1. 'I'll draw on the best of us, not the worst'

The Democratic National Convention came to close last night with fireworks outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., where presidential nominee Joe Biden delivered his acceptance speech. "While I'll be a Democratic candidate, I’ll be an American president," said Biden, promising to end the "darkness" of the Trump era. "This is not a partisan moment," he said. "This must be an American moment. It's a moment that calls for hope, and light, and love." Hosted by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the final night also featured speeches by potential vice-presidential candidates Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Zoom discussion among Democrats who ran against Biden in the presidential primary, and a video tribute to Biden's late son Beau. —Reuters

• — "The soul of America." Historian Jon Meacham invoked the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., in his address, saying that "bending the arc of the moral universe" toward justice "requires all of us." He warned, "This is a grave moment in America: A deadly virus is ravaging us; our jobs are evaporating; our faith in the things that bind us together is fraying, for our democracy is under assault from an incumbent more interested in himself than he is in the rest of us." —Axios
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• — Here come the waterworks. Arguably one of the most inspiring points of the night came when 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, of New Hampshire, spoke about how Biden helped him feel confident about his stutter after a campaign event in February. "He told me that we were members of the same club: We stutter," he said. "Joe Biden cared. Imagine what he could do for all of us." —The Hill
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• — "Don't rehire a failed president." Michael Bloomberg, who served as mayor of New York City as a Republican, but ran for president as a Democrat, focused on President Trump's incompetence, both in business and in government. "Let's put an end to this whole sorry chapter in American history—and elect leaders who will bring integrity, stability, sanity, and competence back to the White House," he said. He was just one of many current and former Republicans featured at the convention. —Bloomberg

2. COVID-19 data returning to the CDC

The Department of Health and Human Services is reversing course on the way hospitals report critical information on the coronavirus pandemic to the government, returning the responsibility for data collection to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus coordinator, said this week that the current system is "solely an interim system," and reporting would soon go back to the CDC. The reversal comes after increasing reports that the new system has been plagued by delays and inconsistencies in data since being implemented in July. —The Wall Street Journal

• — Drop in death rate anticipated. COVID-19 deaths should start to decrease around parts of the country by next week, predicts Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield. So far, more than 5.5 million Americans have been infected and at least 174,255 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country's seven-day average for daily deaths has topped 1,000 for at least 24 days in a row. —CNN
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• — Jobless claims tick back up. The Department of Labor reported yesterday that initial jobless claims for the week ending Aug. 15 came in at 1.106 million, above the projected total of 923,000. The modest rise is raising concerns about the true state of the economy, as lawmakers struggle to advance a new pandemic stimulus package. —CNBC
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• — FDA out of the loop? The Trump Administration has announced it will allow coronavirus tests developed by individual labs to be used without Food and Drug Administration review. The decision reportedly came after the Department of Health and Human Services determined that the FDA does not have the authority to regulate lab-developed tests. FDA officials reportedly opposed the move, as some tests have proven to be faulty. —The Hill

3. DeJoy in the hot seat

Embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defended his first 70 days overseeing the U.S. Postal Service to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this morning. During the two-hour hearing, he said he was “extremely highly confident” that even mail-in ballots sent close to Election Day would be delivered on time.

• — DeJoy forcefully defended changes he initiated to try to shave overtime and transportation costs. He said agency statistics showed that 12% of the trips mail carriers made each day were running late and that thousands of extra trips were being made to account for missed mail, which would be unacceptable at private delivery services.
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• — He also pushed back against what he called a "false narrative" that he was trying to meddle in the 2020 election by slowing delivery of ballots. "The insinuation is quite frankly outrageous," he said, insisting he had "never spoken to the president about the Postal Service."
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• — DeJoy's assurances didn't satisfy some Democrats on the panel, including Sen. Gary Peters, who said DeJoy owed Americans an apology. "Your decisions have cost Americans their health, their time, their livelihoods, and their peace of mind," he said. —The New York Times

4. This week in foreign affairs

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified the United Nations yesterday that the U.S. is initiating the process to reinstate all UN sanctions on Iran that were previously lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal. The "snapback" sanctions will extend an arms embargo on Iran that was set to expire in October and further restrict the country from conducting ballistic missile testing. "The United States will never allow the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism to freely buy and sell planes, tanks, missiles, and other kinds of conventional weapons," Pompeo said. —The Hill

• — Iraq. All U.S. troops will leave Iraq "shortly," President Trump said yesterday, following his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi at the White House. Roughly 5,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Iraq, training and supporting the Iraqi military, including in the ongoing fight against ISIS. Trump did not give a specific date or timeline for their withdrawal. —Defense One
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• — China. Despite the growing animosity between China and the U.S., which has intensified amid the coronavirus pandemic, China claims the two nations have agreed to review the progress of their "phase one" trade deal by phone. However, the Trump Administration has thus far declined to acknowledge any such plan to meet for a six-month review of the deal, which was struck in January. —Al Jazeera

5. Sellitti: Police reform requires transparency

"Police accountability is the tie that binds all the proposed policy changes, yet many advocates...overlook transparency as a key component of accountability and, thus, meaningful reform. Transparency, meaning public access to police misconduct records, is the only way to hold police accountable when they violate policy." —The Star-Ledger

Ed. Note: Jennifer Sellitti is the training and communications director for the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender.

MORE: This GOP governor's stirring comments on racism —CNN

6. Elections and disinformation go hand-in-hand

Election season is in full swing, and that means purveyors of disinformation are hard at work too. The country hopes to avoid another 2016, when, among other things, former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort worked with Russian operatives to develop the false narrative that Ukraine was interfering in the U.S. election, not Russia. That fairy tale surpassed the election and made it all the way to President Trump's impeachment trial earlier this year. The moral of the story? Don't be like Paul Manafort. —The Washington Post

• — The disinfo is coming from inside the house! The White House, that is. And it creates a pretty awkward situation for national security agencies. Amplifying Kremlin propaganda. Spreading disinformation about mail-in voting. If it were coming from another country, it would be designated and attacked as foreign interference. But when it comes from the president, officials are often unwilling or unable to publicly confront it, forcing social media companies like Twitter to take matters into their own hands. —CNN
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• — Harris becomes a target. Since being chosen as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's running mate last week, Sen. Kamala Harris has become the subject of various disinformation campaigns on social media. Questions about her eligibility and ethnic heritage have been widespread, as well as attempts to link her to Hungarian billionaire George Soros and the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory. —BBC News
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• — It can happen to Republicans too. Byron Donalds, who describes himself as a "Trump-supporting, gun-owning, liberty-loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man," is running for a congressional seat in Florida's 19th District. Text messages, including a deceptive video, which falsely claimed he had dropped out of the race, were sent to voters just as they headed to the polls on Tuesday. He went on to win the primary. —CNN

7. Millman: Gerrymandering blocks a fundamental civil right

"[A] simple truth found in all 50 state constitutions: The people have an individual right to vote, and a right to equal protection of the law. This is the basis of representative democracy, and the opposite of what gerrymandering does." —The Fulcrum

Ed. Note: Robert Millman produced and directed "Line in the Street," a 2018 documentary about partisan gerrymandering in Pennsylvania.

MORE: Ad push begins for nonpartisan redistricting amendment to end gerrymandering —Arkansas Times

8. 'If we don't enforce this, it is the end of our country as we know it'

Any question about the moral vacancy of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller ought to be laid to rest with new revelations by administration officials of a 2018 meeting in the White House Situation Room. It had been nearly a month since Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, had launched the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy, and Miller was angry that then-Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen hadn’t put it into place.

• — Miller saw the separation of families not as an unfortunate byproduct but as a tool to deter more immigration. With the support of Sessions, he advocated for separating all immigrant families, even those going through civil court proceedings.
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• — Nielsen argued that there were not enough resources at DHS to be able to separate parents, prosecute them for crossing the border, and return them to their children in a timely manner. The children would enter into the custody of Health and Human Services, which was already operating at near capacity.
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• — Frustrated, Miller demanded a show of hands. Who was in favor of moving forward? he asked. Nielsen kept her hand down, but a few days later, she signed a memo instructing DHS personnel to prosecute all migrants crossing the border illegally—including parents arriving with children. —NBC News

9. NYT Ed Board: The art of the grift

"[T]he scheme is...quintessentially Trumpian—a faithful copy of the president's knack for trading on the hopes of disaffected Americans. 'We Build the Wall,' in other words, was basically a Trump tribute band. The plan itself was cribbed directly from Trump. It is the president, after all, who has sold many Americans on the fantastical idea of a simple solution to a complex problem—a border wall, which experts describe as unlikely to stop illegal immigration." —The New York Times

MORE: Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to fraud charges over donations for border wall —NPR

10. An American Story: Humorous signs help churchgoers social distance

Church pastor Ray Cannata of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New Orleans is using humor to help social distance his congregation during Sunday services. He printed and taped hundreds of signs encouraging churchgoers to sit apart by referencing Bible scriptures with a funny twist.

• — "Jesus sat the 500 down in rows. But not this one," reads one sign. "Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and if he were here today, he still wouldn't be allowed to sit in this pew," reads another.
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• — After seeing similar signs online, Cannata said he was inspired to bring some humor into his own church as it gradually reopened for in-person services.
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• — "Things feel really grim right now," Cannata said. "So we printed up the signs to give people something to smile about. People are coming into the church to worship and celebrate, but they're worried about getting sick or making someone else sick. Everyone's wearing masks and giving each other space. It's all stuff we aren't accustomed to at all so this just helps lighten the mood." —CNN

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