President Donald Trump invoked his executive privilege on Wednesday over documents requested by the House Oversight and Reform Committee regarding the 2020 Census. Committee chair Elijah Cummings had subpoenaed documents about the Trump administration’s decision making behind including a citizenship question on the next Census but Attorney General William Barr had refused to turn them over. Now, with Trump’s invocation of executive privilege, the DOJ has the legal cover it needs to defy the committee’s subpoena. Mr. Cummings asked, “What is being hidden?” and cited Trump’s move as, “another example of the administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’ constitutionally mandated responsibilities.”

The Oversight and Reform Committee was scheduled to vote to hold Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress on Wednesday morning, but postponed the vote to later in the day. On Tuesday the House voted to authorize committees to sue officials who defy subpoenas. The vote passed 229-191 along party lines. The House Judiciary Committee plans to sue officials over documents related to the Special Counsel’s report on 2016 election wrongdoing. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler acknowledged, “This has not been done before. But neither have we ever seen blanket stonewalling by the administration of all information requests by the House…We must go to court to enforce the subpoenas.”

Two former FBI officials, Robert Anderson and Stephanie Douglas, testified to the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday about their opinions on Robert Mueller’s report. Committee Chair Adam Schiff said this during his opening remarks. According to AP the two ex-FBI leaders that testified said the Mueller report, “showed Russian efforts to vet and test Trump campaign associates, to establish back channels of communications and to spread their contacts around in hopes of maximizing their chances of getting what they wanted.” Mr. Anderson said, “It is an absolute classic tradecraft of Russia and Russian intelligence services. They’ll never have one point of failure.”

Meanwhile the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr. testified behind closed doors to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday – the second time his presence was requested. When asked if he was concerned that Democrats might accuse him of perjury during a previous testimony, Trump Jr. said he was “not at all” worried and that there was, “nothing to change” about his testimony.

The watchdog agency at the US Health and Human Services issued a scathing report on Wednesday drawing attention to thousands of cases of neglect or abuse of seniors on Medicare at nursing homes that went unreported. According to AP, “in 2016 about 6,600 cases reflected potential neglect or abuse that was not reported as required. Nearly 6,200 patients were affected.

FEATURING KATHRYN HAMPTON – While the Trump Administration is lauding its success in strong arming Mexico to militarize its response to northward migration, there is no acknowledgement on the government’s part to understand what drives migrants to the US, or how poorly the US treats them when they are here.

Two new reports by Physicians for Human Rights attempts to shed light on these untold parts of the story. First, “There Is No One Here to Protect You: Trauma Among Children Fleeing Violence in Central America,” is a report detailing the horrific violence that children face in countries like Honduras and El Salvador. Second, “Not in My Exam Room: How U.S. Immigration Enforcement Is Obstructing Medical Care,” is a report highlighting what the New York Times and other outlets have begun reporting on – how Border Patrol and other immigration enforcement authorities are endangering migrant patients receiving healthcare.

Here’s the report “There Is No One Here to Protect You: Trauma Among Children Fleeing Violence in Central America” and the policy brief: “Not in My Exam Room: How U.S. Immigration Enforcement Is Obstructing Medical Care.”

Kathryn Hampton coordinates the Asylum Network Program at Physicians for Human Rights. The Asylum Network Program is an initiative that recruits, trains, and supports a network of clinicians to provide forensic evaluations for asylum seekers and to advocate for human rights-based immigration policies.

FEATURING CONNIE HUYHN – Activists demanding Medicare-for-All disrupted the annual meeting of the American Medical Association on Saturday in Chicago. Dozens of members of groups like People’s Action filed in to the conference as the opening session began. They conducted a die-in, shared their heartbreaking stories of being unable to access proper medical care, and demanded that the nation’s leading physician’s group support the call for Medicare-for-All.

The AMA has aligned itself with an anti-Medicare-for-All lobbying group called Partnership for America’s Healthcare Future, a group that has spent more than $100 million in propaganda efforts to undermine Medicare-for-All despite its growing popularity.

Connie Huynh, Health Care for All campaign director with People’s Action.

New details have emerged in how Mexico has accepted President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to militarize its response to refugees in exchange for no tariffs. In a report on Tuesday based on internal documents and government officials, the Washington Post explained that the US-Mexico agreement includes, “the deployment of a militarized national guard at the Guatemalan border, thousands of additional migrant arrests per week and the acceptance of busloads of asylum seekers turned away from the U.S. border daily, all geared toward cutting the migrant flow sharply in coming weeks.” Trump had been angry-tweeting at critics of his deal since it was first announced. In remarks to reporters on Tuesday morning about his deal with Mexico over migrants. Meanwhile, in what appears to be a direct response to Trump’s aggression, Mexico’s government arrested two activists with the group Pueblo Sin Fronteras for their role in organizing the migrant caravans from Central America. Cristobal Sanchez and Irineo Mujica were arrested and flown to Chiapas to face trial in charges of illegally transporting migrants for money. Here in the US, an activist named Scott Warren was arrested and charged some weeks ago in a similar case of helping migrants.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden is in Iowa on Tuesday to give an address, just days after skipping out on a major candidates forum over the weekend. In remarks released to the press hours earlier, Biden is planning on shaping his Iowa speech around Trump and his political agenda and by coincidence Mr. Trump is also in Iowa on the same day addressing a Republican gathering. Biden will reportedly criticize Trump’s tariffs saying, “Trump doesn’t get the basics,” and that, “He thinks his tariffs are being paid by China…Any beginning econ student at Iowa or Iowa State could tell you that the American people are paying his tariffs. The cashiers at Target see what’s going on. They know more about economics than Trump.” Biden also plans to defend the Affordable Care Act, saying, “If I become the nominee of this party, I’m going to give Trump a thrashing every day on health care.” Most crucially according to his written remarks Biden will say, “I believe Trump is an existential threat to America…Everywhere you turn, Trump is tearing down the guardrails of democracy.” A day earlier Biden had claimed that after 8 years of Trump Republicans would “know better,” and would be more cooperative with Democrats after his Presidency ends.

Vice President Mike Pence confirmed in an interview on NBC on Monday that US embassies around the world were barred from flying the gay pride flag during Pride Month. He said it was the “right decision.”

FEATURING AMIE WILLIAMS, SHAFI, KARIME, and ADELE QIAS – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras is under pressure to hold snap elections after his Syriza party lost big in recent Parliamentary elections. Although Tspiras’s term ends in October, he is hoping snap elections will salvage some political power before then. Among the issues at stake is the fate of refugees who have become political scapegoats in European nations like Greece.

Today we go to Athens for a special report on Afghan refugees in Greece.

Amie Williams, journalist and filmmaker, Shafi Qias, clothing designer, refugee from Afghanistan, Karime Qias, aspiring poet and filmmaker, refugee from Afghanistan, Adele Qias, high school student, refugee from Afghanistan

Watch the short film Under the Lemon Tree:

UNDER THE LEMON TREE from GlobalGirl Media on Vimeo.

Find out more about the crowdfunding efforts of the Qias sisters to secure a home for themselves: https://gogetfunding.com/a-home-in-athens-♡-♡-♡/

Sign Amnesty’s petition for women refugees in Greece: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2018/10/refugee-women-in-greece/#tendemands

President Donald Trump has declared victory on his deal with Mexico to curb the number of Central American migrants entering the US using tariffs as leverage. On Friday the Mexican government announced that it would be taking “strong measures” on curbing migration northward including deploying thousands of troops to its southern border and allowing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their applications are being processed. But critics pointed out that both those measures were already in the works before Trump’s threatened 5% tariffs on Mexican goods. Other measures in the US-Mexico deal remain under wraps with Trump tweeting on Monday morning, “We have fully signed and documented another very important part of the Immigration and Security deal with Mexico, one that the U.S. has been asking about getting for many years. It will be revealed in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico’s Legislative body!” He added, “We do not anticipate a problem with the vote but, if for any reason the approval is not forthcoming, Tariffs will be reinstated!”

Trump, angry about the criticism he has faced over his handling of Mexico and also separately, China, called in to CNBC on Monday responding to criticism about his use of tariffs as a political weapon.

In other immigration news, the New York Times on Monday reported the accounts of doctors who have described the dehumanizing conditions under which Border Patrol agents are keeping detained migrants – especially those needing medical care. Centering around the story of a pregnant woman who was receiving treatment at a hospital, the paper pointed out that, “agents remained in the obstetrics ward night and day as physicians worked to halt her labor. They were present during her medical examinations, listened in on conversations with doctors and watched her ultrasounds…They kept the television on loud, interfering with her sleep. When agents began pressing the medical staff to discharge the woman to an immigration detention facility, the doctors took action.” Doctors, who are unsure of what their rights are, or their patients rights are, are claiming that Border Patrol agents are endangering their patients’ care by treating them as dangerous felons.

Meanwhile California will become the first state in the nation to cover health benefits for some undocumented immigrants. In a vote on Sunday lawmakers voted to spend $213 billion in state and federal funding on allowing low-income undocumented Californians between the ages of 19 and 25 to access Medicaid. That group is estimated to be about 90,000 strong. Although lawmakers wanted undocumented seniors to also be able to access Medicaid, Gov. Gavin Newsom argued against it saying it would cost the state too much. And, in New York a new poll released Monday found that that state’s residents oppose allowing undocumented immigrants from being eligible for drivers’ licenses.

FEATURING SUKETU MEHTA – The New York Times recently published a provocative op-ed entitled “Why Should Immigrants Respect Our Borders? The West Never Respected Theirs.” In it, author Suketu Mehta speculated that perhaps immigration quotes should be based on how badly the host country has destroyed a refugee’s nation.

Suketu Mehta has a new book out called This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto.

Suketu Mehta is the author of Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found which won several awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His work has been published in New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Granta, Harper’s Magazine, and more. He is an associate professor of journalism at New York University and his latest book is called This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto

FEATURING REBECCA GORDON – As President Trump during his recent visit to Normandy, France, enjoyed his photo-ops with military veterans, news reports did not mention his recent plan to pardon US service members that have been convicted of war crimes. Indeed Trump appears to have backed off at least temporarily from pardoning several people whose conduct in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars of the past two decades was so egregious that even vets and the military establishment were aghast.

But perhaps we should not be surprised in the least given Trump’s tenuous relationships to laws and morality. After all he himself faces the strong likelihood of criminal prosecution after leaving office.

Read Rebecca’s latest piece on Tom Dispatch entitled ‘Clemency for the Lowly: Free Passes for the Mighty,’ HERE. Also, find more about her book at https://mainstreamingtorture.org.

Rebecca Gordon is the author of Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States. She teaches in the philosophy department at the University of San Francisco and is a member of the War Times/Tiempo de Guerras collective. Her latest piece was published by Tom Dispatch entitled Clemency for the Lowly: Free Passes for the Mighty.

FEATURING BILL KURNIZKI AND GERARD UNGERMAN – It has been more than 6 months since California’s deadliest wildfire devastated the small town of Paradise and killed 85 people. Hundreds of evacuees from that fire fled to neighboring Chico where the homeless population multiplied as a result.

Now, an advocacy organization that has been housing people for a number of years are hoping to build a small village where dozens of homeless people can resettle. Overcoming multiple obstacles, the Chico Housing Action Team now has the official go-ahead from their city council to begin building Simplicity Village. All that is needed is funding.

To donate, visit https://www.gofundme.com/chat-simplicity-village.

Bill Kurnizki, board president of the Chico Housing Action Team (CHAT), Gerard Ungerman, documentary filmmaker who has been following CHAT’s efforts.

The White House has said that President Donald Trump could change his mind on tariffs aimed at Mexico over the weekend. Trump, who has just returned from a week long trip to the UK and Europe, angered lawmakers including his own Republican colleagues with the surprise unilateral announcement of using tariffs as a way to threaten Mexico into preventing Central American migrants and refugees from entering the US. Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence spoke to reporters on Friday about negotiations between the two nations saying, “I think that there is the ability, if negotiations continue to go well, that the president can turn that off at some point over the weekend.” Kevin Hassett, White House Chief Economic Advisor also addressed reporters attempting to explain the President’s thinking. Meanwhile Mexico’s foreign minister announced on Thursday that his nation plans to deploy its National Guard to the southern Mexican border with Guatemala as part of its effort to stem the flow of refugees from Central America.

The Jobs report for the month of May was just released and the figures are far less rosy than expected. The US economy added only 75,000 jobs in May, a huge drop from the 224,000 added in April. The Washington Post explained that, “Manufacturing and construction saw anemic job growth in May with fewer than 5,000 jobs added in each sector, one of the clearest signs that Trump’s tariffs are having a negative impact on blue-collar sectors the president has been trying to boost.” There are reports that investors are now looking to the Federal Reserve to ease the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs by reducing interest rates. The irony is that Trump has denigrated the Federal Reserve for months but it may now be the agency that can salvage the economy from his actions – despite the fact that it would be highly unusual for the Fed to respond to specific Presidential actions.

Trump and his family are coming under fire for their vacation-like jaunt to the UK and Europe this week that was conducted at taxpayer expense but seemed optimized to promote Trump’s businesses on the continent. Trump took all four of his adult children with him who also happen to run his various real estate and resort businesses. The Trump children Instagrammed their fun, blurring the line between official business and a business/pleasure trip.

President Trump’s ego appears to have suffered a deep bruise at reports of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she wanted to see him in prison after being prosecuted for his crimes after leaving office. The man who popularized chants of “lock her up” aimed at Hillary Clinton lashed out at the Ho...