. "They've been adding unit after unit after unit just to care for coronavirus patients."

ICE Threatens to Deport or Bar International Students If Schools Move Classes Online Due to Pandemic
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:14:05 -0400
As President Trump pressures states to reopen schools in the fall despite an alarming surge in new coronavirus cases, ICE says international students studying at U.S. universities could face deportation if their schools switch to online-only courses. The U.S. issues more than a million student visas a year, and international students account for as much as a third of the undergraduate student body at many colleges and universities and often constitute the majority of graduate students. "I have yet to see a justification for this," says immigration attorney Fiona McEntee, who notes that international students contribute about $41 billion to the U.S. economy per year. We also speak with Jian Ren, a Chinese international student pursuing a Ph.D. at Rutgers University.

Headlines for July 8, 2020
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
Trump Begins Formal U.S. Withdrawal from World Health Organization, Brazil's Official Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 65,000 as Jair Bolsonaro Tests Positive, U.S. Confirms Record 60,000+ Coronavirus Cases as Trump Demands School Reopenings, Houston Mayor Pleads with Republicans to Cancel Texas Convention Amid Coronavirus Surge, Prominent GOP Senators to Skip Republican National Convention Amid Pandemic, Serbian Anti-Lockdown Protesters Storm Parliament; Spanish Study Questions "Herd Immunity", Mexican President to Meet with Trump; Canadian PM Won't Attend over COVID Concerns, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley Introduce BREATHE Act, Backed by Black Lives Matter, Phoenix, AZ and Columbus, OH Latest U.S. Cities to Ban Police in High Schools, New York Protesters Demand Broad Moratorium on Evictions Amid Pandemic, Black Lives Matter Protesters Struck by Motorists in Indiana, New York, New Jersey Incumbents Fend Off Progressive Primary Challengers, New Data Show 12-Month Period Ending in June Tied Warmest Year on Record, U.N. Investigators Find All Factions Committed War Crimes During Offensive in Idlib, Syria, Bone Fragment from Disappeared Student Casts Doubt on Official Account of Ayotzinapa Massacre, Police in Kenya's Capital Fire Tear Gas to Clear Protests Against Police BrutalityÂ , Facebook Ad Boycott Leaders Say CEO Zuckerberg Is Failing to Crack Down on Hate Speech, WNBA 2020 Season Will Honor Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name Movements

"They Don't Care About Our Health": Hunger Striker at Otay Mesa ICE Jail Speaks Out as COVID Spreads
Tue, 07 Jul 2020 08:45:46 -0400
As COVID-19 infections continue to rise behind bars, we go inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California to speak with Anthony Alexandre, a longtime U.S. resident of Haitian descent, who describes conditions at the for-profit jail, run by private prison company CoreCivic, which has seen a mass outbreak of COVID-19, leading to at least 167 infections and one death. "Basically, CoreCivic is telling us they do not care about our health," says Alexandre. "They do not care about anything else but their bottom line."

How Black & Indigenous Groups Won the Fight to Stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Tue, 07 Jul 2020 08:36:03 -0400
Anti-pipeline activists are celebrating after Duke Energy and Dominion Energy announced they are dropping plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile pipeline that would have carried fracked gas from West Virginia to North Carolina and threatened rural Indigenous, Black and Brown communities. "There was an awful lot of opposition to this," says Donna Chavis, senior fossil fuel campaigner for Friends of the Earth and an elder of the Lumbee Nation, whose territory the pipeline would have crossed. She says the communities that would have suffered "irreparable harm" from the pipeline "now have that cloud lifted from them."

"A Dream That Comes True": Standing Rock Elder Hails Order to Shut Down DAPL After Years of Protest
Tue, 07 Jul 2020 08:15:54 -0400
Following years of resistance, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous organizers across the country scored a massive legal victory Monday when a federal judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline to be shut down and emptied of all oil, pending an environmental review. "You ever have a dream, a dream that comes true? That is what it is," responds LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, an elder of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and founder of Sacred Stone Camp, where resistance in 2016 brought tens of thousands of people to oppose the pipeline's construction on sacred lands. We also speak with Ojibwe lawyer Tara Houska, founder of the Giniw Collective.

Headlines for July 7, 2020
Tue, 07 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
Judge Rules Dakota Access Pipeline Be Shut Down Pending Review, Trump Admin Moves to Deport and Bar International Students If Colleges Go Online in Fall, Coronavirus Surges Across Country as Dr. Fauci Warns U.S. Still "Knee-Deep" in First Wave, Jair Bolsonaro Gets Tested for COVID-19; WHO Warns AIDS Deaths in Africa Could Rise Amid Pandemic, Congressmembers, Trump Associates Among Beneficiaries of Coronavirus Stimulus Funds, Anti-Asian American Hate Crimes Have Been Soaring Since the Start of the Pandemic, Indiana Civil Rights Activist Says He Was Victim of Attempted Lynching, Video Shows Police Officers Fatally Shooting Phoenix Man in His Parked Car, White Woman Who Claimed Black Man in Central Park Threatened Her, Charged with Filing False Report, GA Governor Declares State of Emergency Days After Fatal Shooting of 8-Year-Old Girl, Pentagon Considering Banning Confederate Flag at Military Bases, Questions Remain After Fire at Iranian Nuclear Facility Caused "Significant Damage", Prominent Iraqi Security and Political Expert Hisham al-Hashimi Shot Dead, Sec. State Pompeo Says U.S. Considering Banning TikTok and Other Chinese Apps, Political Outsider Luis Abinader Wins Dominican Republic Presidential Election, Germany Votes to End Coal Use by 2038; Activists Say It's Not Enough to Stop Climate Catastrophe, SCOTUS Rules States Can Require Electoral College Members to Back Popular Winner, #BlackoutDay2020 Encourages Consumers to Support Black Business Owners

Egyptian Activist Laila Soueif on the Jailing of Her Children & the Fight Against Authoritarianism
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 08:40:42 -0400
Egyptian authorities have arrested scores of people, including doctors, medical workers, journalists, lawyers and activists, as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. "Unlike nearly every other country in the Middle East, Egypt has not released thousands of prisoners as a precaution against the coronavirus. Instead, it's arrested more people and cut off communication," says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. One of the most high-profile arrests is that of Sanaa Seif, a film editor and the youngest member of one of Egypt's most prominent activist families. Sanaa's brother, Alaa Abd El-Fattah — a leading figure of the 2011 revolution — was released from prison last year after serving a five-year sentence on trumped-up charges, but was rearrested in September and remains behind bars in pretrial detention. In an exclusive interview, we speak with their mother, Laila Soueif, who is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University and one of the most outspoken and active advocates for prisoner rights in Egypt.

Indigenous Historian Nick Estes on Toppling Statues, Racist Team Names & COVID-19 in Indian Country
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 08:32:32 -0400
President Trump's visit to Mount Rushmore comes after months of escalating coronavirus infections in Native communities, but Indigenous scholar and activist Nick Estes says South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, like many of her Republican counterparts across the U.S., has taken a "hallucination-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic," and notes she refused to enforce social distancing at this weekend's event that attracted thousands of people. He also reacts to growing pressure on the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians to change their racist names.

"He Wasn't Invited": How Trump's Racist Mt. Rushmore Celebration Violated Indigenous Sovereignty
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 08:15:43 -0400
Amid ongoing protests against systemic racism and state violence, Trump attacked protesters, vowed to defend statues of colonizers and white supremacists, and ignored Indigenous sovereignty over the area, when he held an Independence Day rally at Mount Rushmore, sparking even more protests that led to 15 arrests. "The Black Hills, or what we know as He Sápa, is the cultural center of our universe as Lakota people," says Indigenous scholar and activist Nick Estes, a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and assistant professor of American studies at the University of New Mexico. "More than 50 different Indigenous nations actually have origin stories or ties or spiritual connections to the Black Hills."

Headlines for July 6, 2020
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
As Coronavirus Surges, States Blame Hasty Reopenings, and Trump Falsely Claims 99% of Cases "Harmless", COVID-19 Spikes Around the World Force Countries to Reimpose Lockdowns, Indigenous Land Defenders Arrested as They Blocked Highway to Mt. Rushmore Ahead of Trump Speech, Antiracist Activist Summer Taylor Killed by Driver Who Targeted Crowd of Protesters, Protesters Topple Columbus Statue in Baltimore, BLM Uprising Continues Over July 4 Weekend, 3 Colorado Officers Fired for Photo Reenacting Killing of Elijah McClain, Pressure Mounting to Change Racist Names of Washington and Cleveland Sports Teams, 160+ People Killed in Ethiopian Unrest Following Murder of Popular Singer, Pro-Democracy Books Pulled from Hong Kong Libraries as New National Security Law Takes Effect, Philippine President Duterte Signs Anti-Terror Law in Further Blow to Freedom of Speech, Landslide at Burmese Jade Mine Kills Over 170 People, Family of Vanessa Guillén Confirms Remains Found Last Week Belong to Missing Fort Hood Soldier, Merci Mack and Brayla Stone, a Black Trans Woman and Girl, Were Killed in Late June, FBI Arrests Epstein Co-Conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell; NYT Reports Prince Andrew Contacted D.C. Lobbyist, Atlantic Coast Pipeline Canceled in Major Win for Land Defenders, Environmentalists

"America's Moment of Reckoning": Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Cornel West on Uprising Against Racism
Fri, 03 Jul 2020 08:34:48 -0400
Scholars Cornel West and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor respond to the global uprising against racism and police violence following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. "We're seeing the convergence of a class rebellion with racism and racial terrorism at the center of it," said Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. "And in many ways, we are in uncharted territory in the United States."

Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election
Fri, 03 Jul 2020 08:07:44 -0400
Amid a worldwide uprising against police brutality and racism, we discuss the historic moment with legendary scholar and activist Angela Davis. She also responds to the destruction and removal of racist monuments in cities across the United States, and the 2020 election.

"What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?": James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass's Historic Speech
Fri, 03 Jul 2020 08:02:12 -0400
In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, he gave one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." He was addressing the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn's acclaimed book, "Voices of a People's History of the United States." He was introduced by Zinn.

Did the Army Ignore a Soldier's Murder? Questions Mount over Vanessa Guillén Disappearance
Thu, 02 Jul 2020 08:46:08 -0400
The U.S. Army says it has a suspect in custody in connection with the disappearance of Vanessa Guillén, a missing 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier whose family says her remains were likely found in a shallow grave near the Texas Army base. A second suspect in the case — a soldier who the Guillén family lawyer named as Aaron Robinson — killed himself in Killeen, Texas, as officers approached. The news comes after months of anguish for Vanessa Guillén's family, who say she was sexually harassed by a higher-up prior to her disappearance and that the military was slow to investigate when she went missing. We get an update from the family's attorney, Natalie Khawam.

Barbara Ransby on the Biden Problem: Social Movements Must Defeat Trump & Also Hold Dems Accountable
Thu, 02 Jul 2020 08:30:43 -0400
Amid a mass uprising against racism and state violence, social movements are not just fighting hostility and backlash from President Trump, but also dealing with a "Biden problem," according to historian, author and activist Barbara Ransby. "I think it's fair to say that Joe Biden is not our dream candidate, by any means," she says. "We should be critical of Joe Biden. We should be ready to hold Joe Biden accountable come January. But we should be clear about the need to defeat Trump in November."

The Untold History of Mount Rushmore: A KKK Sympathizer Built Monument on Sacred Lakota Land
Thu, 02 Jul 2020 08:14:42 -0400
As tribal governments call on President Trump to cancel his Mount Rushmore Independence Day celebration, we look at why Native Americans have long pushed for the removal of the monument carved into the sacred Black Hills and designed by a sculptor with ties to the Ku Klux Klan. "This place is very, very sacred to our people," says Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective. "Stealing our land and then carving the faces of four white men who were colonizers, who committed genocide against Indigenous people, is an egregious act of violence."

Headlines for July 2, 2020
Thu, 02 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
States Reverse Reopenings as Daily U.S. Coronavirus Cases Top 50,000 for First Time, As U.S. Deaths Top 128,000, Trump Predicts Coronavirus Will "Sort of Just Disappear", Dallas Choir Members Tested Positive for COVID-19 Ahead of Performance for Mike Pence, San Quentin Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike Amid Explosion of COVID-19 Cases, Seattle Riot Police Clear Autonomous Zone, Los Angeles City Council Approves $150M in Cuts to Police Budget, Trump Calls Black Lives Matter Message Outside Trump Tower a "Symbol of Hate", Richmond, Virginia, Mayor Removes Confederate Statue, Trump Backs Confederate Base Names as Monuments to Racism Continue to FallÂ , Baltimore Court Reinstates $38 Million in Damages to Family of Korryn Gaines, Killed by Police, Family of Andrés Guardado, Shot by L.A. Sheriff's Deputy, Demands Autopsy Report, Families Demand Investigations into Police Killings of Sean Monterrosa, Erik Salgado, Shallow Grave Found Near Fort Hood, TX Likely Holds Missing Soldier Vanessa Guillén, Reporters German Vallecillo and Jorge Posas Murdered in Northern Honduras, U.S. Seizes Chinese Hair Products Said to Be from Uyghurs in Forced Labor CampsÂ , Russians Approve "Rigged" Referendum Allowing Vladimir Putin to Remain in Power, Fires in Brazil's Amazon Surge to Highest Rate in 13 Years

Ed Yong on the "Disgraceful" U.S. Pandemic Response & How Medicare for All Could Have Saved Lives
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 08:39:22 -0400
As the United States experiences the world's worst outbreak of COVID-19, we speak with Ed Yong, science writer for The Atlantic, who warned of the country's unpreparedness for a viral outbreak in 2018. Now he says "it's truly shocking and disgraceful" how badly the pandemic has been handled in the United States, and blames a lack of federal leadership for most of the damage. "A country with the resources that we have should not be in this state," he argues, and adds that Medicare for All could have saved lives.

Jamaal Bowman on NY Primary Upset, Rent Strikes, Police Brutality & Opposing West Bank Annexation
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 08:19:15 -0400
As a surge of a progressive candidates of color see victories in Democratic primaries across the country, we speak with former Bronx middle school principal Jamaal Bowman about his upset victory over New York Congressmember Eliot Engel, the 16-term Foreign Affairs Committee chair. Bowman ran on a Green New Deal, Medicare for All platform and recently joined protests demanding an end to racism and police brutality. He says his upset over Engel came down to mobilizing people who are "disenfranchised and ignored" by the political establishment. "We didn't just target those who consistently vote in primaries. We targeted everyone," he says. Looking forward, he describes his support for Palestine, a rent strike and police accountability.

Headlines for July 1, 2020
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0400
Dr. Anthony Fauci Warns U.S. Could Soon Record 100,000 Coronavirus Cases a Day, Dozens of Healthcare Workers Died of COVID-19 After OSHA Dismissed Pleas for PPE, 627,000 in Western Hemisphere Will Die of Coronavirus by October, Warns WHO, Hickenlooper Wins CO Senate Primary; Oklahoma Voters Approve Medicaid Expansion, Amy McGrath Narrowly Defeats Charles Booker in Kentucky Democratic Senate Primary, Oglala Sioux President Says Trump "Doesn't Have Permission" to Visit Mt. Rushmore, Top Republicans Break from Trump, Recommend Masks to Slow Coronavirus, New York Court Blocks Publication of Tell-All Book by Donald Trump's Niece, Joe Biden Blasts Trump on Coronavirus: "Our Wartime President Has Surrendered", New York City Hall Occupation Continues as Budget Fails to Meet Protesters' Demands, Graham, NC Bans Protests & Enforces 24/7 Police Protection of Confederate Monument, Mississippi Governor OKs Removal of Confederate Emblem from Flag, Still Backs Monuments, Supreme Court Rules Private Religious Schools Are Eligible for State Aid, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Rule Forcing Refugees to First Seek Asylum Elsewhere, Immigrant Prisoners Denounce Inhumane Conditions, ICE Negligence Amid COVID-19 Outbreak in Arizona, Mexican Labor Leader's Arrest Draws Protests as USMCA Trade Deal Goes into Effect, White House Had Intelligence on Russian Bounties to Kill U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan, Israel's Netanyahu Vows to Annex Occupied West Bank Despite International Condemnation, Hundreds of Protesters Arrested in Hong Kong as New Security Law Goes into Effect, Harvey Weinstein Sexual Assault & Harassment Survivors Awarded $19M Settlement, Rudolfo Anaya, "Godfather of Chicano Literature," Dies at 82

#OccupyCityHall: Mayor's "Tone Deaf" Pledge to Move $1B from NYPD Budget Fails to Satisfy Protesters
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 08:48:35 -0400
New York police have closed in on peaceful protesters camped outside City Hall who are demanding $1 billion be cut from the police department's $6 billion budget, as the city approaches its July 1 budget deadline. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a budget deal that would move $1 billion in NYPD funding in an apparent nod to protesters' demands, but organizers say they're not satisfied. "All they've really done is shifted money from the NYPD budget over to school safety officers," says Bianca Cunningham with the #OccupyCityHall encampment, who adds that school safety officers still contribute to a school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately hurts Black and Brown communities. "It shows that they are completely tone deaf about what this moment is about," she says.

NJ Latinx Parents & Students Fight Robert Wood Johnson Plan to Demolish Public School
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 08:46:39 -0400
In a story Democracy Now! has followed closely, Juan González shares an update on efforts to prevent the demolition of the Lincoln Annex public school in New Brunswick, New Jersey. City officials are trying to proceed with demolishing the public school this summer, in a move that would force 760 students to be bused to other schools for years, and parents and local activists are holding a rally in front of the Lincoln Annex School. "They want to keep the pressure on in the streets and to call on allies ... who support public education, who are against gentrification and the abuse of immigrants, to join the rally," González says.

NAACP's Derrick Johnson on Mississippi's State Flag, Trump's White Power Tweet & Boycotting Facebook
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 08:26:36 -0400
In a historic vote, the Mississippi state Legislature passed a bill to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag, making it the last state to do so, after an ongoing nationwide uprising against racism and police brutality and a mounting pressure campaign in Mississippi. Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, says it has been a "long journey" to change the Mississippi flag. "We've had to fight both against the symbol of racial oppression, the revisionist history of racial oppression, and now the next step is to fight against the structural racism that's embedded in the public policy, not only in the state of Mississippi but across the country," Johnson says. He also addresses how President Trump shared a video on social media of a Trump supporter chanting "white power," as well as the growing boycott of Facebook for allowing the spread of hateful and false information on its platform.

"Moment of Elation": In 1st Big Abortion Case of Trump Era, SCOTUS Strikes Down Strict Louisiana Law
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 08:15:15 -0400
In the first big ruling on abortion in the Trump era, the Supreme Court has struck down a restrictive abortion law in Louisiana that would have left the state with just one abortion clinic. The 2014 law required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic, an onerous requirement that often made it impossible for abortion providers to continue to operate. "It was a moment of elation," says Lakeesha Harris, director of reproductive health and justice at Women with a Vision, a women's rights organization based in New Orleans. "Many of us have been working years, so this was justice in the making."

Headlines for June 30, 2020
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 08:00:00 -0400
SCOTUS Strikes Down Draconian Louisiana Abortion Law, SCOTUS Rules on Federal Executions, Trump's Ability to Fire Head of CFPB, Funding of Int'l AIDS Projects, States Mandate Face Masks, Impose New Restrictions as Cases Surge Across U.S., WHO Says "The Worst Is Yet to Come" as Scientists Study New Flu Strain That Could Become Pandemic, Judge Sets March Trial Date for Police Officers Who Killed George Floyd, Madison Schools Vote to End Police Contract; Protesters Unfurl Breonna Taylor Banner in Louisville, Shooting at Seattle's CHOP Kills One Teenager, Injures Another, Twitch Suspends Trump's Channel; Reddit and YouTube Ban Accounts for User Violations, Viral Video Shows White Missouri Couple Brandishing Guns at Peaceful Protesters, LULAC, Family of Missing Fort Hood Soldier Demand Congressional Investigation, China Signs Security Law, Giving It Sweeping New Powers Over Hong Kong, AP Report Says China Engaging in "Demographic Genocide" of Uyghurs, Iran Issues Arrest Warrant for Trump over Targeted Killing of Qassem Soleimani, Progressive Dems Denounce Planned Israeli Annexation, At Least 23 Civilians Killed as Blasts Rip Through Afghan Market, Golden State Killer Pleads Guilty to 13 Murders, Over 50 Rapes, Baseball Greats and Fans Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Negro National League

Louisiana Activists Face 15 Years for "Terrorizing" Oil Lobbyist with Box of Plastic Pollution
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 08:50:41 -0400
Two environmental activists with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade face up to 15 years in prison for leaving a box of plastic pellets, found on the Texas coast, at the home of an oil and gas lobbyist in December. Advocates say the "terrorizing" felony charges reflect longtime attempts to criminalize environmental activists in Louisiana and come amid a campaign to block Formosa Plastics from building a new plant in St. James Parish, an area known as Cancer Alley. We speak with Anne Rolfes, director of the group Louisiana Bucket Brigade and one of those facing felony charges, and Gregory Manning, activist and pastor of Broadmoor Community Church, who was charged with inciting a riot as he led a peaceful protest along Cancer Alley in October of 2019.

"Atrocious": Police Killed Elijah McClain in 2019. Why Did It Take Colorado So Long to Launch Probe?
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 08:38:21 -0400
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has ordered a new investigation into the 2019 police killing of 23-year-old Elijah McClain in Aurora, which is facing renewed scrutiny and outrage amid the nationwide uprising against police brutality. McClain was walking home from a store last August when someone called 911 to report a "suspicious person." Three Aurora police officers who answered the call tackled McClain to the ground and placed him in a chokehold as he pleaded for his life, and medical responders who arrived then injected McClain with the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died several days later. "It's really atrocious that it's taken almost a year for this case to gain the kind of attention that it should have gained immediately," says Mari Newman, attorney for the McClain family.

Massive Case of Denial: COVID Surges in US, Tops 10M Globally, as Pence Touts "Remarkable Progress"
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 08:17:01 -0400
As coronavirus cases top 10 million worldwide and spikes are being reported in 36 states, Vice President Mike Pence has touted "truly remarkable progress" on the pandemic. "This has just been a massive case of denial, of idiotic government policy, of the lack of any strategic planning, any really specific strategic goal," Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Laurie Garrett says of the response to the pandemic. "We're in very, very dire straits right now."

Headlines for June 29, 2020
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 08:00:00 -0400
Global Coronavirus Cases Top 10 Million as U.S. Cases Surge and a Dozen States Pause Reopening, Judge Orders ICE to Release Immigrant Children over Coronavirus Fears, Coronavirus Cases Mount in India, Iran and Australia, Gunman Kills One Person After Opening Fire at Antiracist Protesters in Louisville, Kentucky, Police in Aurora, Colorado, Pepper-Spray Protesters Calling for Justice for Elijah McClain, Protests Against Police Violence Gain Steam in NYC, Seattle, Philadelphia, Racist Symbols Come Down Across the Country Amid National Uprising, Trump Retweets Video of Supporter Shouting "White Power!", Facebook to Start Labeling Hate Speech Posts by Trump as It Faces Growing Ad Boycott, Georgia Signs Hate Crimes Bill into Law as It Increases Protections for Police, Federal Court Says Trump Cannot Use Pentagon Funds for Border Wall Without Lawmaker Approval, NYT: Russian Intelligence Unit Offered Taliban Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Gunmen Attack Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, Colombian Soldiers Confess to Raping 13-Year-Old Indigenous Girl, Gunmen Attack Mexico City Police Chief, Killing 3, Rikers Employees Disciplined over Death of Layleen Polanco, Afro-Latinx Trans Woman, NYPD Pepper-Sprays Queer Liberation Marchers on 51st Anniversary of Stonewall Riots

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