PBC News & Comment: Barr Says He Won’t Pursue Obama or Biden

Despite Trump’s demands for “Obamagate” prosecutions of Obama and Biden, AG Bill Barr says he doesn’t expect criminal prosecutions…--also contradicting Trump, Fed Chair Powell warns of slow recovery on 60 Minutes
--on the same show, whistleblower Rick Bright amplified his complaints about the administration’s refusal to act about Covid January and February, Trump unloads
--Stanford whistleblower alleges that April study about antibodies that was widely criticized was influenced by funding from JetBlue founder
--after Trump fired State Dept. inspector general on Friday, leakers say he was about to accuse Mike Pompeo of bending rules to continue selling weapons to Saudi, and using employees to run errands and walk his dog
--NY Times spills major ink in detailed report on Raytheon’s outsized influence in Trump world, with Peter Novarro as point man
--China’s Xi Jingping trumps Trump with $2 billion pledge to WHO, and defers possible investigations into Covid outbreak
--demonization of China is work, as American public opinion grows hostile, report Alan Mcleod at MintPress
--your tax dollars at work, or not: $500 billion Treasury bailout fund is largely untapped, as the “small business” loans failed to reach intended small biz, especially minority owned businesses
--at The Intercept, Lee Fang reports that CARES Act funds are being used to replenish the wrong stockpile
--the Tea Party style astroturf protesters appear to be spreading the virus from the state capitals where they gathered
--Trump tweets support for unruly protesters who harassed reporter at protest in hard-hit Suffolk County, NY
--GOP plans to spend $20 million and recruit 50,000 poll watchers for November election
--at ConsortiumNews, former FBI agent and 9/11 whistleblower Coleen Rowley joins the crew of people who don’t like Trump or Flynn, but support dropping Flynn’s charge of lying to FBI
--Scott Ritter adds more detail to Shawn Henry’s testimony that there’s no evidence Russia hacked DNC
--but Evelyn Farkas, from Obama-era Pentagon, uses Russiagate to deplore actions by Trump supporters that are “mirroring Russian tactics”
--listener Ian Berman uses actual, accurate data to prove that your humble host was wrong about who benefits from proposed repeal of SALT caps
--and PBC also retracts Friday’s comment that infection rates in Georgia dropped after re-opening—the data were false