1. 'You know me'

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivered an impassioned rebuttal to Donald Trump's convention acceptance speech yesterday, reminding voters of his 47-year record in public life. "Ask yourself: Do I look to you like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters?" he said, adding for emphasis, "Really?" Speaking in Pittsburgh, Biden also unleashed a barrage of attacks of his own on the president, whom he called "a toxic presence." Flipping the script on Trump, who has described the summer's unrest as "Biden's America," he accused the president of fomenting violence across the country. —Bloomberg

• — Trump blames shadow people. In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham that aired last night, Trump cryptically alleged that unnamed people in "dark shadows" are controlling Biden. In discussing what he characterized as anarchists and thugs terrorizing American cities, Trump said, "People that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows" are pulling the strings of the former vice president. —Politico
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• — "A choker, a joker." In the same interview, the president compared police officers accused of brutality with missing a golf putt. "You know, I mean, in the meantime, he might've been going for a weapon. And you know there's a whole big thing there," he said. "But they choke, just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot putt." Ingraham quickly stepped in to cut the president off and prompt him to change his wording. —Newsweek
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• — Just self-defense. Earlier in the day, Trump declined to condemn the actions of the 17-year-old suspect in the shooting of three protesters against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisc. Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree intentional homicide, for the shooting, which left two protesters dead. —NPR

2. Milbank: Violence as a political tool

"The potential for political violence has grown as parties polarized by race and racial attitudes. Only leaders' restraint has avoided a conflagration up to now. But Trump has unleashed the hellhounds, and it won’t be easy to stop. 'I look at this violence, and I see lives and communities and the dreams of small businesses being destroyed,' Biden said from Pittsburgh in his latest anti-violence plea. 'Donald Trump looks at this violence, and he sees a political lifeline.'" —The Washington Post

MORE: Foer: How Donald Trump is killing politics —The Atlantic

3. What's Barr up to now?

Current and former national security officials are raising concerns over Attorney General Bill Barr's recent decision to remove the head of a Justice Dept. office that helps ensure federal counterterrorism and counterintelligence activities are legal—and replace him with a political appointee with relatively limited experience.

• — For much of the past decade, that little-known office has been led by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brad Wiegmann, a 23-year career public servant, not a political appointee. But two weeks ago, Wiegmann was unexpectedly told he is being reassigned and replaced with Kellen Dwyer.
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• — Dwyer is a cyber-crimes prosecutor who joined the federal government six years ago and made international headlines in 2018, when he accidentally revealed that federal charges had been secretly filed against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
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• — The timing of the personnel change—just two months before the presidential election, and in the midst of a battle against domestic terrorism and foreign interference in the election—has current and former members of the national security community worried. Stay tuned. —ABC News

4. All trolls, foreign and domestic

Here we go again. The infamous St. Petersburg troll group Internet Research Agency, which was part of Russia's attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, is targeting Americans again, Facebook announced today, after receiving a tip from the FBI. A disrupted operation used fake personas, including realistic-looking computer-generated photos of people, a network of Facebook accounts, and a website that was set up to look and operate like a left-wing news outlet. But unfortunately, Russians aren't the only fakers. Others are much closer to home. —CNN

• — If you can't make it, fake it. Twitter yesterday flagged as "manipulated" an out-of-context clip posted by the Trump campaign that depicts Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden saying, "You won’t be safe in Joe Biden's America." Biden actually uttered the words during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, in the midst rebutting the claim, which was made by the Trump campaign. The campaign said it was "joking," and everyone should "lighten up." —New York Post
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• — "They keep stooping lower and lower." A clip was posted by Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, on his personal Twitter account that falsely makes it appear as though Biden fell asleep during a TV interview. Twitter flagged the post as "manipulated media," as the person actually featured in the original, real clip is entertainer Harry Belafonte. —Independent
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• — Scalise scam. Twitter labeled a video promoted by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise "manipulated content," causing Scalise to delete the tweet. The video splices together footage from an interview between Ady Barkan, who has ALS and speaks using a computerized artificial voice, and Biden to make it sound as though Biden wants to defund the police. —CNN

5. Harty: Why disinfo is so effective

"Along with inoculating ourselves against fake news, keep a critical eye out while viewing social media posts and memes. If there is a critical view that smacks of conspiracy—even in a simple, comical meme—do some digging. Memes are an easy way to trigger an inflammatory reaction and surprisingly have major political impact." —The National Interest

Ed. Note: Elinor Harty is a program coordinator at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a Russian Studies graduate of George Mason University.

6. House wants Afghanistan details

The House Oversight and Reform Committee is threatening to issue subpoenas if Pentagon and State Dept. officials don't testify at a hearing next month on the administration's Afghanistan strategy. In a letter sent to Defense Sec. Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday, the lawmakers said they are requesting for the "final time" that witnesses from both departments testify at a Sept. 9 hearing before the panel's subcommittee on national security. —The Hill

• — Mali. Elsewhere in the world, France wants to see the Malian junta return power to civilians "in a matter of months," following the Aug. 18 coup in the West African country. A three-year transition proposed by the junta is "out of the question," French Defense Minister Florence Parly said. If the return to civilian rule isn't done quickly, "it would ultimately benefit terrorists who tend to exploit the weakness of governments," Parly added. —Bloomberg
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• — Lebanon. French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Lebanon last night for his second visit since a massive explosion devastated the capital city of Beirut last month. His arrival came hours after diplomat Mustapha Adib was named the new prime minister-designate, in the wake of the previous administration's resignation following the Aug. 4 explosion. —Al Jazeera
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• — Israel. An Israeli airplane crossed through Saudi Arabian airspace for the first time yesterday, as it carried a delegation of Israeli and American officials, including senior White House advisers Jared Kushner and Robert O'Brien, to a historic round of peace talks in the United Arab Emirates. The kingdom allowed the flyover after the UAE and Israel agreed last month to establish ties. —Bloomberg

7. Burns: Five combustible months of foreign policy ahead

"Any leverage against Iran produced by the UAE-Israel agreement is already being swallowed up in the serial diplomatic malpractice of the administration's 'maximum pressure' campaign—aimed more at toppling the Iranian regime than at changing its behavior. Doubling down in failed policy is not a smart diplomatic prescription..." —The Atlantic

Ed. Note: William J. Burns is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former deputy secretary of state.

8. The many trials of voting in 2020

From limited vote-by-mail policies to voting machines that don't do what they need to do, voting is facing challenges seemingly everywhere. On top of it all, Russian hackers are still trying to hack their way into U.S. systems—and not always for the most obvious reasons. The Russian news outlet Kommersant reported yesterday that hackers are taking U.S. voter information from the dark web and turning it over to the Department of Justice in exchange for monetary compensation. The DOJ is currently offering rewards for information leading to the prevention of U.S. election meddling, and hackers are apparently cashing in. —Newsweek

• — Mississippi. A lawsuit has been filed in federal court that challenges the requirements for voting by absentee ballot in Mississippi—among the most restrictive of any state. The suit takes issue with the rule that voters must have an excuse in order to vote by mail, that absentee ballots must be notarized, and that the state has no provision for notifying people if an absentee ballot has been rejected so voters can fix the problem. —The Fulcrum

• — New York. The New York State Board of Elections is continuing the process of certifying new voting machines designed to improve New York City's early voting system. But while the machines could help the city take a step toward county-wide early voting centers, voting reform advocates say they may not be viable for ranked-choice voting, which will be implemented for the first time in the city next year. —Gotham Gazette
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• — Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf has unveiled a wishlist of election reforms to address logistical concerns that some county and state officials fear could turn nightmarish on Nov. 3. He specifically asked the Republican-controlled General Assembly to pass legislation that allows counties to begin processing mail-in ballots sooner and count ones that arrive shortly after Election Day. —The Philadelphia Inquirer

9. Ellis: What would Ben Franklin think?

"[T]he looming election is the most important political event of our lifetime. This is not an election about personalities, the pandemic, the economy, or Black Lives Matter, though they are all on the ballot. This is an election to decide whether we wish to remain the American republic. Though the founders are busy being dead, their voices still linger in the atmosphere with a resoundingly clear answer to that question." —CNN

Ed. Note: Joseph J. Ellis is an American historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Founding Brothers" and is also the author of "American Dialogue: The Founding Fathers and Us."

MORE: Spindel: The reasons why democracy is in decline around the world —The Christian Science Monitor

10. An American Story: All dolled up

Children can find comfort through interacting with dolls that reflect their own physical image. High school student Ariella Pacheco was inspired to make dolls for kids with rare medical conditions, to help them find a doll that looks like them.

• — Pacheco partnered with Fresh Start Surgical Gifts, an organization that provides medical treatment for children in need. Pacheco was sent pictures and profiles of a few different kids, and then got to work.
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• — Each one of the dolls that she created had its own unique look. One doll had surgical scars, one had jaw alignment problems, one had a port-wine birthmark, and another had facial and cranial anomalies.
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• — "The whole time I was trying to put as much love into it as I could and hoped they represented each child faithfully. I really value the beauty in the little things. Each of these kids [is] so unique, so special… I hope through these dolls they can see themselves in a new light and really embrace their beauty," said Pacheco. —Good News Network

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