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In “devastating” brief, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg says Trump’s felony convictions should be upheld

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is urging Judge Juan Merchan to reject Donald Trump's appeal of his hush money conviction, arguing that the former president's conduct is not protected by the Supreme Court granting him immunity for his official duties.

"The criminal charges here, by contrast, exclusively stem from defendant's 'unofficial acts' — conduct for which 'there is no immunity," he wrote in a 69-page brief filed Thursday. Bragg, who brought the hush money case to court and secured convictions on 34 felony counts, recommended that the court "reject defendant's request to vacate his conviction and dismiss the indictment on the basis of the Supreme Court's recent ruling on presidential immunity.”

Trump’s appeal of his felony convictions hinged heavily on the Supreme Court decision in his federal election interference case, which afforded him presidential immunity for "official acts" in office. His legal team has argued the convictions should be thrown out because Bragg, at trial, introduced evidence from a White House meeting while Trump was president.

Trump’s “arguments are meritless in any event, since the evidence at issue either concerned unofficial conduct that is not subject to any immunity, or is a matter of public record,” Bragg wrote, as Bloomberg reported. “Even if some of this evidence were improperly admitted, any error was harmless in light of other overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt."

Norm Eisen, a legal analyst for CNN, said Bragg's response to Trump's claims is "devastating."

"The SCOTUS official acts immunity decision in Trump v. US is bad enough," Eisen wrote on social media. "But as the DA points out, Trump's efforts to stretch it to cover this UNOFFICIAL acts case is even worse."

According to Eisen, one of the big missteps by Trump's legal team is that it never raised such an argument at trial. The case, which concerned Trump buying the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, also did not hinge on evidence from Trump's time as president.

Eisen argued that Bragg successfully highlighted "major flaws" in Trump's legal arguments, providing reason to believe the convictions will be upheld. That, in turn, will help the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who previously served as the attorney general of California.

"This matters even more now that the election is about a prosecutor vs. a perpetrator," Eisen wrote on X.

Kamala Harris will continue Biden’s climate policies, say experts. But is that good enough?

With President Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris has become his heir apparent and the near-certain Democratic nominee. Most climate scientists and activists expect that a potential Harris administration would continue Biden's climate policies. Whether that's a good or bad thing, however, is very much up for debate.

Seth Schuster, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told Salon that "no one will fight harder to address the climate crisis than Vice President Harris. She’s proud to have delivered the most significant climate legislation in American history with President Biden," a reference to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Biden and Harris created "hundreds of thousands of new jobs," Schuster continued, "while Donald Trump continues to call climate change a 'hoax' and promises to … ship those jobs overseas."

Harris would appear to have a strong record on environmental and climate policy, stretching back to the beginning of her political career. As attorney general of California, she investigated Exxon Mobil over allegations it had misled the public and shareholders about the risks of climate change. Harris also secured an $86 million settlement from Volkswagen for cheating on diesel emissions tests and indicted a pipeline company over a 2015 oil spill off the California coast.

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In the U.S. Senate, Harris was an early co-sponsor of the original 2019 Green New Deal legislation proposed by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. While climate policy was not a major factor in Harris' short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, as vice president she has been a strong booster of Biden's climate agenda. She was the highest-ranking U.S. official to attend the COP28 conference in Dubai last year, and committed the United States to double its energy efficiency and triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Opinions in the climate science world are divided, however, on whether the Biden legacy is good enough. Dr. Michael E. Mann of the University of Pennsylvania is a pretty big fan. "Biden’s climate legacy is significant," he told Salon. "The fact that he was able to shepherd and sign into the law the most aggressive climate legislation yet in a 50/50 Senate … speaks to what a masterful chief executive he was." Biden had successfully implemented "a bold agenda of executive actions to help accelerate the clean energy transition," Mann continued. "I expect a President Harris to build on that legacy."

"Biden’s climate legacy is significant. The fact that he was able to shepherd and sign into the law the most aggressive climate legislation yet in a 50/50 Senate … speaks to what a masterful chief executive he was."

Donald Trump, Mann said, had "tried to sell" our planet "to the highest bidder."

Dr. Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an associate project scientist at UCLA's Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering, expressed dramatically different views of Biden's climate policies, saying he felt personally betrayed by the president. On the campaign trail in 2020, Kalmus said, "Biden often said that he'd 'listen to the scientists' on climate," Kalmus said. "What a lie. As a climate scientist, it feels personal."

Kalmus acknowledged that the Inflation Reduction Act has "some good stuff," but argued that it was no better than "a tap on the brakes" and does not go nearly far enough to limit or reduce the use of fossil fuels. "Biden took every opportunity to expand fossil fuels, just as Trump did," Kalmus said, citing the administration's approval of several drilling and pipeline projects. "He approved almost 50% more oil and gas drilling permits on federal lands in his first three years than Trump. … Biden's overarching legacy will likely end up being this: He accelerated global heating by expanding fossil fuels."

Science journalist Spencer Roberts, who has written for Wired and The Nation, posted on Twitter/X that Biden had broken his campaign promises to stop oil drilling on federal land, further claiming alleged that Biden broke the 1855 treaty between the U.S. government and the Ojibwe nation by forcing through construction of a pipeline on Indigenous land, and calling out the National Guard to arrest protesters. Roberts also said Biden had offered "egregious subsidies to oil and gas, meat and dairy, fishing, logging, mining."

For Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth, a distinguished scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Biden's moderate approach was at least a step in the right direction. The president's record has been "excellent," Trenberth said, considering the obstacles he faced from Republicans and the fossil fuel industry. "Emissions from the U.S. are down more than anywhere else in the world," Trenberth said, while noting that increased emissions from growing economies like China and India have "overwhelmed all the gains elsewhere."

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Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University professor of geosciences and international affairs, told Salon that Biden has an "obvious" legacy on climate: "He respected science and followed its implications." In addition to praising the Inflation Reduction Act and the U.S. return to the Paris climate accords, Oppenheimer cited the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 as "largely built around investments that will significantly reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the coming decades, and to a lesser extent … begin to deal with climate adaptation. Together with regulations on greenhouse gas emissions developed by EPA, this is by far the most significant U.S. government effort to deal with climate change to date."
 
Oppenheimer argued that Biden had, at the very least, reversed Trump administration policies and restored many of the gains made under Barack Obama. If Trump returns to the White House next year, he said, "U.S. leadership would shrivel" on climate policy and, "depending on the next Congress and the Supreme Court … and EPA’s attempts to regulated emissions from electric power plants and motor vehicles would suffer another setback. The world’s overall efforts to reduce emissions and avoid a truly disruptive and dangerous warming would be slowed." Many of the objectives set in motion by Obama and Biden will be attainable with or without Trump in office, he added, but "the climate clock is ticking toward that dangerous level of warming, so time is one thing we can’t afford to lose – we desperately need the prod from policy. Four more years of Trump would be four years lost on climate policy."

The Trump campaign defended the former president's record in a statement to Salon. "President Trump advanced conservation and environmental stewardship while promoting economic growth for families across the country," said Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "America’s energy agenda under President Trump produced affordable, reliable energy for consumers along with stable, high-paying jobs for small businesses — all while dropping U.S. carbon emissions to their lowest level in 25 years. Dangerously liberal Kamala Harris's radical energy policies such as her EV mandate and the Green New Scam will hurt American workers, help China, and do virtually nothing to help the environment.”

From the Trump campaign: "Dangerously liberal Kamala Harris's radical energy policies such as her EV mandate and the Green New Scam will hurt American workers, help China, and do virtually nothing to help the environment.”

What important climate policies should be on a potential Harris agenda? "We still don’t have a consistent federal government policy on climate adaptation," Oppenheimer said. "One important component would be to make sure that Justice 40 — the aspect of government investments on climate change at the community level from the Inflation Reduction Act — is implemented properly and fully. Communities that are highly vulnerable socioeconomically are largely the places where climate impacts are expected to hit hardest and also where capacity to build climate resilience is lowest. They need help."

Mann believes, along with many other liberals and progressives, that a possible President Harris should seek to expand the Supreme Court. "The current 6-3 majority answers only to the fossil fuel industry," he said. "They must be rendered irrelevant before they do irreparable harm to the planet."

Trenberth suggested that the Inflation Reduction Act should focus less on carbon capture and storage, the preferred strategy of fossil fuel companies, and instead emphasize reducing emissions.

For Kalmus, only drastic measures by a future Harris administration can pull humanity from the brink. "Stop expanding fossil fuels, ban fossil fuel advertising and champion an international fossil fuel reduction treaty," he said. Make it illegal for the fossil fuel industry to spread disinformation. Use the bully pulpit. Create a federal program to educate the public on the basics of climate science and solutions. Give the world a positive vision for a cooler future without fossil fuels."

Read more

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Paris Olympics viewing guide: What to watch each day

The Summer Olympic Games kick off in Paris, France on Friday, July 26, starting with the opening ceremony that will take place on the Seine River. The international competition will highlight 40 different sports — with the notable debut of breaking, better known as break dancing — involving 206 countries from around the world. 

Some of the games have already begun, including various soccer matches (football if you're not American), and trying to keep track of every event is a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, we've curated a day-by-day list highlighting some of the most popular events taking place over the next two weeks. Included are standout American talents like gymnast Simone Biles, 100-meter sprinters Sha'Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, and swimmer Katie Ledecky. While our highlights reflect a fair amount of coverage, you can always turn to the Olympics' official website for the full schedule.

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If you’re based in the U.S., you can tune in to the Olympics on cable TV networks (NBC, USA, Golf Channel, CNBC, and E!) or streaming services like Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC App or the NBC Olympics App.

The majority of the below events are medal events. Each is denoted in U.S. Eastern time, which is six hours behind Paris. Happy watching, and Go Team USA!

 
Friday, July 26
  • 1:30 p.m. Opening ceremony 
 
Saturday, July 27
  • 5:00 a.m. Diving – Women’s synchronized 3m springboard final (medal event) 
  • 8:30 a.m. Road Cycling – Women’s individual time trial (medal event)
  • 10:32 a.m.: Road Cycling – Men’s individual time trial (medal event)
  • 11:00 a.m.: Skateboarding – Men’s street final (medal event)
  • 2:45 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 400m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 2:55 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 400m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 3:37 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay (medal event)
  • 3:47 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay (medal event)
 
Sunday, July 28
  • 8:10 a.m.: Cycling – Women’s cycling mountain bike race (medal event)
  • 11:00 a.m.: Skateboarding – Women’s street final (medal event)
  • 12:00 p.m.: Gymnastics – Women’s gymnastics individual all-around
  • 2:33 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 400m individual medley final (medal event)
  • 2:43 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 100m butterfly final (medal event)
  • 3:47 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 100m breaststroke final (medal event)
 
Monday, July 29
  • 5:00 a.m.: Diving – Men’s synchronized 10m platform (medal event)
  • 7:30 a.m.: Equestrian – Riding eventing team jumping final (medal event)
  • 8:10 a.m.: Cycling – Men’s cycling mountain bike race (medal event)
  • 9:56 a.m.: Equestrian – Riding eventing individual jumping final (medal event)
  • 11:30 a.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s team all-around (medal event)
  • 2:33 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 400m individual medley (medal event)
  • 2:43 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 200m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 3:22 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 100m backstroke final (medal event)
  • 3:28 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 100m breaststroke final (medal event)
  • 3:44 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 200m freestyle final (medal event)
 
Tuesday, July 30

 

  • 2:00 a.m.: Triathlon – Men’s individual triathlon (medal event)
  • 12:15 p.m.: Gymnastics – Women’s team all-around final (medal event)
  • 2:59 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 100m backstroke final (medal event)
  • 3:05 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 800m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 4:04 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay (medal event)
  • 8:12 p.m.: Surfing – Men’s surfing gold medal match (medal event)
  • 8:53 p.m.: Surfing – Women’s surfing gold medal match (medal event)
  • 9:34 p.m.: Surfing – Men’s surfing bronze medal match (medal event)
  • 10:15 p.m.: Surfing – Women’s surfing bronze medal match (medal event)
 
Wednesday, July 31
  • 2:00 a.m.: Triathlon – Women’s individual triathlon (medal event)
  • 5:00 a.m.: Diving – Women’s synchronized 10 m platform (medal event)
  • 6:26 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s rowing quadruple sculls final A (medal event)
  • 6:38 a.m.: Rowing – Women’s rowing quadruple sculls final A (medal event)
  • 7:10 a.m.: Cycling – Women’s cycling BMX freestyle park final (medal event)
  • 8:45 a.m.: Cycling – Men’s cycling BMX freestyle park final (medal event)
  • 11:30 a.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s individual all-around final (medal event)
  • 2:33 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 100m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 2:39 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 200m butterfly final (medal event)
  • 3:10 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 1500m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 4:18 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 200m breaststroke final (medal event)
  • 4:25 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 100m freestyle final  (medal event)
 
Thursday, August 1
  • 1:30 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 20km race walk (medal event)
  • 3:20 a.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 20km race walk (medal event)
  • 5:30 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s rowing double sculls final A (medal event)
  • 5:50 a.m.: Rowing – Women’s coxless four final A (medal event)
  • 6:10 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s rowing coxless four final A (medal event)
  • 9:00 a.m.: Sailing – Men’s sailing 49er skiff (medal event)
  • 10:00 a.m.: Sailing – Women’s sailing 49er skiff (medal event)
  • 12:15 p.m.: Gymnastics – Women’s all-around final (medal event)
  • 2:33 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 200m butterfly final  (medal event)
  • 2:40 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 200m backstroke final (medla event)
  • 3:07 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 200m breaststroke final (medal event)
  • 3:52 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay (medal event)
 
Friday, August 2
  • 4:05 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s decathlon begins (medal event)
  • 4:35 a.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 100m preliminary round 
  • 5:00 a.m.: Diving – Men’s diving synchronized 3m springboard (medal event)
  • 5:05 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 1500m round 1
  • 5:30 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s rowing pair final (medal event)
  • 5:42 a.m.: Rowing – Women’s rowing pair final (medal event)
  • 5:50 a.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 100m round 1
  • 6:00 a.m.: Gymnastics – Women’s gymnastics trampoline final (medal event)
  • 6:00 a.m.: Tennis – Men’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 6:02 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s lightweight double sculls final (medal event)
  • 6:22 a.m.: Rowing – Women’s lightweight double sculls final (medal event)
  • 8:00 a.m.: Tennis – TBD (medal event)
  • 9:00 a.m.: Tennis – Women’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 10:00 a.m.: Sailing – Women’s windsurfing iQFOiL (medal event)
  • 10:10 a.m.: Sailing – Men’s windsurfing iQFOiL (medal event)
  • 12:00 p.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s gymnastics trampoline final (medal event)
  • 12:10 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 5000m round 1
  • 1:10 p.m.: Track and Field – 4x400m relay mixed round 1
  • 1:45 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 800m round 1
  • 2:33 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 50m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 2:38 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 200m backstroke final (medal event)
  • 2:45 p.m.: Swimming – Swimming 200m individual medley (medal event)
  • 3:00 p.m.: Tennis – TBD (medal event)
  • 3:20 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 10,000m final (medal event)
  • 3:35 p.m.: Cycling – Men’s BMX cycling race (medal event)
  • 3:50 p.m.: Cycling – Women’s BMX cycling race (medal event)
 
Saturday, August 3
  • 4:00 a.m.: Equestrian – Riding dressage team grand prix special (medal event)
  • 4:18 a.m.: Rowing – Women’s single sculls final (medal event)
  • 4:30 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s single sculls final (medal event)
  • 4:35 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 100m preliminary round
  • 4:50 a.m.: Rowing – Women’s rowing eight final (medal event)
  • 5:10 a.m.: Rowing – Men’s rowing eight final (medal event)
  • 5:45 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 100m round 1
  • 6:00 a.m.: Tennis – Men’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 8:00 a.m.: Tennis – Women’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 9:40 a.m.: Sailing – Women’s sailing nacra 17 (medal event)
  • 10:20 a.m.: Gymnastics – Women's gymnastics vault final (medal event)
  • 11:00 a.m.: Tennis – Men’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 11:15 a.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s gymnastics pommel horse (medal event)
  • 1:35 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s shot put final (medal event)
  • 2:33 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 100m butterfly final (medal event)
  • 2:55 p.m.: Track and Field – 4x400m relay (medal event)
  • 3:04 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 200m individual medley (medal event)
  • 3:11 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 800m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 3:20 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 100m final (medal event)
  • 3:37 p.m.: Swimming – 4x100m medley relay (medal event)
 
Sunday, August 4
  • 4:00 a.m.: Equestrian – Riding dressage (medal event)
  • 4:55 a.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 200m round 1
  • 5:50 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 110m hurdles round 1
  • 6:00 a.m.: Tennis – Women’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 6:35 a.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 400m hurdles round 1
  • 8:00 a.m.: Tennis – Men’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 9:40 a.m.: Gymnastics – Women’s gymnastics uneven bars final (medal event)
  • 10:24 a.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s gymnastics vault final (medal event)
  • 11:00 a.m.: Tennis – Women’s tennis TBD (medal event)
  • 11:24 a.m.: Golf – Men’s golf (medal event) 
  • 12:33 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 50m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 12:38 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 1500m freestyle final (medal event)
  • 1:05 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 400m round 1
  • 1:08 p.m.: Swimming – Men’s 4x100m medley relay (medal event)
  • 1:28 p.m.: Swimming – Women’s 4x100m medley relay (medal event)
  • 1:50 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s high jump final (medal event)
  • 2:00 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 100m semi-final
  • 2:30 p.m. Track and Field – Men’s hammer throw final (medal event)
  • 2:35 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 800m semi-final 
  • 3:10 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 1500m semi-final (medal event)
  • 3:50 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 10m final (medal event)
 
Monday, August 5
  • 2:00 a.m.: Track and Field – Triathlon (medal event)
  • 4:05 a.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 400m hurdles round 1
  • 5:45 a.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s gymnastics parallel bars final (medal event)
  • 5:55 a.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 400m round 1
  • 6:38 a.m.: Gymnastics – Women’s gymnastics balance beam final (medal event)
  • 7:33 a.m.: Gymnastics – Men’s gymnastics horizontal bar final (medal event)
  • 1:00 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s pole vault final (medal event)
  • 1:55 p.m.: Track and Field – Mens’ 200m round 1
  • 2:30 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s discus throw final (medal event)
  • 2:45 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 200m semi-final
  • 3:00 p.m.: 3×3 Basketball – Women’s 3×3 basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 3:10 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 5000m final (medal event)
  • 3:30 p.m.: 3×3 Basketball – Men’s 3×3 basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 3:45 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 800m final (medal event)
  • 4:00 p.m.: 3×3 Basketball – Women’s 3×3 basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 4:30 p.m.: 3×3 Basketball – Men’s 3×3 basketball TBD (medal event)
 
Tuesday, August 6
  • 5:41 a.m.: Equestrian – Riding jumping final (medal event)
  • 9:00 a.m.: Diving – Women’s diving 10m platform (medal event)
  • 9:05 a.m.: Sailing – Women’s sailing ILCA 6 (medal event)
  • 10:05 a.m.: Sailing – Men’s sailing ILCA 6 (medal event)
  • 11:30 a.m.: Skateboarding – Women’s skateboarding park final (medal event)
  • 1:55 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s hammer throw final (medal event)
  • 2:15 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s long jump final (medal event)
  • 2:50 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 1500m final (medal event)
  • 3:10 p.m.: Track and Field – Women’s 3000m steeplechase final (medal event)

 

 
Wednesday, August 7
  • 1:30 a.m.: Track and Field – Walk marathon (medal event)
  • 10:02 a.m.: Sailing – Sailing 470 (medal event)
  • 11:30 a.m.: Skateboarding – Men’s skateboarding park final (medal event)
  • 2:25 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s discus throw final (medal event)
  • 3:20 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 400m final (medal event)
  • 3:40 p.m.: Track and Field – Men’s 3000m steeplechase final (medal event)
 
Thursday, August 8
  • 1:30 a.m.: Swimming – Women's open water swimming 10km (medal event)

  • 4:05 a.m.: Track and Field – Women's heptathlon final (medal event)

  • 11:00 a.m.: Soccer – Men's soccer (medal event)

  • 2:00 p.m.: Track and Field – Women's long jump final (medal event)

  • 2:25 p.m.: Track and Field – Men's javelin throw final (medal event)

  • 2:30 p.m.: Track and Field – Men's 200m final (medal event)

  • 3:25 p.m.: Track and Field – Women's 400m hurdles final (medal event)

  • 3:45 p.m.: Track and Field – Men's 110m hurdles final (medal event)

EMBED

 
Friday, August 9
  • 1:30 a.m.: Swimming – Men's open water swimming 10km (medal event)
  • 9:00 a.m.: Diving – Women's diving 3m springboard (medal event)
  • 9:00 a.m.: Soccer – Women's soccer (medal event)
  • 10:00 a.m.: Volleyball – Men's volleyball TBD (medal event)
  • 12:00 p.m.: Soccer – Men's soccer (medal event)
  • 1:40 p.m.: Track and Field – Women's shot put final (medal event)
  • 1:45 p.m.: Track and Field – Men's 4x100m relay (medal event)
  • 2:00 p.m.: Track and Field – Women's 400m final (medal event)
  • 2:10 p.m.: Track and Field – Men's triple jump final (medal event)
  • 2:55 p.m.: Track and Field – Women's 10,000m (medal event)
  • 3:00 p.m.: Beach Volleyball – Women's beach volleyball TBD (medal event)
  • 3:15 p.m.: Breaking – Women's breakdancing final bronze (medal event)
  • 3:24 p.m.: Breaking – Women's breakdancing final gold (medal event)
  • 4:30 p.m.: Beach Volleyball – Women's beach volleyball TBD (medal event)
 
Saturday, August 10
  • 2:00 a.m. Track and Field – Men's marathon (medal event)
  • 4:35 a.m. Water Polo – Women's water polo TBD (medal event)
  • 5:00 a.m. Basketball – Men's basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 7:00 a.m. Volleyball – Men's volleyball TBD (medal event)
  • 9:00 a.m. Diving – Men's diving 10m platform (medal event)
  • 9:35 a.m. Water Polo – Women's water polo TBD (medal event)
  • 11:00 a.m. Soccer – Women's soccer (medal event)
  • 11:15 a.m. Volleyball – Women's volleyball TBD (medal event)
  • 11:24 a.m. Golf – Women's gold (medal event)
  • 1:10 p.m. Track and Field – Men's high jump final (medal event)
  • 1:25 p.m. Track and Field – Men's 800m final (medal event)
  • 1:45 p.m. Track and Field – Women's 100m hurdles (medal event)
  • 2:00 p.m. Track and Field – Men's 5000m final (medal event)
  • 3:00 p.m. Beach Volleyball – Men's beach volleyball TBD (medal event)
  • 3:12 p.m. Track and Field – Men's 4x400m relay (medal event)
  • 3:14 p.m. Breaking – Men's breakdancing bronze final (medal event)
  • 3:22 p.m. Track and Field – Women's 4x400m relay (medal event)
  • 3:23 p.m. Breaking – Men's breakdancing gold final (medal event)
  • 3:30 p.m. Basketball – Men's basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 4:30 p.m. Beach Volleyball – Men's beach volleyball TBD (medal event)
 
Sunday, August 11
  • 2:00 a.m. Track and Field – Women's marathon (medal event)
  • 4:35 a.m. Water Polo – Men's water polo TBD (medal event)
  • 5:30 a.m. Basketball – Women's basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 7:00 a.m. Volleyball – Women's volleyball TBD (medal event)
  • 8:00 a.m, Water Polo – Men's water polo TBD (medal event)
  • 9:30 a.m. Basketball – Women's basketball TBD (medal event)
  • 1:00 p.m. Olympics' Closing Ceremony

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Whole Foods reaches settlement over “illegal firing” of ex-employee stemming from BLM protesting

Whole Foods has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit accusing it of "illegally firing a worker who refused to remove her Black Lives Matter face mask and complained about racism," according to Nate Raymond with Reuters. 

The lawsuit originally "began as a proposed class action when it was filed in 2020 over a Whole Foods dress code that barred workers from wearing attire related to Black Lives Matter," according to Raymond. In the original suit, Savannah Kinzer had said that she was "fired for protesting outside her store, rejecting demands to stop wearing a mask and [for] talking to the press." Her claims were the last that remained from the originally filed lawsuit alleging improper firing and a mask ban that was "racially discriminatory," according to Reuters. 

"While courts rejected those discrimination claims, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April revived Kinzer's individual claim that her firing constituted illegal retaliation and said a jury should resolve the dispute," Raymond wrote.

The trial was originally set for August 19, but the settlement terms have not been disclosed. 

 

 

5 facts from “Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam” showing how NSYNC, Backstreet and more got fooled

The landscape of pop music would be quite different without Lou Pearlman masterminding the humble beginnings of bands like NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.

While the talent agent helped launch the career of Grammy-winning solo artist Justin Timberlake, beneath the surface of bubble gum pop, Pearlman masterminded a shady operation. The Netflix docuseries "Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam" uncovers his journey to becoming one of pop music's controversial, scheming figureheads.

AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys said, "There would be no NSYNC, there would be no Backstreet Boys without Lou, period. But some of us still have wounds that have never healed and may never heal.”

Pearlman faced numerous legal and civil battles from losing his two of his most popular bands in court losses or settlements. Eventually, he also faced criminal charges for his involvement in financial crimes. 

Related

"Fallen Idols": 8 of the most shocking revelations from the Nick and Aaron Carter docuseries

But how did the creator of such iconic boy bands end up embroiled in scandal, contentious legal battles with his own bands and eventually sentenced to jail for 25 years? 

Here are some of the most fascinating details uncovered in "Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam."

01
Lou Pearlman's company Trans Continental Airlines was a Ponzi scheme
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

Pearlman's business was described as a plane leasing company built off of investor money. Through his seemingly successful business, he was able to invest in his musical pursuits.

 

After helping the band New Kids on the Block charter a plane, Pearlman decided his passion would be boy bands.

 

However, one of Pearlman's boy band members, Michael Johnson of Natural said, "He was financing Backstreet and NSYNC himself out of the money recovered from the insurance of cashed blimps. But he didn't have any more money from his insurance scheme.

 

"He knew a bunch of people in Germany through his old Nazi mentor, Wullenkemper. So he went and sold his soul to BMG. And it was the worst deal.

 

"All of the money that was made by Backstreet, by NSYNC, Lou was getting a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of that. He used the bands as a front, the BMG deal as a front, to look like he's this super successful music mogul."

02
Allegations of inappropriate touching of young, male pop stars
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

The docuseries brings up the allegations of pedophilia that surrounded Pearlman but most of the series participants claimed they did not have any experiences with Pearlman that crossed a line.

 

O-Town band member Erik-Michael Estrada said “Never saw it. Wasn’t a part of my life. Wasn’t a part of my experience." 

 

But he continued, "However, there was some suspect behavior. If those things actually did happen, I feel bad for any victims and anyone who was taken advantage of."

 

Kirkpatrick's own experience was a little different in comparison. He said, "[Pearlman would] always talk [about], ‘I need you guys in shape, whatever.’ Started coming up, grabbing our arms. Then it was like, ‘Well, let me see your abs.’ You’re like a 50-, 60-year-old guy — that’s too far." 

 

Pearlman's former assistant said, "[Pearlman] was touchy-feely with the guys, the younger ones, especially." 

03

Backstreet Boys and NSYNC sue Pearlman to get out of their contracts

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

After several years with Pearlman and what was described by Chris Kirkpatrick as only receiving one check for $10,000, both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC believed that Pearlman was cheating them out of their hard-earned paychecks.

 

Kirkpatrick from NSYNC said, "I felt like a puppet. I'm doing what this guy tells me to do and I didn't know why. The most trusted person in our circle was a crook." 

 

While AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys said, "We were blindsided to Lou being the sixth member of the group. You're going to make your management commission but you're also gonna make exactly how much the five of us make, and you're not out there doing what we're doing."

 

The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC eventually bought Pearlman out for a whopping $64 million settlement.

04
Legal troubles for Pearlman begin
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

After he received his $60 million payout settlement from his bands, Pearlman's defense attorney, Cheney Mason, said he got his first taste of Pearlman being "not so honorable."

 

"Of the approximately 64 million dollars that we settled on that would be owed to Mr. Pearlman, I was entitled to close to 16 million dollars of that as our fees, and it never happened," Mason explained.

 

So Mason told Pearlman, "I'm going to sue your a**."

 

This then led Mason to call an FBI Special Agent, Scott Skinner. In the lawsuit, Pearlman had to produce a financial statement. "He didn't want to pay Mason, and his financial statement made him look pretty poor. You compare it to one he submitted to the bank a week or two before, you got bank fraud. Easy," Skinner explained.

05
Pearlman is sentenced to 25 years in prison for financial fraud
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

Pearlman's Ponzi scheme came to a head in 2006. Skinner described that the lack of new investors made it difficult to maintain the story Pearlman was telling. Investors began to demand their money, which Trans Continental did not have.

 

Soon after, Trans Continental and Pearlman's office and home were raided by the FBI. However, Pearlman had already left the country six weeks before the raid.

 

Ultimately, the FBI found that Trans Continental did not own any airplanes. There were no operations other than the larger investment scam.

 

Mason said, "Pearlman was a master forger. He would forge signatures and create false seals. Lou Pearlman had totally false bank statements, tax returns."

 

In 2008, Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. Eight years later, Pearlman died of cardiac arrest in prison.

 

The docuseries adds, "Of the $500 million Lou Pearlman stole only $10 million has been recovered. Nearly 2,000 individuals and families invested with Pearlman over more than 30 years. It was the longest-running Ponzi scheme in American history."

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Chipotle CEO says company will “re-coach” employees to fix inconsistent portion sizes

Chipotle CEO and Chairman Brian Niccol said the burrito chain would “retrain” and “re-coach” restaurant operators on proper portion sizes in the wake of widespread social media complaints.

During a call with investors Wednesday, Niccol said, “[T]here was never a directive to provide less to our customers. Generous portion is a core brand equity of Chipotle. It always has been, and it always will be.”

In recent months, a growing number of consumers accused the chain of “shrinkflation” — the practice of reducing a product’s amount while still offering it at its original price. Angry customers flooded the Chipotle app. with negative reviews, while others took to TikTok, Reddit and other social media platforms to post their scathing remarks. A trend soon emerged in which customers recorded Chipotle workers making their order, then walked out mid-order if the portions seemed too small to their liking.

Online rumors claimed that if customers filmed Chipotle workers making their orders, they would receive larger portions per company protocol. Chipotle later came forward, saying the rumors were untrue and the “hack” was misleading.

Niccol first addressed the issue in May, telling Fortune that the restaurant’s “portions have not gotten smaller.” He also demonstrated a specific look that customers could give their server if they wanted “a little more rice” or “a little more pico.”

On Wednesday’s earnings call, “Niccol seemed more willing to admit that portions were indeed inconsistent,” The Hill reported. However, he asserted that only “about 10% or more” of the chain’s restaurants required retraining or re-coaching to Chipotle’s standards.

In a quarterly report also issued Wednesday, Chipotle reported an 18.2% increase in total revenue compared to the same quarter in 2023. The company also reported an increase in transactions (8.7%) and an increase in the average amount spent per transaction (2.4%).

“Art heals”: Colman Domingo on why nurturing the incarcerated is in everybody’s best interest

Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo is actively challenging men to be more tender through his new film “Sing Sing,” which follows a group of incarcerated men as they put on a theater production from the inside.

“The thing that's been very important to me is to deconstruct and smash tropes about masculinity, especially toxic masculinity — these things that have been held up in our communities and told us who we have to be in order to survive,” Domingo shared with me on "Salon Talks." Expectations to hold in emotions have been to "the demise of a lot of our mental health," Domingo added, because "brothers don't know that they can actually feel and be OK with that.” 

Talking to Domingo, who is known for “Rustin, “Euphoria” and “The Color Purple,” struck a nerve inside of me. I know how damaging the illusion of pretending to be the toughest guy in the world can be. As a boy who was raised in a family full of gangsters, I have countless stories of concealing tears at funerals, pretending that vulnerability doesn't exist, and acting like my father's drug use wasn't destroying me – all while wearing a big, fake smile.

A24's “Sing Sing,” in theaters now, features a cast of primarily non-actors who completed the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program while incarcerated. In addition to bringing humanity to those who are incarcerated and seeing them as full people, the film opens up a conversation for men about feelings and healing.

“There's a moment at the end of our film when my co-star embraces me in the biggest bear hug. I literally cry on his shoulders.” Domingo explained. “To see images like that I think is extremely important and potent right now.” 

Watch my "Salon Talks" episode with Colman Domingo on YouTube or read our conversation below to hear more about his early dreams of being a journalist, balancing creative work as a multi-hyphenate artist, and the new Netflix comedy he's working on with Tina Fey.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

“Sing Sing” feels like it's going to be one of the most important films this year. Can you introduce us to the film?

“Sing Sing” is a film that's about this Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Prison. And it's a program that was started just doing plays and getting these inmates in touch with their feelings, finding different paths for healing and rehabilitation. And so far it's worked in an extraordinary way so much to the fact that there is a less than 3% recidivism rate amongst people who've gone through the program compared to 60% nationwide. It's a film that we created with my co-stars as well, my director and writer-producers. A good 90% of our cast are formerly incarcerated men who went through the program, and we created this and shot it in 18 days in upstate New York in decommissioned prisons. The intention is to show the human beings on their inside as they're doing the work to better themselves in the world and using arts as that parachute that will save them.

Tell us about your involvement. Someone just dropped this script on your desk?

There was no script.

Wow.

Nobody dropped anything. What happened was Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, my co-writers and director, they had an idea. They've been working as teaching artists in Sing Sing for years, and they really thought as they got to know these men, they really wanted to tell their story in some way, shape or form, and they kept trying to figure out what the story was. For a good six years they were trying different drafts of it and then [would] put it away. Then this idea came back up again. Greg Kwedar, my director, he wrote a treatment. He spent about a good half hour on it, and at the end of it, he wrote my name down. He said, "I think it'd be great to have Coleman involved in this and see if he would help us figure out what this is."

Through circumstances I met them and they just seemed very earnest. And you almost feel like, "Is that real? Are you really, really that true in the way you want to tell other people's stories and make sure that their stories are cared for?" And they were, and I thought, "I'd like to see what this is. Do you have a script?" They said, "No, we don't have a script, but here's an article from Esquire Magazine that was written a few years ago about this program." I said, "Great, send it to me." I read the article and I thought it was fantastic, and I thought, "Well, these stories are fantastic. If we can tell a simple story about these men and how they do this work, basically it becomes a story about brotherhood more than anything. It becomes less of a prison drama. The container is a prison, but it's about human beings inside of it."

"I feel like I have to take care of this story."

So we started to create this thing together. We started to get on Zooms with my castmate, Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin and we started to talk about what we were interested in as Black men, talking about this work and what moves us and what images we want to see. And our writer and director would go back and write and do the work and come back and present it to us, and we'd read it and we realized, "Oh, we have a script." By the time we had a script, then they wanted time [to shoot the film], and I was like, "I don't know when we could do this. I'm busy. I have things going on right now."

I could just see the look in their eyes, and everybody was so fired up by it believing that this is a story, and it was oppression, and we have to do it now. And so I took that in. I was doing “The Color Purple” and I was doing pickups for my movie “Rustin” and I thought, "Well, I have 18 days in between." And my director, Greg Kwedar said, "We'll take them." I was like, "Wait, we can't do this movie in 18 days,” especially during COVID, it all felt so wild. And I thought, "If you believe we can do it, I think we can get it done."

Sometimes you create the best art when there’s a project that’s pulling at you, but you know you don’t have the bandwidth to do it.

You don't have the bandwidth, but there’s something that's pulling on you like, "I feel like I have to take care of this story. I don't have time, but I want to do it right." Because more than anything, I love to research and take my time. I'm a very patient person when it comes to work and process, but this felt like, "OK, I have to get outside of my comfort zone and make the work happen." It felt like a great, divine opportunity.

You took us in a time capsule with “Rustin,” your role as Ali Muhammad in "Euphoria" sent all kinds of people to rehab, best sponsor ever. Tell our viewers about Divine G from “Sing Sing.”

Divine G is based on a real man, John "Divine G" Whitfield. He's a good guy. A good guy who was wrongly accused of a crime and incarcerated for 25 years. While he was on the inside, he really attached himself to programs that were about wellness and healing and art. He wrote plays and books and was an actor and a director, all that. He was one of the founding members of the RTA program. He was really just doing good work. 

He was also advocating for other inmates on the inside, for their parole board hearings or you name it, because he was, as he says, a jailhouse lawyer. He was always in the law library learning everything he could.

When I started to understand that this is a man who believed that the system could actually work by doing the work as a lawyer, but the system did not work for him, but he still had hope and faith in the system, I felt like I understood everything I needed to know about this guy. I thought, "Here's somebody who's incredibly still hopeful and has wisdom upon wisdom." As I get to know him even moreso now, I think he's a very wise guy and he's really kind. His spirit didn't diminish while he was on the inside in many ways as it could have with any of these other inmates, but it actually thrived because he found purpose and drive and healing. So that's John Divine G.

What are some of the things you learned about your castmates while working on the film?

How can I say this? You’re put together with your cast, everyone has their experience from whatever way, and you establish a brain trust with each other. You establish this baseline of getting to know each other and just knowing their lived experience. I take people as they are, I'm not going to look at somebody as an anthropological study and be like, "Tell me about this and how it is to be incarcerated." I'm just not that person.

"I have to take care of myself so I can go back in the next day and do the deep dive of the deep work."

I will sit and have a conversation with you and download information as you tell me who you are, tell me what you want me to know about you and vice versa. We just really got to know each other, which is beautiful. Then what they didn't know when it comes to crafting a film, I was able to share. And what I didn't know about, I'm trying to think of some specifics, like, oh, when I had to drop down in the yard when the bell rang, you have to put your whole body down so you don't look like a threat at all. You have to be limp. Learning simple things like that because that's somebody who had the lived experience and they know exactly what you need to do to make sure that you're not a threat.

There's this powerful scene where your character, Divine, goes in front of the parole board and is just disrespected and crushed. There are so many people in the system who go to those meetings and are denied. What do you hope people watching this scene — whether they’re familiar with parole or not —  to walk away with?

I don't know about that, to be honest. The parole board officer was played by Sharon Washington, who is a phenomenal New York actress, and there was a reason why we cast her in particular because that role was open. It could have been a male, probably a white male, and I thought what's more interesting is for it to be a Black woman, because [of] the pressures on a Black woman to be even more by the book. And I think the moment you see her, you think, "Oh, maybe there's going to be some grace given because a sister [is] looking at this brother."

A brother who's performing well.

He's doing well, but also she has to discern all the information that she has. That's why I'm like, "She's just going by the facts more than anything rather than the emotion." She's questioning everything as she should.

I don't know what to say when it comes to people. Everyone's going to be in a situation where something will work out or not work out, but it's about how do you recover from it. In the film, in what we did in 100 minutes was showing [Divine G] did have frustration, you have heartbreak, you have heartache, you could just fall apart and go to darkness. Or you have a choice, you go even further, you keep building and keep trying to find hope because that's also part of your humanity and your lifeline. That's what I know Divine G Whitfield did.

I believe it's going to be one of the most powerful films this year because it is optimistic, but in a very, very real way. There's so much humanity that you are stripped of when you go behind those walls, and I think you do a great job of showing life.

I think the point is that we want to take these brothers as we meet them as human beings, not as a number or not about the thing that got them in there, but now you get to know them, who they are, what they're seeking, what they're trying to do now, and how they're trying to transform. I think that's what the power of our film is. Showing people [as] actually who they are.

What do you look for emotionally in a script? You're so good in every film. Do you have a cheat code for selecting the best films?

I think I have to be committed to something that I think I have questions about. I like complicated characters and characters you can't discern very quickly. Whether it's Rustin, or X in “Zola,” it's the same thing where I'm like, "I'm not exactly sure how to play this person, but I want to find what their wants and needs are and what happens when they don't get it." If it's well-written, first of all, I'm on board. It's got to be well-written. And it's got to be complicated. And if it's not complicated, I want to dig in there and get underneath the hood and find out.

"The spaces where they house humans are not meant for humans."

With “The Color Purple,” [Domingo’s character is] written as the villain. He's an abuser in many ways. My job was to love him and to find out what made him the way he is, to unpack his psyche in many ways. And I think that's a great journey. I love anything where I'm like, "I have to take a journey to actually find grace for this character [that] I'm about to play, so I can love him." For me, it's like that human thing that I get to do. That's what I'm attracted to.

Everyone's human. Even the most f***ed up people.

Exactly. And everyone's got a story. And even if they're f***ed up, I'm like, "Who's not f***ed up?" You know what I mean? But you also have to do the work to just make them human, not make them a caricature or just look at the way they're viewed from the outside. Go on the inside and see their journey. That's what I like to do, I like to do that deep dive. I think maybe that's the barometer for a good script for me. And it could be comedy, it could be drama, it could be a hero, it could be a villain.

What did you learn about the justice system while working on this film?

The thing I did learn when working at a decommissioned prison that was only decommissioned two weeks before, was that the spaces where they house humans are not meant for humans. That's what I learned. 

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If it's about rehabilitation, really doing the work, being a place of corrections in some way, it didn't feel like it's set up in that way. You know what I mean? How do we want to do the work [so] that we don't railroad the same system of people coming [out] and going back in? How do we make a change? I feel like for me, I was like, "Many things need to change. There's a myriad of things that needs to change." But first we’ve got to get on board with what is true rehabilitation and doing the work.

My best friends, some of my family members, they've been incarcerated for 16, 17 years. One just came home, but some are still sitting. And I was just thinking about how easy it is for a lot of us to forget our friends and families when they get hit with time like that.

They largely get forgotten about.

I think it's dangerous.

It is, because that doesn't help our communities, doesn't help our families. One of my castmates, Clarence, said in a couple Q&As, "Just imagine if you pour more love and hope into somebody and see what can flower there, what can become of them." And I think in this film that's what you see these Black and brown men did for themselves. The system was set up to do what it's going to do, but they took responsibility and [said], "No, we're going to belong to this art because we found that it works and it helps us do the thing that we need done to work on past trauma."

It's like doing trauma therapy with theater as well, you know what I mean? It's also like resurrecting something new in you and helping you move through and move past things so you can actually become better. They've decided to hold each other responsible to this work, and that's where that starts. It is a personal thing. That's another thing I've learned. I'm like, "Yeah, you can't depend on the system to do anything." But I've never believed that just as an artist, I have to build from within and that's where you gain your power.

It does seem like society may be moving in a better direction when it comes to the conversation around reentry. Do you feel like we're moving to a better space, where there's more opportunity?

I hope that films like this help make a difference. I think the more that we all understand that we need society to help, it is not just about a small few, it affects every single one of us actually. That's the thing I've also learned, when somebody believes they don't know anybody incarcerated, it has nothing to do with them – no, it has everything to do with them. It's a part of our society and we have to really find [better] ways of reentry and helping them do the work.

You touched on the healing power of art. Could you speak to that?

The healing power of art, that's something . . . if I don't know anything, I know that art heals. Maybe that's why I jumped on board with this whole idea of [this film] because I was like, "Oh, they have a program that helps people do the real deep work that I know works for me." I've been a theater practitioner for over 30 years and I know the gifts that it's given me: holding my head up in a different way, understanding I have something to say and knowing how to articulate that, knowing that I can be as completely vulnerable as possible and there's no judgment as well. All that possibility is exceptional and we need more of that.

"I was an observer. I know how to play people because I've been watching them."

And I'll say this, you didn't even ask this yet, but I think that the thing that's been very important to me is to deconstruct and smash tropes about masculinity, especially toxic masculinity. These things that have been held up in our communities and told us who we have to be in order to survive. It's been, of course, to the demise of a lot of our mental health because brothers don't know that they can actually feel and be okay with that.

And it has nothing to do with sexuality, it's just about you honoring your feelings. And understanding when you're hurt or when you feel a certain way, that actually makes you a whole human being. When there's images of tenderness, that is very important in the film, about looking at brothers holding another brother's hand and all it is holding, and just saying, "I got you, brother." There's a moment at the end of our film when my co-star embraces me in the biggest bear hug and I literally cry on his shoulders. To see images like that I think is extremely important and potent right now. I think we need more of those to show how we can be vulnerable and we can unpack this stuff and not be attached to the stuff, the idea of what we're supposed to be as Black and brown men.

Coming from West Philly, were you into the arts as a kid? I know you got into acting when you were in college.

No, I wasn't into the arts. I was a nerd. I was in student newspaper and stuff like that. I was not artistic at all. I think maybe I was an observer. That was the greatest gift that I received when I was in school.

But the images of you pop-locking on the internet . . .

Oh, I pop-lock now. I wasn't pop-locking in high school or nothing. I wasn't invited to the parties or nothing like that. I was an observer. I feel like that's maybe that's why I do everything that I do because I've been watching people for a long time, so I know how to play people because I've been watching them.

Beyond acting you write and direct, what is your creative life like? How do you find space and time to be able to balance these different forms of expression?

I like always switching hats. The moment I'm acting in something, I'm always preparing to direct something or to write something. I don't know why, it just works for me. I feel like one thing does help support another. You're like, "Wow, I've never thought about that story. Let me go write that thing." People always know if they come and knock on my dressing room door, my trailer door, what am I doing? I'm usually writing something there. I'm writing a screenplay or play or a new idea for something. I'm always using some creative space, which is why even when I take a vacation, people are like, "Do you just put your computer away?" I'm like, "No, because my computer I need to create with."

That's a vacation too though.

I can sit on a beach or something, but I need to be writing a play.

I heard you're playing Joe Jackson next, you ready for that?

I did it already. I shot it, it's in the can. It's being edited right now. I think the world will be ready for it. I think it's going to be cool.

What can we expect from you next?

I'm doing this series with Tina Fey and Steve Carell called “The Four Seasons.” I get to flex my comedy chops a little bit. And then, the Michael movie will be out in April next year and “The Madness” will be coming out this fall. “The Madness” is a series on Netflix where I play a CNN analyst who gets wrongly accused of a crime and then I have to go through different sects of society to find out what's going on.

When you play the heavy stuff versus playing in a comedy, do you take that heavy stuff home?

No, I don't take it. There's all this thought of people taking this stuff with you. And I'm like, "No, you have to have a process." I feel like I know how, when we call cut, to take care of myself. There are times when I'm working, I stay closer to the world of the film or the series. I may have dinner with my castmates and I may not fly home a lot or something like that, I'll stay close, but I know how to let that stuff go.

You need it for your mental health. Especially going to these deep dark places that I'm expected to, whether it's “Fear of the Walking Dead” or “The Color Purple,” “Zola.” Usually I'll get an apartment that has a lot of light and I'll buy myself flowers and I'll always take myself for a good steak dinner somewhere. I have to take care of myself so I can go back in the next day and do the deep dive of the deep work.

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"Salon Talks" with D. Watkins on YouTube

Trump campaign now says it would be “inappropriate” to go ahead with the debate it already agreed to

Former President Donald Trump is trying to back out of the only scheduled debate between him and Vice President Kamala Harris, 78-year-old's campaign claiming it would be "inappropriate" for him to follow through on his prior commitment because Democrats have not yet formally nominated a candidate, HuffPost reported.

“Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement on Thursday. He cited the fact that former President Barack Obama had yet to endorse Harris as evidence Democrats "could still change their minds"; Obama and his wife, Michelle, endorsed Harris Friday morning, The Hill reported.

Trump and President Joe Biden had initially agreed to two debates, one on June 27 and one on September 10. The latter debate is set to be hosted by ABC and, under the terms Trump previously accepted, is open to any candidate eligible to be president and polling at or above 15% in four national polls.

Harris will secure her party's nomination in a virtual roll call early next month ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In a post on social media, she called out Trump for getting cold feet, asking: “What happened to ‘any time, any place?’”

In a separate post, she accused the former president of going back on his word. “Trump agreed on a September 10th debate," she wrote. "It now appears he's backpedaling. Voters deserve to see the split screen that exists on a debate stage. I'm ready. So let's go.”

Earlier this week, Trump suggested in a press conference with reporters that he didn’t want to participate in an event hosted by ABC, as agreed to, but would instead consider a debate on Fox News, The Hill reported.

“Their songs were magnificent”: Jazz great George Benson on the Beatles’ mastery and influence

Legendary jazz guitarist, singer and songwriter George Benson joined host Kenneth Womack to talk about what makes a hit record, how he became friends with Paul McCartney, his new album “Dreams Do Come True” and much more on the sixth season finale of “Everything Fab Four,” a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon.

Benson, the 10-time Grammy Award winner known for such songs as “On Broadway,” “Breezin’” and “Give Me the Night,” was considered a musical prodigy as a child, though at the time his hands were “too small” to play the guitar. As he told Womack, his stepfather instead taught him to play the ukulele at age seven, and soon he was playing on the street corners of his hometown of Pittsburgh. “Everybody got to know Little Georgie Benson,” he said. And when he went to school, where “there were 1,400 white students and 30 Blacks,” he was called on every time music was needed for a school event.

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"I'm crazy about Ringo": From "Laugh-In" to "New Zoo Revue," '70s TV icons love the Beatles

He eventually “grew into the guitar,” as he explained, and it “became my number one instrument. It was the greatest challenge of my life and became a friend to me.” Though he had been recording for several years, Benson released his first full-length album, “The New Boss Guitar,” at the age of 21 in 1964 – the same year the Beatles came to America. “Their songs were magnificent, and they had great stories,” he said of the band. “They let it hang out, and they were not afraid to say that some of their favorite artists were African American. So, when Black musicians went to Europe, they were well accepted and known already.” 

A few years later, Benson would record “The Other Side of Abbey Road,” his classic jazz homage to the Beatles’ 1969 album. “That was one of the greatest rewards of my life,” said Benson. “I became friends with Paul McCartney, who at one point when that album was released, got in touch with my people and said, 'Tell Mr. Benson we enjoyed what he did with our music.’ What a reward that was for me. Then I knew I was on the right track. It really meant a lot to me.”

LISTEN:

That right track has led Benson through many decades of musical success, up to and including his latest release, “Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon,” which features an album’s worth of orchestrations that were unearthed after more than 35 years. “I thought they were lost,” said Benson. The collection includes his takes on such standards as “Autumn Leaves,” “At Last,” and “A Song for You,” plus the Beatles’ “Yesterday.” 

As for covering the tune, Benson said, “It don’t come no better than that. In order to be great, you have to know what great is. [The Beatles] were excellent songwriters, excellent performers of their songs, and they couldn't have been done any better – unless,” he remarked with a laugh, “they added Ella Fitzgerald.”

Listen to the entire conversation with George Benson on “Everything Fab Four” and subscribe via Spotify, Apple, Google or wherever you’re listening.

“Everything Fab Four” is distributed by Salon. Host Kenneth Womack is the author of a two-volume biography on Beatles producer George Martin and the bestselling books "Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” and “John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life.” His latest book is the authorized biography of Beatles road manager Mal Evans, “Living the Beatles Legend,” out now.

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“There was no glass”: Trump melts down on Truth Social after FBI questions if he was hit by bullet

Former President Donald Trump lashed out on Truth Social after FBI Director Christopher Wray raised questions about whether he was hit by a bullet or shrapnel during an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., earlier this month.

"FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!)" Trump fumed on his social network. "No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a 'bullet wound to the ear,' and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!" he wrote. 

Wray told a House committee on Wednesday that the bureau isn't sure Trump's ear was hit with a bullet.

“With respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray, told Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday,

By examining the metal fragments found near the stage, the FBI is trying to determine whether it was the shooter’s bullet or potential debris, like glass or shrapnel that caused Trump’s bloody ear, The New York Times reported. 

FBI officials claim they need to analyze the evidence of what happened on July 13th, before settling on an answer and have asked to interview Trump for the broader investigation. 

Since there has yet to be an official report from the Trump campaign or from state or federal governments about what caused the wounds, online speculation has grown rampant, eager to fill in the gaps with theories, the Times reported.

However, the Times' analysis that examined the bullet trajectory, footage, photos, and audio suggests that Trump was indeed grazed by one of the eight bullets fired in his direction by Tom Crooks, the gunman.

Expert: GOP attacks against Kamala Harris were already bad – they are about to get worse

Public opinion polls suggest that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is doing slightly better than Joe Biden was against Donald Trump, but Republican attacks against her are only now ramping up.

Even as a candidate for vice president, Harris was the target of an intense barrage of conservative attacks that claimed, among other things, that she slept her way to political prominence, a common slur against women in power. The anti-Harris rhetoric is part of what a report by the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank, described as a broad pattern of gendered and sexualized attacks on prominent women in public discourse.

More recently, those comments were joined by conservative attacks branding Harris as the “border czar,” part of an effort to tie her to immigration, a hot-button topic for conservatives.

The intense attacks so far are only a fraction of what will come. Trump is skilled at both character assassination and political self-defense. Together, they translate into an exceptional ability to defeat his political rivals once they enter the presidential campaign arena.

But Harris also has sharp rhetorical skills that could make this a fierce election fight.

Trump’s alternative facts

As I discuss in my book “Presidential Communication and Character,” Trump is highly skilled at both channeling white working-class anger into political support for himself and at convincing his supporters to disregard the former president’s own well-chronicled professional and personal failings.

Trump’s character generates enduring contempt among liberals, but those voters will back the Democratic nominee.

In 2016, Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. He also defeated several well-known Republican presidential hopefuls in the primary race, including Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas and former Governors Jeb Bush of Florida, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

Earlier in 2024, Trump easily dispatched another round of highly experienced Republicans, most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Like those other opponents, President Biden has long endured Trump’s personal attacks. But in 2020, Trump’s original nickname of “Sleepy Joe” failed to become as effective as his insults aimed at other politicians, and Biden’s election marked Trump’s only electoral defeat.

As the 2024 election approached, Trump and conservative voices once again demonstrated their immense influence in shaping political narratives. They have convinced many voters this year to absolve Trump for his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, ignore that he designed a Supreme Court majority to overturn Roe v. Wade and agree with him that the 2020 election was stolen.

In an even more powerful demonstration of Trump’s skills at political marketing, polls show that many voters follow Trump’s lead and condemn Biden for U.S. economic conditions that in fact are quite good.

Unemployment is low. Job growth is booming. Infrastructure projects are underway. Inflation is much lower now than it was earlier in Biden’s term, and individual retirement accounts are flush thanks to large stock market gains.

Given Trump’s public relations mastery – and the great susceptibility of many voters to his false narratives – one can marvel about how the Biden campaign had been able to endure the never-ending rhetorical assault and keep the contest as close as surveys show it had remained until recently.

During a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024, Trump attacked both Biden and Harris, repeatedly calling Biden “stupid” and insulting his IQ. But Harris, Trump said, was “crazy.”

“I call her laughing Kamala,” Trump told the crowd. “You can tell a lot by a laugh. She’s crazy. She’s nuts.”

A former prosecutor against a convicted felon

With Biden dropping out of the campaign, political developments suggest Trump may be in for a taste of his own medicine.

Harris’ previous career as a U.S. senator who challenged Trump administration officials and the former president’s judicial nominees demonstrates that she is among the most effective Democratic officeholders when it comes to holding Republicans accountable.

Her career as an attorney general and a prosecutor also allows her to use law-and-order themes to fight back against America’s first convicted felon former president.

Biden’s departure may provide another major opportunity for Harris to reset the character assassination narrative, as the focus on age can now boomerang against Republicans. Trump now holds the record as the oldest major-party nominee for president, and a key issue that he used against Biden is likely to be turned back toward the former president.

For voters, it promises to be a scorched-earth campaign season.

 

Stephen J. Farnsworth, Professor of Political Science and Director, Center for Leadership and Media Studies, University of Mary Washington

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Trump is scrambling to find his religion again

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was Donald Trump’s official coronation.

Trump has promised to be the country’s first dictator. At a rally in Michigan several days ago, Trump praised China's Xi Jinping as a “brilliant man" who rules over 1.4 billion people with his "iron fist." Trump then said such authoritarian leaders make President Joe Biden look like a “baby.” Trump’s promise to be America’s first dictator is not hyperbolic or idle. He has plans to achieve such a goal as detailed in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, his own Agenda 47 and elsewhere.

Donald Trump has also repeatedly shown that he is a megalomaniac with a god complex. The personal is very political for authoritarians and demagogues. As such, Trump’s political project reflects his personality defects and other great deficiencies in character, values, and behavior. Such personalities, especially if they are charismatic, attract similar people. The MAGA movement and other such neofascist and fake populist movements are a prime example.   

But Donald Trump’s coronation at the Republican National Convention was not “just” a fascist spectacle for his personality cult to show its unending loyalty to him. It was also a type of political-religious ceremony where Donald Trump was even more fully made into a hero who was sent by “God” to be a martyr-warrior-prophet for militant right-wing “Christianity” and its increasingly violent behavior and hostile attitudes towards secular pluralistic democracy and society—and modernity itself. After the unsuccessful attempt on Trump’s life last week in Butler, Pennsylvania, these cult-like beliefs have hardened and the threats of violence (both explicit and implied) and paranoia against some imagined “they” who are “persecuting” Trump and his MAGA people have greatly increased.

The Democratic Party and other pro-democracy Americans must prepare themselves for a political battle that will take place on those terms. This is not the terrain or realm of “normal politics” or the horserace that the mainstream news media and its pundits are fixated on despite years of evidence that those frameworks do not apply in the Age of Trump.

For Donald Trump, his MAGA people, and the larger Republican-fascist movement and project, the 2024 election is a type of holy war where no quarter or mercy will be given to the enemy. The “unity” that Trump and the other MAGAfied Republicans and the larger “conservative” movement and neofascist campaign want is obedience and surrender by those Americans who oppose them.

Related

All of Salon's coverage of the Republican National Convention

In a new essay at Talking Points Memo, Sarah Posner, author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism,” explains:

Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump survived an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, Jack Posobiec, the far-right conspiracy theorist and MAGA rabble-rouser, tweeted a Bible verse. “The bullets were fired at 6:11pm,” Posobiec, who is Catholic, wrote. “Ephesians 6:11.” The Bible verse, which reads, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes,” is key to the spiritual warfare that Christian nationalists have made the centerpiece of Trumpian politics. They pit Trumpism against democracy in a cosmic showdown between the godly and the demonic, believing they are on a divine mission to save a debased America from the evil left, with Trump as God’s battle commander.

Here, Posner focuses on the 2024 Republican National Convention as a site where Trump was elevated above being a mere mortal and into a fascist messiah:

At the Republican National Convention, Trump loyalists lined up to declare a miracle had saved God’s chosen one. “The devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said Monday night. “But the American lion got back up on his feet and he roared!” MAGA star Marjorie Taylor Greene added, “Two days ago, evil came for the man we admire and love so much. I thank God that his hand was on President Trump.” Arkansas governor and former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “God Almighty intervened, because America is one nation under God, and He is not done with President Trump.”

Other Republicans were even more explicit about how the assassination attempt proves that Christians are locked in spiritual warfare against evil enemies. Tucker Carlson, whose floundering post-Fox career has been revitalized by his outsized presence at the RNC, told a Heritage Foundation gathering on Monday that the assassination attempt proved “there is a spiritual battle underway,” and warned that forces that are “against Trump” are “hoping to eliminate” Christians, a statement amplified on the Christian Broadcasting Network. T rump campaign spokesperson Caroline Sunshine, appearing on Fox News on Tuesday, called the left “godless,” and then cited Ephesians 6:11 and the need for Trump supporters to “put on the full armor of God.” In her convention speech Wednesday night, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., proclaimed “God has put an armor of protection on Donald Trump.”

As political scientist and religion scholar Paul Djupe explained to me in a recent conversation here at Salon, the “armor of god” is more than a Biblical metaphor or allusion. In the Age of Trump it is increasingly literal "the full armor of God, therefore, enables proud resistance to outsiders and assertive advocacy for their own views."

In a recent survey of self-identified Christians, almost two-thirds of respondents agreed that “The final battle between good and evil is upon us, and we must stand with the full armor of God.” That justifies, in their minds, all sorts of extreme behavior and policies. They appear to be following the Inverted Golden Rule: Do unto others what you expect them to do to you.

This helps explain why Christian nationalist elites portray the left in wildly hyperbolic terms. If the left is engaged in the widespread persecution of Christians, then that justifies the right of Christians to fight back and fight dirty.

Religion scholar Anthea Butler has also emphasized the increasing role of violence in right-wing Christianity in the Age of Trump. In a 2021 conversation with me here at Salon she warned, “There's war imagery all through Biblical scripture. There are war songs that people sing in churches. This idea about battling for the Lord, whether we're talking about the Crusades or the Civil War or fighting communism and everything else, is embedded in our history. That language of war and fighting is being used to incite people now.

Most people in America do not want such violence to happen. The problem is that if you've got enough people who want such an outcome, who can make it hell for everybody else, and there are people in power who want to use the public to create decay and destruction, such violent language is going to be used to that end. Donald Trump knows how to push every one of these buttons.”

In a new feature, Raw Story examines the role played by right-wing Christian extremism at the Republican National Convention last week:

In hallways and corridors, delegates spoke of the Holy Spirit's presence, the precious blood of Jesus being upon them. A true battle between the forces of good and evil was already underway, one man told another as they walked onto the Fiserv Forum delegation floor.

Only days before, a gunman nearly took the life of former President Donald Trump. And nothing short of divine intervention kept Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, alive during that assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa., Scott said.

“Our God still saves. He still delivers, and he still sets free, because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared.” …

The overt displays of Christianity were “not surprising,” said Peter Montgomery, managing director of Right Wing Watch who specializes in writing about religious discourse.

“Often, the overlap between the MAGA movement and the Christian nationalist movement is very large,” Montgomery told Raw Story. “Trump often plays to that. He knows that he got elected in large part because of the overwhelming support he got from conservative evangelicals, and he's counting on their support to put him back in the White House.”

The assassination attempt on Trump further imbued him with savior-like status — some of his followers consider him “ordained by God to be president,” Montgomery said.

Trump used “Scripture language” in his posts immediately after the shooting on Saturday, further fueling that narrative, Montgomery said.

“It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. “We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”

Some speakers outside of the convention hall took the Christianity devotion to a more extreme level.

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Violence undermines civil society and the larger political community. There are few if any ways of having civil disagreement and constructive compromise with those individuals and groups who will resort to violence if they do not get their way. Violence (as in “all power flows from the end of the barrel of the gun”) is in many ways the ultimate conversation stopper. Violence, especially in a society like the United States where a relatively small number of people have 1) a majority of the guns and 2) control an extremely disproportionate amount of political and economic power is an almost certain way for a true tyranny of the minority to take power.

When this tyranny of the minority is racialized, per the American right-wing and “conservative” movement’s fear of a “white minority” in a “majority” black and brown country (as though non-whites are a hive mind who operate in lockstep), political violence becomes even more likely. In reality, if current demographic trends continue in the United States, white people will still be the largest “racial group” but not the “majority”; historically, new “ethnic” groups are inducted into Whiteness to prevent such an outcome in the United States.

Malign actors such as Donald Trump and the other enemies of multiracial democracy know the power of white anxiety and white fear as seen in such new/old white supremacist antisemitic conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement Theory. Such malign actors are experts at yielding such white fears and white anxieties to get and keep power for themselves. When appeals to religion and “God” are added to this mix the challenge for democracy becomes even greater.

Faith is a belief in that which cannot be proven by empirical means. Per the Constitution, church and state are separate because there is no way to determine the truth and facts in a logical and reasoned manner when one is dealing with people whose truth claims and knowledge are rooted in “God” or other supernatural figures or unprovable and unfalsifiable claims and beliefs. Magic is antithetical to democracy and the types of reasoning and critical thinking it is dependent upon. How does a rational person even begin to reason with a person whose ultimate appeal to the truth is “because God said so!”

For that reason and many others, theocracy (or in the contemporary American context “Christian Nationalism” or any other form of religious nationalism) is antithetical to democracy and a cosmopolitan, diverse, future-oriented and prosperous society that respects the fundamental human rights of all people.

Given how civic education, specifically, and high-quality public education, more broadly, have been intentionally atrophied in American society by the neoliberal regime and its desire to create drones and compliant workers and consumers instead of actively engaged citizens who are capable of effectively challenging Power, these basic lessons about democracy (and democratic culture and what it requires) are increasingly not being taught to the American people.

Members of the mainstream news media, the responsible political class, and everyday Americans who are politically engaged and knowledgeable all too often assume that their values and beliefs are shared by all Americans. They are not. The Age of Trump and how tens of millions of Americans yearn for a strongman leader is proof of that fact.

Ultimately, Donald Trump and his MAGA people and the larger neofascist movement and their Christian extremist allies believe that they have a mandate from God.

In his essential book “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America,” Chris Hedges warned of the horrors that such beliefs can birth:

Radical Christian dominionists have no religious legitimacy. They are manipulating Christianity, and millions of sincere believers, to build a frightening political mass movement with many similarities with other mass movements, from fascism to communism to the ethnic nationalist parties in the former Yugoslavia. It shares with these movements an inability to cope with ambiguity, doubt, and uncertainty. It creates its own "truth". It embraces a world of miracles and signs and removes followers from a rational, reality-based world. It condemns self-criticism and debate as apostasy.

How will Vice President Harris and the Democrats defeat such a force? In the next few months, we will find out how and if such a thing is possible. The survival of American democracy depends on their success.

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“What’s going on here is absurd”: Lawyer says Texas SpaceX ruling threatens labor enforcement

A federal court in Texas granted SpaceX a preliminary injunction in its case against the National Labor Relations Board, suggesting the company’s argument that the labor rights agency didn’t have the right to prevent its agents from being taken off cases without good cause would succeed.

The move is a blow to the regulatory power the NLRB wields to use administrative law judges to adjudicate labor disputes, granting SpaceX an injunction and temporarily halting a case alleging that the company forced employees into unlawful severance agreements.

U.S. Western District of Texas judge Alan Albright wrote in a Tuesday ruling he was ”satisfied that SpaceX has demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” on its argument that “NLRB Members are unconstitutionally protected from removal.”

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Chevron doctrine, which empowered federal agencies to interpret laws to operate without explicit authorization, cases in multiple jurisdictions have sought to cripple regulatory bodies like the NLRB. In a separate case, the Supreme Court struck at the SEC’s ability to pursue civil fraud penalties with its own administrative courts, a ruling that dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor called a “power grab.”

“What's going on here is absurd,” civil rights lawyer Joshua Erlich wrote in a post to Bluesky. “SpaceX is arguing that the NLRB has, for the last 89 YEARS, been operating unconstitutionally; that the NLRB was never legal to begin with.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who previously engaged in union-busting at Tesla, has publicly derided the National Labor Relations Board and its worker protections in the past.

“I disagree with the idea of unions … I just don’t like anything which creates a lords and peasants sort of thing,” Musk said last year, per the Guardian.

Across the country, restaurant chain Portillo’s filed a complaint in Illinois claiming that the NLRB was operating unconstitutionally, citing a similar argument that its agents and judges were protected from removal unconstitutionally.

Trump floats bizarre assassination revenge fantasy on Truth Social

Former President Donald Trump called for swift revenge in a hypothetical Iranian attack on him, years after he enflamed tensions in the region in an assassination that a UN official called extrajudicial.

Responding to Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran “brazenly threatened to assassinate” him, Trump wished “that America obliterates Iran” if he were assassinated.

The claim, stemming from Secret Service reports that Iran may have plotted against Trump, was made by the Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday. 

“Iran’s regime has been fighting America from the moment it came to power,” Netanyahu said in his congressional address. “As we recently learned, they even brazenly threatened to assassinate President Trump,” he added.

Netanyahu, who falsely claimed that Iran paid to organize pro-Palestinian demonstrations within the United States during the address, garnered cheers for the name-drop, hours before he is set to meet with the former president.

Trump, who in 2020 ordered the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, ran with Netanyahu’s claim of the Iranian plot, wishing for revenge were they to assassinate him.

“If they do 'assassinate President Trump,' which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered 'gutless' cowards!”

Trump’s revenge promise in case of a hypothetical strike on his life comes weeks after a real attempt on his life, one with ties not to Iran but to a 20-year-old Pennsylvania resident who espoused conservative, pro-Trump views in the past.

Though Secret Service protection on Trump was boosted following reports of an Iranian plot against Trump, that plan had no connection to Thomas Matthew Crooks’s shooting.

Donald Trump is suddenly running scared — and he ought to be

Trump had been cruising toward what increasingly seemed might be a return to the White House. However, with Joe Biden’s withdrawal, Trump now faces a formidable adversary: a much younger woman, skilled at debating, and more vigorous.

Kamala Harris instantly ignited enthusiasm among listless and worried Democrats.

She excited independents who were concerned about individual liberty, and fearful of Trump’s promises of an authoritarian regime. Harris also created a political lifeline for roughly one in five Republicans who are Never Trumpers.

Worst of all for Trump, Harris is seen by many as heroic, as someone who can pull America out of the divisive Trump politics built on fear, hate, intolerance, misogyny, racism, retribution and revenge. 

Trump promises mass roundups, prosecutions of his enemies, and pardons for insurrectionists — and others — who committed crimes on his behalf. 

Should voters return Trump to the White House, I would not be the least bit surprised if, immediately after taking the oath of office, he points to Biden, Harris and others, and orders the military to arrest them. After all, under the recent Supreme Court ruling, he is immune from any official act.

In contrast, Harris promises a new era focused on ennobling the human spirit, the ideal articulated in the preamble to our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical British king. Harris pledges to work for a better tomorrow and to build on what America enjoys right now: the most robust, most vibrant economy in the world.

Instead of facing off against an aging president with tremendous economic accomplishments but zero charisma, Trump now faces an experienced prosecutor with style, flair and courtroom experience, making a case against criminals who deny their crimes. Suddenly, it’s a real and fair fight, although House Speaker Mike Johnson has already said his party will try to keep Harris off the ballot in some states, and keep her from spending money Biden raised. Those are both legal losers, by the way.

Harris instantly rescued her party from the political doldrums. Instead of drifting, Democrats suddenly have a purpose, and see an opportunity with an exciting candidate.

Think of this abrupt change Sunday as the political version of Dinah Washington’s romantic song What A Difference A Day Makes. 

In just 24 little hours, Harris hauled in not only the widely reported $81 million — an astonishing achievement — but in total almost three times that much, according to the New York Daily News. It reported that Harris raised $231 million in cash and pledges, including a $150 million “money bomb” from big donors.

Not only are the campaign money spigots wide open, but Harris can more than reasonably expect the flood of greenbacks to continue over the next three months, unless she makes some colossal blunder.

Also revealing was a Zoom call among Black women in politics. The organizers expected hundreds of women, but 44,000 logged on Sunday instead. The size of the audience overwhelmed Zoom, with some people reporting that they had lost their connection.

The Internet is alive with positive comments by both men and women about restoring women’s right to control their bodies rather than be forced to submit to a Trumpian government, not unlike what Margaret Atwood portrayed in her dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale.

For Trump, this is an unmitigated disaster. (It’s also terrible news for those who feed off Trump by selling anti-Biden caps, shirts and paraphernalia. Don’t you feel sad for them?)

Should Harris win both the popular vote — which is virtually assured — and the Electoral College vote, Trump will be utterly humiliated.

From Trump’s perspective, it’s one humiliation to lose to Joe Biden, a white man. That was so painful that Trump tried to overthrow our government. 

Imagine the humiliation Trump will feel if he loses to not just a woman, but a woman of color, half Black and half East Indian. To Trump, that would be far more humiliating than his fragile ego can handle. He lacks the psychological strength to deal with what now seems the likely outcome of the November election. 

He constantly lies that the 2020 election was stolen, even claiming he won all 50 states. 

Harris is sure to hammer home that in five dozen court cases, Team Trump couldn’t produce a scintilla of evidence of wrongdoing. Trump has told this big lie so often, and has so many acolytes repeating it, that tens of millions of Americans believe this nonsense — even though Republican election officials and governors certified Biden’s victory.

Harris has the skill to weaken and perhaps destroy this facade of bald-faced lies. And she will undoubtedly go after Trump’s nonsense claims that his economy was better — it was below the post-World War II average — and that he created more jobs than Biden. In actuality, Trump lost jobs, while a record 15 million jobs have been added under Biden.

Trump also showed how he was scared, even terrified, within hours after Biden withdrew and endorsed Harris by pulling out of the September presidential debate.

On Sunday, Trump declared he won’t debate unless it’s Biden.

The fact is, Donald’s afraid to debate a woman. 

Trump brags about sexual assaults, is a rapist under New York law, and paid off porn star Stormy Daniels over their less than one-minute encounter to corrupt the 2016 election. That last crime is why he is a felon with 34 convictions.

Emotionally, Trump has been trapped his entire life in confused junior high school boy emotions. He likes women — so long as they are subservient to him.

Women who stand up to him are vilified, called “dogs,” “fat pigs,” “ugly,” and many vile words, all of which are accentuated in Trump’s hateful mind when the person standing up to him is a woman of color.

A rude story that’s circulated for decades among Trump’s executives and casino competitors goes to his extreme selfishness, sinful lust for money and complete lack of regard for anyone else, even his wives and children.  

The story goes that Trump is alone in an elevator. A gorgeous woman steps in, drops to her knees and offers oral sex.

Trump’s reply: “What’s in it for me?”

Trump’s total self-absorption contrasts with Biden’s focus on reviving the economy, reaching out to distressed people and ending his campaign. Harris promises to continue that.

In Harris, Trump faces someone who knows how to get under his skin. Harris knows how effective it is to mock Trump, to belittle his self-aggrandizing, to counter his lies that the economy is in shambles when it’s the strongest in the world.

Jekyll and Hyde

If Harris does it just right, she will make Trump so apoplectic, that his inner Edward Hyde will come out from under the orange facial makeup of this modern Dr. Henry Jekyll. 

While Trump poses as a strong man, inside, he is still that scared 13-year-old boy who daddy sent off to a military academy known for physically and sexually humiliating newcomers. 

Trump’s life has been a nightmare version of Groundhog Day. But instead of making himself over into a decent and talented human being, as the character played by Bill Murray did, Trump chose to become a con man. He has enjoyed extraordinary success, bluffing his way through business deals and politics, knowing all the time that there is no substance inside him, only the empty vessel he tries to fill with money and applause.

But that was his choice. He chose how to deal with his tyrannical father and cold, distant mother. 

Be glad you are not Donald Trump. It is better to pity him and mock his pathetic and often juvenile behavior.

Insurrection Redux

Trump made clear, while Biden was still in the race, that unless he wins, we should expect another insurrection — even a civil war.

“The most important day in the history of our country is going to be November 5,” Trump told Fox’s Brian Kilmeade in March. “Our country is going bad. And it’s going to be changed on November 5, and if it’s not changed we’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Those last quoted words show how entirely self-centered Donald Trump is. In his mind, America is not a country with multiple viewpoints among people who go to the ballot box to choose who will represent them and shape our destiny. To Donald, it’s his country. He even refers to “his people,” and it’s all about just one thing: Donald Trump.

Don’t forget that.

“She gives us all reason to hope”: Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris

Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

The Harris campaign announced the endorsement in a video showing the Obamas calling the veep to inform her of their backing.

“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president says.

“I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic,” the former first lady said.

Despite questions in the media about Obama’s lack of endorsement following President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race on Sunday, NBC News reported that Obama has been in regular contact with Harris all week and has advised on campaign strategy.

The Obamas in a separate statement on Friday vowed to “do everything we can” to election Harris, touting her accomplishments.

“But Kamala has more than a résumé. She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands,” they wrote. “There is no doubt in our mind that Kamala Harris has exactly what it takes to win this election and deliver for the American people. At a time when the stakes have never been higher, she gives us all reason to hope.”

The man who set the stage for an imperial presidency if Trump wins

Weeks after the extremist Supreme Court majority drove a truck over the rule of law in Trump v. United States, and with all that has happened since, friends still ask, “How do you explain this decision? How could these Republican-appointed justices do something like this?” 

The end-of-term Trump immunity decision forever ended any claim by the far right majority justices to belief in checks and balances on presidential power. New polling finds six in ten Americans disapproving the Court’s job performance. So the continuing questions are more than warranted. 

For the answers, pay attention to Leonard Leo. He is the judicial kingmaker responsible for the list from which Trump selected Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Leo has shaped this Court and acted effectively to keep its Republican justices from abandoning his – and their – sectarian-right vision of America.

Examine what he says, put it together with the Trump immunity decision, and you can discern the motivating force behind it. The extremist justices are seizing a moment that Leo has prepared them for – a moment to put back in the tube a forward looking, equal opportunity America where church and state are separate. Within their grasp is a presidential dictatorship by which they can realize the rightwing, religious future-state that they perceive as the natural law of the universe.

The immunity decision is the booster rocket for a bloodless cultural coup. Leo made himself rocket fuel, the sophisticated corruption-meister of radical Supreme Court justices. 

He was once simply a leader of the hyper-conservative Federalist Society, the backroom nominator of right wing judges. He is now the deep pocketed central operative whose political vision reportedly shares religious roots with those of Steve Bannon. But Leo, instead of landing himself in jail like Bannon, landed a cool $1.6 billion gift from secretive Chicago billionaire Barre Seid.

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Here’s how ProPublica described the current cultural conditions that Leo seeks to overturn:

[Leo] sees a nation plagued with ills . . . like environmental, social and governance, or ESG, policies sweeping corporate America. A member of the Roman Catholic Church, he intends to wage a broader cultural war against . . . “vile and immoral current-day barbarians, secularists and bigots” who demonize people of faith and move society further from its “natural order.”

Per ProPublica, Leo sees conservative Catholicism as “under threat” from “secularist enemies,” the “unchurched . . .  whom the devil can easily take advantage of” and who “seek to drive us from the communities they want to dominate.”

It’s not Catholicism under attack; Leo and his allies are the ones attacking the framer’s foundational principle of separating Church and state. The long sad tale of state-sponsored religious discrimination in Europe taught the founders the danger to individual belief of sectarian zeal inhabiting the halls of government.

Perhaps you hear the not-so-faint echoes of Samuel Alito’s victimhood and loathing. 

Check out the history here. 

Back in 2005, Leo’s Judicial Confirmation Network ran ads in support of Alito when President Bush chose him for the Court over Judge Michael Luttig. Sounding like Leo, Alito has sarcastically lamented that “you had better behave yourself like a good secular citizen” just to go outside. Also recall his expressed belief last month to undercover reporter Lauren Windsor that “the U.S. should return to a ‘place of godliness.’” 

Here’s a stunning parallel: Martha-Ann Alito, the justice’s wife with a penchant for flag flying, told the same reporter that she (Mrs. Alito) had hoisted a “Sacred Heart of Jesus” flag at her vacation home this summer. Why? Because she “has to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month.” Compare that to ProPublica’s report that after Alito’s majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, “protesters got permission from Leo’s neighbor to hang a pink fist flag across from his [Maine retreat, and] Leo displayed several different flags with Catholic iconography outside his house.”
 

You’d almost think there was some kind of not-so-vast rightwing religious conspiracy among the radical right religious power elite.

Elites, like all of us, only act effectively in concert with others. Long ago, Leo apparently grasped the “basic insight of sociology” derived from scholars like Ian Robertson: “[H]uman behavior is shaped by the groups to which people belong and by the social interaction that takes place within those groups.” 

And so Leo systematically wove a cocoon of comfortable social interaction around the justices whom he wanted to remain on the Court and to stay true to the extremist vision he held, the way that former Justices David Souter and Sandra Day O’Connor did not. That social cocoon was also one of political reaction and shared belief in sectarianism. 

We have learned from reporting just how comfortable the cocoon was. For Alito, free flights to Alaska salmon fishing, courtesy of Leo’s connections to billionaire Paul Singer. For Thomas, $4 million of gifts, including luxury private jet and yacht travel to foreign destinations, private tuition for a child he raised, home buying and a custom RV, much of it again through Leo’s connection to Harlan Crow, another right-wing billionaire. 

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To whom do these justices feel indebted and to whom do they answer? Corruption can build a thick encasing around ideology; it can be as subtle as the joy of feeling celebrated by right-wing friends in the privacy of a billionaire’s Adirondack sanctuary, or feeling social pressure not to have to explain veering off course politically.

In that vein, within the cocoon is also a shared political theory: that the path to cultural salvation runs most immediately through what Federalist society types call a “unitary executive” – an imperial president – committed to achieving their turn-back goals even through anti-majoritarian means.

That theory holds that a president’s power over the executive branch must be unchecked, especially by Congress. Its most fierce practitioner and developer in the Republican Justice Department 40 years ago was none other than Samuel Alito. John Roberts was there, too.

Trump v. United States is the unitary executive theory on steroids – officially, a president can do no wrong. Congress’ authority to contain the chief executive through ordinary criminal statutes is neutered. A president committed to his own power and to a Christian nation can complete a far-right, religio-political revolution.

Let’s be clear: One branch of government is not enough for a bloodless coup. But two branches, the executive and the judiciary, suffice. For the radical Court majority, with Trump on a path to a second presidency, the time to pull the trigger on complete immunity and a future theocratic nation had come. 

So ask not how to explain Trump v. United States. Ask where accountability is for the corruption of the framer’s constitutional vision. The ballot box is our only answer.

The backlash to Butler: Who will pay for the attempted assassination attempt on Trump?

Former president Donald Trump and German Führer Adolf Hitler share many qualities: A far right ideology, a mythos centered around a Big Lie, a predilection for theatrics. Until July 13, 2024, however, only Hitler had nourished his cult of personality around assassination attempts.

"The biggest effect so far in this case seems to be a shift in news and political discourse to call for 'taking down the temperature'… That's wild because Republicans have been and still are the party of incitement and insurrection."

From a drunken brawl in 1921 (back when Hitler was just a Nazi Party speaker and long before he rose to national power) and an ordinary citizen's pistol in 1939 to multiple official bombing conspiracies, Hitler survived so many attempts on his life that his followers claimed he was protected by a higher power. Certainly, Hitler had luck on his side; one attempted bombing only failed because of a defective fuse, while three others failed (two in 1943 and one in 1944) because Hitler randomly happened to leave the locations he was expected to be when the bombs went off. Regardless of whether it was dumb luck or a malevolent god, though, Hitler's repeated brushes with death were a figurative godsend for the Nazis: They helped spread the impression that their victory was inevitable and that Hitler was worthy of admiration.

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Perhaps most significantly, each assassination reinforced the Nazi narrative that criticizing them was not just wrong, but inherently evil. This happened even when the would-be assassins were fellow Nazis and not the Nazis' opponents — much as the cursory evidence on Trump's attempted assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, reveals far more evidence of Republicanism (his party registration, his fixation with firearms, the Trump campaign being aware of Crooks' father as a strong Republican and his family reportedly having MAGA signs on their lawn) than being a Democrat (a single $15 contribution to a Democratic political group prior to registering as a Republican). As historians and writers like John Grehan and Don Allen Gregory point out, the attempts on Hitler's life often were used to justify waves of repression against Jews, political dissidents and anyone else who the Nazis traditionally vilified. Republicans are already showing signs of doing exactly this, with Trump's future vice presidential running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio leading a chorus of conservatives blaming Democrats and liberals for the shooting.

This is not because the Nazis innovated the art of propagandizing. It's because they were using the same techniques practiced by successful cults — whether political, religious or otherwise — throughout human history.

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"The goal is chaos uncertainty… which attacks experts and science and democratic institutions,"

"The goal is chaos uncertainty — fourth generation psychological warfare, which I wrote about in the cult of Trump, which attacks experts and science and democratic institutions," said Dr. Steven Hassan, one of the world's foremost experts on mind control and cults, a former senior member of the Unification Church, founder/director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. and author of the bestselling books "Freedom of Mind," "Combating Cult Mind Control" and "The Cult of Trump." "And the goal with this type of warfare is to create so much uncertainty and stress that people will respond to a very simplistic authoritarian message, which is incorrectly being cast as populism, which it is not."

Dr. Nathan P. Kalmoe, the executive administrative director of the University of Wisconsin — Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, explained to Salon that groups which are told they are under attack — much as Trump told his audience that the person who tried to shoot him was really attacking all of them — are more likely to commit violence.

"Violence by political or social opponents doubles support for political violence among the group that feels attacked, which creates a major danger of violent retaliation," Kalmoe said. "My research with Lilliana Mason shows the same. Violence by extremists within a broad political coalition (e.g. a far-right attack on right-wing politicians) can lead to reevaluation of those coalitions and potential alliances with moderates and the left to neutralize the threat." While an attack not motivated by politics is less likely to spur political violence — this includes the assassination attempts against former President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, against President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and against Arizona Rep. Gabbie Giffords in 2011 —  "it can and often has motivated policy changes meant to reduce the general threat to political leaders."

Sometimes assassinations can galvanize positive change.

"Lyndon Johnson framed the 1964 Civil Rights Act partly as a response to Kennedy's assassination, for example, and abolitionist newspaper Elijah Lovejoy's 1837 murder in Illinois helped galvanize white Northerners in the movement against Black enslavement," Kalmoe said. "On the other hand, the assassination of neo-Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell in 1967 motivated a new generation of bigots, including David Duke."

Kalmoe observed that the current trend in the aftermath of the attempt on Trump's life is to ask Democrats to "tone down" their criticisms of the former president, which he argues would set an ominous precedent.

"Regardless of the motive, we also need to guard against the self-serving reaction among Republicans and the self-reflective reaction among Democrats that Democrats need to tone down their criticism of Republicans, which is largely based in fact about real existential threats to American democracy," Kalmoe said. "Airing those warnings is fundamentally pro-democracy. Democrats can supplement those statements with an explicit rejection of violence, which they have been doing consistently already. That's the ideal combination of rhetoric that's good for democracy."

If Trump's critics fail to rise to the needs of this historic moment, their future may resemble that of Nazi Germany after it fabricated a martyr for lack of having a real one. In their case they chose Horst Wessel, a German law school dropout who joined the Nazi Party's paramilitary organization, known as the SA or "brownshirts," and after leading multiple violent clashes in Berlin was eventually murdered after a dispute with his Communist landlady (most likely over unpaid rent) by getting shot by two other Communists. After the Nazis seized power, Wessel was turned into a folk hero, with a song he wrote for the SA becoming the unofficial anthem of the Third Reich. The Nazis passed a law in 1934 requiring every German citizen to give a "Hitler greeting" upon hearing Wessel's song — and, of course, pointing out that Wessel had led a violent life and almost certainly was responsible for his own death was strictly forbidden.

Just like criticizing the Nazi regime, sanctified by Wessel's blood, was strictly forbidden.

"The biggest effect so far in this case seems to be a shift in news and political discourse to call for 'taking down the temperature,' with even Democrats implicitly criticizing their own arguments about how Republicans pose a threat to democracy and the well-being of all Americans," Kalmoe said. "That's wild because Republicans have been and still are the party of incitement and insurrection."

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“It’s not just about abortion”: How the Chevron ruling could unravel reproductive rights

In April the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finalized its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) regulations, after being criticized by conservative lawmakers and religious organizations. Part of the update included a clarification that accommodations, like a leave of absence, applied to abortion care. But now since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference, which made it possible for Congress to rely on federal expertise when implementing a wide range of policy measures, conservative judges in lower courts can seek to reverse expert policies for ideological reasons — and that applies to policies regarding reproductive care. 

"They are making these grand, sweeping decisions, overturning precedent and then not providing the rules of engagement."

As reported by Bloomberg Law this week, a coalition of 17 Republican attorneys general told a federal appeals court that the recent decision to overturn the Chevron deference should bring back their challenge to the EEOC’s pregnancy regulation. In other words, they’re trying to leverage the Chevron ruling to remove the EEOC’s approved leave of absence for abortion care. The move appears to be part of a more comprehensive anti-abortion plan to lean on the Chevron ruling to dismantle reproductive rights further. 

“A Chevron ruling says that government regulations, or when the agency passes a rule, if it is not strictly required by the statute that Congress passed, then a court may invalidate the rule,” David S. Cohen, a professor of law at Drexel Kline's School of Law, explained to Salon. Previously, it was up to the agency to determine clarity in cases where there was “vague language from Congress.” But the ruling in the Chevron case says now it's up to the judges to answer that question. Depending on the judge, the decision could be made through an ideological lens. 

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Trump vows to "NEVER" take away birth control — except he spent four years doing just that

That's not the only possible threat to reproductive health care. Cohen provided Salon with another example: under Obamacare, preventative medicine must be covered, which includes birth control.

“Now, the conservative federal judiciary might say birth control, under our reading of the statute is not preventive medicine, so the agency went too far in requiring birth control,” Cohen said. “It used to be that the agency got a lot of deference. Preventive medicine is broad, it’s vague, so it's up to the agency to determine what the rule is when you've got vague language from Congress.”

But now it’s up to the judges. 

In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court voted along party lines in a historic decision against the government in a pair of cases — Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce. The ruling set a precedent of gutting the power of regulatory agencies to protect the environment and consumers. Gautham Rao, a professor of legal history at American University, told Salon at the time that the case had "historic implications" as an attack "on what we call the administrative state." Reproductive rights advocates worry that the implications will extend beyond environmental protections. 

Leila Abolfazli, director of National Abortion Strategy at the National Women's Law Center Action Fund, told Salon she fully expects conservative justices to now start making claims that due to the decision in the Loper Bright case, some regulations related to reproductive rights can be revisited by the lower courts instead of federal agencies. 

“But I will say that, with or without Loper Bright, the parties were making these claims, and some courts were open to them,” Abolfazli said. “But Loper Bright certainly gives them sights and saying, ‘No we get to decide what the law is, and it's XYZ, not what the administration said.’” 

The Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian legal advocacy group that argued against the FDA’s approval of mifepristone and lost, filed an amicus brief for the Loper Bright case that outlined how a ruling to overturn the Chevron deference could unravel access to abortion care. In the amicus brief, ADF argues that “agencies are weaponizing federal healthcare laws to violate the right to life.” It specifically called out Title X, EMTALA covering life-saving abortion care, and the mail delivery of mifepristone.  It also called out a range of agencies like the EEOC, for “forcing employers to pay for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and amputating healthy organs.”

“ADF definitely has a full, comprehensive plan on how it wants to take down abortion and other reproductive health care,” Abolfazli said. 

In regards to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, that litigation will likely continue, Abolfazli said.  

“But I think there's an overarching comment here on how destabilizing the Supreme Court is right now. They are making these grand, sweeping decisions, overturning precedent and then not providing the rules of engagement,” Abolfazli said. 

Cohen said that leveraging the Chevron case to unravel reproductive rights is yet another example that the “anti-abortion movement is not stopping at abortion.” 

“They are looking to do anything to restrict family planning, sexual health, reproductive health. It's not just about abortion,” Cohen said. “This is about anything related to sexual reproductive health and women's health too.”

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Elon Musk’s trans daughter fires back at his claim that “woke mind virus” killed her

Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk deadnamed his daughter and suggested she was “killed by the woke mind virus” in a pair of transphobic tirades with right-wing influencer Jordan Peterson and on X, prompting his daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, to hit back.

"I look pretty good for a dead b***h," she wrote, before elaborating on Musk's allegations.

“This is entirely fake. Like, literally none of this ever happened,” Wilson wrote in a post on X competitor Threads, referring to Musk’s claim that she “was born gay” and presented stereotypically gay traits as a small child. “I did not have a ‘love of musicals & theatre’ when I was four…I did not use the word fabulous when I was four because once again I would like to reiterate… I was four. Musk, who has amplified transphobic ideology and pledged tens of millions of dollars to anti-trans politicians including Donald Trump, told Peterson in their interview that he planned to relocate the offices for multiple companies from California to Texas in an act of protest against laws that protect the safety of trans children.

In the exchange with Peterson, Musk spewed condemnation of his own daughter and her transition, repeatedly referring to her by her deadname, or name before her transition, and called gender-affirming care “evil.” But Wilson revealed that Musk would have a hard time remembering her childhood because he wasn’t there.

“He doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn’t there, and in the little time that he was I was relentlessly harassed for my femininity and queerness,” Wilson wrote, before poking fun at Musk’s alleged burner account on X under the name Adrian Dittman. “I want to make one thing absolutely clear. I disowned him, not the other way around.” 

Wilson also struck at Musk’s repeated claim in the interview with Peterson, and in the X post she was referring to, that she “was not a girl.”

“As for if I’m not a woman… sure, Jan. Whatever you say. I’m legally recognized as a woman in the state of California and I don’t concern myself with the opinions of those who are below me,” she wrote. “Obviously Elon can’t say the same because in a ketamine-fueled haze, he’s desperate for attention and validation from an army of degenerate red-pilled incels and pick-mes who are quick to give it to him.”

Nikki Haley refuses to apologize for past criticism of Trump

Former presidential candidate Nikki Haley revealed in an interview with CNN that she won't be apologizing for her comments against former President Donald Trump, despite her complete 180 on his candidacy.

“I said a lot of tough things about him in the campaign. He said a lot of tough things about me in the campaign. That’s what happens in campaigns. I don’t think we need to apologize or take anything back. I don’t plan on doing that,” Haley said, admitting that she would still vote for the candidate she called “chaos.”

Trump, for his part, made equally brutal comments against his former U.N. Ambassador during the campaign, mocking Haley’s husband for his military service and coining the nickname “bird brain Nikki Haley” for her.

But though she felt in February “no need to kiss the ring,” she still decided to pledge her public support in May. Haley even slapped a cease and desist letter on a PAC comprised of her former supporters, “Haley Voters for Harris.”

In her interview with CNN, Haley also addressed President Biden’s decision to pass the torch to Kamala Harris after one historic term, noting that she wasn’t surprised.

“Through the whole campaign, I fought for mental competency tests. I wasn’t doing it to be disrespectful. I wasn’t doing it to be mean. I was doing it because I think it’s not just Joe Biden,” Haley said, having previously suggested Trump wasn’t fit to hold a second term. 

Haley, who said in January that “the first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the one who wins this election,” sang Trump’s praises in a speech to the Republican National Convention last week, despite initially being snubbed. She blasted Harris as a far-left pick, but criticized some Republicans’ racist smear that she's a “DEI hire.”

"The fact that you put in one of the most liberal politicians you probably could have put in, it’s going to be an issue,” Haley said. “There’s so many issues we can talk about when it comes to Kamala Harris that it doesn’t matter what she looks like.

Climate protesters shut down Frankfurt Airport, disrupt EU travel

Climate protesters disrupted flights all across Europe on Thursday after they breached security fences at Frankfurt Airport, Germany's busiest hub for international travel. Airport security joined police and firefighters in removing the protesters, but not before at least 140 flights were canceled, with more cancellations expected to follow.

“We sharply condemn these unauthorized demonstrations, and we reserve the right to take legal action against the participants,” Frankfurt Airport said in a statement. “Their activities pose severe danger to flight operations — possibly putting human life at risk.”

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A climate group known as Last Generation organized the demonstration, the second in as many days to disrupt a German airport. Five protesters glued themselves to a taxiway at Cologne-Bonn Airport on Wednesday, forcing a roughly three-hour delay in flights. Climate activists staged similar demonstrations at other locations throughout Europe, including in Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Spain. Last Generation and its supporters are calling on governments to ban the extraction and burning of all fossil fuels by 2030 — at this point, a virtually impossible goal.

The Last Generation protests come on the heels of record-breaking temperatures fueled by climate change. In the 2023, Earth set a new global surface temperature record, a new record for the hottest summer temperature and a new record for ocean heat content. Overall 2023 was the warmest year ever recorded since humans began keeping temperature records, and the early months of 2024 have followed suit. Indeed, the planet experienced its two hottest days ever recorded, last Sunday and Monday.

In a statement to the Associated Press, Christiana Figueres, the former head of U.N. climate negotiations, warned that humanity will "scorch and fry” if government and business leaders do not implement "targeted national policies" to sharply reduce fossil fuel extraction and emissions.

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SCOTUS Justice Elena Kagan calls for ethics enforcement mechanism

A day after President Biden used an Oval Office address to promise Supreme Court reform, liberal Justice Elena Kagan urged ethics reforms, with a concrete enforcement mechanism.

At the Ninth Circuit Court’s annual judicial conference in Sacramento, California, the Justice answered a question on the difficulties of enforcing an ethics code, especially in deciding who to task with such a responsibility.

“I feel as though we, however hard it is, that we could and should try to figure out some mechanism for doing this,” Kagan said, per Bloomberg Law.

Kagan, who once mused whether accepting a care package of bagels would violate ethics laws, said Chief Justice John Roberts ought to consider creating “some sort of committee of highly respected judges with a great deal of experience and a reputation for fairness” to combat the court’s growing image of corruption.

The Supreme Court has faced eroding public confidence following not only a slate of deeply divisive and unprecedented decisions, but also allegations of political extremism and bias, personal conflict, and financial misconduct against Justices.

Justice Clarence Thomas’ lavish yacht trips, generously over-market home sale, and other connections to billionaire benefactors drew attention towards court reforms, a mission that even picked up the support of President Biden.

Kagan, who joined the court in 2010, is one of three liberal justices who spent the year penning blistering dissents as her colleagues torched regulatory power, stripped away rights for unhoused people, and granted presidents near-absolute immunity.

In a separate panel, Kagan also criticized the practice of writing multiple concurring opinions in a case, including Justice Thomas’s concurrence in a Presidential Immunity case creating a novel legal theory against the use of special prosecutors, a rationale used by Judge Aileen Cannon to dismiss a case against Donald Trump.

“It prevents us, I think, from giving the kind of guidance that lower courts have a right to expect, that the public has a right to expect,” Kagan reportedly said.

Kagan also drew attention to the seven separate decisions in United States v. Rahimi, a case from this term which held 8-1 that bans on firearm ownership for domestic abusers were legal.

“You better vote”: VP Harris to appear on “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to appear on the season finale of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” this Friday, urging audiences to mobilize ahead of the election in a teaser clip.

“Each day we are seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love, openly and with pride,” the presidential candidate said. 

Harris’ embrace of drag performers comes at a moment when GOP representatives push for bans on drag shows, conservative judges appear to take aim at the right to marry, and Republican candidates for office ramp up rhetoric against LGBTQ+ Americans.

Pushing a message of resilience, the vice president urged audiences to vote against the efforts to roll back their rights in the promotional clip.

“So as we fight back against these attacks, let’s all remember no one is alone. We are all in this together, and your vote is your power. So please make sure your voice is heard this November, and register to vote,” Harris said.

Judges and contestants, including "Saturday Night Live" alum Leslie Jones, are seen holding “You Better Vote” signs in the clip that includes a link to voter registration services.

Though the episode was filmed far before Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, her campaign has already put LGBTQ+ rights at the forefront of her policy goals.

“We want to ban assault weapons and they want to ban books. Can you imagine?” the vice president told educators in a speech to the American Federation of Teachers on Thursday, citing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other conservative legislators’ attempts to ban LGBTQ+ books.