Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-nine.  Sunrise is 6:15 AM and sunset 7:36 PM, for 13h 20m 29s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 68.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets via audiovisual conferencing at 5:30 PM.

 On this day in 1832, Black Hawk surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Jonathan Chait writes Reports: Trump Sabotaged Coronavirus Testing to Keep Numbers Low:

Public-health officials believe that widespread testing is a key element of any response to the coronavirus. President Trump does not believe this. And now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially adopted Trump’s view. It has modified its official guidelines, and no longer recommends that those who have been exposed to the virus but currently lack symptoms get a test.

The first reports of this change were filled with comments from incredulous experts, whose assessments included “bizarre,” “very strange,” “this is going to make things worse,” and so on. Now we have an explanation for this bizarre policy: High-level officials ordered it. CNN reports the change “came this week as a result of pressure from the upper ranks of the Trump administration.” The New York Times adds, “One official said the directive came from the top down. Another said the guidelines were not written by the C.D.C. but were forced down.”

Evidence that Trump has sought to slow down testing has been available for a long time. In March, Trump told reporters he kept infected passengers offshore on a cruise ship in order to hold down the official numbers of infections: “I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”

 Russell Brandom reports Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting:

In the wake of an apparent double murder Tuesday night in Kenosha, Facebook has faced a wave of scrutiny over posts by a self-proclaimed militia group called Kenosha Guard, which issued a “call to arms” to in advance of the protest.

Facebook took down Kenosha Guard’s Facebook page Wednesday morning, identifying the posts as violating community standards. But while the accounts were ultimately removed, new evidence suggests the platform had ample warning about the account before the shooting brought the group to prominence.

At least two separate Facebook users reported the account for inciting violence prior to the shooting, The Verge has learned. In each case, the group and its counter-protest event were examined by Facebook moderators and found not to be in violation of the platform’s policies.

One user, who asked not to be identified by name, said she had reported the Kenosha Guards event in advance of the protest. Facebook moderators responded that the event itself was not in violation of platform policy, but specific comments could be reported for inciting violence. She reported a specific comment threatening to put nails in the tires of protestors’ cars, but it too was found to be within the bounds of Facebook policy.

“There were lots of comments like that in the event,” she says. “People talking about being ‘locked and loaded.’ People asking what types of weapons and people responding to ‘bring everything.’”

Bella the Beluga Whale Gives Birth:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of eighty-eight.  Sunrise is 6:14 AM and sunset 7:37 PM, for 13h 23m 13s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 58.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Involvement & Cable TV Commission meets via audiovisual conferencing at 5:30 PM.

 On this day in 1883, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa begins its final stage.

Recommended for reading in full — 

Ian Millhiser explains The RNC’s big Covid-19 lie, refuted in one chart (‘The United States has had one of the world’s worst responses to Covid-19. Trump wants you to believe the opposite’):

If you spent the last five months living in a cave, then learned about the outside world solely through a livestream of the 2020 Republican National Convention, you would think Donald Trump was a visionary leader who saw what no one else saw — and who has led his nation to triumph against a deadly plague as a result.

“From the very beginning,” starts an RNC video misrepresenting Trump’s record on Covid-19, “Democrats, the media, and the World Health Organization got coronavirus wrong.” As heroic music plays over an image of Trump surrounded by American flags, the video claims, “one leader took decisive action to save lives: President Donald Trump.“

The video even features a clip ridiculing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) for saying — way back in early March — that he didn’t think that the coronavirus pandemic was “going to be as bad as it was in other countries.”

The reality is that, under President Trump’s leadership, the United States has one of the highest rates of coronavirus in the world — far higher than our peer nations. Indeed, Trump’s entire argument can be refuted in a single chart. This one:

The data in this chart represents the number of cases per one million people in the United States and several other nations — and, as you can see, the number of cases in the United States vastly outstrips the prevalence of coronavirus in these other nations.

Jon Meacham writes Restore the Voting Rights Act. It’s long past time to ‘make it plain’:

The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020, meanwhile, languishes in Congress. Among other things, the bill would restore the provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires states and localities with demonstrable records of discrimination to seek “preclearance” from the Justice Department or the U.S. District Court in Washington before any changes in election laws or policies.

The House has passed the bill, but — sadly and predictably — Mitch McConnell’s Senate has refused to act.

 Kyle Hopkins reports Alaska attorney general resigns following report that he sent hundreds of texts to state employee:

Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson resigned Tuesday following the publication of an Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica investigation that found he sent hundreds of “uncomfortable” messages full of flattery, kiss emoji and invitations to a state employee.

Prior to his resignation, Clarkson had quietly been placed on unpaid leave for the month of August. Records obtained by the newsrooms show the junior state employee raised concerns about 558 text messages that Clarkson sent to her personal phone in March. Over a 27-day span, the attorney general asked the woman to come to his house at least 18 times, often punctuating the messages with comments about the much-younger woman’s beauty.

Lukashenko: The story of ‘Europe’s Last Dictator’:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-six.  Sunrise is 6:13 AM and sunset 7:39 PM, for 13h 25m 58s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 47.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1944, the Allies liberate Paris.

Recommended for reading in full — 

David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan O’Connell and Joshua Partlow report New York attorney general files legal action against Trump Organization, revealing state investigation into the company’s financial dealings:

The New York attorney general is investigating whether President Trump’s company misled lenders and taxing authorities by improperly inflating the value of his assets, according to a court filing on Monday.

The filing from Attorney General Letitia James (D) said that the Trump Organization has declined to hand over some documents that had been subpoenaed, and that the president’s son Eric has refused to be interviewed. James’s inquiry began 18 months ago, but James had not disclosed its focus or scope before Monday.

Eric Trump — now the day-to-day leader of his father’s company — agreed to an interview, and then canceled two days before, according to the filing. He has declined to set another date, citing “rights afforded to every individual under the Constitution” to justify refusing the subpoena for an interview, the attorney general said.

 Cameron Peters reports The difference between the DNC and RNC, in one tweet:

While the DNC roll call showcased the diversity of America and made a point of featuring Indigenous people, Black and Hispanic Americans, activists, and LGBTQ people, the RNC roll call was a procession dominated by older white men, all in front of a white background emblazoned with #RNC2020.

Michael Scherer reports Republican convention videos use stock footage from Thailand:

During a video tribute to Trump early in Monday’s program, convention producers flashed an image of a woman in a window holding a sign that read “Thank You Doctors & Nurses.” Another piece of tape showed a lab worker in mask, gloves and bodysuit next to a sign that says “Danger Covid-19 Biohazard.”

Both pieces of tape are listed for sale as stock video through Getty Images, and in both cases the visuals are described as a product of Thailand.

Why Is Kodak Making Pharmaceuticals?:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of ninety.  Sunrise is 6:12 AM and sunset 7:41 PM, for 13h 28m 41s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 35.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets via audio visual conferencing at 4:30 PM, and the Whitewater Unified School District’s board via audio visual conferencing at 7 PM.

 On this day in 1909, workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Elsie Viebeck reports More than 500,000 mail ballots were rejected in the primaries. That could make the difference in battleground states this fall:

More than 534,000 mail ballots were rejected during primaries across 23 states this year — nearly a quarter in key battlegrounds for the fall — illustrating how missed delivery deadlines, inadvertent mistakes and uneven enforcement of the rules could disenfranchise voters and affect the outcome of the presidential election.

The rates of rejection, which in some states exceeded those of other recent elections, could make a difference in the fall if the White House contest is decided by a close margin, as it was in 2016, when Donald Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by roughly 80,000 votes.

This year, according to a tally by The Washington Post, election officials in those three states tossed out more than 60,480 ballots just during primaries, which saw significantly lower voter turnout than what is expected in the general election. The rejection figures include ballots that arrived too late to be counted or were invalidated for another reason, including voter error.

 Amanda Carpenter explains How newsrooms should handle GOP convention disinformation:

Amanda Carpenter says TV networks should expect that the GOP convention will be a “major medical and political disinformation event” and fact-check accordingly.

Tory Newmyer writesTrump’s call for Goodyear boycott joins long history of bullying companies that cross him:

Notwithstanding his vocal criticism of “cancel culture,” Trump has been calling for boycotts of popular American companies since before he took office. The roster of outfits he has urged consumers to stiff-arm now includes Macy’s, Harley-Davidson, the National Football League, AT&T, and Glenfiddich scotch, and a host of media providers and outlets, including Comcast, HBO, Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, CNBC, Univision, the Dallas Morning News, and the Arizona Republic. CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale has assembled a working list of 30 such names.

Taken together, the president’s appeals for politically motivated boycotts not only undermine his criticism of those on the left who embrace such tactics. More importantly, they represent a frontal assault on the idea that government shouldn’t winners and losers in the marketplace — a notion that has been a first principle for conservatives.

“It’s inappropriate for the president to do this,” Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, tells me. “It’s bad for the economy and for longer-term prosperity if companies are making business decisions on whether they’re going to win favor with or upset the president. They should be making business decisions based on business considerations.”

Belarus protests: Thousands of demonstrators march into independence square in Minsk: