News

 

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative September 2020 news and views.

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

 

Sept. 30

Top Headlines

• Washington Post, Trump plunges debate into fiery squabbling
• Washington Post, Live Updates: Debate commission says it will make changes to format after spectacle in Cleveland
• New York Times, With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden
• New York Times, News Analysis, Of Course, the Debate Was Always Going to Be About Trump
• Washington Post, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists, militia members in debate marked by disputes over race
• Washington Post, Right-wing extremists take to social media to celebrate Trump’s ‘stand by’ comment

 

Virus Victims, Responses

• Washington Post, The CDC softened a report on meatpacking safety during the pandemic. Democrats say they want to know why
• Washington Post, Opinion: We run Cornell. Here’s how we’ve kept low covid-19 rates on campus
• Washington Post, As colleges reopened, many more young people got covid-19, CDC reports
• Washington Post, Trump plans big Wisconsin rallies despite White House task force calling for ‘maximal’ social distancing in the state
• Washington Post, The covid-19 recession is the most unequal in modern U.S. history
• Worldometer, World & U.S. Coronavirus Case Totals, U.S. Deaths: 210,839
• Washington Post, No deal after Pelosi and Mnuchin meet on economic relief package, but talks will continue
• Washington Post, The CDC softened a report on meatpacking safety during the pandemic. Democrats say they want to know why
• Washington Post, U.S. stocks end third quarter on a high note, despite rocky September

Trump Watch

• Vanity Fair, “The Family Is Worried Brad Will Start Talking”: Trumpworld Panics Over Debate Fiasco as Campaign Turmoil Mounts, Gabriel Sherman

 

U.S.…

 

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative August 2020 news and views.

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

 

Aug. 31

Top Headlines

• New York Times, Investigation: Justice Dept. Never Fully Examined Trump’s Ties to Russia, Ex-Officials Say, Michael S. Schmidt
• Washington Post, Trump lavishes praise on his supporters amid protest clashes
• Washington Post, Biden accuses Trump of ‘recklessly encouraging violence’ in response to Portland shooting
• Washington Post, Federal workers will have taxes deferred under Trump’s order, sparking outcry,

Law & Order

• Washington Post, Court dismisses House lawsuit seeking to enforce Donald McGahn subpoena
• Washington Post, Flynn case does not have to be immediately dismissed, court rules
• Washington Post, Opinion: Congress should warn Trump’s lawbreakers that there will be consequences, Jennifer Rubin
• Palmer Report, Opinion: Donald Trump’s lawyers just tipped off in court that they fear New York could indict him before the election, Bill Palmer

Virus Victims, Responses

• Worldometer Coronavirus Case Count

2020 U.S. Elections, Politics

• Washington Post, Opinion: 2020 Trump looks like a man who knows his show is about to be canceled, E.J. Dionne Jr.
• Washington Post, The Markey-Kennedy Senate primary battle is one Democrats wish wasn’t happening

Political, Race Protests

• New York Times, Live updates: President Trump defended a teenage supporter accused of killing two people during unrest in Wisconsin
• New York Times, Trump Posts Barrage of Inflammatory Tweets After Portland Killing
• Washington Post, Opinion: Trump cannot be allowed to incite his way to reelection, Max Boot
• Washington Post, Live updates: Biden to address unrest, violence during remarks in Pittsburgh
• Washington Post, As confrontations between armed groups and protesters turn deadly, police face complaints of tolerating vigilantes

World News

• Washington Post, Analysis: In Trump, much of the world sees an act that’s wearing thin, Ishaan Tharoor
• Washington Post, Opinion: Mike Pompeo is the worst secretary of state in history, Jackson Diehl

Media News

• Associated Press via Chron.com,

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Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative July 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this. 

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Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative June 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this. We have been resolving technical issues with the site and regret the interruption in our coverage earlier this month.

June 9

Top Stories

Washington Post, After criticism, WHO clarifies stance on asymptomatic transmission, William Wan and Miriam Berger​, June 9, 2020. The organization said an earlier statement calling asymptomatic transmission of coronavirus “very rare” was a “misunderstanding.” But the comment had already been seized upon by conservatives and others to bolster arguments against social distancing and face masks.

Washington Post, Problems with voting machines, long lines in Georgia as primary voting begins amid pandemic, Amy Gardner and Michelle Ye Hee Lee​, June 9, 2020. In the five states holding primaries today, in-person polling places have been limited or eliminated, and officials have made it easier to vote by mail.

Lines snaked out the doors, some polling locations didn’t open on time, and others had no working voting machines in several counties in the first hours of voting in Georgia’s primary elections Tuesday, a potential preview of how new voting procedures brought on by the coronavirus pandemic could affect the presidential election in November.

“This seems to be happening throughout Atlanta and perhaps throughout the county. People have been in line since before 7:00 am this morning,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tweeted barely 30 minutes after polls opened Tuesday.

She added: “If you are in line, PLEASE do not allow your vote to be suppressed. PLEASE stay in line. They should offer you a provisional ballot if the machines are not working.”

Voters in the Atlanta area reported arriving before polls opened and standing in line for hours, with election officials processing ballots painfully slowly because they couldn’t get new touch screen machines to work.…

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative May 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

 

May 5

Pandemic Politics

• Washington Post, President erupts at George Conway for video about the ‘deadly virus Trump ignored,’
• New York Times, Trump Administration Signals It Will Wind Down Virus Task Force
• Washington Post, Kushner virus effort said to be hampered by inexperienced volunteers
• Washington Post, Fact Checker Analysis: Trump trots out two claims attacking Obama during Fox town hall
• Washington Post, Trump’s pick for intelligence chief pledges in Senate hearing to keep politics out of job
• Washington Post, Trump cheers on governors as they ignore White House guidelines in race to reopen
• Washington Post, Americans widely oppose reopening most businesses, poll finds
• Washington Post, Analysis: Fox News, Trump allies keep floating debunked theories about an inflated virus death toll

Virus Victims

• Washington Post, As virus spreads in jails and prisons, correctional officers fear for themselves and their loved ones
• Washington Post,15 children in NYC have developed an unusual inflammatory syndrome linked to covid-19

World News

• Washington Post, Kim Jong Un appears to be alive after all. So why did CNN and other news outlets report he was on his deathbed?
• Washington Post, Philippines closes down its largest broadcaster
• Washington Post, Venezuela’s Maduro says American ‘mercenaries’ held in attempt to incite rebellion

 

 

Pandemic Politics

Washington Post, President erupts at George Conway for video about the ‘deadly virus Trump ignored,’ Fred Barbash, May 5, 2020. George T. Conway III, prominent attorney and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, has been trying with only modest success to provoke President Trump’s Twitter wrath for the better part of his presidency. He finally succeeded close to 1 a.m.…

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative May 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

 

May 20

Top News Headlines

• New York Times, Live U.S. Updates: C.D.C. Releases Guidance That the White House Had Rejected
• Washington Post, HHS watchdog who exposed hospital shortages to testify before House panel
• New York Times, Cyclone Live Updates: Storm Makes Landfall as India and Bangladesh Take Shelter
• Daily Commercial News (Canada), World Trade Center 7 building did not collapse due to fire: Report
• Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth, Canada’s Top Construction News Site Covers Ongoing Challenge to NIST Report

Pandemic Media News

• New York Times, How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread Online
• New York Times, At Fox News, Mixed Message on Malaria Drug: ‘Very Safe’ vs. ‘It Will Kill You’

Virus Victims, Responses

• Washington Post, In some nations, government isolation centers helped reduce infections. The U.S. has resisted the strategy
• New York Times, Prototype Vaccines Protect Monkeys From Coronavirus
• New York Times, Virus Raged at City Jails, Leaving 1,259 Guards Infected and 6 Dead
• Washington Post, Millions of people lost their jobs in hard-hit New England. Many fear their homes could be next
• New York Times, They Beat the Virus. Now They Feel Like Outcasts

Pandemic Politics / Media

• Washington Post, Taxpayers face delays as IRS struggles with backlog
• New York Times, Trump Steps Up Attacks on Mail Vote, Making False Claims About Michigan
• Washington Post, Misinformation about covid-19 finds new avenues on unexpected sites

U.S. Courts, Crime

• Palmer Report, Opinion: We told you something wasn’t right with the Trump DOJ’s investigation into Richard Burr, Bill Palmer
• New York Times, Opinion: Trump Judges or Federalist Society Judges? Try Both,
• Washington Post, Opinion: ‘Jane Roe,’ from Roe v.

…

 

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative April 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

 

April Updates

April 3

Global Virus Overview

New York Times, Coronavirus Live Updates: Half of Humanity Under Lockdown Orders, Staff reports, April 3, 2020. Roughly four billion people have been told to stay in their homes, but some U.S. states have resisted such measures. New jobs report shows staggering losses are likely to get worse.

Right Now: Britain reported its highest single-day death toll: 684, bringing total deaths in the country to 3,605; “This coming Sunday is D-Day,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York. If critical supplies do not arrive soon, he said, thousands will die.

• As global infections soar, guidance on masks is reversed.
• The U.S. job market is crumbling.
• Data shows an income gap in limiting movement.
• How coronavirus is causing confusion with terms like ‘peaks,’ ‘testing’ and ‘lockdown.’
• The New York Times infections database is open to the public.
• Trump invokes Defense Production Act, and criticizes 3M

Washington Post, Over 10 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in March, Heather Long, April 3, 2020 (print ed.). Job losses have skyrocketed as restaurants, hotel, gyms, and travel have shut down across the nation, but layoffs are also rising in manufacturing, warehousing and transportation.

Washington Post, Trump sows uncertainty and seeks to cast blame in coronavirus crisis, Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, April 3, 2020 (print ed.). President Trump’s machinations have a dogged showman’s quality, using his omnipresence at daily White House news conferences to try to erase memories from his months of playing down the covid-19 threat.

In the three weeks since declaring the novel coronavirus outbreak a national emergency, President Trump has delivered a dizzying array of rhetorical contortions, sowed confusion and repeatedly sought to cast blame on others.…

 

 

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative March 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

March 3

U.S. Election Headlines

New York Times, Biden Dominates the South; Sanders Wins in Three States, Nick Corasaniti and Katie Glueck, March 3, 2020. Black voters, suburban voters and older voters flocked to Joe Biden, who won in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Bernie Sanders secured wins in Utah, Colorado and Vermont. Some critical contests have yet to be called.

• Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., right, has swept the Southern states, winning primaries in Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and Senator Bernie Sanders has won primaries in his home state, Vermont, and in Colorado and Utah. Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York won the caucuses in American Samoa.

Washington Post, Super Tuesday live updates: Sanders leading in California, Biden is projected to win eight states, including Virginia, N.C. and Arkansas, Felicia Sonmez, Reis Thebault, Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Isaac Stanley-Becker, March 3, 2020. California offers the lion’s share of delegates.

Former vice president Joe Biden is showing strength in the South and has extended his reach into the Upper Midwest, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has notched a few wins and leads in the California Democratic presidential primary, according to Edison Research Super Tuesday exit polling and a survey of absentee voters.

Late deciders fueled Biden’s victories in several states Tuesday, an indication his South Carolina victory and endorsements by other candidates played a role in his success. In Oklahoma, Biden won voters who decided in the last few days by a more than 2 to 1 margin over Sanders, while voters who decided earlier split nearly evenly between the two.…

 

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative February 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

Feb. 2

Impeachment Headlines

• Washington Post, Trump’s impending acquittal could have profound ramifications for future presidents
• Washington Post, Senate Republicans defend vote to bar new evidence as Trump acquittal vote nears
• Washington Post, Inside the Senate trial: How McConnell and enough Republicans blocked witnesses
• Washington Post, Analysis: Senate to emerge from impeachment trial guilty of extreme partisanship
• Washington Post, Opinion: The Senate impeachment trial was rigged!

World News Headlines

• New York Times, Coronavirus Pummels Wuhan, a City Short of Supplies and Overwhelmed
• Washington Post, China infections could grow exponentially; fatality reported in Philippines
• World Crisis Radio, Opinion: New Russian Premier Mishastin Closes 4,000 km Land Border with China to Prevent Proliferation of Wuhan Coronavirus
• Washington Post, Kenya’s blood banks are running dry after the U.S. ended aid — and a baby’s life is in danger
• New York Times, New U.S. Travel Ban Shuts Door on Africa’s Biggest Economy, Nigeria
• Washington Post, Opinion: Why the land mine, a persistent killer of civilians, is coming back under Trump
• South Front, Syrian Army Repels Al-Julani-Initiated Attack On Aleppo City (Photos)

2020 Election Headlines

• New York Times, How the Iowa Caucuses Work
• New York Times, Iowa will have 4 sets of results. Here’s how The Times will declare a winner
• New York Times, Editorial: More Money, More Problems for Democracy
• New York Times, Opinion: For Better or Worse, Trump Will Get His Favorite Things on Super Bowl Sunday
• New York Times, ‘S.N.L.’ Imagines the Impeachment Trial That Could Have Been

#MeToo Media Scandals

• New York Times, ‘Angels’ in Hell: The Culture of Misogyny Inside Victoria’s Secret

 

Impeachment Trial Excerpts

Washington Post, Trump’s impending acquittal could have profound ramifications for future presidents, Philip Rucker, Feb.…

 

Editor’s Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative January 2020 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors’ words except for subheads and occasional “Editor’s notes” such as this.

Jan. 2

World News

Kangaroo rushes past a burning house Tuesday in Lake Conjola, New South Wales, Australia (Photo: Matthew Abbott for The New York Times).

New York Times, Apocalyptic Scenes in Australia as Fires Turn Skies Blood Red, Isabella Kwai, Jan. 2, 2020 (update). Thousands of people fled from their homes as wildfires raged on the last day of the warmest decade on record in Australia.

As the fire stalked the east coast of Australia on Tuesday, the daytime sky turned inky black, then blood red. Emergency sirens wailed, followed by the thunder of gas explosions. Thousands of residents fled their homes and huddled near the shore. There was nowhere else to go.

Apocalyptic scenes like these in Mallacoota, a vacation destination between Sydney and Melbourne, came on the last day of the warmest decade on record in Australia.

The country is in the grip of a devastating fire season, with months of summer still to go, as record-breaking temperatures, strong winds and prolonged drought have ignited huge blazes across the country.

The devastation is immense. In the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, more than 900 homes have been destroyed and nine million acres have burned since November. Almost 100 fires were still raging in the state on Tuesday, with about three dozen more across the border in Victoria.

Washington Post, Potential clash between U.S. and Iran averted as embassy siege ends, Mustafa Salim and Liz Sly, Jan. 2, 2019. The Kataib Hezbollah militia told its supporters to leave the area around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after Iraq’s prime minister said he would support efforts to pass a law calling for a U.S.…