| House Democrats introduce $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, unlikely to pass in Senate Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:11 PM PDT  The bill reauthorizes the $600 federal boost to unemployment benefits and sends out another round of $1,200 stimulus checks.
|
| South Carolina TV anchor hit man with beer bottle in fight over politics, police say Posted: 28 Sep 2020 01:54 PM PDT  The victim was left with cuts on his face, police said.
|
| Scientists detected a set of salty lakes on Mars, hidden below the glaciers of its south pole Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:30 AM PDT  NASA's Perseverance rover is set to search for signs of ancient Martian life that could have migrated to underground lakes like these.
|
| Amy Coney Barrett was our professor. She'll serve America as well as she served her students. Posted: 27 Sep 2020 01:00 AM PDT  While we vary about how to best interpret statutes and the Constitution, we agree on this: The nation could not ask for a more qualified candidate.
|
| Intermittent fasting alone does not boost weight loss and could cause loss of muscle, according to a new study Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:00 AM PDT  A small study found that, without calorie restriction, intermittent fasting did not have much impact on weight, and put people at risk of weight gain.
|
| Mexico official: definitive COVID-19 toll will take 2 years Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:54 PM PDT  Mexico's top coronavirus official said Sunday that definitive data on the country's death toll from COVID-19 won't be available for "a couple of years." The statement by Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell is likely to revive debate about Mexico's death toll, currently at 76,430, the fourth-highest in the world. Mexico does very little testing, and many people die without a test.
|
| Alabama town removes statue of Confederate soldier in the middle of the night Posted: 28 Sep 2020 03:34 PM PDT  The town will pay a $25,000 fine for removing the 115-year-old monument
|
| Wine country wildfire forces hundreds of evacuations Posted: 28 Sep 2020 05:51 AM PDT  A wind-driven wildfire erupted on Sunday in the heart of Northern California's Napa Valley wine country and spread across nearly 2,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of a hospital and hundreds of homes, authorities said.
|
| How Covid has affected Asian American multigenerational homes Posted: 28 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT  "I think many of us come from cultures where putting family and community before yourself is highly valued."
|
| Trump’s 2016 Campaign Listed Millions of Black Voters It Wanted to Stop From Voting, Leak Reveals Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  LONDON—Over three million Black voters in key states were identified by President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign as people they had to persuade to stay at home on Election Day to help him reach the White House.The revelation comes from an enormous data leak obtained by the British news network Channel 4. It shows that, four years ago, the Trump campaign prepared files on almost 200 million American voters and separated some out into eight different categories. One such category, assigned to 3.5 million Black voters, was titled: "Deterrence."The leaked database was reportedly used by Trump's digital campaign team, which was critical to Trump's narrow victory. Channel 4 News has a track record of exposing the unethical practices of Cambridge Analytica—the now-defunct British digital black-ops firm that harvested the Facebook data of tens of millions of voters for the use of Team Trump.The leaked files show that Black Americans were disproportionately marked 'Deterrence' by the 2016 campaign, making up far more of the category when compared to general population stats. For example, in Georgia, Black people make up around a third of the population, but 61 percent of the Trump campaign's 'Deterrence' category there. The same pattern can be seen in data for North Carolina and Wisconsin.Cambridge Analytica's Real Role in Trump's Dark Facebook CampaignOverall, people of colour—labelled by the campaign as Black, Hispanic, Asian and 'Other' groups—made up 54 percent of the people in the 'Deterrence' category, according to Channel 4 News. In contrast, the lists of voters that the campaign wanted to encourage to head out to vote were mostly white. It's impossible to say how effective the tactics were, but research shows that, in 2016, Black turnout fell by eight points.The data does not offer a complete picture of exactly how the 'Deterrence' list was exploited, though it's likely that it was used to help the campaign micro-target people on Facebook in the months leading up to Election Day in 2016. The Daily Beast revealed two years ago that Team Trump used audience lists created by Cambridge Analytica to target "dark ads" on Facebook in the final months of the 2016 campaign.There's no public record of those "dark ads," which disappeared when the campaign stopped paying for them, and there's no public information on the lists that were used to target voters. However, Channel 4 does report that it found some evidence that Team Trump pushed ads at Black voters designed to damage opinions of Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton.One video ad showed Clinton talking about "super-predators" in 1996—a comment she apologized for in 2016 after the clip spread online. Channel 4 reports that Cambridge Analytica privately admitted that the campaign did target "AA," or African Americans, with what it called the "Predators video," though it's not known if the 'Deterrence' list was used.Trump Data Guru Officially Disqualified Over 'Shady' Campaign TacticsPresented with Channel 4's findings, Jamal Watkins, Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said: "We use data... but it's to motivate, persuade and encourage folks to participate. We don't use the data to say who can we deter and keep at home. That just seems, fundamentally, it's a shift from the notion of democracy."Watkins added: "It's not 'may the best candidate win' at that point it's 'may the best well-funded machine suppress voters and keep them at home thereby rigging the election so that someone can win'."An unnamed Facebook spokesperson said: "Since 2016, elections have changed and so has Facebook—what happened with Cambridge Analytica couldn't happen today." The company cited its new rules prohibiting voter suppression, and its searchable political ads library which means that ads don't just disappear from the network as they did in 2016.The Trump campaign didn't provide any comment.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.
|
| Veteran facing border wall scam charges with Steve Bannon: ‘Not a penny’ was taken Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:30 PM PDT  When 'Build the Wall' amputee veteran Brian Kolfage was arrested, officers forbade use of prosthetic legs, now he plans to sue
|
| Body camera footage shows Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale being tackled by police outside his Florida home Posted: 28 Sep 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Candice Parscale called 911 on Sunday, saying her husband had loaded a firearm and threatened to hurt himself, according to a police report.
|
| Donald Trump argues he was entitled to limit tax payments as Democrats go on the attack Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:32 AM PDT  Donald Trump has attempted to justify minimising his tax payments as the Democrats argued reports he contributed nothing in federal income taxes for a decade showed he was out of step with ordinary Americans. The US president said in a tweet he was "entitled" to leverage business losses and tax credits to limit his tax payments "like everyone else" as he tried to contain the fallout from the New York Times investigation. Mr Trump continued to deny the reporting was accurate, claimed the information was illegally obtained and said he had paid "millions of dollars" in taxes. He also hinted he could release financial statements showing his wealth, though gave no timeline. The comments suggested a two-pronged strategy: To both delegitimise the reporting, which said he paid no federal income taxes in 11 of the 18 years the paper scrutinised, and argue that limiting tax payments showed business savviness. The campaign of Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, released an attack advert going after Mr Trump's reported payment of just $750 dollars in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the election, and again in 2017, his first year in office. The 30-second video compared the average annual amount certain workers had paid in income tax, such as $7,239 for an elementary school teacher and $5,283 for a firefighter, with Mr Trump's $750 figure.
|
| British Museum 'won't remove controversial objects' from display Posted: 28 Sep 2020 05:10 AM PDT  Cultural institutions received a letter from the government warning them not to remove artefacts.
|
| Former paramilitary leader deported to Colombia Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:04 PM PDT |
| Police officer who choked black man during stop will never serve again Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:46 PM PDT  Officer captured on camera saying he had choked Desmond Marrow
|
| Saudi Arabia says it busted terrorist cell trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:08 PM PDT |
| Teacher says he can no longer teach kindergarten after parent complained about tattoos Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Local educational authorities said students under six "could be frightened" by the appearance of a teacher with tattoos.
|
| Lindsey Graham Hints There is ‘More Damning’ Information about the Russia Investigation to be Released Posted: 28 Sep 2020 06:10 AM PDT  Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Sunday said to "stay tuned" for more "damning" information after he released records showing the main source for the Steele dossier had previously been the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation for his connections with Russian intelligence."There's a day of reckoning coming just stay tuned, and there's more coming, there's something else coming, more damning than this believe it or not," said the chairman of the Judiciary Committee in an appearance on Fox News.As part of the Senate panel's probe into the Russia investigation, Graham released declassified documents that showed the FBI had investigated Igor Danchenko, British former intelligence officer Christopher Steele's main source for his dossier, as a possible "threat to national security" a decade ago as a result of his connections with Russian intelligence.The declassified information was revealed to Graham in a letter last week sent by attorney general William Barr, in which the AG referenced what Graham may be hinting at. "I have also alerted the Director of National Intelligence to certain classified information in the possession of the intelligence community, also brought to my attention by [U.S. Attorney John] Durham, which bear upon the FBI's knowledge concerning the reliability of the dossier," Barr said in his letter. "Mr. Durham confirms that the disclosure of that information would not interfere with his investigation, and the Department otherwise defers to the DNI concerning the handling of this information."Durham is leading an investigation into the Russia investigation on behalf of the Justice Department.On Sunday Graham spoke about alleged wrongdoing in the Russia investigation saying there was "three buckets," including whether there was "any legitimate reason" for special counsel Robert Mueller to be investigating Trump's campaign for a crime involving Russia."In 2017, there was no evidence that anybody on the Trump campaign was working with the Russians," Graham said.The other two areas of concern are how the FBI may have misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to obtain warrants to wiretap a member of President Trump's team and the case against Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
|
| How can you safely have a Thanksgiving meal? CDC has tips for families during COVID-19 Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:06 AM PDT  Here's what health officials say about dinners and travel for the upcoming holiday.
|
| 'Motherf-----': Former Mueller prosecutor describes the moment his team nailed Paul Manafort for financial fraud Posted: 28 Sep 2020 03:14 PM PDT  Another prosecutor "let out a freewheeling hoot" when she saw the evidence, Weissmann writes. "If this holds up," Weissmann told them, "he's dead."
|
| Don Jr. Didn’t Get the Memo About Raising Biden Expectations Before Debate Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:20 AM PDT  After weeks and months of President Donald Trump characterizing former Vice President Joe Biden as an senile old man who can't string two sentences together, his campaign has finally realized that they should start raising expectations for his performance at the first debate this Tuesday night.Apparently, Donald Trump Jr. didn't get the memo.The president's eldest son kicked off his Fox & Friends appearance by attacking CNN's Jake Tapper for not pressing Jill Biden harder on her husband's history of making "gaffes" during an interview on State of the Union Sunday. "Once a Democrat operative, all of it—always a Democrat operative," he said, unconvincingly."Joe Biden can't remember where he is 50 percent of the time," Trump Jr. declared. "He forgets the office that he's running for." He added, with no sense of irony, "If Donald Trump made one Joe Biden-type error, once, it would be all over! Joe does it every day.""So that's why he's in debate prep," he continued, mocking his father's opponent for doing his homework. "He can't be on the campaign trail because he needs to be able to perform for two hours, despite having done this for 50 years."Is Trump or Biden More Likely to Keel Over on Debate Night?But he wasn't done. He called Biden "the guy who's most inept in terms of speaking, in terms of ability" and telling the Fox hosts, "You would think that after half a century in Washington, D.C., Ainsley, you'd be able to remember your platform, you'd be able to remember a couple talking points and not need a TelePrompter. It's absolutely ridiculous."In recent weeks, Trump's top campaign staff have been doing whatever they can to undo the president's attempts to lower expectations for Biden's performance. "Joe Biden is not formidable anywhere else but he is formidable on the debate stage," campaign manager Bill Stepien told NBC News this month.Communications director Tim Murtaugh went even further, telling Fox News, "Biden spent decades skillfully debating in the Senate, won two debates while running for vice president and just came through 11 debates in Democratic primaries where he defeated two dozen challengers. Joe Biden is a master debater who knows what he is doing."And yet, like his father, Donald Trump Jr. seems unable to help himself from giving Biden an exceedingly low bar to overcome. At least he didn't accuse him or anyone else from his family of being on drugs this time.Later in his Fox & Friends interview, Trump Jr. actually seemed to realize what he had done, backtracking a bit to claim, "Joe Biden should be decent in the debate, he's been doing it for half a century. I'm worried about Joe Biden the other 22 hours of the day where he can't seem to leave the basement."The message seemed to be, don't let a successful debate performance fool you.Jimmy Kimmel on Donald Trump Jr.'s Attempts to 'Cancel' Him and Hosting the Virtual EmmysRead 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.
|
| Three killed in Northern California wildfire; thousands flee Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:30 AM PDT  Northern California's wine country was on fire again Monday as strong winds fanned flames in the already scorched region, destroying homes and prompting overnight evacuation orders for more than 50,000 people. In Sonoma County, residents of the Oakmont Gardens senior living facility in Santa Rosa boarded brightly lit city buses in the darkness overnight, some wearing bathrobes and using walkers. The fire threat forced Adventist Health St. Helena hospital to suspend care and transfer all patients elsewhere.
|
| The South African cleric taking on the church over a rapist priest Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:58 PM PDT  Reverend June Major has gone on hunger strike twice to demand that the church take action against her alleged attacker who still practises as a priest
|
| China's UK envoy warns Britain to avoid lectures over human rights Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:56 AM PDT  China's ambassador to London has told Britain that it will suffer "setbacks" in its relationship with Beijing if it continues to raise issues about human rights. The warning came after a junior Foreign Office minister took Beijing to task at a Chinese embassy function on Monday, held to mark the 71st anniversary of the People's Republic. In his remarks, James Duddridge said that while Britain wanted to retain good relations with China, it was also concerned about Beijing's erosion of democracy in Hong Kong and its treatment of the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang. Mr Duddridge's comments drew a cool response from Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador, who is understood to have replied pointedly that as Hong Kong was no longer under British rule, Beijing was not obliged to listen to British concerns. Mr Liu added that China's policies in Xinjiang, where the government has been accused of putting up to two million people into "re-education" camps, were designed to combat terrorism. Unless Britain and China observed a policy of "non-interference" in each other's internal politics, he continued, their relationship "would suffer setbacks or even retrogression." Mr Liu, 64, who has been China's envoy to London since 2010, is one of a new generation of Chinese diplomats who have eschewed the low profile traditionally favoured by their predecessors. Earlier this year, he hinted that some Chinese companies might pull out of Britain after the government reversed its decision to allow telecoms giant Huawei a key role in the 5G network. Last year, he also criticised the then Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, over his support for pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong, saying the protests were "a matter about breaking laws". His robust reply to Mr Duddridge's comments, which were made during an online gathering of guests, will be seen as a further indication of how relations between London and Beijing have cooled. Traditionally, routine diplomatic functions are not seen as forums where political differences are aired. Other Chinese ambassadors have already taken up a much more aggressive tack than Mr Liu, developing what become known as "wolf-warrior" diplomacy - a new, assertive dialogue to remind the world that China is now a superpower. Named after a Chinese film in which Beijing's troops defeat US enemies in Africa and Asia, the "wolf warrior" tactic was pioneered by Zhao Lijian, until last year China's envoy to Pakistan. In July last year, he got in a vicious Twitter spat with Susan Rice, a former advisor to Barack Obama, about China's treatment of Uighur Muslims, in which he suggested America improve its own record on race relations. It culminated in Ms Rice urging the Chinese government to recall him to Beijing.
|
| Tow company sold vehicles of Texas military members while they were on duty, feds say Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:29 PM PDT  One of the service members was at basic training when his car was towed, officials say.
|
| Ballistics report doesn't support Kentucky AG's claim that Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot cop Posted: 28 Sep 2020 06:53 AM PDT  A Kentucky State Police ballistics report failed to match a bullet that hit a Louisville cop in the thigh to a shot fired by Breonna Taylor's boyfriend.
|
| Federal judge says Trump administration's actions against TikTok 'likely exceed' the president's authority Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:40 PM PDT  The federal judge, who on Sunday blocked Trump's proposed ban, said TikTok would "suffer irreparable harm" if the order were to go into effect.
|
| Mississippi: 'Fake' letter claims mask mandate abolished Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:04 PM PDT  A letter circulating on social media claiming to be from the office of Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and abolishing the statewide mask mandate is fake, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials said Sunday. "The letter is a FAKE," the agency wrote on its Facebook page, adding that all of the governor's executive orders can be found on the Secretary of State's website. "Any major changes will be addressed in a press conference and an updated executive order."
|
| Dr. Fauci warns the US is ‘not in a good place’ on Covid-19 as cases rise in parts of the country Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:11 PM PDT  'Now's the time actually to double down a bit,' nation's leading infectious disease expert warns in new interview
|
| The coronavirus may have 'one big trick.' Scientists are learning how to stop it. Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:16 AM PDT  The coronavirus appears to have "one big trick," Shane Crotty, a professor in the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, told Bloomberg.That trick — avoiding the human body's "initial innate immune response for a significant period of time," and, particularly, the response of a substance called interferon that typically helps orchestrate the defense against viral pathogens — is linked to more severe cases. Indeed, new studies published last week in Science found that an insufficient amount of interferon, the production of which may sometimes be inhibited in people with previously "silent" gene mutations and other times is actually disabled by a person's immune response, could signal a more dangerous infection.The good news is that, because scientists are catching on to the virus' strategy, they have a better idea of how to prevent it from causing severe infections. Writes Bloomberg, the work highlights the potential for interferon-based therapies, which are typically used in in the early stages of a viral infection when it's easier to avoid life-threatening respiratory failure. Now, dozens of studies focusing on interferon treatments are recruiting COVID-19 patients. Read more at Bloomberg.More stories from theweek.com Trump literally can't afford to lose the election Trump avoids tax return questions as he brings yet another truck to the White House The bigger truth revealed by Trump's taxes
|
| Dr. Rebecca Grant says 'America First' Trump agenda grounded in domestic economic prosperity Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:43 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes Trump administration foreign policy has made the world safer. Analysis from international relations expert Dr. Rebecca Grant.
|
| California governor signs law requiring trans inmates to be housed by gender identity Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:53 AM PDT  The law requires inmates to be asked how they identify, then they must be housed accordingly. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Saturday that will require California prisons to house transgender inmates according to their gender identity. The law requires officers to privately ask inmates if they identify as transgender, nonbinary or intersex.
|
| Australia's Victoria state to ease COVID-19 restrictions as cases slow Posted: 26 Sep 2020 08:39 PM PDT  Victoria, Australia's second most populous state and the epicentre of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, will accelerate the easing of social distancing restrictions as infections slow to fewer than 20 cases a day, its premier said on Sunday. Victoria, which reported 16 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, has placed nearly 5 million residents of its capital Melbourne under one of the world's most stringent lockdowns since early August. With cases well below the record one-day high of more than 700 cases reported in August, state Premier Daniel Andrews said some curbs, including a night curfew, will be removed almost immediately.
|
| New aftermath footage of police raid that killed Breonna Taylor shows Louisville officers violating investigation policies Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The footage shows officers involved in the raid on Taylor's apartment walking throughout the scene unescorted, a violation of their police department rules.
|
| The Senate could vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court just days before the presidential election Posted: 26 Sep 2020 09:06 PM PDT  Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham laid out a timeline for the confirmation process, saying he hopes to begin hearings on October 12.
|
| 500,000 sharks may have to die in the fight against COVID-19. Here’s why Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:25 PM PDT  About 3 million sharks die each year so people can extract a special oil from their livers.
|
| Biden's plan for the first presidential debate against Trump Posted: 28 Sep 2020 09:16 AM PDT  President and former VP go head-to-head on Tuesday night
|
| Oil washes up along five-mile stretch of Florida beach in wake of Hurricane Sally Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:55 AM PDT  It's unclear at this point if the submerged oil is from the 2010 oil spill that was stirred up from Hurricane Sally or if it is from another source.
|
| Leaders to UN: If virus doesn't kill us, climate change will Posted: 26 Sep 2020 11:45 PM PDT  In a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at this week's annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. With Siberia seeing its warmest temperature on record this year and enormous chunks of ice caps in Greenland and Canada sliding into the sea, countries are acutely aware there's no vaccine for global warming. "We are already seeing a version of environmental Armageddon," Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said, citing wildfires in the western U.S. and noting that the Greenland ice chunk was larger than a number of island nations.
|
| Major U.S. hospital chain reportedly hit with '1 of the largest medical cyberattacks' in history Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:34 PM PDT  Universal Health Services' computer network will reportedly remain out of order for days after a massive ransomware attack.Computer systems at the hospital network's 400-plus locations reportedly began failing over the weekend, forcing some workers to begin taking records by hand and even hand-labeling medications, nurses tell NBC News. Computers may remain out of service for days as the chain deals with what might be "one of the largest medical cyberattacks in United States history," NBC News reports.Attacks starting early Sunday morning locked computers and phones at several UHS facilities, including those in California and Florida, people with direct knowledge of the incident tell TechCrunch. Mysterious messages referencing a "shadow universe," which reflects messaging from the Russian cybercrime group Ryuk, then began filling the screens, one person said. "Everyone was told to turn off all the computers and not to turn them on again. We were told it will be days before the computers are up again," the person said.UHS said Monday its network was down due to an "IT security issue." The issue did not jeopardize patient care, and "no patient or employee data appears to have been accessed, copied, or otherwise compromised," the statement continued. An executive who manages cybersecurity at another major U.S. hospital system affirmed to TechCrunch patients' data was "likely safe."More stories from theweek.com Trump literally can't afford to lose the election Trump avoids tax return questions as he brings yet another truck to the White House The bigger truth revealed by Trump's taxes
|
| Merkel says German coronavirus infections could hit 19,200 a day: source Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:54 AM PDT  Chancellor Angela Merkel told leaders of her Christian Democrats (CDU) on Monday that coronavirus infection rate could hit 19,200 per day in Germany if the current trend continues but stressed that the economy must be kept running, a party source said. Infections have been rising in Germany for weeks. Data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 1,192 on Monday.
|
| Going it alone on Covid-19 brings 'greater disaster': China foreign minister Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:22 AM PDT  The coronavirus is a wake-up call for the world, and trading blame "will only bring greater disaster", China's foreign minister said Monday.
|
| Georgia officer loses job after calling suicidal inmate a ‘crazy N-word’ Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:43 AM PDT  A Georgia police officer is being fired after going on a racist rant against an inmate on suicide watch. Gregory Hubert Brown was placed on administrative leave without pay after he called a suicidal inmate at the Clayton County Jail a "crazy N-word," Sheriff Victor Hill said in a statement over the weekend.
|
| Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Claims He Was Taken Out of Context in Atlantic Story on Trump Stealing Election Posted: 28 Sep 2020 12:12 PM PDT  Lawrence Tabas insists he has no intention of disenfranchising the voters of Pennsylvania.Tabas, the state's Republican Party chairman, said he isn't planning a scheme where the GOP-led State Assembly – not voters – would choose Pennsylvania's 20 electors.He hasn't discussed such a strategy with other Republican leaders or the Trump campaign.But he understands why readers of The Atlantic might come to the conclusion that he has.Tabas was one of several sources in a 9,800-word story by Atlantic staff writer Barton Gellman published last week on the magazine's website. The story explores potential 2020 election chaos and the possibility that President Donald Trump could cling to power by preventing "the formation of a consensus about whether there is any outcome at all."The story says Tabas is one of at least three prominent Pennsylvania Republicans discussing the possibility that the GOP-led legislature could choose the electors for the presidential race if the state's election results remain in doubt after more than a month.Tabas said he's never endorsed such a plan. Gellman, he said, is the one who brought it up."I'm not even thinking about that," Tabas told National Review. "My thoughts are getting voters to the polls and winning election through the votes."He said his conversation with Gellman was twisted and taken out of context, "another example, in my opinion, of a very dishonest media doing what it does best.""This writer had a theme he wanted to promote, which, of course, was not disclosed to me."Gellman stands by his reporting. He told National Review it is true he was the one who broached the subject with Tabas of having the legislature directly appoint electors, but he denied taking Tabas out of context. He said he never reported that Tabas was actually planning to appoint electors, only that he's discussed the possibility with the Trump campaign.Tabas may be attempting to clarify his position, or "adding things maybe he wished he'd said," Gellman wrote in his Twitter message.Major national news outlets have seized on The Atlantic's reporting to ratchet up alarm that Trump may not leave office peacefully if he loses his reelection bid.Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman cited Gellman's reporting in Pennsylvania in a piece arguing that Trump is relying on the Supreme Court to steal the 2020 election.A Politico story said Pennsylvania Democrats are concerned the GOP-controlled legislature might appoint pro-Trump electors regardless of the outcome of the election, "all under the guise of massive voter fraud."Citing The Atlantic, Axios called a Pennsylvania elector swap "the apocalypse scenario."But Tabas said there is no plan to swap electors.Tabas said he was contacted July 22 by Gellman, who wanted to talk about ballot security and canvassing for a story about potential voting disputes.Tabas is introduced about three-quarters of the way through the story when Gellman discusses the so-called "safe harbor" deadline, the date on the election calendar -- December 8th this year -- when the 538 men and women who make up the Electoral College must be appointed. They officially meet six days later to cast their votes for the presidency."According to sources in the Republican Party at the state and national levels, the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority," Gellman writes. "With a justification based on claims of rampant fraud, Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly."Gellman writes that Tabas is one of three Republican leaders in Pennsylvania who told him they had "already discussed the direct appointment of electors among themselves." One of the Republicans, he writes, said he'd also discussed it with Trump's national campaign."I've mentioned it to them, and I hope they're thinking about it too," Tabas is quoted as saying in the story.Tabas doesn't dispute the quote. He disputes the context.When he said "I've mentioned it to them," he said he wasn't talking about having the legislature choose electors. Rather, he said, he was responding to Gellman, who asked if he knew what the "safe harbor" deadline was and if Trump's campaign was aware of it."As I recall, he said 'Does the Trump campaign know what the date is, and are they paying attention to it?' Something like that," Tabas said.Gellman also quotes Tabas as saying "I just don't think this is the right time for me to be discussing those strategies and approaches, but [direct appointment of electors] is one of the options. It is one of the available legal options set forth in the Constitution."Tabas said Gellman asked him, as an election-law attorney, if he knew how electors would be selected if Pennsylvania doesn't finish tallying its votes by the "safe harbor" deadline.Tabas said he told Gellman he expected it would fall to the state's congressional delegation, which is divided evenly between nine Republicans and nine Democrats. In that scenario, he was of the belief that Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, would break the tie, he said.It was Gellman who raised the possibility the state legislature could pick the electors, he said."He brought it up," Tabas said.In his response to National Review, Gellman said it is clear that in Tabas's quote – "I've mentioned it to them, and I hope they're thinking about it too" – he was referring to directly appointing electors, and not simply acknowledging that he and the Trump campaign are aware of the "safe harbor" deadline."There is no doubt in context that 'it' in his quote referred to that," Gellman said via Twitter."I didn't say he's 'planning' to appoint electors," Gellman wrote. "I said he told me he'd discussed the possibility with the Trump campaign and told me that doing so is one of the options, and in the context of that discussion he said he hopes for a quick count but worries it will stretch out and people will lose faith in its integrity (and thereby, implicitly, raise questions about how to decide the winner).""I stand by all that and I stand by the fairness of the quotation in context."When he talked to Gellman in late July, Tabas said, Pennsylvania Republicans were still digesting the June primary election results, which had been delayed for weeks in some cases by slow mail-in ballot counting. This is the first year Pennsylvania is allowing voting by mail.Although Tabas is concerned about Pennsylvania election supervisors being overwhelmed with mail-in ballots in November, he said that in July he and his colleagues weren't even thinking about a "safe harbor" deadline strategy, and they still aren't. Even if they were, he said, it's preposterous to think that he would lay out the strategy for a reporter and then tell the reporter that it wasn't "the right time for me to be discussing those strategies.""If I and the Trump campaign were actually discussing a strategy to somehow get the legislature to directly appoint electors, I would never in a billion years ever mention it," he said. "Why would we tell our competitors, and tell a member of the press, our political strategy so they can print it in the paper and tell the whole world?"Tabas said he's not even sure what would happen if Pennsylvania's votes aren't all counted by the "safe harbor" deadline. It could go to the congressional delegation, it could go to the state legislature, or "the court could order people to just keep on counting," he said. It would be up to the courts to decide how to proceed, not political parties."There are multiple options here," he said. "It is not clear."Tabas denies he's had conversations with other Republican leaders or Trump campaign staffers about having the state legislature appoint electors.In a prepared statement, Jake Corman, Pennsylvania's state senate majority leader, called the concerns laid out by The Atlantic "pure conjecture." Corman also was named in the story."I have had zero contact with the Trump campaign or others about changing Pennsylvania's long-standing tradition of appointing electors consistent with the popular vote," Corman said."The General Assembly is obligated to follow the law, and the law is the Election Code, which clearly defines how electors are chosen and does not involve the Legislature."A story in Politico on Friday said Pennsylvania Democrats are concerned the GOP-controlled legislature might appoint pro-Trump electors regardless of the outcome of the election, "all under the guise of massive voter fraud."Mike Straub, a spokesman for Pennsylvania House speaker Bryan Cutler, said "there has not been a discussion by the speaker of the House or among House leaders to go that way."Straub said he believes the media controversy has been prompted by a recent state supreme court decision that extends the deadline to count mail-in ballots until three days after Election Day."That, I think, caused folks to have more concerns about well, if it's that close and we don't have a certified election, what would the next step be?" Straub said.Despite polls showing Trump behind in Pennsylvania, Tabas said he believes the president will win a clear majority in the Keystone State. Tabas said it's simply not true that he is advocating for suppressing the will of the people.He said he's received threats since The Atlantic published its story."I've been getting coordinated calls and emails, and they've been calling people I work with accusing me of somehow wanting to thwart the will of the voters," Tabas said. "I want all the votes to be counted."
|
