Politics and views in the United States.

The Democratic National Convention in Chicago is underway with heightened security, following FBI warnings about potential threats. Protesters go ahead with planned demonstrations, while the ACLU monitors the police response.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Let me be absolutely clear.

The city of Chicago is ready to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

The head of Chicago's city administration, John Roberson, says the city is prepared to host the DNC.

The FBI and Homeland Security have released an updated threat bulletin citing the chance of what it calls "follow-on" or "retaliatory violence" after last month's attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Security measures include everything from additional fencing around the United Center to a task force watching food preparation.

Some pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly considered giving Vice President Harris a chance to break with President Joe Biden's Middle East policies.

But many like Lee Cass Stevens with Massachusetts Peace Action say they see the convention as a moment to increase pressure over the war in Gaza.

This is a great opportunity to shine some more light on the situation and pressure the Harris campaign to commit to an arms embargo and ceasefire immediately.

It's been more than 50 years since anti-Vietnam War protests, and a violent police response famously disrupted the '68 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Paraphrasing the chant from the time, some have said the party can't afford a repeat because the whole world is watching.

And Ed Ianca with the ACLU says law enforcement can't get in the way of free speech this time.

People are going to come.

They're going to be loud.

They're going to be protesting.

The question isn't whether or not they're loud.

The question is how the police respond to that.

But Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling emphasizes the city has made significant progress since then.

"There was a Democratic convention between 1968 and now.

It was a success.

Chicago Police Department does a great job of working through events like this.

This will be no different."

The Democratic nominee is headed to the city after a campaign swing through Pennsylvania.

Ahead of Harris' acceptance speech, the convention will hear from former President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

Monday night will feature former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and what's being described as a hero's send-off for Biden.

Meanwhile, Trump is taking his usual aggressive tone on social media.

Sunday he shared a video of former Assistant Attorney General Andy McCarthy, who made a legal argument in favor of a Trump motion to have his hush money sentencing delayed again.

"The Supreme Court's made clear if there's an open immunity issue, that needs to be litigated before anything else happens.

And there's no good law enforcement reason why the sentencing has to take place prior to the election."

Opposing presidential campaigns generally choose to lay low during conventions, the logic being it makes no sense to try to compete with such a huge event.

But Trump says they won't be doing that.

In contradiction to what some allies are urging, Trump continues to mix insults and personal attacks on Harris into his speeches, and promises what he describes as aggressive counter-programming to the convention.

I'm Farah Sidiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.