This is an incredibly important oped. You should take a moment to read it. It’s by Michael T. Osterholm, a respected epidemiologist who runs a major center in Minneapolis and Neel Kashkari, now President of the Minneapolis Fed but earlier a key player in the Bush portion of 2008 financial crisis response and a Republican candidate for Governor of California. Their argument is simple: we need another lockdown.
Trump Signs Flurry Of Executive Actions With Lowered Weekly Unemployment Benefit
President Donald Trump signed a series of executive actions Saturday afternoon, a move he telegraphed from a Friday press conference from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
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Dems Accuse Trump-Allied Postmaster Of ‘Sabotage’ Amid Election Mail Delay
Democrats have accused Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump ally, of “sabotage” and playing “partisan games” by changing operations and cutting top personnel from the nation’s mail service as voters prepare to cast mail-in ballots in upcoming elections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The drastic changes to the Postal Service by an overtly partisan Postmaster General are another example of the President’s attempts to prevent millions of Americans from having their votes counted,”Committee on Oversight and Reform Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) said in a statement Saturday noting expectations of “a historic number of Americans to vote by mail.”
DeJoy said in a memo obtained by The Washington Post Friday that a sweeping reorganization plan would displace the two top executives overseeing day-to-day operations.
Maloney was among a group of nine Congress members to sign a letter on Friday that requested Postal Service Inspector General Tammy L. Whitcomb to investigate how DeJoy went about crafting policy that appears to bar postal workers from taking overtime or making additional trips to deliver mail on time.
Government Operations Subcommittee Chair Gerry Connolly (D-VA) who offered his signature, called postal service changes in a tweet Friday “a crooked ordeal,” later adding that it was “deliberate sabotage to disrupt mail service on the eve of the election — an election that hinges on mail-in ballots.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also signed the letter, tweeting Saturday that it was DeJoy’s job to “get the mail delivered on time, not play partisan games.”
“How many ways can the new Postmaster General sabotage the @USPS?” Warren added.
The Massachusetts Senator cited a finding, originally reported by the Capitol Forum, that the U.S. Postal Service has told states that they’ll need to pay first-class 55-cent postage to mail ballots to voters, a significant hike from the 20-cent bulk rate.
This is the clearest example yet of Trump and his puppet Postmaster General's attempts to sabotage the USPS before November's election.
This kind of behavior is why we're demanding an investigation into Trump’s USPS—the Inspector General should add this to their list. https://t.co/2aXcLeZsF9
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 8, 2020
The reorganization at the U.S. Postal Service, has intensified tensions between postal officials and many Democratic lawmakers, who have pushed to expand mail-in-voting as a safe option for voters to avoid crowding polling stations amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called on DeJoy to reverse operational changes that appear to have slowed election mail delivery in some areas.
“It could not be more clear they are trying to take down the United States Postal Service from the inside — at a time when we need it the most,” Senator Kamala Harris, tweeted Saturday afternoon.
It could not be more clear they are trying to take down the United States Postal Service from the inside—at a time when we need it the most.
Congress must immediately step up to save the Postal Service and safeguard our elections. There’s no time to waste. https://t.co/S3sodtYEpX
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 8, 2020
Per the Post, 33 staffers included in the former postal organization chart either kept their jobs or were reassigned, with five others joining the leadership from other roles.
Top Democrats raised eyebrows when DeJoy, who fundraised for President Trump was brought onto the role in June —DeJoy had donated more than $2 million to the Trump campaign and Republican causes since 2016.
The highly partisan pick also raised questions as to whether the selection of DeJoy was part of Trump’s months-long efforts to chip away at mail-in-voting in Democrat-led states.
At a public meeting of the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors on Friday, DeJoy addressed attacks from Congress over the reported delays in mail delivery.
“We will do everything we can to deliver election mail in a timely manner consistent with our operational standards,” he said, adding that the postal service was not slowing down election mail.
DeJoy pressed lawmakers to take legislative action that would help pad the USPS’ financial losses rather “than sensationalizing isolated operational incidents” which he acknowledged can occur from time to time.
Michigan Gov. Whitmer Met Biden In Person As VP Decision Looms
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) traveled to Delaware last weekend to meet in-person with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as he draws near a decision about who will fill the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket in November.
The Associated Press reported late Friday that Whitmer’s trip is the first known example of a potential running mate traveling to meet Biden for an in-person session as he comes close to announcing his decision.
Two high-ranking Michigan Democrats told the AP that Whitmer met with Biden on Sunday.
The governor’s office declined to confirm or deny Whitmer’s trip. Spokeswoman Tiffany Brown told the AP, “We don’t discuss her personal schedule.”
Biden campaigned for Whitmer during the 2018 gubernatorial election and the first-term governor has long been considered as a possible running mate.
Last week, reports surfaced that some Biden allies have urged the Democratic presidential nominee to break the news publicly around August 10 — just one week before the Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin.
But Biden has conducted a months-long search for who would be his best vice presidential pick, saying that he would choose a woman. He built a list of at least a dozen potential candidates, among them, Democratic Senators Kamala Harris (CA) and Elizabeth Warren (MA). Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) also made his list of picks. According to Politico, more than 300 delegates to the Democratic National Convention and members of the Democratic National Committee urged Biden this week to pick Bass as his governing partner.
Some have suggested that Biden should select a Black woman amid the nation’s struggle to address a long history of racial inequality. Some conservatives have smeared those calls.
Former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice earlier this week said that she was well-positioned as a potential pick since she had far-reaching experience dealing with public health crises under Obama.
Whitmer, the governor of a battleground state, deepened her national profile after delivering the Democrats’ response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. She has also publicly criticized the President’s bungled pandemic response. In April, she created a task force to address racial disparities amid the pandemic and proposed police reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Just days after meeting with Biden, Whitmer, who is a co-chair on his campaign on Wednesday declared “racism to be a public health crisis.” She also announced an advisory council of Black leaders to “develop, review, and recommend policies and actions designed to eradicate and prevent discrimination and racial inequity in Michigan.”
If Whitmer becomes Biden’s running mate and the pair wins, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II would become the nation’s sole Black governor.
Joe Arpaio Loses Sheriff Bid In Arizona GOP Primary: ‘Last Time I Run For Office’
Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, a close ally of President Donald Trump who became the face of aggressive crackdowns on illegal immigration, lost in a Republican primary race to win back his sheriff’s seat in Maricopa County — a race that he said was his last.
Arpaio lost Tuesday’s Republican primary to his former chief deputy Jerry Sheridan by roughly 6,300 votes, according to the latest count from the Maricopa County Elections Department on Saturday morning.
Sheridan will take on current Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat and former Phoenix police officer, who ousted Arpaio in the 2016 race.
Sheridan has promised to revive many of Arpaio’s policies, but according to The New York Times many political analysts have said Penzone is a favorite leading up to November.
Tuesday’s loss was Arpaio’s third electoral defeat in four years. After losing his 2016 re-election bid, he was subsequently defeated in a three-way Republican primary for Senate in 2018.
Arpaio told the Arizona Republic in an interview on Friday that this year’s race was “the last time I run for office.”
Arpaio made headlines nationally when he went against a court order to end immigration raids that racially profiled Latinos. In 2017, he was pardoned by Trump following a conviction of criminal contempt of court for continuing raids that targeted Latino people, The New York Times reported.
Sheridan, the winner of Tuesday’s primary, worked in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office for 38 years — spending many of them alongside Arpaio — before he retired as chief deputy. Although was found in civil contempt in 2016 in connection with the racial profiling case, Sheridan was not charged with criminal contempt due to the statute of limitations, CNN reported.
Much like the President, Arpaio’s campaign for sheriff stoked racial division and pitched a tough on crime message, but struggled to shore up support from suburban Republican voters in a historically conservative state that some have said appears to be up for the taking in this year’s presidential election. Aside from the defeat of his ally, Trump currently trails his democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls in Arizona.
Trump Claims He Is ‘The Last Person’ Russia Wants In Office
President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed a finding from a top U.S. intelligence official that found Russia will “primarily denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
“I think the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump because nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have — ever,” Trump said during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Friday when asked about the intelligence.
Earlier on Friday, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, William Evanina released a report identifying Russia, China and Iran as top foreign threats to the upcoming presidential race.
Evanina’s report fell short of explicitly stating that Moscow wants Trump re-elected for a second term, but noted that the Kremlin “is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate” Biden and what it called “an anti-Russia ‘establishment.’”
The report listed Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach as an example of the sort of “measures” being taken to “denigrate” Trump’s Democratic opponent.
In December of last year, Derkach met with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani in Kyiv and handed him a packet of information about the Bidens. Since then Ukranian parlementarian has spent much of this year releasing what appear to be edited recordings of phone calls between Biden and Ukraine’s then-President Petro Poroshenko in 2016.
But Trump has shown little will to recognize these findings, rebuffing a reporter when challenged further about the issue on Friday.
“Well, I don’t care what anybody says,” Trump said.
Without actually addressing election interference the President instead diverted attention to efforts he’s made to beef up the military and saying that he has pressured allies to increase financial support to NATO as examples of how he’s been “tougher” than his predecessors.
But members of Congress have long accused the President of cozying up to the Russian leader.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), among others, chastised the President in June following reports that Trump had allegedly been briefed on an intelligence finding that Russian operatives had offered bounties to Taliban-linked militias in Afghanistan to kill U.S. and coalition troops.
“With him, all roads lead to Putin,” Pelosi said in June referring to Trump’s relationship with the Russian leader, adding, “I don’t know what the Russians have on the president, politically, personally, or financially.”
In an Axios interview that aired on Monday, Trump said that he has “never” discussed the Russian bounty plot in conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has previously denied allegations that the report was shared with him, even calling the intelligence in tweets “possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax.”
In spite of his apparent unwillingness to confront Russia on key national security issues, Trump maintained in Friday’s news conference that “nobody with any common sense” would be inclined to draw conclusions that Russia would have any vested interest in damaging Biden to boost Trump’s own re-election.
Jerry Falwell Jr. Agrees To Take ‘Indefinite Leave of Absence’ From Liberty University
Jerry Falwell, Jr. has agreed to take “an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University,” the school’s board of trustees announced Friday afternoon.
Canada’s Last Intact Ice Shelf Collapses Due To Warming
Much of Canada’s remaining intact ice shelf has broken apart into hulking iceberg islands thanks to a hot summer and global warming, scientists said.
Canada’s 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf on the northwestern edge of Ellesmere Island had been the country’s last intact ice shelf until the end of July when ice analyst Adrienne White of the Canadian Ice Service noticed that satellite photos showed that about 43% of it had broken off. She said it happened around July 30 or 31.
Two giant icebergs formed along with lots of smaller ones, and they have already started drifting away, White said. The biggest is nearly the size of Manhattan — 21 square miles (55 square kilometers) and 7 miles long (11.5 kilometers). They are 230 to 260 feet (70 to 80 meters) thick.
“This is a huge, huge block of ice,” White said. “If one of these is moving toward an oil rig, there’s nothing you can really do aside from move your oil rig.”
The 72-square mile (187 square kilometer) undulating white ice shelf of ridges and troughs dotted with blue meltwater had been larger than the District of Columbia but now is down to 41 square miles (106 square kilometers).
Temperatures from May to early August in the region have been 9 degrees (5 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1980 to 2010 average, University of Ottawa glaciology professor Luke Copland said. This is on top of an Arctic that already had been warming much faster than the rest of globe, with this region warming even faster.
“Without a doubt, it’s climate change,” Copland said, noting the ice shelf is melting from both hotter air above and warmer water below.
“The Milne was very special,” he added. “It’s an amazingly pretty location.”
Ice shelves are hundreds to thousands of years old, thicker than long-term sea ice, but not as big and old as glaciers, Copland said.
Canada used to have a large continuous ice shelf across the northern coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, but it has been breaking apart over the last decades because of man-made global warming, White said. By 2005 it was down to six remaining ice shelves but “the Milne was really the last complete ice shelf,” she said.
“There aren’t very many ice shelves around the Arctic anymore,” Copland said. “It seems we’ve lost pretty much all of them from northern Greenland and the Russian Arctic. There may be a few in a few protected fjords.”
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Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/Climate
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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears .
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
NC Relaxes Restriction On More Than 10 People Gathering Indoors At GOP Convention
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina will ease gathering restrictions for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte this month after a push by the national party for the state to be more accommodating.
But the Aug. 21-24 event culminating in President Donald Trump’s nomination will be nothing like conventions of previous years in which prominent politicians and party leaders addressed thousands of enthusiastic supporters.
The RNC has estimated it would have no more than 500 delegates per day at the Charlotte Convention Center and the Westin hotel.
In a letter written to the RNC on Thursday, the state’s health director and chief medical officer, Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, said the Department of Health and Human Services understands more than 10 people may need to assemble indoors to conduct party business.
“In the spirit of accommodating the unique interests and needs of the convention, we have expressed a willingness to flexibly enforce certain otherwise-applicable public health measures imposed by the Governor in response to the COVID-19 emergency,” Tilson wrote. “For example, we recognize that convention business may require more than 10 people to be gathered indoors.”
On Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper extended an existing executive order that limits mass indoor gatherings at event venues to 10 people. No more than 25 people are allowed to gather outdoors at such venues under Phase 2 of North Carolina’s reopening plan.
Though the state said it would ease the restriction, it was adamant that mask-wearing and 6 feet of physical distancing must remain enforced.
The RNC submitted a 42-page safety plan on Monday. In it, the national party said “neither contract security nor security participating in the NSSE (National Special Security Event) will enforce solely requirements for masks or social distancing.”
The safety proposal from the party also requires attendees to complete a pre-travel health questionnaire, take a self-administered coronavirus test from their home and agree not to travel to Charlotte if they test positive.
Tilson asked the RNC to provide a list of scheduled events at both the hotel and convention center, the number of attendees attending them, the square footage of the venues and rooms and other information. She told the RNC about 12 people could be gathered together per 1,000-square-foot (93-square-meter) of space.
The back-and-forth between the state and RNC comes amid a months-long battle between Trump and North Carolina’s Democratic governor.
In May, Cooper denied Trump’s request for a full-capacity convention, prompting Trump to move the site of his nomination acceptance speech from Charlotte to Jacksonville, Florida. But with escalating COVID-19 cases throughout Florida, the president’s appearance was called off.
Trump has since said he would speak at the convention in Charlotte, though he did not explicitly say he would attend the convention in person. On Wednesday, Trump told Fox News he would “probably” give his acceptance speech “live from the White House,” raising concerns he could run afoul of a 1939 law barring some executive branch workers from participating in certain forms of political activity. While Trump and Pence are exempt from the Hatch Act, others involved in event planning could be at risk of violating the law.
Cooper has often been reluctant to criticize Trump by name, but in a Thursday interview with The Associated Press, the governor insisted he wasn’t afraid to express his disagreements with the president, especially about the RNC Convention.
“We had a conversation about the RNC and I had to stand up to him to tell him that we were not gonna let them have a full arena for the RNC,” Cooper said. “So I’ve stood up to him when he takes steps that I think hurt the people of North Carolina, and I’m not afraid to do that. I’m also not afraid to work with him when it’s for the good of our state.”
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Follow Anderson at https://twitter.com/BryanRAnderson
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Anderson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
HHS Opening Four Additional COVID Testing Sites In Texas, After All That
The Department of Health and Human Services will set up four COVID-19 testing sites in Texas, the agency announced on Friday in a joint statement with Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R).
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