Black Lives Matter
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This is your TPM afternoon briefing.
Yesterday, President Trump tweeted a disingenuous rallying cry to residents of states like New York, California and Illinois — messaging that won’t do much for him in the relatively blue states that are home to some of country’s largest deep blue cities.
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Cops are at the crux of this cultural war of neoliberalism vs. fascism. They are sworn to uphold the constitution and laws of freedom while also operating legal torture chambers and killing people of color. And they are able to hold these two completely contradictory values at the same time, as long as they don't speak or think about it.
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Pro athletes have gone on strike before over wages, pensions and working conditions, but these protests are about racial justice. It is no accident that Black players, who have talked about their own experiences being racial profiled by police officers, took the lead in organizing the walkouts.
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This is your TPM afternoon briefing.
This morning we published two pieces with starkly disturbing headlines within about thirty minutes of each other.