BREAKING: A U.S. government intelligence report released says China is actively interfering in the 2020 election process against Pres. Trump's campaign, while Russia is spreading disinformation on Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. https://t.co/BTRIy6ny5a
— ABC News (@ABC) August 7, 2020
America is now the object of a proxy battle between two superpowers. China and Russia:https://t.co/8S8l5f92eF
— (((M Goldfarb))) (@MGEmancipation) August 7, 2020
Russia is once again interfering in the U.S. election, trying to covertly undermine Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment released on Friday.https://t.co/z6NEWXExJN
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) August 7, 2020
The *president was at his golf club in New Jersey tonight but still felt the need to talk to people out loud, so he called a press conference at the 19th hole… It was as fucked up as you might imagine.
"It's going to disappear" — Trump is still out here falsely claiming the coronavirus will one day just vanish, and is trying to turn reality on its head by suggesting over 10 percent unemployment is good pic.twitter.com/R3XS7w1mBI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 7, 2020
Trump says he will extend unemployment benefits until the end of the year through executive order. He doesn’t say if the $600 weekly total would be the amount, or some other number, and he doesn’t say how he can do this legally without Congress pic.twitter.com/6JJNlTHNC1
— Toluse Olorunnipa (@ToluseO) August 7, 2020
Trump absurdly claims that mail-in ballots are a bigger threat than foreign election interference pic.twitter.com/Ly0fMDmnzE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 8, 2020
Trump says he's "pursuing" an executive order to require all health insurance companies to "cover all pre-existing conditions for all customers." Trump says, "This has never been done before." (Pre-existing-condition protections currently exist in Obamacare, a law.)
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 7, 2020
He signed an executive order to make insurance companies do what the law he’s trying to destroy requires them to do anyway?
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 8, 2020
Trump says the guests at his club don’t have to wear masks because attending his news conference is "political activity” or “peaceful protest” of the media.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) August 8, 2020
Trump the populist, they told us; Trump the anti-elite champion of the working class… https://t.co/hScnJnbtWk
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 7, 2020
I bet the people in that dining room feel like they’re being held hostage at this point
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 8, 2020
Elsewhere…
The head of the United States Postal Service has denied claims he was sabotaging election mail on behalf of Trump https://t.co/T7Zmd4YoF0
— POLITICO (@politico) August 7, 2020
How do we get a “line of sight” on what the heck is wrong with the mail? https://t.co/74jI8jTC8r
— Slate (@Slate) August 7, 2020
America is in a dead sprint to authoritarianism. The man is pulling out all the stops to prevent the citizens of this country from holding a legitimate election in which he might face removal from office. https://t.co/leWoXL15fe
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 8, 2020
It's hard to find a photo of any two or more Trump administration officials in which none of them has an ethics problem. Meadows recently violated the Hatch Act. Mnuchin tried to wriggle out of a promise to divest an asset by selling it to his fiancee just before marrying her. https://t.co/8BV0UgMzWy
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 7, 2020
BREAKING: Newly obtained documents show the EPA illegally destroyed records, deceived the National Archives and Records Administration about that destruction, and falsely blamed the coronavirus pandemic to escape accountability https://t.co/upoodwgVGa
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 7, 2020
Overall, not a good day legally for the *president…
Breaking via WaPo: House Democrats can sue to force Trump's former White House counsel Donald McGahn to comply with a congressional subpoena, a federal appeals court has ruled. https://t.co/I413yGYIf7
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 7, 2020
House Democrats can sue Trump over US-Mexico border wall funding, court rules https://t.co/xnI4MSFTrs pic.twitter.com/pQlDsyMbap
— The Hill (@thehill) August 7, 2020
A judge has rejected President Trump’s bid to delay a lawsuit filed against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of rape. Carroll sued Trump last November for defamation after he called her a liar and said he had never met her. https://t.co/iPAZE4lH93
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 7, 2020
2020 is a deeply weird year, and one of the weirdest parts about it is this. Great piece by @EthanZ: https://t.co/fdAUS4C4T5
— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) August 7, 2020
***
BORISHAMBLES BRITAIN
Day-trippers have been urged to stay away from packed beaches this weekend as record numbers of staycationers prompt concerns about social distancing.
The Met Office has also warned that people could underestimate the #heatwave.
Read more: https://t.co/0drs8qvqna pic.twitter.com/Up58lVLxTw
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 7, 2020
Nicola Sturgeon says the behaviour of eight Aberdeen footballers who ignored the rules to visit a bar is "completely unacceptable". Two have tested positive for Covid-19. https://t.co/fowjJwyuYr pic.twitter.com/PG9gy8dnpg
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) August 7, 2020
"It’s insulting that Dominic Cummings still hasn’t apologised, and that Boris Johnson hasn’t sacked him" https://t.co/0Ppvuur9NQ
— The New European (@TheNewEuropean) August 7, 2020
Summer 2020
Ireland pic.twitter.com/qmebyODQE7— Claire Allan/ Freya Kennedy (@ClaireAllan) August 7, 2020
***
WORLDWIDE
Ireland Finds U.S. Tourists During Pandemic May Be Trouble. But So Is Their Absence https://t.co/As5834HvPZ
— Jeffrey Levin (@jilevin) August 8, 2020
"What will happen when we get to 5 million?"
Over 1 million #Covid19 cases in Africa have been confirmed. Global health experts say the actual toll is likely to be several times higher https://t.co/TFRqlXjRnV pic.twitter.com/jqvhUiJFYM
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) August 7, 2020
At least 16 dead as Air India repatriation flight crashes on landing https://t.co/xFzDjHCblk pic.twitter.com/EJTQvqs6Dr
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 7, 2020
#Beirut's journalists lived through the explosion that tore through their city. Now, they're reporting on its aftermath.
CPJ's @lvzwestcott spoke to @andfinbar, @NataliaSancha, @balintszlanko, and @chehayebk about what it's like to be covering the blast.https://t.co/tsfRAO96a7
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) August 7, 2020
Over 190 volunteers have been scouring the streets of blast-damaged Beirut for lost pets.
They search for animals trapped in the rubble, tend to the injured and care for those whose owners died, says Jason Mier, the executive director at Animals Lebanon. https://t.co/iDl4td2kvK
— CNN (@CNN) August 7, 2020
An American-owned cargo ship named after Donald Trump docked in a Ukrainian port has just offloaded 10,000 metric tons of the same chemical substance that nearly leveled the city of Beirut this week, according to the Liveuamap news sourcehttps://t.co/Nu8zIMPMUk
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 7, 2020
The Overnight Note 