1. 'Congressional oversight of intelligence activities now faces a historic crisis'

Even Republican Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Marco Rubio expressed dismay following the announcement by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe that his office will halt in-person briefings on election security to the House and Senate intelligence committees ahead of the presidential election. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff was more specific, saying he is considering subpoenaing Ratcliffe to "compel the intelligence community to give Congress the information that we need." Schiff continued, "We will compel the intelligence community also to speak plainly to the American people. This intelligence paid for by taxpayers doesn't belong to Donald Trump. It doesn't belong to the intelligence agencies. It belongs to the American people." —USA Today

• — Ratcliffe's defense. Ratcliffe defended the decision by saying the move was necessary to prevent leaks. "When I went through confirmation, people watched that. They heard me make a couple of promises," Ratcliffe said on Fox News yesterday. "One of them was to always follow the law. The other was that I would do everything I could to protect the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, allowing people to leak it for political purposes." —The Hill
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• — A subpoena for DeJoy too. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform plans to issue a subpoena to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Wednesday, over documents that Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney says he "has been withholding from Congress." Stay tuned. —CNN
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• — Not so fast, Flynn. A U.S. appeals court ruled today that a federal judge can scrutinize the Justice Dept.'s unusual request to drop the criminal case against President Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The decision was a setback for the department and for Flynn, who had filed an emergency request asking for the immediate dismissal of charges. —The Wall Street Journal

2. Samaha & Garrison: Is Kenosha our future?

"The violence in Kenosha, Wisc., this week...has raised a terrifying prospect: What if it is not a horrific one-off but a preview of what's to come? What if the bitter presidential election is not decided on Election Day—a scenario many experts say is likely—and people from both sides take to the streets? What if Trump appears to lose the election but claims that the outcome was rigged and refuses to concede, a possibility that he has already floated? What if Trump loses the popular vote again but still wins the election, and protesters fill the streets, met by counter-protesters? What if it turns violent?" —BuzzFeed News

3. A death in Portland

This weekend saw more violence in the streets of America. On Saturday evening, a caravan of about 600 vehicles carrying Trump supporters drove through Portland, Ore., which has experienced prolonged social unrest since the death of George Floyd in May. It was met by counter-protesters, and skirmishes broke out, leaving a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer dead from a gunshot. The group's founder, Joey Gibson, a former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, identified the victim as Aaron "Jay" Danielson. Among a flurry of critical tweets on Portland, President Trump wrote, "Rest In Peace Jay!" —The Guardian

• — No mincing words. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and other leaders wasted little time blaming Trump for inciting the hatred and violence. "Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence?" Wheeler said yesterday. "It's you who have created the hate and the division." —OPB
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• — Looting and fires in Minneapolis. The site of the death of Floyd has been hit by a second round of unrest. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ordered two days of curfews, saying, "It is righteous to vent pain and anguish in the form of peaceful protest, but what happened last night was neither peaceful nor was it a form of protest that effectively moves us forward. Our neighborhoods have endured an extraordinary amount of pain already this year." —NBC News
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• — Kenosha braces for Trump. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers sent a letter to the White House yesterday urging Trump to reconsider his scheduled visit to the beleaguered city of Kenosha tomorrow. "I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together," Evers said. But White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany insisted today that "this president will go to Kenosha." —Politico

4. Abcarian: This isn't 'Biden's America.' It's Trump's

"If [Democratic candidate Joe] Biden is elected, Trump predicts, the country will explode with the kind of racial unrest and protests against police brutality that we saw this summer after a white police officer choked the life out of a Black man, George Floyd. It's a neat and cynical trick: Vote for me because what's happening on my watch is unacceptable." —Los Angeles Times

5. Six million cases of COVID-19

The number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 6 million yesterday, with more than 183,000 deaths due to the virus. Universities and colleges that board students are particularly struggling to keep cases under control, as young adults move back to campuses and nearby residences to begin in-person courses. Four vaccine candidates are in clinical trials in the U.S., with one from Moderna being furthest along, but it's still impossible to know whether they will prove effective. —NBC News

• — More politicization at the FDA? Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said he's willing to consider granting emergency authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine before clinical trials have been completed, as Russia has done. The comments come about a week after the president accused the FDA for intentionally moving slowly to hurt him politically. —CNBC
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• — It might not even matter. Polls show that many people worldwide simply do not trust vaccines in general. In some countries, the share of residents willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine may be well below 50%. That paltry number threatens herd immunity, since most estimates of the threshold range from 40-70%. Convincing people to take vaccines may end up being as difficult as producing them in the first place. —The Economist
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• — Education brain drain. Veteran K-12 teachers in states across the U.S. are resigning and retiring at higher rates as schools begin reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic. Educators are citing the stress tied to remote learning, technical difficulties, and COVID-19 health concerns as their primary reasons for leaving. —Newsweek

MORE: Other countries show that schools need not be pandemic hotspots —The Economist

6. Protests, protests everywhere

The QAnon virus appears to be spreading. Thousands of protesters, some waving flags with the symbol of the conspiracy movement, gathered in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday to demonstrate against social restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some carried signs reading "Stop the corona lies" and "End the plandemic immediately." Others carried the black, white, and red Reich flag, a symbol of "Reich citizens," who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state. Berlin's regional government had sought to ban the protest, citing similar rallies earlier this month where rules intended to stop the virus being spread weren't respected, but a court rejected the request. —NBC News

• — Belarus protests persist. On the pro-democracy side of the coin, tens of thousands of people marched on the palace of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko yesterday, demanding his resignation, as large-scale protests against the longtime, authoritarian leader entered their fourth week. The fury began with the Aug. 9 presidential election, in which he claimed a landslide victory that is widely believed to have been falsified. —The New York Times
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• — Baltics hit back. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will announce travel sanctions on about 30 Belarus officials, including Lukashenko, today, according to Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda. —Reuters
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• — Happy birthday, comrade. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his "warm wishes" to Lukashenko yesterday, on the occasion of his 66th birthday, according to a statement posted on the official Kremlin website. What a guy. —CNN

7. Vidwans: Why Thailand's protests are succeeding

"'Thais have been gossiping about the monarchy in private for years, then teaching their children to praise it lavishly in public, to be hypocrites,' Thai historian Thongchai Winichakul told the BBC. 'All these young protesters have done is bring that gossip out into the open.' In one sense, then, Thailand's leaderless protest movement has already succeeded. As political scientist Paolo Gerbaudo told 'The Atlantic' last year, 'We shouldn't expect from social movements that which social movements cannot deliver.' Their job is not to solve political problems, he said, but 'to raise questions that were not previously on the political agenda [and] to show that there is a large section of the population that doesn't feel represented.'" —World Politics Review

8. ICYMI: Quick takes from the weekend

If you were too busy with summer activities this weekend to check on the news, good for you. Here's a roundup of stories you may have missed...

• — Demoted. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn has fired the agency's spokesperson, Emily Miller, one week after her arrival, but she will remain at the agency as an "appointee." Miller reportedly created problems among career officials within the agency and was involved in prepping the announcement on the emergency use authorization on convalescent plasma. —CNN
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• — Lost and found. U.S. Marshals found 39 missing children in Georgia on Thursday as part of an operation to rescue endangered children known as "Operation Not Forgotten." Authorities arrested nine people, cleared 26 warrants, and filed additional charges for alleged crimes related to sex trafficking, parental kidnapping, registered sex offender violations, drugs and weapons possession, and custodial interference. —CNN
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• — Wakanda forever. Actor Chadwick Boseman passed away at age 42 on Friday. He had been diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2016 but never spoke publicly about it. He was best known for playing Jackie Robinson, the first Black athlete to play Major League Baseball, in "42" and the Marvel superhero Black Panther. —The Boston Globe

• — Trump heads to the Gulf Coast. On Saturday, the president surveyed damage from Hurricane Laura, which has disproportionately devastated low-income minority neighborhoods. The visit followed a Friday night campaign event in New Hampshire in which Trump warned that the country needs him to "save democracy from the mob." —The Washington Post
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• — Say you're sorry. The Biden campaign has called on Trump to apologize for using New York City public housing tenants in a Republican National Convention spot without their permission. "For the Trump campaign to deceive these Americans and abuse their very names and identities under the facade that they supported him is abhorrent," said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates. —The Washington Post

9. Micklethwait & Wooldridge: America needs massive reform

"America—and with it the West—faces a choice between two endings: one in which the ship continues to rot and another in which it is repaired and rejiggered. The ship of state has been neglected, but the basic design is still sound and the spirit of the crew is still strong. ... America cannot ignore the fact that other ships are beginning to go past it. The rest of the world is not staying still. It is in all our interests that the union sails on, 'strong and great.' It is time to wake up." —Bloomberg

Ed. Note: John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge are the co-authors of "The Wake-Up Call: Why the Pandemic Has Exposed the Weakness of the West, and How to Fix It."

10. An American Story: A smile from Mia

Three-year-old Mia Villa of Stillwater, N.Y., is thanking those on the frontlines of COVID-19 by delivering homemade baked goods and a smile.

• — She has been perfecting her chocolate chip cookies since she was 18 months old. With help from her mom, she's whipped up over 1,000 cookies and delivers them to hospital staff, supermarket employees, veterinarians, and fire and police departments—all at a safe distance.
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• — "The world was feeling down and we needed some kindness," Mia's mother Devin Villa said. "I thought, 'Who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie?' This little 3-year-old could spread smiles, and I hope it teaches her lessons."
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• — Through "Mia's Cookie Jar," Mia's "cookie followers," as she likes to call them, give suggestions on where she should deliver cookies. As an extra "thank you," Mia includes a hand-drawn picture with every drop-off. —ABC News

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