Commentary: Pelosi’s Claim That Trump’s 2018 Postal Service Reforms Were Intended to ‘Sabotage the Election’ in 2020 Amid COVID Is a Conspiracy Theory

To hear House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tell it, President Donald Trump’s efforts to reform the Postal Service — which began with an April 2018 executive order appointing a task force to bring USPS into solvency almost two years before there was any COVID-19 pandemic — were intended to undermine increased requests for mail-in and absentee ballots in 2020 in response to the pandemic.

In an Aug. 16 dear colleague letter, Pelosi alleged, “Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters.  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of the top Trump mega-donors, has proven a complicit crony as he continues to push forward sweeping new operational changes that degrade postal service, delay the mail, and… threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion.”

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Television Viewership Down for Democrats’ Unconventional Convention

Preliminary estimates show that viewership for the first night of the Democrats’ virtual convention was down compared with the opening of Hillary Clinton’s nominating party four years ago.

An estimated 18.7 million people watched coverage between 10 and 11 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the Nielsen company said. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers.

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No Immediate Ruling on Motion to Dismiss Lee Statue Lawsuit

A judge heard arguments Tuesday but did not immediately rule on whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue.

An injunction issued in the lawsuit currently prevents Northam’s administration from moving forward with plans announced after the death of George Floyd to take down the bronze equestrian statue of Lee. The figure erected in 1890 is now one of the country’s most prominent tributes to the Confederacy.

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Judge Blocks Idaho Law That Prevents Transgender Women from Participating in Female Athletics

U.S. District Judge David Nye of Idaho ordered a preliminary injunction on Monday temporarily halting a state law that prohibits transgender girls and women from competing in female athletics, The Idaho Statesman reported.

Nye’s ruling will allow transgender girls and women to participate in women’s sports this upcoming fall at colleges and in secondary schools as the lawsuit proceeds, the Statesman reported.

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Amazon to Add Thousands of Tech, Corporate Jobs in Six American Cities

Amazon plans to create 3,500 new tech and corporate jobs in six cities nationwide, the company announced Tuesday.

Most of the company’s new hires will be located in Amazon’s New York office with the rest being added in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, according to a press release. Amazon also announced plans to expand the six offices to accommodate the new hires.

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Trump Campaign Details Counter-Programming Plans to Respond to Democratic National Convention

Election season is in full swing, and with the Democratic National Convention (DNC) underway, the Trump campaign and Republican National Convention (RNC) are busy with counterprogramming this week.

Samantha Cotten, the Regional Communications Director for the Trump campaign, said that Republicans are focusing on 17 battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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Commentary: The Biden-Harris Levitation

Each week in the inexorable march to Election Day, it becomes more challenging to believe how the campaign is unfolding and to rationalize it as a serious process for choosing the leader of the world’s greatest nation. After some reflection, it becomes clear that the extreme improbability of this process is the result of it not really being a race between two pairs of candidates for national office. It is surely the last round in the great battle between Donald Trump and the national political media.

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Former Ohio Governor and 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate John Kasich Delivers Speech at Democratic National Convention

Republican John Kasich, who served as Ohio’s governor from 2011-2019 and ran in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, delivered a speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Monday.

Kasich, who refused to support Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, spoke to the current political division in America, saying that “America is at a crossroads.”

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Exclusive: Roger Stone Tells Why He Dropped Convictions Appeal, Weighs in on Trump Campaign – ‘He’s Gaining’

Roger J. Stone cut his teeth as a young operative working for President Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign and ever since then he has built a reputation as one of the toughest and most creative political tacticians ever.

When Stone’s longtime friend, New York City developer Donald J. Trump, decided to run for president in 2015, he reached out to Stone to help him put it all together.

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White House Officials Refute Governor Walz’s Claim About Warning Trump to Avoid Minneapolis

Prior to President Trump’s arrival in Minnesota Monday, Governor Walz claimed in a virtual interview that he had warned Trump to avoid Minneapolis. Twin Cities PBS reporter Mary Lahammer uploaded a segment of Walz’s statement on Twitter.

“My activism started sixteen years ago with a presidential visit to Mankato, and in a few hours President Trump will visit Mankato, my hometown. I spent this weekend trying to tell the White House why it was a really bad idea to have President Trump go down and stand at the George Floyd Memorial, and use [it] as a backdrop for his campaign and ignite the pain and the anguish that we’re feeling in Minnesota.”

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Twin Cities Media Condemns Black Lives Matter Protestors for Destroying Piñata of Local Anchor Liz Collins

Twin Cities media condemned Black Lives Matter protestors for destroying piñatas bearing the likeness of Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis President Bob Kroll and Twin Cities’ WCCO anchor Liz Collins. The incident occurred in the couple’s neighborhood during a protest on August 15.

Kroll’s piñata was depicted in a police uniform sans pants, while Collins’s was depicted in typical anchorwoman attire. Both piñatas were cross-eyed and held parts of a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) outfit.

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Gov. Mike DeWine Permits Sports This Fall

Governor Mike DeWine announced all sports will be allowed this fall, as long as teams meet guidelines laid out by Ohio High School Athletic Association and the Ohio Department of Health (ODH).

The governor said in a press conference Tuesday that his office would release the specific health guidelines soon. Guidelines will include social distancing restrictions, limiting the number of spectators allowed in stadiums, and having health inspectors enforce the rules.

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Minneapolis Mayor Frey Proposes 5.7 Percent Property Tax Increase, Recommends Police Hiring Freeze

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey gave his preliminary 2021 budget address Friday, in which he suggested how the city could improve its finances after restrictions put in place to slow the COVID-19 pandemic battered tax revenue. 

Fifty-five percent of the city’s ongoing general fund revenue is gathered from sources other than property taxes, Frey said, sources he added that are projected to drop next year by $32.5 million.

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