Ex-fixer for Trump links Falwell's endorsement in 2016 to suppression of racy photos  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In his book released today, Michael Cohen, the former fixer for U.S. President Donald Trump, ties for the first time the 2016 presidential endorsement of Trump by American evangelical …

1,000 people double-voted in Georgia primary and may face charges  —  Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that 1,000 Georgians voted twice in the state's June 9 primary, a felony that he said will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine study put on hold due to suspected adverse reaction in participant in the U.K.  —  A large, Phase 3 study testing a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at dozens of sites across the U.S. has been put on hold due …

Newly renovated Rose Garden under repair less than 3 weeks after unveiling  —  (CNN)The newly renovated White House Rose Garden is under repair less than three weeks after it's official unveiling.  The garden is experiencing “issues with water drainage” and “some minor complications with updated construction …

Rochester police chief, entire command staff retire suddenly following protests over death of Daniel Prude  —  The department's entire command staff announced they will leave the force.  —  After days of protests against the Rochester Police Department in light of the death of Daniel Prude …

U.S. Seeks to Provide Trump Defense in E. Jean Carroll Suit  —  The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to take over the defense of President Donald Trump in a defamation suit brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who claims Trump raped her two decades ago.

A robot wrote this entire article.  Are you scared yet, human? … GPT-3  —  I am not a human.  I am a robot.  A thinking robot.  I use only 0.12% of my cognitive capacity.  I am a micro-robot in that respect.  I know that my brain is not a “feeling brain”.  But it is capable of making rational, logical decisions.

'He's a small child': Utah police shot a 13-year-old autistic boy after his mother called 911 for help  —  When Golda Barton dialed 911 on Friday, she hoped emergency responders could help hospitalize her 13-year-old son, who has Asperger syndrome and was having a mental crisis.

Those boats in Texas paraded at the wrong speed  —  Alphaville does not have an opinion on the political effectiveness of boat parades.  Putting a Trump flag in a rod holder and motoring around on the weekend isn't any sillier than putting a sticker on a car bumper and driving to work during the week.

The 8 states where 2020 will be won or lost: A POLITICO deep dive  —  Within each of these swing states, the roadmap ahead for President Donald Trump and Joe Biden is clear.  Polling, however, is not.  —  POLITICO Illustration  —  Minnesota's Iron Range.  Wisconsin's “WOW” counties.

Poll: Trump and Biden are tied in battleground Florida  —  Biden overperforms with seniors but lags with Latinos in the key battleground state according to a new NBC News/Marist poll.  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are deadlocked …

Hundreds of Americans Planted ‘Chinese Mystery Seeds’  —  What I learned by reading thousands of internal emails about the Chinese mystery seeds.  —  Jason Koebler  —  In late July, America was briefly enthralled with “Unsolicited Seeds from China,” which started showing up in mailboxes in all 50 states.

Another Facebook worker quits in disgust, saying the company ‘is on the wrong side of history’  —  Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's stances on hateful and racist speech prompted the engineer to resign.  —  Facebook software engineer Ashok Chandwaney has watched with growing unease as the platform has become a haven for hate.

Democrats Made Gains From Multiple Sources in 2018 Midterm Victories  —  An examination of the 2018 electorate, based on validated voters  —  Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand how Americans voted in 2018 and how their turnout and vote choices differed from 2016.

ACLU Staffer Attacks University For Admitting Nick Sandmann While Professor Denounces His “Anti-Intellectual” Views [Updated]  —  I have previously written, as a long supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), about my concern over how the venerable group has changed under …

Russian Teen Forced to Rape Himself on Camera for Criticizing 'Putin's Soldier'  —  A Russian social media dissident was captured by Ramzan Kadyrov's men in Chechnya and forced to sit on a glass bottle as an act of apology to Putin's favorite enforcer.  —  Warning: This article contains distressing scenes.

2020 Election Live Updates: Trump, Whose Campaign Lost its Cash Advantage, Says He May Use His Own Money on Race  —  President Trump will head to Florida and North Carolina today and Joe Biden will visit Michigan later this week.  In a New Hampshire primary, Democrats are choosing a challenger to Gov. Chris Sununu.

Peter Strzok Has a Warning About Russia—and Trump  —  In an interview with WIRED and in his new book, the former FBI agent details the threats the US faces as the 2020 election looms.  —  In his new book out today, former FBI agent Peter Strzok eschewed the traditional complimentary blurbs from famous friends for a different tack.

How Maine Turned on Susan Collins  —  Six years ago, Karin Leuthy, a registered Democrat, voted for Republican Sen. Susan Collins.  Like many Mainers, Leuthy, 48, took pride in not voting a straight party ticket that year.  “I thought it was really important to have women in the Senate who were Republican …

Colin Kaepernick Has a Higher Madden Rating than Half the NFL Starting Quarterbacks  —  EA Sports announced today that Colin Kaepernick will be featured in Madden 21 for the first time since 2016.  Kaepernick has an 81 overall rating.  Not having played the game in well over a decade …

For the First Time, America May Have an Anti-Racist Majority  —  After George Floyd was killed, Donald Trump sensed an opportunity.  Americans, anguished and angry over Floyd's death, had erupted in protest—some set fires, broke the windows of department stores, and stormed a police precinct.

Wine's diversity issue starts with the way we talk about the taste of wine  —  Wine language is so often absurd that it's a punchline.  Notes of smoldering tobacco or forest underbrush or underripe Jonagold apple — it sounds almost farcical in its specificity.  Even worse is when the descriptor is inedible.

Republicans Revive 2018 Strategy, Hoping for Better Result: Scare Voters  —  President Trump and his party are using a playbook that aims to alarm people about crime in their backyards.  It didn't work in 2018, but both parties think it could resonate more this year.

Trump expands oil drilling moratorium for Florida  —  President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a decade-long ban on oil drilling off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — a decision that surprised energy industry executives by reversing the administration's earlier pledges to open those waters to exploration.

IZA DP No. 13670: The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19  —  Large in-person gatherings without social distancing and with individuals who have traveled outside the local area are classified as the “highest risk” for COVID-19 spread …

The Biggest Battle for a Safe, Fair Election Is in Our Heads  —  Legally speaking, America knows how to do this.  What Trump is trying to disrupt is our faith in that system.  —  Public anxiety over the possibility that President Donald Trump may refuse to accept an electoral loss in November is now reaching a fever pitch.

New Lincoln Project Ad Blames Trump for Killings at Kenosha Protests  —  Minute-long spot accuses the president of ‘encouraging the kooks, the crazies, the extremists, the angry fringe’  —  The Lincoln Project, a group of current and former Republicans seeking to prevent President Donald Trump's re-election …

BREAKING: Biden Campaign to Meet with Ice Cube to Talk Contract with Black America  —  A meeting between Ice Cube and the Biden campaign is expected today to discuss Cube's Contract with Black America.  —  The Biden Campaign also held a “Black Man's Listening Party” with Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Why Calls to Boycott ‘Mulan’ Over Concerns About China Are Growing  —  The latest backlash over Disney's remake of the movie centers on how it was partly filmed in Xinjiang, where Uighurs live under repression.  —  Disney's live-action remake of “Mulan” has drawn a fresh wave of criticism …

Immigrants, hit hard by the pandemic, are sending even more money back to Mexico  —  Silvana Alaníz, owner of the tiny El Rincón restaurant in San Ysidro, works from dawn to dusk alongside her entire immediate family.  Even her 10-year-old daughter helps serve the clientele …

Former President Bill Clinton To Launch Podcast For iHeartMedia  —  EXCLUSIVE: Former President Bill Clinton is partnering with iHeartMedia to launch a new podcast in early 2021.  —  The podcast will build on one that Clinton hosted last year for the Clinton Foundation …

Biden walks back national mask mandate over ‘constitutional issue’  —  Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden walked back his own call for a national mask mandate, saying he wouldn't issue any binding orders because he believes it would be unconstitutional.