WHAT'S BREWING
TRUMP DISTRACTS FROM REAL GUN VIOLENCE CRISIS Trump's orders to send hundreds of federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and Albuquerque is overtly political. He noted that the cities are run by Democratic lawmakers, accused police brutality protesters of promoting violence and has repeatedly ― and dishonestly ― said that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has called to defund the police. The narrative that cities are out of control helps him argue that Democrats cannot be trusted with the presidency. But it’s hard to see how his show of force will help the millions of people in cities where gun crime is reaching record highs, particularly in largely nonwhite neighborhoods badly hurt by the coronavirus pandemic. [HuffPost]
RUSSIANS HELPING TRUMP WIN REELECTION HAVE PARTNER IN WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN Allies of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin hoping to give Trump a second term in office appear to have a new partner: Republican Ron Johnson, who is using his Senate committee to renew debunked allegations against Biden. Johnson, a second-term senator from Wisconsin who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is leading an investigation into Biden that's nearly identical to the one Trump pushed for in Ukraine that led to his impeachment earlier this year, and which echoes allegations being made in Russian-owned propaganda outlets. [HuffPost]
TRUMP ASKED BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO HELP MOVE BRITISH OPEN TO HIS RESORT Trump pressured the U.S. ambassador to Britain to see if the U.K. government could help steer the famed British Open golf tournament to the president's money-losing Turnberry resort in Scotland, according to a report. Trump, during Wednesday's coronavirus briefing, denied ever speaking to Ambassador Woody Johnson about moving the tournament to his club. Johnson said he broke no laws. [HuffPost]
SOME FURLOUGHED WORKERS MUST SIGN ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS TO GET JOBS BACK Jana Alexander was furloughed from her job at The Container Store when the pandemic began in early spring. With the economy reopening, the company recently invited her back to her old position at her store in Southlake, Texas. But there was a catch. Alexander would have to sign an arbitration agreement, giving up her right to sue The Container Store in court if she was mistreated. Her welcome-back letter made clear she had little choice in the matter if she wanted to draw a paycheck. [HuffPost]
RON JOHNSON BLOCKS BILL TO MAKE JUNETEENTH A FEDERAL HOLIDAY A bipartisan effort to make Juneteenth a federal holiday failed in the Senate on Wednesday after Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) blocked it from advancing. Johnson, a conservative who takes hard-line stances against federal spending, said that while he supported honoring the day that has come to mark slavery’s end in the U.S., said doing so with a new holiday would “give federal workers a paid day off that the rest of America has to pay for.” [HuffPost]
GENERATIONS OF BLACK AMERICANS HAVE FOUGHT FOR JUSTICE Just like in the past, photos and video footage have shown what the Black Lives Matter movement is saying ― from the May 5 cellphone video of armed white men in a suburban neighborhood in Georgia chasing and gunning down Ahmaud Arbery to the footage of the last breathless minutes of Floyd’s life. Though Americans have long known about systemic racism and have seen instances of police brutality before, these latest images have forced a mainstream conversation. “We are still in the middle of this moment,” said Charles McKinney, a professor of African American history at Rhodes College. [HuffPost]
TRUMP HAS 'AMAZING' NEW BOAST ABOUT PASSING 'DIFFICULT' COGNITIVE TEST Trump once again bragged about passing a cognitive test, then went into detail about how he amazed his doctors by remembering five words in order. Experts say the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test is supposed to be easy, as it is not a measure of intelligence but rather a way to look for signs of cognitive impairment. But Trump on Sunday told Chris Wallace on Fox News that the test gets “very hard,” and he made a similar claim to Fox News’ Dr. Marc Siegel in an interview that aired Wednesday night. [HuffPost] | 
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