Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues and jazz piano player Little Brother Montgomery. Enjoy!

“I was astonished, bewildered. This was America, a country where, whatever its faults, people could speak, write, assemble, demonstrate without fear. It was in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. We were a democracy...

But I knew it wasn't a dream; there was a painful lump on the side of my head...

The state and its police were not neutral referees in a society of contending interests. They were on the side of the rich and powerful. Free speech? Try it and the police will be there with their horses, their clubs, their guns, to stop you.

From that moment on, I was no longer a liberal, a believer in the self-correcting character of American democracy. I was a radical, believing that something fundamental was wrong in this country--not just the existence of poverty amidst great wealth, not just the horrible treatment of black people, but something rotten at the root. The situation required not just a new president or new laws, but an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society--cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian.”

-- Howard Zinn

News and Opinion

Refuse to accept that this is now the country I was born and raised in. pic.twitter.com/vEI1K8e60g

— Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) July 27, 2020

Massive Protests in Portland Continue After Judge Denies State Request for Restraining Order Against Federal Agencies

After a U.S. district judge on Friday denied the Oregon attorney general's request for a temporary restraining order against federal agencies, officers deployed to Portland by President Donald Trump dispensed tear gas and fired impact munitions as the thousands of protesters gathered in the city until early Saturday for ongoing demonstrations against police brutality.

#PORTLAND update 7/25/2020:
*Largest crowd of protesters in weeks face off with federal agents.
*More tear gas, more impact munitions.
*Many protesters wore colors in solidarity with their professions.
*25 people arrive with marching band drums.https://t.co/vyvPdnm7x5 pic.twitter.com/zG3eHAOsQs

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) July 25, 2020

Friday night featured one of the largest crowds since the Portland protests kicked off in late May, with at least 4,000 people in the streets, according to The Oregonian.

The night started with a rally on the steps of the downtown jail next to the federal courthouse on Southwest Third Avenue. A parade of vehicles, many adorned with Black Lives Matter decorations, circled around the area. The drivers honked the car horns in rhythm with the crowd's "Black Lives Matter" chant. ...

The large crowd expanded after 9 p.m. when a march from the waterfront arrived. Many marchers wore distinct colors tied to specific professions or community groups. Social workers wore green. Dining industry workers wore chef coats. Healthcare workers wore blue. Groups of parents, who started the collective attire trend nearly a week ago, wore yellow and orange.

Participants in the city's Friday night events included members of the groups Healthcare Workers Protest, Teachers Against Tyrants, Lawyers for Black Lives, the "Wall of Moms," and a new "Wall of Vets." Backed by the beat of drums, the demonstrators chanted "Black Lives Matter" and "Feds go home."

Feds started abducting protesters and a wall of moms formed.

They gassed the moms, so dads brought leaf blowers.

They beat a Navy veteran who just wanted to speak with them, then a wall of vets came together.

They attacked volunteer medics, so nurses showed up in scrubs. https://t.co/cQBCjojxq2

— ACLU (@ACLU) July 25, 2020

In recent days, as President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy federal agents to other major U.S. cities and actually sent a tactical team to Seattle, the conduct of the president's "secret police" in Portland has drawn intense condemnation on a national scale and provoked multiple lawsuits.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman weighed in on one of those cases late Friday, denying Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Protection Service and their agents.

In response to reports of unidentified federal agents in unmarked vehicles snatching people off the streets of Portland, the state's suit asked the judge to force the federal officers to identify themselves and their agencies before arresting or detaining anyone in the city, and to prohibit detentions or arrests without a warrant or probable cause.

Mosman wrote in a 14-page ruling (pdf) that although the suit "involves allegations of harm done to protesters by law enforcement, no protester is a plaintiff here," and "it is not seeking redress for any harm that has been done to protesters. Instead, it seeks an injunction against future conduct, which is also an extraordinary form of relief."

The judge ultimately determined that the state failed to show that it has standing to bring the case and denied the TRO request.

Seattle & Portland Activists: Protest Federal and City Police Crackdowns & Keep Focus on BLM Agenda

Portland: protesters bring down fence as confrontation with Trump agents rises

The confrontation between protesters and federal paramilitaries in Portland escalated early on Sunday morning, when demonstrators finally broke down a steel fence around the courthouse after days of trying. The federal agents fired waves of teargas and “non-lethal projectiles” to drive back thousands besieging the courthouse to demand Donald Trump withdraw the paramilitaries, ostensibly sent to curb two months of Black Lives Matters protests. The city police, who had largely withdrawn in recent days, declared a riot and joined federal agents in making arrests. ...

In Seattle, in neighbouring Washington state, authorities said rocks, bottles and fireworks were thrown at officers who used flash bangs and pepper spray. The police chief, Carmen Best, told reporters she had not seen federal agents the Trump administration sent to the city.

In Oakland, California, after a peaceful protest, a courthouse was set on fire. In Aurora, Colorado, a car drove into a Black Lives Matter protest and a demonstrator was shot. In Richmond, Virginia, a dump truck was set on fire and police appeared to use teargas to disperse protesters.

In Portland, authorities erected the steel barrier around the federal courthouse after two earlier fences were swiftly torn down. The latest barrier was held in place by large concrete blocks and proved impregnable for several days. Early on Sunday, protesters attempted to bring it down with teams pulling on ropes, but the ropes broke. Then they used a chain, a section of the fence gave way, and the rest was toppled to huge cheers before the crowd was driven back by teargas and rubber bullets.

Still annoyed Wa Po put out an op-ed about the “white spectacle” of Portland with so many people putting their bodies on the line to resist a fascist state. The “white spectacle” is the flurry of exploitative Fortune 500 companies scrambling to post vapid BLM statements for weeks https://t.co/DURPYxySzM

— Malaika Jabali (@MalaikaJabali) July 25, 2020

Lots more at the link.

Before Portland, Trump’s Shock Troops Went After Border Activists

Images of Border Patrol agents in military-style tactical gear grabbing protesters off the street in Portland, Oregon, have drawn condemnation from Democratic lawmakers, who have described the teams as “secret police.” For immigration advocates like Kaji Douša, a senior pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City, there is nothing secret — or particularly new — about them.

As the co-chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition, an immigrant rights organization, Douša knows what it’s like to have the weight of the Department of Homeland Security come down on you — she has a growing stack of internal DHS documents, produced in ongoing litigation surrounding the agency’s surveillance of her and dozens of lawyers, journalists, and asylum advocates who were targeted in a sweeping DHS spying operation during the 2018 midterm elections. “We were perceived to be radicals,” Douša told The Intercept. “A lot of white people turned away because it wasn’t them, but now that it’s them in Portland, everybody’s like, ‘Oh, this is crazy.’”
The surveillance was just one politicized DHS operation among many that have taken place under the Trump administration. The same Border Patrol tactical teams currently on the ground in Oregon were also deployed to provide muscle and a visible show of strength for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducting a crackdown on New York and other so-called sanctuary cities earlier this year. During the enforcement blitz, an ICE officer dressed in tactical gear was spotted knocking on doors in a Bronx apartment building with a rifle propped against his shoulder. In Brooklyn, a team of ICE officers shot a man in the face while attempting to make an arrest. As The Intercept reported in March, the escalated enforcement came as New York City was becoming the global epicenter for the coronavirus pandemic and led to the filling of local jails, which in turn became hot spots for Covid-19. ...

Long before DHS deployed masked paramilitary agents to the Pacific Northwest, the agency was directing its intelligence efforts against opponents of the president’s policies on the southern border, citing the coordinated circulation of public information, tweets, and potential vandalism as a precursor to extremist violence and domestic terrorism. ...

When considering the Trump administration’s actions in Portland, “it’s impossible not to recall the Department of Homeland Security’s targeting of activists and civil society organizations on the border for surveillance and criminal investigation,” said Brian Griffey, a researcher at Amnesty International. In 2019, Griffey was the lead investigator on a report that documented how DHS engaged in a sweeping, multi-year campaign targeting human rights defenders, attorneys, and journalists working on the border. “To label these political activists terrorists, it’s just the same in my mind as how they labeled activists and immigration lawyers on the border as criminals and smugglers,” he said. Having previously conducted human rights research in eastern Ukraine, Griffey has found himself increasingly concerned with the direction the administration now appears to be taking. “A lot of what’s happening here seems incredibly familiar,” he said. “From little green men, to the encouragement of far-right protesters to stage armed demonstrations outside Capitol buildings in regional areas. As we get into election season this is a recipe for trouble if they don’t roll back the rhetoric and stop threatening civil society.”

U.S. charges 18 Portland protesters as it sends tactical police to Seattle

U.S. prosecutors on Friday unveiled charges against 18 Portland, Oregon protesters ranging from assaulting police to arson and trespassing, a day after the Trump administration expanded the deployment of tactical police to Seattle. ...

The Justice Department said all 18 of those charged in Portland had made a first appearance in federal court and were released pending trial or other proceedings.

Five people were charged with suspicion of assaulting a federal officer, trespassing and creating a disturbance during protests on the night of July 20-21, said Billy Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

Seven people have been charged in connection with criminal conduct during a July 21-22 night protest, including one person charged with arson. Another six were charged over events from the night of July 22-23.

Worth a full read:

In Portland, Questions Swirl Around Local Police’s Coordination With Federal Officers

Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty agrees with other elected officials in Oregon who say federal police dispatched to the city by President Donald Trump are an “occupying army,” represent “a blatant abuse of power,” and are “shadowy forces” that have been “escalating, not preventing, violence.” Hardesty, though, stands nearly alone in saying local officials should share blame for the nightly violence engulfing the streets around the federal courthouse in downtown Portland, where the federal cops are deployed. Mayor Ted Wheeler and Police Chief Chuck Lovell gave Trump the opportunity to send in the “secret police,” she told The Intercept. For more than a month before the federal forces came, local police had already been clashing with protesters. “Portland police overreacted at people throwing bottles at them,” Hardesty said. “They started gassing whole neighborhoods. They were doing that long before the feds showed up.” ...

There is mounting evidence that, despite across-the-board condemnation from the city’s politicians, Portland’s own police force has coordinated closely with federal police in attacking protests. For Hardesty, the mayor’s focus on Trump as the sole cause of the chaos distracts from his inability to control local police, who she says are acting in concert with the federal agents. “We know that Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner met with DHS Secretary Chad Wolf,” Hardesty wrote on Twitter last weekend. “We know Portland Police are collaborating with this federal occupying force.” ...

Portland is no stranger to far-right violence. In 2017, the city became a hotbed for extremist rallies, one of which attracted a neo-Nazi who later committed a double murder. The next year, the extreme right used the city, with evidence of police complicity, to stage riots against anti-fascists. Now, Trump is using Portland — and the federal cops — as a testing ground to energize his base. ...

The Portland Police Association has bulldozed elected officials for decades. One police union president would put his gun on the table when meeting with the mayor. Their contract protects racist cops. The Independent Police Review, which handles complaints about the cops, is widely viewed as toothless. And it’s hard to fire cops who’ve used deadly force. In 2016, organizers had gathered demonstrators at City Hall to protest as the police union negotiated a new contract. Activists claim the police rioted, forcing protesters out of City Hall. Police in riot gear then surrounded the building while city officials approved their union contract.

“I believe police union president Daryl Turner requested the federal police presence,” Hardesty told The Intercept. “We are starting to learn that is how they are getting into other cities at the request of the police.” She pointed to the Chicago police union writing to Trump on July 18, asking “for help from the federal government … to bring civility back to the streets of Chicago.” Days later, Trump said federal police were headed to Chicago. ... The Portland police have been cagey about how they work with the feds. Deputy Chief Chris Davis has said Portland police offered “suggestions” to the federal forces and coordinated efforts with them.

Federal Cops Are Already in Seattle and the Mayor Is Pissed

Federal agents have arrived in Seattle, and local officials aren’t happy. King County Executive Dow Constantine tweeted on Thursday night that a federal plane had landed at the King County International Airport just south of downtown Seattle, and “more than a dozen personnel drove off to an unknown destination”

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee each said on Thursday night that they had been misled by the federal government as to whether or not it intended to send agents to Seattle. Both Durkan and Inslee warned federal agents not to intervene unless asked by local officials. “After a day of conflicting messages from the federal government, where they told my staff repeatedly that there was no surge of additional personnel to Seattle, it appears they are doing just that,” Inslee tweeted.

The group of federal agents includes a Special Response Team from the Customs and Border Patrol, according to the New York Times. This group of agents is similar to those in Portland, where federal agents teargassed the mayor this week as their presence has only increased the size and intensity of protests. ...

Durkan said in a series of Thursday night tweets that she had spoken to acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and had received confirmation that DHS wouldn’t be sending federal agents to Seattle, and that if they did, the city’s leadership would be notified. Wolf, apparently, went back on his word. Durkan threatened legal action if “federal forces intervene like they have in Portland.”

Trump Bragged About Gassing Portland’s Mayor: ‘They Knocked the Hell Out of Him’

President Donald Trump boasted about his federal troops gassing Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler earlier this week, and said he could send tens of thousands of troops into American cities, during a wide-ranging interview with Fox News that aired on Thursday night. ...

On Wednesday night, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was hit with tear gas while standing with protesters outside the city’s federal courthouse. (Wheeler was booed by protesters, many of whom blame him for the aggressive Portland police response to the protests which began after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. As mayor, Wheeler is also the commissioner of the Portland Police Bureau.)

Trump apparently thought this was great. “He made a fool out of himself. He wanted to be among the people, so he went into the crowd and they knocked the hell out of him,” Trump said. “That was the end of him. So that was pretty pathetic.”

Trump also falsely claimed that protesters in Portland were “going wild for 51 days” and were going to “rip down the federal courthouse.” Since the administration sent in the federal troops, the protests have only grown in size, particularly as older protesters have joined. In recent weeks, groups of “Wall of Moms” have sprung up to form human barriers between the protesters and the federal cops.

Portland Protests Escalate! Chicago Mayor Welcomes Federal Goons!

Illinois Democrats embrace Trump’s law enforcement “surge”

On Wednesday, the Democratic mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, announced that she had reached an agreement with President Donald Trump to send a “surge” of some 200 federal agents to Chicago. Addressing concerns that this would result in paramilitaries patrolling the streets, the mayor issued a statement maintaining “that all resources will be investigatory in nature and be coordinated through the US Attorney’s office.” ...

The Justice Department’s John Lausch, currently US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, is reported to have brokered the deal between Trump and Lightfoot, who initially postured as an opponent of the “surge.” Crain's reports that Lausch “assured her that, despite media reports, the surge would be not unilateral but cooperative, with agents working with the chain of command in their normal units—the FBI, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, US Border Patrol, etc.—and in coordination with local authorities. Just like it had in other instances in the past.” ...

Illinois Democratic lawmakers have made public statements aimed at assuaging public fears that the federal forces will crack down on anti-police violence protesters in Chicago, just as they have in Portland. Tensions are escalating as both corporate-controlled parties collaborate in attempting to quell opposition provoked by the catastrophic mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, the homicidal back-to-work campaign, the cutting off of extended unemployment benefits and the ending of moratoria on evictions. ...

Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth issued a joint statement of approval. “After needless threats from the president, we’re relieved the Trump administration says they plan to work with local officials and authorities in Chicago rather than undermine local law enforcement and endanger our civil rights,” they wrote. Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky said legislators were assured on a conference call, “…we’re not going to see these agents in the street.”

These statements are not expressions of gullibility. Those making them have no genuine concern for civil and democratic rights. Rather, they are worried that the fascistic provocations of the Trump administration will spark an eruption of social opposition that will spiral out of control.

Make America White Again: Eddie Glaude on Trump and What James Baldwin Still Has to Teach Us

With GOP Refusing Urgent Relief for Main Street, Tens of Thousands of Shuttered US Businesses Now Closing... Permanently

With Republicans in Congress intent on drastically reducing aid for unemployed Americans and altering the Paycheck Protection Act in the next coronavirus relief bill, workers across the country are rapidly losing hope that they will ever be able to return to their jobs, according to new polling.

A survey released Friday by AP-NORC found that while 78% of workers who were furloughed or laid off in the early days of the pandemic believed in April that they'd be able to return to work eventually, just 34% are optimistic about their prospects now. Just 18% have already returned to their jobs, and 47% say they no longer believe their old jobs will be available ever again.  

The same poll found that 72% of Americans would still rather see the federal, state, and local governments impose restrictions aimed at preserving public health rather than prioritizing reopening economies while the coronavirus continues to spread across the country.

Though many Americans were hopeful in March and April that the closings of schools and businesses were temporary interruptions of daily life, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis released earlier this month found that the number of people who have permanently lost their jobs has steadily been on the rise since March.

Research released separately Thursday by Yelp, the online business review website, showed that among establishments that are currently shut down, permanent closures now make up a larger share than temporary ones.

"Even as total closures fall, permanent closures increase with 72,842 businesses permanently closed, out of the 132,580 total closed businesses, an increase of 15,742 permanent closures since June 15," reported Yelp. "This also means that the percentage of permanent to temporary business closures is rising, with permanent closures now accounting for 55% of all closed businesses since March 1."

“As of mid-July, 55% of the 132,500 pandemic-era closures on Yelp are now permanent.”

We are going to need historic levels of economic investments to lift up our communities.https://t.co/YE0EtWZnCa pic.twitter.com/1XuceRqC0j

— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) July 24, 2020

Harvard researcher Michael Stepner, who has tracked businesses since the pandemic began, told the Washington Post that many owners are having to make hard decisions about whether to renew their leases, knowing the economic effects of the crisis could stretch on for many months.

"It is really hard to make a one-year commitment to paying rent when businesses are closing down for the second time and there's no end in sight to this virus," Stepner told the Post.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), devised in March ostensibly to help small businesses, ended up sending much of its funding to private equity firms, large law firms, and businesses with ties to President Donald Trump, while hundreds of thousands of small companies have still not recieved aid following a second round of PPP funding.

GOP In MELTDOWN, Puts Economy On Brink Of Catastrophic Crash

The Eviction Crisis Is Already Here and It's Crushing Black Moms

In late March, Lacresha Lewis was fired from her job as a package handler at FedEx. She had called out of multiple shifts because she couldn’t find anyone to care for her three kids, she said. Once the coronavirus pandemic closed schools, they were stuck at home. “I knew without that job, I wasn’t going to be able to make the full payment of rent,” said the 35-year-old single mother, who is Black.

She pays $1,025 a month for an apartment in Beaumont, Texas, and her stimulus check came just in time for her to make April’s rent. But in the months that followed, Lewis quickly fell behind, since she, like many Americans, hasn’t yet received the unemployment benefits she applied for. About two weeks ago, her landlord told her they’d proceed with evictions in August, Lewis said. ...

Amid widespread job loss, reduced hours, and pay cuts, more than 12.5 million renters, like Lewis, were unable to make their most recent payment, according to survey data collected last week and released by the U.S. Census Bureau Wednesday. And nearly 24 million people have little to no confidence in their ability to pay next month’s rent, Census data show. Approximately 56% of those anxious renters are Black or Latinx — the populations that are also more likely to rent, and more likely to spend a bigger portion of their income on housing. That’s while Black and Latinx people have been disproportionately harmed by the virus itself, and the resulting job loss.

Housing advocates anticipate that eviction filings against those vulnerable, non-paying households could eventually build into an onslaught of homelessness, especially as the patchwork safety net created to prevent widespread poverty during the pandemic erodes.

More than half of all U.S. states, including Texas, now lack the eviction moratoriums that were temporarily implemented by court or executive order at the onset of the pandemic, leaving the decision to move forward with proceedings up to local courts, city governments, and landlords. The CARES Act eviction protection for tenants living in federally backed properties expires July 25, and Congress is still determining whether it will extend or slash the extra $600 weekly benefit for unemployed workers that’s set to end this month.

Stephanie Kelton DISMANTLES GOP Inflation, Deficit Myths

America’s not perfect but in times of crisis, our political leaders set aside their differences and ask: “What’s the least amount of aid we can provide people without them literally rioting?”

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 25, 2020

Senate Republicans proposing to cut the incomes of 30 million+ unemployed Americans and their families by $1,600 per month in the middle of a pandemic. https://t.co/zQ9gqUqv7x

— Charlie Anderson (@EconCharlie) July 27, 2020

US records more than 1,000 Covid deaths a day as Republicans mull relief

The US has recorded more than 1,000 deaths a day from Covid-19 for five days running, as cases surge in southern and western states, the national caseload nears 4.2m and the death toll approaches 150,000.

In Washington, Senate Republicans and the White House continue talks over what to put in the next stimulus package, as Democrats fret over the imminent expiration of enhanced unemployment payments and evictions of those unable to make rent.

House Democrats passed a $3tn package, the Heroes Act, in May. On Sunday, key Republican negotiators said their proposals would be unveiled on Monday, with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell expected to outline a package priced at $1tn. They did not count out a need to pass short-term funding measures first.

On ABC’s This Week, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said: “The original [unemployment] benefits will not [be extended]. We are going to be prepared, on Monday, to provide unemployment insurance extension that would be 70% of wages.” On CNN’s State of the Union, economic adviser Larry Kudlow said there would be new $1,200 direct payments to many Americans, as well as an extension of eviction moratoriums.

Texas hospital forced to set up 'death panel' as Covid-19 cases surge

A surge in coronavirus cases in rural Texas has forced one hospital to set up “death panels” to decide which patients it can save and which ones will be sent home to die.

Doctors at Starr County Memorial hospital, the only hospital in Starr county, have been issued with critical care guidelines to decide which Covid-19 patients it will treat and which ones will be sent home because they are likely to die. The committee is being formed to alleviate the hospital’s limited medical resources so doctors can focus on patients with higher survival rates.

Starr county began experiencing increases in coronavirus cases in early July, with 1,769 confirmed cases reported as of 24 July, 17 confirmed fatalities and 33 fatalities pending confirmation from the state. The county had gone several weeks in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic without reporting any cases. Starr county, along the US-Mexico border, has a population of around 64,000 people. ...

“I have been a nurse for almost 30 years and I had never seen a time like this in our community,” said Corando Rios, a nurse at Starr County Memorial hospital’s Covid-19 unit. He tested positive for coronavirus a few days ago and is recovering at home in quarantine. “We are not ICU [intensive care unit] capable, but we are doing ICU work. We now have a state emergency response team of nurses, medics, respiratory therapists, and nurse assistants, and last week two doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists came from the US Navy,” added Rios. “We are doing the best we can with the resources available.”

Meat Industry Campaign Cash Flows to Officials Seeking to Quash Covid-19 Lawsuits

Factory farming interests, facing potential legal risks for allegedly failing to protect workers from coronavirus-related risks, are among the many business interests now backing efforts to obtain special immunity from legal liability. In April, as meat supply chains came under enormous pressure to continue producing food during the pandemic, factory farms became some of the first hot spots for the rampant spread of the coronavirus. Nearly 100 workers at a variety of meat-processing plants across the country have died of Covid-19 and several thousand have been infected across the industry, a crisis that has spurred lawsuits alleging that the meat industry has failed to protect workers.

The legal threat could be undone by new liability waiver laws, a legislative priority for Republicans in both the House and Senate that has received political support from the industry and influential think tanks.

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, and Mountaire Farms, a major poultry producer, have come under fire in recent months for reportedly pressuring employees to crowd into plants with minimal safety precautions. Smithfield Foods has cut campaign checks to the Republican attorneys general seeking civil liability protections for businesses that remained open during the pandemic, and has dispatched company lobbyists to press lawmakers on the issue.

Smithfield Foods, which donates small amounts to dozens of lawmakers on a regular basis, made its first significant donation to the Republican Attorneys General Association in over six years two months ago. The company made a $25,000 donation to  RAGA just three days before members of the association sent a letter to Congress demanding broad business immunity from civil claims holding companies responsible for coronavirus infections due to working conditions. Later that month, after the letter was sent, Smithfield Foods followed up with another $25,000 contribution to RAGA. ...

Ron Cameron, the billionaire chair of Mountaire Farms, has similarly showered officials backing a broad push for legal immunity for coronavirus-related claims with campaign donations.

Observers fear US-China relations heading to 'point of no return'

American foreign policy since 1945 pic.twitter.com/LrvgfC9ERV

— Gravel Institute (@GravelInstitute) July 25, 2020

US secretary of state sets out case for conflict with China

In a speech on Thursday full of lies, hypocrisy and anti-communist demagogy, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially overturned decades of American policy toward China, setting the stage for a further escalation of Washington’s confrontation with Beijing. The choice of venue itself—President Richard Nixon’s home and library—underscored Pompeo’s message. It was Nixon, along with his then-National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, who engineered a rapprochement with China. Nixon flew to Beijing in 1972 and met Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Mao Zedong in a visit that paved the way for full diplomatic relations in 1979.

Pompeo declared that “if we want to have a free 21st century, and not the Chinese century of which Xi Jinping dreams, the old paradigm of blind engagement with China” had to be replaced by a strategy whereby “the free world must triumph over this new tyranny.” He continued, “We must induce China to change in more creative and assertive ways, because Beijing’s actions threaten our people and our prosperity.”

Pompeo invoked the Cold War bogeyman of “Communist China,” declaring that it was ruled by a “Marxist-Leninist regime” and that “General Secretary Xi Jinping is a true believer in a bankrupt totalitarian ideology.” Such bombast bears no relation to reality—the 1972 rapprochement paved the way for wholesale capitalist restoration in China and its transformation into the world’s largest cheap labour platform. The fear in Washington is not of Chinese communism, but of a burgeoning Chinese capitalism threatening the global ambitions and interests of US imperialism.

The Cold War propaganda of the “free world” against communism was always a threadbare disguise for anti-democratic US interventions and aggression, including the neo-colonial war in Vietnam. But Pompeo and President Donald Trump have taken hypocrisy to a whole new level in blasting Beijing over “human rights” in Hong Kong and the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in the province of Xinjiang, while sending federal storm troopers into American cities, such as Portland, to teargas peaceful protesters and arbitrarily seize and drag away individuals.

Pompeo’s litany of condemnations of Beijing speaks far more to the historic decline of American capitalism and the immense crisis of the Trump administration than to supposed Chinese malevolence.

Looks like some folks really don't know their George Carlin. pic.twitter.com/uysCHqnAlx

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) July 26, 2020

Carlin was the pic.twitter.com/CQTvcu1t6m

— Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) July 26, 2020

Nate Silver WARNS Trump Is Not Out Yet Amid Brutal Polling For GOP

Only 3% of Bernie supporters have donated to @JoeBiden because we have absolutely no reason to support someone who has shown zero interest in supporting the progressive agenda that we are fighting for. #NotMeUs

— Ryan Knight (@ProudSocialist) July 26, 2020

Why This Year's Locust Invasion Is Setting Off Global Panic

As if 2020 hasn’t thrown enough curveballs already, desert locusts are setting off a global panic.

From Kenya to Pakistan to, most recently, Argentina, locust swarms have been on the move. The infestation is most advanced in East Africa, which is experiencing the worst locust outbreak in generations.

There’ve been six major locust plagues in the last century, one of which lasted nearly 13 years, according to the U.N. But the current infestation in East Africa is technically an upsurge, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Depending on locust control efforts and favorable breeding conditions in terms of moisture and soil, the upsurge could spread even further and get upgraded to a plague.

A locust can eat about 2 grams of food in a day. So, a New York City-sized swarm can devour the same amount of food consumed in a day by everyone in New York and California combined, presenting a serious problem: Nearly 5 million people in East Africa could face starvation this summer.

'For a Greener Future': Omar, Sanders Lead Bill to End Destructive Taxpayer Subsidies for Fossil Fuels

Progressive Democrats led by Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday introduced a bill to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and other industry giveaways, calling taxpayer support of the climate-killing business- a counterproductive and dangerous use of federal funds as the climate crisis worsens and Americans suffer through an economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's past time we end the billions of taxpayer subsidies to fossil-fuel companies," said Omar, a Minnesota Democrat. "Our focus right now needs to be on getting the American people through this difficult, unprecedented time, not providing giveaways to polluters."

"Taxpayers provide $15 billion in direct federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry every year," she added. "That ends with this bill."

Omar and Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, were joined in leading the End Polluter Welfare Act (pdf) by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) as well as Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.). 

"At a time when we are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and an economic decline, it is absurd to provide billions of taxpayer subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies' already-enormous profits," said Sanders.

"We need more safe, healthy, good paying jobs," he added, "not more corporate polluter giveaways."

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

America 'staring down the barrel of martial law', Oregon senator warns

Federal Crackdown in Portland Provokes Solidarity Protests Across the Country

Reform Prosecutor in Kansas Excluded From “Objective” Task Force on Policing

'White as hell': Portland protesters face off with Trump but are they eclipsing Black Lives Matter?

Car drives through Black Lives Matter protest in Aurora, Colorado

Marjorie Cohn on Portland Secret Police

Senate GOP Slammed for Allowing Eviction Moratorium to Expire, Putting Millions of US Families at Risk During Covid-19 Crisis

Narrative Is Crumbling

What Will Lula Do?

Ted Yoho: Christian group obtains resignation over Ocasio-Cortez attack

Citigroup Has Been Paying Out More than It Earned for Years; Now It Has $102.5 Billion in Debt Maturing within Three Years

Thomas Frank: Populism is Not Mob Rule

Jimmy Dore: CNN Lawyer Attacks Julian Assange!

Jummy Dore: "Feel Good" Story Shows Failure of Joe Biden's America!

Jimmy Dore: Jimmy's Message To Independent Media!

Krystal Ball: Trump's Manufactured Crisis Only Sows More Chaos

A Little Night Music

Little Brother Montgomery - Talkin' Blues

Little Brother Montgomery's State Street Swingers - Goodbye Mr. Blues

Little Brother Montgomery's Quintet - El Ritmo

Little Brother Montgomery - Sneaky Pete Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Bass Key Boogie

Little Brother Montgomery's State Street Swingers - Struttin' With Some Barbecue

Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - The First Time I Met the Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Cow Cow Blues