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In another short-sighted move, the president signed an executive order yesterday suspending certain temporary work visas through the end of the year. While he used the coronavirus as cover, the move is consistent with the administration’s ongoing assault on legal immigration, asylum, and guest-worker programs. The H-1B visa suspension is particularly incomprehensible right now, as it will bar skilled workers who fill important niches in key areas like tech and research that American workers alone cannot. At a time when our economy is deep in recovery mode, depriving the nation of workers who can provide needed expertise that drives American business doesn’t help us—it helps our competitors. —Mindy Finn
Top Ten

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1. 'I don't kid' The president may be confused, but he is definitely not kidding. Though his staff and surrogates have spent the past few days attempting to convince Americans that he was only joking when he said he directed his administration to slow down testing for the coronavirus, this morning he insisted he was serious. He explained that because the U.S. has "the greatest testing program anywhere in the world," we're "going to find more cases." So his solution? "I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down, please.'" No testing, no cases. Swell logic from the President of the United States. ([link removed])
* — "Government itself can't solve this problem." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was forced to confirm that the skyrocketing number of new cases in his state is due to a surge in infections, not because of increased testing. Florida officials confirmed yesterday that the state has recorded 100,000 positive test results for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. —Politico ([link removed])
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* — ([link removed]) "COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate." After 11 straight days of record-high hospitalizations in his state, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott struck a newly urgent tone yesterday, saying, "It must be corralled." However, he stopped short of introducing any new policies or pulling back on the reopening of Texas businesses. —The Texas Tribune ([link removed])
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* — No worries at the White House. Though two more members of the Trump campaign staff who attended the president's rally in Tulsa on Saturday have tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House has stopped conducting mandatory temperature checks for all staffers and visitors entering the grounds. —NBC News ([link removed])

More: White House defends Trump's use of racist term to describe coronavirus (NPR) ([link removed])

2. Trump freezes work visas, green cards Late yesterday, President Trump extended a freeze on green cards for new immigrants and signed an executive order to suspend new H-1B, L-1, J, and other temporary work visas for skilled workers, managers, and au pairs through the end of 2020. ([link removed])
* — The goal of the move is to protect 525,000 jobs as part of the White House response to job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a senior administration official. ([link removed])
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* — The order targets H-1B visas, which are designed for certain skilled workers such as those employed in the tech industry. It is not expected to affect immigrants and visa holders already in the U.S. ([link removed])
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* — "The ban on H-1B visas, which are often used to fill very niche positions that are not easily found in the American workforce, will ultimately prove to be counterproductive and is an example of using a nuclear bomb to address a bar fight," said former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Leon Fresco. —NPR ([link removed])

More: Trump Administration aims to end Dreamers immigration program in six months (Reuters) ([link removed])

3. US soldier planned 'mass casualty' attack The Justice Department has announced an indictment charging a soldier in the U.S. Army with coordinating with an occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group in Europe to plan a "mass casualty" attack on his own military unit. ([link removed])
* — "As the indictment lays out, Ethan Melzer plotted a deadly ambush on his fellow soldiers in the service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement. ([link removed])
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— He used an encrypted application to send messages to members of the extremist group "Order of the Nine Angles." He provided information related to his unit's anticipated deployment location and security details in order to facilitate an attack and initiate a global race war. ([link removed])
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* — Melzer is charged with conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country. —CNN ([link removed])

4. Rabil: We ignore white nationalism at our peril "As the Trump Administration spotlights the anti-fascist group Antifa as the source of chaos and anarchy engulfing the countrywide protests for equal rights and justice, little, if any, has been said about white nationalists who have infiltrated the protests with the objective of creating a popular pandemonium. Surely, Antifa's looters and anarchists, among others, should face justice; nevertheless, underestimating or turning a blind eye to the premeditated actions of white nationalists is a recipe to promote violence on a national and global scale. In fact, white nationalism as a movement has become a transnational crusade as ideologically and operationally dangerous as the Salafi-Jihadi Islamic State." —The National Interest ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Robert Rabil is a professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University.

5. A not-so-veiled threat hits auto racing world ([link removed])

A noose was found on Sunday afternoon in the track garage stall of NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, the auto racing association's only full-time black driver, who has been outspoken about recent social unrest. NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its speedways last week after Wallace took an aggressive stand against it. In a show of support for Wallace, the entire field escorted his car down pit row before the start of yesterday's race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. —USA Today ([link removed])
* — Bigger than NASCAR. Nooses have been found in public places in California, New York, and Maine within the last week, and over the previous month, six black people have been found hanging from trees. —Forbes ([link removed])
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— High tensions in D.C. ([link removed]) Protesters unsuccessfully tried to remove a statue of former President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, near the White House, last night. Four members of the media were directed by Secret Service to leave White House grounds in response to the demonstrations. —USA Today ([link removed])
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* — The end of CHAZ. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said police are working with protesters to reestablish a law-enforcement presence in the six-block area of the city known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Three people were shot, one fatally, in a spate of violence in the area over the weekend. —Business Insider ([link removed])

More: The Shake Shack saga was a bigger fraud than we thought (Vanity Fair) ([link removed])
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6. Applebaum: America is losing its 'Voice' ([link removed])

"In a world where airwaves are flooded with authoritarian disinformation, the effectiveness of American messaging depends on the perceived credibility and independence of the messengers. Anything that resembles 'Trump TV' or even just old-fashioned propaganda will have neither. America's international broadcasters are an important part of the face we present to the world. Thanks to congressional negligence, presidential malice, and general indifference, that face has just gotten uglier." —The Atlantic ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Anne Applebaum is a senior fellow of the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism."

More: Trump's new head of US media agency under fire from both sides (The Hill) ([link removed])

7. Lock them up? Without evidence, President Trump accused former President Barack Obama of treason yesterday in connection with the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign's contacts with Russia. "Treason. Treason. It's treason," Trump said in an interview with CBN News. ([link removed])
* — "They'd been spying on my campaign. Turned out I was right. Let's see what happens to them now," Trump said, apparently alluding to U.S. Attorney John Durham's ongoing investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation. —The Hill ([link removed])
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* — Another former public official on Trump's bad side is ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton, whose White House tell-all, to be released this week, had the president apoplectic in a Fox News interview and on Twitter yesterday. ([link removed])
* — "[H]e took classified information, and he published it during a presidency," Trump said. "I believe that he's a criminal, and I believe, frankly, he should go to jail for that." —Politico ([link removed])

More: Johnson and May ignored claims Russia had 'likely hold' over Trump, ex-spy alleges ([link removed]) (The Guardian) ([link removed])

8. Boot: Barr and Trump unravel rule of law "We don't know why [Attorney General Bill] Barr ousted [U.S. Attorney Geoffrey] Berman, but it is impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt given how he eager he has been to serve as Trump's henchman. Barr distorted the findings of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation; overruled line prosecutors to recommend a more lenient sentence for Trump crony Roger Stone; tried to dismiss the charges to which Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had already pleaded guilty; and has appointed investigators to investigate the investigators who probed the connections between the Trump campaign and Russia." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

More: White House admits Trump was involved in firing of top US attorney after Trump claimed he wasn't (CNN) ([link removed])

9. Pences voted by mail, too Recently, when Donald Trump began his campaign against vote-by-mail, it was pointed out that Trump himself votes by mail in Florida, where he is registered. Turns out, he's not the only one in the executive branch to do so. ([link removed])
* — Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, voted by mail in Indiana earlier this year. The couple mailed in their ballots for the June Republican primary in their home state on April 13. ([link removed])
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* — They used the address of the governor's mansion in Indianapolis, where they have not lived since December 2016, when they transitioned to Washington, D.C. Oops. ([link removed])
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* — It's not illegal, but... Given Trump's repeated attempts to disparage vote-by-mail with accusations of voter fraud, the Pences' voting by mail while using an address at which they no longer reside isn't a good look. —The Hill ([link removed])

10. An American Story: Doggie delivery Pre-Kindergarten students at Daily Discovery in Brooklyn, N.Y., got a special delivery this week from Tank, a comfort bulldog who works with special needs students at the school. ([link removed])
* — Tank aided teachers in delivering diplomas and graduation caps to pre-K graduates, who have been stuck at home for months. — "I can't imagine a graduation without Tank. A lot of the kids have a really close relationship with him at school. He's something they look forward to every day," Jillian Conigliaro, a special education teacher at the school and Tank's owner, said. ([link removed])
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* — The official pre-K graduation is next week, and Tank will be there, virtually, to cheer his students on. —Spectrum News ([link removed])

Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis and recent unrest, and promoting American values. 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?

As a white child, I was exposed to anti-black racism in the late 1940s and early 1950s: learning limericks and "eeny meeny miney mo"; watching black contractors doing outside work while not allowed in our home; visiting family with a grocery store who wouldn't allow black staff into their home in the back of the store; seeing separate black and white drinking fountains, and black passengers having to sit in the back of public transportation; my father changing the channel or turning off the TV if Sammy Davis, Jr., or Nat King Cole performed. Now in my 80s and, at last, finally understanding, from those experiences of people's prejudice over the years, the truth in today's strong effort to have all Americans truly equal in life.

The second-hand stories of random violence against black citizens and my personal experiences in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in my job and in the Navy, of the rampant discrimination, should have been unacceptable to me but was, instead, ignored. To accept that learned discrimination from my childhood and how it has affected my life over the years is, to me now, an error in my judgment which I take responsibility for today. I strongly support the movement to have all people of color accepted and treated equally, as all of our citizens, by law as Americans under our Constitution, are "created equally." —Kerry S., California

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The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.

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