'My parents had hearts of gold, they didn't deserve it'

How people are dealing with the effects of coronavirus in one New York neighbourhood.

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‘They’re coming after our state,’ McSally warns Arizona Republicans.

By BY JENNIFER MEDINA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/34IEQ1S

The Battlegrounds Within Battlegrounds

By BY KEITH COLLINS, TRIP GABRIEL AND STEPHANIE SAUL from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TJBvJP

Celebrities lend Biden a hand in turning out the vote in Philadelphia.

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jPB3US

The battle for Senate control looks more volatile than the presidential race

First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.

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'My parents had hearts of gold, they didn't deserve it'

How people are dealing with the effects of coronavirus in one New York neighbourhood.

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Christians Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Millions of Christians worldwide will unite on Sunday, Nov. 1 to join the global Body of Christ for the 2020 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP).

from CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2TFVbhN Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Christians Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Millions of Christians worldwide will unite on Sunday, Nov. 1 to join the global Body of Christ for the 2020 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP).

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US Election 2020: Biden and Trump in last weekend dash round swing states

Joe Biden is in Michigan while Donald Trump arrives in Pennsylvania, both key to the White House race.

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US election: The big issue that could hurt Trump

Just ahead of the election, the US is seeing what could be the largest outbreak of the pandemic so far.

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US election 2020: 'It just makes me feel like a nobody'

Former prisoner Davion Hampton from Florida wants to vote in this US election. But he can't.

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US election: 'All Republicans should marry Democrats'

Chenren and Cathy Shao haven't let political differences get in the way of their eight-year marriage.

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US election 2020: The great dividing line of this campaign

For some Americans, civil unrest after police shootings is driving their support for Donald Trump.

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Covid-19: Austria and Portugal announce restrictions

A number of European countries are enforcing new measures as cases continue to rise.

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Oleksandr Usyk beats Derek Chisora on points in stylish display

Oleksandr Usyk earns a unanimous points win over Derek Chisora at Wembley Arena to underline his credentials at heavyweight.

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Typhoon Goni: Philippines hit by year's most powerful storm

Torrential rain and "catastrophic violent winds" are expected on the main island of Luzon on Sunday.

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Stanford Study Seeks to Quantify Infections Stemming From Trump Rallies

By BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35Pg9QV

Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, facing opponents from both parties, embraces Trumpism.

By BY RICHARD FAUSSET from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jH3O61

Police in North Carolina use a chemical spray to disperse a get-out-the-vote rally.

By BY MICHAEL LEVENSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/323ZGY2

George Shultz Speaks Out for Renewing U.S. Leadership Overseas

By BY PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3ecdy7r

For transgender people in the military, much hinges on presidential election

Joe Biden has been vague about his plans for the military if he wins the election, but one specific promise he has made is to roll back the Trump administration policy that effectively bars transgender service members from serving openly in accord with their gender identity.

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Police reach breaking point amid protests, pandemic, rising crime

Amid rising crime rates, a polarizing election and the continued high-profile police killings of Black Americans, some police veterans say they can't recall a tougher time to be an officer.

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U.S. fights delay in extraditing Carlos Ghosn's accused escape plotters to Japan

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday urged a federal judge to swiftly reject a last-minute bid by two Massachusetts men to avoid being extradited to Japan to face charges that they helped former Nissan Motor Co Ltd Chairman Carlos Ghosn flee the country. The department in a court filing said Japanese agents are slated to come to the United States in the "coming days" to transport U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, back to Japan. The U.S. State Department informed their lawyers on Wednesday it had approved turning them over.

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Berlin airport opens... 10 years late

Berlin's new airport is finally opening to the public, 10 years behind schedule and billions over budget.

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Scared but socially distant in a Tokyo 'haunted house'

Could this zombie-inspired experience be for people who want to be frightened but be Covid-19 safe?

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The Papers: 'National lockdown looms' and Stiles tributes

Several of Saturday's papers lead with reports that nationwide restrictions will be introduced.

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Championship leaders Reading beaten at Coventry

Leaders Reading fall to their first Championship defeat of the season as Coventry pick up their first league win in seven attempts.

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Wilson beats Trump to clinch Championship League title

Kyren Wilson claims his first title on English soil after defeating world number one Judd Trump 3-1 in the final of the Championship League in Milton Keynes.

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Voters suing Minnesota over a mask mandate are asking the Supreme Court to intervene.

By BY JACEY FORTIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2JeAC9Y

Time Running Short, Trump and Biden Return to Northern Battlegrounds

By BY THOMAS KAPLAN AND ANNIE KARNI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3eeng93

Woman Who Mailed Threat to Susan Collins Gets 30 Months in Prison

By BY JOHN ISMAY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31XgW0Z

¿Quién ganará Florida, Biden o Trump? Esto dicen las encuestas

By BY GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/2JnWsbi

Political Satire Isn’t Dead. It’s Been Turned Into Horror Stories.

By BY ANNALEE NEWITZ from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3jGKgP9

Glimmers of Hope for a Winter With Tropical Travel

By BY CATHERINE PORTER from NYT World https://ift.tt/2HN23qM

Kyle Rittenhouse extradited to Wisconsin following terse ruling from Illinois judge accusing him of asking the court to 'ignore binding Illinois law'

Rittenhouse, charged in Wisconsin with first-degree homicide over the shooting of three people at Kenosha protests, had been fighting his extradition.

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UPS locates mysterious Tucker Carlson package presenter claims contains 'damning' material about Biden family

‘UPS will always focus first on our customers, and will never stop working to solve issues and make things right’

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FBI Investigating Hunter Biden for Money Laundering: Report

The FBI opened an investigation into Hunter Biden and associates in 2019 on suspicion of money laundering, a Justice Department official told Sinclair Broadcasting.The criminal investigation is ongoing, the DOJ official said.The revelation comes after Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, came forward with a trove of documents regarding the Biden family's dealings with now-defunct Chinese energy firm CEFC. While Joe Biden has denied that he has ever spoken with Hunter regarding the latter's overseas business dealings, Bobulinski claims the former vice president is lying.> EXCLUSIVE: Tony Bobulinski tells @WeAreSinclair he was questioned by six @FBI agents, with counsel present, for five hours on October 23, listing him as a "material witness" in an ongoing investigation focused on Hunter Biden and his associates. His cell phones were examined. pic.twitter.com/5lPzRTREJN> > -- James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) October 29, 2020Additionally, Bobulinski told Sinclair that he was interviewed by FBI agents for five hours last Friday and was listed as a "material witness" for the agency.The interview "was a very cooperative deep dive into all the facts across that time period" during which Bobulinski conducted business with members of the Biden family, Bobulinski said.The New York Post reported earlier this month that it was given materials purportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop. While a subsequent Fox News report revealed that Hunter Biden’s laptop was subpoenaed by the FBI in connection with a money laundering investigation, the Thursday report by Sinclair marks the first confirmation that Hunter Biden himself is the subject of an ongoing criminal probe.The Biden campaign has not denied the veracity of any of the materials revealed by the Post or Bobulinski. However, the campaign has stated that "Joe Biden has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever."

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US sells oil seized from Iran to Venezuela for $40 million

The United States said Thursday that it had sold Iranian oil seized on its way to Venezuela for more than $40 million.

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Body-camera footage released of Wallace killing; family says officers were improperly trained

The footage from body-worn cameras that was taken as police responded to a call about Walter Wallace Jr. shows him emerging from a house with a knife as relatives shout at officers about his mental health condition, a lawyer for the man's family said Thursday.

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Popular Thai pro-democracy figure charged over flash mob rally

One of Thailand’s most popular anti-establishment politicians has been charged for his role in an illegal flash mob protest last year, in a move that is likely to fuel the current wave of pro-democracy protests. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 41, a charismatic billionaire and founder of the dissolved Future Forward party, is accused of five public assembly violations linked to the rally in Bangkok's central shopping district last December, Krisadung Nutcharat, his lawyer, said on Thursday. The charges include failing to notify police of a public gathering, blocking a sky train station, using a megaphone without permission and holding a rally close to a royal residence. Four other people from his Progressive Movement Group and Move Forward Party face similar charges. All five deny any wrongdoing. Mr Thanathorn has been an outspoken advocate of the protest movement that has gripped the Thai capital, Bangkok, since June, and he recently condemned a short-lived emergency order aimed at keeping demonstrators off the streets. During last year’s elections, he and his pro-democracy Future Forward Party, proved to be enormously popular with young, first-time voters, and garnered the third-largest share of seats.

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Record turnout in Texas' largest county could be crucial to flipping a usually red state

Election officials in Harris County tripled the number of early-voting sites, expanded their hours and added drive-thru voting.

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‘I’m getting my money!’ Florida shopper denied refund returns with a crowbar, cops say

A Florida shopper wouldn’t take no for an answer, and things got a little out of hand.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis had trouble voting because someone had falsely submitted a change of address under his name

Anthony Guevara, 20, was charged with altering a voter registration without consent and unauthorized access of a computer, in connection to the case.

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Op-Ed: The immorality of sentencing a 15-year-old to prison forever

The Supreme Court needs to state again that a child cannot be sentenced to life without parole unless a trial court determines that child is beyond rehabilitation.

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Woman Beheaded in French Knife ‘Terror’ Attack at Church, 3 Dead

Three people have been killed—including one elderly woman and another person by decapitation—and several others injured in a suspected terror attack inside the Notre-Dame basilica in the French city of Nice. The knife-wielding assailant, who was wounded by police gunfire, allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” several times, including while he was being detained, in what has come to be known as a battle cry for Islamic extremists in Europe.The city’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, wrote immediately after the killings that “everything suggests a terrorist attack,” and said the unnamed suspect had been arrested and taken to a hospital in the city. The Paris’ anti-terror prosecutors office said it has opened an investigation. Italian police said late Thursday that the killer is a 21-year-old Tunisian migrant who was smuggled to the Italian island of Lampedusa in September. After he completed the mandatory two-week COVID-19 quarantine, he left the migrant camp and made his way to France. Authorities have his details and fingerprints as part of the immigration process and are working with French police. “The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained. He is on his way to hospital, he is alive,” Estrosi told reporters at the scene. Although a motive has not been confirmed by officials, the mayor expressed his wish to “wipe out Islamo-fascism” from the country.French President Emmanuel Macron declared a state of emergency and ordered security to be strengthened at places of worship across the nation. On Wednesday night, Macron had put France back into lockdown because of its out-of-control resurgence in coronavirus cases. Hours after the attack, he visited the basilica and met with security and rescue personnel.The Nice slashings occurred on the same day that an assailant was shot dead by police near another French city, Avignon, after he reportedly waved a gun at officers, and also as a guard was reportedly attacked outside the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Local reports in the French Riviera city say the elderly woman and a man who died were attacked inside the heart of the Nice basilica. The BBC reports a woman who fled to a nearby cafe was stabbed many times and died at a hospital, and that a witness at the scene managed to set off an alarm on a “special protection system” set up by city officials. One eyewitness told the BBC: “We heard many people shouting in the street. We saw from the window that there were many, many policemen coming, and gunshots, many gunshots.”In July 2016, Nice was the scene of unthinkable carnage when an armed French delivery driver attacked a waterfront Bastille Day fireworks party with a truck, killing at 84 people, including 10 children. France has been under high alert for terrorist acts in recent weeks as 14 people suspected of murdering 12 Charlie Hebdo staffers, a female police officer, and four men in a Jewish supermarket in 2015 in retaliation for the publication of cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad went on trial.As the courtroom proceedings opened, two people were stabbed near the publication’s old offices in Paris on Sept. 25 in what the French interior minister then declared was “clearly an act of Islamist terrorism.”The Nice attack also comes less than two weeks after the beheading of middle-school teacher Samuel Paty in Paris after he had shown his students cartoons published by the satirical magazine.Estrosi said the two attacks were similar. “The methods match, without doubt, those used against the brave teacher in Conflans Sainte Honorine, Samuel Paty,” he said.Family of Moscow-Born Teen Who Beheaded Teacher Were from Chechnya Where Charlie Hebdo Cartoons Are DemonizedPresident Macron delivered the eulogy at Paty’s funeral, and said France would not abandon its right to free speech. “We will continue, Professor. We will defend the freedom that you taught so well and we will promote secularism, we will not renounce caricatures, drawings, even if others retreat,” Macron said. “We will continue the fight for freedom and the freedom of which you are now the face.”Macron’s comments have drawn sharp criticism in the Islamic world with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling for a boycott of French goods. In response, Charlie Hebdo published a caricature of Erdogan in his underwear lifting a Muslim woman’s skirt on Wednesday, drawing scorn from Erdogan for what he referred to as a “a grave insult to my prophet.”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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White House coronavirus adviser Dr Birx boycotting Covid task force over misinformation

Dr Birx has travelled to 40 states in a personal bid to advise officials on Covid

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CEO Secrets: The aviation workers starting new businesses

We hear from three people who have started their own companies during the downturn in aviation.

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Trump and Biden Converge in Florida, an Elusive Prize Still Up for Grabs

By BY KATIE GLUECK AND PATRICIA MAZZEI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jOnh57

A Californian is battling both influenza and Covid-19 in an early case of ‘co-infection.’

By BY JOHN ISMAY from NYT World https://ift.tt/3e7alFW

Appeals court rules Minnesota cannot count ballots received after 8 p.m. on Election Day.

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35KvzFX

Jimmy Orr, a Favorite Target of the Colts’ Unitas, Dies at 85

By BY RICHARD GOLDSTEIN from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3kTRvoF

Dems Mess With Texas

By BY LISA LERER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/37TXZQo

Biden campaign pushes drop boxes in new ads with the slogan ‘Silence him.’

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35EQbze

Choua Yang, Hmong Refugee and Educator, Dies at 53

By BY STEPHEN KURCZY from NYT Obituaries https://ift.tt/2TyAmoe

The morning

By Unknown Author from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/35KrTnD

The Voting Suppression Tipping Point

By BY SPENCER BOKAT-LINDELL from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/34Fh9rl

Greenwald resigns from The Intercept over Biden article

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald said Thursday he had resigned from The Intercept after the US investigative media outlet refused to publish his article critical of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

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Major train derailment forces schools and businesses to evacuate in Texas community

A video shows the train derailing in front of drivers on a Texas highway.

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Walmart is removing guns and ammo from shelves and display cases in all stores as a precaution amid 'civil unrest'

Guns and ammo will no longer be on display at Walmart but still be available for purchase upon request in stores where they are sold.

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SCOTUS: N.C. ballots can be counted up to nine days after election

The Supreme Court will allow absentee ballots in North Carolina to be received and counted up to nine days after Election Day.

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Lev Parnas associate David Correia pleads guilty to fraud and lying

Correia and Parnas faced charges of campaign finance fraud and of duping investors in a company called "Fraud Guarantee" out of more than $2 million.

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Trump news – live: President cancels rally over high winds, as he threatens 'Anonymous' whistleblower with 'bad things'

Follow the latest updates

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Plaintiffs appeal Virginia judge's decision to remove Robert E. Lee statue on Richmond's Monument Avenue

The Supreme Court of Virginia has been asked to intervene in the planned removal of the Robert E. Lee statue on Richmond's iconic Monument Avenue.

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Biden Can’t Repeat Gore’s Mistake and Let the Supreme Court Overrule Democracy

Democratic senators should have refused to participate in the absurdly rushed effort to pack Amy Coney Barrett on to the Supreme Court in the midst of the election, instead of giving Republicans’ partisan power play the veneer of legitimacy.But that ship has sailed and now, with Justice Barrett officially on the court, a new potential challenge to the Constitution looms as the GOP is banking on its newly super-packed Supreme Court majority to reinstall Trump in the White House if he stands to suffer a narrow loss in one or more swing states.Now voters, and Joe Biden, may have to decide whether to accept an effort by the Supreme Court to decide who will sit in the White House in 2021 by preventing all duly cast ballots from being counted. Trump’s second Supreme Court appointee, Brett Kavanaugh, openly threatened to do just that on Monday, even as Trump’s last minute addition to the court, Amy Coney Barrett, headlined another White House superspreader event to celebrate her mid-election installation and provide Trump with campaign propaganda in the process.We’ve been here before—just ask Al Gore. Joe Biden and his Democratic Party must make clear, now, that they will not let the court’s conservatives steal a second presidential election for the Republican Party. Voters should make it crystal clear that the nation will not accept a second attempt to undermine the electoral process, and with it our democracy.On Dec. 8, 2000, the Supreme Court’s then five-justice right-wing majority directed Florida to stop a state-wide recount of certain ballots ordered by the Florida Supreme Court in the face of the razor-thin outcome of that state’s vote in the presidential election voting, which was to be determinative of the outcome in the Electoral College. On Dec. 12, the same right-wing majority issued a decision effectively handing the election to George W. Bush by effectively barring the completion of the recount, thereby preventing the nation from learning which candidate had actually received the most votes.The reasoning of the majority in Bush v. Gore was so embarrassingly flimsy, and transparently partisan, that the opinion openly cautioned lower courts to avoid relying upon it in future cases. This, they said, was a one-off.Many questioned why Al Gore accepted—and urged voters to go along with—the literally anti-democratic outcome decreed by the court. Yet, by the time the justices had taken it upon themselves to hand the presidency to their favored candidate it was too late; by having chosen to participate in the Supreme Court litigation, Gore had conceded that the five right wing justices had the power to decide the election, even if it meant preventing all of the votes from being counted.In fact, Gore’s decision to actively participate in the Supreme Court challenge to the counting of votes in Florida had been reasonable, under the circumstances. At the time, few could have anticipated that a majority of the Supreme Court’s justices, whatever their political preferences, would ultimately choose to use their unelected positions to undermine democracy so brazenly, and thereby risk undermining the legitimacy of the court itself in the process. But, having gotten away with their audacious gambit in 2000, undermining elections and suppressing votes has since become ever more integral to the GOP playbook for retaining power as the party’s voter base ages and shrinks.Indeed, the packed Supreme Court, and lower federal appellate courts, have proven to be key to that strategy, including in recent weeks as they have ruled in favor of GOP vote-suppression strategies with ever greater frequency.Thus, unlike in 2000, if the Supreme Court gets a hold of a contested election, there is little doubt what it will do. There is now every sign that the GOP is planning for a Bush v. Gore sequel with a starring role for Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump has openly entreated to stand ready to intervene on his behalf.Indeed, four of the five members of the court’s pre-Barrett five-member reactionary majority have already more than hinted that they are poised to do just that. Last week, the court came one vote short of imposing an emergency stay upon a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling upholding the right of voters to have ballots postmarked by election day, but received by Nov. 6, counted. The Pennsylvania state court decision was grounded in the Pennsylvania state constitution, and it is well-established that a state’s highest court—not the U.S. Supreme Court—is the last word on interpreting that state’s constitution and laws.The background for the decision is a novel, and frankly absurd, argument being advanced by the GOP (and vaguely adverted to by Justice Rehnquist in an opinion in Bush v. Gore that was adopted by only three justices) that, because the U.S. Constitution states that state “Legislature[s]” determine “Times, Places, and Manner” of federal elections, state courts are implicitly barred from interpreting state constitutions in ways that vary from the literal meaning of those laws, including to favor voter access to the polls. Conservatives claim to favor interpreting the Constitution in conformity with its original understanding, and there is no reason to believe that the Framers meant to cut state courts out of the business of interpreting state election laws by using the term “legislature” in this way.The Supreme Court’s 4-4 vote against a stay of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision was not accompanied by an explanation. Nonetheless, simply by means of their votes, four members of the court appear to have signaled their sympathy to the GOP argument, and while the court denied an emergency stay, it remains free to take up the case again. Indeed, their separate concurrences in a decision issued on Monday night voiding an extension on the time to receive mail ballots in Wisconsin, Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch expressly adopted this radical theory, with Kavanaugh stating that “a state court may not depart from the state election code enacted by the legislature.”Furthermore, there is every reason to expect that newly minted Justice Barrett is poised to join the four other most right-wing justices’ position, potentially by ordering Pennsylvania not to count absentee ballots received after election day (which are highly likely to favor Biden), even though doing so will violate the state’s constitution. Indeed, in anticipation of the new justice favoring its position, the GOP has already filed a new set of papers asking the court to take up the merits of the Pennsylvania case before election day.Those hoping for a resuscitation of the challenge to the Pennsylvania court decision had reason to be heartened by Monday night’s Supreme Court ruling, which rejected a trial court order requiring Wisconsin to count ballots mailed by election day, but received within six days thereafter. In his opinion justifying the Supreme Court’s action, Kavanaugh adopted Trump’s mendacious rhetoric about the purportedly inherently suspicious nature of mail ballots, referring to the “chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election.” Yet, as Justice Kagan stated in dissent, “there are no results to ‘flip’ until all valid votes are counted”, and there is nothing “chaotic” or “suspicious” about counting all ballots executed and mailed before election day.The possible revisiting of the Pennsylvania case, which has implications for the potential counting of late-received ballots in other states, is only one of several gambits the GOP might attempt to reinstall Trump before a ready and waiting, right-wing Supreme Court majority, if the opportunity presents itself.So then what can the majority of the voting public, the majority of which is almost certain (once again) to vote against Trump, do to prevent another such blatant undermining of democracy? Some of the potentially necessary steps are obvious, and untroubling; others may be more difficult to accept, but could nonetheless prove essential to the preservation of the nation’s democracy.First, and most importantly, Democratic voters need to vote in sufficient numbers not only to win, but to win decisively, in swing states. The millions of dollars that the GOP has been spending in pre-election vote suppression litigation has not only been focused on winning the election for Trump, which appears to be highly unlikely in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at this point, given Trump’s position in the polls, but also to keep the margins of a Biden win as tight as possible. This is because it will only be possible for the GOP to move the election into the courts if, as in 2000, the vote count is very close in one or more states that can determine the outcome in the Electoral College.Accordingly, as Greg Sargent has observed, the GOP hopes of undermining democracy in the courts “could end with a relative whimper” if the vote count, particularly the early reported count, is decisively in Biden’s favor—a result that appears to be increasingly likely (albeit not certain).Second, people must be prepared to take to the streets to make clear that another judicial attempt to undermine democracy will simply not be accepted by the majority of the nation’s citizens.It is possible that, after election day, we have a contest that Biden on the road to winning once all the votes are counted, including those cast by mail but not yet counted in a state like Pennsylvania. Under those circumstances, the GOP may make their play for a Supreme Court intervention, in the form of a preemptive stay that threatens to void all or part of the vote count, like the stay Bush obtained in 2000.In the face of such GOP entreaties to the court, citizens will need to take to the streets in massive numbers to demand that every vote be counted, and make clear that a repeat of the judicial intervention to thwart democracy will neither be tolerated nor accepted.If the court receives a strong message that another attempt to install an unelected president in office not only stands unaccepted by the majority of citizens, but also that the court’s legitimacy and authority could be heavily damaged in the process, some members of the court’s reactionary majority may choose to step back from the brink and refuse to intervene in a presidential election again.Finally, if the court’s majority does make the reckless choice to take up a GOP attempt to undermine the vote count, Joe Biden will have a potentially momentous decision to make: whether to accept the court’s authority to do so. He should not.If the court takes up a GOP challenge to counting potentially decisive votes after the election in a swing state, Biden should refuse to participate in the litigation, thereby definitively challenging the authority and the legitimacy of the court in taking it upon itself to select the president.Critics may argue that, by taking such a dramatic step, Biden could lose his chance of prevailing before the Supreme Court.Yet, unlike in 2000, if the court accepts a case that could end up determining the outcome of the election, there is little basis for doubt regarding the likely outcome. If five or six of the court’s right-wing justices choose to cause the court to intervene, they will almost certainly ultimately also vote in favor of reinstalling Trump, no matter how tenuous the legal rationale that may be required to reach that result. Accordingly, Biden will not be foregoing much of anything by refusing to participate.Others will argue that a choice by Biden to directly challenge the Supreme Court’s authority will instigate a constitutional crisis. Yet that gets the situation backwards; it is the GOP and the Supreme Court’s reactionary justices that have brought the nation to the brink of such a crisis, and it will take the nation over the edge if they attempt to install yet another president who may not have won the election.Therefore, a decision by Biden not to accept a Supreme Court intervention to frustrate the counting of citizens’ votes would not undermine the constitutional order. To the contrary, it would avoid placing an unearned veneer of legitimacy upon an improper challenge to democracy, thus avoiding a repeat of Democratic senators’ erroneous decision to participate in the Coney Barrett confirmation hearings, which gave that court-packing exercise an equally undeserved appearance of regularity.Indeed, defying the Supreme Court’s gerrymandered right-wing majority, and refusing to recognize its authority to reinstall Trump, could ultimately prove to be the only means of preserving our democracy.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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Trump rushes struggling GOP senator at rally: 'You got one minute, they don't want to hear this'

President hurried Arizona Senator Martha McSally before calling up three politicians from other states - plus Nigel Farage - to address the crowd

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Lawyer for China exec accuses RCMP of lying about her arrest

A lawyer for a senior executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday accused a Canadian police officer of lying about why he didn’t arrest her immediately at Vancouver’s airport two years ago. Richard Peck told Constable Winston Yep during cross-examination that he did not believe Yep was honest when he told the British Columbia Supreme Court this week why the arrest happened only after Canada Border Services Agency officers questioned Meng for three hours. Yep is the first in a series of witnesses called to testify at the request of lawyers for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is fighting extradition to the U.S. to face fraud charges.

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A couple has lived in a 130-square-foot tiny house for 5 years — here's what a typical week looks like for them

As part of the "A Week in My Tiny House" series, Alexis Stephens and Christian Parsons show the reality of living in a tiny house with your partner.

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The White House is rolling its eyes at the big 'Anonymous' reveal

The White House is just as impressed with the revelation of "Anonymous" as everyone else.On Wednesday, former Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor revealed he was the one who wrote a New York Times op-ed and a subsequent book detailing how he was part of a "quiet resistance" within the Trump administration. It wasn't exactly a surprising announcement considering Taylor had already spoken out against Trump, including at the Democratic National Convention two months ago.As White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany made clear in a Wednesday statement, the Trump administration doesn't really care either. McEnany called Taylor a "low-level, disgruntled staffer" and slammed the Times' "appalling" decision to grant him anonymity.> In a statement, @PressSec calls former DHS Chief of Staff, who just revealed himself as "Anonymous," a "low-level, disgruntled former staffer" who is a "liar and a coward." pic.twitter.com/m0aopRyfSi> > -- Sara Cook (@saraecook) October 28, 2020White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah had a more succinct reaction to the news.> I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly tipped backwards.> > To paraphrase Andy Warhol: In the future, everyone will be a Senior Admin Officials for 15 minutes. ✌️ https://t.co/2quOGWkaHg> > -- Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) October 28, 2020And Axios' Jonathan Swan, known for his tough questioning of Trump, outlined how Taylor's resistance didn't seem to be much of a resistance at all. > Turns out the NYT oped page gave an enormous "Resistance" platform to a staffer whose agency green-lit the Trump administration's most hardline immigration moves, including family separation, during his tenure. https://t.co/TFSj9bBQ4N> > -- Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) October 28, 2020More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement

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