Presidential candidates often keep a running list of influential individuals who they will informally call for ideas, advice, and, perhaps, to scope them out as a potential running mate.

And for several candidates, including at least one in the top tier, former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum is on speed dial. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), in particular, has been in contact with Gillum over the past several months, multiple knowledgeable sources told The Daily Beast.

When reached for comment about the vice presidential buzz, a Warren campaign official said, “that is baseless and not at all true.”

But two sources said the talks between Warren and Gillum resemble the kind of courtship that happens when a leading presidential candidate is exploring potential vice presidential contenders. One source briefed on the communications said the two Democrats have been in contact over the course of the campaign and that it is the “strong impression” that Gillum is a possible vice presidential contender for Warren, who has risen in recent months to become a frontrunner in the 2020 primary, the source said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elizabeth-warren-has-been-talking-to-andrew-gillum-sparking-vice-president-buzz?ref=wrap

When it comes to race, a degree isn't always qualification enough for a therapist.

In this op-ed, Gloria Oladipo explains why she needs a woman of color as her therapist.

I need a woman of color therapist. I need a woman of color therapist to process the labyrinth of my mental health needs and racialized trauma, who is willing to hold my hand as I sob about anti-Blackness I do and do not understand. Even though I am clear in why I need a therapist of color compared to a white woman, I still receive the recycled arguments of race neutral proponents. They declare race doesn’t matter in therapy. They insist: “A degree is enough of a qualification. Why does it always have to be about race?”

But with my first long-term white therapist, every appointment was an awkward waltz between the two of us. We would open up appointments at an impasse: her trying to find a conversation topic, I not willing to open up to her. On one level, I didn’t have the language of mental health nor the commitment to vulnerability that therapists need from their patients. However, on a deeper level, I felt bizarre talking to her. Trying to communicate my daily problems to my white therapist, many of which involved racism, made me uncomfortable. The power dynamics that I had to actively encounter with white women all my life existed in my therapy session; even though I could put in the work to undo them with her, the emotional labor needed to do so was an extra burden that I had to face during therapy, and a distraction from the other emotional work I had to do. I felt an inherent discomfort being vulnerable with someone systematically more powerful.

That dynamic is why the therapist-client relationship is often about race, but there’s also more to it. For patients of color, trying to contour our needs into a system that tends to view mental health as a “white issue” causes our quality of care and health to suffer. On average, patients of color are more likely to experience racial misdiagnosis from professionals who stereotype certain mental illnesses as “white” problems. Moreover, Black and Brown people are disproportionately over-diagnosed with psychotic disorders; our behaviors are stigmatized and denoted as psychological flaws. Additionally, within today’s mental health system, patients of color, specifically young people, often don't receive mental health resources that cater to the intersection of our cultural and psychological needs. The consequences of these mental health care barriers are widespread and growing: Native American young people have a higher risk of dying by suicide than any other ethnicity, only 2.3% of Black or Hispanic youth seeing mental health professionals compared to 5.7% of white youth, Black youth between the ages of five to 17 dying by suicide at twice the rate of their white peers, among other tragedies.

These deficiencies within mental health treatment make it even more important that youth of color receive proper mental health treatment, inclusive care including therapy that understands racism as trauma, support to fight mental health stigma in our own communities, and similarly specialized tools. Among these demands, a top priority is increased diversity among therapists which offers increased representation within the mental health practice.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/why-i-need-a-woman-of-color-therapist?utm_brand=tv&utm_source=twitter&mbid=social_twitter&utm_social-type=owned&utm_medium=social

NBC News: Attorney General William Barr has been aware of the investigation into Parnas and Fruman and was since shortly after he came into office this past February, @PeteWilliamsNBC reports.

https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1182308678432673798

Here in Northern Syria one word on everyone’s lips: betrayal. And now ngo’s warning what could come. Save the Children “Warns of Mass Displacement of Children”

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1182256081961127938

Us military officials have told me the counter ISIS mission with the Kurds was the most successful patenered operation in modern US history. So who will partner with the US now?

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1182279023461842944