“It's like this entire administration is made up of James Bond villains.” — Kevin M. Kruze (The pictures are hysterical. Scroll through the feed. They are spot on.)
Deaths
US: 236,072 (+913)
World: 1,200,193 (+6449)
Cases
US: 9,402,590 (+86,293)
World: 46,373,777 (+475,187)
Countdown: 3 days.
Despite suppression tactics, young voters are 'raising hell' with historic early voting turnout.
Court fight over Harris County drive-thru votes raises alarm. The Texas Supreme Court drew alarmed attention Friday after directing Harris County to respond to a petition that seeks to invalidate more than 117,000 votes cast in drive-thru lanes. The court's interest came as an unwelcome surprise to voting advocates and Harris County officials who were banking on a quick dismissal of the petition, filed by two GOP candidates and a Republican member of the Texas House. After all, only one week earlier the same court had dismissed two petitions that sought to block drive-thru voting — available only in the growing Democratic bastion of Harris County — as illegal. —Republicans have to cheat. The only way they can win is to throw out ballots. Overwhelm them with votes. And vote Trump and every Republican you can out of office.
Trump may try to steal the election. Americans may have to take to the streets. An expert on nonviolent civil resistance talks about when protests work, how they work, and when they become necessary. President Trump has repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and he just had his third Supreme Court justice confirmed after saying he may need the Court to settle a disputed outcome. A Supreme Court decision this week on mail-in ballots in Wisconsin has raised worries among Democrats and analysts that the Court will do just that in Trump’s favor. And going back all the way to 2016, Trump has hinted that his supporters (“Second Amendment people”) might resort to violence if things go the wrong way. These developments, and Trump’s general predisposition to authoritarianism, raise an important question: What should Americans do if he loses the election and refuses to accept the results?...For better or worse, this is where we are as a country. And the possibility that we might need a wave of nonviolent civil resistance leads to another question: When would people actually know that it’s time to take to the streets? The closer we get to November 3, the more urgent this question becomes.
Prosecutors received 158 voter fraud referrals since 2016. Few proved to be criminal. That’s consistent with other findings in Wisconsin and nationwide, said Kenneth Mayer, professor of American politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “In case after case and time after time, allegations of material numbers of people intentionally committing vote fraud, they just don’t withstand any scrutiny,” Mayer said. “The numbers are not literally zero, but they are so close to zero that it just puts to lie the arguments that this is a big problem.”
“This is feeling less like an election and more like an asshole census.” -- Schooley
A 20-year-old woman cast her ballot early before dying of cancer. Her state will throw it out. This year, when record numbers of Americans are casting ballots early and coronavirus cases and deaths are spiking in some states, it's not just a speculative question. The rules mean that even as Covid-19 has become the defining issue of the presidential race, voters who die in the pandemic won't have their votes count in some states.
President Trump's administration, led by chief of staff Mark Meadows and deputy chief of staff for policy coordination Chris Liddell, has been working with Joe Biden's team to prepare for the possible handover.
If 2020 is like 2000, Trump believes he's got the votes.
Police use pepper-spray on protesters — including children — marching to Alamance polls. At one point, the marchers held a moment of silence in the street in honor of George Floyd, the Black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis earlier this summer. After the moment of silence concluded, law enforcement told people to clear the road. Then, deputies and police officers used pepper spray on the crowd and began arresting people. Several children in the crowd were affected by the pepper spray.
Biden Team Cancels Texas Event After Highway ‘Ambush’ by MAGA Cavalry.
McConnell plans to fill two key circuit court seats even if Trump loses.
US coronavirus cases break global daily record, and experts warn it will only get worse.
New York is requiring most travelers to get a negative Covid-19 test three days before arrival. With coronavirus cases surging throughout the United States, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that most travelers must now get Covid-19 tests before and after arrival in the state.
Italian nurse on coronavirus duty sees the nightmare return.
Could schools be COVID-19 super-spreader sites? Experts still aren't sure. “There may be an explosion of cases. We hope not." — Yeah, that makes me feel better.
Florida parents sue school board over mandate that requires students to wear masks. The parents argue that forcing children to wear masks at school denies them their right to an equal education. -- If only this virus affected stupid people.
Kevin Peterson Jr: unrest in Washington state after police shooting.
Kentucky governor condemns use of Hitler quotes in uncovered police training material. Student journalists at Louisville's duPont Manual High School first reported on the slideshow Friday. The high school’s newspaper, the Manual Redeye, later added a statement it received from Morgan Hall, the communications director for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, saying that the slideshow was removed in 2013 and “is not currently a part of any training materials.” -- That fact that it was just seven years ago speaks volumes.
UN: After 20 years, no equality for women in peace talks. The head of the U.N. agency promoting gender equality told the 20th anniversary commemoration of a resolution demanding equal participation for women in peace negotiations that its implementation has failed, declaring Thursday that women still remain “systematically excluded” from talks to end conflicts where men make decisions affecting their lives.
US immigration authorities are buying cellphone geolocation data to track people, and arguing they don't need a warrant for it.
A 122-year love-hate relationship: Puerto Rico -- once again -- will vote on statehood. For the third time this decade, Puerto Ricans will vote on statehood, which is ultimately in the hands of the US Congress. This time, however, voters on the island will simply be asked, "Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?" Yes/No.
Americans have bought record 17m guns in year of unrest, analysis finds.
Costco drops Chaokoh coconut milk over allegations of forced monkey labor.
Twenty years ago, the first crew moved into the International Space Station. There’s been a steady stream of people living there ever since.
An asteroid believed to be worth $10,000 quadrillion is observed through the Hubble Telescope in a new study.
Creators of dystopian sci-fi are as shocked by the events of 2020 as you are. For the most part, though, those cinematic visions of a post-apocalyptic future have been more about popcorn than the kernels of truth. And in the pages of books like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" (2006) and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985), the dark visions laid out for the future seemed years away at worst. Then the calendar turned to 2020.
New Zealand Supports The Right To Die, But Rejects The Right To Get High. -- Oh, come on New Zealand!
Huge spider assumed extinct in Britain discovered on MoD training site. The great fox-spider is a night-time hunter, known for its speed and agility, as well as its eight black eyes which give it wraparound vision. The critically endangered spider was assumed extinct in Britain after last being spotted in 1993.
Berlin's Madame Tussauds places wax Trump in a dumpster ahead of election. The waxwork museum Madame Tussauds in Berlin loaded its effigy of TV star-turned Republican president Donald Trump into a dumpster on Friday, a move apparently intended to reflect its expectations of next Tuesday’s presidential election. In what seemed a further calculated insult, the statue of his predecessor and nemesis Barack Obama, who counted Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel among his closest allies, remained in place, beaming and besuited.
RIP Sir Sean Connery. He was 90.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
