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President Trump's latest executive orders to extend unemployment benefits and defer payroll taxes may be unconstitutional. Democrats had hoped to extend a program to give unemployed workers an additional $600 in weekly benefits and to extend a federal moratorium protecting some renters from evictions, but failed to overcome opposition from Republican lawmakers. Under Trump's order, unemployed workers would continue receiving an additional $400 a week, but only once states put up a quarter of the money and set up a new system to distribute the payments — a process that could take months. Trump also signed an executive order on evictions that does not extend the federal moratorium on evictions, and ordered a deferral of payroll taxes that will still need to be paid back next year, after the election. Trump's executive orders amount to "political theater," says David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, but could "set a really dangerous precedent" for the separation of powers in the future.

Democratic lawmakers say the Trump administration is sabotaging the United States Postal Service ahead of the November election, when a record number of votes are expected to be cast by mail. Since taking office, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — a major Trump donor — has instituted a number of cost-cutting measures that have slowed down the delivery of mail, and overhauled the leadership of the agency in a move that critics say will give him more power. This comes as President Trump continues to attack mail-in voting, claiming the post office can't handle an increase in ballots. We speak with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, and David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect and author of the new book, "Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power."

The Lebanese government may be on the verge of collapse amid protests over the massive port explosion that devastated much of Beirut and killed at least 200 people and injured thousands. At least four ministers and nine members of Parliament have resigned. "The dominoes are falling," says Dion Nissenbaum, a Beirut-based reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who led an investigation into the official neglect that preceded last week's explosion, and says it has intensified public outrage over long-standing government dysfunction, calling it "the straw that's broken the camel's back here."

FEATURING STUART APPELBAUM – Two employees of a Trader Joes grocery store in Manhattan were attacked by shoppers in late July after they were asked to wear a mask as per store policy. One shopper ripped the worker’s mask off while the other pulled a worker’s hair and threw baskets at them. According to the...

FEATURING MAYA SCHENWAR – As the national uprising led by Black Lives Matter called for a defunding of police this year, a demand that has gone hand-in-hand but received less attention in recent months is the end of mass incarceration in the US. America locks up more people than any other nation in the world...

More than 160,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus in the United States—a tally that was unimaginable just a few months ago. The virus is one of the leading causes of death in the nation this year. Worldwide cases of infection are at 19 million, with US cases comprising a quarter of those despite...

On today's BradCast: This is not a drill. In my nearly-two decades of covering elections, I've never been as concerned about attempts to undermine an election than I now am regarding this year's Presidential election on November 3rd. [Audio link to full show is posted below summary.] Last Friday's BradCast interview with American Postal Worker Union [...]

This will not be easy. It never is. But, this year, we are facing obstacles to voting that we have never seen before. Not only from the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, which is already difficult enough, but from those who hope to exploit the pandemic along with their access to the levers of power to make [...]

* * * Perry Dorrell blogs as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, usually on topics concerning the strange brew of Texas politics. He's also on Twitter @PDiddie.

U.S. Court Summons MBS and His Hit Team to Answer Charges From Targeted Former Saudi Intelligence Official | Europe's Last Dictator Flagrantly Steals Sunday's Election | Will the Next Stimulus Package Have Money for the Post Office? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's Phony Stunt to Break a Deadlock That He Created | The Ex-KGB Ukrainian Who Senators Johnson and Grassley Are Working With to Get Dirt on Biden | How the Jakarta Method of Exterminating Leftists Was Exported to Brazil and Chile. backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump Insists Without Evidence the Destruction of Beirut Was Not an Accident | The Once-Powerful NRA Will Go the Way of the Trump Foundation | A Veteran of the U.S.P.S. on the Manufactured Crisis to Destroy it backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia