The DC: How you can help Beirut, and... 💰 Should the Treasury get a portion of a TikTok sale?

Welcome to Thursday, August 6th, friends...

At least 135 people are dead and 5,000 wounded following a massive explosion in Lebanon's capital Beirut.

The city is decimated with thousands of residents left homeless, a medical system strained, and up to $5 billion worth of damage.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said ammonium nitrate was likely responsible for the blast, after 2,750 tons of the highly-explosive material was “left unsecured for six years in a warehouse.”

Organisations including the Lebanese Red Cross, Beit el Baraka and Donner Sang Compter have been providing support for victims of the explosions, evacuating people from the area, setting up blood drives and helping to house families whose homes have been wrecked.

We have a number of ways you can help here.

On the Radar

Trump: Microsoft Should Pay ‘Key Money’ to Treasury for TikTok

President Donald Trump is saying that he would allow an American company to acquire the short-form video app TikTok—if the U.S. Treasury gets a portion of the sale price.

The president set September 15 as the deadline for a U.S. company to purchase the Beijing-based TikTok or he would shut down the app. However, Trump said the Treasury would need to get a "substantial amount of money" of the sale price as a condition of regulatory approval.

"Right now they don't have any rights unless we give it to them. So if we're going to give them the rights, then ... it has to come into this country. It's a great asset, but it's not a great asset in the United States unless they have approval in the United States."

Should the U.S. Treasury get a portion of the sale price of TikTok?

Under the Radar

Trump Signs Bipartisan Bill on Public Lands Maintenance Backlog

At a White House ceremony on Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law, which aims to address the nearly $20 billion public lands maintenance backlog by using federal royalties from energy development.

The bill passed the Senate on 73-25 vote on June 17th, and then passed the House on an overwhelming 310-107 vote on July 22nd. It was introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) with the support of lead cosponsors Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Rob Portman (R-OH).

The Great American Outdoors Act aims to address the $12 billion backlog of deferred maintenance within the National Park Service and the $7 billion of deferred maintenance under the management of other federal land management agencies by using royalties from energy development on federal lands and waters.

Do you support Trump signing the Great American Outdoors Act into law?

For a politics-free guide to how to protect you and your loved ones from corona, click on over to our Coronavirus Info Center.

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And, in the End…

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law...

What better way to celebrate the VRA than making sure you're registered to vote this November,

—Josh Herman

Talk to us via email at contact [at] countable.us. And don’t forget to keep in touch @Countable.