Tuesday News: “America’s third Covid-19 surge is here,” Trump Says “I Surrender”; “Barrett’s Confirmation Is Proof That Norms Are Dead”; “How an anti-democratic Constitution gave us Amy Coney Barrett”; “Virginia early voters favor Biden”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, October 27. Just one week until Election Day; at this point, if you haven’t voted, make sure you do so IN PERSON, because who knows how long it might take for the ballot to arrive by mail, and also god knows what the 6-3 right-wing Supreme Court might rule…

• How Trump and Bolsonaro Broke Latin America’s Covid-19 Defenses (Both of these guys are evil.)
• British study shows evidence of waning immunity to Covid
• Average daily new coronavirus cases in U.S. hit all-time high, Gottlieb warns of ‘exponential spread’
• America’s third Covid-19 surge is here. It was predictable — and preventable.
• The Third Coronavirus Surge Is Here And Masks Are Still Optional (Brilliant.)
• Trump Tells Coronavirus, ‘I Surrender’ (“The president plays the climate-denial playbook on a pandemic.”)
• Trump is right: He can’t contain the virus. But a better president could.
• Stimulus Hopes Put On Hold Until After Election as Senate Leaves (Yep, McConnell et al rammed through a right-wing Justice, but did NOT act on COVID-19 relief. Those are their priorities.)
• Brett Kavanaugh Just Endorsed A Radical Legal Theory That Could Cause Election Chaos (“The Trump appointee affirms Trump’s suspicions about late-counted ballots and lays out his desire to block state courts from expanding voting rights.” Kavanaugh is psycho.)
• Progressive totems on the chopping block as US supreme court veers right (“New 6-3 majority means court has freedom to dispatch whatever rulings it pleases, on issues from abortion to voting rights”)
• Amy Coney Barrett joins the Supreme Court in unprecedented times
• The Republican Party’s Supreme Court (“The quest to entrench political conservatism in the country’s highest court comes with a steep cost.”)
• Amy Coney Barrett joins a Supreme Court that’s largely out of step with the national consensus
• Barrett will complicate John Roberts’ goal of keeping the Supreme Court out of politics
• Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation Is Proof That Norms Are Dead
• Trump takes victory lap while deceiving nation over pandemic (“Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation secured a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, but the pomp of Trump’s victory couldn’t disguise the pandemic”)
• Amy Coney Barrett’s First Votes Could Throw the Election to Trump
• The Amy Coney Barrett Hail-Mary Touchdown (“Republicans understand that Barrett’s confirmation is coming just a week before a potential electoral ‘bloodbath.’ They don’t care.”
• Supreme Court rejects request to extend Wisconsin’s deadline for counting mail-in ballots (Utter bullshit.)
• Mississippi asks Supreme Court again to review its 15-week abortion ban (Here we go…)
• How an anti-democratic Constitution gave us Amy Coney Barrett
• Amy Coney Barrett’s First Case Could Decimate the ACA
• The radical implications of the Supreme Court’s new ruling on Wisconsin mail-in ballots (So much for all that right-wing blather about “federalism,” huh?)
• What Kind Of Supreme Court Justice Will Amy Coney Barrett Be?
• If The ACA Falls, Protecting Preexisting Conditions Could Be Harder Than It Sounds
• GOP bets Democrats won’t expand Supreme Court. Progressives say: Call their bluff. (“Progressives saw Mitch McConnell’s recent comments that Democrats ‘won’t be able to do much about [Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation] for a long time to come’ as a dare.”)
• ‘Fat and Happy’ With a Conservative Court, Are Republicans Losing a Winning Issue?
• One Last Funny Feeling About 2020 (“With seven days to go until Election Day, we’ve reached the end of the limb.”)r
• With one week left, Trump team rolls out new campaign message: Let the coronavirus win
• Voters in Battleground States Are Driving Record Early Turnout (“A week before Election Day, more than 64 million Americans have already voted — and about half of them are in the dozen or so competitive states that will ultimately decide who wins the Electoral College.”)
• Four big constitutional fixes we need, thanks to Trump
• The media never held Trump responsible for a mass atrocity
• Kayleigh McEnany once praised Biden as a ‘man of the people’ who resonates with “middle class” over ‘tycoon’ Trump
• Kushner, Employing Racist Stereotype, Questions if Black Americans ‘Want to Be Successful’
• Why the Size of Biden’s Lead Still Matters
• Why This Polling Guru Is Betting On Biden (“Though the race may tighten in the coming week—and nothing is certain—Trump’s path looks increasingly difficult.”)
• Meadows under fire as Trump chief of staff for handling of pandemic and other crises
• The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip, one week from Election Day
• Why is this election so painful? Because voting isn’t real political power (“This feeling of powerlessness and despair felt by many is emblematic of a much deeper problem in America”)
• Nothing Left to Say (“The polls continue to be remarkably stable. The two candidates are extremely well-known. We just have a week (at least) to wait.”)
• ‘Today’ Show Runs Deceptively Edited Biden Clip Pushed by Team Trump (NBC “News” f’s up yet again.)
• No, Biden did not confuse George W. Bush and Donald Trump
• Biden still trails in Texas, but the movement there is shocking
• Bloomberg Funds Last-Minute Advertising Blitz for Biden in Texas and Ohio (“The cost of the two-state campaign is expected to total around $15 million.”)
• Joe Biden will travel to Iowa Friday, underscoring close presidential race
• Caution and confidence keep Biden close to home in final days
• Rallies Are the Core of Trump’s Campaign, and a Font of Lies and Misinformation
• Biden’s polling lead over Trump looks more comfortable than Clinton’s
• The ultimate survival guide to election night and beyond, in 17 questions and answers
• Can Biden pull off a win in Georgia?
• Trump eyes hosting election night party at his DC hotel
• ‘King of the coal’ Robert Murray dies at the age of 80 (He did a great deal of damage in his life.)
• Twitter launches ‘pre-bunks’ to get ahead of voting misinformation
• Facebook serves as an echo chamber, especially for conservatives. Blame its algorithm.
• Conservative New Hampshire paper backs Biden: ‘Trump is 100% wrong for America’ (“Paper printed editorial supporting a Democrat for the first time in more than 100 years on same day president visited the state”)
• Closing pitch from Fox and Trump: It’s the media’s fault
• Virginia Dems React to Confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to SCOTUS: “The impact of a right-wing court for Virginia and the nation could be massive”
• In Closing Days of 2020 Campaign, Republicans Shift Ad Resources From VA02 to VA05 and VA07; Sen. Mark Warner Dominates Radio; Pro-Biden/Anti-Trump Ads Dominate Cable TV
• Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Rips Republicans for Doing Nothing on COVID Relief, Instead Rushing SCOTUS Nomination in Order to “Destroy the Affordable Care Act”
• ICYMI: Congressman Bobby Scott, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander, Delegate Jay Jones Blast Trump on COVID Response, Economy, and Health Care Eight Days Before the Election
• Bob Good Has a LOT To Answer For in the Final Week of His VA05 Campaign
• BREAKING: Five-Term U.S. Senator John W. Warner (R-VA) Endorses Abigail Spanberger for Reelection in VA07
• Virginia early voters favor Biden, Post-Schar poll finds (“Almost 7 in 10 (69 percent) of those who cast an early ballot this year say they voted for Biden, while roughly a quarter (24 percent) say they voted for President Trump in the survey, conducted Oct. 13 to 19. Biden also leads with 65 percent support among likely voters who said they plan to vote early but haven’t yet, while the president leads (59 percent to 35 percent) among voters who plan to vote on Election Day.”)
• VMI Superintendent, General J.H. Binford Peay III, Announces His Resignation Following Reports of Appalling, Systemic Racism at School
• VMI superintendent resigns as fallout continues from systemic racism allegations
• Ballot question asks Virginians whether to exempt disabled veterans’ vehicles from taxes
• Monday (10/26) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +904 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 174,275), +27 Hospitalizations (to 12,260), +2 Deaths (to 3,581)
• Claire Gastañaga will retire next year as executive director of ACLU of Virginia
• What’s behind Virginia’s increasing pedestrian death toll and how to reverse the trend
• Editorial: What kind of mood are Roanoke voters in?
• RPD chief forms community advisory committee, but is not publicly identifying most of its members
• Black contractor braves threats in removing Richmond statues
• Fairfax County teachers union opposes new concurrent method for instruction
• Staff member at Loudoun County school tests positive for coronavirus
• Despite Virginia making Election Day a holiday, some city workers won’t get it off (“Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk give employees the day off, and Norfolk could. Virginia Beach will do it this year only, Hampton and Newport News don’t observe it.”)
• Slightly warm with clingy clouds; heavy Zeta rains possible by Thursday