1. Andy Borowitz: Hundreds of R.N.C. Attendees Test Positive for Delusion

An outbreak hit the 2020 Republican National Convention this week as hundreds of attendees tested positive for delusion.

While public-health experts have yet to determine the extent of the outbreak, the episodes of attendees exhibiting magical thinking bordering on the hallucinatory appear to be widespread.

Davis Logsdon, who studies delusional epidemics at the University of Minnesota’s School of Medicine, said that multiple R.N.C. participants professed to see things “that are not actually there,” such as a strong economy, a successful coronavirus response, and an immigration policy brimming with kindness.

In another worrying symptom, Logsdon said that attendees who tested positive were unable to see things that were clearly in their line of vision. “One participant on Monday was shouting for more than six minutes despite the presence of a microphone inches away from her,” he said.

While scientists tried to get their arms around the extent of the outbreak, containing the spread of delusion at the R.N.C. will be “challenging,” Logsdon warned.

“The most successful treatment for delusion is facts, and these patients have built up an immunity to those over the course of many years,” he said. https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/

2. Trump’s Republican convention was an ocean of falsehoods

Fact-checking President Trump’s acceptance speech at the GOP convention: He ended the Republican National Convention with a tidal wave of tall tales, false claims and revisionist history. Here are 25 claims by the president that caught our attention. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/28/fact-checking-president-trumps-acceptance-speech-2020-rnc/ * Daniel Dale‘s fact check video of the speech is at https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1299198518905786373

The third night offered yet another cascade of false claims, especially in Vice President Pence's speech. Here are 20 statements that caught our attention. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/

Fact-checking the second night of the 2020 Republican National Convention: Night 2 featured another tsunami of untruths. Here's a roundup of 19 statements. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/26/fact-checking-second-night-2020-republican-national-convention/

Fact-checking the first night of the 2020 Republican National Convention. The 2020 Republican National Convention kicked off with a fire hose of false claims. Here's a round-up of 19 statements. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/24/fact-checking-first-night-2020-republican-national-convention/

3. Trump spins baseless tale of ‘thugs’ flying to protests

Donald Trump is recycling a baseless conspiracy theory to claim that recent protests have been orchestrated by powerful people in “dark shadows” intent on undermining his reelection prospects.

The claims first took root on Facebook and Twitter earlier this year after racial justice protests swelled across the country following the deaths of Black Americans in police custody. Thousands of social media users shared posts suggesting a covert network was coordinating the protests and rioters were descending on communities across the country.

Trump appeared to amplify those unfounded conspiracy theories in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham that aired Monday night, suggesting that protests in Washington during the Republican National Convention were orchestrated by unspecified forces.

“We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend. And in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that,” said Trump, adding that the matter is under investigation. https://apnews.com/1935c7eee45066d8926af7b4189ed15d

4. Now in Government Food Aid Boxes: A Letter From Donald Trump

Millions of Americans who are struggling to put food on the table may discover a new item in government-funded relief packages of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and meat: a letter signed by President Donald Trump.

The message, printed on White House letterhead in both English and Spanish, touts the administration’s response to the coronavirus, including aid provided through the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, a U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative to buy fresh food and ship it to needy families. https://www.propublica.org/article/now-in-government-food-aid-boxes-a-letter-from-donald-trump

5. Trump praises right-wing supporters, rails against protesters after unrest in Portland

Donald Trump on Sunday praised a pro-Trump caravan of activists whose presence appeared to contribute to violent clashes Saturday in Portland, Oregon.

The day after a man was shot and killed in confrontations between Black Lives Matter protesters and Trump supporters in Portland, he assailed only the anti-racism demonstrators.

In a tweet, Trump shared a video of the pro-Trump caravan driving into Portland and labeled its members "GREAT PATRIOTS!" In another tweet, he referred to protesters in Washington, D.C., as "Disgraceful Anarchists" and said, "We are watching them closely."

"The big backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected after 95 days of watching and incompetent Mayor admit that he has no idea what he is doing," Trump said in one tweet. "The people of Portland won't put up with no safety any longer. The Mayor is a FOOL. Bring in the National Guard!” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-rails-against-protesters-following-unrest-portland-n1238808

6. No bounce in support for Trump as Americans see pandemic, not crime, as top issue: Reuters/Ipsos poll

Trailing Biden in most national opinion polls since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus this year, Trump has sought to change the subject from a pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 Americans, blaming Black Lives Matters protesters for violence in the cities and accusing Biden of being weak on crime.

But the poll showed the majority — 78% — remain “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the coronavirus. Nearly 60% said Trump is at least partly responsible for the protracted school and business closures due to the virus, as well as for the high number of coronavirus cases in the United States. More than 6 million Americans have been infected with the virus, more people than in any other country.

By contrast, most Americans do not see crime as a major priority and do not think it is increasing in their communities, the poll showed.

Only about 8% of American adults listed crime as a top priority for the country, compared with 30% who said it was the economy or jobs, and 16% who said it was the healthcare system. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll-idUSKBN25T1I3

7. U.S. Faces A ‘Perfect Storm’ Of Political Violence Heading Into November Election

Law enforcement and other authorities used force while intervening in nearly 400 Black Lives Matter protests since police killed George Floyd in May, according to new data that paints the clearest portrait yet of the historic unrest that’s swept across the U.S. this summer.

Figures from the U.S. Crisis Monitor offer a bleak forecast of escalating political violence heading into a contentious election. While most of the protests have been nonviolent, police or other authorities intervened in about 725 Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. between May 24 and Aug. 22, sometimes using force — including tear gas, rubber bullets, or beating demonstrators with batons, data shows. There were also over 100 instances of government violence directed against the media during this period.

On top of that, the Crisis Monitor ― a joint effort of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a nongovernmental organization, and the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University ― identified over 100 instances of non-state actors, including at least 20 distinct far-right militia groups, intervening in Black Lives Matter demonstrations, sometimes violently, since May 24.

There were also dozens of cases of individual perpetrators, some linked to white supremacist groups like the KKK, driving vehicles into Black Lives Matter demonstrators. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/violence-protests-united-states-data_n_5f4d4430c5b697186e39b2cb

8. ‘Red Mirage’ followed by ‘Chaos’ predicted

Hawkfish, the political data agency funded by Michael Bloomberg, is predicting “chaos” as the presidential election votes are tallied.

“We believe that on Election Night, we are going to see Donald Trump in a stronger position than the reality actually is,” Hawkfish CEO Josh Mendelsohn said, calling the phenomenon a “red mirage.”

That’s because Trump will win “potentially in a landslide” from in-person Election Day votes, “but lose a week later” as mail ballots are counted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=RL6syYcykdo&feature=emb_logo

9. Latest Effort to Recall Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Falls Short

Three petitions were filed this year by Oregon Republicans to recall Gov. Kate Brown (D). All have fallen short of gathering the necessary signatures. https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2020/08/31/latest-effort-to-recall-gov-kate-brown-falls-short-oregon-republicans-announce/

10. HHS bids $250 million contract to 'defeat despair and inspire hope' on coronavirus

As the presidential election fast approaches, the Department of Health and Human Services is bidding out a more than $250 million contract to a communications firm as it seeks to “defeat despair and inspire hope” about the coronavirus pandemic, according to an internal HHS document obtained by POLITICO.

The document lists the goals of the contract: “defeat despair and inspire hope, sharing best practices for businesses to operate in the new normal and instill confidence to return to work and restart the economy,” build a “coalition of spokespeople” around the country, provide important public health, therapeutic and vaccine information as the country reopens, and give Americans information on the phases of reopening.

The winning contractor will work with HHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs, an office now headed by Trump campaign alum Michael Caputo. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/31/hhs-contract-coronavirus-despair-hope-406361

11. Justice Dept. Never Fully Examined Trump’s Ties to Russia, Ex-Officials Say

The Justice Department secretly took steps in 2017 to narrow the investigation into Russian election interference and any links to the Trump campaign, according to former law enforcement officials, keeping investigators from completing an examination of President Trump’s decades-long personal and business ties to Russia.

The special counsel who finished the investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, secured three dozen indictments and convictions of some top Trump advisers, and he produced a report that outlined Russia’s wide-ranging operations to help get Mr. Trump elected and the president’s efforts to impede the inquiry.

But law enforcement officials never fully investigated Mr. Trump’s own relationship with Russia, even though some career F.B.I. counterintelligence investigators thought his ties posed such a national security threat that they took the extraordinary step of opening an inquiry into them. Within days, the former deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein curtailed the investigation without telling the bureau, all but ensuring it would go nowhere. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/politics/trump-russia-justice-department.html

12. Trump Has Made 500 Visits To His Properties While In Office

Trump made his 500th visit to one of his properties since becoming president when he went to the Trump hotel in Washington today to meet with political donors ahead of his speech at the Republican National Convention. This milestone is stunning even for a presidency that has been defined by corruption, self-dealing, and abuse of power. 

After promising on the campaign trail that he would put his assets in a blind trust if elected, Donald Trump went back on that commitment just before taking office. He promised instead that a wall of separation would be maintained between the presidency and his businesses. That statement also turned out not to be true. Instead of erecting a firewall, Trump did the exact opposite and has persistently used the presidency to promote and enrich his businesses. Five hundred visits later, he has successfully channeled millions of dollars in political, special interest, and taxpayer money into his own pockets.  

Trump has visited or stayed at one or more of his properties on 394 separate days since becoming president. That figure amounts to almost one third of his time in office at one of his properties, or well over a year of his presidency. https://www.citizensforethics.org/trump-500-visits-trump-properties/

13. Biden snags 'Keep America Great' domain in latest act of Trump trolling

After trolling Republicans throughout their convention, the Biden campaign has pulled its final act of the week: acquiring the web domain KeepAmericaGreat.com.

When Trump launched his reelection campaign last year, he rolled out the “Keep America Great” as its official new slogan with great fanfare. But the Biden campaign recently learned the web domain was available and snagged it.

The site now lays out a top-to-bottom rebuke to the Trump administration, including his handling of coronavirus. “Promises Made, Promises Kept Broken,” the site’s home page screams. “Trump isn’t looking for a second term,” it charges. “He’s looking for a do-over.” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/biden-domain-trump-403941

14. False robocall warns Detroit voters to 'beware of vote by mail'

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is warning Detroit voters of a "racially charged" and false robocall that appears to be discouraging mail-in voting ahead of the November election. 

The recording tells voters that their personal information will be part of a public database that will then be used by police to track down people with warrants or debt, according to a recording Benson posted Thursday to Twitter. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/27/benson-blasts-robocall-warning-detroit-voters-beware-vote-mail/3444856001/

15. White House says it is creating 'very large' dossier on Washington Post journalist and others

The White House said that it was compiling a "very large" dossier on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter and others who it said are a "disgrace to journalism and the American people."
The astonishing revelation about the White House's efforts to discredit reporter David Fahrenthold came after The Post requested comment for a Thursday story he wrote with two colleagues. The story, co-bylined by reporters Josh Dawsey and Joshua Partlow, detailed how Trump's company "charged the U.S. government more than $900,000" for hotel rooms fees among other services at Mar-a-Lago.

In a statement, White House spokesperson Judd Deere accused The Washington Post of "blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization" and demanded "it must stop."

"Please be advised that we are building up a very large 'dossier' on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people," Deere said. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/27/media/white-house-dossier-journalists/

16. Trump Shifts Focus Away from Post Office

President Trump is shifting his focus from the U.S. Postal Service in his concerns about potential fraud in mail-in voting, claiming problems with mailed ballots lie with local elections officials who are “going to count them wrong.”

Said Trump: “It’s not the post office … it has nothing to do with the post office.”

He added: “The problem is when they dump all these ballots in front of a few people who are counting them, and they’re going to count them wrong. The post office is not to blame.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/27/white-supremacists-militias-infiltrate-us-police-report

17. White supremacists and militias have infiltrated police across US, report says

White supremacist groups have infiltrated US law enforcement agencies in every region of the country over the last two decades, according to a new report about the ties between police and far-right vigilante groups.

In a timely new analysis, Michael German, a former FBI special agent who has written extensively on the ways that US law enforcement have failed to respond to far-right domestic terror threats, concludes that US law enforcement officials have been tied to racist militant activities in more than a dozen states since 2000, and hundreds of police officers have been caught posting racist and bigoted social media content.

The report notes that over the years, police links to militias and white supremacist groups have been uncovered in states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

Police in Sacramento, California, in 2018 worked with neo-Nazis to pursue charges against anti-racist activists, including some who had been stabbed, according to records.

And just this summer, German writes, an Orange county sheriff’s deputy and a Chicago policeman were caught wearing far-right militia logos; an Olympia, Washington, officer was photographed posing with a militia group; and Philadelphia police officers were filmed standing by while armed mobs attacked protesters and journalists.

And yet US agencies lack a national strategy to identify white supremacist police and root out this problem, German warned. Meanwhile, popular police reform efforts to address “implicit bias” have done nothing to confront explicit racism. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/27/white-supremacists-militias-infiltrate-us-police-report

18. The Republicans’ Newest Plan to Derail Voting Rights

There’s good and bad news for states and municipalities fighting the Trump administration’s efforts to slow the Postal Service and stymie the election. The good news is that there’s an alternative way for voters to deliver their ballots without mailing them back or going to a polling place. They can place them in a so-called drop box, secure receptacles where ballots are collected by election officials. Think of a return box at your local library.

The bad news is that Trump and the Republicans are going after those, too. Last weekend, the president tweeted that drop boxes were a “voter security disaster” that are “not Covid sanitized. A big fraud!” (Twitter flagged the post for spreading misinformation that could dissuade people from voting.) https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/08/28/the-republicans-newest-plan-to-derail-voting-rights/

19. Biden's GOP endorsements show the cracks in Trump's coalition

Joe Biden is attracting more crossover endorsements from prominent members of the opposing party than any other presidential candidate from either side in decades. That doesn't guarantee the former vice president victory in November, but history suggests it could signal a lasting break in the Republican coalition that provides new opportunities to Democrats for years to come. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/01/politics/us-election-biden-gop-endorsements/index.html

20. Twitter removes QAnon supporter's false claim about coronavirus death statistics that Trump had retweeted

Twitter on Sunday took down a tweet containing a false claim about coronavirus death statistics that was made by a supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory -- a post that President Donald Trump had retweeted earlier in the day.

The tweet -- which has been replaced with a message saying, "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules -- from "Mel Q," copied from someone else's Facebook post, claimed that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had "quietly" updated its numbers "to admit that only 6%" of people listed as coronavirus deaths "actually died from Covid," since "the other 94% had 2-3 other serious illnesses."

That's not what the CDC said.

As of Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, Twitter had not removed a second tweet, also retweeted by the President on Sunday, that spread the same false claim. The second tweet, by Trump campaign adviser Jenna Ellis, linked to an article on the right-wing website Gateway Pundit that was based on the QAnon supporter's tweet. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/politics/twitter-coronavirus-deaths-false-claim-qanon-trump/

21. Top Colorado RNC official spread conspiracy theories and made Islamophobic and sexist comments

Randy Corporon, a Tea Party activist, was recently installed Republican National Committee official for the state of Colorado has a history of spreading conspiracies and making sexist and Islamophobic comments.

On his radio show, Corporon falsely claimed former President Bill Clinton had an illegitimate son and that Chelsea Clinton wasn't his biological daughter in 2019. He spread the conspiracy that Barack Obama's birth certificate wasn't born in Hawaii and his real father wasn't Barack Obama Sr. He also asserted Obama had a fake Black accent and falsely suggested he was a Muslim.

In other posts, Corporon shared a fake news story the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017 that killed one woman was "a complete set up" days after the rally took place. And he pushed the debunked "Clinton Body Count" conspiracy that alleges the Clintons ordered the assassinations of close associates and speculated they assassinated the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/politics/kfile-colorado-rnc-official-spread-conspiracies/index.html

22. Room rentals, resort fees and furniture removal: How Trump’s company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000

Trump has now visited his own properties 271 times as president, according to a Washington Post tally — including a visit Thursday, when he met with GOP donors at his D.C. hotel.

Through these trips, Trump has brought the Trump Organization a stream of private revenue from federal agencies and GOP campaign groups. Federal spending records show that taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $900,000 since he took office. At least $570,000 came as a result of the president’s travel, according to a Post analysis.

Now, new federal spending documents obtained by The Post via a public-records lawsuit give more detail about how the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service — a kind of captive customer, required to follow Trump everywhere. In addition to the rentals at Mar-a-Lago, the documents show that the Trump Organization charged daily “resort fees” to Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Pence in Las Vegas and in another instance asked agents to pay a $1,300 “furniture removal charge” during a presidential visit to a Trump resort in Scotland.

In addition, campaign finance records have provided new details about the payments the Trump Organization received from GOP groups, as a result of the 37 instances in which Trump headlined a political event at one of his properties. Those visits have brought the company at least $3.8 million in fees, according to a Post analysis of campaign spending records. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-company-secret-service-spending/2020/08/27/9331bd86-de36-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html

23. Trump’s IRS Commissioner Has Made Hundreds Of Thousands From Trump Properties While In Office

Charles Rettig, the Trump-appointed IRS Commissioner who has refused to release President Trump’s tax returns, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars renting out Trump properties while in office, according to documents obtained by CREW. Last year Rettig said it was his decision whether to turn over Trump’s tax returns to Congress, under the supervision of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

An analysis of Rettig’s personal financial disclosures for the last two years shows Rettig making $100,000 – $200,000 a year from two units at Trump International Waikiki. Trump made a detour to visit the property during a trip to Asia in his first year in office—a priceless promotional appearance for the business he still profits from as president. Rettig bought a 50% stake in the units in 2006, three years before the property opened, likely benefiting the future-president, whose company got 10% of total pre-sales. https://www.citizensforethics.org/charles-rettig-trump-properties/

24. George W. Bush Cabinet secretaries and administration officials endorse Biden

Former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, who both served in the George W. Bush administration, endorsed Joe Biden on Thursday. They joined the more than 225 Bush administration officials who have endorsed the Democratic nominee as part of the organization 43 Alumni for Joe Biden. Other big names include Bush's director of national intelligence John Negroponte and EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. https://www.axios.com/carlos-guiterrez-ann-veneman-endorse-biden-2ac8c3e8-817e-498e-840c-9814a9510199.html

25. Facebook takes down Russian operation that recruited U.S. journalists, amid rising concerns about election misinformation

Facebook removed a network of fake accounts and pages created by Russian operatives who had recruited U.S. journalists to write articles critical of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala D. Harris, in an apparent bid to undermine their support among liberal voters.

Facebook said it caught the network of 13 fake accounts and two pages early, before it had a chance to build a large audience — an action that the company said was evidence of its growing effectiveness at targeting foreign disinformation operations ahead of the 2020 election. The takedown emerged as a result of a tip from the FBI and was one of a dozen operations tied to the Russian Internet Research Agency or individuals affiliated with it that Facebook has disrupted since the last presidential election, when IRA-backed pages amassed millions of views on the platform. The pages had about 14,000 followers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/01/facebook-disinformation-takedown/

26. Anti-Trump GOP group led by Jeb Bush aide will spend millions in Florida to help Biden

An anti-Trump Republican group led by a former aid to Gov. Jeb Bush will spend millions targeting independent and “soft” Republican voters in Florida, the Miami Herald reports.
The campaign is dubbed “Project Orange Crush.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article245376785.html

27. Timeline: The 106 times Trump has downplayed the coronavirus threat

Donald Trump gambled very early and often on the idea that the coronavirus outbreak wouldn’t turn out to be nearly as severe as some health officials warned it could get.

The thrust of Trump’s statements about the virus has been almost relentlessly optimistic, which is a marked contrast to those of some health officials who prefer that people be overly prepared rather than underestimate the threat. Trump has frequently suggested that the United States is winning the battle against the virus, and he has regularly promoted the idea that it could suddenly disappear.

Even as Trump has occasionally adopted health officials’ more cautious tone about what lie ahead, though, the optimism that dominated his early response hasn’t completely disappeared.

For a timeline of Trump’s commentary downplaying the threat go to https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/12/trump-coronavirus-timeline/

28. Trump's campaign has been taking cash from neo-Nazi and white supremacist leaders

During the 2016 campaign, you may recall, there was often a notable press reluctance to acknowledge that many of Donald Trump's supporters were raging white supremacists. (The most infamous case was a PBS story profiling a Trump volunteer worker that somehow managed to avoid noting the prominent neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbols tattooed on both hands.)

Ah, the old days, when such things were even controversial. Welcome to 2020, when Donald Trump is getting campaign donations from prominent neo-Nazis and there's apparently not even a glimmer of thought that gosh, maybe Typhoid Hitler might not want to cash those particular checks. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/31/1973833/-Trump-s-campaign-has-been-taking-cash-from-neo-Nazi-and-white-supremacist-leaders

29. Georgia likely removed nearly 200k from voter rolls wrongfully, report says

The state of Georgia has likely removed nearly 200,000 Georgia citizens from the voter rolls for wrongfully concluding that those people had moved and not changed the address on their voter registration, when in fact they never moved, according to a new report released on Wednesday. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/georgia-voter-rolls-report/index.html

30. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) says on Facebook that armed demonstrators 'won't walk away' from Louisiana protests

In a Facebook post Tuesday that featured a picture of Black men carrying assault-style weapons and other tactical gear, Higgins, R-Lafayette, said that anyone arriving in the state "aggressively natured and armed" would have a "one way ticket."

"I'd drop any 10 of you where you stand," said the post, which was removed not long after appearing on Higgins' official campaign account. "Nothing personal. We just eliminate the threat. We don't care what color you are. We don't care if you're left or right. if you show up like this, if We recognize threat...you won't walk away.”

"We don't want to see your worthless ass nor do we want to make your Mothers cry," Higgins wrote. https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/article_77138836-ecc4-11ea-a8d0-772b482469cb.html

31. U.S. says it won’t join WHO-linked effort to develop, distribute coronavirus vaccine

The Trump administration said it will not join a global effort to develop, manufacture and equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine, in part because the World Health Organization is involved, a decision that could shape the course of the pandemic and the country’s role in health diplomacy.

More than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine development, secure doses for all countries and distribute them to the most high-risk segment of each population. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/coronavirus-vaccine-trump/2020/09/01/b44b42be-e965-11ea-bf44-0d31c85838a5_story.html

32. Last 24 hours reveal the stark differences between Trump and Biden

In one of the most revealing 24 hours of the general election and the sprint to Election Day, one presidential nominee condemned violence and destruction from all sides of the political spectrum.

“Violence will not bring change, only destruction. It's wrong in every way. It divides instead of unites,” Joe Biden said Monday in Pittsburgh.

The other presidential nominee seemed to defend violence from the right.

“One nominee has demanded better policing practices. “The violence we’ve seen again and again and again of unwarranted police shootings and excessive force,” Biden said.

The other compared Blake’s shooting to a golfer missing a putt.

“They can do 10,000 great acts, which is what they do, and one bad apple or a joker — a choker — choker. Shooting the guy in the back many times ... There's a whole big thing there, but they choke just like in a golf tournament, they miss a 3-foot …” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/last-24-hours-reveal-stark-differences-between-trump-biden-n1238967

33. Republicans are flooding the internet with deceptive videos and Big Tech isn't keeping up

A series of deceptively edited and misleading videos shared by prominent Republicans have run up millions of views across Facebook and Twitter in just the past few days. And while both companies have pledged to combat misinformation, their responses to these videos followed a familiar pattern: often they act too late, do too little, or don't do anything at all.

A fact-check of the four recent videos and a look at the action the two companies took regarding them is at https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/01/tech/trump-facebook-twitter-fact-check/index.html

34. Facebook takes down Russian operation that recruited U.S. journalists, amid rising concerns about election misinformation

Facebook removed a network of fake accounts and pages created by Russian operatives who had recruited U.S. journalists to write articles critical of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala D. Harris, in an apparent bid to undermine their support among liberal voters. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/01/facebook-disinformation-takedown/

35. Ernst Suggests Iowa Doctors Falsifying COVID Cases For Money

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R) seemed to embrace on Monday a thoroughly-discredited QAnon conspiracy theory about U.S. deaths from COVID-19 being a mere fraction of what has been reported. As Amie Rivers of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reported, Ernst said she was “so skeptical” of the official death count when asked by an attendee if the government was over-reporting coronavirus deaths.

“They’re thinking there may be 10,000 or less deaths that were actually singularly COVID-19,” Ernst said, seemingly referring to the debunked conspiracy theory that only around 6% of COVID-19 deaths were due to the virus. “I’m just really curious. It would be interesting to know that.”

Going even further, however, Ernst also suggested that doctors were intentionally falsifying coronavirus cases in order to receive more money for caring for the patient. https://iowastartingline.com/2020/09/01/ernst-suggests-iowa-doctors-falsifying-covid-cases-for-money2/

36. Why Trump is playing up fears of violence

President Trump and his allies are trying to depict protests over racial injustice as a law-and-order campaign issue, attacking Democratic leaders, refusing to condemn deadly vigilante violence and touting a purportedly tranquil “Donald Trump’s America.” Former Vice President Joe Biden has accused Trump of inciting violence for political gain.

Against the backdrop of a still-raging coronavirus outbreak, the White House has offered the clearest signal yet of a calculated GOP strategy of exploiting voter fears of violence as the campaign against Biden enters the final stretch and Trump trails in the polls.

The strategy closely resembles the one Trump employed, unsuccessfully, in the 2018 midterm election, when he spent weeks warning of “caravans” of migrants trying to reach the U.S. border with Mexico. This time, the effort is aimed at portraying urban Democratic strongholds as threatening and lawless. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/newsletter/2020-08-31/violence-fears-protests-trump-todays-headlines

37. Millions could die if Trump listens to the adviser he hired from Fox’s green room

White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas is urging President Donald Trump to allow the virus to spread through the country’s population in order to build “herd immunity,” and the administration has already taken steps in that direction, according to a Monday report from The Washington Post. Public health experts inside and outside the government warned the Post that a “herd immunity” strategy may prove ultimately ineffective if people who recover from COVID-19 can become reinfected. And it could result in a staggering death toll -- a Post analysis found that “it may require 2.13 million deaths to reach a 65 percent threshold of herd immunity.” https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/millions-could-die-if-trump-listens-adviser-he-hired-foxs-green-room

38. The DAILY GRILL

On Aug. 25, a grid of the four photos, featuring bloodied and bandaged police officers, was circulating widely on Facebook with more than 1,200 shares and 56,000 views. The post claims, the officers were injured by Democrats and Black Lives Matter rioters over the weekend in Portland, Seattle and nearby cities.

VERSUS

The officers in the photos weren’t injured at U.S. protests — in fact, they were on the other side of the world. The four photos in a post being shared on social media show police officers who sustained injuries in various parts of Australia in 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2019.

 

Donald Trump says all the time, "they spied on my campaign." He ad-libbed during his Thursday night convention speech to add the phrase into his prepared remarks. And he tweeted it last week as a rebuttal to former President Barack Obama's convention address. "They are coming after me because I am fighting for you, that's what's happening," Trump said while accepting the GOP nomination. "It's been going on from before I even got elected. And remember this, they spied on my campaign and they got caught. Let's see now what happens.”

VERSUS

That is not what happened … but Trump's exaggerated retelling has become so ubiquitous that it's taken as fact among his political allies and right-wing media cheerleaders. — CNN Fact Check

 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has informed the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence that it'll no longer be briefing in-person on election security issues, according to letters obtained by CNN. Instead, ODNI will primarily provide written updates to the congressional panels, a senior administration official said. The abrupt announcement is a change that runs counter to the pledge of transparency and regular briefings on election threats by the intelligence community.

VERSUS

"This is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently informed, and a betrayal of the public's right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy. This intelligence belongs to the American people, not the agencies which are its custodian. And the American people have both the right and the need to know that another nation, Russia, is trying to help decide who their president should be. The ODNI had requested the opportunity to brief the intelligence committees and the full US House of Representatives in mid-September and has now cancelled those briefings and said it would hold no others. This is shameful and -- coming only weeks before the election -- demonstrates that the Trump Administration is engaged in a politicized effort to withhold election-related information from Congress and the American people at the precise moment that greater transparency and accountability is required," — Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff

39. From MEDIA MATTERS (They watch Fox News so you don't have to)

Fox News' support for violent right-wing vigilantism is as horrifying as it was inevitable. Throughout this period, Fox has been laser-focused on finding instances of violence, blaming them on the protesters, and castigating Democratic mayors and governors for failing to stop them. The network has bombarded its viewers -- including the president -- with images of burning buildings and civil unrest. At times using weeks-old footage and other misinformation tactics, Fox personalities have inflated the scope of the damage to depict a nation on the brink, denouncing the supposed threat posed by “antifa" agitators, Black Lives Matter activists, and statue-toppling vigilantes -- even demanding that violent protesters be treated as “domestic terrorists.” And they have sought to use that demagoguery to shore up Trump’s faltering campaign, warning that civilization itself will be on the ballot in November. https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-news-support-violent-right-wing-vigilantism-horrifying-it-was-inevitable 

Fox News' support for violent right-wing vigilantism is as horrifying as it was inevitable.Amid a quasi-fascist rant Wednesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson responded to murder charges against a pro-Trump teenager who crossed state lines and shot to death two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by asking, “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Several other Fox personalities have similarly downplayed or seemingly excused the deadly Tuesday night confrontation. https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-news-support-violent-right-wing-vigilantism-horrifying-it-was-inevitable

Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren called LeBron James “sick” for “aiding and abetting lawless thugs”: You are aiding and abetting lawless thugs who will ONCE AGAIN burn, loot and destroy our nation. Sick sick sick sick! https://twitter.com/TomiLahren/status/1298758315296665601

Fox News personalities and right-wing conservatives are pushing a New York Post story published over the weekend alleging widespread mail-in ballot fraud by an anonymous whistleblower and “top Democractic operative.” The Post claims the whistleblower “says voter fraud, especially with mail-in ballots, is no myth. And he knows this because he’s been doing it, on a grand scale, for decades.” The article claims the publication vetted the whistleblower’s purported longtime career working as a consultant, rigging various municipal and federal elections throughout New Jersey, and as a mentor to “at least 20 operatives in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.” However, the story fails to provide corroboration or a second source for any of the numerous accusations of mail-in ballot fraud that follow. https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/fox-pushing-ny-post-story-alleging-widespread-mail-ballot-fraud

40. From the Late Shows

Has Donald Trump Blocked Eric's Number? | The Late Late Show with James Corden: https://youtu.be/AZXDi-kuFTw

Jerry Falwell Jr.'s Link To Trump Is Far More Troubling Than His Sex Scandal | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: https://youtu.be/f474duoaJcU

What is QAnon? If you don’t know, now you know | The Daily Show: https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1298100786254057472

After Four Nights Of Nonsense At The RNC, We're Getting Off This Emotional Roller Coaster | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6mJzTYF-wc

RNC 2020 & Kenosha: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):
https://youtu.be/rBu0BRTx2x8