WHAT'S BREWING
FAMILIES DEMAND JUSTICE IN CALIFORNIA KILLINGS OF LATINO MEN The families of two young Latino men, both fatally shot just days apart by law enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area in June, are demanding justice, including legal consequences for the officers involved. On Wednesday, the sisters of Sean Monterrosa — a 22-year-old fatally shot by Vallejo police on June 2 — and Erik Salgado — a 23-year-old fatally shot by California Highway Patrol officers in Oakland on June 6 — rallied in Sacramento with other family members of police brutality victims. [HuffPost]
GOP GROUP TROLLS 'COMRADE TRUMP' A group of President Donald Trump’s critics on the right has made an endorsement video for him ― just not one he would want. The Lincoln Project’s latest is a mock endorsement from Russia, done entirely in Russian, that makes it clear “Comrade Trump” once again has the blessing of Vladimir Putin. “Russia thanks you for your loyalty and friendship,” the voiceover says. The video went live amid reports that Trump and his administration knew of intelligence that found a Russian military unit was paying bounties to Afghan militants for killing U.S. troops. [HuffPost]
SAN QUENTIN INMATES ON HUNGER STRIKE Several men incarcerated in California’s San Quentin State Prison who have tested positive for COVID-19 have gone on a hunger strike to protest what they call “dismal” living conditions, according to KNTV in San Jose. More than 1,100 active coronavirus cases have been reported at San Quentin, California’s oldest prison and home to the state’s only death row. At least one person, a 71-year-old death row inmate, has died of complications from the coronavirus. The hunger strike at San Quentin, north of San Francisco, began Monday. [HuffPost]
HOUSTON ICUS PASS 100% CAPACITY Intensive care units in one of the world’s largest medical centers are operating at 102% capacity as coronavirus cases surge in Texas, according to a report from Texas Medical Center in Houston. An estimated 36% of the center’s 1,330 ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients. The sprawling medical campus reported that there were 480 current patients with the virus in total. The medical center has enacted Phase 2 of a plan to address the surge by making 373 more beds available by reallocating hospital staff and equipment to ICUs. [HuffPost]
EXPLOSIVE BOOK BY TRUMP'S NIECE CAN BE PUBLISHED AFTER ALL A book by Donald Trump’s niece can be released as planned, an appellate judge ruled, the latest defeat for family members hoping to rein in an explosive account scheduled to be published this month. Judge Alan Scheinkman said Simon & Schuster can move forward with publishing Mary L. Trump’s “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” overturning a restraining order granted earlier this week that temporarily blocked the memoir. [HuffPost]
FACEBOOK CRACKS DOWN ON EXTREMISM — AFTER A BOYCOTT AND MULTIPLE KILLINGS Facebook announced Tuesday that it had banned hundreds of accounts and dozens of groups dedicated to the far-right “boogaloo” movement, which has been linked to multiple extremist plots and killings in recent months. Other social media companies like Reddit and YouTube took similar actions this week. But this isn’t a sea change in addressing hateful content. Many experts see a piecemeal approach by companies who let extremism and political disinformation become pervasive ― and who are now facing strong backlash from advertisers and public criticism ahead of the 2020 election. [HuffPost] | 
