Finger-pointing picks up in COVID-19 relief fight

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The blame game is heating up as it becomes increasingly clear there will be no new COVID-19 relief deal before the elections.

Even as party leaders inch closer to a deal on another huge package, both sides are girding for the near-certain prospect that it won’t be enacted before Election Day. 

In a barrage of rhetorical broadsides, both parties are jabbing across the aisle, accusing the other of blocking the compromise that might otherwise bring emergency health and economic relief to millions of Americans before Nov. 3.  Continue reading.

America hits highest daily number of coronavirus cases since pandemic began

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Nation is poised to enter its worst stretch yet of the pandemic, with hospitalizations rising in 38 states

America on Friday hit its highest daily number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, recording at least 82,900 new infections and surpassing the previous record set during the summertime surge of cases across the Sun Belt.

The rising numbers put the nation on the precipice of what could be its worst stretch to date in the pandemic with some hospitals in the West and Midwest already overwhelmed and death counts beginning to rise.

The current surge is considerably more widespread than the waves from last summer and spring. The unprecedented geographic spread of the current surge makes it more dangerous, with experts warning it could lead to dire shortages of medical staff and supplies. Already, hospitals are reporting shortfalls of basic drugs needed to treat covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Texas member of Boogaloo Bois charged with opening fire on Minneapolis police precinct during protests over George Floyd

Feds say Texas adherent of far-right group fired on precinct building, conspired with cop killer to ignite civil war. 

In the wake of protests following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a member of the Boogaloo Bois opened fire on the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct with an AK-47-style gun and screamed “Justice for Floyd” as he ran away, according to a federal complaint made public Friday.

A sworn affidavit by the FBI underlying the complaint reveals new details about a far-right anti-government group’s coordinated role in the violence that roiled through civil unrest over Floyd’s death while in police custody.

Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old from Boerne, Texas, is charged with one count of interstate travel to incite a riot for his alleged role in ramping up violence during the protests in Minneapolis on May 27 and 28. According to charges, Hunter, wearing a skull mask and tactical gear, shot 13 rounds at the south Minneapolis police headquarters while people were inside. He also looted and helped set the building ablaze, according to the complaint, which was filed Monday under seal. Continue reading.

Trump’s sideshow fizzles out

The president tried to turn debate day into a trial of the Biden family’s allegedly shady business dealings. It didn’t go smoothly.

In the end, the Nashville debate was more about Tony Fauci than Tony Bobulinski.

Trailing by nearly 10 points in the polls, and facing the potential for the greatest repudiation of an incumbent president since Jimmy Carter in 1980 — a 400-plus electoral vote victory is possible for Joe Biden — Donald Trump arrived at the final debate of the 2020 campaign seized by an issue that was never really discussed.

One of the hallmarks of the Trump era has been his penchant for pushing fringe characters peddling dubious stories into the center ring of our political circus. In the past he has been an effective ringmaster. Whether it’s retweeting conspiracy theorists (that guy who recently alleged Osama bin Laden was still alive), elevating people who believe drinking water is tainted with Prozac that is causing shrimp to commit suicide (Alex Jones), or putting fringe GOP operatives banished from presidential politics on the payroll (Roger Stone), Trump has often delighted — and benefited politically — from turning the sideshow into the main show. Continue reading.

Giuliani’s Hunter Biden material was apparently being sold in Ukraine 18 months ago

“Explicit photos and emails purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden were circulating in Ukraine last year at the same time that Rudy Giuliani was searching for dirt there on former Vice President Joe Biden,” Time reports, citing two people approached with the material in May and September of 2019. “The two people said they could not confirm whether any of the material presented to them was the same as that which has been recently published in the U.S.,” or whether any of the documents were authentic.

One of the people said when the New York Post published a storyabout material purportedly taken from a water-damaged laptop left at a Delaware repair shop, “it brought back memories of the same information that was being introduced to us a year ago.” The second person told Time the material was offered for sale at a price of $5 million, with the unidentified seller looking to sell it to Republican allies of President Trump, but “I walked away from it, because it smelled awful.”

In January, the U.S. cybersecurity firm Area 1 reported that Russia’s GRU military hackers had broken into the computer systems of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company Hunter Biden worked for. Selling pilfered private information is so commonplace in Ukraine now it’s the “national sport,” said Igor Novikov, a former adviser to Ukraine’s president, and it really exploded when Giuliani put out the call for dirt on the Bidens. One of the people Giuliani worked with, Andrii Derkach, has been identified by the U.S. government as an “active Russian agent.” Continue reading.

While President Trump Vows to Rip Away Health Care from Millions of Americans, Jason Lewis Says He and Trump Are ‘Joined at the Hip’

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – In an interview with 60 Minutes this week, President Donald Trump made it clear he wants the Supreme Court to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Meanwhile, U.S. Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis affirms his unyielding loyalty to Donald Trump, instead of Minnesotans.

Lewis has always been quick to fall in line behind Trump. In an interview with Fox News this week, Lewis declared “I’m running with the President and glad to do it. We’re joined at the hip.

It’s no surprise that Lewis is on board with President Trump’s plan to rip away health care from millions of Americans and gut protections for those with pre-existing conditions by overturning the ACA. Lewis has declared that he has “no disagreements” with President Trump and can’t name even one policy he disagrees with. The former congressman alsoadvocated to “get rid of the pre-existing condition mandate,” told struggling families who can’t afford insulin that the “government is not compassionate,” and said that if they needed help to “go out and find it.” This is all on top of hisrecord of voting to repeal the ACA.

McConnell tees up Barrett nomination, setting up rare weekend session

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday teed up Judge Amy Coney Barrett‘s Supreme Court nomination, paving the way for a rare weekend session roughly a week before the November election.

McConnell’s move sets up a vote to end debate on Barrett’s nomination for Sunday, with a final vote to confirm her to the Supreme Court expected by early Monday evening.

The Senate is expected to be in session on both Saturday and Sunday debating Barrett’s nomination, though her confirmation is guaranteed absent an unlikely last-minute surprise. Continue reading.

A powerful argument for wearing a mask, in visual form

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Real-time pandemic data paints a vivid picture of the relationship between mask-wearing and the prevalence of covid-19 symptoms

Despite the clear opposition to masks within the Trump White House and among its allies, Americans of all political stripes overwhelmingly support their use as a public health measure and say they wear them whenever they’re in public.

Still, there are significant differences in mask-use rates at the state level. And data from Carnegie Mellon’s CovidCast, an academic project tracking real-time coronavirus statistics, yields a particularly vivid illustration of how mask usage influences the prevalence of covid-19 symptoms in a given area. Take a look.

Continue reading.

In two political battlegrounds, thousands of mail-in ballots are on the verge of being rejected

Tens of millions of Americans have already cast their ballots for the 2020 election by mail, building on a historic shift in voting methods that started with primary elections held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mail-in ballots, however, aren’t automatically accepted as in-person ballots are. Rather, they can be rejected if they have signature defects on their return envelopes. Unless cured by voters – which means that voters fix the signature errors on them – these submitted ballots will be rejected. 

Thanks to ongoing reporting of voter turnout in two battleground states, Florida and North Carolina, we can identify the number of mail-in ballots at risk of being rejected. So far, we can tell that there are thousands of ballots flagged for rejection in these two states. In addition, racial minorities and Democrats are disproportionately more likely to have cast mail ballots this election that face rejection. Continue reading.

Now Trump is calling journalists ‘criminal’ for not ‘reporting’ his lies about Biden

But Trump’s recent accusations against Biden have been widely debunked.

Donald Trump on Monday called a group of journalists “criminal” for not “reporting” on his false and debunked allegations against Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump has been peddling a conspiracy theory about corruption connected to a laptop computer allegedly owned by Biden’s son Hunter.

The story has been promoted by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, which was run by the New York Post. The Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News. Continue reading.