No Justice – No Peace, PBS News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Associated Press  

• In Washington, police officers used tear gas and flash grenades to clear a path through a peaceful protest so President Trump could visit a nearby Episcopal church, St. John’s, where he posed for photos holding a Bible. An Episcopal bishop in Washington said she was “outraged” that he used the church “as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.” Trump also warned he would order the military into cities if local officials could not control their streets.
• In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that an 11 p.m. curfew had failed to prevent widespread looting, including along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. As a result, the curfew will begin at 8 tonight.
• In a shootout at a protest in St. Louis, four police officers were injured. In Buffalo, an S.U.V. sped through a line of officers in riot gear, injuring two of them, in an episode caught on video. In Las Vegas, the authorities are investigating the shootings of two officers, although the details are unclear.
• The mayor of Louisville, Ky., fired the city’s police chief after the owner of a local barbecue restaurant was killed when police officers and National Guard troops shot toward protesters.
• In the Times Opinion section, Tonya Russell asks companies to understand the toll that police brutality videos have on their black employees. “They should encourage self-care,” she writes, “and make clear there will be no penalties for those who may need to take a mental health day or temporarily take on a lighter workload.”
• The Times will be providing updates all day here.

June 2, 2020

Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

WHO HOLDS SEATS OF POWER IN AMERICA?
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent

Consider two lists of names.

First: George Floyd, Donnie Sanders, Breonna Taylor, William Howard Green, Christopher Whitfield, 

Atatiana Jefferson, Channara “Philly” Pheap, Ryan Twynman, Isaiah Lewis, Marcus McVae.

These are the names of 10 black men and women who were killed by police in just more than a year.  

Next: Hiram Revels, Blanche Bruce, Edward Brooke, Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama, Roland Burris,

Tim Scott, WIlliam “Mo” Cowan, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris. This is a list of every black American who has

ever served in the U.S. senate. There have been 10. 

It is a stark reminder that people who are often the victims of police violence are not proportionally

represented in our government.

Looking only at police shooting deaths, something this Washington Post database has tracked carefully

since 2015, 235 black people were shot and killed by police in the U.S. in 2019. That is 23.5 percent of all

police shooting deaths, nearly double the percentage of the U.S. population that is black.

And that figure dwarfs the number of black Americans — again, 10 — who have ever had a seat in the U.S. Senate, considered to be the most powerful elected body in the U.S.

As protests over the death of George Floyd continue this week, we looked at how black Americans are represented in our democracy. The numbers show glaring disparities continue, though there are instances of proportional representation.  

·  Overall: 13 percent of the U.S. population is black or African American, according to the official people counters: the Census. 

White House: 4 percent of President Donald Trump’s cabinet is black. That is one official —- HUD Secretary Ben Carson — out of 23 cabinet positions. Carson has announced he intends to leave the job at the end of this year.

·  House of Representatives. The House of Representatives nearly has proportional representation, with 12.5 percent of the lawmakers there being black.  

·  U.S. Senate. In the Senate, however, that figure is 3 percent, with just three black senators currently in the chamber — three of 10 to ever hold a seat in the body. 

·  Federal Courts: About 13 percent of federal judges are black, according to recent data from the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, as well as 2017 data cited by the Congressional Research Service.

·  Governors: There are currently no black governors.

·  State legislatures.  About 9 percent of lawmakers in state houses are black, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.

·  Big City Mayors: According to the data we reviewed from the 50 largest cities, 11 of them have black mayors. That’s 22 percent.

IN MINNEAPOLIS, PROTESTS OVER GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH ‘A LONG TIME COMING’
By Daniel Bush, @DanielBush
Senior Political Reporter

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s the way George Floyd died that hurts the most.

“To see a man being held down that way, it’s just too much,” said Franklin Bridgeman, 53, who is black and a longtime resident of Minneapolis, Floyd’s hometown. “Of all the police shootings and killings, it’s the most painful. This was just so blatant.”

“This could have been my dad. This could have been my brothers, my nephews. George Floyd feels like my family,” Dha’Manique Evans said.

The police “don’t care about us at all. They know they can get away with it,” Evans, 21, added, and for that reason, she’s glad her city decided to protest. “They hear us now. They see what we’re doing.”

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on May 25 after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, held him to the ground with a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd said several times, “I can’t breathe.” Video of the incident captured by bystanders quickly went viral, spurring protests in Minneapolis and dozens of cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Chauvin, 44, and three other officers who were present at the arrest were fired the day after Floyd’s  death. Chauvin was charged on May 29 with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

But by then, the protests in Minneapolis that had started peacefully were increasingly punctuated by confrontations between residents and police. Swaths of the city were set on fire and looted. Police fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. The governor imposed a curfew and ordered the largest deployment of the National Guard in state history.

In interviews around Minneapolis, many white residents expressed shock that something like this could happen in their city. Black residents said the anger and pain underlying the protests were both familiar and misunderstood. READ THE FULL STORY. 

 FIVE OVERLOOKED POLITICAL STORIES FROM THE PAST WEEK
By Alex D’Elia, @AlexDEliaNews
Politics production assistant

Trump vetoes student loan forgiveness bill — May 29. The president rejected Congress’ bipartisan legislation, which would have kept in place an existing Obama administration loan forgiveness plan. Why it matters: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ narrower loan forgiveness rules — which stay in place because of Trump’s action — limit students’ ability to get their loans forgiven when schools shut down due to fraud. — Forbes

Supreme Court upholds Puerto Rico oversight board from constitutional challenge — June 1. The board was formed by then-President Barack Obama in 2016 to oversee Puerto Rico’s  debt restructuring, a process that has been complicated by Hurricane Maria, earthquakes and now the coronavirus. Why it matters: The Supreme Court ruling allows for the oversight board to continue restructuring hundreds of billions in debt and bankruptcy to help the island emerge from its financial crisis. — The Washington Post

Lawmakers begin bipartisan push to cut off police access to military-style gear — June 1.Local law enforcement receive military weaponry — like bayonets and grenade launchers — through a Pentagon program that was shut down by Obama but revived by Trump. Why it matters: The program is being scrutinized amid concerns about aggressive use of force by police around the country as they are dispersing often non-violent protesters. — The New York Times

Senate Democrats pump brakes on new stimulus checks — May 29. Though House Democrats want to include more $1,200 checks in the next economic stimulus bill, some Senate Democrats would rather focus the relief effort specifically on  those who have been hit the hardest. Why it matters: The conflict demonstrates difficult negotiations surrounding coronavirus relief that could stall aid as the pandemic’s economic impacts linger. — The HIll 

Justice Department closing insider-trading investigations into three U.S. senators — May 26. Investigations into the stock sales of Sens. Kelly Loeffler, Jim Inhofe and Dianne Feinstein at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak have concluded. Why it matters: The end of the investigation is welcome news particularly for Loeffler, a Republican who is facing a challenger from her own party for her Georgia Senate seat and has politically suffered in the polls in part because of the insider-trading scandal.  — The Wall Street Journal

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Kate Grumke, @KGrumke
Politics producer

On this day in 1774, the British government renewed an act that allowed British troops to stay housed in private American residences. This was the fourth in a series of legislation known as the Intolerable Acts or the Coercive Acts, which spurred the first meeting of the Continental Congress.

Our question: What was this act called?

Send your answers to NewsHourPolitics@newshour.org or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.

Last week, we asked: On this day in 1868, Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial ended. The Senate voted on three articles of impeachment, and failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority on any of them to convict Johnson and remove him from office. How many votes did each article fail by?

The answer: Each article failed by just one vote.

This was the first impeachment trial in our nation’s history, and a majority of Senators voted to convict the president of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” But the final roll call was 35-19 for the three articles of impeachment.

Johnson served out the rest of his term, and five years after leaving office, won a Senate seat and returned to the capitol.

Congratulations to our winners: Tim Smith and Mary Hubbard!!

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your Inbox next week.

The Washington Post         The Post Most      June 3, 2020   (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) Pentagon chief breaks from Trump over use of active-duty military forces to quell unrest After a week of violent unrest, peace largely prevailed amid acts of civil disobedience in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and other major cities Live updates ?  By Washington Post staff ?  Read more »   CIA veterans who monitored crackdowns abroad see troubling parallels in Trump’s handling of protests By Greg Miller ?  Read more »     For 200 years, the Insurrection Act has given presidents the power to deploy the military to quell unrest By Ian Shapira ?  Read more »     Secretary Esper, you violated your oath in aiding Trump’s photo op. That’s why I’m resigning. Opinion ?  By James N. Miller ?  Read more »    ‘This can’t be happening’: An oral history of 48 surreal, violent, biblical minutes in Washington By Dan Zak, Monica Hesse, Ben Terris, Maura Judkis and Travis Andrews ?  Read more »    Didn’t get your stimulus payment? Here’s how to find it. Perspective ?  By Michelle Singletary ?  Read more »    America is awash in cameras, a double-edged sword for protesters and police By Heather Kelly and Rachel Lerman ?  Read more »    Boris Johnson offers refuge, British citizenship path for nearly 3 million Hong Kongers By Shibani Mahtani ?  Read more »    The global race for a coronavirus vaccine could lead to this generation’s Sputnik moment By Carolyn Y. Johnson and Eva Dou ?  Read more »    Rosenstein says, in hindsight, he would not have signed application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser By Matt Zapotosky ?  Read more »      Americans are delaying medical care, and it’s devastating health-care providers By Ted Mellnik, Laris Karklis and Andrew Ba Tran ?  Read more »    Trump says Republicans will pull convention from Charlotte; U.S. coronavirus cases pass 1.8 million Live updates ?  By Washington Post staff ?  Read more »    Men wearing Hawaiian shirts and carrying guns add a volatile new element to protests By Craig Timberg, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Souad Mekhennet ?  Read more »    When life gives you herbs by the fistful, put them to use in sauces, salads and drinks By Becky Krystal ?  Read more »    Trump administration bans flights by Chinese airlines By Lori Aratani ?  Read more »    Biden begins to map out ‘revolutionary’ agenda, reimagining his presidency amid national upheaval By Matt Viser ?  Read more »    Latin America had time to prepare for the coronavirus. It couldn’t stop the inevitable. By Terrence McCoy ?  Read more »     More on the unrest in Lafayette Square (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) Trump’s photo with his loyalists was a vulgar mess. And Ivanka brought a handbag. The president’s photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church was a whole new level of strange costuming. Perspective ?  By Robin Givhan ?  Read more »  The New York Times           The  Morning         June 3, 2020   By David Leonhardt  Good morning. Protests continued late into the night, without the destruction of recent days. George W. Bush offered praise for the protesters. Let’s start by looking at how mass incarceration has shaped black Americans’ lives. When jail becomes normal The exercise yard at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, Calif.Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press  For most white Americans, interactions with the police happen rarely, and they’re often respectful or even friendly. Many white people don’t know a single person who’s currently behind bars. In many black communities — and especially for black men — the situation is entirely different. Some of the statistics can be hard to fathom:  Close to 10 percent of black men in their 30s are behind bars on any given day, according to the Sentencing Project. Incarceration rates for black men are about twice as high as those of Hispanic men, five times higher than those of white men and at least 25 times higher than those of black women, Hispanic women or white women.  When the government last counted how many black men had ever spent time in state or federal prison — in 2001 — the share was 17 percent. Today, it’s likely closer to 20 percent (and this number doesn’t include people who’ve spent time in jail without being sentenced to prison). The comparable number for white men is about 3 percent. The rise of mass incarceration over the last half-century has turned imprisonment into a dominant feature of modern life for black Americans. Large numbers of black men are missing from their communities — unable to marry, care for children or see their aging parents. Many others suffer from permanent economic or psychological damage, struggling to find work after they leave prison.  A recent study by the economists Patrick Bayer and Kerwin Kofi Charles found that 27 percent of black men in the prime working years of their lives — between the ages of 25 and 54 — didn’t report earning a single dollar of income in 2014. “That’s a massive number,” Charles, the dean of the Yale School of Management, told me. Incarceration, including the aftereffects, was a major reason. The anger coursing through America’s streets over the past week has many causes, starting with a gruesome video showing the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But that anger has also been building up for a long time. It is, in part, anger about incarceration having become normal.  An explainer podcast: How has mass incarceration happened? “Justice in America” — hosted by Josie Duffy Rice of The Appeal — tries to answer the question. The Times’s Caity Weaver recommends starting with the first episode, about bail. “I learn so much from this freaking podcast,” Caity tweeted yesterday. FOUR MORE BIG STORIES  1.                  Less violence on Tuesday night People gather during a peace march honoring Minneapolis man George Floyd Tuesday in Houston.David J. Phillip/Associated Press  The amount of violence, fires and looting declined last night, relative to the chaos of previous nights. Instead, peaceful protesters in many cities defied curfews and remained on the streets late into the night to protest police violence. Other protest developments:  Minneapolis police used force against black people at a rate at least seven times that of white people during the past five years, city data show. In his first speech outside his home since the coronavirus lockdown, Joe Biden likened President Trump’s language to that of Southern racists of the 1960s. “We cannot let our rage consume us,” Biden said. Former President George W. Bush praised peaceful protesters. He said that he and his wife, Laura, were “anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country.” 2. Fears of ‘autocracy’ Attorney General William Barr gave the order to clear the square across from the White House on Monday night, The Times explains, in a story reconstructing the incident. The order led law enforcement to use smoke and flash grenades to scatter peaceful protesters so that Trump could appear at a church for a photo opportunity.  Former military leaders and democracy experts condemned the use of force against citizens. Retired Adm. Mike Mullen wrote in The Atlantic that Trump had “laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country.” Kori Schake, a former Pentagon official and Republican policy adviser, said, “If we were seeing this in another country, we would be deeply concerned.” Gail Helt, a former C.I.A. analyst, told The Washington Post: “This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.” 3. Voting in a shaken country People in eight states and Washington, D.C., cast ballots in extraordinary circumstances yesterday, and it seemed to go more smoothly than some people feared. “If Tuesday’s vote-by-mail primaries were a test for November, elections officials have reason to be encouraged: a few bumps but no major disasters,” said Stephanie Saul, a Times reporter.  Among the results: 4. Zuckerberg defends his approach  In a tense company meeting, the Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg stood by his decision not to remove or flag Trump’s inflammatory posts. Some Facebook employees have been in open revolt over the policy. “Mark always told us that he would draw the line at speech that calls for violence,” said one engineer in a resignation note this week. “He showed us on Friday that this was a lie.”   Here’s what else is happening   Workers at the Atlantic Blueberry Company are tested prior to the picking season, in Hammonton, N.J.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times A Times’s investigation explains how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fumbled its response to the coronavirus, leaving the country without adequate testing early in the crisis. Here are five takeaways from the reporting. Republicans said they were moving Trump’s convention speech out of Charlotte, after a stalemate with Democratic officials in North Carolina about virus restrictions. The College Board is postponing plans for an online version of the SAT because of technological challenges, further complicating the college-application process for students stuck at home. Lives lived: Elsa Dorfman used a 200-pound Polaroid camera to create a brand of photographic art all her own, making instantaneous giant, natural-looking portraits of celebrities and everyday people — even while Polaroid, outpaced by technology, was fast going out of business. She died on May 30 at 83.  The Associated Press   May 30, 2020 https://apnews.com/bee77c500c44054c48448d6f1f2602b7 Marcus Lavon of Des Moines raises his hands during a protest in Des Moines, May 29, 2020. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP) AP PHOTOS: Images from protests across a traumatized nation By The Associated Press   May 30, 2020 In cities across the United States, protesters angered over the killing of George Floyd faced off against heavily-armed officers, with some smashing police cars, ransacking businesses and setting fires that smoldered through the night. Fears of another cycle of violence were palpable on Saturday as cities from Atlanta to Minneapolis grappled with the scope of the damage, and pleas for calm from elected officials and others seemed to do little to dampen the anger. In Minnesota, where Floyd died Monday after a police officer pressed down on his neck for more than eight minutes, Gov. Tim Walz activated more than a thousand national guardsmen early Saturday, promising a massive show of force to protect the city. Protesters refuse to allow National Guard personnel to advance towards Hiawatha Avenue along East Lake Street, Friday, May 29, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler also declared an emergency and ordered a nighttime curfew for the city. And in Washington, D.C., the guard was on standby as a crowd gathered outside the White House and chanted curses at President Donald Trump. In all, more than two dozen cities experienced racially diverse protests, many peaceful but some of violent. Full Coverage: Photography Many of those out on the streets spoke of frustration that Floyd’s death was one more in a litany. It came in the wake of the killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot after being pursued by two white men while running in their neighborhood, and in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work, killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. and disproportionately affected black people. Trump was again under criticism for stoking the racial discord with a series of tweets Saturday belittling the protesters outside, claiming many of the Secret Service agents were “just waiting for action” and ready to unleash “the most vicious dogs, and the most ominous weapons, I have ever seen” if protesters try to breech the White House’s security fence. Donald Trump supporter Michael Rooney of Des Moines argues with protesters outside of the Des Moines Police Department during a protest on Friday, May 29, 2020, in Des Moines. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP) Protesters move along a highway Friday, May 29, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) A Police officer warns a protester during an arrest at a rally Friday, May 29, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Police react to protesters in Atlanta on May 29, 2020. Protesters carried signs and chanted their messages of outrage over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) A protester is arrested near Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Friday, May 29, 2020, following a rally to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) A man throws a hand truck into the window of vandalized CVS store during a protest over the death of George Floyd Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Los Angeles. Floyd died in police custody Monday in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Protesters and National Guardsmen face off on East Lake Street, Friday, May 29, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrators burn garbage in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, May 29, 2020, while protesting the Monday death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man in police custody in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) A protester rides his bike past a burning building that housed a check cashing business, Friday, May 29, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) A woman flashes the peace sign while walking backwards in a cloud of tear gas during a protest at 72nd and Dodge Streets on Friday, May 29, 2020. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP) Police officers and protesters clash near CNN Center, Friday, May 29, 2020, in Atlanta, in response to George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart) Demonstrators rally in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, May 29, 2020, to protest the Monday death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man in police custody in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) A protester confronts Kansas City police during a George Floyd protest at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, May 29, 2020. (Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star via AP) A demonstrator attacks a police car during a protest over the death of George Floyd in downtown Los Angeles, Friday, May 29, 2020. Floyd died in the custody of the Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) Police officers rush past a burning police vehicle to disperse protesters during a protest over the death of George Floyd Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Los Angeles. Floyd died in police custody Monday in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) >A man runs out of a convenience store Friday, May 29, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Red handprints cover a window at the Hall of Justice building in downtown Louisville, Ky., Friday, May 29, 2020. Breonna Taylor, a black woman, was fatally shot by police in her home in March. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) A Police vehicle burns after protesters rallied at Barclays Center over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died Memorial Day while in Minneapolis police custody, Friday, May 29, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Medical examiner: Floyd’s heart stopped while restrainedMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A medical examiner on Monday classified George Floyd’s death as a homicide, saying his heart stopped as police restrained him and compressed his neck, in a widely seen video…  yesterday  Go to the top