The Purcell principle: The murky legal concept that could swing the election

The Purcell principle: The murky legal concept that could swing the election

Politico reports: Amy Coney Barrett hasn’t even arrived yet, but the Supreme Court has begun delivering its first big signals of how aggressive a role the court plans to play in setting the rules for next month’s election. The court stepped in Monday night to reinstate a South Carolina ballot witness requirement, even as a Pennsylvania dispute over late-arriving absentee ballots is now teed up for imminent emergency action by the justices. And another simmering fight over voting rules in…

Read More Read More

White House acquiesces to FDA’s guidelines for vetting Covid-19 vaccines

White House acquiesces to FDA’s guidelines for vetting Covid-19 vaccines

The Wall Street Journal reports: The White House endorsed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s plans for assessing whether a Covid-19 vaccine should be given widely, casting aside objections to requirements that would likely mean a shot won’t be cleared until after Election Day, people familiar with the matter said. The FDA promptly issued the guidelines on Tuesday afternoon, saying it hopes the release “helps the public understand our science-based decision-making process that assures vaccine quality, safety and efficacy for…

Read More Read More

Pastor Hagee contracts Covid-19 after suing to force school reopenings

Pastor Hagee contracts Covid-19 after suing to force school reopenings

The Daily Beast reports: At San Antonio’s Cornerstone Church on Sunday morning, hundreds of maskless congregants sang and prayed, swaying together in the pews, babies and grandparents in close proximity. It might have been easy to forget there was a deadly pandemic blazing through the country. That is, until about 25 minutes into the sermon, when pastor Matt Hagee, on a stage bathed in blue light, announced that his father, the 80-year-old senior pastor and the church’s founder, John Hagee,…

Read More Read More

‘Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting crazy’

‘Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting crazy’

Gabriel Sherman writes: Donald Trump’s erratic and reckless behavior in the last 24 hours has opened a rift in the Trump family over how to rein in the out-of-control president, according to two Republicans briefed on the family conversations. Sources said Donald Trump Jr. is deeply upset by his father’s decision to drive around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last night with members of the Secret Service while he was infected with COVID-19. “Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting…

Read More Read More

Trump — ‘Feeling really good!’ — on steroids

Trump — ‘Feeling really good!’ — on steroids

I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020 NBC News reports: Trump received the first dose of the steroid Saturday and will be on it for “the time being,” Conley…

Read More Read More

Trump is putting White House staff at risk

Trump is putting White House staff at risk

The Atlantic reports: On any given morning, the White House is a blur of activity. A chef may be whipping up breakfast for the first couple in the second-floor kitchen. A valet might be shining the president’s shoes, while the head butler lingers in the West Sitting Hall, awaiting any urgent presidential requests. Housekeepers, maybe a dozen of them, could be deployed throughout the building, vacuuming, polishing, and dusting. The White House florist might be arranging a vase full of…

Read More Read More

Secret Service agents, doctors aghast at Trump’s drive outside hospital

Secret Service agents, doctors aghast at Trump’s drive outside hospital

The Washington Post reports: Current and former Secret Service agents and medical professionals were aghast Sunday night at President Trump’s trip outside the hospital where he is being treated for the coronavirus, saying the president endangered those inside his SUV for a publicity stunt. As the backlash grew, multiple aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations also called Trump’s evening outing an unnecessary risk — but said it was not surprising. Trump had said he…

Read More Read More

CDC says airborne transmission plays a role in coronavirus spread

CDC says airborne transmission plays a role in coronavirus spread

The Washington Post reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Monday that people can sometimes be infected with the coronavirus through airborne transmission, especially in enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation. The long-awaited update to the agency Web page explaining how the virus spreads represents an official acknowledgment of growing evidence that under certain conditions, people farther than six feet apart can become infected by tiny droplets and particles that float in the air for minutes and hours, and…

Read More Read More

Exxon’s plan for surging carbon emissions revealed in leaked documents

Exxon’s plan for surging carbon emissions revealed in leaked documents

Bloomberg reports: Exxon Mobil Corp. has been planning to increase annual carbon-dioxide emissions by as much as the output of the entire nation of Greece, an analysis of internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg shows, setting one of the largest corporate emitters against international efforts to slow the pace of warming. The drive to expand both fossil-fuel production and planet-warming pollution comes at a time when some of Exxon’s rivals, such as BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are moving…

Read More Read More

A second Trump term would be ‘game over’ for the climate, says Michael Mann

A second Trump term would be ‘game over’ for the climate, says Michael Mann

The Guardian reports: Michael Mann, one of the most eminent climate scientists in the world, believes averting climate catastrophe on a global scale would be “essentially impossible” if Donald Trump is re-elected. A professor at Penn State University, Mann, 54, has published hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers, testified numerous times before Congress and appeared frequently in the news media. He is also active on Twitter, where earlier this year he declared: “A second Trump term is game over for the…

Read More Read More

Trump concealed his first positive Covid-19 test while awaiting a second test on Thursday

Trump concealed his first positive Covid-19 test while awaiting a second test on Thursday

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Trump didn’t disclose a positive result from a rapid test for Covid-19 on Thursday while awaiting the findings from a more thorough coronavirus screening, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump received a positive result on Thursday evening before making an appearance on Fox News in which he didn’t reveal those results. Instead, he confirmed earlier reports that one of his top aides had tested positive for coronavirus and mentioned the second…

Read More Read More

Covid-positive Trump ignores CDC advice to take joyride, with grim Secret Service agents in tow

Covid-positive Trump ignores CDC advice to take joyride, with grim Secret Service agents in tow

The Daily Beast reports: After teasing a “little surprise visit” via video on Twitter, President Trump left the hospital on Sunday afternoon to wave to supporters from the back seat of an SUV. “It’s been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID,” Trump, who is still suffering from the coronavirus, said in the video. “I learned it by really going to school, this is the real school, this isn’t the ‘let’s read the book’ school, and I…

Read More Read More

I sat in the front row at the debate. Did Trump infect me with the coronavirus?

I sat in the front row at the debate. Did Trump infect me with the coronavirus?

Kristin Urquiza writes: On Tuesday night, I sat in masked silence in the front row of the debate hall in Cleveland as President Trump mocked former vice president Joe Biden for wearing a mask. Earlier in the evening, I watched as Trump’s family and Republican insiders defiantly removed their masks, in violation of the clear guidelines set by the Cleveland Clinic, while most of the other audience members remained masked. We didn’t know it then, but at that moment, Trump…

Read More Read More

How the White House is trying to convince America that Trump’s illness isn’t a big deal

How the White House is trying to convince America that Trump’s illness isn’t a big deal

Philip Bump writes: On Saturday evening, President Trump’s personal Twitter account was updated with a video message. Trump has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Friday after contracting the novel coronavirus, but the video was pointed in its intent: The president is nonetheless doing well, well enough to offer up a bit of politicking and assurances he’s confident in his recovery. In case that point was somehow lost on observers, campaign aides like Jason Miller made it…

Read More Read More