In this News Brief we catch up on the patronizing, racist media coverage of protests in Minneapolis.

Trump is likely pinning his reelection hopes on "reopening" the NFL––a grand media spectacle that will signal victory over the virus and usher in a new low in Triggering The Libs politics.

A cynical corporate media and pro-Trump billionaire NFL owners are happy to go along with it. But will NFL players? Will Democratic Party leaders? What will a "safe reopening" look like and how, more broadly, should the Left and liberals counter the Right's nihilistic "reopen" narrative?

On this News Brief, we are joined by The Nation's Dave Zirin to shed some light on the upcoming perfect storm of sports-infused election season PR bullshit.

"Free markets drive innovation!" It's a narrative imparted to us ad nauseam. The ultimate catalyst of creation and progress — we're told by policymakers, business executives, think tanks, and the media outlets that bolster them — in which great strides in healthcare, electronics, media, and other areas are the domain of private enterprise motivated by competition and profit, and unencumbered by state intervention.

As the prospect of socialism — or at least the word "socialism" — regains currency in the West, these claims have resurged. Capitalism's supporters insist that a profit-first system is the reason the world is always improving, lifting people out of poverty while equipping them with iPhones, WiFi, and central air conditioning. Socialism, they contend, hinders innovation because public ownership of the means of production removes the competition and profit that ostensibly incentivize creativity.

But why are we expected to believe that concentrating ownership of the means of production in the hands of a few is the key to progress and prosperity for all? How is it that the most important metrics of "innovation" are consumer goods available to some, rather than socialized, need-based programs available to all? And above all, who does this narrative that "innovation" is driven by Anglo-American style Randian capitalism really serve?

On this episode, we delve into these questions, looking at how the United States — the world's foremost champion of capitalism — packages propaganda about its alleged innovation; the reasons capitalism not only fails to drive innovation, but also actively destroys it; and the U.S.'s brutal actions to thwart socialist efforts toward a more equitably and sustainable version of "innovation" at home and aboard.

Our guest is Current Affairs associate editor Vanessa A. Bee.

"Woman Sues TripAdvisor After Falling off Runaway Camel," reports the Associated Press. "Red Bull Paying Out to Customers Who Thought Energy Drink Would Actually Give Them Wings," eyerolls Newsweek. "Tennessee man sues Popeyes for running out of chicken sandwiches," scoffs NBC News.

We see "frivolous lawsuit" stories all the time and have for decades. Seemingly absurd cases of get rich quick schemes often with catchy headlines, a caricature of a plaintiff friendly legal system run amok. These stories play into faux-populist tropes of a country full of lazy poor people looking to cash in and a sleazy legal system that leeches off hard-working Americans.

But how organic are these "pop torts"––or popular stories of frivolous lawsuits––and more importantly, how true even are they? What organizations are behind cherry-picking and teeing up these shameful tales of greed for uncritical writers, editors and producers? Who's backing them, and what, perhaps, may be their ulterior motives?

Moreover, what are the human stakes to so called "tort reform" and how did it come to be that the vast majority of Americans came to accept the premise that, at some point in the 1980s, we all became amoral lawsuit happy scumbags out to shutdown mom and pop stores and grab a quick buck?

We are joined by the Center for Justice & Democracy's Joanna Doroshow.

In this extended News Brief, we discuss how the rapid increase of Covid-19 in prisons and jails is being met with indifference by lawmakers and US corporate media.

After over 100 episodes, scores of News Briefs, and almost three years of content production, Citations Needed has finally done it: reduced itself to a listicle. On this News Brief, we examine the top ten worst COVID-19 takes to date (not including the celebrity 'Imagine' video). Proceed with caution.

In this News Brief, we detail recent reports the National Guard and US military may be used in a law enforcement capacity and what this says about the failures of the liberal state. With unemployment potentially reaching 30 percent and an urgent, robust social democratic response from the federal government unlikely, a debate about safeguarding against martial order––especially from an administration with a well documented inclination towards abuse of power–-is urgently needed.