One million dead from COVID-19

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has marked another nightmarish milestone, taking more than a million lives worldwide. Declared a pandemic over six months ago, COVID-19 has swept through nearly every nation on the planet, infecting more than 33 million people, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Roughly half of the world's fatalities have been reported in just four countries—the United States, Brazil, India, and Mexico—with the U.S. death toll of approximately 205,000 topping the grim list. —CNBC

• — Et tu, Dr. Birx? According to documents and interviews with officials, the White House pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to play down the risk of sending children back to school amid the pandemic, and tried to circumvent the CDC in a search for alternate data showing that the pandemic was weakening and posed little danger to children. The effort, which included White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx, reportedly attempted to pressure public health professionals to fall in line with President Trump's election-year agenda of pushing to reopen schools and the economy as quickly as possible. Ugh. —The New York Times
•  
• — A bright spot. New coronavirus tests that show on-the-spot results in 15 to 30 minutes are about to be rolled out across the world. The saliva test, which looks like a pregnancy test, with two blue lines displayed for positive, has received emergency approval from the World Health Organization. A second rapid test is expected to receive approval shortly. Great news. —The Guardian
•  
• — More relief? House Democrats have unveiled a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 bill that would provide another round of $1,200 relief checks, reauthorize the small-business lending program, bring back the $600 federal boost to the unemployment benefit through January, and provide assistance for the airline industry. But don't get your hopes up too high—it's likely to face strong opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate. —USA Today

Were Black voters targeted for voter suppression in 2016?

Steve Bannon strikes again. Remember Cambridge Analytica, the firm co-founded by Bannon that unraveled in 2018 over allegations of improper use of Facebook data? British broadcaster Channel 4 News has obtained a database built by the firm that identified Black voters as ripe for "deterrence" in profiles prepared for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. The finding reveals how Facebook can be harnessed legally to narrowly segment and target portions of the electorate in voter suppression campaigns.

• — The database of nearly 200 million American voters sorted likely Democratic voters into several categories, such as "Core Clinton," "Disengaged Clinton," and "Deterrence." The third category had a disproprtionately high number of Black voters—3.5 million—suggesting a bid to dissuade them from voting at all.
   
• — The file spans 16 states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, where Trump won in 2016 by an exceptionally narrow margin. Black voter turnout fell in both states by more than 12 points compared to 2012.
   
• — The president's re-election campaign has called the revelation "fake news," and an aide who handled data in 2016 said the material went unused by the campaign. —The Washington Post

MORE: Religious data platform 'targets mentally ill, vulnerable people' —Deutsche Welle

ST Ed Board: Best disinformation defense? You

"Part of the guard is government, which has mostly focused on preventing an election hack. But less has been done to blunt the insidious internet meddling from foreign forces or even deliberate disinformation from homegrown groups. ... Since these institutions can't do it alone, individuals are the best line of disinformation defense." —Star Tribune

MORE: Federal agencies warn of disinformation around cyberattacks on election infrastructure —The Hill

FEC complaint targets Parscale

The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group, has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, accusing the Trump campaign of "laundering" $170 million through numerous companies. Some of the firms named in the complaint are connected to Brad Parscale, who served as Trump's campaign manager from February 2018 until July, when he was replaced by Bill Stepien. 

• — The complaint alleges the Trump campaign paid millions of dollars to campaign-connected vendors without reporting those payments to the FEC. It specifically homes in on a firm created by Parscale ostensibly to circumvent media buyers, American Made Media Consultants, which has been paid more than $106 million.
•  
• — Parscale's firms have long been an object of scrutiny for receiving large sums from the Trump campaign and for Parscale maintaining a lavish lifestyle well beyond the means of most presidential campaign managers.
•  
• — "Voters have a right to know how campaigns are spending money to influence elections," said CLC President Trevor Potter, a Republican and former FEC Chair. "This scheme flies in the face of transparency requirements mandated by federal law, and it leaves voters and donors in the dark about where the campaign's funds are actually going." —Forbes

Ghosh: Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict tests Turkey-Russia alliance

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan's alliance of convenience with Vladimir Putin has survived conflicts of interest in Syria and Libya, but it faces a sterner test in the Caucasus, where the outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan puts the leaders of Turkey and Russia in opposition. And having burned his bridges with Europe and expended most of his brownie points with the U.S., Erdogan clearly has the weaker hand." —Bloomberg

MORE: Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan threatens to spiral into full-blown war —NPR

Like COVID-19, QAnon is spreading

In recent days, thousands of protesters have gathered at London's Trafalgar Square to express their anger at the British government's measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory were among them, shouting "Choose your side," and holding placards reading "Liberty not fear" and "Stop child trafficking." "Even though most QAnon content is shared in the U.S., it is gaining an international following," says Jakob Guhl of London's Institute of Strategic Dialogue. Great Britain has the second-largest amount of sharing of QAnon posts, followed by Canada, Australia, and Germany.

• — "QAnon is like tofu; it can take on whatever flavor you add." Though the central tenet of the theory is that Donald Trump is fighting an international ring of "deep state" pedophiles harvesting the blood of children, QAnon is an amorphous edifice that keeps changing, sometimes overlapping with other conspiracy myths, including anti-Semitic ones, according to Guhl. —Deutsche Welle
• 
  — Why is it happening now? In this year of the coronavirus pandemic, a particular strain of the theory is emerging in the mainstream: a belief that the "official story" is in fact a Big Lie, being told by powerful, shadowy interests—in this case, scientists and governments conspiring to use COVID-19 for their own dark purposes.
•  
• — It's not as rare as you think. Estimates of how many Americans firmly believe at least one discredited conspiracy theory hover around 50%. "With all changes happening in politics, the polarization and lack of respect, conspiracy theories are playing a bigger role in people's thinking and behavior possibly than ever," said Shauna Bowes, a research psychologist at Emory University. —The New York Times

Garvey: Kindness is down but not out

"The 2020 election will, blessedly, one day end. But our neighbors, family, and countrymen and countrywomen will still be here. I want to live in a place, a spiritual and mental place, where I still feel kindness toward all, no matter what someone believes and whether or how they voted." —Chicago Tribune

'Fires do not have borders'

Firefighters in California are getting a much needed hand. Their counterparts from Mexico arrived this week to help battle the record-breaking wildfires ravaging the state. Five teams of 20 trained, equipped firefighters from the Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR) landed at San Bernardino International Airport on Wednesday, where they were welcomed by officials with the U.S. Forest Service.

• — The crews will undergo orientation and training sessions before they will be sent to work in California's Sequoia National Park, where the Sequoia Complex Fire—which spans more than 144,000 acres—was ignited by lightning on Aug. 19 and is only about 35% contained.
   
• — "I am excited about this unique opportunity to visit a station where I worked and trained when I was young. The training I received helped me advance my career, and now I feel able to help USFS and Sequoia, bringing firefighters from Mexico with me, to provide support in the California firefighting effort," said Eduardo Cruz, the current director of CONAFOR. 
•  
• — "Thankfully, our Department of Defense and international partners are able to support us in this time of need, as wildfire activity will likely carry on for the foreseeable future, particularly in California," said Ken Schmid, Bureau of Land Management Fire Operations. —Upworthy

Thank you for keeping me updated on how far the corruption of the administration goes. First, let me say that I am one of the lucky ones during this pandemic and economic downturn. I still have my job and am able to pay my mortgage and buy food. With that being said, we had to send right back to the government the "stimulus check" we received back in May to cover what we owed in taxes for 2019. Since this "president" has been in office, we have "owed" the feds money. I am an office-worker, and my husband works in construction. We work hard, and our state and federal taxes are taken out with every paycheck. But for two years now, we have had to pay additional. So when I hear that the worst president in my lifetime paid $750, it makes me so mad that my stomach hurts. What a joke! Thank you again for THE TOPLINE! —Dana K., California

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.