Washington Post: “Floridians began returning to damaged and waterlogged homes on Thursday after Hurricane Milton carved a path of destruction and grief across the state, the second massive storm to strike Florida in as many weeks. At least 14 storm-related deaths were attributed to the hurricane, which made landfall south of Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Six of them were killed when two tornadoes touched down ahead of the storm in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast. The deadly tornadoes, rising waters, torrential rain and punishing winds battered the state from coast to coast as Milton churned eastward before heading out to sea early Thursday.”
Washington Post: “Twelve people were rescued from an inactive Colorado gold mine after they were trapped 1,000 feet underground for about six hours following an elevator malfunction. One person was killed in theaccident, which happened about 500 feet underground at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine nearCripple Creek, Colo., Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesellsaid at a Thursday news conference. The site is a tourist attraction. Eleven other people aboardthe elevator at the time, including two children, were rescued shortly after the mechanical malfunction, which Mikesell said 'created a severe danger for the participants.' He said four suffered minor injuries.... Twelve others in a separate group remained trapped in a mine shaft 1,000 feet underground for several hours after the incident, before they were rescued Thursday evening, Colorado Gov. Jared Polissaid.”
CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”
The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~
CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded toHan Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.
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Public Service Announcement
Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."
Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion —reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.
Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”
New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
JOE BIDEN NOW HAS A CLEAR PATH TO EXACTLY 270 VOTES, even if he doesn't prevail in Pennsylvania. He need only win Nevada's 6 Electoral votes, where he is slightly ahead & hang onto Arizona, which most networks have not called.
~~~~~~~~~~
At 1:30 am ET Tuesday, Trump was way ahead in Wisconsin, Michigan & Pennsylvania. This is horrifying. ~~~
~~~ ** Update of states not projected @ 5 am ET Wednesday: As of 7:20 am ET, Biden has pulled ahead in Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes. As of 10 am, Biden has pulled ahead of Trump by about 10,000 votes. NBC News still hasn't called Arizona for Biden, tho Fox & the AP have. Trump is still significantly ahead in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia & Alaska. Biden is leading in Nevada. In Pennsylvania, there are "hundreds of thousands of votes still uncounted," according to officials. Anyway, the polls were waaaay off. ~~~
~~~ Update. NYT @ 12:40 pm ET: "There are only about 300 votes left to count in Wisconsin, officials say. They're in the town of Willow in Richland County. Biden leads by more than 20,000 votes." (See sidebar.) Mrs. McC: So that should be a wrap, but the AP & networks haven't called the state. Update: The AP has called Wisconsin for Biden; Trump's campaign will ask for a recount. ~~~
~~~ Update. NBC News has projected Biden will win Michigan.
~~~ Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "Joe Biden has won absentee ballots counted in Pennsylvania by an overwhelming margin so far, according to data from the Secretary of State early Wednesday. If he carried the remaining absentee ballots by a similar margin, he would win the state."
~~~ Among the votes that haven't been counted are many throughout the country cast by the "suckers & losers" serving out-of-country in our military.
~~~ States depicted in blue are states the AP or networks have called for Joe Biden. Red states are those the AP or networks have called for Trump. Tan states have not been called
Alabama: AP call Arizona: Via NYT Arkansas: Via NYT Colorado: NBC call California: NBC cal Connecticut: AP call Delaware: NBC call *Florida: NBC call Hawaii: Via NYT Kentucky: Via NYT Illinois: AP call Iowa: NBC call Indiana: NBC call Kansas: Via NYT Louisiana: AP call Maine 1st + 2: AP calls. 4th via NYT Maryland: NBC call Massachusetts: NBC call Michigan: NBC call Minnesota: Via Politico Mississippi: AP call Missouri: NBC call Montana: NBC call Nebraska: AP, NBC calls New Hampshire: NBC call New Jersey: NBC call New Mexico: AP call New York: NBC call North Dakota: AP call *Ohio. NBC call Oklahoma: NBC call Oregon: NBC call Rhode Island: AP call South Carolina: Via NYT South Dakota: AP call Tennessee: AP call Texas: NBC call Utah: NBC call Vermont: Via NYT Virginia: Via NYT Washington State: NBC call Washington, D.C.: NBC call West Virginia: AP call Wisconsin: AP call Wyoming: NBC call
Senate Races -- Called by AP/Networks
~~~ The states colored gray have no Senate races this year. States colored tan have Senate races that have not been called.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters (D), as of Wednesday afternoon, is ahead by about 15,000 votes. He was trailing by a significant number until the most recent count. The race has not been called.
Republicans almost certainly will maintain control of the Senate.
Alabama: Via NYT. Tommy Tuberville (R) defeats Sen. Doug Jones (D). Arizona: Via NYT. Mark Kelly (D) defeats Sen. Martha McSally (R). Arkansas: Via NYT. Tom Cotton (R) wins re-election. Colorado: NBC News. John Hickenlooper (D) defeats incumbent Cory Gardner (R). Delaware: Via NYT. Chris Coons (D) wins re-election. Georgia (2nd seat): Via NYT. Runoff between Raphael Warnock (D) & Kelly Loeffler (R). Idaho. Via NYT. Jim Risch (R) wins re-election. Illinois: Via NYT. Dick Durbin (D) wins re-election. Iowa: NBC call. Joni Ernst (R) wins re-election. Kansas: Via NYT. Roger Marshall (R) wins. Kentucky: NBC call. Mitch McConnell (R) wins re-election. Louisiana: Via NYT. Bill Cassidy (R) wins re-election. Maine: Via NYT. Concerned Susan Collins wins re-election. Massachusetts: Via NYT. Ed Markey (D) wins re-election. Michigan: NBC call. Gary Peters (D) wins re-election. Minnesota: NBC call. Tina Smith retains her seat. Mississippi: Via NYT. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) retains her seat. Montana: Via NYT. Steve Daines (R) wins re-election. Nebraska: Via NYT. Ben Sasse (R) wins re-election. New Hampshire: Via NYT. Jeanne Shaheen (D) wins re-election. New Jersey: Via NYT. Cory Booker (D) wins re-election. New Mexico: NBC call. Ray Luján (D) wins. Oklahoma: Via NYT. Jim Inhofe (R) wins re-election. Oregon: Via NYT. Jeff Merkley (D) wins re-election. Rhode Island: Via NYT. Jack Reed (D) wins re-election. South Carolina: NBC call. Lindsey Graham (R) wins re-election. Sad. South Dakota: Via NYT. Mike Rounds (R) wins re-election. Tennessee: Via NYT. Bill Hagerty (R) wins. Texas: NBC call. John Cornyn (R) wins re-election. Virginia: AP call. Mark Warner (D) wins re-election. West Virginia: AP call. Shelley Moore Capito (R) wins re-election. Wyoming: Via NYT. Cynthia Lummis (R) wins.
House Races. Mrs. McCrabbie: I won't be able to keep up with House races, but I'll try to keep a running tally & post any interesting or unusual results about the House contests in the right column as time allows.
Gubernatorial Races. I'll post called races in the right column.
President-Elect Biden delivers very presidential remarks Wednesday afternoon:
~~~ MEANWHILE. Mark Sherman of the AP: “The Trump campaign said it filed lawsuits Wednesday in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the groundwork for contesting the outcome in undecided battleground states that could determine whether ... Donald Trump gets another four years in the White House. Suits in both states are demanding better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, the campaign said. The campaign also is seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted, deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said. The campaign said it is calling for a temporary halt in the counting in both states until it is given 'meaningful' access in numerous locations and allowed to review ballots that already have been opened and processed. Trump is running slightly behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Michigan. The president is ahead in Pennsylvania but his margin is shrinking as more mailed ballots are counted.”
Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: “With no winner declared in the 2020 presidential race, President Trump appeared in the White House just after 2 a.m. on Wednesday to brazenly claim he had already won the election — and to insist that votes stop being counted even though the ballots of millions of Americans had yet to be tallied. Speaking with a mix of defiance, anger and wonder that the election had not yet been called in his favor, the president recounted his standing in an array of battleground states before falsely declaring: 'Frankly, we did win this election.' No news organizations declared a winner between Mr. Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr., and a number of closely contested states still had millions of mail-in ballots to count, in part because state and local Republican officials had insisted that they not be counted until Election Day. Mr. Trump said, without offering any explanation, that 'we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court,' and added: 'We want all voting to stop.' No elected leader has the right to unilaterally order votes to stop being counted, and Mr. Trump’s middle-of-the-night proclamation amounted to a reckless attempt to hijack the electoral process as results in key battleground states were still not final, something without precedent in American politics.” ~~~
~~~ Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: “Addressing the nation from the White House about 2:30 a.m., Trump challenged the integrity of the vote to an unprecedented and breathtaking degree. The president said the ongoing vote count in Georgia, Pennsylvania and other key battleground states amounted to 'a major fraud on our nation,' and he vowed to file lawsuits to stop it. Claiming a conspiracy to keep from declaring him the victor, Trump said: 'This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.'” ~~~
~~~ David Bauder & Lynn Elber of the AP: “In a stunning scene in the middle of the night, news organizations rebuked ... Donald Trump after he falsely said on live television that he had won reelection even as votes were still being counted.... CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell said Trump was 'castrating the facts' by 'falsely claiming that he has won the election and disenfranchising millions of voters whose ballots have not been counted.' 'Donald Trump is losing right now both in the popular vote and the electoral vote and there are many states left to be called,' ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos said. Said NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie, 'The fact of the matter is we don’t know who won the election.' Guthrie had interrupted Trump’s speech to tell viewers that several of Trump’s statements were not true.... 'This is an extremely flammable situation and the president just threw a match into it,' said Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace.” ~~~
~~~ Mark Sherman of the AP explains what's going on to Fuckface von Clownstick: “... Donald Trumpsays he’ll take the presidential election to the Supreme Court, but it’s unclear what he means in a country in which vote tabulations routinely continue beyond Election Day, and states largely set the rules for when the count has to end. 'We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court — we want all voting to stop,' Trump said early Wednesday. But the voting is over. It’s only counting that is taking place across the nation. No state will count absentee votes that are postmarked after Election Day. Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s campaign called Trump’s statement 'outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect.'”
Joe Scarborough asks, "If Democrats can't beat a candidate like Donald Trump, whom can they beat?" Good question.
Max Greenwood of the Hill: “Joe Bidensaid early Wednesday that he is on track to win the 2020 presidential election, as vote returns show a narrowing, yet still viable, path to victory for the former vice president. Speaking to supporters at a drive-in election night event in Wilmington, Del., in the early hours of Wednesday, Biden urged patience while election officials across the country tally outstanding ballots. But he projected confidence in his chances of capturing the White House, laying out a path to victory that runs through Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. 'It may take a little longer,' Biden said to honking car horns. 'As I’ve said all along, it’s not my place or Donald trump’s place to declare who won this election. It’s put to the American people. But I’m optimistic about the outcome.'”
New York Times live updates of election results are here.
New York Times' presidential results page is here.
New York Times live updates of Senate election results are here.
New York Times live updates of gubernatorial election results are here.
The Guardian's live Election Day updates are here.
Pre-Poll Closings, Brought Forward from November 3
Maggie Miller of the Hill: "Election results will be delayed almost an hour in the Tar Heel State after the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) voted Tuesday to extend hours at four polling locations due to early delays from technical issues."~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: To give you an idea of how little Republicans want Americans to have the right to vote, CNN reported that the N.C. state election board's vote was 3-2, with the three Democrats on the board voting yea & the two Republicans voting nay. These extensions were for only a few minutes & were to make sure voters in these precincts had the same access to the ballot as everyone else in the state had. It's a straightforward matter of fairness. The effect on outcomes would be negligible. And that was too much for Republicans.
John Kruzel of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep facilities for remaining mail ballots and rush their delivery, as receipt deadlines close in. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has presided over several lawsuits aimed at Postal Service election mail delays, gave the Postal Service until 3 p.m. to 'ensure that no ballots have been held up' in regions that have been slow to process mail ballots."
Mike Allen & Margaret Talev of Axios: "If news organizations declare Joe Biden the mathematical president-elect, he plans to address the nation as its new leader, even if President Trump continues to fight in court, advisers tell Axios.... Biden advisers learned the lesson of 2000, when Al Gore hung back while George W. Bush declared victory in that contested election, putting the Democrat on the defensive while Bush acted like the winner. So if Bidenis declared the winner, he'll begin forming his government and looking presidential — and won't yield to doubts Trump might try to sow. Biden's schedule for Tuesday includes a clue to this posture: He 'will address the nation on Election Night in Wilmington, Delaware.'"
The Washington Post's live election updates are here. They are free to non-subscribers.
From the NYTelection updates: Thomas Kaplan, et al.: “Joseph R. Biden Jr. returned to his Pennsylvania birthplace, Scranton, on the morning of Election Day, addressing supporters outside a carpenters’ union hall and visiting his childhood home. 'It’s good to be home,' the former vice president said at a canvass kickoff, wearing a mask and speaking through a bullhorn with Biden-Harris stickers on it. 'Scranton is where I learned, like you did, all my basic values.'... Mr. Biden also paid a visit to his childhood home, where he signed a message the living room wall: 'From this house to the White House with the grace of God.'... Mr. Biden had started the day attending St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, Del., with his wife, Jill, and two of their grandchildren, and then visiting the cemetery where several members of his family are buried, including his son Beau, his first wife, Neilia, and their daughter, Naomi....” ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman, et al.: “... President Trump said Tuesday morning in an interview on 'Fox & Friends' that he would declare victory 'when there is victory, if there is victory.... I think the polls are, you know, suppression polls. And I think we will have victory....' At another point in the interview, when one of the hosts tried to get Mr. Trump to respond to criticism from his predecessor, President Obama, about the safety of Mr. Trump’s rallies amid a pandemic, the president instead started attacking Fox News. The network 'has changed a lot,' Mr. Trump said, falsely saying they’ve 'had Democrats on more than Republicans.'... Mr. Trump sounded tired, after spending all day Monday flying from rally to rally. He spent much of his last day on the campaign trail attacking the Supreme Court, accusing it of putting 'our country in danger' by ruling to allow Pennsylvania to continue accepting absentee ballots after Election Day, at least for the time being. In Kenosha, Wis..., Mr. Trump told a crowd, without basis, that the justices had made a 'political' decision that would lead to cheating by ... Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. His comments followed an angry tweet in which he charged — without providing any evidence — that the court’s decision would 'allow rampant and unchecked cheating' and 'induce violence in the streets.' Twitter quickly flagged the president’s assertions as potentially false....”
Erik Ortiz of NBC News: "A federal lawsuit is accusing police in North Carolina of voter intimidation after they deployed pepper spray during a get-out-the vote rally and hauled several participants to jail in a chaotic display of pre-Election Day discord. The complaint, filed late Monday against the police chief of Graham, a rural community west of Durham, and the Alamance County sheriff, says that protesters were not expecting conflict at Saturday's 'I Am Change' march, but that the situation escalated 'when deputies and officers planned and orchestrated the violent dispersal' of a peaceful crowd."
Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milleyheld an off-the-record video call with top generals and network anchors this weekendto tamp down speculation about potential military involvement in the presidential election, two people familiar with the call tell Axios.... The nation's top military official set up Saturday's highly unusual call to make clear that the military's role is apolitical, one of the sources said — and to dispel any notion of a role for the military in adjudicating a disputed election or making any decision around removing a president from the White House."
Maggie Miller of the Hill: "Election results will be delayed almost an hour in the Tar Heel State after the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) voted Tuesday to extend hours at four polling locations due to early delays from technical issues." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: To give you an idea of how little Republicans want Americans to vote, CNN reported that the N.C. state election board's vote was 3-2, with the three Democrats on the board voting yea & the two Republicans voting nay. These extensions were for only a few minutes & were to make sure voters in these precincts had the same access to the ballot as everyone else in the state had. It's a straightforward matter of fairness. The effect on outcomes would be negligible. And that was too much for Republicans.
John Kruzel of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep facilities for remaining mail ballots and rush their delivery, as receipt deadlines close in. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has presided over several lawsuits aimed at Postal Service election mail delays, gave the Postal Service until 3 p.m. to 'ensure that no ballots have been held up' in regions that have been slow to process mail ballots."
Mike Allen & Margaret Talev of Axios: "If news organizations declare Joe Biden the mathematical president-elect, he plans to address the nation as its new leader, even if President Trump continues to fight in court, advisers tell Axios.... Biden advisers learned the lesson of 2000, when Al Gore hung back while George W. Bush declared victory in that contested election, putting the Democrat on the defensive while Bush acted like the winner. So if Biden is declared the winner, he'll begin forming his government and looking presidential -- and won't yield to doubts Trump might try to sow. Biden's schedule for Tuesday includes a clue to this posture: He 'will address the nation on Election Night in Wilmington, Delaware.'"
The Washington Post's live election updates are here. They are free to non-subscribers.
From the NYTelection updates: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. returned to his Pennsylvania birthplace, Scranton, on the morning of Election Day, addressing supporters outside a carpenters' union hall and visiting his childhood home. 'It's good to be home,' the former vice president said at a canvass kickoff, wearing a mask and speaking through a bullhorn with Biden-Harris stickers on it. 'Scranton is where I learned, like you did, all my basic values.'... Mr. Biden also paid a visit to his childhood home, where he signed a message the living room wall: 'From this house to the White House with the grace of God.'... Mr. Biden had started the day attending St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, Del., with his wife, Jill, and two of their grandchildren, and then visiting the cemetery where several members of his family are buried, including his son Beau, his first wife, Neilia, and their daughter, Naomi...." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman, et al.: "... President Trump said Tuesday morning in an interview on 'Fox & Friends' that he would declare victory 'when there is victory, if there is victory.... I think the polls are, you know, suppression polls. And I think we will have victory....' At another point in the interview, when one of the hosts tried to get Mr. Trump to respond to criticism from his predecessor, President Obama, about the safety of Mr. Trump's rallies amid a pandemic, the president instead started attacking Fox News. The network 'has changed a lot,' Mr. Trump said, falsely saying they've 'had Democrats on more than Republicans.'... Mr. Trump sounded tired, after spending all day Monday flying from rally to rally. He spent much of his last day on the campaign trail attacking the Supreme Court, accusing it of putting 'our country in danger' by ruling to allow Pennsylvania to continue accepting absentee ballots after Election Day, at least for the time being. In Kenosha, Wis..., Mr. Trump told a crowd, without basis, that the justices had made a 'political' decision that would lead to cheating by ... Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. His comments followed an angry tweet in which he charged -- without providing any evidence -- that the court's decision would 'allow rampant and unchecked cheating' and 'induce violence in the streets.' Twitter quickly flagged the president's assertions as potentially false...."
Erik Ortiz of NBC News: "A federal lawsuit is accusing police in North Carolina of voter intimidation after they deployed pepper spray during a get-out-the vote rally and hauled several participants to jail in a chaotic display of pre-Election Day discord. The complaint, filed late Monday against the police chief of Graham, a rural community west of Durham, and the Alamance County sheriff, says that protesters were not expecting conflict at Saturday's 'I Am Change' march, but that the situation escalated 'when deputies and officers planned and orchestrated the violent dispersal' of a peaceful crowd."
Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milleyheld an off-the-record video call with top generals and network anchors this weekend to tamp down speculation about potential military involvement in the presidential election, two people familiar with the call tell Axios.... The nation's top military official set up Saturday's highly unusual call to make clear that the military's role is apolitical, one of the sources said -- and to dispel any notion of a role for the military in adjudicating a disputed election or making any decision around removing a president from the White House."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race, Etc.
How to give a political speech:
Election Results. Dixville Notch. Lauren Dezenski & Cassie Spodak of CNN: "... Joe Biden took all five of the votes cast for president in Dixville Notch, a tiny New Hampshire township along the US-Canada border that is among the first places in the country to make its presidential preference known. The ballots were cast in the minutes after midnight, becoming some of the first cast and counted on Election Day.... Nearby Millsfield also opened its polls at midnight. Trump won Millsfield 16-5 over Biden."
The New York Times' live election updates Tuesday are here: Michael Cooper: "Nearly 100 million people had already cast their ballots before the day even dawned -- taking advantage of states' efforts to make voting safer during the pandemic.... Battleground states including Michigan and Pennsylvania were making news on the eve of the election not just for 11th-hour campaign stops, but for setting one-day records for new coronavirus cases.... There are now five million more people unemployed now than when Mr. Trump took office in January 2017. And the recent recovery is showing signs of stalling, as hopes begin to fade that many jobs lost to pandemic would return swiftly.... Millions of students are not taking classes in person, as many of the nation's largest school districts are still offering remote instruction or a hybrid that combines some in-person schooling with classes from home. And with the United States still suffering one of the worst outbreaks in the world, travelers have found a U.S. passport is not always welcomed anymore.... As Election Day dawned, the sight of plywood being put up over windows from Washington to New York to Los Angeles sent an ominous sign."
Alicia Parlapiano of the New York Timeswrites a general explanation of how votes will be counted, and how the early returns may be skewed one way or the other, then helpful state-by-state mini-analyses of when the polls close, the types of ballots that will be reported first, & the likely timing of unofficial reports. The Times will update the page as states release more information. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael McDonald of the University of Florida is keeping track of early voting -- both mail-in and in-person -- state-by-state and, where available, by party affiliation. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As of early Tuesday morning, McDonald's site reports that 99,657,079 people had voted. CNN reported on-air this morning that more than 101 million Americans had voted early.
More Voter Intimidation. Tony Romm & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "An unidentified robocaller has placed an estimated 10 million calls in the past several weeks warning people to 'stay safe and stay home,' spooking some Americans who said they saw it as an attempt to scare them away from the polls on Election Day. The barrage of calls all feature the same short, recorded message: A computerized female voice says the message is a 'test call' before twice encouraging people to remain inside. The robocalls, which have come from a slew of fake or unknown numbers, began over the summer and intensified in October, and now appear to have affected nearly every Zip code in the United States."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The president's reported intention to make a premature -- and potentially false -- victory speech by the end of Tuesday night, with large numbers of mail-in ballots yet to be counted, has provoked intense journalistic debate.... Were Trump to try to stage such a 'victory' stunt it would chime with the relentless doubt that he has sown for months around the election, with repeated false claims that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud. His comments suggest that his aim is to create the illusion that the election is being stolen from him in states such as Pennsylvania where early results from in-person voting might favor Trump in a so-called 'red mirage', only for the balance to swing to Biden as absentee ballots are counted beyond election day."
The New York Times live election updates for Monday are here. The Washington Post's live election updates Monday are here. The Post's updates are free to non-subscribers. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
Trump's Closing Argument: Biden Backers Will Loot & Rob You. Also, I'm Not Going to Pay Mic Guy. Emily Goodin of the Daily Mail: "... Donald Trumpinvited his family on stage with him during his fourth rally of the day in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Monday, where he warned that Democrats will 'loot and rob' if Joe Biden doesn't win the election.... Trump battled problems with his microphone throughout the course of the Kenosha rally, with the sound dropping so low that the crowd couldn't hear him.... A staffer came on stage and gave the president a handheld microphone. 'I always said I want the perfect mic,' Trump said.... 'We're supposed to pay these people, right?' the president joked of the mishap. 'I won't pay the bill of the company that does this crazy microphone, and they'll do a story, "Trump is a horrible human being, he doesn't pay a bill." No, I don't like to pay bills when people do a bad job.' But he then agrees he will because it's a Kenosha-based company." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's claim is a little odd since, so far, most election-related violence seems to be coming from his own supporters, and it is he, not Joe Biden, who is encouraging that violence, such as his repeated support for Trumpbots who he said were "protecting" a Biden bus by slowing it down & side-swiping a vehicle accompanying the bus on a Texas highway.
How to Shore Up the Latino Vote. Emma Nolan of Newsweek: "One of the big superstars of the world; Little Pimp!" is how Donald Trumpintroduced [Latino] rapperLil Pump on stage at a final pre-election rally Tuesday morning."... The president then appears to have recognized his mistake and adds: 'There he is. You wanna come up here and say something? Lil Pump? Does everyone know who he is? You know how big he is? Come up here, that's a nice hat.'... This week, Lil Pump threatened to leave the U.S. if Trump is not reelected. 'Yo, no cap... If Trump does not get elected, I'm moving the f*** out of here n****,' he said in a recent post on his Instagram Story, per Complex. 'I'm going to Colombia, f*** it.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Lil Pimp seems like a nice guy ... for someone Trump would call an anchor baby from a shithole country (Colombia). Since I am so out of it, I never heard of one of the biggest superstars in the world, so I looked him up on the Wikis: "... he is often portrayed taking drugs such as marijuana, lean, and xanax.... [He was] expelled from multiple district schools. [Lil Pimp], thereafter, enrolled in an opportunity high school but was expelled in the tenth grade for fighting and inciting a riot.... On December 16, 2018, [Lil Pimp] was accused of being racist towards Asians after previewing a snippet of his new song 'Butterfly Doors'; the lyrics contained Asian stereotypes and slurs including 'Ching chong' and 'they call me Yao Ming cause my eyes real low' the lyric at which, [Lil Pimp] mockingly pulls his eyes back." Meanwhile, Lady Gaga performed & spoke at a Biden rally, & John Legend at a Harris rally.
David Brennan of Newsweek: "On Monday, while campaigning in the Pennsylvanian city of Scranton, where [Joe] Biden lived until he was 10 years old, the president appeared to threaten Democratic GovernorTom Wolf, as the crowd chanted: 'Tom Wolf sucks.' 'Make sure your governor doesn't cheat, because they are known for very bad things here,' Trump said, without elaborating. 'But we have a lot of eyes watching, a lot of very powerful eyes here. They don't want that to happen.... Open up your state and please don't cheat, governor, please don't cheat,' the president said to cheers from the crowd. 'We're all watching you.... We have a lot of eyes on the governor and his friends,' Trump added. 'Couple of other governors out there too.'" Wolf said Trump's threats would not intimidate local officials. ~~~
~~~ Trump Predicts, Encourages Election-Related Violence. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Speaking to supporters in Opa-locka, Fla., on Sunday night into Monday, the president ... began sizing up his opponent Joe Biden's physical attributes and describing how he might beat him up. 'So those legs -- those legs, they've gotten very thin,' Trump said.... He continued, drawing his words out carefully and slowly. 'You wouldn't have to close,' he said, holding up a clenched fist and then releasing it, 'you wouldn't have to close the fi-.' In a similar riff the day before, Trump's sentiment was even clearer, though he again suggestively trailed off at the end: 'A slight slap. You don't have to close -- even close your fist.'... A president who has repeatedly spoken in subtle -- and often far-less-subtle -- ways about violent acts by supporters and suggestively alluded to politically fueled post-election turmoil has made both a fixture of his final campaign pitch.... Trump this weekend also re-upped his long-running allusions to unrest after the election, saying there would be 'bedlam' if the result is drawn out as states count mail ballots in the days after the election.... 'November 3 is going to come and go, and we're not gonna know, and you're gonna have bedlam in our country, and you're gonna have this period of nine days, or seven days, or whatever it is, and many bad things. Ballots are gonna be, "Oh, we just found 10,000 ballots." Oh, that's good. "We just found another 10,000." This is a horrible thing that the United States Supreme Court has done to our country.'... At one point last week, he referred to the idea of Kamala D. Harris taking over, saying, 'Three weeks in, Joe's shot. Let's go, Kamala, you ready?'" ~~~
~~~ Ryan Lizza & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "At rallies across the Midwest and Sun Belt swing states..., Donald Trumphas been openly discussing murky schemes to prevent legitimate ballots from being counted, escalating threats to disenfranchise millions of American as the weeks-long voting season ends tonight and his pathway to reelection becomes increasingly narrow. 'The Election should end on Nov. 3, not weeks later!' the president said on Friday. He repeated the claim at an event in Dubuque, Iowa on Sunday, adding falsely, 'That's the way it's been, and that's the way it should be.'... Trump has been abetted ... by top surrogates, including his sons, Eric and Don, and his daughter-in-law, Lara.... 'President Trump will be ahead on election night, probably getting 280 electoral [votes] -- somewhere in that range, and then they're going to try to steal it back after the election,' [senior advisor Jason] Miller said [Sunday], suggesting that fully counting ballots is a Democratic plot.... Most Republicans ... have remained publicly silent. It's not new for Trump's party brethren to duck and cover when he says something troubling. But after five years of perfecting the art of explaining how they 'didn't see the tweet,' ... it is shocking but not surprising that they aren't speaking up now, even when the integrity of America's electoral system is under attack by their party's leader." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Not all Republicans are "troubled" by Trump's anti-democratic antics. Consider the case of a Florida man: Aaron Blake of WashPo reports in the story linked above, "Speaking at [a] Florida rally, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said [of the Texas 'Trump Train' that threatened to run a Biden bus off the freeway]: 'We love what they did. But here's the thing they don't know: We do that in Florida every day.'"
The Last Harumph. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump arrives at Election Day on Tuesday toggling between confidence and exasperation, bravado and grievance, and marinating in frustration that he is trailing Joseph R. Biden Jr., whom he considers an unworthy opponent.... Trailing in most polls, Mr. Trump has careened through a marathon series of rallies in the last week, trying to tear down Mr. Biden and energize his supporters, but also fixated on crowd size and targeting perceived enemies like the news media and Dr. Anthony Fauci.... At every turn, the president has railed that the voting system is rigged against him and has threatened to sue when the election is over, in an obvious bid to undermine an electoral process strained by the coronavirus pandemic.... His mad dash to the finish is a distillation of his four tumultuous years in office, a mix of resentment, combativeness and a penchant for viewing events through a prism all his own.... But by enclosing himself in the thin bubble of his own worldview, Mr. Trump may have further severed himself from the political realities of a country in crisis. And that, in turn, has helped enable Mr. Trump to wage a campaign offering no central message, no clear agenda for a second term and no answer to the woes of the pandemic.... On a trip to Florida last week, several aides told the president that winning the Electoral College was a certainty, a prognosis not supported by Republican or Democratic polling, according to people familiar with the conversation." ~~~
~~~ Jim Acosta of CNN, who has been following Trump around the country, called Trump's the "ugliest" closing argument he had ever heard.
Hunkered in the Bunker? Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Federal authorities are expected to put back into place a 'non-scalable' fence around the entire perimeter of the White House on Monday as law enforcement and other agencies prepare for possible protests surrounding the election.... Washington, DC, Metro Police Chief Peter Newsham warned the District's City Council last month there was wide expectation of some type of civil unrest following the election. And many businesses in the downtown DC area in the proximity of the White House have boarded up doors and windows in the last couple of days in anticipation of possible protests. During this past summer, some businesses saw their windows smashed and other property damaged by protesters." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So maybe the reason Trump cancelled his plans to party at the Trump Hotel on Election Night was not that he needed to hole up with his aides at the White House to scheme to steal the election or that he planned to use the People's House as a party venue. Instead, maybe he just wanted to be sure he could get to his hidey-hole in the basement bunker toot sweet.
Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump is signaling that Election Day could be followed by a stretch of uncertainty and chaos as a purge of top officials, legal challenges to election results and potential resistance to a normal transition cloud the prospects for an orderly post-election period no matter who wins.... Trump, speaking at a rally in Ohio recently, openly suggested that he might throw a wrench in the transition process if [Joe] Biden prevails, making unfounded claims that his own transition was undermined. 'They ask me, "If you lose, will there be a friendly transition?" Well, when I won, did they give me a friendly transition?' Trump said. 'They spied on my campaign. They did all this stuff. That was not a friendly transition.' Trump has also complained about mail-in voting, erroneously casting much of it as fraudulent and falsely claiming that it is unusual or dangerous to continue counting ballots after Election Day. Biden's team is preparing for the possibility that Trump, should he lose, would block hundreds of Biden officials from gaining access to government resources as required by law. Top Biden transition members have discussed potential legal responses and are eyeing other ways, should Biden win the election, to begin what could be one of the most volatile transfers of power in American history...." ~~~
~~~ Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "With the election coming to a close, the Trump and Biden campaigns, voting rights organizations and conservative groups are raising money and dispatching armies of lawyers for what could become a state-by-state, county-by-county legal battle over which ballots will ultimately be counted. The deployments -- involving hundreds of lawyers on both sides -- go well beyond what has become normal since the disputed outcome in 2000, and are the result of the open efforts of President Trump and the Republicans to disqualify votes on technicalities and baseless charges of fraud at the end of a campaign in which the voting system has been severely tested by the coronavirus pandemic. In the most aggressive moves to knock out registered votes in modern memory, Republicans have already sought to nullify ballots before they are counted in several states that could tip the balance of the Electoral College.... In his last days of campaigning, Mr. Trump has essentially admitted that he does not expect to win without going to court. 'As soon as that election is over,' he told reporters over the weekend, 'we're going in with our lawyers.'" ~~~
~~~ Former Attorneys General Eric Holder & Michael Mukasey, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The most devastating event in our history came from a refusal to accept the election results in 1860. Abraham Lincoln's plaintive plea in his inaugural speech-- 'We are not enemies.... We must not be enemies.' -- went unheeded; 11 states refused to accept Lincoln's election and formed the Confederacy. The result was the Civil War.... History and contemporary events demonstrate that ... a resolution of policy disputes by means outside accepted governing frameworks does long-term harm to societies and ultimately puts individual freedom at risk.... This should not require saying, but we feel compelled to say it: ...our political leaders [should not] stoke or condone violence.... There is the insidious danger posed by charges that have nothing to support them other than an accuser's invitation to us to hallucinate evil.... If you can't imagine anything worse right now than the other side prevailing in this election, try this: Imagine a country where elections don't matter because those who do not prevail will not accept the result." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't know how Holder managed to get Mukasey, a hard-nosed winger and law partner & pal of Rudy Giuliani, to sign onto this editorial. But he did, so there you are.
Giovanni Russonello & Sarah Lyall of the New York Times: "If President Trump pieces together an Electoral College win on Tuesday, at least one pollster -- and perhaps only one -- will be able to say, 'I told you so.' That person is Robert Cahaly, whose Trafalgar Group this year has released a consistent stream of battleground-state polls showing the president highly competitive against Joseph R. Biden Jr., and often out ahead, in states where most other pollsters have shown a steady Biden lead. Trafalgar does not disclose its methods, and is considered far too shadowy by other pollsters to be taken seriously. Mostly, they dismiss it as an outlier. But for Mr. Cahaly, 'I told you so' is already a calling card. In 2016, its first time publicly releasing polls, Trafalgar was the firm whose state surveys most effectively presaged Mr. Trump's upset win. A veteran Republican strategist, Mr. Cahaly even called the exact number of Electoral College votes that Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton would receive -- 306 to 227 -- although his prediction of which states would get them there was just slightly off."
Trump's Army Is AWOL. Jessica Huseman of ProPublica: "Donald Trump Jr. looked straight into a camera at the end of September as triumphant music rose in a crescendo. 'The radical left are laying the groundwork to steal this election from my father,' he said. 'We cannot let that happen. We need every able-bodied man and woman to join the army for Trump's election security operation.' It was an echo of what his father ... has said in both of his presidential campaigns. At a September campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the president encouraged his audience to be poll watchers. 'Watch all the thieving and stealing and robbing they do,' he said.... But the poll-watching army that the Trumps have tried to rally hasn't materialized. Although there's no official data, election officials across the country say that they have seen relatively few Republican poll watchers during early voting, and that at times Democratic poll watchers have outnumbered the GOP's.... Despite the small number of official poll watchers, unauthorized Trump supporters at times have shown up and behaved aggressively at polling places and drop boxes, according to tips received by Electionland."
California. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A caravan of ... Donald Trump's supporters blocked access to a voting station in southern California. The caravan paraded for 60 miles through Riverside County before arriving at a Temecula sports park, where throngs of Trump supporters snarled traffic and prevented some voters from reaching the polling station, reported the Los Angeles Times. 'Law enforcement was contacted to ensure that access to the parking lot and voter assistance center were clear,' said Brooke Federico, a spokeswoman for Riverside County. 'The Sheriff's Department responded and cleared access to the parking lot and voter assistance center.'"
Michigan. Joseph Choi of the Hill: "The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of Michigan said on Monday that several tombstones in the Ahavas Israel Cemetery in Grand Rapids had been desecrated with 'Trump' and 'MAGA' in red spray paint.... David J.B. Krishef, the congregation's rabbi, said in a statement to The Hill that it was unclear if the vandalism was an attack on the Jewish community."
Nevada. Stephanie Becker of CNN: "A Nevada judge rejected a GOP lawsuit seeking to halt early vote counting in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, over stringency of signature-matching computer software and how closely observers can watch votes being counted. With less than 24 hours before Election Day, District Court Judge James Wilson denied the Nevada Republican Party and the Trump campaign their request challenging procedures for poll observation and mail-in ballot processing in heavily Democratic Clark County.... Donald Trump has consistently criticized Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, for the decision to send ballots to all active voters because of the pandemic, and the battleground state is one of several where Republicans have tried to limit mail-in voting activity." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Texas. Neena Satija, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday rejected Republicans' attempt to invalidate more than 100,000 ballots cast via drive-through voting in Harris County, Tex., home to Houston. But he also cautioned those who have not yet voted to avoid using those centers on Election Day.... U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, an [Mrs. McC: ultra-conservative] appointee of President George W. Bush, noting that an appellate court could overrule him. The plaintiffs in the case -- Houston conservative activist Steve Hotze and a handful of Republican candidates -- have appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in hopes of a ruling Monday evening. Hotze and the candidates had sued the county last week over its drive-through voting stations, in which voters use a machine to vote from inside their cars. The new voting method was instituted for voters fearful of exposing themselves to the coronavirus at polling places. The plaintiffs argued that the Texas legislature never explicitly allowed for it. In his ruling issued from the bench Monday, Hanen said the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the validity of the ballots. If they did have standing, he said, he might have halted drive-through voting on Election Day." ~~~
~~~ An item on the ruling from the WashPo's live election updates Monday is free to non-subscribers & was linked yesterday afternoon.
Matt Scuffham, et al., of Reuters: "Deutsche Bank AG is looking for ways to end its relationship with ... Donald Trump after the U.S. elections, as it tires of the negative publicity stemming from the ties, according to three senior bank officials with direct knowledge of the matter.... In meetings in recent months, a Deutsche Bank management committee that oversees reputational and other risks for the lender in the Americas region has discussed ways in which it could rid the bank of these last vestiges of the relationship, two of the three bank officials said. The bank has over the years lent Trump more than $2 billion, one of the officials said."
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Antonia Farzan, et al., of the Washington Posthave a sort of round-up of world news, centering on the U.S., on the status of the coronavirus. This is a bit different from their usual updates, in that it is not broken into several discrete items. The article is free to non-subscribers. (Also linked yesterday.)
Debbie Gets Her Dander Up. Lena Sun & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force..., sounded alarms Monday about a new and deadly phase in the health crisis, pleading with top administration officials for 'much more aggressive action,' even as President Trump continues to assure rallygoers the nation is 'rounding the turn' on the pandemic. 'We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic ... leading to increasing mortality,' said the Nov. 2 report from ... Birx.... 'This is not about lockdowns -- It hasn't been about lockdowns since March or April. It's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.' Birx's internal report, shared with top White House and agency officials, contradicts Trump on numerous points: While the president holds large campaign events with hundreds of attendees, most without masks, she explicitly warns against them. While the president blames rising cases on more testing, she says testing is 'flat or declining' in many areas where cases are rising. And while Trump says the country is 'rounding the turn,' Birx notes the country is entering its most dangerous period yet and will see more than 100,000 new cases a day this week."
>Way Beyond the Beltway
Philip Oltermann of the Guardian: "Police in Vienna are hunting at least one gunman after a string of shootings described by the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, as a 'repulsive terror attack' left at least three people dead. Two civilians were killed by gunmen, while one attacker was killed by police in the centre of the Austrian capital. At least one gunman remains on the run, but authorities have not ruled out there being more still at large. The initial shootings took place at six different locations in the city centre and authorities warned of a group of 'heavily armed and dangerous' gunmen. Fifteen other people -- including at least one police officer -- were seriously injured in exchanges of gunfire. Seven victims were reported to be in critical condition.... Speaking to the Austrian broadcaster ORF, [Kurz] said the attackers 'were very well equipped with automatic weapons' and had 'prepared professionally'.... One attacker was shot dead by police. According to government sources, the slain terrorist was carrying an explosive belt and a bag filled with ammunition, ORF reported." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's liveblog for today is here. A fourth victim has died.
;)
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