“He did the early voting and then wanted to be cryogenically frozen until Inauguration Day.”
Thanks to THE NEWYORKER
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“He did the early voting and then wanted to be cryogenically frozen until Inauguration Day.”
Thanks to THE NEWYORKER
Eideard 
“The United States feels like it is unraveling. It’s not just because of a toxic election season, a national crisis over race, unemployment and hunger in the land of opportunity, or a pandemic that’s killing tens of thousands every month. The foundation of our nation has deepening cracks—possibly too many to repair anytime soon, or, perhaps, at all. The ideas and imagery of America face existential challenges—some with reason, some without—that no longer come only from the fringes. Rage consumes many in America. And it may only get worse after the election, and for the next four years, no matter who wins. Our political and cultural fissures have generated growing doubt about the stability of a country that long considered itself an anchor, a model, and an exception to the rest of the world. Scholars, political scientists, and historians even posit that trying to unite disparate states, cultures, ethnic groups, and religions was always illusory.” Robin Wright, “Is America a Myth?” The New Yorker, September 8, 2020 https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/is-america-a-myth
How Police, National Guard And Military Are Preparing For Election Day Tensions (NPR 10/26/20) https://www.npr.org/2020/10/26/926703808/how-police-national-guard-and-the-military-are-preparing-for-election-day-tensio
Militias Pose High Risk of Election Violence, New Report Says https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/militias-pose-high-risk-of-election-violence-new-report.html A review of more than 80 far-right groups by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and MilitaWatch shows an increased risk of violence on and around Election Day. “There is an increasing narrative and trend,” researchers wrote, “that groups are organizing to ‘supplement’ the work of law enforcement or to place themselves in a narrowly defined ‘public protection’ role in parallel with police departments of a given locale.”
Further encouraged by rhetoric from President Trump — like his recent, infamous request for the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” — these right-wing militias are said to pose a high-risk threat to election sites in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Wisconsin.
ACLED/MilitiaWatch “Standing By: Right-Wing Militia Groups & the US Election”
https://acleddata.com/2020/10/21/standing-by-militias-election/ Includes links to directly access data. Click to enlarge map
> “Trump Tells Supporters He’s Iffy on a Peaceful Transfer of Power if He Loses the Election” https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-tells-supporters-hes-iffy-on-a-peaceful-transfer-of-power-if-he-loses-the-election
> “Texas Guard to send troops to cities for possible ‘post election’ disturbances : Texas Guard spokesman Brandon Jones could offer few details and referred questions about the reason for the deployment to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. He said troops could be sent to Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. He didn’t know how many troops would be deployed to each of those cities. The plan calls for troops to be posted at the Alamo and state Capitol, among other places.” https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/politics/article/Texas-Guard-Abbott-to-order-1-000-troops-to-15676005.php
> “Law Enforcement Prepares for Post-Election Civil Unrest : Federal, state and local officials in Washington state are preparing for the aftermath of next week’s highly-contested election. While there haven’t been any credible threats yet, the state is prepping for potential violence.” https://www.governing.com/now/Law-Enforcement-Prepares-for-Post-Election-Civil-Unrest.html
> “Michigan Sheriffs Say They Won’t Enforce Ban on Open Carry Guns at Polls on Election Day” https://www.newsweek.com/michigan-sheriffs-wont-enforce-open-carry-guns-ban-election-day-1542067
> “Gun sales to first-time buyers skyrocket amid fears of ‘bloody’ election and unrest” https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/gun-sales-first-time-buyers-skyrocket-amid-fears-bloody-election-n1243510
> “How to play the surge in gun and ammo sales” https://www.barrons.com/articles/how-to-play-the-surge-in-gun-and-ammo-sales-using-options-51602844213
Twenty former U.S. attorneys — all of them Republicans — on Tuesday publicly called President Trump “a threat to the rule of law in our country,” and urged that he be replaced in November with his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-us-attorneys-back-biden/2020/10/27/c1b55702-17fd-11eb-befb-8864259bd2d8_story.html
“The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests,” said the former prosecutors in an open letter. They accused Trump of taking “action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice.”
The letter, signed by prosecutors appointed by every GOP president from Eisenhower to Trump, is the latest instance of Republicans backing Biden. In August, dozens of GOP national security experts signed a full-page newspaper ad endorsing Biden over Trump. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gop-foreign-policy-defectors-form-alliance-with-biden–for-now/2020/08/20/abea34be-e31a-11ea-8181-606e603bb1c4_story.html
Statement of Former U.S. Attorneys Who Served under Republican Presidents https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/statement-of-former-u-s-attorneys-who-served-under-republican-presidents/ecd4d1ac-f10e-4ca8-a560-b2359d9b2b83/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_9
A spokesman for the Trump campaign dismissed the letter from the former prosecutors as arrogant and offensive, noting that it is Trump who has the support of police officers and their unions.
The Justice Department cannot take over President Donald Trump’s private defense against a defamation lawsuit that accused him of lying when he denied raping the writer E. Jean Carroll more than two decades ago, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/trump-e-jean-carroll-defamation-suit-doj-case
The decision from US District Judge Lewis Kaplan means that Trump will continue to have to personally fight Carroll’s claims in court. Kaplan wrote that the president didn’t fall under a law meant to shield federal government employees from being sued for doing their jobs, and that even if he did, his comments denying Carroll’s allegations weren’t “within the scope of his employment.”
The Justice Department argued that Carroll’s allegations implicated Trump’s fitness to serve as president, but Kaplan wrote that went “too far” in shielding the president from being liable for anything he said.
Carroll’s lawsuit had reached a critical stage in state court. Last month, a judge rejected the president’s request to temporarily halt the proceedings. Carroll has asked the judge to order Trump to provide a DNA sample as part of pretrial discovery. Trump may also be required to sit for a deposition if the case proceeds. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/09/910992023/justice-dept-intervenes-to-take-over-trumps-defense-in-defamation-lawsuit
Attorney General William Barr said on September 9th that the involvement of the Justice Department was routine and the standard practice is for a federal employee being sued to alert the Justice Department so that it can defend her or him, which the White House has done in this case, Barr said.
Humans may have evolved to show signs of stress to evoke support from others
Showing signs of stress could make us more likeable and prompt others to act more positively towards us, according to a new study by scientists at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Portsmouth https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/952702 includes video outlining the research findings