Top Biden advisor says Democrats will continue Trump's policy in Syria.

Tony Blinken says Biden would:
- Keep US troops in Syria
- Deny Assad oil
- Keep Idlib for rebels
- Refuse to negotiate w Damascus until US "effectuates more positive outcome" https://t.co/lQhSzEyzcd pic.twitter.com/QjRSoJHhxk

— Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) May 21, 2020

Michigan dams collapse, residents told to evacuate https://t.co/WYWEYzl5ca pic.twitter.com/mFRcoDugsC

— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2020

Text-Only NPR.org : Scientists Warn CDC Testing Data Could Create Misleading Picture Of Pandemic

In addition, combining antibody testing with diagnostic testing could reduce the number of tests that appear to be producing positive results, lowering the overall "positivity rate." That's another important benchmark. The World Health Organization has recommended a positivity rate of 10% or less as a signal of whether enough testing is taking place.

"I suspect it will artificially lower the percent positive," wrote Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in another email to NPR about the CDC testing data.

Trump claims he will "override the governors" who closed churches in the pandemic | Vox News |

TRUMP: "Some governors have deemed liquor stores & abortion clinics essential, but have left out churches ... it's not right. So I am correcting this injustice & am calling houses of worship essential. I call upon governors to allow churches & places of worship to open right now" pic.twitter.com/e0VU8XeLEm

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 22, 2020

Trump labeled churches and other houses of worship as "essential", calls on them to reopen | AP News |

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The front page of The New York Times for May 24, 2020 pic.twitter.com/d14JhFp4CP

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 24, 2020

As the national death toll from COVID-19 approaches the stunning 100,000 milestone, The New York Times is devoting its entire Sunday May 24 front page to a list - a partial list - of the dead.

New York Times Publishes Names of People Who Died of COVID-19 on Entire Front Page | Newsweek |

Close relationship how people and capitalism treat planet Earth.

Every year, dirty air still brings more than 100,000 American lives to a premature death. Depleting resources.

Choked: The Age of Air Pollution and the Fight for a Cleaner Future

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Cuomo gave immunity to nursing home execs after big campaign donations https://t.co/UwIqbWGSuA

— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) May 26, 2020

Nursing homes might also have played a major role in the Italian outbreak in Bergamon, though I have only heard rumors.

FDA Announces Temporary Flexibility Policy Regarding Certain Labeling Requirements for Foods for Humans During COVID-19 Pandemic | FDA

First, the FDA is providing flexibility for manufacturers to make minor formulation changes in certain circumstances without making conforming label changes, such as making a change to product ingredients, without updating the ingredient list on the packaged food when such a minor change is made. For purposes of this guidance, minor formulation changes should be consistent with the general factors listed below, as appropriate:

At last! Twitter adds ALERT to Trump's tweets as FAKE NEWS. Wishing the American folks would follow and throw the bum OUT! 😎

Trump finally admits that "fake news" just means news he doesn't like | Vox News - May 9, 2018 |

President Trump's Description of What's 'Fake' Is Expanding | NPR - Sept. 2, 2018 |

Twitter Is Finally Fact-Checking Trump's Tweets | Vanity Fair |

The flagged tweets--in which Trump falsely claims "there is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent"--are now marked with a label alerting users to "Get the facts about mail-in ballots." When users click on the link, it takes them to a Twitter Moments page, which links to articles and tweets from journalists and experts that debunk Trump's claims. The president's statements about voter fraud "are unsubstantiated ...

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WATCH: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says Americans may receive debit cards for refunds
$239B, 141M receipts, 114M direct deposits, 27M checks, and now "debit" (electronic benefit transfer, EBT) cards. All the convenience of a credit card w/o the STIGMA of transfer payment or ATM fees?
Don't throw away those Visa debit cards: They have stimulus cash

Jacké Dollar said she immediately cut up the Visa debit card shortly after she opened the envelope on Tuesday. She has never had a debit card, never wanted one. So when she got this one in the mail, she just cut it up.

archived Democrats balk at $1,200 rebate checks in stimulus plan

National Guard support requested by city to combat riots in south Minneapolis

Multiple fires burn overnight following violence and looting in Minneapolis

#LIVE from #Minneapolis, many fires still burning by 3rd Precinct building that has been essentially under siege [_link]

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) May 28, 2020

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Police claims of `outside agitators' is one of the oldest PR tactics in the book and one should be careful spreading it uncritically. The addition of white supremacists is a new twist to peel off fence-sitting liberals but the goal is the same: to delegitimize social unrest pic.twitter.com/SMrkaxSy6o

— Citations Needed (@CitationsPod) May 30, 2020

This tweet comes as officials in Minnesota are investigating whether outsiders, including white supremacists, are inciting riots. https://t.co/bKXbcIE5R7

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) May 30, 2020

BREAKING: Nasdaq Composite hits new all-time high https://t.co/oDBadHhG24 pic.twitter.com/k2FlzvF7kX

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) June 5, 2020

3/BLS apparently decided that despite their continuing eligibility for unemployment insurance, those 9m Americans were no longer in the workforce, so they did not have to be counted as unemployed.

Recognizing those people as among the unemployed raises the rate 5.7 pts to 19%."

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) June 5, 2020

pic.twitter.com/MpWGPExQ3E

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2020

'The Damage Is Done': Judge Slams John Bolton, but Refuses to Block Book

A Washington federal judge on Saturday admonished John Bolton for moving ahead with his memoir without final authorization from the Trump administration, but the court refused to issue any order to restrain further distribution of the book, which has been sent to bookstores and media outlets around the country and world.

John Bolton: judge declines to block tell-all Trump book | The Guardian |

.....who was all washed up until I brought him back and gave him a chance, broke the law by releasing Classified Information (in massive amounts). He must pay a very big price for this, as others have before him. This should never to happen again!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2020

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Fired Or Not, Berman On Way Out

pic.twitter.com/hFNvQs5orV

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) June 20, 2020

Attorney General William P. Barr on the Nomination of Jay Clayton to Serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York [_link]

— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) June 20, 2020

Here's the sequence of events:

-Barr says Berman is stepping down.

-Berman says that's not true and he has no intention to do so.

-Barr essentially says, you're right, but I've asked the President to fire you as a result and he has done so.

-Trump says he wasn't involved.

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) June 20, 2020

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BREAKING: US Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law. [_link]

— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 29, 2020

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Even your own Supreme Court picks voted against you. That is funny shit.

If Bill Barr ever turns on you and starts enforcing the law, you will be seriously screwed.

Did you read Mary Trump's book yet?

— Dennis R. Hill (@dennis0805a) July 9, 2020

In Trump v. Mazars, Trump wins this stage of dispute over congressional subpoenas to lenders and accountant for president's financial records as #SCOTUS, 7-2, sends case back to lower courts to take account of separation of powers concerns

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) July 9, 2020

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ICYMI: Here's a look at what #rogerstone was charged with:
➡️ lying to Congress
➡️ witness tampering
➡️ obstruction
Stone was sentenced to 40 months behind bars in February and was ordered to surrender to a federal prison in Georgia on July 14 [_link]

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 11, 2020

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Trump's 2020 USPS appointment could corrupt a key institution ahead of Election Day | NBC News |

President Trump refused to commit to accepting the results of the November election during an interview on "Fox News Sunday:

TRUMP: "I think mail-in voting is going to rig the election."

WALLACE: "Are you suggesting that you might not accept the results?"

TRUMP: "I have to see pic.twitter.com/W4Cewk5eZP

— Nachmen Donn (@NachmenDonn) July 19, 2020

Cronyism in high government positions has been a trademark of the Trump administration, but the selection of Republican mega-donor and Trump ally Louis DeJoy to lead the U.S. Postal Service threatens to corrupt one of America's most trusted institutions at a key moment.

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Junseok Chae: Missing Arizona Professor Believed to Be Homicide Victim

Missing ASU professor's remains found in Surprise landfill; 2 teens arrested in murder | AZ Central |

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