As the embattled agency gears up for the 2020 election

[link removed]
A New York Times opinion piece by Jamelle Bouie ([link removed]) today argues that Facebook has been "a disaster for the world." That may sound drastic if you use Facebook to post family updates and locate old friends, but there's no denying that it has been exploited by malign forces to spread propaganda, conspiracies, and disinformation that have had a destabilizing real-world impact. The good news is that social media can be harnessed in the exact same way to spread truth, facts, and information that can help—rather than harm—our democracy. If you're a social media-user, consider how you can best use it between now and the election to counter the rampant lies and paranoia. Post information on how, when, and where to vote in your community. Offer to help a friend register, vote by mail, or safely get to an in-person polling place. Kindly, but firmly, correct any misinformation you find, and back it up with credible resources. Or,
consider joining Stand Up Republic's digital team ([link removed]) , and help us save our democracy. —Evan McMullin

Welcome to all of our new readers. We're glad you're here! Please help us spread the word about THE TOPLINE by sharing it here ([link removed]) .
Shareable version ([link removed])


** 1. 'A politically motivated attack'
------------------------------------------------------------

A federal judge yesterday blocked controversial changes to the U.S. Postal Service that have slowed the nation's mail and likely would slow the delivery of ballots in the upcoming presidential election. U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Wash., said he was issuing a nationwide injunction sought by 14 states in a case against President Trump, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and the U.S. Postal Service over changes to the service made in July. "[The plaintiffs] have...demonstrated that this attack on the Postal Service is likely to irreparably harm the states' ability to administer the 2020 general election," Bastian said. —Reuters ([link removed])
* — Just run the trucks on time. When DeJoy joined the USPS in June, he attempted to make the agency run more efficiently by ordering drivers to start leaving post offices and distribution centers exactly on schedule, avoiding extra trips to pick up any mail that missed earlier cutoffs. The stricter deadlines sparked far less public outcry than the removal of sorting machines, but they were far more disruptive to the U.S. mail system. —Los Angeles Times ([link removed])

* — USPS has struggled to manage the Trump Administration. Nearly 10,000 pages of emails, memos, and other private documents from the spring offer new details about the agency's ongoing struggles with the administration, even before DeJoy's arrival. They also reveal that the USPS had plans to distribute 650 million masks nationwide, enough to offer five face coverings to every American household, but the plan was scuttled by the White House. —The Washington Post ([link removed])
*
* — "We're at the 'trust but verify' point." In a call that included a number of "tense moments," DeJoy sought to reassure a group of the nation's top election officials yesterday that election mail will be his agency's highest priority this fall. DeJoy told the officials that the USPS would undertake a public information campaign to explain to voters that it is equipped to handle the expected increase in mail volume. We'll keep our fingers crossed. —NPR ([link removed])

MORE: Poorly protected postal workers are catching COVID-19 by the thousands. It's one more threat to voting by mail —ProPublica ([link removed])


** 2. Hasen: Barr is undermining the election
------------------------------------------------------------

"[Attorney General Bill] Barr has falsely stated that those who vote by mail give up their secret ballot and that the government will know how you voted. That's not true, as every state takes precautions to prevent the government from knowing how voters who vote by mail have cast their ballots. One of Barr's mail-in voting claims is particularly preposterous, making it more likely that he's engaged in deliberate obfuscation rather than simply being naïve about the voting process." —CNN ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Richard Hasen is a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy."

MORE: Watchdogs demand election night clarity from the media —Politico ([link removed])


** 3. Active Russian agent embraced by Trump allies
------------------------------------------------------------

Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach can count many allies of Donald Trump among his friends. Derkach continues to push debunked conspiracy theories about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine, drawing both praise and scorn from many. ([link removed])
* — Fears that Ukrainians with ties to Russia are inserting themselves in the U.S. election continue to rise. Just last week, the Treasury Department blacklisted Derkach as an "active Russian agent." ([link removed])
*
* — Some U.S. officials fear that Derkach and Russian disinformation are the basis for Sen. Ron Johnson's investigation of the Bidens' activities in Ukraine. Derkach himself claims to have sent materials to Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley. ([link removed])
*
* — As Johnson's report on his investigation is almost complete, many lawmakers, including some Republicans, have condemned it as politically motivated. Sen. Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution targeted at Johnson, which calls for "an end to the use of congressional resources to launder Russian disinformation through Congress." Sen. Mitt Romney has said the investigation is "not the legitimate role of government." ([link removed]) —The Daily Beast ([link removed])

MORE: US admits that congressman offered pardon to Assange if he covered up Russia links —The Daily Beast ([link removed])


** 4. DNI to resume in-person briefings to Congress
------------------------------------------------------------

After meeting with Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Wednesday, the Senate and House intelligence committees say top national security officials will once again provide in-person briefings on potential threats to the November election. Ratcliffe caused a stir last month when he said his office would no longer provide face-to-face briefings in order to prevent leaks to the media. Democrats and some Republicans vigorously objected, saying this could allow the Trump Administration to downplay or cover-up intelligence that suggested Russia or other countries were interfering with the election in a bid to help President Trump. —NPR ([link removed])
* — The disinfo is coming from inside the country. Earlier this week, a Washington Post report revealed that Turning Point Action, an offshoot of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, recruited and paid American teenagers, some minors, in Arizona to push misleading claims, disinformation, and conservative messages to bolster Trump's election. —Business Insider ([link removed])
*
* — Social media platforms take action. Twitter and Facebook have shut down accounts linked to Turning Point Action, and both platforms say they are continuing to review the accounts alleged to be part of the campaign. "It sounds like the Russians, but instead coming from Americans," Jacob Ratkiewicz, a software engineer at Google, said. —CNN ([link removed])
*
* — Even worse than 2016. As bad as that year was for disinformation, 2020 is shaping up to be worse. Fissures in the American populace are being exacerbated in a way that they were not in 2016—through the levers of federal power. As willing, powerful U.S. political figures actively circulate material from interference campaigns, the line between foreign and domestic disinformation is blurring, and there is no comprehensive intelligence or national security strategy to address the crisis. —Axios ([link removed])

MORE: EU probes Russian disinformation efforts on Navalny and Belarus —Euractiv ([link removed])


** 5. Sarat: Democracy and truth go hand-in-hand
------------------------------------------------------------

"Democracy cannot survive and prosper if our political leaders deny that there are things that are true and things that are false—or assert that the difference between truth and falsity does not matter at all. It is endangered if leaders lie to citizens without guilt or shame. The threat Trump poses to our democracy is not just that he tells lies, even when they are as consequential as those he told about the severity of the coronavirus, but that he lies in ways that undermine the foundations of democracy itself." —The Fulcrum ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Austin Sarat is associate provost, associate dean of the faculty, and a professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College.

MORE: Graham: How an experiment in Wisconsin changed voters' minds —The Atlantic ([link removed])
[link removed]'s%20amazing!%20Check%20it%20out: [link removed] SHARE TOPLINE ON TWITTER ([link removed]'s%20amazing!%20Check%20it%20out: [link removed])


** 6. CDC guidelines weren't really CDC guidelines
------------------------------------------------------------

A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by CDC scientists and was posted to the agency's website despite serious objections, flouting the agency's strict scientific review process. The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without COVID-19 symptoms, even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less. ([link removed])
* — The Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting, according to federal officials, and then "dropped" it into the CDC's website. "That was a doc that came from the top down, from the HHS and the [White House Coronavirus] Task Force," said one official. "That policy does not reflect what many people at the CDC feel should be the policy." —The New York Times ([link removed])
*
* — What did the U.S. military know about COVID-19, and when did they know it? In April, the Pentagon denied a report that the National Center for Medical Intelligence was concerned about a potential pandemic as far back as last November. But there may be more to the story. On Wednesday, Gen. Robert Ashley, who runs the Defense Intelligence Agency—NMCI's parent agency—said that the agency "did what we were supposed to" and that a bigger story would come out eventually. Hmm. Stay tuned. —Defense One ([link removed])

* — "Flat-out disregard for human life." Olivia Troye, who worked as homeland security, counterterrorism, and coronavirus adviser to Vice President Mike Pence for two years, says she will vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this fall because of her experience in the White House. She said that the administration's response cost lives because President Trump's "main concern was the economy and his re-election." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

MORE: CDC again updates its guidelines on testing people without coronavirus symptoms —CNN ([link removed])


** 7. McLaughlin: Hong Kong is a cautionary tale
------------------------------------------------------------

"The events, looked at one at a time, are alarming. Taken together they are stunning—the first, swift moves in what is an audacious, long-term plan to reshape Hong Kong, viewed by the Chinese Communist Party as the latest region at the fringes of mainland China—along with the likes Tibet and Xinjiang—where questionable loyalties must be brought under control. A campaign of social manipulation aims to fundamentally change the city, rewire its younger generations, and reach beyond the city's borders to silence vocal critics." —WIRED ([link removed])


** 8. This week in foreign policy
------------------------------------------------------------

Foreign policy news this week was naturally dominated by the Middle East peace accord signing on Tuesday. But there are other developments. One came not from the incumbent president but the man who seeks to replace him, former Vice President Joe Biden. In support of Rep. Eliot Engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and other House leaders, he warned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that any post-Brexit trade deal between the U.S. and UK must be contingent upon respect for the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and prevent the return of a hard border in Ireland. —MarketWatch ([link removed])
* — China. Senate Democrats yesterday presented legislation that would provide more than $350 billion over a decade to build the U.S.'s industrial capacity and challenge Beijing. The bill seeks to shore up the nation's manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure in an attempt to unwind it from China's economy and increase American firms' competitiveness. —The New York Times ([link removed])
*
* — Afghanistan. Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster says the Trump Administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan and partnership with the Taliban has made the U.S. less safe. McMaster says President Trump partnered with the Taliban before peace talks in Qatar began this month, and diminished the sacrifice of American troops who died during the Afghanistan War. "I think what [Trump] did with this new policy, is he, in effect, is partnering with the Taliban against, in many ways, the Afghan government," McMaster told CBS News. — ([link removed]) Axios ([link removed])

* — Belarus. Russia, of all places, has accused the U.S. of interfering in Belarus and trying to foment a revolution by funding anti-government bloggers and training activists in defense of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Tsikhanouskaya fled the country for Lithuania amid a police crackdown. Moscow firmly supports embattled Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. —Reuters ([link removed])

MORE: US diplomat asks Belarus to release her jailed husband —NPR ([link removed])


** 9. Vance: Nationalist-populism doesn't work
------------------------------------------------------------

"Call it populism, call it nationalism—regardless of the label, it is undeniable that this nationalist-populist movement has momentum around the world. It includes think tanks and institutes, magazines and journals, and political leaders and parties, some of whom now govern nation-states including the United States. This movement seeks to replace a system based on the values of liberal democracy with one based on loyalty to race, nationality, and culture." —Niskanen Center ([link removed])


** 10. An American Story: Sunflowers for Kenosha
------------------------------------------------------------

Kenosha hasn't had an easy summer. The Wisconsin city was the site of the police-shooting of Jacob Blake in August that led to sometimes violent protests and destructive riots. So Scott Thompson's quarantine project couldn't have blossomed at a better time. The fourth-generation berry farmer based in Bristol, Kenosha Co., planted two million sunflowers to give joy to others. ([link removed] )
* — Guests at Thompson Strawberry Farm are invited to cut and take a dozen of the bright flowers home once they're done wandering through the fields, taking pictures, and having a good time in the late-summer sun. ([link removed] )
*
* — The flowers are also giving people from Milwaukee, Chicago, and other larger cities nearby a place to get a respite from the pandemic. "A lot of people are saying, 'We just needed to get out of the city and come out to a place where I could take my mask off for a couple of hours,'" Thompson says. ([link removed] )
*
* — For Thompson, the goal was simply for people to enjoy a nice day in the country and bring home something beautiful. Little did he know how much a sea of yellow could help in a very challenging year. —Good News Network ([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!

If the DOJ is as poorly managed as Bill Barr said, maybe we should fire its director. He's obviously not up to the task of running it. —David M., Colorado

The preheader text for yesterday's edition of THE TOPLINE really got me: "It's Constitution Day. Do you recognize your country?" My answer? No, I don't. Not anymore. Not with Bill Barr running the Justice Department. He's no mere hatchet man for an absolutely lawless president and administration ... he's an arsonist, a bulldozer, and woodchipper all in one. Justice? Where? —Paul B., Pennsylvania
tell us what you think about today's stories ([link removed])


** 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.
------------------------------------------------------------
Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

Did you receive this email from a friend? Sign up at www.thetopline.com.
CARE ABOUT DEMOCRACY? SHARE SOME DEMOCRACY.
If you love THE TOPLINE, share it with your friends and reap the rewards—from a shoutout in an issue of TL, to exclusive swag, to a call with Evan and Mindy.
[link removed]
Your Dashboard has everything you need to easily share THE TOPLINE
and track your progress.
VISIT YOUR DASHBOARD NOW TO GET STARTED! ([link removed])

============================================================
** ([link removed])
The Topline is a project of the Stand Up Republic Foundation.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.

700 Pennsylvania Ave SE · Washington, DC 20003-2493 · USA