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Thursday, September 24

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NO MURDER CHARGES IN BREONNA TAYLOR KILLING A grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, failed to charge any cops in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, sending outraged residents into the streets with the wounding of two police officers and the arrests of more than 100 people. Ex-Detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighbor's home. Waves of outrage spread to other cities, including Kalamazoo, Michigan, and New York City. [HuffPost]

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BIDEN: JUSTICE NEEDED FOR BREONNA, BUT VIOLENCE NEVER ACCEPTABLE Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said “we must continue to speak Breonna Taylor’s name” after authorities failed to charge any cops in her shooting death. “In the wake of her tragic death, we mourn with her mother, family and community, and ask ourselves whether justice could be equally applied in America,” Biden said. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, turned a question about Taylor into a self-praise session. [HuffPost]

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TRUMP WANTS HIS SCOTUS PICK TO HAND HIM THE ELECTION Trump said that the expansion of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic is a “scam” and that he wants a new Supreme Court justice in place to ensure election-related cases are decided in his favor. “I think this will end up in the Supreme Court, and I think it’s very important to have nine justices,” Trump said. Asked at a press conference if he would “commit to a peaceful transferal of power” if he loses the election, Trump said: “Well, we’re gonna have to see what happens.” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) urged Republicans working in the Trump administration to walk away before it’s too late. [HuffPost]

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FEC TELLS TRUMP: WE DON'T 'GET RID OF' BALLOTS Commissioner Ellen Weintraub of the Federal Election Commission has a news flash for Trump and anyone else who needs to hear it: “In the United States of America, we do not ‘get rid of’ ballots.” The president yesterday attacked mail-in voting, suggesting there would only be a peaceful transition if mail-in ballots are removed. (He has on several occasions claimed mail voting favors Democrats.) “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a peaceful ... there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation,” he said. [HuffPost]

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REPUBLICANS PLOT QUICK CONFIRMATION OF COURT NOMINEE Republicans plan a speedy confirmation process for Trump’s pick to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, proceeding on the assumption they’ll support someone whose name has not yet been announced and submitted to the Senate. Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hasn’t laid out a schedule yet, Republicans are aiming to hold a final vote on a nominee to replace the liberal icon shortly before the Nov. 3 election. Two weeks of confirmation hearings would occur sometime in mid-October. [HuffPost]

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FDA ATTEMPT TO TOUGHEN VACCINE STANDARDS SOUNDS POLITICAL, SAYS TRUMP Trump said he may reject new Food and Drug Administration guidelines that toughen the rules around the emergency approval of a coronavirus vaccine, undercutting the nation’s top scientists who have sought to allay any fears about a rushed approval. “That has to be approved by the White House,” Trump said at a briefing on the potential new guidelines. “We may or may not approve it.” The comments came just hours after four of the country’s top doctors defended the agency’s work and said it was relying on science, not political pressure from the White House. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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FAUCI SHUTS DOWN RAND PAUL'S FALSE HERD IMMUNITY CLAIMS Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) received a sharp education lesson on virus immunity and prevention from Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing Wednesday, when the Kentucky physician attempted to attribute New York’s dramatic reduction in COVID-19 cases to herd immunity instead of people following safety protocols. “No, you misconstrued that, senator, and you’ve done that repetitively in the past,” Fauci fired back. “They got hit very badly. ... Right now ... the things that are going on in New York to get their test positivity 1% or less is because they are looking at the guidelines that we have put together from the task force.” [HuffPost]

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POLL: TRUMP SHOULD WAIT TO NOMINATE GINSBURG REPLACEMENT Americans say by a 13-point margin that Trump should allow the winner of the presidential election to nominate a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds. And they say 44% to 37% that presidents in the final year of their term should generally wait until after the election to handle any Supreme Court vacancies. Ginsburg's casket was laid in repose on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. [HuffPost]

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PROGRESSIVE JUDICIAL GROUPS PREPARE FOR TOUGH SUPREME COURT BATTLE In the few days since Ginsburg died, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) already appears to have the votes to confirm Trump’s pick to replace her on the Supreme Court this year. Based on what Trump has said, he’ll name a woman, she will be hostile to the Affordable Care Act and she will support overturning Roe v. Wade. If confirmed, Trump’s nominee will tilt the court to a 6-to-3 conservative majority. It’s a grim prospect for progressive judicial advocacy groups. [HuffPost]

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AMERICANS WITH CORONAVIRUS ARE GOING BROKE Of the Americans who’ve contracted COVID-19, 63% are facing serious financial problems, according to a survey from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Those who haven’t gotten sick aren’t faring much better: 46% of households in the U.S. reported serious financial problems because of the pandemic in the survey, 31% have used up all their savings and 21% are having trouble paying debt. [HuffPost]

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THE FUTILE QUEST FOR HARD NUMBERS ON SEX TRAFFICKING As if we needed any more problems in 2020, the last few months have made it increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to child sex trafficking. It was ― or at least should have been ― obvious that the online furniture retailer Wayfair was not selling children in overpriced cabinets. But what about those “Save the Children” rallies a few weeks later? Or all those posts bouncing around social media claiming that children were disappearing by the thousands? [HuffPost]

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