26 July 20
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26 July 20
Cameron Joseph, Vice
Joseph writes: "With 100 days until the election, President Trump’s poll numbers could hardly look worse — and GOP strategists fear he's headed to a likely loss that could drag the rest of their party down with him."
Senate In Play
Trump’s ongoing woes are doing a ton of damage to down-ticket Republicans as well — and have pushed the battle for the Senate from one where they began the election cycle with the upper hand to one where most say it’s at best a tossup that they can keep control.
Democrats need to net three Senate seats if Biden wins, and Sen. Doug Jones’ expected loss in Alabama means they need to score four pickups.
That looked like a tough task just months ago, but everything seems to be falling in place for them.
Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) is running behind Trump in a state where he’s losing, and most think the race is all but over — two separate Republicans who’d seen recent private polls referred to her as a “goner.”
Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-Colo.) allies see some hope that they can use former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s (D) ethical troubles to pull an upset, but right now they concede Trump is losing so badly in the state that if his numbers don’t improve Gardner is toast. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has trailed in every recent poll of his race, by a slightly wider margin than Trump is losing the state. If Trump loses North Carolina, it’s hard to see how Tillis survives. And while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has long ran ahead of the top of the ticket, recent public and private polls show she’s in at best a tossup race.
Sweeping those races alone would get Democrats a majority. But they’re increasingly bullish on another round of races. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is deadlocked in her race, partly because of Trump’s struggles in the state, and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is in a dogfight against Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D).
Republicans are increasingly worried about Georgia, where they’re defending two seats. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) is running even with Trump and the messy battle for appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s (R-Ga.) seat has Republicans on edge there as well.
Strategists in both parties also say private polls show Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in a much closer race than recent public surveys, and say if Trump loses Texas he could easily fall as well. They’re also worried about Kansas, where if lightning rod and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) wins the GOP primary they could have a tough fight to win their seat. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) both face well-funded challengers, though both remain heavy favorites in their races. And some Democrats are even wondering if Alaska’s Senate race could become a real competition.
If Trump can bounce back to a place where he’s comfortably carrying must-win states like Iowa, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, the GOP would likely hang onto the Senate. But that looks a lot less likely now than it did a few months back.
John Lewis in 2019. (photo: Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images/US Postal Service)
John Lewis Makes Final Crossing Over Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
Eric Velasco, The Washington Post
Velasco writes: "Fifty-five years ago, Alabama state troopers beat John Lewis and hundreds of protesters as they crossed Edmund Pettus Bridge. On Sunday, troopers saluted the late civil rights leader after he made his final journey across the span."
READ MORE
Eric Velasco, The Washington Post
Velasco writes: "Fifty-five years ago, Alabama state troopers beat John Lewis and hundreds of protesters as they crossed Edmund Pettus Bridge. On Sunday, troopers saluted the late civil rights leader after he made his final journey across the span."
READ MORE
Austin, Texas. (photo: Hiram Gilberto/Reuters)
Tracy Connor, The Daily Beast
Connor writes: "A Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas, turned deadly late Saturday after a motorist tried to drive through the crowd and then allegedly shot a demonstrator."
According to the Statesman, citing police and witnesses, victim Garrett Foster approached the car—possibly while holding a rifle—and was shot dead. A video posted to Twitter shows multiple shots were fired in two volleys as the crowd fled in abject terror. Foster’s mother said her son was simply pushing his fiancee in a wheelchair through an intersection when he was gunned down. The alleged shooter sped away but was apprehended and is said to be cooperating with police; no name was released.
Mitch McConnell. (photo: M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO)
The US Needs Trillions in Stimulus From Congress, Economists Say
Matthew Yglesias, Vox
Yglesias writes: "Congress is wrangling over details of a stimulus package, which conventional wisdom in Washington says will land in the trillions, to get us through the fall, but macroeconomists are urging policymakers to think much bigger and much further ahead."
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Matthew Yglesias, Vox
Yglesias writes: "Congress is wrangling over details of a stimulus package, which conventional wisdom in Washington says will land in the trillions, to get us through the fall, but macroeconomists are urging policymakers to think much bigger and much further ahead."
READ MORE
Cartier Carey, 11, stacks diapers near his lemonade stand in Hampton Thursday morning July 23, 2020. Carey started selling snacks and lemonade to raise money to buy diapers and other necessities to provide to single mothers. Carey, along with help from family members and friends, has distributed over 6,000 diapers and raised close to $5,000. (photo: Jonathon Gruenke/Daily Press)
Single Mothers and Their Children Are Taking Over Abandoned Public Buildings
Mindy Isser, In These Times
Isser writes: "In Philadelphia, single mothers and their children have moved into abandoned, publicly owned buildings, in the most significant housing take over in the country—at a time when millions have lost their jobs and the country is on the brink of another housing crisis."
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Mindy Isser, In These Times
Isser writes: "In Philadelphia, single mothers and their children have moved into abandoned, publicly owned buildings, in the most significant housing take over in the country—at a time when millions have lost their jobs and the country is on the brink of another housing crisis."
READ MORE
Garifuna community protests to demand safe return of four men. July 22, 2020. (photo: @festivalesgt/Twitter)
Honduras: Protests Demand Return of Disappeared Garifuna Youth
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Protests began early morning Saturday in Triunfo de la Cruz, demanding the return of four Garifuna youth who were forcibly disappeared from their homes on Saturday, July 18th."
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Protests began early morning Saturday in Triunfo de la Cruz, demanding the return of four Garifuna youth who were forcibly disappeared from their homes on Saturday, July 18th."
The whereabouts of Milton Martinez, Suami Aparicio, Gerardo Trochez and Sneider Centeno, the President of the Triunfo de la Cruz community council, are unknown.
According to information gathered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the unidentified armed kidnappers wore bulletproof vests with the initials of the Police Investigations Directorate.
Caravans and protests were held throughout the week by the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and the community, demanding the safe return of the four men amid a constant violent siege against Garifuna people: “The wave of violence against Garifuna people is part of an expulsion strategy. You took them alive, we want them back alive.”
OFRANEH has presented a habeas corpus, demanding whereabouts of the four men who they say were disappeared by state security forces in the context of an 11-year neoliberal human rights crisis which was initiated by the 2009 U.S. and Canada-backed coup against leftist President Manuel Zelaya.
Since the 1970s, OFRANEH has led the struggle for defense of Garifuna territories and human rights, particularly against pro-global business violence and repression which has been the cause of the killings of dozens of Garifuna community defenders and the wounding, criminalizing and political imprisonment of many more.
The current administration headed by Juan Orlando Hernandez has been closely linked to global companies and investors involved in efforts to remove and dispossess the Garifuna people from ancestral lands, to make way for tourism and African palm industries.
The IACHR has condemned the forced disappearance and says it is aware of investigations by Honduran police and the arrest of a person allegedly responsible—though OFRANEH has warned that the arrest may be a front.
The Commission has urged the state to locate the disappeared and guarantee their lives while bearing in mind the activities which the Triunfo leaders carried out in demanding compliance with a recent ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights which favored the rights of the community over their territory.
Honduras Solidarity Network and the Alliance for Global Justice have been at the forefront of international solidarity, both calling for people in the U.S. and Canada to contact Congressional representatives and Members of Parliament on the forced disappearances, particularly given the complicit role of the two governments in supporting the Honduran government-business sector alliance.
Raúl Grijalva of Arizona. (photo: Susan Walsh/AP)
Congress Passes the Great American Outdoors Act, a 'Once in a Generation' Conservation Bill
Chris D'Angelo, Grist
D'Angelo writes: "The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a sweeping public lands package to fix crumbling national park infrastructure and permanently fund a decades-old conservation program, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump for final approval."
Chris D'Angelo, Grist
D'Angelo writes: "The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a sweeping public lands package to fix crumbling national park infrastructure and permanently fund a decades-old conservation program, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump for final approval."
The overwhelming 310-107 vote by the House comes just over a month after the Senate passed the bill. Trump has promised to sign it into law.
The bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act has been hailed as the most significant conservation legislation in a generation and combines two bills that might otherwise not have passed on their own. One sets aside $9.5 billion to address the estimated $12 billion maintenance backlog at national parks, which has been a priority of the Trump administration. The other permanently supports the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was established in 1964 and uses offshore fossil fuel revenue to protect natural areas and water resources, at the maximum $900 million per year.
The program, which has existed for over 50 years, has been plagued by funding shortfalls and has only twice received the full $900 million.
“We have a generational opportunity to ensure America’s crown jewels are protected,” Representative Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona and chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in speech on the House floor ahead of the vote. “We have a unique chance to ensure that every tool is available to help us respond to the climate crisis, [to] protect those landscapes that best protect clean water, clean air, and healthy green spaces. This bill is a major win for the American people, decades in the making.”
The legislative push featured some serious election-year politicking. For years, Trump and his team proposed gutting LWCF funding while continuing to claim it was a priority. The president suddenly changed his tune in March, giving full credit to Colorado Senator Cory Gardner and Montana Senator Steve Daines, two of the most vulnerable Republican lawmakers — neither of whom have particularly notable environmental records.
“ALL thanks to @SenCoryGardner and @SteveDaines, two GREAT Conservative Leaders!” Trump tweeted at the time.
Immediately after the Senate passed the bill in June, Trump’s Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt, tweeted a testy letter to Grijalva that suggested the Arizona lawmaker and other Democrats would stand in the way of passing a clean bill.
“Failure to move with dispatch to get this legislation enacted would be unconscionable,” Bernhardt wrote.
But it was the GOP, including Utah Representative Rob Bishop, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, that tried to stymie its passage and demanded a chance to introduce significant amendments.
Bernhardt issued an equally partisan statement following Wednesday’s vote, saying Trump “accomplished what previous presidents have failed to do for decades, despite their lip service commitment to funding public land improvements.”
Although Trump’s reversal on LWCF appears aimed as securing wins for two Senate allies, environmentalists, public land advocates, and outdoor sporting groups have embraced the opportunity.
“Today, we the people made history,” Land Tawney, president of the Montana-based nonprofit Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, said in a statement. “The Great American Outdoors Act is a momentous achievement in the name of our most prized American landscapes and outdoors legacy. It’s a once in a generation piece of conservation and public access legislation that will have impacts for generations to come.”
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