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COLOR US UNIMPRESSED… That’s how Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, responded to Donald Trump’s threat on Monday tweeting, “The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them —albeit more civilized ones—for 40 yrs. We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, incl our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS!” INSECURE… The president threatened on Monday to revoke the security clearances of former officials who criticized his refusal to confront Russia over its election interference. More on that below. HOLD UP… Former President Barack Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, told CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert Monday that he won’t decide on a presidential run until next year. CONFIRMED… The Senate confirmed Pentagon Under Secretary Robert Wilkie as VA Secretary -- the second largest agency in the government, with more than 350,000 employees, a nearly $200 billion budget, and almost 20 million American veterans depending on it for care and benefits. He is the agency’s first permanent leader since David Shulkin was ousted in March. UNCONFIRMED… After being snubbed by Senate Democrats, Trump’s Supreme Court pick will finally get an audience with a blue dog. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) will meet with SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh next Monday. WHOOPS… Fox News mistakenly booked a Massachusetts state senator who opposes Trump’s immigration policies, thinking she was a congressional candidate who supported them. Barbara L’Italien came ready and used the opportunity to speak directly to Trump before being cut off. FLORIDA MAN… A 47-year-old white man fatally shot an unarmed Black man in Florida in front of the victim’s girlfriend and three children under the age of five. The state’s Stand Your Ground law will likely save the killer from prosecution. We’re kicking off Tuesday with this...
- Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) intros carbon tax.
- Native American protesters face federal charges.
- Lucy McBath, the mother of slain teen, faces runoff in Georgia today.
- Journalist Alison Stewart to host a new show.
- FiveThirtyEight’s Perry Bacon examines the rise of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA). Check it out below in blogs.
- Be sure to join The Beat DC’s Tiffany D. Cross today at 1:20P as she co-hosts Keepin’ It Real with Rev. Al Sharpton on SiriusXM Ch. 126.
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Fox News’ Eboni K. Williams and former First Lady Laura Bush on Friday at the Parkinson Voice Project’s Lead With Intent symposium in Dallas. | |  |
ABC News’ John Quiñones backstage before his guest appearance on The View in NYC this month. | |
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Carlos Curbelo Intros Carbon Tax Bill to Address Climate Change
Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Co-Chair and Co-Founder of the House Climate Solutions Caucus, on Monday introduced the Market Choice Act to reduce carbon emission levels and fund infrastructure. The bill would replace the federal gas tax with a price on carbon -- $24 per ton with an annual increase of 2% plus inflation -- to encourage the market to find the most efficient ways to reduce carbon pollution. He says the revenue from the legislation would then fund current infrastructure repair and provide a surplus of roughly $11 billion per year that could be invested in modernizing and upgrading America’s infrastructure, and additionally provide more than 100,000 jobs per year. According to an analysis by Columbia University, Curbelo’s proposal could reduce carbon emissions by 27–32% in net greenhouse gas emissions levels by 2025, and 30–40% by 2030. “I remind my conservative colleagues who often decry our nation’s growing debt: saddling young Americans with a crushing environmental debt – meaning an unhealthy planet where life is less viable – is at least as immoral as leaving behind an unsustainable fiscal debt,” Curbelo said. “While I think alarmists contribute little to the advancement of this cause, I do believe the time to act is now.” More here.
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Black Caucus Members Push to Commemorate 75th Anniversary of MLB Integration with U.S. Mint Coin
Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), together with Congressmen Cedric Richmond (D-LA) and Roger Williams (R-TX), have introduced the Integration of Baseball Commemorative Coin Act to honor the 75th anniversary of the integration of baseball in 2022. If passed, the bill would authorize the production of an official U.S. Mint Commemorative Coin in three denominations: $5 gold coins (not more than 50,000 minted); $1 silver coins (not more than 500,000 minted); and half-dollar clad coins (not more than 750,000 minted). The price includes a surcharge that will benefit the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Jackie Robinson Foundation which gives scholarships to minority youths for higher education, as well as preserving the legacy of Baseball Hall of Fame member, Jackie Robinson. The design for the coins will be selected by the Treasury Secretary after consultation with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and the Commission of Fine Arts. “So often through our nation's history, sports have helped unify us during times of trouble and tragedy,” said Scott. Booker said, “The Integration of Baseball Commemorative Coin Act will celebrate the brave actions of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and the critical role baseball has played in our nation's history.” Richmond added that “As a public servant and lifelong baseball fan, I am keenly aware that I stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before me. ... In these divided times, Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby should serve as a reminder that the baseball diamond can be a place where people of all colors and creeds can come together to participate in one of America's great traditions.” On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson debuted for the National League’s Brooklyn Dodgers and on July 5, 1947, Larry Doby integrated the American League with the Cleveland Indians. More here.
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Luis Gutiérrez Wants to Know If ICE is Violating Policy By Charging for Phone Calls
Congressmen Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) and Jared Polis (D-CO) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and led approximately 150 Democratic colleagues in a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) saying that the agency’s "exorbitant" prices to make phone calls from immigrant detention violates its national standards. ICE’s telephone access standards say that detained immigrants are able to call specific lawyers and government help helplines for free. However, the standards also say that detention centers must work to make direct or free calls to "immediate family or others for detainees in personal and family emergencies" and that detainees should have "equitable access to reasonably priced telephone services." Some phone calls currently cost up to $8 per minute. “Parents fleeing violence to save their children’s lives should be treated like refugees and protected, but instead we treat them like profit centers to be nickled and dimed," said Gutiérrez. "As a country we can do better and we must.” More here.
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The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng on-set last week in NYC. | |  |
Congresswomen Terri Sewell (D-AL) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) on the Hill last week. | |
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Marco Rubio Wants to Fight Predatory Patient Referral System
Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Thursday introduced legislation that would make it illegal to provide, or receive, financial kickbacks for referring patients to recovery homes and clinical treatment facilities. The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act would also fine anyone found guilty up to $200,000 or 10 years of prison, or both; and establish common-sense exceptions to enable legitimate cases of patient referral. “Too many Americans suffering as a result of the opioid epidemic are exploited by bad actors seeking to make a profit from addiction,” Rubio said. “This bill will help stop the cash flow for middlemen involved in illicit sober homes and paid referrals. I remain committed to addressing this important issue that has left no part of the state untouched.” More here.
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Alma Adams Intros Bill to Close the Gap in Patenting Rates
Congresswomen Alma Adams (D-NC)and Barbara Comstock (R-VA) on Thursday introduced legislation designed to close the gender, race, and income gap in patenting rates. According to a 2017 study, women hold less than 20% of all patents, and people of color hold between 8% and 13% of all patents. Additionally, children born to parents in the top 1% of income are ten times more likely to become an inventor and hold a patent than those born into low-income families. If passed, the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act would address those disparities by directing a study to be conducted by the Small Business Administration to identify the best practices for closing the race, gender, and income gaps in patenting rates for small businesses. Both Adams and Comstock say their bill is critical in developing policies to help underrepresented groups further engage in the entrepreneurial activities. “As the world’s leader for innovation and entrepreneurship, the United States is a breeding ground for the best ideas and creative approaches that improve our quality of life and solve some of the world’s most complex problems," said Adams. “This is why we must ensure that all people have an equal opportunity to compete for patents.” More here.
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Vice President of Communications (NYC)
Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) seeks a Vice President of Communications to oversee and execute efforts to communicate that DFER are education progressives who prioritize students and families, especially low-income students and students of color who should be better served by our country’s public education system. Click here to learn more.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda Launches New Initiative for the Arts in Puerto Rico
Actor and activist Lin-Manuel Miranda on Sunday announced that he has helped create a multimillion-dollar fund to boost the arts in Puerto Rico as it struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria. The nonprofit Flamboyan Foundation is managing the fund, and has already made its first awards -- $1 million each to the Theater of the University of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Museum of Art. Additional $900,000 awards are going to an art education program and a dance school, and a local theater company, Y No Había Luz, will receive $180,000. Miranda said his goal is to grow the fund to $15 million in upcoming years. The playwright added that he will donate all funds from Hamilton’s performances in Puerto Rico in January. "The goal wasn't just artistic satisfaction, but how can we leave Puerto Rico a little better than we found it," said Miranda. Cultural and artistic groups across Puerto Rico have been greatly affected, losing government and nonprofit support amid an 11-year-old recession. More here.
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Obama Appointee Joins Mercury
The global public strategy firm Mercury has named Gustavo Arnavat as a Co-Chairman. Gustavo was appointed by former President Barack Obama as the U.S. Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where he also served on the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Investment Corporation and on the Donors’ Committee of the Multilateral Investment Fund, both affiliates of the IDB. He also previously served as a Managing Principal at Almendares Global Advisers. Prior to that, the 1984 Cornell University graduate, who has a JD from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s from Harvard, began his legal career with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in NYC, where he advised U.S. and European banks, as well as Latin American companies and governments, on international capital markets and other financial transactions. The bilingual exec, who is fluent in English and Spanish, additionally serves as a board member for the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, Americas Quarterly, and Knowledge@Wharton. He also serves as a Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. More about him here.
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Blavity CEO Morgan DeBaun and Co-Founders Aaron Samuels, Jonathan Jackson, and Jeff Nelson at the 21 Ninety summit in Atlanta earlier this month. | |  |
Matter of Fact TV’s Soledad O’Brien pushing through a workout over the weekend in NYC. | |
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Trump Wants to Strip Susan Rice’s Security Clearance
Donald Trump is considering pulling the national security clearances of former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and other top-level former intelligence officials for making what the White House described Monday as "baseless accusations" against him. The other ex-officials include former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former NSA Director Michael Hayden, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. All of those federal officials served during the Barack Obama administration, and all have been vocally critical of Trump since leaving their posts in government. Some of them, however, said they no longer have security clearances. The announcement came from WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during the press briefing on Monday. A reporter asked whether Trump simply wanted to punish people whose free speech he disliked. "The president doesn't like the fact that people are politicizing agencies and departments that are specifically meant to not be political and not meant to be monetized off of security clearances," she said. More here.
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Native American Protesters Face Federal Charges
Native Americans who protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline were the only protesters targeted by federal prosecutors, according to ThinkProgress. The hundreds of other protesters who were arrested only faced charges in North Dakota state court. The Water Protector Legal Collective, a group that has provided legal support for people opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline, hired an expert in late 2016 to poll potential jurors to determine the extent of local bias against the protesters. The expert found that 77% of potential jurors in Morton County, ND and 85% in neighboring Burleigh County, ND had already decided the defendants were guilty, and that many potential jurors have close connections to law enforcement and the oil industry. “It is both heinous and unrealistic to expect that anyone of native ancestry will have faith in getting a fair trial against the office of the U.S. Attorney, or a just sentence from a federal judge, when these institutions represent power writ large in an ongoing history of profound and literally genocidal injustice,” said Moira Meltzer-Cohen, a staff attorney for the Water Protective Legal Collective. The $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline is now fully built, following Donald Trump’s January 2017 order to expedite its completion, which reversed Barack Obama’s block on the project. More here.
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Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA) taking pictures with community residents on Friday as part of her annual Briefing and Health Fair in Carson, CA. | |  |
DNC Chair Tom Pérez, GA gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and MD gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous in Atlanta at the DNC’s #AfAmLeadershipSummit last week. | |
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Former MTV Reporter Launches New Show
Peabody Award-winning journalist and author Alison Stewart will host a new live, two-hour afternoon show on WNYC. The new program, launching this fall, will be a weekday talk show with a fresh take on culture, the arts, the news of the day, and life in New York and the surrounding region. Broadcasting live from 12P- 2P ET, the show will also be available for streaming and podcast. Stewart will take calls, venture into NYC, and collaborate with fellow WNYC journalists and hosts on new segments. The 52-year-old Brown University graduate began her career as a Producer and Reporter for MTV News. She has spent over two decades reporting for all the major national news networks. She has anchored her own news programs on NPR, PBS, ABC, and MSNBC, and reported from the floor of six presidential conventions, the Olympics, and the World Trade Center on 9/11. She is currently a contributing Editor with The Atlantic LIVE and a contributor to PBS NewsHour. “My hope is we can explore how culture shapes us as people and citizens. What's happening on Broadway and in Bushwick, what's happening in houses of worship and fashion houses, and that fantastically weird performance artist you saw on the F train all contribute to the magic of New York City,” said Stewart. More here.
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Mihir Zaveri Joins the NYT
Mihir Zaveri has joined The New York Times’ Express Desk as a Reporter. He previously served as a Reporter at the Houston Chronicle, where he covered Harris County city government and its communities. Prior to that, the double UC Berkeley graduate was an intern at several prominent outlets including The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Oregonian, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also served as a Reporter and Editor at his university newspaper, The Daily Californian. The trilingual storyteller -- who is fluent in English, Spanish, and Gujarati -- is also a member and At-Large Chapter Representative of the Asian American Journalists Association. More about him here.
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Lena Felton Joins The Lily
Lena Felton is joining The Lily, The Washington Post’s publication for millennial women, as a Multiplatform Editor. In her new role, she’ll produce daily stories, help manage social channels, and work on their newsletter, Lily Lines. Lena previously served as a Politics Fellow at The Atlantic, where she wrote breaking news and feature stories, personal essays, and helped produce their Politics & Policy newsletter. Her role also included copy editing and maintaining their social media channels. Prior to that, the California native was an American Society of Magazine Editors Intern at InStyle, where she worked directly with the features team to research articles, transcribe interviews, and write stories. The 2017 Harvard University graduate served as the Magazine Chair of the Harvard Crimson and before that, as the weekly publication’s Editor and a Staff Writer. More here.
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Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour supporting ALS advocate Ady Barkan earlier this month as part of his Be A Hero campaign. | |  |
ABC News’ T.J. Holmes backstage Monday waiting for his segment with actress Angela Bassett in NYC. | |
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Mother of Slain Teen Competes in Georgia Runoff
The mother of slain teen Jordan Davis, Lucy McBath, is set for a runoff today against Atlanta tech businessman Kevin Abel for the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. McBath is a gun control activist. Her 17-year-old son was murdered in Jacksonville, FL in 2012, when he was shot by a white man angered that he and his friends would not turn their music down. After her son’s death, McBath retired from her job as a Delta Airlines flight attendant and became a national spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown for Gun Safety. She has testified before Congress, joined Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail in 2016, and was among the Mothers of the Movement who spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. McBath finished first in the May 22nd primary but failed to get more than 50% of the vote. If she claims victory today she will face Congresswoman Karen Handel (R-GA) in November. More here.
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| FOMO
Wednesday, August 1st - Sunday, August 5th: NABJ Annual Convention & Career Fair. Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. 400 Renaissance Drive, Detroit, MI. Click here for more information.
Friday, August 3rd, 5P: Congressional Black Caucus Chair Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) will lead a conversation with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on politics and the issues that both members are battling on Capitol Hill. Dillard University Georges Auditorium, 2601 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA. Click here for more information.
Monday, August 6th - Saturday, August 11th: 16th Annual Run&Shoot Filmworks Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival. Click here for more information.
Wednesday, August 8th - Saturday, August, 11th: AAJA National Convention. Marriott Marquis Houston. 1777 Walker St., Houston, TX. Click here for more information.
Friday, August 17th - Sunday, August 19th: Martha’s Vineyard celebrates Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s (D-CA) 20 years of service. Special guests include House Assistant Minority Leader Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and more. Harbor View Hotel, 131 North Water Street Edgartown, MA. Kelley House, 23 Kelley Street Edgartown, MA. Click here for more information.
Tuesday, September 11th - Wednesday, September 12th: CHCI's Annual Leadership Conference. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., DC. Click here for more information.
Wednesday, September 12th - Saturday, September 16th: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation 48th Annual Legislative Conference. Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Click here for more information.
Thursday, September 13th: CHCI's 41st Annual Anniversary Awards Gala. Marriott Marquis Washington, DC. 901 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., DC. Click here for more information.
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