| Iran moves mock-up U.S. carrier to mouth of Gulf: satellite images Posted: 27 Jul 2020 02:42 AM PDT  Iran has moved a mock-up U.S. aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, satellite images show, suggesting it will use the look-alike vessel for target practice in war games in a Gulf shipping channel vital to world oil exports. The use of dummy American warships has become an occasional feature of training by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and its naval forces, including in 2015 when Iranian missiles hit a mock-up resembling a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.
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| Defiant former Navy Seal speaks out in new Lincoln Project attack ad: 'Trump is not conservative' Posted: 27 Jul 2020 02:46 PM PDT  A "Never Trump" Republican group has released a new attack ad featuring a former Navy Seal saying Donald Trump is weak, not a conservative, and the most easily fixable problem in the country.The Founder of Veterans for Responsible Leadership, Dan Barkhuff, says in the most recent 2020 election campaign video from the Lincoln Project that the president has no respect for the Constitution.
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| Melania Trump plans to renovate the Rose Garden. See the other changes the first lady has made to the White House. Posted: 27 Jul 2020 08:09 AM PDT  Melania Trump keeps a low profile as first lady, but she's had a busy schedule taking care of the White House. These photos show her changes.
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| Some travelers still take trips abroad during COVID-19 pandemic: 'I feel safer exiting America' Posted: 26 Jul 2020 11:43 AM PDT  COVID-19 has grounded a lot of activities, mostly international travel. Three people are taking the risk because they feel safer abroad.
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| Florida Man Receives $3.9 Million in COVID-19 Relief Funds, Buys a Lamborghini and Gets Arrested for Fraud Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:53 PM PDT  The DOJ alleges he fraudulently applied for about $13.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans
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| Minneapolis residents are forming armed neighborhood watches as shootings triple after George Floyd's death Posted: 27 Jul 2020 05:45 AM PDT  The city council also voted to reduce the police department's budget by more than $1 million late last week.
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| Pastor: 40 infected with coronavirus after church event Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:37 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Can this California prison save itself from Covid-19? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:28 PM PDT  San Quentin is battling a devastating coronavirus outbreak that critics say could have been avoided.
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| Netanyahu warns Hezbollah against playing with fire after frontier incident Posted: 27 Jul 2020 05:59 AM PDT  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to infiltrate across the Lebanon frontier on Monday, which the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group denied. "Hezbollah should know it is playing with fire," Netanyahu said in a televised address from Israel's defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. Earlier, a Reuters witness in Lebanon counted dozens of Israeli shells hitting the disputed Shebaa Farms area along the frontier.
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| US could ‘virtually eliminate’ coronavirus if ‘we decide to’, top Obama administration health official says Posted: 27 Jul 2020 01:32 PM PDT  A top Obama administration health official has said the United States could "virtually eliminate" the coronavirus "any time we decide to" if the country were to take universal steps in controlling the virus.Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Barack Obama, shared a 38-tweet thread about what the country could be doing during the pandemic.
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| 2nd presidential debate host withdraws amid virus outbreak Posted: 27 Jul 2020 01:26 PM PDT  The University of Notre Dame has become the second university to withdraw as the host of one of this fall's three scheduled presidential debates amid the coronavirus pandemic. The university was set to host the inaugural face-off between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Sept. 29. The first debate will now be hosted by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday.
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| Walmart won't enforce its own rules on mask-wearing because it fears staff could be attacked by shoppers angry at being challenged Posted: 26 Jul 2020 08:57 AM PDT  Walmart and several other chain stores bend face mask rules. Violence towards store staff from mask objectors have been reported across the US.
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| How much GDP and employment are worth how many teachers and students? Do we matter? Posted: 26 Jul 2020 06:30 AM PDT  Kids are pretty depressed lately, but they might feel even more depressed when they find out they and their families and their teachers are expendable.
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| Hurricane Douglas skirts Hawaii, forecasters remain vigilant Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:26 AM PDT  Hurricane Douglas gained some strength and began to spin away from many of the Hawaiian Islands late Sunday.
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| Anti-mask US senator who called coronavirus a hoax tests positive for Covid-19 Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:23 AM PDT  An Arkansas senator who shared an article that described the coronavirus pandemic as a "hoax" has contracted Covid-19.Republican senator Jason Rapert, who unsuccessfully introduced a bill to ban gay marriage in the US in 2017, was hospitalised with coronavirus and pneumonia on 24 July.
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| On Chicago's South Side, some violence-weary residents open to federal investigators Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:13 AM PDT  Many Chicagoans vehemently oppose President Donald Trump's pledge to send federal officers to the third-largest U.S. city, after seeing camouflaged agents deployed in Portland club and tear-gas anti-racism protesters. "I appreciate it and I like it," said Cedrick Easterling, a former gang member, who was shoveling garbage scattered in the South Side neighborhood of Englewood as part of his work clearing vacant lots. "If you sit at that park, you will hear shots all over Englewood," said Easterling, who was once shot himself, pointing south toward Ogden Park.
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| Emirates will pay for your medical treatment, hotel quarantine, and even your funeral if you catch COVID-19 while traveling Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:17 AM PDT  In a bid to boost seat sales, Emirates has created a coronavirus insurance plan that's free for all passengers.
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| As Congress fights, analysts warn economy needs help now Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:00 AM PDT  As Congress and the White House resume their efforts to agree on a new economic aid package, evidence is growing that the U.S. economy is faltering. "We're in a pretty fragile state again," warned Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, a consulting firm. "The economy needs another shot in the arm."
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| People in several states mailed unsolicited packets of seeds that may be from China, officials say Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:05 AM PDT  Agriculture officials in several states are urging people not to plant seeds they have been mailed unsolicited. The packages appear to be from China.
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| Editorial: Just say 'Yes in God's backyard.' Californians need homes, and houses of worship have land Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Californians need homes and houses of worship have excess land
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| 14 in Texas family test positive for coronavirus after small gathering, 1 dies Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:14 AM PDT  "I just don't think that people are really paying enough attention to the safety protocols and to the things they can do to protect themselves a little better," Tony Green said.
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| How a Chinese agent used LinkedIn to hunt for targets Posted: 26 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  Dickson Yeo, a PhD student-turned-agent, targeted Americans that had access to private information.
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| Couple wearing swastika face masks insist they aren't Nazis as Walmart bans them Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:43 AM PDT  A couple in Minnesota wore swastika masks while shopping at a Walmart, but claimed they were not Nazis and that – despite wearing the symbol of the Nazis on their faces – it was their political enemies who were the fascists.According to The Washington Post, the incident was captured on video by Raphaela Mueller, a 24-year-old woman who was born and raised in Germany.
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| Jake Tapper Grills Coronavirus Testing Czar: Are You ‘Afraid’ of Upsetting Trump? Posted: 26 Jul 2020 09:02 AM PDT  CNN anchor Jake Tapper took Assistant Secretary of Health Adm. Brett Giroir to task over the continuing issues with coronavirus testing, asking the coronavirus testing czar if he is "afraid" of bringing these problems up with President Donald Trump.During a contentious 20-minute interview on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday morning, Tapper repeatedly pressed Giroir on the weeklong delays in coronavirus testing results Americans are experiencing."Are you happy where testing is right now?" Tapper asked, prompting Giroir to say he's "never going to be happy" until they have the pandemic under control.While acknowledging that testing is still not where it should be, the HHS official went on to tout the progress the administration has made over the past few months, adding that half of the tests conducted have turnaround times of less than 24 hours."The delays that most people talk about are at the large commercial labs that perform about half the testing in the country," he said. "Now, the data are, the average turnaround is 4.27 days."The CNN anchor brought up former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney's criticism of the administration's handling of the pandemic, specifically the poor turnaround times on testing. In an op-ed earlier this month, Mulvaney said the long waits for results were "inexcusable" while citing his own family's experience.At the same time, Tapper repeatedly grilled Giroir on the president's promises when it came to testing and getting the virus, which has now killed nearly 150,000 Americans, under control."In March, President Trump said, falsely, anyone who wants a test can get a test," the veteran anchor pressed. "At what point will it be true, sir, that anyone who wants a test will be able to get one with a quick turnaround so as to be effective. When will that be true?"Giroir, meanwhile, claimed that it's "true now" that anyone who "needs a test can get a test," adding that he's "highly confident" that turnaround times will decrease this week based on advances they've made.Tapper also pushed the public health official on the administration's use of the Defense Production Act to ramp up production on masks and ventilators, wondering aloud why the White House wasn't using it more forcefully on testing. This led to the CNN host asking whether this was due to an unwillingness to upset the president."There seems to be this reluctance to push the president to do what he needs to do to get the testing up to speed," Tapper declared. "I know that he's under the misguided impression that more testing is bad and makes him look bad, which as you know is completely false.""And I'm wondering if you and others are just afraid to do this because you don't want to upset him, afraid to ask him to do what he needs to do to invoke the DPA to force the federal labs to get up to speed to where we need to be so that we can isolate the virus, as you know," he added. "Are you afraid to bring this up to President Trump because it will upset him?"Giroir, for his part, denied that this was the case, claiming that tough issues and problems are brought up openly with Trump and the administration."Everyone of the administration understands the importance of testing," he claimed. "Nobody in the task force is afraid to bring up anything to the vice president or the president.""Every time I've met with the president, he's been listening to all the data, he assesses that, he understands it," Giroir continued. "I meet with the vice president almost every single day. No one is trying to stop testing in this country. No one has ever told me to do that. We want more, we want better, we want quicker."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Stop partying or we may go back into lockdown, regional chief tells young Catalans Posted: 27 Jul 2020 01:00 AM PDT  Young Catalans should stop partying to help halt a surge in new coronavirus cases or local authorities may have to reimpose harsh restrictions, the leader of the northeastern Spanish region said on Monday. Catalonia is at the heart of a rebound in coronavirus cases in Spain that started after a nationwide lockdown was lifted last month. "If we continue with the current pace of social life the only thing we will accomplish is to worsen the situation," Catalonia's regional leader Quim Torra said, after youngsters reverted to the tradition of "botellones," where they meet outside in the evening to drink and party.
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| With the Eviction Moratorium Over And Unemployment Checks Next to Exit, Congress Is Nowhere Near a Deal Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:47 AM PDT  After days of delay, Senate Republicans appear ready to serve up their opening offer to replace the coronavirus relief package
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| Dr. Birx told Kentucky governor she had 'significant concerns' about the state's coronavirus case rise and recommended he close bars Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  With at least 27,079 confirmed infections, Kentucky is in "the yellow zone" Birx said. Gov. Beshear is expected to announce "additional steps" Monday.
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| Man arrested in Florida after trying to kidnap child in front of mother Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:09 AM PDT  A man has been arrested in Florida after he reportedly walked into a hotel room and attempted to kidnap a child in front of their mother.The suspect, 24-year-old Gabriel Martin, was arrested by authorities on Sunday on suspicion of kidnapping, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
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| Fact check: South Dakota's COVID-19 infection, jobless stats aren't as good as claimed Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:36 AM PDT  A popular meme notes that South Dakota didn't have any stay-at-home orders (true) and that it has had hardly any COVID-19 (false).
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| John Oliver blames China for your lack of knowledge about Uighur concentration camps Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:21 AM PDT  John Oliver said Sunday's Last Week Tonight was going to be about eyelashes, and that was mostly just to set up a TikTok video. Its creator "is right," he said: "A lash-curler is a vital tool in anyone's beauty arsenal, and there's an ethnic group in China being systematically surveilled and imprisoned in an attempt to essentially wipe their culture off the map." Oliver started with the basics: "The people in question are the Uighurs. They're mostly a mostly Muslim minority in a region of China called Xinjiang, and the Chinese government has been treating them absolutely terribly.""If this is the first time you're hearing about an estimated million people who've been held in detention camps -- mostly Uighurs but also Kazakhs and other ethnic minorities -- you are not alone," Oliver said. "And it's probably because China has done its level best to keep this story from getting out." That may be harder now, because some of the face masks and other PPE used in America is likely made by forced Uighur labor, making us complicit, he added. "And while there is clearly nothing new about horrific practices being hidden deep in the supply chain of global capitalism, what is happening to the Uighurs is particularly appalling. So tonight let's talk about them: Who they are, what's been happening to them, and why?"Oliver ran though a bit of the historical enmity between Uighurs and Beijing, the 2009 riots, and China's crackdown with President Xi Jinping's 2014 Strike Hard Against Violent Terrorism law -- "think of it as the Patriot Act on steroids" -- and current Minority Report-like pre-emptive arrests and Chinese excuses: They are "simply being proactive" and sending them to helpful "vocational training facilities," among other euphemisms for "cultural erasure.""Whenever pressed on this, the Chinese government has been quick to use whataboutism," Oliver said. "They responded to U.S. criticism by invoking atrocities ranging from he genocide of Native Americans to George Floyd's death." Those "are fair hits, those are fair points right there," he said, "but it's also completely possible for two things to be wrong at the same time." What can you do? Pay attention, he said. Watch below. More stories from theweek.com Trump only pivoted on coronavirus after reportedly being warned of spikes among 'our people' in red states What Tom Cotton's 'necessary evil' comment says about America The GOP cancels the convention of Trump's dreams
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| Hawaii avoided a coronavirus spike – but its tourist economy is shattered Posted: 26 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Its remote setting and a decision to shut down helped keep cases fairly low, but unemployment soared. What next?The Sheraton Waikiki stands just a sea-smooth pebble throw from one of Hawaii's most famous beaches. Working the front desk, Jordyn Wallace loved meeting new people from different states and faraway countries in one of the world's most beautiful holiday destinations.Like many Hawaiians, Wallace has been working in tourism since she graduated high school five years ago, and started her front-desk job in December. Then the pandemic came and Wallace lost her job, as Hawaii was forced to make a literally life-changing decision: close down to stop Covid-19 and weather an economic maelstrom unseen in decades.On 21 March Hawaii's governor David Ige announced all visitors to the islands must quarantine for 14 days. The flip-flopped travelers disappeared. Stores and restaurants began to close under state shutdown orders. Wallace had her hours dramatically cut, only working a few shifts in April and May before being laid off."I have never seen Waikiki so empty. It felt surreal because no matter what time of day it is, you always see visitors in Waikiki," Wallace said. "We have more than 1,000 rooms. It's a huge hotel, and to not see a single soul on property was crazy."Nearly every state in the US implemented some type of shutdown order to prevent the spread of Covid-19, closing bars, restaurants and gyms and starting a new way of socially distanced life. The shutdowns brought on Depression-level unemployment numbers, the effects of which have lingered even as states reopen their economies.For Hawaii, being an isolated chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific has proved to be a blessing and a curse. That Hawaii is only accessible by plane or cruise ship has provided the state with a geographic advantage in preventing the spread of the virus. But encouraging people to stay away has severely damaged the state's economy, which relies heavily on the tourist dollar."Every day, there is something on the news that announces businesses are shutting down. These are not new business. They are family businesses, they are institutions, and these are businesses that have survived economic challenges in the past," said Sherry Menor-McNamara, president and chief executive of the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce.While other states in the US, such as Florida and Texas, saw huge spikes in Covid-19 cases as state governments worked to reopen economies, Hawaii instead rolled out a policy that deliberately stopped tourism to ensure the health of its residents.People who break quarantine are subject to arrest and a fine of up to $5,000. Hawaii has been strict in enforcing the rules, arresting nearly 200 people, visitors and residents, since March.The quarantine, along with other broader travel restrictions implemented around the world, effectively stopped travel to Hawaii. On 1 March nearly 29,000 people arrived. By 31 March that figure had dropped to 301, a fall of 98.9% compared to the same day last year.Quarantine has helped stop any large outbreaks of the virus. As of 22 July, Hawaii has reported just over 1,400 cases and 25 deaths. In comparison, New Hampshire, which has a slightly smaller population than Hawaii, has had over 6,000 confirmed cases and nearly 400 deaths.But the combined forces of a statewide shutdown and abrupt pause in the tourism industry has devastated the economy. At least 150,000 workers in the state of 1.5 million people were out of work in May. The unemployment rate was 23.5% – over 10% higher than the national rate.Hawaii's online system for filing unemployment claims was so overwhelmed that many had to wait at least a month to receive any payment.Wallace applied for unemployment in March, once her hours were cut to almost nothing. Right before the pandemic hit, she had just taken out a loan to consolidate some credit card and medical debts. Without payments, Wallace would not be able to make her payments on time, triggering high interest rates.Her payments finally came in May, after weeks of trying to get answers from the unemployment office. "It was just an absolute nightmare trying to get a hold of their office," she said.Jobs started to come back in late May and June, once Hawaii began its slow reopening process. In June, the unemployment rate fell to 13.9%, with about 85,000 people out of work.But the effects on the leisure and hospitality industry will linger. Last year, 10.5 million visitors spent $17bn when traveling to the islands, with $2bn of that money going directly to the state government.About $7bn has been pumped into Hawaii's economy over the past four months from the federal government's emergency stimulus programs. But that is not enough to make up for the huge shortfall.State budgets across the country have been devastated by the pandemic. Hawaii will likely prove to be no exception. Earlier this month, Governor Ige said pay cuts for state and local workers, including teachers, are inevitable. The state government will be left short of $1.2bn, according to a report from the University of Hawaii's Economic Research Organization (UHERO). This deficit is "far worse than those encountered during the Great Recession", the report said.Carl Bonham, a professor of economics at the University of Hawaii and executive director of UHERO, said the disproportionate effect the pandemic has had on tourism compared to other industries means the state will be slow to recover from the economic effects."Much of the rest of the country will recover faster than Hawaii. Even once there is better treatment or better control of the virus, there will still be lingering effects on air travel," Bonham said. "Hawaii will be a different place over the next year or so as we have an increase of bankruptcies and failures of businesses. There will be fewer activities for visitors to come to."Bonham said more federal aid is the only way Hawaii's economy can recover. Even with more aid, it will likely be short of money for the next five years, he said.With Congress at a standstill over giving additional aid to states and local governments, Hawaii's leaders have been scrambling for solutions that would allow tourists to carefully come back.Currently, all bets are hedged on a plan that would allow visitors to bypass the 14-day quarantine if they test negative for the virus 72 hours before their flight to Hawaii, and show proof of the negative test. The state is in talks with CVS Pharmacy over a potential partnership to make tests available to incoming travelers.The plan was originally slated to start 1 August, but the governor pushed the date back to 1 September, citing the surge of infections in other states. While the delay is upsetting to many business owners, eight out of 10 residents in a poll said they believed Hawaii is not ready to open to tourists just yet. And polls show travelers themselves are most willing to take car trips to their vacation destination – rather than a long-haul flight to Hawaii – as it comes with less risk of spreading the virus."The best economic policy at this point is really a health policy. It's controlling the virus," Bonham said. Tourists "are not going to sit on an airplane for five hours with a whole bunch of people who aren't wearing masks"."If you don't deal with those issues, it doesn't matter if the economy is open. That part of the economy won't really recover."
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| Barr able to put his stamp on executive power as Trump's AG Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:19 AM PDT  "We've been here an hour and now we all understand what you go through every day," a middle-age banker tells Barr, "so thank you." Barr can expect this kind of praise when he appears Tuesday for the first time before the House Judiciary Committee -- but only from its Republicans. To them, he is a conservative stalwart, an unflappable foe of the left and its excesses, and -- most importantly -- a staunch defender of President Donald Trump.
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| To defeat COVID, bring America's full power to the international fight: Albright & Hadley Posted: 27 Jul 2020 01:00 AM PDT  The stakes are immeasurably high for the global community to get this right. The world needs US resources, conflict resolution and democracy support.
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| First French fighter jets head to India after purchase Posted: 27 Jul 2020 08:39 AM PDT  The deal, estimated to be worth $9.4 billion, has been overshadowed by corruption allegations levelled by the opposition Congress party although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected the claims. The jets built by Dassault Aviation -- and piloted by officers from the Indian Air Force (IAF) -- took off from Merignac in southwest France, the company said in a statement.
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| Iran government spokesman tests positive for coronavirus Posted: 27 Jul 2020 05:45 AM PDT  There have been a total of 293,606 cases and 255,144 recoveries in the Islamic Republic, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari announced on state TV on Monday. A vice president, a member of the Expediency Council and several parliamentarians are among the officials who have been infected with the coronavirus. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged people on Saturday to observe health protocols and practice social distancing during upcoming Muslim festivities, as a health official said there had been a surge in coronavirus infections in a major holy city.
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| The White House is building a massive 'anti-climb' wall following protests. These photos show the evolution of White House fencing over the years Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:10 AM PDT  The "anti-climb" component for a new White House perimeter has been in the works since July 2016, but construction of the wall has ramped up recently.
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| Aurora protest: One shot after car drives through Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Colorado Posted: 26 Jul 2020 04:11 AM PDT  A car ploughed into a crowd of Black Lives Matter demonstrators protesting against systemic racism and police brutality and a protester has been shot in Colorado.The Aurora Police Department said the demonstrator who was shot was rushed to hospital in stable condition – adding that a protester shot a weapon which hit at least one person.
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| 2 shot while driving on Highway 41 in Madera County, CHP says Posted: 27 Jul 2020 06:48 AM PDT  The CHP has part of southbound Highway 41 at Highway 145 is closed while officers and Madera County sheriff's deputies investigate.
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| New Jersey police spent nearly five hours breaking up house party of over 700 people Posted: 27 Jul 2020 12:47 PM PDT  The party started at around 8:30 p.m. Sunday and was not completely cleared until around 1 a.m. Monday, police said. The investigation in continuing.
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| What if Trump loses but refuses to leave office? Here's the worst-case scenario Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:16 AM PDT  The risk of an electoral meltdown is ordinarily rather small, but this November promises a combination of stressors that could lead to epic failure and chaosWhile working on a book about the peaceful succession of power, I came to realize that built into our system of presidential elections is a Chernobyl-like defect: placed under the right conditions of stress, the system is vulnerable to catastrophic breakdown. The risk of such an electoral meltdown ordinarily is rather small, but this November promises – in a manner last seen in 1876 – to present a combination of stressors that could lead to epic failure.The problem begins – but does not end – with Donald Trump, who, in his recent interview with Chris Wallace, once again reminded the nation that losing is not an option. He will reject any election that results in his loss, claiming it to be rigged. Alarming as this may be, Trump alone cannot crash the system. Instead, an unusual constellation of forces – the need to rely heavily on mail-in ballots because of the Covid-19 pandemic; the political divisions in the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania; and a hyper-polarized Congress – all work together to turn Trump's defiance into a crisis of historic proportions.> Should Trump lose decisively – not only in the popular vote, but in electoral college, too – his capacity to engage in constitutional brinkmanship will be limitedConsider the following scenario: it's 3 November 2020, election day. By midnight, it's clear that former vice-president Biden enjoys a substantial lead in the national popular vote but the electoral college vote remains tight. With the races in 47 states and the District of Columbia called, Biden leads Trump in the electoral college vote 252 to 240, but neither candidate has secured the 270 votes necessary for victory. All eyes remain on Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and their 46 electoral college votes.In each of these three states, Trump enjoys a slim lead, but the election-day returns do not include a huge number of mail-in ballots. Some states, such as Colorado, have been counting their mail-in votes from the day they arrived, but not Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. These states do not allow elections officials to begin the task of counting the mail-ins until election day itself. It will take days, even weeks, for the key swing states to finish their count. The election hangs in the balance.Only not for Trump. Based on his 3 November leads, Trump has already declared himself re-elected. His reliable megaphones in the rightwing media repeat and amplify his declaration, and urge Biden to concede. Biden says he will do no such thing. Biden knows that the bulk of the mail-in ballots have been cast in heavily populated urban areas, where voters were unwilling to expose themselves to the health risks of in-person voting. And he is keenly aware that urban voters vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Indeed, this phenomenon, in which mail-in and provisional ballots typically break Democratic, has been dubbed "blue shift" by election law experts.The count of the mail-in ballots in the three swing states is plagued by delays. Overworked election officials, slowed by the need to maintain social distance, struggle to process the huge volume of votes. Trump's lawyers, aided by the Department of Justice, bring multiple suits insisting that tens of thousands of votes must be tossed out for having failed to arrive by the date specified by statute. All the same, as the count creeps forward, a clear pattern emerges. Trump's lead is shrinking – and then vanishes altogether. By the time the three states complete their canvass of votes nearly a month after the election, the nation faces an astonishing result. Biden now leads in all three. It appears he has been elected our next president.Only Trump tweets bloody murder. All his most dire predictions have come to pass. The mail-in ballots are infected with fraud. The radical Democrats are trying to steal his victory. The election has been rigged, he says.Now things take an ominous turn. Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania all share the same political profile: all three states are controlled by Republican legislatures faithful to Trump. And so Republican lawmakers in Lansing, Madison and Harrisburg take up the fight to declare Trump victorious in their state. Citing irregularities and unconscionable delays in the counting of the mail-in ballots, state Republicans award Trump their states' electoral college votes.Yet all three of our crucial swing states also have Democratic governors. Outraged by the actions of Republican lawmakers, the Democratic governors of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania announce that they will recognize Biden as having carried their state. They certify Biden as the winner, and send the certificate cast by his electors on to Congress.It is now 6 January 2021, the day on which the joint session of Congress opens the states' electoral certificates and officially tallies the votes. Normally this is a ceremonial function, but not today. Suddenly Congress is confronted with the astonishing reality that Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have each submitted conflicting electoral certificates – one awarding its electoral college votes to Trump; the other, to Biden. The election hangs in the balance.Seems far-fetched? And yet the nation faced a nearly identical crisis in the notorious Hayes-Tilden election of 1876, when three separate states submitted conflicting electoral certificates. With neither Hayes nor Tilden enjoying an electoral college majority, a divided Congress – a Democratic House and a Republican Senate – fought bitterly over which certificates to recognize. Congress tried to resolve things by handing the problem to a one-off special electoral commission, but partisan rancor plagued the work of that body, too. Inauguration day neared and the nation had no president-elect –or rather, it had two rivals both claiming victory. President Ulysses S Grant weighed declaring martial law.Catastrophe was avoided only by a last second disastrous compromise between the parties: Republicans agreed to remove federal troops from the south, paving the way to Jim Crow, and in return, Samuel Tilden, the Democrats' candidate, agreed to concede. Chastened by that experience, Congress passed a law –the Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA) –meant to guide Congress should a state ever again submit more than one electoral certificate. Since its passage, the provisions of the ECA have been triggered only once – that was back in 1969, and the issue was trivial, with no bearing on Nixon's victory.In January 2021, however, the nation finds itself in a true electoral crisis and lawmakers quickly realize that the 1887 law is glaringly deficient, failing to anticipate the most destabilizing contingencies.And so Congress descends into acrimonious debate, with each side charging the other with attempting to steal the election. The chambers vote on which certificates to accept, the outcome foreordained. The Senate, which after the 2020 vote remains in Republican control, rejects the governors' certificate and accepts the legislatures'; the Democratically controlled House votes in precisely the opposite fashion.Stalemate. Both parties appeal to the US supreme court, but the court – in sharp contrast to its intervention in 2000 in Bush v Gore – proves unable to solve the crisis. Experts insist that the court has no role to play in resolving an election dispute once it reaches Congress, a view that finds support in the ECA itself. With lawmakers in both party declaring that they would not abide by an unfavorable holding, the court chooses not to intervene.Congress remains deadlocked, with neither party prepared to concede. As protests roil the country, Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, deploying the military to protect his "victory". The nation finds itself in a full-blown crisis of succession from which there is no clear, peaceful exit.Electoral Armageddon can be avoided. Should Trump lose decisively – not only in the popular vote, but in the electoral college, too –his capacity to engage in constitutional brinkmanship will be limited. This is not to say that he won't claim the election was rigged, only that his claim will probably not trigger a larger constitutional crisis. But should Trump's defeat turn on the count of mail-in ballots in our crucial swing states, prepare for chaos. Our nation could witness dark times. * Lawrence Douglas is the James J Grosfeld professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought, at Amherst College, Massachusetts. He is the author of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is also a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US
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| AP PHOTOS: Young Israelis play leading role in new protests Posted: 26 Jul 2020 11:23 PM PDT  The wave of colorful and combative demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks have been dominated by young Israelis. Israel has a long tradition of political protests that draw huge crowds. In recent years, anti-Netanyahu rallies have mostly been the domain of Israel's old guardians of liberal values, who accuse the prime minister of using authoritarian tactics to chip away at the country's democratic ideals.
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| Private homeschooling groups — aka "pandemic pods" — gain popularity, but who gets left behind? Posted: 26 Jul 2020 08:00 AM PDT  "We have all these rules in place so we can make sure that this 'bubble' basically doesn't pop," says one parent
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