Friday, August 14, 2020

And another day where neither snow nor rain nor heat nor night nor Trump nor the GOP nor COVID-19 nor voter suppression nor conspiracy theory nut jobs nor Russia nor even global climate change will keep us from voting out Trump and Republicans in November comes to a close:

“There is no sound more powerful than the marching feet of a determined people.” -- John Lewis

Deaths

US: 171,535 (+1120)

World: 763,134 (+9655)

Cases

US: 5,476,266 (+60,600)

World: 21,345,753 (+254,674)

Countdown to voting Trump and Republicans out of office: 81 days. Vote early!

Fuck You, I’m Voting. “And yes, I absolutely and positively hate feeling this paranoid about the idea that my government is trying to keep my vote from being counted, thank you for asking. But here we are, it’s 2020, the worst President of my lifetime is just blithely gibbering at a microphone about suppressing voting, and there’s no point trying to pretend that it’s not what’s happening, and that the president’s party isn’t complicit with it.”

Postal Service warns 46 states their voters could be disenfranchised by delayed mail-in ballots. The letters sketch a grim possibility for the tens of millions of Americans eligible for a mail-in ballot this fall: Even if people follow all of their state’s election rules, the pace of Postal Service delivery may disqualify their votes. Vote as soon as you get your ballot. 

Postal Service removes some mail-sorting machines, sparking concerns ahead of election. The US Postal Service plans to remove hundreds of high-volume mail-processing machines from facilities across the country, leading some postal workers to fear they may have less capacity to process mail during election season.

Postal service inspector general reviewing DeJoy's policy changes and potential ethics conflicts.

Michigan’s Postal Workers Say the Fix is In. As Trump’s Postmaster General pushes cuts, union leaders warn “there’s no other explanation” aside from vote suppression.

USPS warns Pennsylvania mail-in ballots may not be delivered in time to be counted. Current state law in Pennsylvania requires that mail-in ballots arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

Colorado's top elections official accuses Trump of lying about vote by mail, as the President keeps baselessly asserting mail-in voting is wrought with fraud and abuse.

New Jersey election will be held mostly by mail in November, governor says. Voters in New Jersey will cast their ballots this fall to decide the next president and whether marijuana will be legal mostly through mail in an attempt to keep the coronavirus from spreading.

USPS will stop removing letter collection boxes in Western states until after the election, spokesman says.

Trump is determined to rig this election, defraud voters and thwart the will of the people. We need bipartisan election observers to ensure fairness and transparency, and all of us must report abuses in real time if we see them at the polls.

Most vaccines take more than a decade to develop. But scientists are racing to develop one for Covid-19 in under one. Will they be able to do it in time?

Any attempt to get coronavirus herd immunity would lead to massive death tolls, Fauci warns.

High school football to resume in Florida over the advice from doctors.

Kamala Harris was born in California and is eligible for both the vice presidency and presidency. President Trump yesterday gave credence to a false and racist conspiracy theory that she's not eligible.

The U.S. attempt to reopen schools has turned into a slow-motion train wreck, with at least 2,400 students and staff either infected with COVID-19 or self-isolating due to exposure. Only 16 states meet the WHO's criteria for safely reopening a community.

Sanders Delegates Caused a “Shitshow” in 2016. Here’s Why That Might Not Happen Again. Thanks in part to those efforts, Biden is now running on the most progressive presidential platform in modern history. — Unity is important. Trump and Republicans must be defeated.

Ocasio-Cortez challenges Trump to release his college transcript after attacks: "Loser has to fund the Post Office".

How QAnon rode the pandemic to new heights — and fueled the viral anti-mask phenomenon. Researchers and experts say QAnon has emerged in recent months as a sort of centralized hub for conspiracy and alternative health communities. Some find themselves believing in elaborate conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, 5G wireless technology, vaccines and masks, which researchers say are in part pushed by an algorithm and shared community members that group all of the theories together. Within days, they begin to believe that President Donald Trump is waging a secret war to save trafficked children from a cabal of Satan-worshipping baby eaters who control the United States government.

People Drawn to Conspiracy Theories Share a Cluster of Psychological Features. Baseless theories threaten our safety and democracy. It turns out that specific emotions make people prone to such thinking. — In light of all the QAnon crap going around, and the GOP fear mongering, this might help with understanding.

Russia calls 'urgent' summit on Iran to avoid UN 'confrontation'. Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed an online summit with the United States, Britain, France, China, Germany and Iran in a bid to avoid "confrontation and escalation" at the United Nations, where Washington is trying to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.

The Government Accountability Office says the appointments of both acting leaders of DHS — Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli — aren’t legitimate because the two were appointed by officials who weren’t in valid positions of power. The Government Accountability Office says that the acting leaders of the Department of Homeland Security, who have been serving in their roles without Senate confirmation, were not appointed through a valid process.

I Resigned from U.S. Government After My Own Leaders Began to Act Like the Autocrats I Analyzed. “I left government service after more than a decade because I lost faith in the courage of the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to refuse unlawful orders from the President. They effectively labeled me and other Americans expressing our views in a peaceful assembly as enemies. They authorized troops to use overwhelming force and set a dangerous precedent by enabling the president to ignore state and local officials’ objections and deploy federal forces in response to popular protests. While the military is, thankfully, out of the spotlight for now, the president has turned to other eager allies — in the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice — who believe their components of the federal government can clamp down on dissent with a veneer of legality.”

US President Trump has issued an executive order directing ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok, to divest interest in the app's US operations within the next 90 days.

Amazon can be held liable for defective third-party products, court rules.

Greenland's ice sheet has melted to a point of no return, according to new study.

Arctic sea ice could disappear as soon as 2035, a new study warns. The finding raises major concerns for ecosystems and sea level rise, as well as potential conflicts over oil and gas deposits beneath the floors of Arctic seas.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.