Month: August 2020
Top GOP National Security Advisors Back Biden, Condemn Trump
70+
“Over 70 former Republican national security officials including ex-CIA and FBI chiefs will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday while launching a scathing indictment of President Donald Trump, calling him corrupt and unfit to serve,” Reuters reports. New York Times: “The new letter, released just hours before Mr. Biden formally accepts the nomination, lays out a 10-point indictment of Mr. Trump’s actions, accusing him of undermining the rule of law, aligning himself with dictators and engaging ‘in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as president.’”
Trump Forgets He’s President, Blames Biden for ‘Mayhem’
“If you want a vision of your life under Biden’s presidency, think of the smoldering ruins of Minneapolis, the violent anarchy of Portland, the bloodstained sidewalks of Chicago, and imagine the mayhem coming to your town and every single town in America.”
— President Trump, quoted by CNN, apparently forgetting that he’s president now.
Fox News and the Drudge Report praised Biden’s ‘barn burner’ DNC speech, despite attacks from Trump
From Business Insider: Joe Biden is winning rave reviews for his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night — even from usually critical pundits in conservative media.
After Biden’s speech aired on the final night of the Democratic National Convention’s first virtual conference, Fox News anchors, hosts, and analysts delivered their verdict, and it was one likely to rile President Donald Trump.
The “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace described the speech as “enormously effective.”
Mob Boss Trump Plays Clueless
“Well, I have no idea.”
After listing the group of people involved in President Trump’s campaign who have been accused of federal crimes — Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen and now Steve Bannon — a reporter asked what all the lawlessness says about the President’s judgment.
Bannon Arrested in $25 Million Fraud Scheme
$25 million
Former Trump administration chief strategist Steve Bannon was charged with fraud by federal prosecutors in New York and taken into custody, Axios reports. Bannon, along with three others, allegedly defrauded donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for their own profit with a crowdfunding campaign called “We Build the Wall” that raked in over $25 million.
Harris Calls Trump a ‘Predator’
“I know a predator when I see one.”
— Sen. Kamala Harris, accepting the Democratic nomination for Vice President of the United States.
Facebook Removes Almost 800 QAnon Pages
790
“Facebook said on Wednesday that it had removed 790 QAnon groups from its site and was restricting another 1,950 groups, 440 pages and more than 10,000 Instagram accounts related to the right-wing conspiracy theory, in the social network’s most sweeping action against the fast-growing movement,” the New York Times reports.
Biden Questions Trump’s Mental Ability to Handle the Pandemic
“After months of failure, he just gave up. You know, I used to think it was because of his personality, but I just don’t think he can intellectually handle it. I don’t think he’s competent enough to know what to do. He just waved the white flag.”
— Joe Biden raised questions about President Trump’s mental capacity, saying he did not have the intellectual know-how to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington Post reports.
Why the Controversy Over the Postal Service and the Election Is a Tempest in a Teacup
Despite the worst intentions of Postmaster General and Trump flunky Louis DeJoy, the United States Post Office can handle the volume of mail that will be generated in the 2020 presidential election. It’s a simple matter of mathematics.
There are approximately 156 million registered voters in the United States who are eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election. In the 2016 presidential election, about 75% of eligible voters cast a ballot. If that percentage holds true for 2020, that would mean about 117 million people are likely to vote.
Systems are in place to allow up to 180 million Americans to vote by mail in the presidential election. The USPS processes 425 million pieces of mail every day, so, if we consider that most mail-in ballots will be mailed in the two weeks before Nov. 3, the Postal Service’s capacity during those 14 days is 5.95 billion pieces of mail.
To overload the system, then, every eligible voter would have to send 38 pieces of mail during the second half of October.
