7 Things: House Democrats vote to declare Trump racist, Jones keeps pulling in national money, Alabama’s abortion ban may need to wait until 2020 and more …

7. Donald Watkins and his son go down hard for fraud

• Donald Watkins and Donald Watkins, Jr. were both sentenced to jail time and will be forced to pay restitution for defrauding a number of investors as part of a non-existent $1.5 billion bio-fuel scheme involving turning trash into ethanol.
• The case involved Martin Luther King III, Condoleezza Rice, Charles Barkley and other professional athletes who were defrauded, and it included testimony from former NBA player Damon Stoudamire’s wife Natasha Taylor-Stoudamire also spoke at both sentencings saying, the Watkins duo took money from “victims that were trying to have generational wealth for our children’s children.” 

6. No federal charges in chokehold case

• In 2014, Eric Garner passed away after an altercation with police in New York where a chokehold was used, and now the Justice Department has declined to federally charge any of the police officers involved.
• During the altercation with police, Garner famously said, “I can’t breathe” multiple times, which became a rallying cry for those advocating for officers to be charged. But a Staten Island grand jury declined to press charges.

5. More jobs for Alabama

• Motus Integrated Technologies will be building a new $15 million manufacturing plant in Gadsden that will provide 90 new jobs.
• It’s planned that the plant will be opened in mid-2020, and automotive interior parts and headliners will be produced at the plant. This further destroys the idea that there is a boycott on Alabama over an abortion ban.

4. Everyone “The Squad” disagrees with is racist

• U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is “complicit in advancing racism” in the United States because he didn’t speak out against President Donald Trump’s comments.
• This isn’t the first leader they have described as racist. The Squad called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for singling out women of color, which Trump rejected out of hand.

3. Both sides want Alabama’s abortion bill put on hold

• Both the attorney general’s office and those suing the state of Alabama want Alabama’s abortion bill put on hold until May of 2020. The issue is one of discovery and legalese, but it will delay the implementation of the law if a judge grants the request.
• Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood’s CEO had to step down because she was more interested in women’s healthcare than all-out political advocacy and abortion activism, further disproving a popular media narrative about this organization.

2. Doug Jones doesn’t actually have that much support in Alabama

• Sure, U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) reported that he raised $2 million in the second quarter, but 87.78% of those donations came from out-of-state. Almost half, 45.35%, of his donations came from California, New York, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
• Jones has to convince Alabamians that he represents their values. His votes and his party’s most outspoken members are going to make that a pretty hard sell.

1. I guess it is official, Trump is a racist … or something

• On Tuesday, the House passed a resolution that condemns President Donald Trump’s remarks on Twitter about four progressive House Democrats, which has been deemed racist.
• The resolution passed in a 240-187 vote. It claimed that “Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color,” but in reality, it means nothing just like the claim Speaker Pelosi broke House rules by calling the president “racist.”