Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of <keyword id="9095853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="insider-today">Insider Today</keyword>. Please <a href="https://www.insider.com/insider-today">sign up here</a>.QUOTE OF THE DAY"They came to Oakland to kill cops," — John F. Bennett, the special agent in charge of the FBI in San Francisco, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steven-carrillo-charged-with-killing-officers-boogaloo-movement-2020-6">referring to the two far-right "Boogaloo boys" charged yesterday </a>in last month's murder of a federal officer. The accused men, one an Air Force staff sergeant, apparently used the George Floyd demonstrations as cover for their violence.<h2>WHAT'S HAPPENING</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-china-india-border-clashes-foreshadow-more-intense-competition-2020-6">The most dangerous place in the world is the India-China border:</a> Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country could give a "befitting reply" after a skirmish in the Himalayas in which Chinese soldiers killed 20 Indian soldiers using rocks, fists, and nail-studded clubs. The two countries have squabbled about the border for 60 years, but both countries have become more aggressive in recent months. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-section-230-protections-facebook-twitter-trump-report-2020-6">The Justice Department is preparing a bill that would weaken Section 230. </a>President Trump wants to punish Facebook and Twitter by weakening the provision that protects them and other platforms from liability for content published on them. It would need to pass Congress. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aunt-jemima-is-changing-its-name-mascot-over-racial-stereotype-2020-6">Aunt Jemima will change its name and its mascot. </a>PepsiCo acknowledged that the <keyword id="5183270" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aunt-Jemima">Aunt Jemima</keyword> character is rooted in minstrelsy and racial stereotyping. Uncle Ben's corporate owner, Mars, is under pressure to do the same. <h2>BLODGET &amp; PLOTZ</h2><div type="image" title="Tennessee restaurant reopening coronavirus" height="1250" width="2500" msid="76432791" hostid="261"></div>A simple plan for mitigating — but not stopping — the pandemic.Yesterday my pal Blodget <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-george-floyd-protests-have-become-five-different-movements-2020-6">bemoaned</a> that the US <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> response is a disgrace. I agree. Of course it is. But he's crying over spilt milk. The real question is: Now what? Caseloads are rising across the US. So what do we do? It's trendy to say "we've learned nothing" from the past three months. But we've actually learned a lot that we can apply to this stage of the crisis. We've learned that: <ul><li>The president and his administration are incapable of helping, and are even happy to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-rally-tulsa-indoor-arena-super-spreader-event-2020-6"> promote viral spread with mass indoor rallies</a>. </li><li>The vaunted federal government, which has the most expensive health and research infrastructure ever built, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/why-americas-institutions-are-failing/613078/">is slow, bad, and disorganized</a>.</li><li>And most importantly, Americans have run out of patience with lockdowns, and don't want to hear expert advice unless it's clear and persuasive.</li></ul>Given these three essential facts, what do we do? First, accept that Americans — or at least enough of them to determine the fate for all of us — won't go back into a strict lockdown. Second, stop hoping to be rescued by contract-tracing and isolation. We missed our chance to build that capacity, and there are too many cases in most states for it to douse the outbreak now. (Though it could help limit outbreaks in defined areas with smaller caseloads.)But now the good part! We can still move into a focused mitigation strategy. We have also learned that: <ul><li>outside is much safer than inside; </li><li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/17/masks-salons-missouri/">masking makes a huge difference</a>; </li><li>distancing helps too;</li><li>talky gatherings and densely populated buildings super-spread the virus;</li><li><keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> particularly endangers people with certain underlying medical conditions. </li></ul>These five points are simple, and Americans can mostly abide by them without destroying their lives. States, local governments, and big companies can band together on a public awareness campaign that makes these five points — and critically — urges Americans to go out and live their lives while keeping them in mind. The campaign shouldn't take the form of government order or even threat. It should come as friendly encouragement from trusted people in the community. Even if this works, it won't quench the virus. We've lost that battle. But it will reduce suffering and death, which is the best we can hope for. — DPYes! No more lockdowns. But we can't do nothing…<div type="image" title="trump coronavirus" height="512" width="1024" msid="76432793" hostid="261"></div>My friend Plotz (above) is sort of right. Bemoaning the US's disgraceful and incompetent response to the coronavirus is mostly crying over spilt milk. But it's also about grabbing the toppled carton before the rest of the milk pours out.A robust national testing, contract-tracing, and isolation plan would still help the US get the coronavirus under control. At a minimum, increased Federal funding for states to build these capabilities would help.More importantly, the federal government, and Trump, should issue strong and repeated warnings about the riskiest behaviors and places, and strongly encourage Americans to wear masks and maintain social distancing when engaging in these behaviors.Specifically, the government and Trump should warn again and again that most coronavirus transmission occurs in crowded indoor spaces with talking, singing, or other heavy breathing and prolonged exposure to others. Trump should of course cancel his reckless indoor rally this weekend, which will likely cause spread — in part because the president's refusal to wear a mask will encourage his MAGA fans not to wear masks. The fans' cultish chanting — "Lock her up! Lock her up!" — will fill the air with respiratory droplets that will be eagerly breathed in by those inhaling for the next chant. Based on previous super-spreader events, one or a few enthusiastic "virus shedders" at the rally could potentially infect dozens or even hundreds of others. (Skeptical? Please recall that a Champions League soccer game in Milan, Italy, in March is thought to have been <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2020/03/25/spread-of-virus-linked-to-champions-league-match/">a super-spreader event that accelerated the virus's attack on Bergamo province</a>. 40,000 people packed into stands screaming at each other for over 2 hours, and, within a week, many were sick. One respiratory specialist described the event as a "biological bomb.")Also, Trump, Pence, and team should stop denying the coronavirus resurgence and stop saying things that insult Americans' intelligence — such as Trump's remark this week that "if we stopped testing right now, we'd have few cases." We'll have the cases whether or not we confirm them with tests. And the cases will kill some people and seriously sicken others regardless of whether we know for certain what the cause is. (As an aside, many people assume Trump says things like this because he's stupid. I respectfully disagree. I think he says them because he thinks we're stupid.)In short, there's a lot we and our government can do to get the coronavirus under control, even without reimposing "lockdowns." If the coronavirus continues to surge, our economy and freedom will be kneecapped with or without a lockdown. So, instead of pretending the coronavirus no longer exists, we should acknowledge reality, and take smart, simple steps (mask-wearing and distancing) to protect ourselves and our communities. — HBWhat we shouldn't do, meanwhile, is celebrate the end of quarantine with drinks at a bar…<div type="image" title="wisconsin bar crowd lockdown" height="1250" width="2500" msid="76432796" hostid="261"></div>A 40-year old healthcare worker and her friends in Jacksonville, Florida, celebrated the end of quarantine with an evening at "Lynch's Irish Pub" on June 6th. Two weeks later, <a href="https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/06/15/woman-15-friends-test-positive-for-coronavirus-after-night-out-at-lynchs/">16 of them have the coronavirus</a>.Lynch's was the only place their paths crossed, the healthcare worker said, so there's not much doubt about where they caught the virus or spread it to each other.This experience underscores the riskiest coronavirus behavior: Being in a crowded indoor space for a prolonged period with talking or singing without wearing a mask."I think we were careless and we went out into a public place when we should not have. And we were not wearing masks. I think we had a whole 'Out of sight, out of mind' mentality. The state opens back up and said everybody was fine, so we took advantage of that," News4Jax quotes the healthcare worker as saying. "We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing. It was too soon to open everything back up." — DPDC Statehood is a great but doomed cause. Here's a better idea. <div type="image" title="House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, left, arrive for a news conference on D.C. statehood on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)" height="1592" width="3183" msid="76432800" hostid="261"></div>House Democrats will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/politics/washington-dc-statehood-vote-house.html">vote next week to make the District of Columbia a state</a>. This is a righteous cause. It's shocking that 705,000 Americans live within our national borders, pay taxes, and lack representation in Congress. But it's also hopeless. As long as Republicans hold 40 senate seats, they'll never permit DC statehood, which would give Democrats two certain senate seats and a house seat. Democrats are making the perfect the enemy of the good, because there's a reasonable solution to DC disenfranchisement that Republicans might accept: "retrocession." DC was carved out of Maryland and Virginia, and in the 19th century, the southern chunk was "retroceded" back to Virginia. (It's now Arlington County, one of the most prosperous places on the planet.) Retrocession would return the rest of the city back to Maryland. Maryland's population would grow, giving it a new congressional district. Washingtonians would vote for a member of Congress and for Maryland's senators, and choose a governor and state legislators. The US would still have 50 states, and the Senate balance wouldn't change because Maryland reliably elects Democrats. Retrocession is not as sexy as statehood. It would weaken the power of DC's current mayor and council, and would dilute DC into Maryland. A lot of proud Washingtonians (and I'm a lifelong one!) would bristle at becoming Marylanders. But retrocession would end the injustice. It would make Washingtonians full American citizens. (No time to hit a much larger issue, which is that the US would be better off with a bunch more states — DC and Puerto Rico, but also a divided-up California and Texas. The fact that the obvious next two states — DC and Puerto Rico — are Democratic stalls us at 50. Republicans would only go for it if they got states in return.) — DP<h2>OBSESSION OF THE DAY</h2> Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or, as some now call it, the Capitol Hill Organized Protest<div type="image" title="Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" height="512" width="1024" msid="76432804" hostid="261"></div>Seemingly every media outlet in the country is reporting from the tiny, police-free neighborhood in downtown Seattle. Today alone brings big stories in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/16/this-seattle-protest-zone-is-police-free-so-volunteers-are-stepping-up-provide-security/">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/6/16/21292723/chaz-seattle-police-free-neighborhood">Vox</a>, and <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/06/seattle-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-occupied-protest.html">Slate</a>, not to mention endless on-the-scene coverage on cable news. (Fox News, naturally, said its correspondent was reporting from the "US-CHAZ border.")Utopias are alluring: How wonderful, how scary to live outside the dreary, mundane constraints of regular life! And CHAZ arrives at a time — pandemic, protests, economic depression — when regular order has collapsed. Of course we want to hear about it. The frustrating part about CHAZ is that it probably won't last long enough to be a real experiment. Cops are back inside their abandoned precinct house. It's hard to imagine the police taking CHAZ back by force, but there will almost certainly be some kind of gentle return to city rule. Which is a shame: It would be great to see how a small, self-policing community handled property crime, violent crime, and public services. The rest of us would learn something. — DP<h2>OTHER NEWS</h2><div type="image" title="Obama doctors Obamacare" height="1000" width="2000" msid="76432808" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/details-of-house-democrats-bill-to-build-on-aca-obamacare-2020-6">House Democrats are preparing a bill to strengthen Obamacare.</a> It will surely fail in the Senate, but is intended to boost Democrats going into the election. It would strengthen Medicaid and limit junky short-term insurance plans.<h2>BUSINESS &amp; ECONOMY</h2><div type="image" title="facebook mark zuckerberg" height="750" width="1500" msid="76432811" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zuckerberg-facebook-will-allow-users-to-turn-off-political-ads-2020-6">Facebook will now allow users to turn off political ads.</a> But it still won't take down or flag ads that are dishonest.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/att-layoffs-thousands-jobs-cut-covid-19-june-2020-6">AT&amp;T is laying off 3,400 workers and closing 250 stores. </a>It's driven by the pandemic, of course.LIFE<div type="image" title="Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, passes while under pressure from Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)" height="2016" width="4032" msid="76432814" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.insider.com/what-nba-bubble-disney-players-looks-like-2020-6">What it's going be like inside the NBA's Disney World bubble. </a>Daily COVID tests, alarms the beep when someone's closer than 6 feet for five seconds, no room visitors, movie screenings and lawn games. Oh, and the better teams get to stay in the nicer hotels. <a href="https://www.insider.com/elon-musk-grimes-baby-birth-certificate-legally-named-xaea-xii-2020-6">The Musk/Grimes baby really is named X AE A-XII. </a>TMZ got hold of the birth certificate. <h2>THE BIG 3*</h2><div type="image" title="Neon fashion" height="922" width="1845" msid="76432822" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-falsely-claims-obama-never-even-tried-to-reform-police-2020-6">Trump falsely claims Obama "never even tried" to reform policing.</a> It's especially ludicrous since Trump himself rolled back Obama's reforms. <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-are-health-risks-plane-air-travel-2020-6">How to fly safely during the pandemic.</a> Frequent handwashing, wiping down the tray table, wearing a mask, and having the vent above you blow air down can help reduce risk.<a href="https://www.insider.com/popular-fashion-summer-trends-to-try-2020-6">19 fashion trends that will be popular this summer.</a> Trench coats, short suits, and neon? *The most popular stories on Insider today.YOUR LETTERSOn our view that the protests now encompass five separate issues...I have to disagree that the protests, or as you choose to call them "the George Floyd protests" are five separate protests. These protests are a culmination of the anger over multiple injustices perpetrated on people of color. The trigger was George Floyd's death, but it is all about one thing — gross injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't march just to end Jim Crow laws. He marched for the rights, as stated in the Constitution, of all (wo)men. So, fixing one thing is not enough. They have to ALL be fixed in order to have ... order, justice, equality, parity, and right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone in this country.— Lydia Sugarman

A simple plan for mitigating (but not trying to stop) the pandemic

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In a June 10 letter, Senate Democrats call on the FBI and the director of national intelligence to release "any information" that would support President Trump's claim that "professional anarchists" are behind recent civil unrest.</li><li>"These claims are highly inflammatory," the senators write. "They also appear intended to frame the legitimate peaceful protests taking place around the country as terrorist threats in order to justify unnecessary federal, even military, intervention, and the excessive use of force."</li><li>The letter comes as <keyword id="3828720" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="President-Donald-Trump">President Donald Trump</keyword> has stepped up his claims that "anarchists" and "<keyword id="5002721" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="antifa">antifa</keyword>" are behind the protests. "These ugly Anarchists must be stooped," he tweeted Wednesday.</li></ul>Senate Democrats are asking top intelligence and law enforcement officials to provide evidence, if it exists, to support US President Donald Trump's claim that "professional anarchists" are behind civil unrest.On June 1, Trump gave a speech from the White House <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-trump-mobilize-federal-resources-stop-violence-restore/story?id=71008802">asserting that</a>, "In recent days, our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa, and others."While claiming that he is an "ally of all peaceful protesters," Trump has also falsely claimed that a 75-year-old man who was assaulted by police in Buffalo, New York, was an "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martin-gugino-antifa-oann-conspiracy-trump-twitter-2020-6">antifa provocateur</a>," suggesting he sees protests and increasingly uncommon looting as not so dissimilar.In a <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sens-schumer-feinstein-and-warner-call-on-fbi-director-wray-and-dni-ratcliffe-to-publicly-release-any-information-supporting-president-trumps-inflammatory-claims-related-to-protests-against-the-police-killing-of-george-floyd-senate-dems-say-presidents-unsubstantiated-claims-appear-intended-to-justify-wrongful-use-of-military-intervention-and-excessive-force-against-peaceful-protests">June 10 letter</a>, three Senate Democrats call for the release "any information" that would support Trump's claims. The letter, signed by Senate Minority Leader <keyword id="258734" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chuck-Schumer">Chuck Schumer</keyword>, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member <keyword id="199228" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dianne-Feinstein">Dianne Feinstein</keyword>, and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chairman <keyword id="250652" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Warner">Mark Warner</keyword>, is addressed to Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and John Ratcliffe, director of national intelligence."These claims are highly inflammatory," the senators wrote. "They also appear intended to frame the legitimate peaceful protests taking place around the country as terrorist threats in order to justify unnecessary federal, even military, intervention and the excessive use of force."While some on the radical left are indeed taking part in protests, according to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-no-intelligence-antifa-weekend-violence-george-floyd-protests-2020-6">report from The Nation,</a> the FBI has "no intelligence" linking "antifa" to the weekend of destruction at the offset of the protests. And while an increasingly common bugaboo on Fox <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">News</keyword>, which the president is known to watch regularly, "antifa," or anti-fascism, is not an organization but a loosely defined ethos. On Wednesday, Trump again conflated peaceful protests with violence, tweeting that "Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle," an apparent reference to the Capitol Hill neighborhood of the progressive city, where activists recently declared several blocks an "<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/welcome-to-the-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-where-seattle-protesters-gather-without-police/">autonomous zone</a>" free of police."These ugly Anarchists must be stooped," he said in another post.Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

Senate Democrats demand evidence from intelligence officials for Trump's 'inflammatory' claim that 'professional anarchists' are behind George Floyd protests

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President Donald Trump tweeted Friday what appears to be a threat of harsh treatment for people who might protest in Oklahoma, where he has a campaign rally planned for the weekend. </li><li>He warned "protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes" that they would find a "much different" scene to New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. </li><li>Those Democratic-controlled cities have brokered a more cooperative stance between protesters and police as <keyword id="2771111" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-lives-matter">Black Lives Matter</keyword> activism continues — though not without violent clashes.</li><li>Trump has repeatedly spoken harshly of protesters at his rallies. At a 2016 rally, he memorably praised authorities who treated protesters "very, very rough."</li></ul><keyword id="3825603" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="president-trump">President Trump</keyword> has tweeted to protesters and "lowlifes" ahead of hia Saturday rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, promising "a much different scene" to other hotspots of protest like New York, Seattle or Minneapolis. "Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!" he wrote. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1273972301156016130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2020</a></blockquote>The tweet, though vague, appeared to be a threat of harsher policing than has been seen in those cities.Trump has previously referred to himself as an <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Ftrump-speech-dc-ally-to-protesters-police-tear-gas-photos-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"ally of peaceful protesters"</a> in response to the <keyword id="6354896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="protests">protests</keyword> at George Floyd's death. However, in the tweet he appeared to conflate protest — which is protected under the First Amendment — with looting and rioting.Mayors in the cities he tweeted about have recently attempted to rein in their police forces and work cooperatively with protesters, although not after earlier violent clashes.After tear gas was used in Seattle over the weekend of June 6, police have abandoned attempts to move protesters from the self-described "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," a largely peaceful protest camp. Seattle's Democratic mayor Jenny Durkan has defended the camp, in opposition to Trump's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seattle-autonomous-zone-mayor-jenny-durkan-patriotism-trump-domestic-terrorists-2020-6">characterization of them as "terrorists"</a> and his threats to send the military in to clear it. New York and Minneapolis, both in Democratic-controlled states, have also taken measures to de-escalate encounters between police and protesters.On Friday, New York's City Council approved a suite of police reforms, <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/06/18/in-wake-of-mass-protests-nyc-council-approves-suite-of-police-reforms-1293758">Politico reported</a>. On June 8, Minneapolis' city council <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/minneapolis-city-council-disband-police-department-george-floyd-2020-6">pledged to dismantle</a> its police department.Trump's tweet came on Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the freeing of Black slaves in the US.Trump's rally — his first within the coronavirus pandemic — had originally been planned for Juneteenth but was moved back one day after widespread criticism.The president has repeatedly romanticized harsh treatment of protesters, specifically at his rallies. During an appearance, also in Oklahoma, in 2016, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/27/in-good-old-days-donald-trump-says-campaign-protesters-got-more-than-just-an-escort-out/?mtrref=www.google.com&amp;gwh=E7A57B42E421BB86E608AC774414CBA7&amp;gwt=pay&amp;assetType=PAYWALLType=PAYWALL">Trump riffed on "the good old days" when authorities would treat protesters "very, very rough."</a>To cheers from the crowd, Trump noted that in the past "when they protested once, you know, they would not do it again so easily."

Trump appears to threaten protesters with harsh policing ahead of his controversial rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of <keyword id="9095853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insider-today">Insider Today</keyword>. Please <a href="https://www.insider.com/insider-today">sign up here</a>.<h2>QUOTE OF THE DAY</h2>"The film represents enslaved Black people in accordance with longstanding stereotypes, as servants, notable for their devotion to their white masters or for their ineptitude. And the film's treatment of this world through a lens of nostalgia denies the horrors of slavery as well as its legacies of racial inequality." — Film scholar Jacqueline Stewart's <a href="https://www.insider.com/gone-with-the-wind-returns-to-hbo-max-2020-6">new introduction to Gone with the Wind</a>, which returned to HBO Max after having being pulled off the network earlier in June.<h2>WHAT'S HAPPENING</h2><keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> caseloads are spiking. The US recorded more than 36,000 new cases on Wednesday, the highest number of the <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword>, with particularly bad outbreaks in Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-worry-full-blown-outbreak-us-daily-cases-surge-2020-6">The Trump administration seems blase</a>. US weekly jobless claims: 1.5 million. That's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-weekly-jobless-claims-filings-unemployment-insurance-coronavirus-recession-economy-2020-6">much worse than economists had expected,</a> and marks the 14th consecutive week with more than 1 million claims. The Treasury Department sent $1.4 billion in stimulus checks to dead people. The GAO found that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-checks-dead-people-treasury-department-sent-trump-billion-amount-2020-6">1.1 million checks went to dead people</a>. The IRS says it will take back the money, but doesn't plan to do it anytime soon. Supreme Court upholds Trump Administration's limits on asylum seekers. The justices agree that<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-agrees-with-trump-administration-on-limits-on-asylum-seekers/2020/06/25/695b3b74-b6e8-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html"> asylum seekers rejected by an immigration official during an initial screening</a> don't have the right to appeal to a judge.<h2>VIEWS OF THE DAY</h2><h2><div type="image" title="donald trump no mask coronavirus" height="1000" width="2000" msid="76632996" hostid="261"></div></h2>Masking would help Trump, so why has he rejected it? Four theories. The US has lost the fight against coronavirus. COVID-19 is ravaging the South and West. Yesterday was the worst day for new cases in the US since the outbreak started. We squandered the lockdown. We didn't test enough. Contact tracing is nonexistent. States and agencies record and report data in dishonest and slothful ways. All of this has pushed what Trump desperately wants — an actually reopened <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> — further and further away. A visiting alien who knows nothing about this country would ask themself: Why has the president repudiated the things that could help Americans stay healthy, and thus help him politically? Let's take one pungent, small example. It's been clear for months that wearing masks, especially in indoor spaces, especially in groups, is a small behavioral change with an outsized impact. It requires very little of citizens, and would have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/face-masks-effective-in-protecting-against-coronavirus-2020-6">a huge impact in reducing viral transmission</a>, caseloads, and deaths. In other countries, masking has quickly become practically universal and totally destigmatized — the way seatbelt wearing and handwashing are. Had the president and his team gone all out for masks, it would have easily quashed the masks-are-oppression crowd. Plus the country would be healthier, the economy would be stronger, and his poll numbers would be higher. So why didn't he? Here are four theories:<ol><li>Trump is vain. He thinks he looks bad with a <keyword id="6438835" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mask">mask</keyword>, so he refuses to wear it. He similarly judges as ugly or weak any staffers who wear them, making masklessness the norm across the White House, which effectively turns demasking into policy</li><li>Owning the libs is more important than public health. Democrats are pushing for masking, which triggers certain conservative activists, who agitate that this is an important culture war battle — even though it's not. That works up the base and conservative media, which infects Trump. Masking would mean the libs got a win, and that can't be allowed, even if it kills people. </li><li>Masking infringes on individual liberty. Some on the right have become enthralled with a highly selfish conception of liberty that equates freedom with being able to do what you want. Historically conservatism has embraced a more expansive idea of liberty that emphasizes balancing your own desires with your obligations to protect and serve others. This selfish libertarianism spread on social media and into conservative media, and influenced the president.</li><li>Trump thinks magically. He's ignorant of <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> and hasn't been interested in anything that's not a miracle. Trump has consistently hyped bogus cure-alls — the virus will simply vanish, there will be a vaccine in months, hydroxychloroquine will prevent infection. Masking by contrast offers a subtle, marginal benefit. </li></ol>Sadly, all four of these theories hold Trump in their thrall. He can't shake loose from them, even though it would actually help him get closer to what he wants, which is reelection. — DPThe White House just proved John Bolton's point about Trump's China policy, and Republicans helped.<div type="image" title="Trump xi" height="512" width="1024" msid="76633001" hostid="261"></div>In former National Security Adviser John Bolton's new book he explains that Trump's China policy <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-bolton-book-proves-trump-not-tough-china-xi-jinping-2020-6">isn't driven by any kind of principle, it's transactional</a>. Trump's base wants him to be tough on China, so he thinks he has to deliver for them to win reelection. That's why, Bolton writes, Trump veritably begged Chinese President Xi Jiinping to buy more US agricultural goods in order to please his base of farmers. It's why Trump doesn't care about Muslim concentration camps in Xinjiang or China's anti-democratic encroachment into Hong Kong.Of course, the White House denied all this and called Bolton a liar.That denial is belied by Trump's own actions. This week the White House asked Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/24/kevin-cramer-blocks-china-sanctions-bill-338246">to block unanimous passage of a bill</a> that would sanction China for its actions in Hong Kong. And Cramer did, despite being a co-sponsor of the bill.Don't expect China hawks like GOP Senators Marco Rubio or Tom Cotton to speak up. They've been either mum or mealy mouthed about the allegations in Bolton's book. To stand up to the President's lack of principles, they would have to have some of their own. - LL<div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: A child walks by newly painted George Floyd graffiti at the Cal Anderson Park Reflecting Pool as protesters against racial inequality occupy space at the CHOP area near the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct in Seattle, Washington, U.S. June 18, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo" height="2418" width="3224" msid="76633006" hostid="261"></div>Seattle businesses and residents sue city over CHOP As I wrote in this newsletter <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-visa-immigration-ban-bad-us-economy-image-2020-6">two days ago</a>, the party's just about over for Seattle's Capitol Hill Organized Protest Area (CHOP) — the six-square block zone in which authorities have allowed protesters to operate autonomously for nearly the past three weeks. After three shootings last weekend, Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city would start encouraging people "to go home," but would not be breaking up the zone with immediate and severe force. But the massive action against racism and police brutality has not come without costs to businesses and residents in the CHOP zone — some of whom have banded together in a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956581-CHOPComplaint.html">class action lawsuit</a> against the city for the "extensive harm" they claim to have suffered as a result of the city's tolerance for a police-free zone.The litigants state right off the bat that they do "not seek to undermine CHOP participants' message or present a counter-message," but they believe their own "constitutional and other legal rights" were violated by the city's "unprecedented decision to abandon and close off an entire city neighborhood."Some of the plaintiffs are landlords who claim there property was damaged, but others are working-class businesses like a liquor store, a tattoo parlor, and an auto repair shop whose owner alleges his son was assaulted by a man with a knife who broke into the shop and started a fire. The suit alleges despite multiple 911 calls, police never came to their aid.Many reports indicated that at least during the daytime, the CHOP zone was a generally peaceful place of radical demonstration. But as the encampment's time winds down, this lawsuit is probably just the first chapter in a full accounting of the costs associated with this experiment in civic tolerance of anarchy. - AF<h2>BUSINESS &amp; ECONOMY</h2><div type="image" title="Chuck E. Cheese" height="1271" width="2543" msid="76633011" hostid="261"></div>Chuck E. Cheese filed for bankruptcy. The kids pizza entertainment chain was slammed by the pandemic. Or perhaps people didn't want to eat in a restaurant filled with giant singing rats. It was a bad week all-around for iconically goofy brands: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-segway-cops-and-tourists-2020-6">Segway is going to stop making Segways</a>. <h2>LIFE</h2>The 15 best cities for millennials. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-places-us-cities-for-millennials-ranked-2020-6">Cities where jobs are plentiful and life is fun.</a> Cambridge, MA tops the list, and San Francisco is second. A beautiful Italian town offers tourists free accommodation this summer. <a href="https://www.insider.com/italian-village-offering-tourists-free-accommodation-summer-san-giovanni-2020-6">San Giovanni in Molise is gorgeous but struggling</a>, so it will put you up for nothing if you visit. <h2>THE BIG 3*</h2><h2><div type="image" title="Zealandia_topography" height="1043" width="1391" msid="76633015" hostid="261"></div></h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maps-reveal-eighth-continent-zealandia-underwater-2020-6">New maps reveal the size and shape of the lost 8th continent. </a>Zealandia was submerged in the Pacific Ocean 30 million to 50 million years ago. and New Zealand is the biggest piece of it still above water. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-palm-beach-florida-mask-backlash-parks-and-recreation-2020-6">Twitter users liken Palm Beach masking squabble to Parks &amp; Rec.</a> Residents complained furiously about the county's new masking requirement: "They want to throw God's wonderful breathing system out the door," said one woman. Twitter mocked it all. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-is-offering-20000-lunar-loo-build-a-toilet-challenge-2020-6">NASA offering a $20,000 prize for a better space toilet. </a>They want one that will function both in space and on the moon. *The most popular stories on Insider today.

Why are masks political?

<div type="image" title="black trans lives matter protest brooklyn jun 14.JPG" height="959" width="1917" msid="76413107" hostid="261"></div>A version of this post appeared in "<keyword id="9095853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insider-today">Insider Today</keyword>," a daily email written by Henry Blodget and David Plotz. To receive it in your inbox, please <a href="http://insider.com/insidertoday" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sign up here</a>.The US <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> response is a national disgraceMost developed countries have throttled the coronavirus and are gradually resuming life as usual. But not the United States. The U.S. response to the coronavirus is by far the worst in the G7. And it's still one of the worst in the world.Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Japan, the UK… all were hit hard by the coronavirus. And all have now reduced their new cases to a small and manageable number.Meanwhile, after plateauing but never fully declining, cases in the United States have begun growing again.Here, from <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus">Our World in Data</a>, is a chart showing new confirmed cases per day per million people. Yes, confirmed cases are being boosted by increased testing. But testing capacity has increased everywhere. And still the US is an outlier.<div type="image" title="Screen Shot 2020 06 16 at 8.46.15 AM" height="1017" width="1600" msid="76413109" hostid="261"></div>Nearly 120,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus, and about 750 are still dying every day. Meanwhile, our president is just saying more stupid things ("If we stop testing, we'd have very few cases") and pretending the problem no longer exists.You can believe that the coronavirus is not a serious threat to you, your family, or your community. You can point out that the coronavirus is mostly killing old and sick people. You can observe that "life is risky" and that we choose to live it anyway. You can believe that "lockdowns" were overkill and that the government should have focused on mask-wearing instead.But you cannot deny that the US has royally screwed this up and that we'll be paying for our incompetence for months if not years.The US coronavirus response is a national disgrace. — HBFinally, a coronavirus drug that appears to help!<div type="image" title="coronavirus patient hospital drug trial TACTIC-R" height="1150" width="2300" msid="76413114" hostid="261"></div>A big drug trial in the UK has concluded that a cheap, widely available<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dexamethasone-may-cut-risk-death-coronavirus-ventilator-patient-2020-6"> steroid called Dexamethasone</a> helps reduce the percentage of seriously ill coronavirus patients who die from the disease.The drug appears to reduce the impact of "cytokine storms," a part of the body's immune response that occasionally goes too far and kills people.In the study, the drug reduced the death rate of patients on ventilators from 40% to 28% and of patients needing oxygen from 25% to 20%.Unlike many early tests of potential coronavirus drugs, the UK trial was a robust "randomized control trial." Its results, therefore, are more likely to withstand scrutiny and additional tests. As Dr. Atul Gawande <a href="https://twitter.com/Atul_Gawande/status/1272880206408290304">pointed out this morning</a>, however, the UK findings were revealed via a press release, not a full study write-up, so it's too early to celebrate. In light of the tragically weak US response to the coronavirus, one of the few remaining hopes has been a fast vaccine or therapy. Dexamethasone does not appear to be a miracle cure. But if the findings of the UK test hold up, it will help. — HBThe <keyword id="9316626" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd-protests">George Floyd protests</keyword> have become five different movements. <div type="image" title="george floyd protest banner washington dc" height="1968" width="3936" msid="76413119" hostid="261"></div>The George Floyd protest movement has branched into at least five different movements, all related but each pursuing its own goals. The first and most important movement is the fast-moving, highly contentious local effort to radically reform police departments. Defund the Police is a rallying cry, but this is highly varied campaign varying city by city depending on local activists, politicians, and police officials. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/us/protests-today-george-floyd-video.html?action=click&amp;module=Well&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;section=US%20Newson=US%20News">In Minneapolis</a>, the City Council seems serious about dismantling and rebuilding law enforcement. Seattle has the police-free Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. San Francisco will<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-12/san-francisco-police-reforms-stop-response-noncriminal-calls"> stop sending officers</a> to respond to non-criminal matters, instead dispatching health professionals and social workers. Every city is different, and each battle will be fought locally. The local movement is much more significant than the reform movement taking shape in Washington. National politicians have glommed onto the Floyd protests, some because they are true believers, and others because they're scared. Democrats are pushing changes to federal laws that are radical by the standards of two months ago — banning choke holds — but fairly weak tea compared to local efforts. The president and Senate Republicans aren't even offering tea, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-unveil-police-reform-proposals-that-fall-short-of-what-activists-have-demanded/2020/06/15/f258ff5c-af1c-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-high_trumppolice-800pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans">just lukewarm water</a> in the form of quite limited reforms. Partisan dynamics ensure that the Democrats' most ambitious reforms will fail. So don't pay attention to Washington, which will make a lot of noise and accomplish little. The third movement is the continuing, anguished protest about specific acts of violence against Blacks. The police killing of Rayshard Brooks is inspiring huge demonstrations in Atlanta, and ousted the police chief. Protests over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/15/california-robert-fuller-hanging-death-invetigation">the mysterious hanging death of Robert Fuller</a> have prompted an FBI investigation. These demonstrations, which focus on seeking justice in particular cases, are emotionally powerful. As we saw in the case of Floyd's death, these protests about individual cases can become the fuel that motivates protesters to seek broader reforms. The fourth movement is the widespread fight over statues, symbols, and names. Spun out of the Floyd protests, these symbolic battles have taken on a life of their own. In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/16/albuquerque-militia-shooting-protest/">New Mexico,</a> they've toppled statues of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate and produced conflict with armed counterprotesters. In Virginia, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/change-the-world-two-students-start-with-their-neighborhood-and-find-its-not-so-neighborly/2020/06/15/0818da60-af0e-11ea-8f56-63f38c990077_story.html">Stonewall Manor neighborhood split</a> when college students proposed taking Stonewall Jackson's name and image off it. Richmond is seething over the Robert E. Lee statue that lords over the city, and a judge's delay in removing it. The argument over Army bases named after Confederate generals, the banning of the Confederate flag at Nascar events, the defacing of statues of colonialist brutes — these are part of the same movement. It's a long overdue reckoning with American history. The fifth movement is the battle within workplaces about inequality and systemic racism. The media industry, for example, has convulsed over the past few weeks as staffers surfaced longstanding complaints about the toxic culture at places like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport-toxic-racism-culture-2020-6?_ga=2.92575454.279247961.1591540471-746452348.1587515977">Bon Appetit </a>and Refinery 29. Hollywood and the food industry are erupting in similar ways. The Floyd protests drew attention to systemic racism, and that has emboldened workers to speak up about wrongs in their industry. In all these cases, the Floyd protests were the spark, but each of these movements will flow at its own pace and achieve its own ends. — DPIf you're enjoying this story, <a href="https://www.insider.com/insider-today">sign up now for the Insider Today newsletter</a>, to receive more of these insights from Henry Blodget and David PlotzPlease don't ruin the <keyword id="238612" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Voice-of-America">Voice of America</keyword>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/media/voice-of-america-top-officials-resign/index.html">Director and Deputy Director of Voice of America resigned</a> on Monday, following the senate confirmation of Trump ally Michael Pack as CEO of <a href="https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/">US Agency for Global Media</a>, which encompasses VOA and four smaller U.S. government broadcasters. VOA is an odd beast: It was created to provide trustworthy news from an American perspective to an international audience, many living in countries without an independent media. And that's what it's done for 75 years, often under the leadership of great journalists such as departing director Amanda Bennett, a brilliant newspaper editor and Pulitzer winner. The Trump administration accused Bennett's VOA of spinning stories in China's favor and clearly wants to remake the agency. Pack, who makes conservative-tilting documentary films, is a Steve Bannon acolyte. Given Bennett's departure, Trump's record, and Pack's history, there are fears that VOA's mission will be twisted, and it will spew Trumpish propaganda rather than report the news. According to one report, Sebastian Gorka is already being considered for a seat on the USAGM board.What we've learned agonizingly during the Trump years is that you can break in minutes something that took generations to build. Decades of steady work has made VOA trusted worldwide. In the wrong hands, that reputation could collapse in months. — DPFine — dump the SAT. But replace it with a really hard test. <div type="image" title="Student SAT Test Studying" height="600" width="1200" msid="76413124" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/15/metro/harvard-drops-standardized-test-requirement-2021/">Harvard won't require the SAT or the ACT for applicants next year</a>, joining the rest of the Ivy League and more than half of American colleges and universities in dropping the standardized test prerequisite. This is no tragedy. The SAT and ACT indicate nothing (or at best extremely little) about how well students perform in college. And like so much else in the college admissions grind, they're gamed by rich people, who pay for score-boosting tutors. Many of the schools dropping the tests next year will never reinstate them, because they'll discover no meaningful difference between the class of 2025 and previous classes. So don't mourn the loss of the ACT and SAT. But do mourn the high school test we don't have. As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/books/review/amanda-ripleys-smartest-kids-in-the-world.html?_r=0">this brilliant book</a> points out, all the best high school systems in the world build up to a grueling, challenging final exam. Not an insipid SAT, but a truly demanding test of everything kids have learned. The US lacks a national curriculum or even national standards, instead limping by with a mess of state guidance and local school districts. One result: American schools are way too easy. American kids would be better prepared for the global economy and more productive citizens if we worked them harder in high school, held them all to the same standards, and forced them to take a brutal final exam to graduate. — DPIs Liberty the most important American university?<div type="image" title="jerry falwell jr" height="1821" width="3642" msid="76413126" hostid="261"></div> The story of Saturday's Republican congressional primary in Virginia's 5th district is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/riggleman-same-sex-marriage/612991/">bonkers</a>, but comes down to: Very conservative incumbent Denver Riggleman officiated at a gay wedding, got primaried by an even-more-conservative evangelical Christian, and lost in a weird drive-through vote. The primary is also fascinating because it represents the continued ascendance of Liberty University in Republican <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword>. Bob Good, who won the primary, is a former athletic official at Liberty, the school founded by Jerry Falwell and now run by his son Jerry Falwell Jr. Several conservative Christian colleges have dabbled around politics over the past 20 years, including Patrick Henry, The King's College, and Bob Jones, Liberty now prevails, largely because Falwell Jr. has so masterfully aligned himself with Trump. Early on, Falwell Jr. made the compromise that many conservative evangelicals have come to, that Trump's personal morality is irrelevant because he champions evangelical issues. On Israel, Charlottesville, and reopening, Falwell Jr. ends up articulating Trump's positions more aggressively than even the president does, which has made him a beloved ally of the president and made Liberty the preeminent university of Trumpist evangelicals. Falwell Jr. had endorsed Riggleman in the primary because he would have had an easier run in the general election. But he'll quickly align himself with Good, whose ascendance is another step up for Liberty. — DP

You Searched For "capitol hill autonomous zone chaz" and got 5 results

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Why are masks political?

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The George Floyd protests have become 5 different movements

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