FEATURING DAVID ROHDE – For years the term “Deep State” was the purview of fringe activists on the right and left, used to refer to the invisible aspects of governance and policy controlled by America’s vast and powerful intelligence agencies. Since Donald Trump’s presidency, that phrase has entered the mainstream lexicon, primarily because Trump himself uses it to promote the idea that intelligence officials are secretly working behind the scenes to undermine him. 

It doesn’t help that agencies like the FBI and CIA have a sordid and well-documented history of violating rights and pushing the envelope of legality.

David Rohde, two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, executive editor of The New Yorker website and a former Reuters, New York Times, and Christian Science Monitor reporter. He was captured by the Afghan Taliban more than ten years ago and held for many months before escaping and reporting on the war. His new book is called In Deep: The FBI, The CIA, and the Truth about America’s Deep State.

Several health experts testifying to the US Senate on Tuesday warned lawmakers that it was far too soon to reopen businesses contradicting President Donald Trump’s administration and several state governors. Dr. Anthony Fauci in particular stressed the importance of avoiding a second wave of infections until there is a vaccine, saying, “It’s a highly transmissible virus. It is likely there will be virus somewhere on this planet that will likely get back to us.” Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned against actions that could lead to a new spike in coronavirus infections. Associated Press has just obtained a 63-page CDC document which is more detailed than an earlier one that was leaked last week which was an, “organizational tool,” offering “a coordinated national response to give community leaders step-by-step instructions” on how best to open businesses back up. The Trump administration has shelved this and other CDC documents. Meanwhile Democratic lawmaker and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed the US Senate to adopt a resolution calling for the release of the CDC’s guidelines but Republicans blocked the measure. 

Scientists outside the CDC agree that reopening the nation too soon is a big mistake as multiple models predicting the outcome of the pandemic agree that there will likely be 110,000 US deaths from the virus by June. Already Americans are venturing outdoors as elected officials dither on stringent rules or begin to relax existing rules. A New York Times analysis of cell phone data found that, “25 million more people ventured outside their homes on an average day last week than during the preceding six weeks.” Additionally, “In nearly every part of the country, the share of people staying home dropped, in some places by nearly 11 percentage points.” Still, a new poll shows that at least on paper Americans support maintaining social distancing. About two thirds of respondents in a Washington Post poll said they don’t expect to return to normal until at least July. In California where Gov. Gavin Newsom’s early and strict guidelines had earned him praise, the rules are also set to be relaxed. Newsom this week announced that dine-in service can resume at restaurants in certain counties that meet guidelines. In those counties, shopping centers and other retail establishments will also be allowed to reopen. Seven counties have so far qualified including Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer and Shasta counties. Meanwhile the California State University system said its campuses would remain closed through the fall semester.

Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve gave a live digital address...

FEATURING DAVID ADLER – The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the whole world and exposed the common fault lines of neoliberal capitalism and rightwing authoritarianism. This week prominent left figures from all over the world joined together for the launch of a bold new coalition called Progressive International that sees itself as, “an institution for the world’s progressive forces, with a mission to make solidarity more than a slogan.” 

Progressive International was born from a call made two years ago by Janes O’Meara Sanders of the Sanders Institute and Yanis Varoufakis, former Finance Minister of Greece. Council members include such left luminaries as Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, and Naomi Klein, but also Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa and actor Gael Garcia Bernal. 

David Adler, General Coordinator of Progressive International.

FEATURING DANI ANGUIANO – It has been over a year since the deadliest fire ever in California history razed to the ground the town of Paradise. Thousands of people lost their homes, and more than 80 lost their lives in the flames that began to burn on November 8th 2018 in a retirement community in Butte County. 

A new book by two reporters who covered the fire for The Guardian newspaper from the start have told the story of the devastating fire through interviews with hundreds of people.

For more information about the book, visit www.FireinParadiseBook.com.

Dani Anguiano, writer for the Guardian who covered the Paradise Fire, was formerly a reporter for the Chico Enterprise-Record, where she covered Butte County, including Chico and Paradise. She co-author of the new book, “Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy.”

The Senate health committee on Tuesday held a hearing to examine whether it was safe for Americans to return to work and school in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Among those testifying was the nation’s leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been barred by President Donald Trump from testifying to the House because Democrats are in the majority there. During his opening remarks, Fauci warned that if states reopened businesses too soon, “we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.” Also testifying on Tuesday were Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and President Trump’s coronavirus testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir. The hearing was conducted with Fauci, Redfield, and several key Senators joining in via live video conferencing as they self-quarantined at home. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander who was in isolation after one of his staffers tested positive for Covid-19 chaired the meeting and said that the nation’s testing capacity was, “impressive but not nearly enough,” and then warned against “finger pointing,” because, almost every country, “underestimated this virus.” Senator Patty Murrey, who is the ranking Democrat on the committee countered that “Corruption and political interference have impeded efforts to secure desperately needed personal protective equipment and promoted dangerous, unproven treatments.”

Meanwhile House Democrats released a $3 trillion economic stimulus package on Tuesday and expect to pass it along party lines by Friday. The measure includes desperately needed state and local funding. 

As the hearing unfolded, Trump tried hard to distract from the discussions by engaging in spewing angry tweets filled with defensive rants and conspiracy theories. A day earlier he held a press briefing standing in front of victorious sounding banners that read, “America leads the world in testing.” Analysts pointed out that Trump’s claims are flat-out lies and that even during the hearing there was talk of ramping up to the level of per-capita testing that South Korea conducted. South Korea is being held up as a model of how a government successfully tackled the virus. So far the US, a nation of 325 million people, has conducted only 9 million Covid tests. Many other nations have conducted far higher levels of per capita testing. As is his habit now, Trump also clashed with women reporters, including CBS’s Weijia Jiang and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Trump defensively demanded that Jiang “don’t ask me, ask China that question,” when she asked why so many Americans are dying if the US is supposedly leading on testing. The Chinese-born Jiang retorted, “sir why are you saying that to me specifically?” After ignoring another female reporter trying to ask a question Trump stalked off,

FEATURING LES LEOPOLD – The White House abruptly changed its policy on social distancing on Monday, now requiring almost everyone to wear a mask while on its premises after several troubling reports of officials close to the President and Vice President having tested positive for Covid-19. 

After months of downplaying the seriousness of the disease, claiming that it would one day just “vanish” like a “miracle,” the deadly virus has proven scientists right in its pervasiveness. But will that matter to an administration that has made it clear it wishes for reelection at all costs, including the predictable deaths of tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of Americans?

Read Les Leopold’s article ‘President Donald Trump Culls the Herd,’ HERE.

Les Leopold, director of the Labor Institute in New York and author of Runaway Inequality: An Activist’s Guide to Economic Justice. His earlier books include The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It.

FEATURING LUCAS KOERNER – More details have emerged about a bizarre failed attempt to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that originated in the US.  Two Americans, former Green Berets, were captured as part of the plot which was apparently masterminded by a former Special Forces soldier named Jordan Goudreau. 

The Washington Post said the plan, “could double as a screenplay for an episode of ‘Jack Ryan.’” The failed attempt was first reported by the Maduro government but even the US media has ridiculed the attempt. The Trump administration says it has no knowledge of the matter.

Lucas Koerner, Political analyst and editor at Venezuelanalysis.com.

As of Monday, the US death toll from the coronavirus topped 80,000 as per NBC’s latest count. The Washington Post reported just under 80,000.  About 1.3 million Americans have been infected, among them several individuals in the White House’s staff. After one of Trump’s personal valets tested positive last week Katie Miller, a staff member of Vice President Mike Pence’s office who is married to Trump advisor Stephen Miller, also tested positive. One of Ivanka Trump’s assistants also had a positive test. Several people who say they were in contact with the infected individuals have now decided to self-quarantine for 2 weeks including Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert at the White House. According to one report, “several administration officials said White House staffers were encouraged to come into the office by their supervisors, and that aides who travel with [Trump] and [Pence] would not stay out for 14 days, the recommended time frame to quarantine once exposed to the virus.” Few people wear masks while at the White House. Meanwhile, Vice President Pence attended a meeting with food industry executives in Iowa on Friday and before he appeared on stage, all panelists were asked to remove the masks they were wearing. 

President Donald Trump, instead of expressing grief over the mass death toll in the US – which is the largest in the world by far – touted the reopening of his golf club instead. He also spent much of Sunday firing well over one hundred other tweets promoting far right conspiracy theories  and retweeting posts from accounts associated with the shadowy hate group ‘Qanon.’ And he made mentions of something called “Obamagate,” and retweeted an image of himself captioned, “Hope you had fun investigating me. Now it’s My Turn.” Meanwhile in an op-ed in the Washington Post, former Vice President and Presidential candidate Joe Biden wrote, “President Trump is reverting to a familiar strategy of deflecting blame and dividing Americans. His goal is as obvious as it is craven: He hopes to split the country into dueling camps, casting Democrats as doomsayers hoping to keep America grounded and Republicans as freedom fighters trying to liberate the economy.”

The economic fallout from the virus’ spread continues to rise and even the President’s advisers admit that the official unemployment rate could rise to 20% by next month. White House economic advisers Kevin Hassett and Steven Mnuchin in separate interviews on Sunday expressed their concern with Mnuchin saying,

FEATURING CEDRIC KING AND THEA BROOKS – A 25-year old black man was killed in Georgia more than 2 months ago by a white father and his son for seemingly doing little more than going for a run in the suburban neighborhood of Santilla Shores. Now 64-year old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year old son Travis have finally been arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery. 

But those arrests came after Arbery’s family and local activists relentlessly demanded action and after the story of the young runner’s killing drew national headlines. Georgia authorities say there will be no hate crimes charges in a case that has ignited tensions reminiscent of those that swept the nation after Trayvon Martin’s killing in Florida. To honor Ahmaud on his birthday on Friday joggers all over the nation planned to run 2.23 miles to honor the young man under the banner of #IRunWithMaud.

Cedric King, local community leader based in Georgia, Thea Brooks, aunt to Ahmaud Arbery.

NICOLE ASCHOFF – There have been many books written and debates had about the role of digital technology in our lives and society. The discourse is usually focused on whether our unprecedented connectedness is a blessing or a curse. Smart phones in particular – which are akin to mini Internet-enabled computers are now so ubiquitous that they have become indispensable. A new book focusing on how smartphones have changed – or not changed – society and people, explores the this debate through a critical progressive lens. 

Nicole Aschoff, editor-at-large of Jacobin Magazine, where she writes about capitalism, technology and labor. Her earlier book is called The New Prophets of Capital. Her latest book is The Smartphone Society: Technology, Power and Resistance in the New Gilded Age.