In today’s news headlines, President Trump has canceled this year’s military parade that he had ordered the Pentagon to hold, citing high costs. He made his opinion known on Twitter as usual, saying, “The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it.” He then added in a separate tweet, “Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!” Jet fighters cost more than $100 million dollars each and Trump’s military parade was projected to cost $92 million.

A day after Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, Mr. Brennan wrote an op-ed in the New York Times entitled, “President Trump’s Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash.” In it, he explained that, “The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of ‘Trump Incorporated’ attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets.”

In an interview on Wednesday Trump directly linked his revocation of Brennan’s security clearance to the Special Counsel’s investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 election, even though his staff a day earlier had simply cited Brennan’s “erratic behavior.” Trump told the Wall Street Journal, “I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham…And these people led it! So I think it’s something that had to be done.” William H. McRaven, a retired Navy Seal who oversaw the military raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post on Thursday saying, “I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.”

The House Oversight Committee’s ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings has demanded an explanation from the White House about the decision to revoke Brennan’s security clearance and wrote to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly inquiring about whether the proper procedures were followed. Several Republican lawmakers including Senator Richard Burr and John Kennedy defended the President.

Democratic leaders on Thursday said they will sue the government if they don’t get access to the documents they have requested on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh served as White House Counsel from 2001 to 2006 under George W. Bush and rather than release the documents from that period to Senate Democrats,

FEATURING JEFF COHEN – The election analysis outlet FiveThirtyEight.com has released its forecast for the midterms this Fall and concluded that the Democratic Party has a 75% chance of taking control of the House of Representatives. With this news surely boosting party leaders, the Democratic National Committee will meet next week in Chicago at a seminal meeting where they decide on the party’s direction.

Already progressives are upset at the party’s reversal of a ban on accepting money from fossil fuel corporations. DNC Chair Tom Perez justified the move using workers rights as a pretext.

My guest Jeff Cohen has just penned an essay saying, “This country needs a serious opposition party that can defeat both corporate power and the GOP. Nothing else will do.”

For more information visit https://democraticautopsy.org and www.rootsaction.org.

Jeff Cohen, media critic, writer and journalism professor who founded the media watch group FAIR, co-founder of Rootsaction.org, Founding Director of Park Center for Independent Media.

FEATURING JESSICA MASON PIEKLO – President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Washington Post this week that the President was willing to fight a potential subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, all the way to the Supreme Court. Giuliani’s threat centers on the Mueller team’s need to interview the President and the strict conditions under which the President’s lawyers will allow such an interview.

The legal threat is especially significant given that Republicans are moving swiftly to try to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by October. With Kavanaugh in place a conservative majority would support Trump in any case that reached the court. That, along with many other critical issues including women’s reproductive rights, immigrant rights, LGBT rights, voting rights, and more, are at stake.

The Republican Party, which stymied President Obama’s right to nominate a justice, are now racing at an unprecedented pace to confirm Kavanagh to the court by October, ahead of the midterms. Party leaders have refused to release reams of documentation to Senate Democrats from Kavanaugh’s tenure during the George W. Bush era. Now, Democrats are remarkably resorting to FOIA requests to get access. The question is, what are Republicans hiding about Kavanaugh?

Read Pieklo’s article with Imani Gandy HERE.

Jessica Mason Pieklo is Vice President of Law and the Courts at Rewire.News. She is a writer and adjunct law professor in Boulder, Colorado. She is the former assistant director of the Health Law Clinic at Hamline Law School in St. Paul, Minnesota and former litigator.

In today’s news headlines hundreds of newspapers around the country have published coordinated op-eds against President Donald Trump’s repeated anti-journalism statements. The effort was led by the Boston Globe whose Thursday morning piece was headlined, “Journalists Are Not The Enemy.” In it the paper’s editors write, “A central pillar of President Trump’s politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather ‘The enemy of the people.’ This relentless assault on the free press has dangerous consequences. We asked editorial boards from around the country – liberal and conservative, large and small – to join us today to address this fundamental threat in their own words.” The New York Times also participated with an op-ed headlined, “A Free Press Needs You.” A total of 300 papers published similar op-eds.

President Trump made good on a recent threat and revoked the security clearance of one of his critics in the intelligence community on Wednesday: former CIA Director John Brennan. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a statement citing Brennan’s “erratic” behavior and “increasingly frenzied commentary,” and accused him of abusing his security clearance to, “make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations.” Brennan shot back on Twitter, “This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics.  It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.” Brennan then shared his reaction with MSNBC. 

According to Associated Press, “Trump says he is reviewing security clearances for nine other individuals: James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr.” All those named are either critics of Trump or are involved in the Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called Trump’s actions a, “stunning abuse of power,” while Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said, “Leaders behave like this in dictatorships, not democracies.”

Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Washington Post that the President was willing to fight a potential subpoena from Special Counsel Mueller, all the way to the Supreme Court. Giuliani’s threat centers on the Mueller team’s need to interview the President and the strict conditions under which the President’s lawyers will allow such an interview. Giuliani told the Washington Post,

FEATURING RON FEIN – A year and a half of Donald Trump’s Presidency is more than most Americans have been able to tolerate. The levels of corruption and overt flouting of the US Constitution, race baiting, demagoguery, misogyny, and more are unprecedented. The US has perhaps never before had such an impeachable President as Trump.

Now a new book written by three veteran constitutional lawyers makes the case that Trump’s impeachment is imperative and that in fact the US Constitution itself demands it.

For more information visit www.impeachmentproject.org.

Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People, and a constitutional lawyer who previously served as Assistant Regional Counsel in the US EPA. He is the co-author with John Bonifaz and Ben Clements or the new book The Constitution Demands It: The Case for The Impeachment of Donald Trump.

FEATURING WILLIAM HARTUNG – The United States is the most heavily armed nation in the entire world with more guns than people. Each year more than 100,000 Americans are shot, many of them fatally. But the US is not just proliferating guns domestically but internationally.

A program under President Obama that boosted arms sales worldwide has gained new steam under President Donald Trump. In fact Trump is requiring American diplomats serving around the world to push weapons sales.

Read Hartung’s article HERE, and www.tomdispatch.com.

William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and a senior adviser to the center’s Security Assistance Monitor. He is also the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex. He writes regularly for Tom Dispatch and his latest piece is called Donald Trump, Gunrunner for Hire: The NRA and the Gun Industry in the Global Stratosphere.

In today’s news headlines primary races took place in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and Connecticut on Tuesday and many progressives won Democratic nominations. In Minnesota Somali American Ilhan Omar won her primary for the seat being vacated by Keith Ellison. If she beats her Republican opponent in November – which is likely in the strongly Democratic district – she would join Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib to become the first Muslim American woman to ever serve in Congress. Mr. Ellison also won his race to become the Democratic nominee for Minnesota Attorney General despite recent allegations about domestic abuse.

In Connecticut, a first-time candidate and former teacher Jahana Hayes won the Democratic nomination for a House seat. If she wins in November, the Washington Post reports that she would be, “the first black woman of either party to represent part of New England in Congress.”

In Wisconsin Randy Bryce who goes by the moniker Ironstache, has won a Democratic nomination for the seat being vacated by House Speaker Paul Ryan. Bryce is an Army veteran who campaigned on his working class roots. He won the endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders and beat his opponent Cathy Myers by 20 percentage points, despite recent negative media coverage about past arrests. He will face Republican Brian Steil in November. Also in Wisconsin Tony Evers won the Democratic nomination for Governor and will face incumbent Scott Walker.

Vermont’s Gubernatorial race made history with transgender candidate Christine Hallquist winning the Democratic nomination. Hallquist was Vermont’s first transgender state lawmaker, and her Tuesday night victory made her the first transgender person ever to be nominated by a major party for the position of governor. If she wins the November race, she would of course also become the nation’s first transgender Governor.

And in Kansas, a long-drawn out vote count for the GOP nomination for Governor has finally come to a close. Incumbent Governor Jeff Colyer has conceded the race to his challenger Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State and rabid anti-voting activist. Trailing behind Kobach by just a few hundred votes Colyer announced his concession saying it was in the best interest of the Republican Party.

In other news, the State of Pennsylvania has released a damning grand jury report about pervasive sexual abuse of children at the hands of Catholic priests. The report covers the period since 1947 in six dioceses. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called it the “largest, most comprehensive report into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church ever produced in the United States.” The report covers not only the sordid details of abuse, and names the priests,

FEATURING KATHARINE GERBNER – White supremacy has seen a major resurgence in the US linked to the political rise of Donald Trump. It is a notion deeply tied to the origins of a country founded on the genocide of indigenous people and the enslavement of Africans.

Now a new book points out that the idea of whiteness as a tangible concept originated from religion – who was allowed to be Christian and free, and especially who was allowed to exercise political power and democratic freedoms, defined the idea of whiteness.

In Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, author Katharine Gerbner traces that history, offering a framework for today’s white supremacist resurgence.

Katharine Gerbner, teaches history at the University of Minnesota, author of Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World.

FEATURING GEETA PERSAD – A firefighter in California has died while battling the record breaking Mendocino Complex Fire – the largest ever fire in recorded history in the state. Six firefighters have now died in the battle against California’s fires. The Mendocino Complex Fire has destroyed hundreds of homes and continues to threaten to engulf thousands more. It is expected to be contained by September 1st and this week’s slightly cooler weather is helping. Dozens more fires continue to burn elsewhere in the state.

Meanwhile Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on Monday during a visit to California’s fire ravaged areas that climate change had nothing to do with the extreme heat driving fires. He told press, “America is better than letting these radical groups control the dialogue about climate change,” referring to environmental organizations that are warning about the deadly impacts of climate change. Zinke recommended active forest management as a means of curtailing fires but environmental groups see this as a giveaway to logging corporations.

Geeta Persad is a senior climate scientist with the Climate & Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In today’s news headlines, a man drove his car into pedestrians and cyclists in a busy London street outside the UK Parliament on Tuesday morning in what authorities are calling a “terrorist” act. The driver of the car drove into barriers after hitting several people and was arrested. So far there are no details about him or his motivation. The London Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu told reporters, “Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident.” It is the second time such an incident took place outside the parliament building. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Twitter, “All Londoners, like me, utterly condemn all acts of terrorism on our city.”

Here in the US an FBI agent named Peter Strzok was fired on Monday over texts that he had sent in 2016 that show disparaging comments about President Donald Trump. Trump and his supporters have pointed to Strzok as proof that the entire Special Counsel investigation into election wrongdoing has been tainted. After Strzok was fired Trump tweeted, “Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction – I just fight back!” According to the New York Times, “Mr. Strzok, who rose over 20 years at the F.B.I. to become one of its most experienced counterintelligence agents, was a key figure in the early months of the inquiry.” Although the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility had recommended Strzok be suspended for 60 days, the Bureau’s Deputy Director decided to fire him instead.

President Trump’s hopes that Special Counsel Robert Muller’s team will be discredited hit a new wall on Monday with a federal judge’s ruling. Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed by Trump himself to the US District Court of Washington DC last year, ruled that Mueller’s inquiry is legitimate and constitutional.

On Tuesday morning, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman continued her publicity blitz for her new tell-all book about Trump called Unhinged by releasing a third recording. On the heels of tapes featuring White House Chief of Staff John Kelly firing her, and a phone call from Trump himself saying he didn’t know about the firing, Manigault-Newman has now released to CBS a tape of Trump’s campaign advisers discussing what to do about the fact that Trump apparently used the N-word during a taping of his reality show The Apprentice. Trump had denied ever using the word but the tape appears to contradict that assertion.

A white man in the shooting death of an African American father of 3 has been charged with manslaughter in Florida. Weeks after Michael Drejka fatally shot Markeis McGlockton in a convenience store parking lot in Clearwater, and was initially not indicted because of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, Pinellas County prosecutors have decided to charge him. McGlockton’s family had initially denounced authorities’ refusal to arrest and charge Drejka. On Monday they lauded the manslaughter charge. Here is family attorney Michele Rayner at a press conference.