Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

U.S. coronavirus cases pass 6 million
Politico | author | date

The milestone comes at a pivotal point in the pandemic, as infections slow but still remain dangerously high.

The U.S. coronavirus case count topped 6 million on Monday, even though infections are falling in nearly every state and the death count appears to have reached a plateau.

The milestone, based on a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University, comes at a fragile point of the pandemic, with seemingly positive trends tempered by a slowdown in testing and intensifying concern about new hot spots in colleges trying reopen. ... Read more

A weak dollar is impacting an uneven global market recovery
Axios | Dion Rabouin | 08/31/20

After sinking on Friday, the dollar is teetering near its lowest in more than two years, and threatening to decline even further after Fed chair Jerome Powell confirmed plans to let inflation run hot in the future, likely meaning 0% U.S. interest rates for quite some time.

Why it matters: For the U.S. currency to fall in value, other currencies must rise and that can be especially harmful to export-oriented economies like the eurozone and Japan, whose central banks may be forced to take action in the coming months.

The big picture: The U.S. has done a far worse job handling the coronavirus pandemic than most of Europe and Japan, but that has led to a weaker currency and a much stronger bounce in stock prices. The benchmark S&P 500 has gained 8.6% this year, with the Nasdaq up 30%. ... Read more

Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda

Stephen Miller is one of the most influential advisors in the White House. He has crafted Donald Trump’s speeches, designed immigration policies that ban Muslims and separate families, and outlasted such Trump stalwarts as Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions. But he’s remained an enigma.

Until now. Emmy- and PEN-winning investigative journalist and author Jean Guerrero charts the thirty-four-year-old’s astonishing rise to power, drawing from more than one hundred interviews with his family, friends, adversaries and government officials.

Radicalized as a teenager, Miller relished provocation at his high school in liberal Santa Monica, California. He clashed with administrators and antagonized dark-skinned classmates with invectives against bilingualism and multiculturalism. At Duke University, he cloaked racist and classist ideas in the language of patriotism and heritage to get them airtime amid controversies. On Capitol Hill, he served Tea Party congresswoman Michele Bachmann and nativist Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.

Recruited to Trump’s campaign, Miller met his idol. Having dreamed of Trump’s presidency before he even announced his decision to run, Miller became his senior policy advisor and speechwriter. Together, they stoked dystopian fears about the Democrats, “Deep State” and “American Carnage,” painting migrants and their supporters as an existential threat to America. Through backroom machinations and sheer force of will, Miller survived dozens of resignations and encouraged Trump’s harshest impulses, in conflict with the president’s own family. While Trump railed against illegal immigration, Miller crusaded against legal immigration. He targeted refugees, asylum seekers and their children, engineering an ethical crisis for a nation that once saw itself as the conscience of the world. Miller rallied support for this agenda, even as federal judges tried to stop it, by courting the white rage that found violent expression in tragedies from El Paso to Charlottesville. Hatemonger unveils the man driving some of the most divisive confrontations over what it means to be American––and what America will become.

Trump's alternative reality
Axios | Mike Allen, Jonathan Swan | 08/25/20

The opening night of the Republican National Convention delighted President Trump's base with an alternative narrative where he masterfully deflected COVID, he's popular with Black Americans, and Joe Biden is a menacing leftist.

Why it matters: Although CNN and MSNBC cut away for fact checks, this week's convention gives the Trump campaign hour upon hour to show millions of viewers an America as Trump sees it.

It's relatively rare for a Trump production to include empathy testimonials, but last night's did. For so much of his political career, Trump has depicted himself as an antihero, telling people that the world is a zero-sum battle, where only brutal tactics can defeat brutal enemies.... Read more

Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years
Reuters | Aram Roston | 08/24/20

WASHINGTON -- In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell's wife and the evangelical leader.

Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on.

Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. "Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room," Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent -- "multiple times per year" -- and said the encounters took place at hotels in Miami and New York, and at the Falwells' home in Virginia. ... Read more

Trump pushes fringe beliefs mainstream
Axion | Sara Fischer, author of Media Trends | 08/25/20

Using his social media megaphone, President Trump has pushed once-fringe beliefs into the consciousness of everyday Americans.

The coronavirus "infodemic" that has flooded the internet with misinformation and conspiracy theories has worn down people's already faltering trust in institutions, making it easier for fringe ideas spread by the president to go viral ahead of the election. ... Read more

Where Trump stands on economic promises
Axios | Dan Primack | 08/24/20

The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It | gov | current

The US Debt Clock | gov | current

Trump campaign launches massive digital ad buy for convention week
Axios | Alayna Treene | 08/24/20

The Trump campaign is going all in on digital advertising for the Republican National Convention, with plans to again take over the YouTube masthead and flood Facebook, Google and streaming services like Hulu with pro-Trump messaging.

The big picture: The massive digital ad buy -- which is in the high seven figures, according to the campaign -- will complement the Trumpian production planned for each night of the convention this week. ... Read more

Economists foresee an unemployment "tsunami" coming
Axios | Dion Rabouin | 08/21/20

The exponential growth of claims for the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program are worrying economists and previewing a weakening U.S. labor market in the coming months.

What's happening: The PEUC is a CARES Act program for unemployed Americans who have exhausted the 26 weeks of unemployment benefits they get from their state. It has grown from 27,000 people on April 11 to 1.3 million as of Aug. 1.

What we're hearing: "The real tsunami is coming," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, tells Axios. "My guess is at this point hiring in the industries that have been hit hard is going to abate." ... Read more

Joe Biden Acceptance Speech at 2020 Democratic National Convention | C-Span | 08/20/20 | 24:30

Democratic National Convention: Day 4 | MSNBC | 08/20/20 | 2:21:57

Democratic National Convention: Day 3 | DNC | 08/19/20 | 02:30:08

Democratic National Convention: Day 2 | DNC | 08/18/20 | 02:29:27

Full 2020 Democratic National Convention | DNC Night 1 | PBS NewsHour | 08/17/20 | 05/43/40

Harris pays tribute to immigrant mother as she accepts historic VP nomination
Axios | Jacob Knutson | date

Sen. Kamala Harris paid tribute to her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, during her acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday night, saying: "My mother instilled in my sister, Maya, and me the values that would chart the course of our lives."

Why it matters: Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is the first Black and Asian American woman to accept a spot on a major party's presidential ticket. Family was the overarching theme of Harris's acceptance speech, which capped a night of convention programming that included a blistering rebuke of President Trump by former President Obama. ... Read more

California fires: hundreds of blazes burn amid scorching heatwave
TheGuardian | staff | 08/20/20

The huge wildfires in California are so intense that they have created a real problem with air pollution and some of the worst air quality in the entire world.

That would be bad enough at the best of times but during a pandemic that targets people's respiratory systems it is a real nightmare scenario.

"Wildfire smoke cast hazy red skies over the Bay Area on Wednesday, creating a seriously unhealthy atmosphere and adding to the region's pandemic-heightened anxiety. Ash fell over many counties. Kids locked out of school remained shuttered indoors. Families evacuated homes. ... Read more

Senate report details Trump campaign contacts with Russia | CNN | 08/19/20 | 6:01

Obama torches Trump like American democracy depends on it
Politico | Ryan Lizza | 08/20/20

On the third night of the Democratic convention -- a word that seems increasingly absurd to describe what is really just two hours of nightly programming from the DNC -- the former president delivered a memorable speech that balanced torching the sitting president with assuring voters of the possibility of something better. All the while, he pulled back the historical view to 30,000 feet where it was possible to show voters the sweep of American history and remind them that the country, despite what he called "these dark times," has faced bigger challenges than Trump.

But despite the optimistic strands, Obama did not minimize the threat he believes the country faces under President Donald Trump. "It is not a normal time," he said at the top. "So tonight I want to talk as plainly as I can about the stakes in this election. Because what we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come." ... Read more

Watch Barack Obama's Full Speech At The 2020 DNC | NBC News | 08/19/20 | 19:28

Senate Intel releases final volume of Russian interference report
Axios | Zachary Basu | 08/18/20

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fifth and final volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which details "counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities."

Why it matters: The Republican endorsed, 996-page report goes farther than the Mueller report in showing the extent of Russia's connections to members of the Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin was able to take advantage of the transition team's inexperience to gain access to sensitive information.

Paul Manafort: The report found that the former Trump campaign chairman began working on influence operations for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and other pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs in 2004.... Read more

Select Committeeon Intelligence-Russian Interference-Report-volume5

Michael Cohen Releases Forward To New Memoir, 'Disloyal' | All In | MSNBC | older08/13/20 | 6:44

DNC dashboard
Axios | staff | 08/18/20

Senate Intel releases final volume of Russian interference report
Axios | Zachary Basu | 08/18/20

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fifth and final volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which details "counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities."

Why it matters: The Republican endorsed, 996-page report goes farther than the Mueller report in showing the extent of Russia's connections to members of the Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin was able to take advantage of the transition team's inexperience to gain access to sensitive information.

Paul Manafort: The report found that the former Trump campaign chairman began working on influence operations for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and other pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs in 2004.... Read more

Select Committeeon Intelligence-Russian Interference-Report-volume5

Postmaster general agrees to testify amid USPS outcry
Axios | staff | 08/17/20

Why it matters: Democrats have been raising alarms about widespread disruptions to the Postal Service, which some allege President Trump is attempting to undermine ahead of an election that will see a record number of mail-in ballots. DeJoy is a wealthy businessman and longtime Republican fundraiser.

The big picture: Trump has railed against the reliability of "universal" mail-in voting and claimed, without evidence, that it will lead to a "rigged" election. He denied on Monday that his administration is attempting to slow down the mail or that he's "tampering" with the election, arguing that DeJoy is simply trying to reform an agency that is "one of the disasters of the world." ... Read more

The US is facing an eviction tsunami. We must cancel rent before it's too late
TheGuardian | Lupe Arreola | 08/17/20

Houston's rental aid fund was empty 90 minutes after it opened. In Chicago, 80,000 renters applied for 2,000 relief grants

It's already started. A majority of US states have resumed evictions, or are allowing them despite the worsening pandemic.

As many as 40 million people nationwide face eviction due to inability to pay rent. In comparison, the 2008 foreclosure crisis saw the loss of 10m homes. Now, millions -- seniors, people with disabilities, parents and children -- are at risk of homelessness. Eviction preys disproportionately, in many places overwhelmingly, on Black women and people of color, deepening savage racial inequities. ... Read more

Do you think voting by mail is more or less likely to be accurate than in-person?
Axios | Margaret Talev | 08/14/20

One in four Americans is worried their ballot won't be accurately counted this year, and four in 10 worry mail-in voting could yield less reliable results, according to a new Axios-SurveyMonkey poll.

42% of respondents overall say they expect to vote by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic, a trend being driven by people under 25 or over 65, women of color, liberal Democrats and independents.

Seven in 10 Republicans surveyed say mail-in voting is less likely to produce fair and accurate results, while Democrats say on balance they believe it will make the results slightly more fair and accurate

Black and Hispanic respondents were less likely than white respondents to have confidence their own votes will be counted right. People with higher incomes were more likely to trust the process than those who earn less than $50,000 a year. ... Read more

Surge in Covid cases among children fuels fears over US school reopenings
TheGuardian | Mario Koran | 08/14/20

An exponential rise in Covid-19 cases among children in the US has raised the alarm among experts as the new school year begins. A recently released study from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association found that nearly 339,000 coronavirus cases among children have been reported across the nation since the start of the pandemic, with 97,000 cases reported just in the last two weeks of July.

Rosenstock said the fact that fewer children were tested earlier in the pandemic may have fueled a "myth" that children were not at risk of infection. While research suggests that children tend to have milder symptoms than adults, she said the new data attests to the fact children can still infect adults, whose symptoms can be more severe. ... Read more

Election 2020: what a Biden victory could mean for America | The Economist | 08/07/20 | 10:04

When and how to vote in all 50 states
Axios | Stef W. Kight | 08/13/20

Millions of Americans who normally vote in person on election day will turn to early voting or mail-in ballots this fall -- but that only works if you understand your state's election rules, deadlines and how to ensure your vote is counted.

"This election year, voters need to take more time and effort to navigate the challenges of a pandemic," U.S. Elections Assistance Commissioner Donald Palmer tells Axios.

How to vote in 2020 | 08/13/20 | table

I was Obama's Ebola tsar. US healthcare workers are dying at a shameful rate
TheGuardian | Ronald A Klain | 08/13/20

More than 900 healthcare workers have died in this pandemic. Many of those deaths could have been prevented

ealthcare workers usually bear the brunt of an epidemic. Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel are in constant contact with people who may be infected. The cruel math of such potential exposures, multiplied over and over, inevitably takes a toll.

Covid-19 is no exception. Lost on the Frontline, a new database from the Guardian and Kaiser Health News, shows that more than 900 American healthcare workers have already paid the ultimate price in the battle against coronavirus.

What makes the deaths of these men and women especially painful is that many of them could have been prevented. Although America has applauded health workers, banged pots in their honor and offered grateful video tributes, we have consistently failed them where it mattered most. ... Read more

America's flying blind on its coronavirus response
Axios | Caitlin Owens | 08/12/20

A month after the Trump administration changed how hospital data is reported, the public release of this data "has slowed to a crawl," the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: This is the latest example of how the world's wealthiest country just can't get it together.

Testing and case data -- which tell the story of where people are getting sick -- have been a problem for the last six months. This latest fiasco blurs the picture of how many people are getting very sick at a given time, which until now has been a more reliable measure of the pandemic.

Driving the news: The Department of Health and Human Services last month ordered states to report coronavirus hospitalization data directly to the agency, rather than to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they'd been doing. ... Read more

3 keys to Joe Biden picking Kamala Harris
Axios | Mike Allen | 08/12/20

1. She was always at the top of his list. As I look back through my text threads with top Dems over the past five months, she was always assumed to be the most likely pick.

2. We found out when you did -- at 4:14 p.m., when the Biden campaign blast-texted: "Joe Biden here. Big news: I've chosen Kamala Harris as my running mate."

3. Biden's selection process raised the profiles of several other women of color who are now set up to star in a new chapter of American politics: Susan Rice, former U.N. ambassador and national security adviser, was considered one of the final two by Biden confidants, and now is the favorite to be Secretary of State if he wins. ... Read more

Why Black progressive women feel torn about Kamala Harris
TheGuardian | Derecka Purnell | 08/12/20

Women of color, particularly progressives, might feel torn. Perhaps even closeted excitement. Senator Harris is sharp, strategic, and witty, undoubtedly qualified to be vice president of the United States. She graduated from a historically Black college and belongs to a prestigious Black sorority. A biracial woman with Jamaican and Indian heritage, we have seen her break color barriers and shatter glass ceilings, even though poor, Black women have felt and swept the falling shards. Thousands celebrated her Senate seat win and even more were captivated when she picked apart presidential candidates at debates - especially Biden. Her one-liners were unforgettable. Until we remembered that she honed those argumentative skills in court as a prosecutor, including during fights to uphold wrongful convictions.

Then, there's the fatigue. Progressives will have to defend the California senator's personal identity, while maneuvering against her political identity. Political accession and racism go together like stars and stripes. First Lady Michelle Obama was horribly depicted as an ape. President Donald Trump called Congresswoman Maxine Waters a "low IQ individual." Just weeks ago, a congressman called Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez "disgusting" and a "fucking bitch." Squad members Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Talib regularly experience xenophobic, Islamophobic, and racist attacks, intensified whenever they offer statements around social justice. Like the rest of these women, Senator Harris deserves safety and protection from harm. Black women, especially her sorors, will likely be her first line of defense. ... Read more

Who is Kamala Harris? A look at her background and career in politics | CNN | 08/11/20

A quandary for state unemployment agencies
Axios | Courtenay Brown | 08/11/20

State agencies charged with paying unemployment benefits to jobless residents have their backs against the wall as they rush to parse President Trump's executive actions on coronavirus aid.

Why it matters: States are being asked to pitch in $100 per unemployed resident, but it's a heavy lift for cash-strapped states that are still unclear about the details and may not opt-in at all. It leaves the states and jobless residents in a state of limbo.

Driving the news: Trump signed four actions on Saturday, including a presidential memorandum that calls for restarting supplemental unemployment benefits at $400 per week. But the memorandum says the federal government will only pay $300, while states will kick in the rest.

A Department of Labor memo to states obtained by Bloomberg says states are not obliged to bankroll the additional $100 -- meaning that some people would only receive the $300 put forward by the federal government. ... Read more

'As the tundra burns, we cannot afford climate silence': a letter from the Arctic
TheGuardian | Victoria Herrmann | 08/11/20

When you stand facing an exposed edge of permafrost, you can feel it from a distance. It emanates a cold that tugs on every one of your senses. Permanently bound by ice year after year, the frozen soil is packed with carcasses of woolly mammoths and ancient ferns. They're unable to decompose at such low temperatures, so they stay preserved in perpetuity -- until warmer air thaws their remains and releases the cold that they've kept cradled for centuries.

I first experienced that distinct cold in the summer of 2016. I was traveling across Arctic Europe with a team of researchers to study climate change impacts. We were a few hours past the Finnish border in Russia when we stopped to first set foot on the tundra. The ground was soft but solid beneath our feet, covered with mosses and wildflowers that stretched into the distance until abruptly interrupted by a slick, towering wall of thawing permafrost. ... Read more

AXIOS on HBO: President Trump Exclusive Interview (Full Episode) | 08/03/20 | 37:53

President Trump goes one-on-one with Chris Wallace (Full Interview) | FoxNews | | 40:08

Professor who's been right about every election since 1984 reveals his 2020 prediction | CNN | 08/08/20 | 6:21

The transformation of the Fed
Axios | Dion Rabouin | 08/10/20

The Federal Reserve is undergoing an overhaul. Conceived to keep inflation in check and oversee the country's money supply, the central bank is now essentially directing the economy and moving away from worries about rising prices.

What we're hearing: The move to act less quickly and forcefully to tamp down on inflation has been in the works for years, but some economists fear that the Fed is moving too far from its original mandate.

Between the lines: There are other concerns with the Fed's new stance. "Free market enterprise no longer exists," Scott Minerd, CIO of Guggenheim Partners, tells Axios. "The Fed by essence of what it's doing has taken control of the market."

Why it matters: "The definition of market prices is whatever the Fed says it will be," says Minerd, a member of the New York Fed's Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.... Read more