Rudy's at it again

It appears that no one wants Donald Trump to be re-elected more than his attorney Rudy Giuliani. The New York Post published a super-sketchy story yesterday alleging that former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter dropped off a laptop at a Delaware computer store for repair and that the device contained nefarious emails and photos. The Post said the owner of the computer repair shop made a copy of the hard drive and gave it to Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello. Sure, that sounds on the up-and-up.

• — No smoking gun. The story falsely alleges that Hunter Biden was setting up a meeting between his father and Vadym Pozharskyi, a top executive at Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm on which he served. Unfortunately for Giuliani, the meeting never happened. Most importantly, Joe Biden didn't push out a Ukrainian prosecutor for investigating his son—the claim at the heart of the campaign's smear efforts.
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• — "Have you heard about this [hard drive]?" In recent weeks, Trump was made personally aware of the alleged secret trove of material about Hunter Biden's foreign dealings and private life and was keen on getting it out into the public domain as soon as possible. "It was evident that the president was interested and wanted it done before the election," one source says. —The Daily Beast
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• — Social media responds. Facebook and Twitter both restricted access to the Post article, raising questions about how social networks fact-check political content. White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany's Twitter account was suspended for sharing the story. Senate Republicans today said they plan to subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about its decision. —CNET

Tucker: When disinfo leaks into the mainstream

"Imagine: three weeks before a national election, a newspaper with ties to the incumbent publishes emails purporting to be from the son of the challenger in the race. The news outlet makes no attempt to verify the authenticity of the emails, which, even if genuine, do not actually show wrongdoing, so the outlet insinuates wrongdoing without evidence. If you heard about it happening in Eastern Europe you would dismiss it as an obvious case of political information warfare. But what happens when the election is the U.S. presidential race and the incumbent is Donald Trump?" —Defense One

Former Facebook exec states the obvious

A former Facebook executive admits that social media giants pose a threat to democracy and could eventually lead to real-world conflict if not reformed. Tim Kendall, the former director of monetization at Facebook, says that the social media industry needs urgent reform to prevent a dire outcome.

• — "The attention-based business model of social media companies is a threat to democracy. Full stop," Kendall said in a recent interview. "We as users are attracted to content that entertains us and reinforces our views. 'Big social,' as I call it, knows this and presents information that will keep us coming back to their platforms."
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• — Kendall described corporate practices that encourage online tribalism and exacerbate societal divisions. These divisions have grown more intense this year amid political, racial, economic, and public health turmoil.
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• — So what does he suggest? Removing the financial incentives that have created social media addicts of users; better regulation, because "no industry, including tech, should be in the position to regulate themselves;" and innovations that would help people "take back their lives from their devices." —Independent

MORE: Conspiracy theories, misinformation, COVID-19, and the 2020 election —Survey Center on American Life

'I'm immune and I can't give it to you!'

Donald Trump took his post-coronavirus tour to Des Moines, Ia., yesterday, where a digital billboard outside the airport read, "Trump COVID superspreader event," with an arrow pointing toward the event setup. In addition to saying he "didn't love it," referring to his COVID-19 experience, he took some time to praise foreign dictators. "President Xi of China, he's 100%. Putin of Russia, 100%. … Kim Jong-un of North Korea, 100%," he said, arguing that his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, is not. He also complained that the media put news about Iowa's floods and crop devastation earlier this year ahead of reporting that he'd been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, which he did not win. —Des Moines Register

• — Barron was positive. Like his parents, Barron Trump, the president's 14-year-old son, tested positive for COVID-19, but has since tested negative, First Lady Melania Trump revealed yesterday. "Luckily he is a strong teenager and exhibited no symptoms," she said. During his Iowa rally, the president cited Barron's asymptomatic experience to push schools to reopen. —UPI
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• — Kamala in quarantine. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will suspend in-person events until Monday, after two campaign staffers tested positive for COVID-19. It's the Biden campaign's first coronavirus scare, after months of careful health procedures that brought mockery from Trump. Biden reportedly has had no exposure. —Associated Press
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• — Downplaying it again. Back in February, when Trump was saying the coronavirus was "very much under control" and the "stock market [is] starting to look very good to me!", he and his economic team were telling a very different story in a private address to board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, implying that the outbreak could prove worse than the administration was signaling to the public. The tip spread, ultimately fueling a massive stock selloff. —The New York Times

Bociurkiw: Why we can't ignore the crisis in the Caucasus

"Russia has a military base in Armenia, although it has supplied arms to both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Turkey, which has strong economic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan and fraught history with ethnic Armenians, is said to have transported paid mercenaries from Syria to Azerbaijan's line of contact in the fight over the 1,700-square-mile enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. (Turkey has denied this.) Now Iran may be poised to enter the fray. While President Hassan Rouhani said he hoped to 'restore stability' to the region, the Iranian Border Guards commander said his forces have been placed in 'necessary formation' after claiming that shells and rockets have landed on Iranian soil. ... A simmering conflict, like the one in Nagorno-Karabakh, risks becoming a conflagration that defies resolution and, like the virus, can rapidly reverberate around the globe—with deadly consequences." —CNN

Ed. Note: Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst and a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

MORE: The second Nagorno-Karabakh war, two weeks in —War on the Rocks

Feds chased down foreign cash link

For more than three years, federal prosecutors secretly investigated whether Donald Trump was supported by or indebted to a foreign power—not Russia this time, but Egypt. The investigation, which both predated and outlasted former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe, examined whether Trump was the recipient of an illegal foreign campaign contribution. The case even went as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices ultimately declined to hear it.

• — What drew investigators' initial interest in the matter was intelligence, including from an informant, that suggested there could have been money from an Egyptian bank that ended up backing Trump's last-minute injection of $10 million into his 2016 campaign, just days before the election.
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• — Prosecutors sought to subpoena Trump's bank records. The decision to approve the subpoena fell to U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, who spent weeks poring over the investigative records before rejecting the request. Liu told prosecutors she didn't believe they had met the standard needed to seek the records, but she didn't close the case. She was later abruptly fired.
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• — The Mueller report does not mention the Egypt investigation, save for one vague hint—it was listed among 11 cases Mueller investigated then transferred to other offices. For more than a year, that entry was redacted. Last month, the Justice Department lifted the redaction and said the case was closed. Mueller described it with three vague words: "Foreign campaign contribution." —CNN

Stephan: Nonviolent protest can preserve democracy

"While it is unclear what will happen between now and the inauguration of the president in January, we do know one thing: what ordinary people do, and how they mobilize, will determine the outcome of the election. Whereas the Trump Administration has inspired chaos and lawlessness, disciplined nonviolent protest and mass civic action could be the most important guarantors of a free and fair election—and our country's democratic future." —Just Security

Ed. Note: Maria Stephan is the co-author of "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict," "Bolstering Democracy: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward," and "Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback?"

MORE: Riled up: Misinformation stokes calls for violence on Election Day —The New York Times

Staying connected with music 

Some of Hawaii's most popular musical artists have appeared before an unlikely audience—a small elementary school on Oahu's windward coast. These are gigs with a purpose: The principal dreamed up the virtual concerts, presenting headliners like internationally renowned ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, as a way of bringing together a community struggling with the pandemic.

• — Aikahi Elementary Principal Keoki Fraser has organized the concerts, which are open to all, every several weeks. Like most Hawaii public schools, his continues to educate its students remotely. There have been five concerts so far, and they've featured locally well-known artists like singer Kimié Miner and reggae artist Kolohe Kai.
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• — As Shimabukuro played an upbeat flamenco piece, followed by the Beatles tune "In My Life," the online conferencing platform's participant boxes showed children swaying to the music. A mom twirled her daughter around. The chat panel lit up with messages like "mind blown," and "that was amazing."
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• — "I think it's so much fun to see the smiling, happy faces of all the kids, and COVID has taken so much away from the kids," said parent Amy Kunz. "I think Principal Fraser, in doing this, is really hitting home on that social-emotional aspect, that even though we're not in school, we can still make these connections and have fun." —Associated Press

Amy Coney Barrett has asserted her independence from the White House. And yet, when asked by Corey Booker if she would commit to a peaceful transfer of power, she refused to answer. To me, that seems like a contradiction of her statement. It is more than disturbing that someone who will potentially sit on the Supreme Court of this country does not seem to understand how elections work. Is she capable of upholding the laws of this land? —Diane R., Maryland

My prayers to Sharon C., Michigan, whose comment was published in the Oct. 14 edition of THE TOPLINE e-newsletter.

My brother (53) has been in ICU in Arizona with COVID-19 since mid-September. He has a feeding tube and is on a ventilator. He has always been very strong, fit, and healthy. He is a U.S. Army veteran of Desert Storm. He is a tax-paying, voting, business-owning Trump-supporter.

As Sharon noted in her comment, Trump knew all along. Trump had COVID-19 and was given steroids and experimental drugs not available to "common" citizens. Trump didn't suffer or die.

My brother won't get those "amazing" drugs that will make him "feel better than ever." He may not survive at all—not like Trump did. My brother, Sharon C., millions of others, and the 215,000+ who have already died didn't stand a chance. But Trump is "feeling better than ever."

What a disgraceful situation this country is in—and all because one self-serving, affluenza-afflicted, silver-spoon-fed narcissist has done such a grossly incompetent job as "President." —J.H., Montana

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