1. Harris makes history

California Sen. Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for vice president last night in Wilmington, Del. The daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, Harris is the first woman of color on a major-party presidential ticket. She spoke at length about her strong family connections and said she is "committed" to "a vision of our nation as a beloved community—where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we love." Hosted by actress Kerry Washington, the third night of the Democratic National Convention also featured speeches by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and video packages on such policy issues as climate change and violence against women. —The Washington Post

• — "I have not lost my voice." Former Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona delivered her longest public remarks since suffering a severe brain injury in a 2011 assassination attempt, describing the many challenges she has had to surmount since. She implored voters to seek solutions to end gun violence in America. —Axios
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• — Focus on women. Part of the evening was dedicated to empowering women in government, and the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, spoke to that theme. She heartily endorsed Biden and celebrated his choice of Harris as a running mate, then turned to Trump. "I've seen firsthand Donald Trump's disrespect for facts, for working families, and for women in particular," she said. "But we know what he doesn't: that when women succeed, America succeeds." —Los Angeles Times
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• — "No one, including the president, is above the law." Speaking from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pa., former President Barack Obama delivered a scathing rebuke of his successor. "I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously," Obama said. "That he might come to feel the weight of the office. And discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care. But he never did." He continued, "No public official, including the president, should use the office to enrich themselves or their supporters." —The New York Times

2. Brownstein: DNC is a reality check for Trump

"[A]verage viewers probably absorbed a very different image: On a day when Trump delivered an incendiary speech in Yuma, Ariz., touting his border wall and even reprising the language from his 2015 campaign announcement about immigrants as 'murderers' and 'rapists,' Democrats offered the 21st-century version of a Norman Rockwell painting." —The Atlantic

3. More legal woes hit MAGA world

President Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was indicted and taken into federal custody today on charges he ripped off donors to "We Build the Wall," an online fundraising effort to build a privately funded southern border wall. Bannon allegedly took over $1 million, using some to secretly pay co-defendant Brian Kolfage, the founder of the project, and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses. Kolfage and group members Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea were charged along with Bannon. The indictment makes Bannon the sixth person in a senior leadership role of the 2016 Trump campaign to be hit with federal charges. —Associated Press

• — Trumps distance themselves. After the arrests, a spokesperson for Donald Trump, Jr., whose name is listed on the organization's website as having endorsed it, downplayed his involvement with the group. "Don gave one speech at a single 'We Build the Wall' event over a year ago," she said. The president called the arrests "very sad" and said he "didn't like" the private border wall project. —The Hill
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• — Trouble for Trump. A New York-based federal judge, Victor Marrero, threw out Trump's effort to block Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance from subpoenaing his financial records this morning, just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled Trump is not immune from the investigation.
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• — "The president respectfully disagrees." Trump's attorneys immediately filed an emergency stay of the ruling pending an appeal. It's unclear whether other courts will take up the appeal, and Vance's office declined to comment about next steps. When asked about the ruling, Trump told reporters that “we'll probably end up back in the Supreme Court." —Politico

4. 24 hours of cray-cray

Let's just admit it...Donald Trump loves Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said it himself in a series of letters the Senate Intelligence Committee released yesterday as part of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. In one instance, Trump congratulated Putin on being named TIME's 2007 Person of the Year. "[Y]ou definitely deserve it," Trump wrote. "As you have probably heard, I'm a big fan of yours!" In a second letter, Trump tries to persuade Putin to attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, saying the event would be a "great tribute to Moscow and Russia." In signature fashion, it includes a handwritten message at the bottom in all-caps: "THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN!" —Business Insider

• — I'll trade you Puerto Rico for Greenland. Sounds nutty, but it's true. At least it is according to former senior Trump Administration official Miles Taylor. He recalled yesterday that Trump "told us not only did he want to purchase Greenland, he actually said he wanted to see if we could sell Puerto Rico, could we swap Puerto Rico for Greenland because, in his words, Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor." —Mediaite
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• — Trump cancels Goodyear. Yesterday, Trump found a new target—Goodyear. He claimed the company has banned employees from wearing hats bearing his campaign phrase "Make America Great Again," while allowing apparel with slogans like "Black Lives Matter" and LGBT pride-related messages. He tweeted, "Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES...Get better tires for far less!", apparently unconcerned that Goodyear is headquartered in the critical swing state of Ohio and employs approximately 63,000 people. —CBS News
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• — "I understand they like me very much." In a striking nod to a group that has been likened to a cult and labeled a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI, Trump embraced the fringe conspiracy theory QAnon at his daily press conference yesterday, praising its followers for supporting him. When a reporter explained some of the beliefs QAnon followers espouse, the president said, "Is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?" —The Mercury News

MORE: Facebook removes QAnon groups as it expands anti-violence policy —The Wall Street Journal

5. Huseman, Jameel & McCarthy: What the USPS needs

"[L]ike so many things, it comes down to money. Election officials and voting experts have been warning, over and over, that states need more money to properly run elections during a pandemic. This year, many states have had to build large voting-by-mail operations for the first time and safe, socially distanced in-person voting processes, effectively running two new types of elections at once. This requires funding, and it has proved doubly difficult for cash-strapped states." —ProPublica

MORE: Trump slams Senate Republicans for scheduling hearing with postmaster general —CBS News

6. Dissent is squashed around the globe

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's archenemies, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is fighting for his life in a Siberian hospital after allegedly being poisoned at an airport while traveling to Moscow. Navalny's closest aide said he was poisoned after drinking a cup of tea early this morning, later falling ill on the flight to the Russian capital. Taken from the aircraft on a stretcher after it was diverted to the city of Omsk, Navalny, who has been poisoned before, is in a coma, relying on a respirator to breathe. —The Daily Beast

• — Jordan. Jordanian authorities have used a sweeping gag order, harassment, and arrests to limit media coverage of ongoing protests stemming from the forced shutdown of the Jordanian Teachers’ Syndicate, an educators' labor union, in July. Police beat two journalists who covered the protests. The new restrictions reflect a broader degradation of press freedom in Jordan in recent years. —Human Rights Watch
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• — Myanmar. On Monday, Myanmar election officials barred Kyaw Min, head of the Rohingya Muslim-led Democracy and Human Rights Party, from running in the national parliamentary election in November. He was disqualified along with two other DHRP candidates because their parents were allegedly not citizens—one of the various tools frequently used to oppress the Rohingya population. —Human Rights Watch
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• — Philippines. Human rights leader Zara Alvarez was killed in the central Philippines on Monday in what observers and rights defenders have said is a continuing escalation of the "war against dissent" under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. She was the 13th member of the human rights alliance Karapatan killed since mid-2016, when Duterte came to power. —Al Jazeera

7. Durenberger, Elkins, Nelson & Osterholm: RCV is growing because it works

"[Ranked-choice voting] restores majority rule and ensures that candidates opposed by a majority of voters can't win. Opponents...are arguing in favor of our current system, in which unpopular, divisive candidates can win with just their base voters—even if a majority of voters would have preferred another candidate. No democracy should allow that to happen. Our elected leaders should be required to earn the support of more than 50% of voters and build majority coalitions to win and to govern. RCV does just that and, accordingly, incentivizes compromise and collaborative problem-solving on issues that matter to the majority of voters." —Star Tribune

Ed. Note: Dave Durenberger is a former U.S. senator from Minnesota. Steve Elkins is a member of the Minnesota House. Kim Nelson and Mike Osterholm are board members of FairVote Minnesota.

MORE: Is ranked-choice voting the answer to plurality? —Deseret News

8. This week in voting

President Trump's re-election campaign has sued the state of New Jersey over Gov. Phil Murphy's decision to expand vote-by-mail ahead of the general election. Murphy issued an executive order that said in-person voting will be available on Nov. 3, but, because of the coronavirus pandemic, every registered voter in New Jersey will also receive a mail-in ballot. The campaign says Murphy's decision is "illegal" and accused him of appropriating power that belongs to the state legislature. —Business Insider

• — Maine. The president's attempts to undermine voting by mail apparently haven't influenced the citizens of Maine. The state received more than 20,000 requests for absentee ballots within 24 hours of the online form going live. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap projects that 600,000 Maine residents may ultimately vote by mail for the general election. —Bangor Daily News
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• — Michigan. The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission was unveiled on Monday. Comprised of four Republicans, four Democrats, and five independents, the commission was created by a voter-backed ballot measure in 2018. It was conceived to do away with partisan gerrymandering, by tasking the panel, instead of the legislature, with redrawing the state's electoral district boundaries. —Click On Detroit
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• — Missouri. On Monday, Cole Co. Circuit Judge Pat Joyce rewrote the summary for a legislative redistricting measure that will appear on the state's November ballot. Calling the summary written by the state's Republican-led legislature "insufficient, unfair, and partly false," she accused lawmakers of trying to mislead voters into repealing an anti-gerrymandering reform that voters approved two years ago. —ABC News

9. Fried: GOP should make peace with voting

"No major political party has a perfect record on voting rights. After Reconstruction, Southern Democrats passed laws keeping Black people from voting. But then the national party turned to champion access to the ballot in the 1960s. Now, whatever election system is being used, Republicans should stop trying to thwart voting and instead compete in the electoral arena with ideas and candidates most voters support." —Bangor Daily News

Ed. Note: Amy Fried is chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine.

10. An American Story: Newlyweds donate reception food

Ohio newlyweds Tyler and Melanie Tapajna turned their canceled reception into an act of service by donating their reception food to a local women's shelter.

• — The couple wed at a backyard wedding this month and canceled their 150-person reception. So, the couple opted to donate what would have been the food at their reception to Laura's Home, a women and children's shelter.
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• — Tyler, who dressed in a tuxedo, and Melanie, who wore her wedding gown, kept their face masks on and put on gloves and hairnets to serve the food. They served fried chicken, green beans, salad, and macaroni-and-cheese to a total of 135 women and children.
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• — "You can definitely give back in times like this," Melanie said. The couple said they hope their donation inspired others whose plans have been derailed by the virus. —CNN

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