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Our nation is reeling right now, and yet despite our divisions, a critical mass of Americans is united against police brutality and systemic racism. While it has taken our nation too long to get to this point, costing lives, and a sense of mutual trust, we should see this moment as an opportunity to catalyze real change. Yesterday, I was honored to co-host for Stand Up Republic an open conversation about addressing racial injustice and building a more inclusive America with principled conservatives Tara Setmayer, Shermichael Singleton, and Joe Pinion. If you missed it, we encourage you to watch it here ([link removed]) . If you've felt despair at the state of our nation, we hope it will help restore your faith that America is wounded, but not broken, and we will make progress by leaning into common ground. —Mindy Finn
Top Ten

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1. Protesters...or terrorists? ([link removed])

President Trump tweeted out a letter yesterday that referred to a group of protesters as "terrorists," following their violent ouster from a park near the White House on Monday. The letter, signed by Trump's former lawyer John Dowd and addressed to "Jim," lambastes former Defense Sec. James Mattis for daring to call out Trump for threatening a military response to protests that have engulfed cities across the country. Dowd calls the protesters who were forced out of Washington, D.C.'s Lafayette Square "terrorists using idle hate … to burn and destroy." Elsewhere, Mattis received support for his public condemnation of the president. The former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey called Trump's threat to use military force "dangerous" and "very troubling," and Trump's former chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, spoke out in defense of Mattis as well. —Politico ([link removed])
* — A "great day" for George Floyd? Trump sparked outrage again today, during a White House event in which he touted the latest unemployment report and downplayed the protests continuing across the country. "Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying, 'This is a great thing that's happening for our country.' This is a great day for him. It's a great day for everybody," he said. —The Guardian ([link removed])
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* — Twitter ups the ante. Twitter has blocked a Trump campaign video over a copyright claim, adding tension to the ongoing dispute between the social media platform and the president. The company put a label on a video tribute to Floyd, posted by the @TeamTrump account, that said, "This media has been disabled in response to a claim by the copyright owner." It did not say who made the complaint. —NBC News ([link removed])
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* — Civil rights groups sue. The American Civil Liberties Union, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and other groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration and federal law enforcement agencies yesterday, saying they violated the constitutional rights of the demonstrators who were violently evacuated from a Washington, D.C., park on Monday evening. —NPR ([link removed])
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* — Barr under fire again. A group of about 80 House Democrats wrote a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Barr's "evident role in suppressing the right of the American people to redress their grievances" on Monday. Some have demanded his resignation. Another massive protest is planned in the capital tomorrow. —Forbes ([link removed])

More: How to fix American policing (The Economist) ([link removed])

2. Shafer: Throwing a spotlight on a bad law "According to the Insurrection Act's section 332, presidents can dispatch federal troops to American cities over the objections of their governors when conditions 'make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States.' Presidents don't need such broad, godlike powers to help maintain civil order. For one thing, local police, sheriffs, state patrols, and state national guards almost always possess the necessary force to contain riots and protect public safety. When governors lack such force and sense things are out of control, other portions of the act allow them to request federal troops, as Republican California Gov. Pete Wilson did during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. [T]he military neither desires the role of occupying force, as retired Marine Corps general James Mattis reminded us Wednesday, nor is it trained in the techniques of law enforcement. So why not sunset section 332?" —Politico
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More: DC mayor says she wants out-of-state troops 'out of Washington' (CNN) ([link removed])

3. Social justice vs. social distancing For months, Americans have retreated indoors, worn masks, and social distanced at the direction of public health experts to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. But as large groups gather in cities nationwide to protest systemic racism, some of these experts have changed their tune a bit—and that has others worried that it will create confusion and cynicism regarding the dangers of COVID-19. ([link removed])
* — "We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus," Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. "In this moment, the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus." ([link removed])
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— This shift in some experts' tone has alarmed Americans who spent their spring isolating while some couldn't even bury loved ones or their businesses were destroyed. ([link removed])
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* — The majority of health officials maintain that protesters should wear masks and practice social distancing as much as possible, as a deadly virus is still raging throughout the world. —Politico ([link removed])

More: Unemployment rate falls to 13.3% in May (Associated Press) ([link removed])

4. Here we go again: Campaigns targeted by hackers Russia will not be alone in its efforts to disrupt the upcoming U.S. election with cyberattacks. Google has found phishing attempts made by at least one Chinese group and one Iranian group against staffers working in the Biden and Trump campaigns. ([link removed])
* — Phishing attacks involve the attacker creating a webpage or link that looks trustworthy, but is designed to steal vital information, such as the victim's username or password. Google says that the attacks made by the Chinese and Iranian groups appear to have been unsuccessful. ([link removed])
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* — In 2016, Russia sent phishing emails to Hillary Clinton staffers that appeared to be from Google, but in reality stole their Google passwords. Clinton campaign chair John Podesta was included among the victims and had his emails posted online. ([link removed])
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— Experts differ on why each country is conducting cyberattacks against the campaigns. While the consensus view is that Russia's effort is to disrupt the election, some believe that China's cyberattacks are aimed at collecting information about Biden's foreign policy objectives and not so much at election interference. —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])

More: Facebook starts labeling 'state-controlled media' pages (The Verge) ([link removed])

5. Magid: Time for a conversation on social media ([link removed])

"Neither [Twitter CEO Jack] Dorsey nor [Facebook CEO Mark] Zuckerberg nor I have all the answers when it comes to how social media should deal with potentially dangerous or false speech, regardless of where it comes from. Free speech is a sacred American principle, but...the First Amendment applies to government, not private companies. If anything, the First Amendment protects companies like Twitter and Facebook from being censored by the president. It doesn't protect the president from being censored by those companies." —The Mercury News ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Larry Magid is CEO of ConnectSafely.org.

More: Fake news is fooling more conservatives than liberals. Why? (The Economist) ([link removed])
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6. More state action on voting Yesterday was a big day for new voting-related measures—but not necessarily a positive one. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas blocked a lower court ruling that would have expanded vote-by-mail by allowing the state's "disability" election provision to apply to all registered voters under age 65, who currently have to provide an excuse when applying for absentee ballots. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton applauded the decision, as he agrees with President Trump that mail-in voting is more susceptible to voter fraud, though there is little evidence to support that theory. —CNN ([link removed])
* — The Ohio House voted in favor of an elections bill that calls for the shortening of time allowed for requesting an absentee ballot to seven days before Election Day. The bill would also block the Ohio Secretary of State from prepaying return postage on applications for absentee ballots or on the ballots themselves, and block public officials from canceling or delaying an election. —Dayton Daily News ([link removed])
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* — A Tennessee state court ruled that any registered voter in the state can qualify for vote-by-mail this year, but they must provide an excuse. Before the ruling, people who were sick, disabled, traveling, or elderly were the only voters eligible for mail-in voting. State litigators argued that moving forward with excuse-free voting would overwhelm the state's mail-in voting system. —The Hill ([link removed])
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* — Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, the U.S. Postal Service was heading toward turmoil, which could threaten the democratic process now that the 2020 election may be largely conducted by mail. The Senate is expected to pass some form of aid for the USPS in the coming months to help the struggling agency brace for the extra challenge. —The Guardian ([link removed])

More: Why is voting by mail (suddenly) controversial? Here's what you need to know (NPR) ([link removed])

7. Bowman: Hong Kong today, Taiwan tomorrow? ([link removed])

"Beijing has already started to ratchet up military pressure on Taipei, with frequent shows of coercive air and maritime force near Taiwan. In light of developments in China, Beijing might come to view a military conflict as a means of encouraging domestic unity and solidifying political control. To deter such a decision, Washington's response should include diplomatic, economic, and military elements. Diplomatically, congressional leaders of both parties should spend less time worrying about the Chinese Communist Party's reactions and more time signaling strong support for Taiwan. That should mean more visits to Taiwan by prominent senators and representatives. These trips may seem like meaningless political theater, but they actually send an important signal to Beijing that the U.S. stands with Taiwan." —Newsweek ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Bradley Bowman is senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

More: China grows 'more assertive' in world politics as the US leaves behind a vacuum, ex-diplomat says (CNBC) ([link removed])

8. Grassley pushes back Sen. Chuck Grassley announced that he will hold two Trump Administration nominees until he gets an explanation over a recent string of firings of inspectors general from within the executive branch. President Trump has fired five inspectors general in recent weeks. ([link removed])
* — "Im placing holds on 2 Trump Admin noms until I get reasons 4firing 2 agency watchdogs as required by law Not 1st time I've raised alarm when admins flout IG protection law Obama did same& got same earfull from me All I want is a reason 4 firing these ppl CHECKS&BALANCES," Grassley said in a tweet. ([link removed])
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* — Grassley will hold up Christopher Miller's nomination to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center until he gets an explanation for the firing of the intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson. ([link removed])
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* — Grassley also will hold up Marshall Billingslea's nomination for undersecretary for arms control and international security at the State Department until the most recent firing of State Department Inspector General Steven Linick is reasonably justified. —The Hill ([link removed])

9. Avlon: Why won't they stand up? ([link removed])

"Republicans are caught in a hyper-partisan trap of their own making. They are afraid of provoking the president's wrath as well as the anger of the base despite the fact that what Trump is doing is against everything they once said they believed. ... During the Obama years, one fringe conspiracy theory, known as 'Jade Helm,' baselessly accused former President Obama of conspiring to use the military against U.S. citizens, attracting the interest of Sen. Ted Cruz. Now that President Trump has called for something that looks a lot like that in reality, the Republican response is crickets." —CNN ([link removed])

More: Trump says he will campaign against Lisa Murkowski after her support for Mattis (Axios) ([link removed])

10. An American Story: Bracelets for social change One of nine-year-old Minnesotan Kamryn Johnson's favorite hobbies is bracelet-making. Recently, while making bracelets in the driveway with her friends, she came up with the idea to sell them to help those in need. ([link removed])
* — Johnson's father, former Golden Gophers football standout Ron Johnson, tweeted and went on sports talk radio to spread the word about his daughter's mission. ([link removed])
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* — Kamryn and her friends raised more than $20,000 to help families struggling from the destructive aftermath of George Floyd's death ([link removed])
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* — Ron hasn't shown his daughter the video of Floyd, but he says they prayed together as a family and told their children it was bad. "But what can you do to make it better? It's not sit around and wonder and worry. It's you know what, let's make a change," Ron said. Great job, Kamryn! —CBS News ([link removed])

Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis and recent unrest. Would you like to suggest an "American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Thank you!
What's Your Take?

I've heard, I can't count the times, that "enough is enough." In reality, "ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH" when, on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. That's a bit more than 159 years ago. And we still sit on our hands with an ingrained racist basis for our country. White America, and white Christians, have to realize this and truly understand the egregious ways we have been treating black Americans, our true and loving brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, there is a swampland on Pennsylvania Avenue that exists only to put out the light. —Steven B., Florida

Wanted to remind all TOPLINE readers to be vigilant about voting rights! Here in Ohio, the state house voted along party lines to make voting more difficult. "House Bill 680 would block the Ohio Secretary of State from prepaying return postage on applications for absentee ballots or on the ballots themselves. It calls for shortening the time allowed for requesting an absentee ballot to seven days before Election Day." —Mark M., Ohio

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