Politics Now - USA

Over 30 million people are drawing unemployment and will be left with state benefits only, which tend to be less than half of the federal amount. This is happening right as millions of people are being exposed to the threat of eviction. When the coronavirus pandemic first caused a spike in unemployment, state and local governments enacted moratoriums on evictions and shutting off utilities. But now those have expired in about half the states in the country . The eviction ban in Illinois ends in late August. In Florida, it expires Aug. 1. A steady stream of moratoriums lapsing is scheduled to continue throughout the month of August. After this weekend, the unemployment subsidy expires . Congress plans to pass another coronavirus aid bill but is moving at a snail’s pace. Republicans spent the entire week debating among themselves on a proposal. Bipartisan talks have not yet even begun. The Senate left Washington on Thursday and won’t return until Monday, after the benefits expire. At t

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to the floor of Congress on Thursday and gave one of the most bracing, empowering and feminist political speeches in a generation. Her words came in response to the rage-filled mutterings of Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.). But it would be a mistake to view what happened as simply the next stage in some typical political squabble or beef. Or, as some have attempted to argue, political opportunism. The Democratic congresswoman from New York did so much more than deliver the proverbial “clapback.” This wasn’t simply a viral moment. Ocasio-Cortez offered an eloquent and expert dismantling of the playbook that men have used to keep women in their place for centuries. Her speech was a clear signifier of the rising power of women in politics, which helped hasten her into office in 2018, along with a historic number of other female candidates. “I think it is the most important feminist speech in a generation,” said Jennifer Lawless, a politics professor

A Texas county said it was forming a committee to decide which coronavirus patients were most likely to die and send them home to their families. Starr County Memorial Hospital is overrun with coronavirus cases, and hospitals elsewhere in Texas and in nearby states are also full, officials said. The county's health authority said the "situation is desperate" and "there is nowhere to put these patients." He said that for some patients "we believe they will be better taken care in the love of their own family and home rather than thousands of miles away dying alone." Starr County had successfully avoided a large outbreak in the pandemic's early days. Some officials said the Texas governor's decision to reopen the state was the reason for the surge. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A hospital in Starr County, Texas, is so overrun with coronavirus cases that officials there said it would choose which patients to use its

The Republican National Committee in a new federal filing this week said it spent $14,000 on "building maintenance." In reality, it was a purchase of face masks. Some conservatives chafe at wearing masks, but the spending shows GOP party leaders were taking the coronavirus more seriously than they were publicly letting on. "They didn't buy lacrosse sticks or baseball bats," said the owner of a sporting-goods company that scored a $9,301 mask order from the RNC. President Donald Trump resisted wearing face coverings until mid-July. In June, he held a campaign rally in Oklahoma where most revelers didn't wear masks or practice social distancing. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Think "building maintenance," and you probably imagine plumbing, a new coat of paint, or a replacement toilet-paper dispenser. But when the Republican National Committee in June spent more than $14,000 on "building maintenance," none of i

A federal judge in Oregon on Thursday afternoon issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting federal officers deployed in Portland from using physical force against news reporters and legal observers documenting the ongoing protests and riots in that city. However, just hours after the ruling, video emerged showing federal troops firing teargas projectiles at — and ultimately hitting — a local journalist with Oregon Public Broadcasting who was recording the ongoing conflict. Following weeks of unrest, several newspapers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last month filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent federal officers from “assaulting news reporters, photographers, legal observers, and other neutrals who are documenting the police’s violent response to protests over the murder of George Floyd.” In the 22-page temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon enjoined officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Marshals Service (USM

Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here. 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. The Trump administration has sent federal police officers into Portland, where they’ve fired rubber rounds at nonviolent, non-threatening protesters and arrested and detained people in unmarked vans. The federal forces have included units from the Border Patrol and U.S. Marshals, among others, and have been met by a chorus of elected officials in Oregon who’ve demanded they leave the city. 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

In a damning address to Congress on Thursday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned Congressman Ted Yoho over comments he delivered on Capitol Hill to the Democrat. “This issue is not about one incident,” declared Ms Ocasio-Cortez. “It is cultural”. Those comments – which have been widely praised – came after Mr Yoho was said to have issued a non-apology over his remarks to the Representative, who he dubbed a “f*****g b****” on Capitol Hill on Monday. Download the new Independent Premium app Sharing the full story, not just the headlines But the New York Democrat said the Florida Republican had “[shown] the world that you can be a powerful man and accost women”. In a speech lasting almost 10 minutes, she accused Mr Yoho of hiding behind his wife and daughters, and said: “Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.” “I am someone’s daughter too”, added Ms Ocasio-Cortez. “I am here because I have to show my parents that I am t

Congress voted Wednesday to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol as part of a broader national reckoning on symbols still present across the country commemorating the Confederacy. The legislation passed through the House with bipartisan support 305 to 113, including 72 GOP lawmakers joining a unified Democratic Party in voting for the statues’ removal, while 113 Republicans opposed the measure. While states and communities grapple with how to remove or contextualize statues in different parts of the country, the legislation targeted the iconography specifically in the Capitol and directed the removal of “all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America.” The bill also specifically called for the removal of five statues, including a bust of former U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney, who authored the odious majority decision in the 1857 Dred Scott case that defended slavery. The bill proposes replacing the Taney figure with a statue of Thurgood Marsh

The eleventh largest school district in the U.S. has renamed a high school formerly known as Robert E. Lee High School after late civil rights icon John Lewis. Fairfax County's school board voted Thursday to rename the school after the late U.S. congressman. The new name, John R. Lewis High School, goes into effect this school year. Representative Tamara Derenak Kaufax, who is a boardmember for where the school is located in Springfield, near Washington, D.C., proposed a resolution to remove the Confederate general's name from the school in February. Several board members clapped and cheered when the unanimous vote was announced. “The name Robert E. Lee is forever connected to the Confederacy, and Confederate values are ones that do not align with our community,” Kaufax said in a news release. “I believe that John Lewis’ extraordinary life and advocacy for racial justice will serve as an inspiration to our students and community for generations to come.” The lawmaker, who

Inspectors general at the US Justice Department and Homeland Security Department are launching separate probes into the Trump administration's deployment of federal law enforcement officers to Portland, Oregon, and various complaints over their use of force on demonstrators, they announced on Thursday. In a letter to three House Democratic committee chairs — Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary panel, Carolyn Maloney of the Oversight panel, and Benny Thompson of the Homeland Security panel — DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced he is "initiating a review to examine the DOJ’s and its law enforcement components’ roles and responsibilities in responding to protest activity and civil unrest in Washington, DC, and in Portland, Oregon over the prior two months." That review will include "examining the training and instruction that was provided to the DOJ law enforcement personnel; compliance with applicable identification requirements, rules of engagement, and legal

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters This month, Stephen Miller, the extremist anti-immigrant Trump adviser who has promoted white nationalist ideas, lost a relative to the coronavirus pandemic, and his uncle tells Mother Jones that the Trump administration is partly to blame for this death. On July 4, David Glosser, the brother of Miller’s mother, posted a Facebook note announcing the death of his mother, Ruth Glosser, who was Miller’s maternal grandmother: This morning my mother, Ruth Glosser, died of the late effects of COVID-19 like so many thousands of other people; both young and old. She survived the acute infection but was left with lung and neurological damage that destroyed her will to eat and her ability to breathe well enough to sustain arousal and consciousness. Over an 8-week period she gradually slipped away and died peacefully this morning. David Glosser is a retired neuropsychologist and passiona

My name is Patrick Skinner, and I’m a former CIA operations officer. I love that I can say that now, but at one time I could not say that. Overseas my name sometimes wasn’t even my name; at home my name was my own, but my work was hidden. Either way, the cover story was always on my tongue. My work was clandestine and covert. Even my workplace, my employer, was secret. By definition and design, my work was not in public. There was nothing identifiable or attributable in my work. My authority came from presidential findings and national security laws, and my ability to do my job came in part from my neighbors not knowing who I was. My name is Patrick Skinner, and I’m a very worried American. I hate that I must say that, but I love that I can. For me, one of the best things about being an American is the freedom and even the obligation to speak out against injustice, and to speak up for those who aren’t being heard. By definition and design, my voice and your voice are public. Our autho

Rep. Ted Yoho—despite some headlines claiming otherwise—has refused to properly apologize for accosting his colleague, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, outside the Capitol building this week and reportedly calling her a “fucking bitch” as he was walking away. Instead, in a speech on the House floor Wednesday, the Florida Republican offered a string of bizarre explanations—including his supposed “passion,” his love of God, and his role as a father and a husband—that, at best, resembled a half-assed, sort-of-apology. Yoho also offered something of a denial, though it wasn’t clear exactly what he was denying. That deliberate attempt to avoid accountability may have satisfied senior Republicans, but Ocasio-Cortez isn’t letting him get away with it. “In front of reporters, Rep. Yoho called me, and I quote, ‘a fucking bitch,'” the New York Democrat said in her own speech before the House floor on Thursday. “These are the words that Rep. Yoho levied against a congresswoman.” To be sure,

Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. WASHINGTON — The Republican silence on what’s happening in Portland is jarring: If you’ve followed American politics over the last 10 years, you might be surprised that Republicans are more outraged at Liz Cheney than they are federal armed agents that just tear-gassed a city’s mayor. What happened to “Don’t tread on me”? What happened to states’ rights? What happened to freedom of speech and assembly? It’s easy to understand in our current politics why elected Republicans aren’t speaking out against the Department of Homeland Security forces in liberal, urban Portland. (Sen. Rand Paul is one exception.) But if you lived through the Obama Era, this Republican silence is jarring. And the next time they’re out of power from the White House, it will only undercut future efforts by them to decry federal overreach. America’s partisan divide over race stands out in NBC News/WSJ

CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin on Wednesday posed a question to President Donald Trump in response to his shocking comments about Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of enabling her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young women. On Tuesday, when Trump was asked during a news briefing about Maxwell’s arrest and whether she might implicate any powerful men involved in Epstein’s inner circle, the president said: “I don’t know. I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach.” Baldwin was aghast. “Maxwell is facing federal charges. She is accused of recruiting, grooming and sexually abusing young girls as part of a yearslong criminal enterprise,” she told viewers. “And their stories are so abhorrent I can’t even go into some of the detail on national television.” She noted there were some important women the president “left off his well-wishes list”: “How

PORTLAND, Ore. – Mayor Ted Wheeler was tear-gassed by federal officers along with a large crowd of protesters late Wednesday night after he tried for hours to calm down angry activists demanding police reform from City Hall and calling for federal authorities to withdraw from this mostly liberal, mostly white city. The mayor was caught in a chaotic display of violence and mayhem that began around 11:15 p.m., after some protesters threw flaming bags of garbage over a fence protecting the local federal courthouse, prompting the federal officers to fire tear gas at the crowd. Wheeler had spent many hours in the thick of the protest, attempting to answer questions from the crowd, which booed and jeered as he tried to explain a lengthy process for making reforms. At one point, he acknowledged that he's a "white, privileged male." "Obviously we have a long way to go," Wheeler said. "Everyone here has a job to do, all of us." Before the crowd was tear-gas

A Beaverton lawyer arrested early Tuesday by federal officers at Portland protests said officers never informed her of her rights or identified where they worked. Jennifer Kristiansen, 37, said she was standing arm-in-arm other women as part of the Wall of Moms near the front line of protesters converged outside the federal courthouse. She now faces criminal charges and is not allowed to go back on the federal property to protest. The mothers’ group has drawn hundreds of people downtown to join nightly protests against systemic racism. Federal officers released tear gas on the crowd outside the courthouse just before 12:30 a.m. As the moms backed away with the rest of the crowd, Kristiansen said she found herself near the edge of the group. She heard a woman nearby say she had been hit by an officer’s baton. Kristiansen said she put her arm in between the officer and people retreating. Another officer, wearing a black uniform, arrived and pointed at Kristiansen. “He said to the

(CNN) As a high school dropout and self-proclaimed "terrible student," Dave Grohl is the last person you'd expect to defend teachers caught up in the contentious debate of reopening schools amid the pandemic . But the Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer did exactly that. Why? Because his own mother was a public school teacher. In an essay published in The Atlantic , which was also released in an audio version on the Foo Fighters' Soundcloud , Grohl spoke out in support of moves to continue remote learning for the upcoming school year because of the risk the coronavirus poses to countless teachers and educators, like his mom. Grohl's mother is now 82 and retired, but when she worked as a teacher "she tirelessly devoted her life to the service of others, both at home and at work," Grohl wrote. "From rising before dawn to ensure that my sister and I were bathed, dressed, and fed in time to catch the bus to grading papers well into the

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday afternoon that the federal government is deploying U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, claiming the move is a response to criminal unrest. "The FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals service, and Homeland Security will together be sending hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers to Chicago to help drive down violent crime," the president said during prepared remarks at the White House. TRUMP: "The FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshals service, and Homeland Security will together be sending hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers to Chicago to help drive down violent crime." pic.twitter.com/0xijEEi5aG — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2020 Trump and Barr both tied rises in violent crime in U.S. cities to recent protests for Black lives and against police brutality that erupted after the police killing of George Floyd in May. Neither man provided any evi

A formal complaint filed last week with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General by a Portland, Maine letter carrier alleges that city Postmaster James Thornton is unlawfully mandating the delay of first-class mail in order to prioritize the delivery of Amazon packages. "Without consultation or input from any of the postal unions, postal customers, or mailing community, [DeJoy] has launched a series of actions that will undermine the Postal Service and are an insult to every postal worker." —American Postal Workers Union The complaint, first reported Tuesday by the Portland Press Herald, comes weeks after Louis DeJoy took over as U.S. Postmaster General and wasted little time implementing "major operational changes" and cost-cutting measures at the agency that critics warned would slow mail delivery and leave USPS unable to compete with private-sector competitors. Before he was unanimously appointed by the USPS Board of Governors in May, DeJoy was a m