US to surpass 200,000 Covid-19 deaths . . . The death toll from the spread of coronavirus in the United States was approaching over 200,000 lives on Monday, more than double the number of fatalities in India, the country reporting the second-highest number of cases in the world. The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally. That is down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths recorded on April 15. During the early months of the pandemic, 200,000 deaths was regarded by many as the maximum number of lives likely to be lost in the United States to the virus. Reuters

 

Biden takes huge cash lead over Trump while outspending him 2-1 . . . For the first time this election, Joe Biden is sitting on the biggest pile of cash — and he’s vastly outspending President Donald Trump, too. Biden is entering the final stretch of the general election with $141 million more in the bank than Trump, a stunning reversal of fortunes from last spring, when Trump held a hefty financial edge as the nearly broke Biden emerged from the Democratic nominating contest. Biden and the Democratic National Committee, along with their affiliated joint-fundraising groups, have $466 million in the bank, according to a Biden campaign official. Trump and the Republican National Committee, meanwhile, are sitting on $325 million in the bank. Politico

 

 

Democrats: Investigate the investigators . . . Looks like U.S. Attorney John Durham must be close to some pretty dramatic findings and the investigation of the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. Because the Democrats are getting very nervous. According to the Washington Examiner: Top House Democrats called for Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham for their investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators one day after Senate Democrats made the same request. White House Dossier

 

Massive "Fuck Cuomo and de Blasio mural painted on Brooklyn street . . . Fed-up New Yorkers painted a massive stretch of Brooklyn blacktop with the yellow message “F–k Cuomo and de Blasio” over the weekend in the vein of Hizzoner’s “Black Lives Matter” art, only for the city to quickly scrub the statement. The not-so-subtle shout-out to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio went up around 1 a.m. Saturday on North 15th Street between Wythe Avenue and Banker Street in Williamsburg, during the waning hours of an annual block party which this year doubled as a “small business owner protest.” New York Post

 

 

Senior Biden campaign aide was in racist hacking group . . . I imagine much of the press will dismiss this as an aberration.

According to the Washington Examiner: A senior cybersecurity adviser to Joe Biden’s campaign spent years affiliating with a hacking organization and boasted on a personal blog about breaking into her neighbor’s computers. Jackie Singh, who joined the Biden campaign in July as a senior cyber incident responder and threat analyst, was an affiliate of the hacking organization the Gay N—– Association of America, once headed by white nationalist Andrew Auernheimer. White House Dossier

 

 

Pelosi offers bizarre "good morning" response to question . . . Host George Stephanopoulos had asked the House Speaker about possibility of a second attempt at impeaching Trump in the coming months. Stephanopoulos asked: 'To be clear, you're not taking any arrows out of your quiver, you're not ruling anything out.' And Pelosi replied: 'Good morning, Sunday morning. We have a responsibility. we take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We have a responsibility to meet the needs of the American People.' Daily Mail

 

 

 

Chinese air force video seems to show simulated attack on Guam . . . China’s air force has released a video showing nuclear-capable H-6 bombers carrying out a simulated attack on what appears to be Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. Pacific island of Guam, as regional tensions rise. The video came as China carried out a second day of drills near Chinese-claimed Taiwan, to express anger at the visit of a senior U.S. State Department official to Taipei. Guam is home to major U.S. military facilities, including the air base, which would be key to responding to any conflict in the Asia-Pacific region. Reuters

 

Pelosi is stonewalling bill to crack down on Chinese influence in US . . . House Democrats are blocking a bill that will curtail the influence of the Chinese-government-funded Confucius Institute, stymying bipartisan legislation that unanimously passed in the Senate. Despite bipartisan support in the upper chamber, House Democrats—including a cosponsor for the bill—voted against placing the CONFUCIUS Act on the agenda in late July, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to announce plans to place the bill on the floor. Washington Free Beacon

 

Woman who sent ricin letter to White House arrested . . . A woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin, which was addressed to White House, has been arrested at the New York-Canada border, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The letter had been intercepted earlier this week before it reached the White House. The woman was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Peace Bridge border crossing near Buffalo and is expected to face federal charges, the officials said Sunday. Her name was not immediately released. Associated Press

 

US in showdown with rest of world over Iran sanctions . . . Allies and foes alike rejected the Trump administration’s effort over the weekend to reimpose global economic sanctions on Iran, setting up a high-stakes showdown at the United Nations that could again leave Washington abandoned on the world stage. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday night that the U.S. has officially triggered a “snapback” provision within the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran. That move, he said, will reimpose a set of harsh U.N. sanctions on Tehran that had been lifted as part of the Obama-era agreement. But other parties to the deal, including staunch American allies in Europe, say the U.S. has no standing because President Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018. They say the sanctions relief granted to Iran should remain in place. Washington Times

 

Judge halts Trump order to remove Chinese-owned WeChat from app stores . . . A judge has blocked the Trump administration from requiring Apple and Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads. In a ruling dated Saturday, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in California said the government's actions would affect users' First Amendment rights as an effective ban on the app removes their platform for communication. WeChat is a messaging-focused app popular with many Chinese-speaking Americans that serves as a lifeline to friends, family, customers and business contacts in China. It's owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent and has an average of 19 million daily active users in the US. Daily Mail

 

The plastics recycling fraud . . . You separate your trash, leave it to be collected and then it gets sorted in a waste facility, after which it's turned into new things — that’s how recycling works, right? Turns out it's not that easy, especially when it comes to plastic.  Some materials, such as aluminum cans, glass and paper, are relatively easy to repurpose. But plastic poses a particular problem. Of the 29 million tons of plastic waste collected in the EU in 2018, less than a third was recycled. About a quarter went into landfills, and about 43 percent was burned in incineration plants. “Plastic recycling is largely a fraud,” said Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network, an NGO in the U.S. that works to end illegal waste trade. Politico

 

Nebraska bar owner who killed protester commits suicide . . . The Nebraska bar owner who fatally shot a George Floyd protester in May was found dead of an apparent suicide on Sunday — less than a week after he was indicted on manslaughter charges, police said. The body of Jake Gardner, 38, of Omaha, was discovered around 12:20 p.m. outside a medical clinic in Hillsboro, Oregon, some 20 miles west of Portland, cops said. Gardner, a Marine veteran, claimed he shot Scurlock in self defense — and a local prosecutor initially said the evidence supported that scenario and declined to prosecute. But Special Prosecutor Frederick Franklin said Tuesday that the grand jury had reviewed additional information, including from Gardner’s phone and his Facebook Messenger account, along with video, that “was consistent with there being an intentional killing.” New York Post

 

Schitt's Creek takes seven Emmy awards . . . "Schitt's Creek" made history on Sunday night at the Emmy Awards by becoming the first series to sweep all of the major comedy awards in a single evening. The show took home prizes for best comedy, writing, directing, and acting, earning the show seven awards tonight. Fox News

 

Tropical storm Beta heads toward Texas and Louisiana . . . Tropical Storm Beta steamrolled through the Gulf of Mexico with forecasts of flooding, heavy rainfall and storm surges expected to inundate Southern states, leaving more than 10 million American under storm warnings. The National Hurricane Service on Sunday revealed that Tropical Storm Beta will likely make landfall Monday in the  storm-battered states of Louisiana and Texas. Daily Mail

 

 

Man sentenced after loaded gun found in his anus . . . Justin Savoie, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to weapons charges after police in the town of Golden Meadow — who were arresting him late last year on a separate matter — discovered he had stashed a loaded .25 caliber Titan pistol in his buttocks. Police had taken Savoie into custody on Dec. 28, 2019, after they responded to “suspicious activity” in a home he was occupying with a female acquaintance, the report said. Cops said they discovered Savoie possessed a handgun, marijuana and drug paraphernalia during an initial search. Multiple other firearms were discovered in his truck at the scene, the report said. But as Savoie was being strip searched after his arrest, police reportedly found the additional surprise weapon “concealed in his rear end.” The pistol is more than four inches long with a 2.5-inch barrel. New York Post

 

US wild pig population soaring . . . The U.S. wild pig population is soaring and rapidly multiplying, which experts describe as a ticking 'feral swine bomb,' according to a report on Saturday. There are roughly nine million feral swine running rampant across the U.S. The invasive species already costs the U.S. an estimated $2.5 billion each year in damages and control costs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As their numbers continue to rise, the damage will only get worse. In fact, the wild pig population has expanded from 17 states to at least 39 over the last three decades. Fox News