Chicago police return fire as looters hit Mag Mile, smashing windows and confronting officers  —  Hundreds of people swept through the Magnificent Mile and other parts of downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores, confronting police and at one point exchanging gunfire with officers, authorities said.

Sources: Big Ten cancels football season; no games for Michigan, Michigan State in 2020  —  See you later, college football.  —  The Big Ten has voted to cancel the 2020 college football season in a historic move that stems from concerns related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic …

Battleground Poll  —  The August 2020 Battleground Poll gave strong evidence that three months out from the 2020 election, President Trump faces eroding support on the economy, and major challenges with Independent, suburban, and middle class voters.  Americans trust Vice President Joe Biden …

Why I Want Biden to Lose More than I Want Trump to Win  —  As regular readers of my column know, I'm no fan of Donald Trump.  And that's putting it mildly.  —  I don't like his chronic dishonesty.  I don't like narcissism.  I don't like his nastiness and his silly name-calling.

Trump accuses Sasse of going ‘rogue’ after GOP senator slams his coronavirus orders  —  President Donald Trump on Monday accused Sen. Ben Sasse of being a “RINO” who had “gone rogue” by scolding the White House for a recent collection of executive actions meant to provide assistance to Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Winter is coming: Why America's window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing  —  The good news: The United States has a window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 before things get much, much worse.  —  The bad news: That window is rapidly closing.  And the country seems unwilling or unable to seize the moment.

A devastating indictment of the Republican Party from a GOP insider  —  President Trump holds a Bible while visiting St. John's Church across from the White House on June 1, 2020, after the area was cleared of people protesting the death of George Floyd.  Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Facing bleak November, Republicans look to stoke BLM backlash  —  For a brief moment after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis policeman in late May, some members of the GOP joined calls for change as protests exploded onto streets across the country.  That moment is over.

Mnuchin is open to restarting virus relief talks: 'We're prepared to put more money on the table'  — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House is open to resuming coronavirus aid talks with Democrats and putting more relief money on the table to reach a compromise.

Lebanese PM steps down after Beirut blast, public anger  —  BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's prime minister stepped down from his job Monday in the wake of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut that has triggered public outrage, saying he has come to the conclusion that corruption in the country is “bigger than the state.”

Performative masculinity is making American men sick  —  American men are failing the pandemic.  —  Fellas, is it gay to not die of a virus that turns your lungs into soggy shells of their former selves, drowning you from the inside out?  Is wearing a mask to avoid death part of the feminization of America?

How Trump Killed Tens of Thousands of Americans  —  On July 17, President Donald Trump sat for a Fox News interview at the White House.  At the time, nearly 140,000 Americans were dead from the novel coronavirus.  The interviewer, Chris Wallace, showed Trump a video clip in which Robert Redfield …

California's public health director resigns amid questions about coronavirus test data  —  Gov. Gavin Newsom's director of the California Department of Public Health resigned on Sunday, an abrupt departure of a key advisor in the state's coronavirus battle just days after the discovery …

Have Female Reporters Got Trump on the Run?  —  It starts with a reporter, usually a female reporter, asking President Donald Trump hard, tenacious questions at a news conference.  Trump's jaw seizes up, rattled and dumbfounded by the questions that he can't or won't answer …

GOP Aides: Trump Nom for German Ambassador ‘Dead on Arrival’  —  The Trump administration's nominee to assume a critical ambassadorship in Germany is “dead on arrival,” according to three senior Republican congressional aides who pointed to Douglas Macgregor's insinuation that a cadre …

Thousands gather at Smash Mouth concert despite coronavirus pandemic  —  Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell told the crowd: “We're all here together tonight!  Fuck that COVID shit!”  —  Thousands of fans gathered in Sturgis, South Dakota at the weekend to watch Smash Mouth in concert despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

UW-Madison: Battleground state poll shows Biden leading Trump in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin  —  CONTACT: Veronica Rueckert, rueckert@wisc.edu , 608-262-7288  —  New surveys in three key battleground states show former Vice President Joe Biden with solid leads over President Donald Trump …

It's possible that Trump actually isn't the hardest-working president in history  —  During an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday, White House trade adviser (and all-around informal spokesman) Peter Navarro was asked why President Trump spent the weekend in New Jersey instead of Washington …

Trump says U.S. needs ‘more Jews that love Israel’  —  President Trump told a group of Jewish supporters at a fundraiser Sunday that “we need more Jews in the U.S. that love Israel,” the Orthodox news outlet Belaaz reported.  —  The event was held at the Long Branch, N.J. home of the late Stanley Chera …

Arizona Focus Group Sees Trump's Crime Attack On Biden As ‘Far From Reality’  —  Audio will be available later today.  —  The ad is stark.  —  An elderly white woman is watching the news.  An anchor reports that cities want to “defund” the police, as she hears a noise coming from elsewhere in the house.

The ‘Blue Shift’ Will Decide the Election  —  Something fundamental has changed about the ways Americans vote.  —  Staff writer at The Atlantic  —  As polling places closed on November 6, 2018, the expected “blue wave” looked more like a ripple.  Not only had some of the highest-profile …

Big Tech Makes Inroads With the Biden Campaign  —  While Joe Biden has criticized the largest tech companies, his campaign and transition teams have welcomed allies of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple onto its staff and policy groups.  —  WASHINGTON — Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been critical of Big Tech …