Crooked Media - What A Day: Marry-wealthy Antoinette

Millions of jobless, uninsured Americans will topple over a financial cliff when federal benefits expire at the end of July, but the White House has a fresh new message to put their fears to bed: “Find Something New.” (Really.)
 

• A new analysis from Families USA found that 5.4 million workers lost their health insurance between February and May. Over those few months, more Americans became uninsured as a result of job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year. A separate study by Kaiser Family Foundation, taking into account workers’ families, estimated that some 27 million Americans have lost their health insurance at the worst possible moment.  
   
• Meanwhile, the enhanced federal unemployment benefits those families have relied on are set to expire in just two weeks. Around 32 percent of U.S. households missed their July housing payment, and a mind-boggling 20-million renters are at risk of eviction by September. Against that backdrop, Senior Daughter Ivanka Trump unveiled a new White House ad campaign advising the unemployed, uninsured, housing-insecure masses to “find something new.” For example, if you have lost your job at a restaurant, why not try being born to a wealthy real estate developer? :)
   
• Congress is now scrambling to pass another coronavirus-relief bill before the August recess, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s prepared to delay. Some Trump administration officials have signaled they’re open to a narrow extension of federal unemployment—potentially cutting the $600 per week to between $200 and $400—but the centerpieces of Republicans’ $1.3 trillion plan are expected to be financial incentives to pressure schools to reopen, and liability protections to shield employers from accountability for exposing workers to COVID-19. 

In the latest Shady Coronavirus Hijinks, we’ve got good news and...the other kind.
 

• The Trump administration has walked back its policy that would have stripped international students of their visas if their schools only offered online courses in the fall, after a number of colleges and states filed suit in court. It’s not immediately clear if the Department of Homeland Security intends to drop the plan entirely or put out a less extreme version, but over one-million foreign students in the U.S. can relax for now.
   
• Everyone else, go ahead and stay tense (sorry). The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to cut the CDC out of their coronavirus data reporting process, and instead send all patient data to Health and Human Services. HHS quietly posted that change on its website this week, and has alarmed public health experts who worry that it’s part of another effort by the administration to distort COVID-19 infection and mortality data for political gain. 

Americans are facing down public-health and economic crises with no end in sight, and one of their only lifelines could disappear in a matter of days. It’s not like nobody saw this coming: House Democrats passed a $3 trillion relief bill a full two months ago. If you’re able to give, the only way out of this hole is to ensure Mitch McConnell is never in a position to block critical aid again. 

Instead of turning to our unreliable president for advice during this pandemic, these TV presidents have stepped in to give us a hand. Check out our new coronavirus PSA (featured on People dot com) with Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), Bellamy Young (Scandal), Robin Wright (House of Cards), Gary Cole (The West Wing, Veep) and Anthony Atamanuik (The President Show) → youtube.com/crookedmedia

And here's a handy link to the Coronavirus Relief Fund, if you're in a positive to give.

Joe Biden released an ambitious, $2 trillion climate plan, built around investing in clean energy and rebuilding infrastructure. The proposal is the second plank of Biden’s economic-recovery agenda. It includes the progressive goals of achieving a carbon-free energy sector by 2035, upgrading four-million buildings over four years, and shifting major cities toward public transportation. Biden linked environmental advocacy to both new job creation and racial justice, and made explicit mention of tribal communities. The plan is a substantial expansion of his initial proposal to spend $1.7 trillion on climate policies over ten years, and a heartening sign that he means to adopt a unity platform that progressives can genuinely embrace.

• The U.S. carried out its first federal execution in 17 years, after the Supreme Court rejected a last minute legal challenge. Daniel Lewis Lee was executed for his 1996 murder of an Arkansas family. He was strapped to a gurney for hours until the legal challenges were resolved, then executed quickly and without his counsel present, all of which Attorney General Bill Barr claimed he ordered in the name of “justice,” in spite of the victims’ family having pleaded for a delay. 
   
• A Michigan teenager was incarcerated during the pandemic for not completing her online coursework, which a judge ruled violated her probation.
   
• Orange County, CA, leaders approved a plan to send kids back to school without mandatory masks or social distancing. This decision brought to you by the county that recently chased a health official out of her job with death threats for implementing a mask mandate.
   
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is FINE so don’t FREAK OUT but she is also in the hospital for treatment of a possible infection.
   
• Joe Biden said he may be open to eliminating the filibuster, if Republicans stay being Republicans: “It’s going to depend on how obstreperous they become.”
   
• Navy sailors continued to battle a fire on a warship in San Diego. All 59 people who were injured were released from area hospitals by Monday afternoon.
   
• Republicans are now planning to move their national convention to an outdoor venue, after moving it to a whole other state so they could give Trump a packed indoor crowd. Third state’s the charm!
   
• New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss has left the paper, publishing an open letter of resignation on her website that cites an “illiberal environment” and “bullying by colleagues.” It's almost too bad, blaming cancel culture for quitting your own job would've made a great Times op-ed.
   
• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro invited the press over to whine about his quarantine and got bitten by an emu. Brazilian emus...bem-vindo à resistência.

The Trump administration began rolling back nursing-home regulations well before the pandemic. An estimated 45 percent of all Americans who’d died of coronavirus as of June 29 were residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities. Congregate living tends to be conducive to the spread of contagious diseases, including COVID-19, and the Trump administration’s decision to reduce fines for nursing-home violations has increased that vulnerability. That, in turn, was the result of heavy lobbying by the nursing-home industry, which has urged Trump to reverse Obama administration initiatives. Most of Trump’s proposed changes have yet to be implemented, and would further ease infection-control regulations if they go into effect, putting residents at still-greater risk. 

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Moderna’s potential coronavirus vaccine was found to induce immune responses in all of the volunteers who received it in an early clinical trial. 

Fifteen states and Washington, DC, announced an agreement aiming to make all new truck and bus sales emission-free by 2050.

Eleven professional sports teams in Southern California have launched a new social-justice initiative aimed at providing more resources for underserved Black kids. 

Wisconsin Democrats raised $10 million in the span of three months, the state party's best quarter on record.