| 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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| 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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| On Portland's streets: Anger, fear, and a fence that divides Posted: 26 Jul 2020 09:01 PM PDT  The party at the Salmon Street Springs fountain, a riverfront landmark in the heart of Portland, was just getting started. Suddenly, 10-year-old Xavier Minor jumped into the center of the circle and started dancing with abandon. A few minutes later, as night fell, the music stopped — and the march to the federal courthouse began.
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| There's reportedly a 'contingent' of Democrats lobbying against Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:08 AM PDT  As presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden nears his running mate decision, some allies are reportedly warning him against tapping one of the top contenders.A Monday report from Politico describes how there's a "contingent of Democrats who are lobbying against" Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as Biden's running mate pick, and some have "expressed concerns about her to the vetting committee in recent weeks," with the issues mainly coming down to "the matter of trust."Among those casting doubt on Harris is reportedly former Sen. Chris Dodd, who Politico says has concerns about Harris that are "so deep that he's helped elevate" Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) during the running mate search instead. An anonymous Biden supporter and donor said Dodd was shocked when he asked Harris about her takedown of Biden during the first Democratic debate, when she famously went after him for his record on busing. She apparently "laughed and said, 'that's politics.'"A separate Politico report says Biden wants someone who is "loyal, trusted, experienced, apolitical, someone with whom he will bond" as his running mate, and "if Biden's demand for loyalty is paramount, several top Democrats questioned whether Harris would be the right choice." The California senator does still look to be among the likeliest picks, but as Biden's announcement nears, former Senator Harry Reid told Politico, "I don't think Kamala Harris has it in the bag." Read more at Politico.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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| Kim Jong Un Finally Admits Coronavirus Is in North Korea Posted: 26 Jul 2020 11:40 AM PDT  North Korea just announced its first case of COVID-19, casting blame most conveniently on a defector who had fled to South Korea and then re-defected back to the North, supposedly bringing the bug with him.That's the spin that North Korea's state media, KCNA, is putting on the case after a meeting of the politburo of the Workers' Party, at which Kim Jong Un himself made a rare appearance Whether he was there in person or "virtually," on screen, was not clear. But there was no doubt, from the the crisis atmosphere surrounding the meeting, of the severity of the pandemic that's been afflicting the North for months—despite the regime's refusal to acknowledge what's going on. Also implicit in the unusually detailed KCNA dispatch, published in Rodong Sinmun, the party paper, was the need to buttress Kim's image as a strong leader capable of dealing with the crisis.Does Trump Know How Scary Things Are Getting in Korea?Kim, generally called simply "supreme leader," was reported by KCNA to have revealed "a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country."The quotes on KCNA were not attributed directly to Kim, and it's not certain if he personally made them or simply approved them. At the same time, he was reported to have taken what KCNA called "the preemptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong City," just above the Demilitarized Zone about 40 miles north of Seoul. That's where the defector may have crossed the line, possibly by swimming across the Imjin River as it flows from North to South.Never previously has the North so much as hinted at any COVID-19 cases, even while announcing a series of precautions beginning with the closure of its borders with China in January and severe restraints imposed on the movement of diplomats. The defector story, said Robert Collins, a long-time intelligence analyst for the U.S. command in Korea, "gives the Kim regime plausible excuse as to how virus infections started." Collins, who has written numerous books and studies on North Korean issues, cited reports of areas "put under strict isolation" in North Korea—"about the only method the Kim regime has in containing any spread of the virus."The politburo meeting, as reported by KCNA, acknowledged the crisis precipitated by a pandemic of epic proportions—the country faces economic and food instability exacerbated by the U.S. and U.N. sanctions that make it extremely difficult for the North to carry on normal trade and commerce despite help from China. Having previously denied that anyone had come down with the disease, the state media had to stress Kim's presence as party chairman when announcing the coronavirus case—critical to spreading the bad word after months of official obfuscation and denial of the disease.The tone of the KCNA report suggests the need to reinforce Kim's leadership at a time when confidence in his ability to control the pandemic is obviously in doubt. Often out of sight for weeks at a time since onset of the coronavirus in January, Kim has reappeared most recently on a visit to a chicken farm at which he called for increased production and, several days before, to a hospital under construction in Pyongyang. At the hospital, he reportedly berated managers and workers for going too slow, definitely a sign of the immediate need for a vast improvement of medical facilities, including many more beds. On both visits, it was not clear exactly when he had been there, but he did look healthy if overweight, at least to judge from the photos released by KCNA. Kim's Sister Is on the WarpathKim's reported appearance at the politburo was his most important in weeks—a chance to shore up confidence in the midst of a pandemic that appears beyond the ability of the North's medical facilities to combat. Significantly, the North Korean state media was careful not to pin the blame on anyone living in the North but on a lone defector made to appear responsible for the entire outbreak.Kim himself did not mention the defector, but KCNA opened its report by declaring "an emergency event happened in Kaesong City where a runaway who went to the south three years ago, a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus, returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line."That's the only mention of the defector until the last paragraph at which the politburo meeting "sternly took up the issue of the loose guard performance in the frontline area in the relevant area where the runway to the south occurred." The politburo promised "severe punishment: for "the military unit responsible for the runaway case." South Korea's military leadership is equally concerned about how a defector could have made it back to the North. An official with the South's joint chiefs of staff rated the probability of the report of the defector returning to North Korea as "high" and said the military was "looking into the detailed routes" of his crossing. He was believed to be a 24-year-old man under investigation for raping a female defector.Meanwhile, Kim has revealed "anxiety about his mortality," said Lee Sung-yoon, professor at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, in his "rush to bolster his sister's credentials"—that is, the role of Kim Yo Jong, who has denounced defectors as "mongrels" and is believed largely responsible for the decision to blow up the North-South liaison office built at South Korean expense at Kaesong. "How convenient a narrative to blame a 'mongrel' for bringing the coronavirus into Paradise on Earth," said Lee. "Now, Kim can claim that despite the threat of mass infection, he has acted swiftly and resolutely by locking down Kaesong City in order to contain the spread."North Korea has seized on the case with an alacrity that betrayed the severe unease of the regime about its stability, even its ability to function, during the pandemic. It was as though they badly needed just such a case to transfer the blame to an outside influence—and affirm the role of the "supreme leader" at a time when he has been largely away from public view. Kim was reported to have said, again without quotes attributed directly to him, "that everyone needs to face up to the reality of emergency" and to have "appealed to all to overcome the present epidemic crisis by not losing the focus of thinking and action, practicing responsibility and devotion to be faithful and true to the leadership of the Party Central Committee, being rallied closer behind it so as to defend the welfare of the people and security of the country without fail."Behind those ponderous words is the widespread suspicion that the pandemic may have had a more devastating impact on North Korea than on most other countries, certainly than on South Korea, which has acted firmly to bring it under control while publishing daily numbers of new cases. "COVID-19 definitely has a very negative impact on North Korea, regardless of how many people were dead or sick," said Choi Jin-wook, former director of the Korea Institute for National Unification. They've "closed down the border with China for seven months"—meaning "no food, no daily manufactured goods."No one doubts the North's medical system is incapable of dealing effectively with the pandemic. "Their healthcare system was severely deteriorated during the arduous march of the mid-1990's famine," said Robert Collins, referring to the period in which as many as two million North Koreans are believed to have died of starvation or disease. "Doctors have little to offer patients who must buy their medicine on the black market. Few can afford anything significant in that line."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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| US government sued after report of detained migrant children at Hampton Inn hotels Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:25 AM PDT  A report described three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels where a federal contractor has held unaccompanied minors awaiting deportation.
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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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| 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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| 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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| With spy allegations, crisis in US-China relations deepens Posted: 27 Jul 2020 01:59 PM PDT |
| Ted Cruz says more Chinese consulates in U.S. 'may well be closed' Posted: 26 Jul 2020 10:49 AM PDT  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told CBS News' Margaret Brennan during an appearance on Sunday's edition of Face the Nation that more Chinese consulates in the U.S. "may well be closed" after the one in Houston shut down over allegations of spying and intellectual property theft.The senator, of course, can't unilaterally make that decision, but Washington's latest actions, including shuttering the Houston consulate and declaring Beijing's South China Sea claims to be unlawful, suggest that the White House and State Department are leaning more toward's Cruz traditionally hawkish view on China nowadays.On Sunday, Cruz, who was recently barred from entering China, said the big takeaway during the coronavirus pandemic in terms of foreign policy is indeed that "people are understanding the threat China poses" to the world, which he said he has argued for years.Cruz then went on to blame the Chinese government for covering up the origins of the coronavirus by silencing whistleblowers and subsequently allowing it to spread across the globe. > NEWS: @SenTedCruz suggests to @margbrennan more Chinese consulates in the U.S. may close after China's consulate in Houston, Texas shuttered this week. > > Adds, "The most significant foreign policy consequence of this pandemic is people are understanding the threat China poses." pic.twitter.com/YrjMbpSbkM> > -- Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 26, 2020More 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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| Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud appears in court Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:21 PM PDT  A Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud after authorities said she concealed her military ties to China in order to work in the U.S. made her first appearance Monday in federal court by video. Juan Tang, 37, was appointed a federal public defender and U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes ordered Tang to remain in custody, saying she is a flight risk, while her attorney prepares an argument to allow her release on bail. The Justice Department last week announced charges against Tang and three other scientists living in the U.S., saying they lied about their status as members of China's People's Liberation Army.
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| Live updates from weekend protests: 'Unlawful assembly' in Richmond; Man shot to death in Austin; 11 protesters arrested in Louisville Posted: 26 Jul 2020 06:26 PM PDT  A man was shot to death in Austin. Richmond police declared an "unlawful assembly" and Portland police declared "a riot." Latest protest news.
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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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| 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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| Herman Cain is still hospitalized with COVID-19 over 3 weeks after his diagnosis Posted: 27 Jul 2020 02:42 PM PDT  Herman Cain, a former presidential candidate and an ally of President Donald Trump, has been hospitalized since July 2.
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| Senate Republicans reportedly want to cut weekly unemployment boost from $600 to $200 per week Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:21 AM PDT  As part of a broader $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill, Republican lawmakers are proposing to cut weekly emergency unemployment benefits established in the previous CARES Act from $600/week to $200/week, people familiar with the unreleased plan told The Washington Post.Democrats want to extend the $600 figure, which is set to expire this week, until January while the unemployment rate remains high, and many economists think keeping things as they are or even raising the total a bit makes more sense than slashing. But the Senate GOP isn't on board. The cut would be temporary, however, and is meant to fill the gap between now and until states implement a Republican-favored approach that involves paying workers 70 percent of the income they earned before losing their jobs due to the pandemic. In that scenario, the weekly unemployment boost wouldn't be tied to a specific number, but would vary for individuals. Read more at The Washington Post.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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| New Zealand suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:24 PM PDT  New Zealand has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and made a number of other changes following China's decision to pass a national security law for the territory, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said on Tuesday. "New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong Kong's criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China," Peters said in a statement.
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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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| Trump vs. Biden: A breakdown of which candidate is raking in more donors in each of America's 7 richest ZIP codes Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:26 AM PDT  Business Insider used Bloomberg and New York Times data to see which campaign won the donation dollars of the nation's wealthiest neighborhoods.
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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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| 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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| 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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| Who was Edmund Pettus? Selma bridge got its name from Confederate general, KKK leader Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:53 AM PDT  It became an iconic site of in the battle for equality, but the Edmund Pettus Bridge is named after a former Confederate general and KKK leader.
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| Hurricane Douglas: Parts of Hawaii brace for Category 1 storm Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:37 PM PDT  Maui, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau are expected to get up to 15 inches of rain, with large breaking waves.
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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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| UN says thousands of anti-Pakistan militants in Afghanistan Posted: 26 Jul 2020 03:26 AM PDT  A U.N. report says more than 6,000 Pakistani insurgents are hiding in Afghanistan, most belonging to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban group responsible for attacking Pakistani military and civilian targets. The report released this week said the group, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), has linked up with the Afghan-based affiliate of the Islamic State group. The Afghan government did not respond Sunday to requests by The Associated Press for comment.
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| Why do so many COVID-19 patients lose their sense of smell? Scientists now know. Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Turns out the loss experienced by many who contract COVID-19 is temporary because the neurons that detect smell aren't damaged.
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| Viewpoint from Sudan - where black people are called slaves Posted: 26 Jul 2020 06:01 AM PDT  The use of racial slurs in Sudan shows how deeply entrenched racism is there, writes Zeinab Mohammed Salih.
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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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| 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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| 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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