Cue the dramatic music… "The Times obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due… Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750… He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made… As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million."
And the predictable response… "'It’s totally fake news,' Trump told reporters at a press conference when asked about the news story, which broke minutes before he entered the White House briefing room. Trump insisted that the public would eventually see his tax returns but claimed, as he has previously, that they are currently 'under audit' by the IRS."
"Here are some of the key figures…"
"The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for nearly all of Northern California as a heat wave hitting the Western states combines with gusty, dry winds to heighten the risk of wildfires in a region already pummeled by the rash of blazes."
"Power will be shut off for 65,000 Northern California electric customers in 16 counties to prevent the spread of wildfires that have engulfed areas of the state, officials said Sunday."
"One-third of American parents have no plans to get their children vaccinated for the flu this year, according to the National Poll on Children's Health released Monday, despite the very real possibility their child could also catch the deadly Covid-19." Get your god damn flu shot.
"The number of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 is topping 25% in several states in the U.S. Midwest as cases and hospitalizations also surge in the region, according to a Reuters analysis."
"Georgia health officials have decided to withhold information about coronavirus infections at each school, saying the public has no legal right to information about outbreaks that the state is investigating… The Georgia Department of Public Health started requiring weekly reports from the schools last month and initially said it might share the information with the public. The decision not to reveal the number of COVID-19 case counts and related quarantines and 'clusters' means the only recourse for parents and teachers trying to gauge the risk is the willingness of their local school system to publicize its own data." Like you do when everything is going really well. Also, Georgia citizens, your government works for you. You don't have the right to know individual cases (HIPAA laws), but you definitely have the right to see the aggregated and anonymized data.
"Parents are knowingly sending their children who have coronavirus back to classes in Wisconsin, health officials said on Thursday, which could lead to potential school district shutdowns." Jazz hands! Look, when I was in K-12 school the rule was, "If you're not throwing up, you're well enough to go to school." Why? Because my Mom had to work and could't stay home to take care of sick kids. I know a lot of people with the same rule. Why did anyone think it would change (or ignore that basic fact in the first place)?
"Coronavirus infection rates have increased at 'an alarming rate' in several New York neighborhoods, particularly among the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, city health authorities warned Sunday. The officials threatened to sanction certain schools if they fail to comply with anti-virus regulations, just as city school leaders express no confidence in the mayor for his handling of reopening classrooms and call for control of schools to be handed over to the state."
"Covid in Scotland: 'Struggling' students told they can return home."
"Australian biotech company Ena Respiratory said on Monday that a nasal spray it is developing to improve the human immune system to fight common cold and flu significantly reduced the growth of the coronavirus in a recent study on animals."
"A Minnesota public health survey of the impact of COVID-19 has been halted after several incidents in which surveyors of color were intimidated or called racial slurs, state health officials confirm to TIME." Not totally unexpected.
"A protester was struck by a pick-up truck during a march for Breonna Taylor at Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles Thursday night."
"The Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police Department is looking into a derogatory email a police major sent to her colleagues in August that said people who are part of antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement are "punks" who are not important, a spokesman said… Hallahan, 47, confirmed to NBC News on Thursday that she sent the email and said fellow officers have been supportive. She also said she retires in six days." Maybe, if it takes longer to fire her.
"New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods increased more than expected in August and demand for the prior month was stronger than previously estimated, suggesting a rebound in business spending on equipment was underway after a prolonged slump." Yet the video accompanying the article has the caption, "Durable goods orders rose less than expected in August." So I guess this is a Choose Your Own Path article.
"An American has been sued by an island resort in Thailand over a negative TripAdvisor review, authorities said Saturday, and could face up to two years in prison if found guilty. Domestic tourism is still happening in Thailand, where coronavirus numbers are relatively low, with locals and expats heading to near-empty resorts -- including Koh Chang island, famed for its sandy beaches and turquoise waters."
"Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to end an accord with the EU allowing the free movement of people… With all referendum votes counted, nearly 62% said they wanted to keep free movement, while 38% were against… Switzerland is not a member of the EU but has a series of interdependent treaties with Brussels which allow it to access to Europe's free trade area."
"Control over the mountainous area of Nagorno-Karabakh. Populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians, and aided by the Armenian diaspora, it sits inside Azerbaijani territory, connected to Armenia proper by a costly highway. It is heavily militarized and its forces have been backed by Armenia, which has a security alliance with Russia. Azerbaijan has long claimed it will retake the territory, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani. Control over the area has become a point of nationalist -- almost existential -- pride in both countries."
"Belarus police carried out mass arrests as tens of thousands of people again gathered for protests calling on leader Alexander Lukashenko to step down… It was the 50th day of protests following August's disputed presidential vote. Earlier this week Mr Lukashenko held a secret inauguration."
"Republicans have closed the traditional voter registration gap with Democrats to an historically small margin in Florida, triggering a wave of Democratic apprehension in the nation’s biggest swing state."
"President Donald Trump's nomination of federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has drawn new attention to her association with a Christian group called People of Praise… Barrett has not spoken publicly about her relationship to the religious community, which was founded in 1971 and includes 'Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians and other denominational and nondenominational Christians,' according to its website." Sounds like a cult.
"Facing crackdowns from tech companies that limit the reach of their content, leaders in the QAnon conspiracy theory movement have been urging their followers to drop the 'QAnon' label from their wide-ranging conspiracy theories and simply refer to their fight against a fictitious cabal of powerful baby-eating politicians without their increasingly problematic branding." Don't let those fuckers get away with it.
"U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders on healthcare for Americans that lawyers said will carry little weight, as the president seeks to boost his flagging credibility with voters on the hot-button issue ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election." His new healthcare bill is still two weeks out… maybe. "Nicholas Bagley, a professor at University of Michigan’s law school, said: 'Unless there’s a law that prohibits the conduct in question, or unless the president is exercising a power that’s been delegated to him by Congress, his statements have no more legal weight than a tweet.'"
"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Fox News Thursday that he was 'getting killed financially' by his Democratic opponent Jamie Harrison… It wasn’t immediately clear what figure Graham was referring to, given that Harrison has raised just over $28 million as of the last Federal Election Commission filings in June, compared to Graham’s $29 million." It's about the victimization being used to generate more donations, not anything based in reality.
"Robocalls sent by Trump surrogates Kimberly Guilfoyle and the President's daughter-in-law Lara Trump are encouraging Republican voters to use absentee ballots to vote in November, calling them one of the 'best ways' to support President Trump in November… Both calls attempt to draw a false distinction between absentee voting and other forms of mail-in voting. Guilfoyle's call goes so far as to claim the "radical left" wants to 'confuse you' on mail-in voting and that 'Democrats want to scare you away from voting absentee.'"
"White House chief of staff Mark Meadows publicly attacked FBI Director Christopher Wray on Friday, a day after the director said there was no evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud that have been pushed by President Donald Trump."
"Millions of Americans who are struggling to put food on the table may discover a new item in government-funded relief packages of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and meat: a letter signed by President Donald Trump… The letter is reminiscent of Trump’s effort to put his signature on stimulus checks and send a signed letter to millions of recipients." These things are not his largess, this is your tax dollars (now and future) at work.
"Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide."
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