Virtual roll call highlights Day 2 of convention

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We've heard the words "fake" and "hoax" a lot over the past few years, and, in some cases, it’s warranted. There are indeed a lot of conspiracy theories and disinformation floating around in the media environment that have been weaponized by our adversaries to manipulate Americans. Muddying the waters even more is the president, who simply labels any facts he doesn’t like "fake" or a "hoax." We know a hoax didn't kill more than 170,000 Americans this year. And as a bipartisan Senate committee confirmed yesterday, Russian interference in the 2016 election was no hoax either, as Donald Trump would have us believe. His own campaign chair, Paul Manafort, provided critical targeting data to the Kremlin through a Russian intelligence officer, in a shocking betrayal of the country. Trump should be livid with Manafort. That he is not speaks volumes. —Evan McMullin

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** 1. 'It's Joe time'
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Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden as their presidential candidate last night during the second evening of the party's virtual convention. Instead of at a Milwaukee convention hall, the formal roll call of convention delegates played out in a combination of live and recorded video feeds from various American landmarks and landscapes. Hosted by actress Tracee Ellis Ross, the program also featured speeches by former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and a video package highlighting Biden's relationship with the late Sen. John McCain, narrated by his wife, Cindy McCain. —Associated Press ([link removed])
* — Support from the General. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a heartfelt endorsement of Biden, following a series of video clips of national security officials and diplomats offering their support as well. "Joe Biden will be a president we will all be proud to salute," Powell said. "With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries—never the other way around." —CNBC ([link removed])
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* — "Something I never expected to be doing." Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates spoke as well, criticizing the president for pursuing a ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries early in his presidency. As a long-time Justice Dept. official, Yates noted that she never thought she'd speak at a political convention, "but the future of our democracy is at stake," she said. —The Hill ([link removed])
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* — Back to school. The evening ended on a personal note, with Biden's wife, Jill, delivering a speech from the high school in Delaware where she once taught. She spoke of the grief her husband faced when losing his first wife and infant daughter in a car crash in 1972, and his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015. But she said his "strength of will is unstoppable" and his faith "unshakable," adding that "his faith is in you—in us." —Axios ([link removed])

MORE: Stephens: On being a Biden conservative —The New York Times ([link removed])


** 2. And now for something completely different
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Far-right activist Laura Loomer has won the Republican House primary in Florida's 21st District, which includes President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. Loomer is a controversial figure. She has been banned from numerous social media and other technology platforms in recent years for making Islamophobic comments. She handcuffed herself to Twitter's New York office to protest what she said was discrimination against conservatives online. Trump congratulated Loomer in a tweet last night, asserting that she has "a great chance" in November's general election against Rep. Lois Frankel. —The Hill ([link removed])
* — Don't be deceived. In a wide-ranging interview, NAACP President Derrick Johnson argued that the presidential campaign by rapper Kanye West is more than just a vanity campaign. It "is a voter-suppression method because it is put in place to mislead voters," Johnson said. West's campaign has been supported by Republican operatives, and West admitted it is a spoiler campaign to siphon votes from Joe Biden. —Business Insider ([link removed])
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* — Once a bigot, always a bigot. Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia reportedly visited Capitol Hill in February 2019 and filmed herself trying to interrogate Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Claiming they're illegitimate members of Congress because they took their congressional oaths of office on the Quran, she tried to make them retake the oath on a Bible. —Media Matters for America ([link removed])

MORE: Conspiracy theories make sense of a topsy-turvy world—but undermine democracy —The Washington Post ([link removed])


** 3. Hillyer: No, it certainly was not a hoax
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"The investigation into Russian perfidy was not a hoax. There was no hoax. There was no hoax. Trump fans need to get this through their heads. The lack of formal conspiracy (too often miscalled 'collusion') does not obviate the importance of, or the need for, the Justice Department investigation. [W]ith so much irrefutable evidence of illegal Russian interference and so much circumstantial evidence (and, later, hard evidence) of an unusual number of contacts between Trump agents and Russians, the Justice Department would have been derelict not to investigate (even had the controversial 'Steele dossier' not existed)." —Washington Examiner ([link removed])

MORE: Collins, King say conclusion that Russia interfered in 2016 election should be a 'wake-up call' for all Americans —News Center Maine ([link removed])


** 4. More coronavirus relief may still happen
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Under pressure from rank-and-file Democrats to secure more aid for unemployed Americans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Democrats might be willing to cut more from their current pandemic relief proposal to bring Republicans back to the bargaining table. GOP leaders have also hinted at a willingness to revive stalled negotiations, with Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell citing Pelosi's decision to break out $25 billion in funding for the U.S. Postal Service from the original Democratic plan. That's good news, but the pandemic is affecting far more than the economy. —Bloomberg ([link removed])
* — It's affecting attitudes. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak makes them feel embarrassed, according to a CNN/SSRS poll. The number of participants who know someone who's been diagnosed with COVID-19 has jumped to 67%, up from 40% in early June. About 8 in 10 say they are at least somewhat angry about the way things are going in the country, including 51% who say they are very angry. —CNN ([link removed])
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* — It's affecting colleges. The University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University are the latest colleges that have announced a change to their fall plans because of COVID-19 outbreaks that have occurred on campus since students returned. Notre Dame will move all undergraduate instruction online for two weeks, and Michigan State is going fully remote for the semester. —NPR ([link removed])
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* — It's affecting elections. During the pandemic, elections have been postponed in both democracies and dictatorships. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, at least 70 countries and territories have rescheduled elections since mid-February, including 25 nationwide elections or referendums. —The Economist ([link removed])

MORE: How did the stock market hit a record amid COVID-19 fueled recession? Here's what experts say about the rebound —USA Today ([link removed])


** 5. Aron: If Russia intervenes in Belarus...
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"Like the USSR before it, Russia would be permanently feared—or, as Putin sees it, respected. NATO's Article Five, the cornerstone of collective defense, would be rendered a fiction. The alliance might start to unravel as countries on its eastern flank sought individual 'accommodations' with Moscow. Ukraine's hesitant drift to the West would be likely to be arrested for the foreseeable future as well. It is just as obvious what needs to be done to forestall this dismal scenario: an emergency summit meeting of NATO, a quick vote to stand with Lithuania, and, most of all, the deployment of troops as fast and as close to the Lithuanian border with Belarus as the complicated logistics allow." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Leon Aron is director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

MORE: Putin warns western leaders over 'meddling' in Belarus —Financial Times ([link removed])
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** 6. Coup in Mali
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Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned and dissolved parliament late yesterday, following a bloodless coup d'etat by an armed group calling itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People. Leaders of the group detained him at gunpoint, plunging a country already riled by protests deeper into crisis. ([link removed])
* — Colonel-Major Ismael Wague, a spokesman for the group, which claims it wants to restore stability and oversee a transition to elections within a "reasonable" period, said they acted to prevent Mali from falling further into chaos. ([link removed])
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* — Wague said all international agreements will still be respected and international forces will remain in place. The coup leaders also say they remain "committed to the Algiers process," a 2015 peace agreement between the Malian government and armed groups in the north of the country. ([link removed])
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* — The coup drew international condemnation. The UN Security Council will be briefed on it today at the request of France and Niger. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the immediate release of Keita and other detainees. —Al Jazeera ([link removed])

MORE: Ouattara's power grab renews fears of violence in a divided Cote d’Ivoire —World Politics Review ([link removed])


** 7. Filipovic: What's behind the Susan B Anthony pardon?
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"[W]hile he's paying lip service to a fighter for women's suffrage, [Trump is] working to disenfranchise millions of American women. Trump praising a woman who fought for the right to vote while undermining the voting rights of millions of Americans is perfectly Trumpian: An empty spectacle notable only for its shameless hypocrisy." —CNN ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Jill Filipovic is a lawyer and author.

MORE: Trump says he'll pardon Susan B Anthony, arrested for voting in 1872 —Forbes ([link removed])


** 8. A warning from counterterrorism officials
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As if there isn't enough to worry about, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center says he would not be surprised if domestic terrorist groups stage attacks in the U.S. around the November election. "It certainly wouldn't surprise me, particularly if the administration loses," said Russ Travers, who was the center's acting director before he was fired by President Trump's hand-picked acting director of national intelligence. ([link removed])
* — Trump's claims that mail-in ballots will lead to "massive fraud and abuse" and a "rigged" election are part of the problem. "The political rhetoric is such that you could very easily see some backlash" from white supremacists or other right-wing terror groups, Travers said. ([link removed])
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* — Travers is not alone in his assessment. A Department of Homeland Security analysis released on Monday warns of possible election-related attacks from across the political spectrum. ([link removed])
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* — "We assess ideologically-motivated violent extremists and other violent actors could quickly mobilize to threaten or engage in violence against election or campaign-related targets in response to perceived partisan and policy-based grievances," the report says. —Yahoo News ([link removed])


** 9. Friedman: Literally the most important election of our lives
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"I damn well will get to my neighborhood polling station to see that my vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is cast and counted on Nov. 3. And it is not because I am some raving liberal. It’s because I believe that America, at its core, is still a center-left, center-right country and is best governed by someone who can reforge the two and lead from there. I believe that Biden is the one who can do that best, and that is actually the source of his appeal to many Americans." —The New York Times ([link removed])

MORE: Here's one way Trump could try to steal the election, voting experts say —The Washington Post ([link removed])


** 10. An American Story: Sisters of Hope
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Sisters of Hope founders Gladys and Jamie Scott have spent countless hours sewing and asking around the community for donations of reusable masks for back-to-school. ([link removed])
* — The Scott sisters know firsthand how severe the virus can be. They've lost several family members to COVID-19. "Some people may look at a mask as not being important, but for us, it's between life or death," Jamie said. ([link removed])
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* — Sisters of Hope needs community support. They so far have collected more than 1,000 masks, but they need more and are also asking for donations of hand sanitizer for students. ([link removed])
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* — "It's for our children," Jamie said. "We have to remember that they are our future judges, lawyers, doctors, maybe another president. And in this trying time, we need all the help we can to help our children." —MSN ([link removed]) (via Karunavirus ([link removed]) )

Ed. Note: Would you like to suggest "An American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Thank you!
Trump interfering with the USPS is another example of the criminal liability of 45. He will be responsible for deaths of people who do not receive their medications in time, just as he's responsible for over 160,000 COVID-19 deaths due to his lack of caring, negligence, and inaction. —Marylea L., New York

Last week, my 88-year-old neighbor received an application to vote by mail for her husband. He's been deceased for 15 years. The sender? The Republican National Committee. Mail-in voter fraud indeed. For how he is playing with the USPS, he should be impeached. Again. —Carol S., Pennsylvania
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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