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12:30 PM ET, August 14, 2020

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 Top Items: 
Aaron Gordon / VICE:
Internal USPS Documents Outline Plans to Hobble Mail Sorting  —  ‘This will slow mail processing,’ a union official wrote on one of the documents announcing the machine removals.  —  Aaron Gordon  —  The United States Postal Service proposed removing 20 percent of letter sorting machines …
RELATED:
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
USPS says Pennsylvania mail ballots may not be delivered on time, and state warns of ‘overwhelming’ risk to voters  —  The United States Postal Service warned Pennsylvania that mail ballots may not be delivered on time to be counted because the state's deadlines are too tight for its …
USA Today:
Trump is determined to rig this election, defraud voters and thwart the will of the people  —  We can no longer trust that our federal government will oversee fair elections this November.  The repeated statements and actions of the president, his attorney general and leaders in the Republican Party …
Jayati Ramakrishnan / Oregonian:
USPS removes mailboxes in Portland and Eugene, cites ‘declining mail volume’
Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Obama: Trump trying to ‘actively kneecap’ Postal Service to affect 2020 election
Hope Yen / Associated Press:
Lawmakers: Postal changes delay mail-order medicine for vets
Discussion: The Hill
Adam Goldman / New York Times:
Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer Expected to Plead Guilty in Durham Investigation  —  Prosecutors are not expected to reveal any evidence of a broad anti-Trump conspiracy among law enforcement officials.  —  WASHINGTON — A former F.B.I. lawyer intends to plead guilty to falsifying a document as part …
RELATED:
Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
After Trump suggests impatience, Barr teases ‘development’ in Durham probe  —  Barr said the development would not be ‘earth-shattering.’  —  Attorney General William Barr announced a new “development” in U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia probe will be coming Friday …
Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Kevin Clinesmith, Corrupt FBI Attorney Who Falsified Carter Page FISA Warrant, Expected To Plead Guilty
Discussion: Townhall
Associated Press:
Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty in Durham look at Russia probe
Discussion: Reuters
Sadie Gurman / Wall Street Journal:
Barr Says Results of Probe Into Russia Investigation Could Come by Election
Discussion: Fox News and The Hill
Erica Werner / Washington Post:
Top DHS officials Wolf and Cuccinelli are not legally eligible to serve in their current roles, congressional watchdog agency finds  —  The appointments of the top two officials at the Department of Homeland Security violated federal law, the Government Accountability Office said on Friday.
Discussion: Daily Kos and Blue Virginia
RELATED:
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
GAO finds Chad Wolf, Ken Cuccinelli are ineligible to serve in their top DHS roles  —  Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli were invalidly appointed to their positions and are ineligible to serve, a congressional watchdog determined Friday.
Rachael Bade / Washington Post:
Discontent with McCarthy rises as GOP considers a possible post-Trump world  —  Discontent with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is on the rise in the House, as Republicans increasingly fearful of a loss by President Trump on Election Day gear up for an intraparty war over the future of the GOP.
Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story and The Week
RELATED:
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News:
House GOP candidate known for QAnon support was ‘correspondent’ for conspiracy website  —  Before running for office, Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote dozens of articles as a “correspondent” for a conspiracy news website, according to archived web pages uncovered by NBC News.
Alex Thompson / Politico:
‘The President Was Not Encouraging’: What Obama Really Thought About Biden  —  Behind the friendship was a more complicated relationship, which now drives the former vice president to prove his partner wrong.  —  The way Joe Biden explained it on the campaign trail in Iowa …
Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Spotify:
Barack Obama  —  Listen to this episode from Campaign HQ with David Plouffe on Spotify.
Discussion: Axios and The Hill
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
A Geopolitical Earthquake Just Hit the Mideast  —  The Israel-United Arab Emirates deal will be felt throughout the region.  —  For once, I am going to agree with President Trump in his use of his favorite adjective: “huge.”  —  The agreement brokered by the Trump administration …
RELATED:
Richard Grenell / The Hill:
Israel-UAE breakthrough proves Trump's critics wrong — again
Sohrab Ahmari / New York Post:   Trump wins the Nobel Prize for Israel-UAE peace deal (not)
The White House:
Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | August 13, 2020
Discussion: FactCheck.org, Bloomberg, Breitbart and VICE
Ben Collins / NBC News:
How QAnon rode the pandemic to new heights — and fueled the viral anti-mask phenomenon  —  In February, five months before she became known as “QAnon Karen,” there was no one more terrified of the coming pandemic than Melissa Rein Lively.  —  “I bought the N-95 masks.  I bought the hazmat suit,” she said.
Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Raw Story
Tobias Hoonhout / National Review:
CNN Reporter's ‘Analysis’ of Harris Is One Long Press Release  —  Maeve Reston abandons the standard she applied to Sarah Palin.  —  A national political “reporter” for CNN has published a string of glowing stories in the wake of Joe Biden's selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate …
RELATED:
Issues & Insights:
Joe Biden's Mask Mandate Is Only The Beginning
Discussion: Fortune
Ryan Lizza / Politico:
What Harris Got from Biden During Her Job Interview
Discussion: Reuters, Associated Press and The Hill
ABC News:
Trump brother hospitalized in New York: Sources  —  President expected to visit brother, Robert Trump, sources said.  —  Robert Trump, the younger brother of President Donald Trump, has been hospitalized in New York, sources told ABC News, a development confirmed by the White House.
USA Today:
President Trump requests mail-in ballot for upcoming Florida primary, despite rhetoric  —  For the second time as a Palm Beach County voter, President Donald Trump has requested a vote-by-mail ballot ahead of Florida's primary election on Tuesday.  —  And the president who has just spent …
RELATED:
Ryan Parker / Hollywood Reporter:
HBO Max Adds “Proper Social Context” Intro to ‘Blazing Saddles’  —  The disclaimer is similar to the one the streamer added before ‘Gone With the Wind.’  —  Blazing Saddles is currently streaming on HBO Max, along with a new introduction that automatically plays before the Mel Brooks classic begins.
Discussion: /Film, The Daily Caller and NME
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Besieged on all sides, Ron Johnson says his probe ‘would certainly’ help Trump win reelection  —  Sen. Ron Johnson this week said his probe of Obama-era intelligence agencies would help President Donald Trump win reelection, igniting fury from Democrats who say it was an explicit admission he's using …
RELATED:
Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Poll: Biden Expands Lead; A Third Of Country Says It Won't Get Vaccinated  —  Toggle more options  —  Democrat Joe Biden's lead has expanded to double-digits against President Trump in the presidential election, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.  Biden now leads Trump 53% to 42%, up from an 8-point advantage at the end of June.
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
Black Like Kamala  —  Republican efforts to deny Senator Harris's identity as an African-American and turn her into a noncitizen are destined to fail.  —  It was probably inevitable that Kamala Harris becoming Joe Biden's running mate would result in controversy over her heritage.
The Daily Beast:
Blame Fox News for the Rise of QAnon  —  In Ep. 34 of The New Abnormal, Rick reveals how Fox bred an army of Q zombies, Rep. Lauren Underwood takes on anti-vaxxers and Louie Gohmert's opponent hits him where it hurts.  —  It's the “secret sauce” of Fox News: “tell people who feel socially inferior that you're really the smart one.
FiveThirtyEight:
How To Vote In The 2020 Election  —  A state-by-state guide to voting in the age of COVID-19  —  How easy — or difficult — absentee voting is in each state  —  Everyone can vote absentee, and ballots are automatically mailed to voters Everyone can vote absentee, and absentee-ballot applications …
Nikita Telizhenko / Telegraph:
“People lay like a living carpet in pools of blood”  —  How detainees at protests are beaten in jails in Belarus.  Scary Znak.com report  —  this material is a raw translation of the original text in Russian  —  Znak.com correspondent Nikita Telizhenko was detained on the evening of August 10 …
Discussion: The Guardian and Meduza.io
Alex Nowrasteh / Cato Institute:
John Eastman on Birthright Citizenship, Kamala Harris, the Mexican Repatriation, and Citizenship for the Children of Braceros  —  Earlier this week, Chapman University law professor John Eastman used the announcement that Kamala Harris is Joe Biden's pick to be Vice President to explain …
Charles Sykes / The Bulwark:
The Agony of the Anti-Anti-Trumpers  —  BUt tHe mEDiA!  —  It's mid-August and I find myself thinking about Dante lately.  Maybe it's because all the bugs around here make me think of certain scenes from the Inferno, or maybe it's because I have been reading too much Twitter.  —  Welcome to the Daily Countdown.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Billboard:
Dolly Parton Steers Her Empire Through the Pandemic — and Keeps It Growing
Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic:
The Plan That Could Give Us Our Lives Back
Gary He / Eater NY:
NYC Restaurant Workers Pushed to Food Pantries and Homelessness While Jobs Remain Scarce
Paul Musgrave / Washington Post:
Busy work  —  Trump's secret political weapon: Wasting his opponents' time
Jonathan Oosting / Bridge Magazine:
Michigan senator who got COVID didn't wear a mask at anti-Whitmer event
Discussion: Raw Story
Caroline Bryant / The Bulwark:
Ralph Reed's ‘Christian Case for Trump’ Fails to Convince
Discussion: Raw Story
Quint Forgey / Politico:
Common, Billie Eilish, John Legend among Dem convention musical acts
Discussion: Reuters
 Earlier Items: 
Allister Heath / Telegraph:
Sweden's success shows the true cost of our arrogant, failed establishment
Discussion: Breitbart and National Review
Rick Perlstein / New Republic:
The Secret History of Ronald Reagan's Letters
Chicago Business:
Macy's exiting Water Tower Place?
Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:
Cory Gardner Runs Pro-Trump Facebook Ad Being Seen Everywhere — Except In Colorado
Discussion: Bloomberg
Yuichiro Kakutani / Washington Free Beacon:
Maine Democrat Sara Gideon Killed Bills Outlawing Female Genital Mutilation
Discussion: Jihad Watch
Heather Long / Washington Post:
The recession is over for the rich, but the working class is far from recovered
Discussion: National Review and The Week
Lois K. Solomon / Sun-Sentinel:
Principal who made Holocaust comments should not have been fired, judge rules
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
The Slimiest Character In American Politics?
Discussion: Althouse and Rev
 

 
From Techmeme:

Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving AGI as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits

Noah Smith / Noahpinion:
How H-1B workers from India and other countries help the US remain dominant in tech, as some on the new “Tech Right” discover MAGA's racial-nationalist bigotry

Shubham Sharma / VentureBeat:
DeepSeek releases DeepSeek-V3, an open-source MoE model of 671B total parameters, with 37B activated per token, claiming it outperforms top models like GPT-4o

 
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