Welcome to Friday, August 28th, shoots and ladders...

Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, said Thursday that NBA protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, are “absurd and silly.”

“If they want to protest, I don’t think we care. I don’t know that you are going to see the administration weigh in one way or the other. In my mind it’s absurd and silly."

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks said they would not play against the Orlando Magic in protest over Blake's shooting.

"We're tired of the killings and the injustice," Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill told ESPN on Wednesday.

Lebron James, of the L.A. Lakers, tweeted a message of support for the strikes:

"F[***] THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT"

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said he planned to reach out to James.

"Look, let's both agree on what we want to accomplish and let's come up with a common path to get there."

Do you support or oppose the NBA protests?

On the Radar

DOJ Seeks Data on Nursing Home COVID-19 Deaths

The Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Democratic governors of Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania to provide coronavirus (COVID-19) data related to the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents, which may have been caused by the governors requiring facilities to readmit COVID-19 patients.

Nursing homes have been hit hard by the pandemic, as elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to serious complications and death from COVID-19.

The DOJ is seeking the data to help determine if it will initiate investigations into whether the states’ orders are responsible for the deaths of nursing home residents and justify civil rights charges under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA). Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband said:

 “Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations. We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's (D) press secretary, Tiffany Brown, responded with the following:

“Protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of our seniors and most vulnerable residents has been a top priority throughout this crisis. The fact that this letter was sent during the middle of the Republican National Convention week to four Democratic governors should make it crystal clear that this is nothing more than election year politics by an administration that is more concerned with the president’s re-election campaign than protecting Michigan seniors."

Should the DOJ look into state orders that sent elderly COVID-19 patients back to nursing homes?

Under the Radar

Pelosi: "We're Not Budging"

Thursday brought the first formal communication between any of the four lead negotiators since talks about another COVID-19 relief package broke down and President Trump took executive action three weeks ago. Once again, no progress was made in reaching a compromise.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are leading the negotiations for Democrats; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are leading for the GOP.

Pelosi (D-CA) foreshadowed the continuing gridlock during her weekly press conference earlier in the day when she said Democrats are willing to drop the total from $3.4 trillion to $2.2 trillion, “But we can’t go any less because we have to meet the needs of the American people. We will not shortchange them.” She added that it “could be a very short conversation if they’re not willing to meet in the middle. We’re not budging. Understand this … They have to move.”

Meadows hasn’t yet commented on his meeting with the speaker, but at a press event hosted by Politico on Wednesday, he noted that Congress will need to fund the government to avoid a shutdown at the end of September and said it could factor into coronavirus relief negotiations.

Do you want Congress to reach a compromise on a new coronavirus relief bill?

And, in the End...

On this date in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at a civil rights rally in Washington, DC. 

What do you fight for?

—Josh Herman

Talk to us via email at editorial [at] causes.com. And don’t forget to keep in touch @Causes.