https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1289235818985357313.html

TOP TEN TRUMP EXCUSES FOR LOSING THE ELECTION:
10. Bungled Voter Suppression
9. Continued Existence of Postal Service
8. Lines at Polling Places Too Short
7. Pence
6. Supporters Dying After Rallies
5. Antifa?
4. Dementia
3. I was Laser-focused on COVID
2. Russians Dropped the Ball
1. Dementia

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-find-administration-overspent-ventilators-much-500-million-n1235252

Democrats say the episode raises questions about one of the Trump administration's largest contracts for ventilator production.


A patient is connected to a ventilator and other medical devices in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on July 2.Go Nakamura / Getty Images

July 31, 2020, 5:34 AM EDT / Updated July 31, 2020, 8:11 AM EDT

By Heidi Przybyla

WASHINGTON — Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted his administration's supply of ventilators, a critical tool for treating patients with life-threatening respiratory symptoms.

But internal emails and documents obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee suggest that the Trump administration failed to enforce an existing contract with a major medical manufacturer, delayed negotiations for more than a month and subsequently overpaid as much as $500 million for tens of thousands of the devices — a costly error at a time when officials from some of the biggest states were warning of shortages.

The communications between administration officials and Philips Respironics, a global medical equipment manufacturer that finalized a $643.5 million contract with the Trump administration in April, are included in a 40-page report shared with NBC News.

The information raises serious concerns about an estimated $3 billion in taxpayer dollars spent on ventilators from a number of suppliers, according to committee staff members who briefed NBC News.

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https://twitter.com/MidwinCharles/status/1288842632983191554
Midwin Charles @MidwinCharles

Wear masks, gloves, and a hazmat suit and vote in person. Bring snacks & a folding chair in case lines are long. John Lewis and so many others did not endure for us to play with the vote.

10:23 AM · Jul 30, 2020

https://news.trust.org/item/20200730060113-4ua63/

by Reuters
Thursday, 30 July 2020 06:48 GMT

MINSK, July 30 (Reuters) - Belarus suspects a group of more than 30 Russian mercenaries it detained of planning "acts of terrorism" in the country, Belarusian Security Council State Secretary Andrey Raukov said on Thursday.

Up to 200 mercenaries are still in Belarus and law enforcement agents are looking for them, Raukov told reporters. (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky and Maxim Rodionov; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by)

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https://uproxx.com/music/malik-b-the-roots-dead-at-47/

The music world suffered an incalculable loss today with the report that Philadelphia rapper Malik B, a founding member of The Roots, had passed away at the age of 47. The news was initially confirmed on Twitter by both Malik’s cousin, former CBS News correspondent Don Champion, and fellow Philadelphian Reef The Lost Cauze, a close friend and collaborator of The Roots MC who was well-known in the 2000s as a member of underground rap supergroup Army Of The Pharaohs.

https://twitter.com/DonChampionTV/status/1288520216574488577

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https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1288489014845210624
Geoff Bennett @GeoffRBennett

This detail via WH pooler @svdate: As Trump arrived at Andrews, directly ahead of his plane was the Air Force jet that was to ferry John Lewis's body to Georgia for his funeral. Trump did not go to the Capitol to pay his respects...and did not appear to acknowledge Lewis's plane.

10:58 AM · Jul 29, 2020

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/indiana/former-indiana-governor-joe-kernan-dies-at-74/531-0abdccaf-866e-4d24-a790-5c6c4533fa3f


FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004, file photo, Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan acknowledges the applause of supporters as he concedes to Republican challenger Mitch Daniels in the race for governor in Indianapolis. Former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan has lost the ability to speak due to Alzheimer's disease and is living in a care facility, according to a report confirmed by his former press secretary Wednesday, July 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

Author: WTHR.com staff
Published: 7:55 AM EDT July 29, 2020
Updated: 9:35 AM EDT July 29, 2020

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Joe Kernan, the 48th governor of Indiana, died Wednesday morning. He was 74 years old.

Kernan passed away around 5:30 a.m. after a prolonged illness.

Kernan served as a United States Navy Lieutenant. He and his co-pilot were shot down while on a reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam in 1972.

In 1987, Kernan was elected to his first of three consecutive terms as mayor of the City of South Bend.

In 1996, Frank O'Bannon chose Kernan as his running mate for Lt. Governor of Indiana. He held that role for eight years.

When Governor Frank O'Bannon died of a stroke in 2003, Kernan was sworn in as the state's 48th governor.

Kernan made history by appointing Kathy Davis as Indiana's first female Lt. Governor.

Kernan retired from politics in 2005 and moved back to his hometown of South Bend.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/federal-agents-portland-seattle-protests.html

Twin government memos show how a gung-ho federal law enforcement response to anti-racism protests may have been driven by a shaky understanding of the demonstrations’ roots.


Federal agents on Saturday outside a federal courthouse in Portland, Ore.Credit...Mason Trinca for The New York Times

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Sergio Olmos, Mike Baker and Adam Goldman

July 28, 2020 Updated 6:49 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — From the earliest days of the recent protests against police brutality and racism, some top federal law enforcement officials viewed the demonstrators with alarm and called for an aggressive federal response that two months later continues to escalate.

A memo from the deputy director of the F.B.I., dated June 2, demanded an immediate mobilization as protests gathered after George Floyd’s death while in police custody a week earlier. David L. Bowdich, the F.B.I.’s No. 2, declared the situation “a national crisis,” and wrote that in addition to investigating “violent protesters, instigators” and “inciters,” bureau leaders should collect information with “robust social media exploitation teams” and examine what appeared to be “highly organized behavior.”

Mr. Bowdich suggested that the bureau could make use of the Hobbs Act, put into place in the 1940s to punish racketeering in labor groups, to charge the protesters.

“When 9/11 occurred, our folks did not quibble about whether there was danger ahead for them,” he wrote, telling aides that the continuing coronavirus pandemic should not hold them back. “They ran head-on into peril.”

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Parade


Children in the silent parade.

The Negro Silent Protest Parade, commonly known as the Silent Parade, was a silent march of about 10,000 African Americans along Fifth Avenue starting at 57th Street in New York City on July 28, 1917. The event was organized by the NAACP, church, and community leaders to protest violence directed towards African Americans, such as recent lynchings in Waco and Memphis. The parade was precipitated by the East St. Louis riots in May and July 1917 where at least 40 black people were killed by white mobs, in part touched off by a labor dispute where blacks were used for strike breaking

Protest in New York
In the midst of record heat in New York City on July 28, an estimated 8,000 to 15,000 African Americans marched in silent protest to the lynchings, as in Waco, Memphis, and especially the East St. Louis riots. The march began at 57th Street, down Fifth Avenue, to its end at 23rd Street. Protesters carried signs that highlighted their discontent. Some signs and banners appealed directly to President Woodrow Wilson. A mounted police escort led the parade. Women and children were next, dressed in white. They were followed by the men, dressed in black. People of all races looked on from both sides of Fifth Avenue. The New York Age estimated that "fully fifteen thousand Negroes, who should have taken an active part, looked on." Black boy scouts handed out fliers describing why they were marching. During the parade, white people stopped to listen to black people explain the reasons for the march and other white bystanders expressed support and sympathy. Some of the messages written on fliers were:

We march because by the Grace of God and the force of truth, the dangerous, hampering walls of prejudice and inhuman injustices must fall.

We march because we deem it a crime to be silent in the face of such barbaric acts.

We march because we want our children to live a better life and enjoy fairer conditions than have fallen to our lot.

The parade marked the first large black-only protest parade in New York. The New York Times described it the following day:



Media coverage of the march helped to counter the dehumanization of black people in the United States. The parade and its coverage helped depict the NAACP as a "well-organized and mannerly group" and also helped increase its visibility both among white and black people alike.

Marchers hoped to influence Democratic President Wilson to carry through on his election promises to African American voters to implement anti-lynching legislation and promote Black causes. Four days after the silent parade, black leaders involved in the protest, including Madame C.J. Walker, went to Washington D.C. for a planned appointment with the president. The appointment was not kept, as the group of leaders were told that Wilson had "another appointment." They left their petition for Wilson, which reminded him of African Americans serving in World War I and urged him to prevent riots and lynchings in the future. Wilson did not do so and repudiated his promises. Federal discrimination against African Americans increased during Wilson's presidency.

Legacy
The parade was the very first protest of its kind in New York, and the second instance of African Americans publicly demonstrating for civil rights. The Silent Parade evoked empathy by Jewish people who remembered pogroms against them and also inspired the media to express support of African Americans in their struggle against lynching and oppression.

Another large silent parade took place in Newark in 1918. On the day before the parade, members of the NAACP spoke at local churches about the parade and the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. Women from the New Jersey Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NJFCWC) marched along with men and other women carrying signs. A large meeting was held in the Newark Armory when the parade was complete. Another NAACP-sponsored silent march happened on August 26, 1989 to protest recent Supreme Court decisions. The U.S. Park Service estimated over 35,000 people participated. The march was encouraged by NAACP director, Benjamin L. Hooks.

In East St. Louis, there was a week-long commemoration of the riots and march in the weeks prior to the 100th anniversary on July 28, 2017. Around 300 people marched from the SIUE East St. Louis Higher Learning Center to the Eads Bridge. Everyone marched in silence, with many women in white and men wearing black suits. Those who couldn't walk followed by car.

On the 100th anniversary, Google commemorated the parade in a Google Doodle. Many people in 2017 expressed online that they first learned about the Silent Parade through the day's Google Doodle.

A group of artists, along with the NAACP, planned a re-enactment of the silent march in New York for the evening on July 28, 2017. The event, with around 100 people and many participants wearing white, was not able to march down Fifth Avenue because the city would not grant access due to Trump Tower being located there. The commemoration took place on Sixth Avenue instead, and the group held up portraits of contemporary victims of violence by both police and vigilantes in the United States.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/nyregion/maya-wiley-mayor-nyc.html

Ms. Wiley, who once led the city’s police oversight board, would enter a mayoral race that has been reshaped by Black Lives Matter protests.


Maya Wiley, a former top counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio and an ex-head of New York City’s police oversight board, is weighing a bid to run for mayor next year.Credit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times

By Emma G. Fitzsimmons

July 28, 2020, 11:49 a.m. ET

Maya D. Wiley, a former top counsel for Mayor Bill de Blasio, is leaving her role as a contributor on MSNBC and NBC News to explore a run for mayor of New York City, an official at MSNBC confirmed on Tuesday.

Ms. Wiley, a Black former chairwoman of the city’s police oversight agency, could enter a mayor’s race that has been reshaped by recent Black Lives Matter protests and the coronavirus pandemic.

If she were to win, she would be the first woman to become mayor of New York City.

Ms. Wiley resigned in 2017 after serving roughly a year as chairwoman of the agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board. She has worked as a professor at The New School and regularly appeared on MSNBC, grabbing the attention of its left-leaning viewership, an important demographic in a Democratic primary in New York.

Her departure from MSNBC and NBC News, where she has appeared on television as a legal analyst, was confirmed by a spokeswoman at MSNBC and by another person who is familiar with Ms. Wiley’s thinking.

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