Axios Re:Cap

Ben & Jerry’s is one of a number of companies that are pulling ads on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July — but the company will continue to post social justice messaging on social media platforms, even as it applies pressure to these companies to change several of its content policies. Dan digs in with Chris Miller, head of activism strategy at Ben & Jerry's.

Baseball players and owners have agreed to play a shortened season, but there's no guarantee games will actually happen. Dan discusses the prospects for the 2020 season with Boston Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy. Dan also talks to the CEO of grocery giant Albertsons, which went public today, and to Axios transportation reporter Joann Muller about Amazon’s latest announcement.

Axios Today is a weekday morning news show hosted by Niala Boodhoo. We’re sharing this morning’s episode.

For years, some Democrats and Black leaders have called for reparations from the U.S. government for slavery. Axios business reporter Courtenay Brown says reparations may move faster in the private sector, where some corporations are trying to make amends.

Guests: Axios' Courtenay Brown, Hans Nichols, and Margaret Talev.

Credits: "Axios Today" is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Carol Alderman, Cara Shillenn, Naomi Shavin, Nuria Marquez Martinez and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected].

In the midst of weeks of #BlackLivesMatter protests, lists of anti-racism books and black-owned bookstores went viral, part of well-intentioned efforts that culminated in a deluge of hundreds of thousands of orders for the same handful of titles. Dan and Danielle Mullen, founder of Semicolon Books in Chicago, discuss her experience as a bookseller who ended up on those lists.

A Justice Department official testified today that Attorney General Bill Barr abused his power by directing investigations of marijuana company mergers that were motivated by a personal dislike of the industry. Dan is joined by Teddy Scott, who led one of the companies cited in the complaint, to discuss what Scott knew about the investigation and when.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is optimistic that there will be a coronavirus vaccine by early 2021, but determining who will get it first will be complicated. Dan discusses what happens once we have a vaccine with Dr. Zeke Emanuel, former White House health policy adviser and chair of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Two new studies show that projections for a rise in poverty this year didn’t happen because of the federal stimulus. Andrew Yang joins Dan to discuss if the stimulus can be seen as a test run for universal basic income, Yang’s signature campaign policy proposal, and his conversations with Joe Biden about the idea.

As companies declare Juneteenth a corporate holiday, but fail to promote black workers to their own C-suites, Bloomberg Businessweek’s cover story asks, “Is it time for racial quotas?” Dan is joined by Businessweek’s Rebecca Greenfield, author of the cover story, who makes the argument that existing efforts to improve racial equity and representation haven’t worked.

The Supreme Court ruled today to uphold DACA, the Obama-era program that protected nearly 650,000 unauthorized immigrants from deportation — but there are still unknowns ahead for DREAMers and their employers, because this isn’t a permanent solution to their immigration status. Dan is joined by Jeff Davidson, a lawyer who argued this case before the Ninth Circuit.

The federal government has lent out more than half a trillion dollars to small businesses impacted by COVID-19, but there’s no way of knowing who received one and who didn’t, unless a business discloses that it received one. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are calling for greater transparency, including Representative Jennifer Wexton, who joins Dan to discuss a letter she sent today to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.