WHAT'S BREWING
AL SHARPTON ANNOUNCES MARCH ON WASHINGTON The Rev. Al Sharpton and George Floyd’s family are planning a march on Washington on Aug. 28. Sharpton announced the plan Thursday while delivering a eulogy for Floyd. “We’re going back to Washington,” Sharpton told the crowd, specifically addressing Martin Luther King III, who was in attendance. “That’s where your father stood in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial and said, ‘I have a dream'... This is the era to deal with policing and criminal justice,” he added, noting the march would specifically be used to call for a federal policing equality act. [HuffPost]
WHITE HOUSE SECURITY BANNED CLERGY FROM HOLDING VIGIL Federal security forces blocked clergy from having a prayer vigil in front of a Washington church on Wednesday ― the same church that President Donald Trump freely strode up to days earlier for his photo-op with a Bible. More than 100 interfaith clergy answered a call to gather outside St. John’s Church at Lafayette Square, directly across from the White House, for a prayer vigil on Wednesday afternoon. But an expanded security perimeter around the White House prevented the faith leaders from congregating on church property. [HuffPost]
EXTRA JOBLESS PAY HELPS PEOPLE EAT, SAYS REPORT LIKELY TO DOOM THOSE BENEFITS Paying workers unemployed due to COVID-19 an extra $600 per week for the rest of the year would boost economic growth in the short term and help people afford food and shelter, the Congressional Budget Office said. Counterintuitively, the report may actually harm Democratic efforts to keep the benefits in place beyond their July 31 expiration date. As the budget office explains, the extra cash may “weaken incentives to work as people compared the benefits available during unemployment to their potential earnings." [HuffPost]
POLICE BUDGETS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN UNTOUCHABLE. THAT COULD CHANGE. Chants to “Defund the police!” have reverberated around the country, as thousands of people protested racist police violence this past week. The phrase is an acknowledgment of the fact that police departments typically have far more money than other government services that could better serve communities without subjecting them to brutality and violence. Black Lives Matter and other anti-police violence groups have been working to defund the police by cutting agencies’ budgets for years. And these efforts have gained momentum in the wake of recent outcries. [HuffPost]
MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT WANTS TO DISMANTLE THE POLICE The Minneapolis City Council will vote on a temporary order today to institute immediate changes to the police department that may include increased accountability and shifts in use-of-force policies. Council President Lisa Bender and Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison said they hoped to replace law enforcement with a “transformative new model of public safety,” calling such changes long “past due.” [HuffPost]
2020 ISN'T 1968 AND DONALD TRUMP ISN'T RICHARD NIXON Trump, his reelection imperiled, is echoing law and order language that Richard Nixon invoked in his winning 1968 campaign. Despite parallels -- massive deaths from coronavirus and Vietnam, rising anger over race discrimination and a head-cracking law enforcement apparatus -- the electorate has changed. The "silent majority" -- a Nixon phrase parroted by Trump -- is neither silent nor a majority now. [HuffPost]
AIRLINES ARE SETTING THEIR OWN RULES AND PACKING FLIGHTS Like most industries, the coronavirus has hit airlines hard, and they are eager to return to normal. But unlike many others, the companies have received billions in dedicated relief funding with very little federal oversight on how to ramp up operations safely. Most airlines suggest but don’t require that passengers wear masks. Some have encouraged social distancing by not filling middle seats. But ultimately, the need to fill seats, combined with limited regulation, means the number of people traveling on planes is rebounding. [HuffPost] | 
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