Meet Amy Coney Barrett...
48 year old woman from NOLA, mother of 7 (2 adopted from Haiti), Notre Dame law professor, and Trump’s pick to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
Beyond the above, she’s seems to be everything you’d expect to come from someone that Donald Trump would advocate for: deeply Conservative, supportive of gun rights, and against abortion & Obamacare.
Her confirmation hearings will likely begin around mid-October.
Sick & Tired of being Sick & Tired
After nearly 200 days, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced charges last week in relation to the shooting that happened at Breonna Taylor’s apartment in March: Wanton endangerment for former officer Brett Hankison. What does that mean? Hankison will face charges for blindly firing bullets into an adjacent apartment where a man, pregnant woman, and child were asleep. The other two officers involved—one of whom actually fired the shot that killed Breonna—are said to be justified in their use of force. In other words, Breonna’s death (no matter how innocent she was) is acceptable, putting the lives of her neighbors in harm’s way is not. The fact that more and more details are coming out about how Kentucky’s law enforcement attempted to hide the facts doesn’t even matter, because who gon’ check them?
While disappointing, this is in no way surprising. We literally saw it exactly 65 years ago in Mississippi when Emmett Till’s murderers were cleared of all charges brought against them. This country never valued us, so how could they ever determine what justice looks like?
Finally, the Truth
The New York Times got a hold of 45’s taxes and...y’all. Here are the high level deets:
He don’t pay shit in taxes. Donald Trump avoided paying income taxes for many years because he claimed he took massive Ls with his businesses
He couldn't escape paying in 2016 and 2017 though, so he paid $750 each year.
He is $421M in debt and may owe $100M more to the U.S. government after an IRS audit is completed
Many of the business write-offs he claimed are suspect as they appear to be personal payments for the benefit of his children or to benefit his personal lifestyle
The Times claims to have more details in the chamber, but you already know what Trump & his most zealous followers are saying in response: “FAKE NEWS!”
Oh Yeah...
Trump refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election. When asked last week, he said the ballots were a problem and if we got rid of those (if only), there wouldn’t even be a need for a transfer because he’d simply continue being the POTUS.
He’s trying it frfr. However, with the way that he’s always claimed widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the popular vote in 2016 and how he consistently undermines mail-in voting in the midst of the pandemic, him not leaving the White House willingly is no stretch of the imagination.
Congress, What’s Good?
Nope. No new COVID-19 support. For McConnell’s Senate, it was locking down support for a SCOTUS vote before the election. Crushing Democrats’ hopes, Mitt Romney will support voting for the new justice before the election. Meanwhile, the Democrats are still talking about the Republicans’ utter hypocrisy with this issue.
Also, the House has started putting together a smaller Coronavirus package with the hopes of it being more agreeable to the Trump administration.
Here’s a lil snippet of this week's agenda:
Protecting employees and retirees when businesses go bankrupt
The unsustainable cost of pharmaceutical drugs
Coping with the pandemic, racism, climate change all at once
2020 Watch
Trump and Biden will go head to head in their first presidential debate tomorrow. Who you got?
Forever President Barack Obama wants to encourage you to pay just as much attention to down-ballot races as you do to the one for the next Commander-in-Chief. Why? Because these critical elections will determine how your districts are drawn for the next 10 years. He even endorsed a number of candidates in these races. If your state is listed, do check them out, but be sure to do your own research to make sure these candidates are the right ones for you.
Black women get shit done. We all know that as a fact and 61 Black women running for Congress are hoping to convince voters of the same. Of the 61, 48 are Democrats and 13 are Republicans.
Former presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is partnering with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) and paying $16M in legal fees to help 32K felons vote in Florida. For information on how you can be part of this cause, visit the FRRC’s website. The organization is led by a Black man.
Around the Diaspora
Africa as a whole has had a relatively low number of COVID-19 cases. WHO says it's because of a variety of socio-ecological factors including early & strong public health measures taken by governments across the continent. What a concept.
After a recent spike in Coronavirus cases, Guadeloupe, already struggling economically from the pandemic, has had strong restrictions placed on them by France.
Students from Kenya, Cameroon, and other countries across the diaspora are being targeted by the U.S. government for overstaying their visas. The change would only allow students from these countries to secure 2-year visas, effectively preventing them from getting a 4-year degree in the States. Meanwhile, the countries that actually overstay their visas the most can continue to do as they please under the new rule.
Climate change is real and it’s affecting heritage sites across the Motherland.
Getting to the Money
Have you ever thought about how valuable we (Black people) are as internet users? Clture has and they want you to get paid for your data that companies already use for free.
Buying Black
Apple Watches are cool and all, but there’s nothing quite like a classic watch. You know, where you actually had to know how to tell time. If you feel us, check out Savoire Watches. Founded by a Black woman, they have a variety of styles for all.
Culture that Pops
After being cast as Tinkerbell in the live action version of Peter Pan, it’s a must for Yara Shahidi to sprinkle some Black Girl Magic all over Neverland.
Peep this touching mural of Chadwick Boseman completed by a Black artist at Disneyland. It’s still Wakanda Forever for us.
Issa Rae makes another huge business move by becoming the face and co-owner of a natural hair care line.