thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--2020 Could Be A Breakthrough Year For Black Senate Candidates

“ What you ’ re finding is a lot of Black candidates who aren ’ t asking permission to run @ @ @ @ @ “ I didn ’ t ask permission from anybody to run .
I decided to @ @ @ @ @ of the leaders in the party that I was going to do so , regardless @ @ @ @ @ had anybody in mind .
... For a long time , there was this whole @ @ @ @ @ you need to run somebody that is , you know , Republican-lite or whatever .
@ @ @ @ @ of the day , we just need to run people who reflect the values of @ @ @ @ @ and that they want to represent them .
”

From left: Democratic Senate candidates Adrian Perkins, Marquita Bradshaw, Jamie Harrison, Raphael Warnock and Mike Espy. Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: AP/Campaign Handouts
There have been 1,307 people who have served in the U.S. Senate throughout its history. Only 10 of them have been Black.
Those numbers could skyrocket following the November election. Six Black non-incumbent candidates won major party nominations for Senate seats. Victories for the five Democrats and one lone Republican would constitute a dramatic increase in representation in a body that’s been stubbornly white, wealthy and male for nearly all of its 200-plus years.
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It’s unclear if the six nominations set a record, but Black political operatives, activists and candidates all agreed it’s without precedent in recent history.
“It’s certainly something I haven’t seen in my lifetime,” said Chris Scott, political director at Collective PAC, a group fighting to increase Black representation.
On the Democratic side, the path to diversification runs through the South, with Marquita Bradshaw in Tennessee, Mike Espy in Mississippi, Jamie Harrison in South Carolina, Adrian Perkins in Louisiana and Raphael Warnock in Georgia. On the Republican side, John James is running in Michigan. (And in New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, the one Black senator up for reelection this year, is a heavy favorite to win.)
Black House members from the South make up nearly half of the Congressional Black Caucus. But many of them hail from majority-minority districts, and Southern Black politicians still face significant skepticism about whether a Democrat, let alone a Black Democrat, can win statewide.
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“The pundits are always chirping in people’s ears saying, ‘Oh man, a Democrat can’t win, especially a Black Democrat. And you throw on top, he’s a millennial.’ Of course they’re speaking into people’s ears. But the pundits and naysayers aren’t the ones determining elections,” said Perkins, 34, who would be the youngest member of the Senate if elected.
But there are more high-profile Black Senate candidates this election cycle than ever before. There’s no doubt that their races are tough, but they’re also considered more winnable than in past cycles. And there’s been significant frustration among some of the candidates and their supporters that national Democrats haven’t given them more money and resources.
“They’ve given a little something, but I’d call it a pittance,” Espy said of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). “It’s nothing like what should be happening in a race like this.”
“The Senate is certainly a body in our government that could use some more diversity.” - Rev. Raphael Warnock, Democratic Senate candidate in Georgia
If Democrats are serious about diversifying the Senate, it may require more investment in these Southern states that are heavily conservative ― but also have some of the highest proportions of Black residents in the country.
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Black candidates say the region is ripe for more investment. They point to changing demographics and a greater willingness for Black candidates to step up and not wait their turn ― inspired by people like former Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.
“This is a new South ― a new South that is bold, that is inclusive, that is diverse,” said Harrison. “What we are seeing now, and what we’re witnessing, is this emergence of leaders in this new South, in African American leaders who are taking a message that is not just relegated to the African American community, but a message of hope that I think can inspire all communities.”
If California Sen. Kamala Harris (D) ascends to the vice presidency, there could be only two Black senators in office next year unless one of these candidates breaks through. That would leave the Black community with little voice in a chamber of Congress set to debate crucial issues: police reform, gun violence, economic recovery from a pandemic that has disproportionately harmed Black Americans, D.C. statehood and potentially the first-ever nomination of a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
“There’s going to be a tremendous amount of pressure to move legislation to address these structural issues,” said Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC. “And if you have a Senate that does not reflect the populace, it’s going to be a problem.”
‘You Can’t Ignore These Issues’
Mike Espy (center), the Democratic nominee for a Senate seat in Mississippi, attempts to fist bump at a crawfish boil in Jackson on March 10, 2020. Espy faces incumbent GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in November. Rogelio V. Solis/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Espy, 66, also ran for the Senate in Mississippi in 2018, getting 46% of the vote ― good enough to outperform both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s presidential bids.
Race was an issue in the campaign. Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith faced blowback after she joked that she’d love to attend a “public hanging” ― in a state with a history of lynchings. News reports also found that she attended a “segregation academy” in the 1970s and has repeatedly defended Confederate supporters. Espy is again facing Hyde-Smith, who won that special election two years ago.
Back then, the Clarion-Ledger reported that Espy was largely avoiding talking about any controversial issues, including race, and said his campaign was “just keeping our head down.”
Not this time. Now, race is at the center of his campaign.
“It’s just a different time,” said Espy, who served as President Bill Clinton’s secretary of agriculture. “We’ve got George Floyd. He’s been murdered. Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. We have, in our face, cases of police misconduct and violations when you consider the issues of social justice. So a candidate for Senate living in these times, if you’re serious and really want to serve the people, you can’t ignore these issues.”
But there’s a second reason Espy is talking more about race. Last time, he said, he didn’t connect with young people and give them a reason to vote for him.
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“They didn’t [come out and vote for me] because they didn’t know who I was. Here was this gray-headed 64-year-old guy. They couldn’t identify with me. They didn’t know my story,” he said.
Now, Espy said he talks about how he integrated his high school in 1968 as one of just 18 Black students among 800 white students. He had to fight every day, was called the N-word, and even had teachers cursing and spraying fire extinguishers at him. As a senior, he led a walkout to protest that the school wasn’t hiring Black teachers.
“I led the walkout, and because I led it, the superintendent docked my GPA two points for every day we were out. We were out three days. So my GPA was docked six points, and I’m trying to go to college. So when I tell these students in 2020 that, you know, they’re not the only ones that protested against racism and social inequity, they can identify with this.”
Espy has featured his own personal story, including many of these details, in some of his ads and videos.
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Other Black Democratic Senate contenders this cycle are also highlighting their own personal stories ― including their fights against racism.
“A reason why I think biography is so important right now is because the American people want to know who you are. They want to know your values,” said Perkins, who is the grandson of a sharecropper and was the first Black cadet elected class president at West Point. He served three tours in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning the Bronze Star and the rank of captain. He later graduated from Harvard Law School and is now the mayor of Shreveport.
Warnock, 50, is the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the famous Atlanta church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached.
He’s running in a special election against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R), who was appointed late last year to temporarily fill the seat vacated by Republican Johnny Isakson. Georgia didn’t hold a primary for this race so Warnock is not the only Democrat in contention, but he has the support of Abrams, the DSCC and former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young (who was a close King confidant).
In a recent ad, Warnock talked about how as a 12-year-old in 1982, he was accused of stealing and dragged out of a store. He was told he looked suspicious because his hands were in his pockets.
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“The Senate is certainly a body in our government that could use some more diversity,” Warnock said. “We witnessed this summer, in the wake of the tragic killing of George Floyd and so many cases like that ― Ahmaud Arbery here in Georgia ― a renewed reckoning with race in this country. I didn’t know all of this would be happening when I announced on Jan. 30 that I was running, but here we are. And I have to be honest, I don’t think there could be a time more apt and fitting for someone like me, the pastor of Dr. King’s church no less, running to be the United States senator from the state of Georgia.”
“We’ve got to address those because I can tell you this,” said Harrison, 44, referring to the disparate treatment of Black people by the criminal justice system. “I don’t want my sons ― I have two boys, a 6-year-old and a 1 -year-old ― when they’re my age 40 years from now, I don’t want them to have to be sitting here addressing these same type of issues and problems because my generation, and the folks of today, didn’t do what we needed to do to make sure that we lived up to the ideals of this great nation, that all people are created equal. So I’m going to fight my heart out to make sure that we’re doing that.”
Fighting For National Support
In this image from video, South Carolina Senate candidate Jamie Harrison speaks during the state roll call vote on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 18, 2020. Democratic National Convention via AP
All six of these Black Senate candidates are underdogs. Only Warnock and James, the lone Republican, are running in what could be considered swing states. Bradshaw, Espy, Harrison and Perkins are all hoping to win elections in solidly GOP territory.
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Warnock is the candidate most likely to receive major national support, though the unusual nature of his election ― it’s an all-party contest that is nearly certain to go to a January runoff ― means Democrats might not make major investments until after Election Day. The DSCC has announced plans to spend at least $1 million helping Harrison, and other national groups are going to be spending in Georgia in the coming weeks. But the other candidates are unlikely to receive any significant backing from national groups.
“The Democratic ecosystem is not immune to the implicit bias that affects the rest of the country,” said Steve Phillips, a Democratic donor who hosts the podcast “Democracy in Color” and has pushed the party to focus more on Black candidates and voters. “You do see it playing itself out in the levels of support for these candidacies.”
Phillips highlighted, by contrast, the level of support for Amy McGrath, a white former fighter pilot running against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) in Kentucky.
“She’s raised $50 million. There is very little empirical electoral evidence that a Democrat has much of a shot there,” he said.
John James is the Republican Party's only Black Senate candidate this cycle. Jose Juarez/Associated Press
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Espy argued that his campaign ― whose internal polling he said shows him down only 5 percentage points ― deserves national support.
“We’ve got 50 days, and they’ve got enough time to rectify that situation. We’d love to hear from the DNC [Democratic National Committee] and the DSCC and have them send us a whopping check,” he said.
The DSCC noted they had sent the maximum allowable donation to Espy’s campaign and helped pay for polling and field organizing tools. They’ve also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on direct mail aiming to improve Warnock’s standing in the race.
“As someone whose own election helped break barriers in the Senate, the strength and the diversity of our Democratic candidates across so many battlegrounds this cycle is really inspiring,” said Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who chairs the DSCC and was the first Latina ever elected to the Senate. “We have impressive Black leaders in particular who are stepping up to bring new inclusive representation to their states, and we’re working to help them compete and win.”
“What you’re finding is a lot of Black candidates who aren’t asking permission to run.” - Jamie Harrison, Democratic Senate candidate in South Carolina
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Before this cycle, the DSCC had very little record of supporting Black candidates over the past decade. The group stayed neutral in the first Senate primaries won by Booker and Harris, and endorsed against Black candidates in primaries in Illinois in 2016 and in Texas, Kentucky and North Carolina this cycle.
Several national Democrats pointed to the DSCC’s decision to back Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar in Texas when two Black candidates ― Houston city council member Amanda Edwards and state Sen. Royce West ― were in the same race as an example of how the group can make it harder for Black candidates to advance. Hegar eventually squeaked by West in a primary runoff in July.
Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC, said the DSCC’s preferred method of picking a candidate early and rallying behind them made running harder for Black candidates like West and Edwards, who often need more time to convince donors and elected officials of their viability.
“There has to be a reconsideration of these early endorsements,” she said. “They present a challenge when you have these kinds of barriers. It just doesn’t allow the time for potentially successful candidates to get the runway to start and put together successful campaigns.”
The DSCC’s early endorsements can benefit Black candidates, too: Warnock, Harrison, Espy and Perkins all quickly received the committee’s backing after entering the race.
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In fact, Bradshaw is the only one of these Black Democratic candidates who doesn’t have the DSCC’s backing. She beat the DSCC’s preferred candidate ― Army veteran James Mackler, who is white ― in a surprise upset in the August primary.
“I would love all the national support and money that they wish to put into Tennessee, but let’s make this clear,” said Bradshaw, 46, an environmental activist and single mom. “This is about making sure that working people have a voice and that they’re empowered in this process. The national endorsement is the gravy and the icing on the cake.”
Even when the DSCC stays neutral, other groups can put their thumb on the scale. During the 2016 Senate primary battle between Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen in Maryland, the Black congresswoman could not even win the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus’ political action committee. Why? The lawmaker-turned-lobbyist whom she’d ousted in a primary years earlier sat on the group’s board. Meanwhile, Mike Miller, then Maryland’s state senate president, said Van Hollen was “born to be a senator.” Van Hollen eventually won the contest.
Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker, who narrowly lost to DSCC-endorsed Amy McGrath in the Democratic primary this summer, said part of the issue remains the dominant conception of politics in the party, which focuses on winning over swing voters ― who are nearly always white.
“That has often equated to a certain model of a candidate that doesn’t include people that look like me and come from where I come from,” Booker said. “And it typically involves a style of politics or a political theory that runs away from structural issues, that runs away from racism and poverty, and tries to peel off conservative votes.”
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The typical pipelines for candidates have traditionally not been as open to Black candidates as they have been for white candidates either. Learning the ropes as a congressional aide is one path to running for office, but the racial makeup of the staffs of members of Congress is still overwhelmingly white.
“There have been offices like the United States Senate that historically we have not been able to run for, have not been open to us. So in that sense, there’s no question that you’re breaking through new ground,” Warnock said.
Marquita Bradshaw defeated a candidate backed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in her primary in Tennessee. Bradshaw for U.S. Senate
But fundraising remains the major hurdle. Candidates of color, or candidates who don’t come from wealthy backgrounds, don’t have as many natural donor networks to tap for resources.
“The U.S. Senate race has become so infused by big money, and that has been a deterrent for more working people ― not only Black women ― but working people coming into this process,” said Bradshaw, adding, “If I make less than $15 an hour, more than likely I know a lot of other people that make less than $15 an hour. My friends are not likely to max out when they give, and my family members are not likely to max out. And that’s what usually happens with white males. They usually have a network of people that max out within the first few weeks of their campaign.”
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Things aren’t necessarily much better in the GOP. This cycle, national Republicans have spent heavily in Michigan to boost James and his appealing biography ― he’s a 39-year-old Iraq War veteran who runs a family logistics business. But during his first run in 2018, they ignored him until the final weeks of the election, and national Republican leaders spent months encouraging rapper Kid Rock to run instead.
James’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
A New South?
Adrian Perkins is the Democratic mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, and is running for the U.S. Senate this year. Adrian Perkins Senate campaign
There are now three Black senators, and only one of them ― Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina ― is from the South. Other than Scott, the last time there were Black senators from the South was during Reconstruction in the 1870s.
This enduring lack of representation is jarring. The Senate’s skew toward smaller, more rural and whiter states means the average Black voter has 16% less influence on the Senate’s makeup than the average voter, according to a University of New Hampshire study.
Mississippi, where Espy is running, has the second-highest percentage of Black residents as a proportion of its population (38%). (The District of Columbia, which is not a state but should be, is first.) Louisiana is third (32%), Georgia is fourth (31%), South Carolina is sixth (27%) and Tennessee is 11th (17%).
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So it’s not surprising that these states are the ones with Black Democratic Senate candidates this cycle.
Rev. Raphael Warnock responds to President Donald Trump's comments about Haiti and Africa while speaking at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Jan. 12, 2018. Warnock and other faith leaders condemned Trump's "vile and racist" remarks made on the eve of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Warnock said it's hypocritical for Trump to sign a proclamation honoring King, given his comments. "A giant of a man does not need a proclamation from a small man like Donald Trump," he said. David Goldman/Associated Press
Demographics are fueling this new South. While the Black population in the United States has not changed substantially, the number of majority-Black counties increased from 65 to 72 between 2000 and 2018, concentrated in the South. According to the Pew Research Center, one of the factors in this growth may be the reverse migration of Black Americans moving from the North to the South, as well as a shift from the cities to the suburbs.
But there’s also a feeling of being neglected that is driving electoral change and a willingness by Black candidates to just run.
“What you’re finding is a lot of Black candidates who aren’t asking permission to run,” Harrison said. “I didn’t ask permission from anybody to run. I decided to run and then informed some of the leaders in the party that I was going to do so, regardless of whether or not they had anybody in mind. ... For a long time, there was this whole thing about, well, you need to run somebody that is, you know, Republican-lite or whatever. I think at the end of the day, we just need to run people who reflect the values of the communities that they represent and that they want to represent them.”
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Warnock said that as he moves around his state, “there is a sense among many that it’s time” ― a feeling that is fueled by Abrams’ run in 2018. Abrams was the first woman and first Black person to be Democratic leader of the Georgia state House. When she won her primary, she made history as the first Black woman to be a major-party gubernatorial nominee.
Abrams had plenty of doubters who didn’t think that Georgia would elect a Black woman to the governorship. But her run inspired people far outside the state, making her a national Democratic star and someone who was discussed as a vice presidential nominee for Joe Biden.
Although she lost to Republican Brian Kemp ― amid questions about voter suppression on the part of Republicans ― she won more votes than any Democrat in Georgia had ever received statewide.
“Georgia has been getting closer and closer to the goal of flipping this state, cycle after cycle. Often progress comes in fits and starts,” Warnock said. “Over the last few years, we’ve closed in steadily toward the goal.”
“People around the country have historically written off the South as this sea of red and there’s no way to get a Democrat elected or an African American elected. We are seeing that change, and we’re going to see that change in November as well, to be a very, very strong symbol that there’s a new South that is way more inclusive and way more progressive,” said Perkins.
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Espy first ran for Congress in 1986, at age 32, defeating a white Republican to become the first Black person to represent Mississippi in Congress since Reconstruction. He was reelected three times in the district, which was not majority-black at the time.
“I see so many parallels to this race,” Espy said.
“The Democratic establishment back then thought the race was unwinnable for an African American. They tried to put up two white Democrats,” he recalled. “And this time, the same thing. Those in D.C. who give money are reticent to doing it because they don’t think [victory is] possible. They’re doing some of it for us because we did so well 18 months ago. ... But still, to me, 18 months later, we should be the recipient of more revenue and more notice and more acclaim because we’ve done the heavy work.”
“I’ve been in this situation before where we were doubted, where those in the national Democratic leadership looked at Mississippi and they just said, ‘Can’t be done,’” Espy added. “But someone has to do it. And I did it before and we can do it again.”
We want to know what you’re hearing on the ground from the candidates. If you get any interesting ― or suspicious! ― campaign mailers, robocalls or hear anything else you think we should know about, email us at scoops@huffpost.com.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--U.S. COVID Deaths Are Set To Blow Past Trump's Own Targets

Five months later , the nation is hurting even more .
The U.S. surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday ― losing enough people to fill nearly four gigantic football stadiums , or 131 times the number lost in the sinking of the Titanic .
It ’ s indisputable that tens of thousands of further deaths lie ahead .
A University of Washington model that almost exactly pinpointed when the country would cross the 200,000 mark now envisions nearly 400,000 deaths by Jan. 1 .
Past predictions were wrong , not just because of the difficulty of modeling a novel virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on an assumption that the U.S. and the administration would take the virus seriously .
The U.S. has already lost more people to the virus than any other country , including much larger nations like China and India .
Various states have struggled at different periods as the coronavirus has spread from coast to coast ; over the last week , Montana has reported more cases than in any other seven-day period since the pandemic began .
Presently , about 800 Americans are lost to the disease daily , according to The New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach to the virus continues to hurt millions of people .
Even those spared from infection are struggling because of its effect on the economy , the upheaval of the country ’ s health care and education systems and often painful individual efforts to keep themselves and their families safe .
Tuesday ’ s marker is a striking one because it ’ s a reminder of the promises that things would not be this way .
Trump and his staff began promoting the number of around 200,000 total deaths , based on modeling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Deborah Birx , when they were still encouraging social distancing and business closures .
Once they publicized that figure , they felt they could be guided not by health concerns but by the president ’ s desire to lift restrictions and shift responsibility away from himself to state leaders .
When Trump aides were citing those predictions , beginning in late March , medical experts warned that they were based on the assumption that the U.S. would successfully enforce tactics like mask-wearing and distancing for months to come ― a big factor to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some within the president ’ s team , like health officials Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield , warned that too many variables were at play to make an accurate prediction , The Washington Post reported .
And analysts cited by the White House told the Post its procedure in forming estimates was rushed and overly predictive .
The president ’ s team was less interested in feedback than presenting a rosy story .
A New York Times deep dive reported that Birx ’ s repeated private references to the models helped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. had the virus under control .
After Trump presented a figure he could describe as the extent of the crisis , he turned to his political priorities and instincts , even though he was aware of COVID-19 ’ s seriousness , Bob Woodward ’ s recently released book showed .
Trump began encouraging states to “ liberate ” citizens by ending lockdown policies even though they had not met guidelines set by his own administration and his chief of staff , Mark Meadows , sought to limit public appearances by Fauci @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pessimistic .
With Trump leading the charge , Republicans challenged policies requiring people to wear masks in public as assaults on Americans ’ liberties and questioned the importance of testing people so they could be made to isolate .
Top officials began noticing an uptick in infections in early June , the Times reported , but by that point the damage was done .
The forecasters Birx had relied on were updating predictions upwards and debates over coronavirus mitigation policies had activated tribal instincts among both conservatives and liberals , making it near-impossible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ― and openness to public health measures ― that existed in March before the talk of estimated death tolls .
In some areas , people even began attacking health officials .
Still mired in crisis and political discord , the U.S. has proved unable to either stem the spread of the virus or even process its effects thus far .
Activists who lost family members to the virus are planning events to ensure the latest increases in numbers affected have a greater effect than simply making people ’ s eyes glaze over .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ big ask in current times .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
On April 10, President Donald Trump gave somber remarks on COVID-19, which by then had been spreading in the U.S. for months. He cited models that it would kill as many as 220,000 Americans ― although he predicted “substantially” below 100,000 ― and said “our people had to be extremely strong and brave to be able to put up with what they’ve put up with.”
Five months later, the nation is hurting even more. The U.S. surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday ― losing enough people to fill nearly four gigantic football stadiums, or 131 times the number lost in the sinking of the Titanic. It’s indisputable that tens of thousands of further deaths lie ahead. A University of Washington model that almost exactly pinpointed when the country would cross the 200,000 mark now envisions nearly 400,000 deaths by Jan. 1.
Advertisement
Past predictions were wrong, not just because of the difficulty of modeling a novel virus’s spread but because they relied on an assumption that the U.S. and the administration would take the virus seriously.
As it turned out, that was too optimistic.
“It affects virtually nobody,” Trump said of the coronavirus on Monday, the day before the grim milestone of 200,000 American deaths from COVID-19.
The U.S. has already lost more people to the virus than any other country, including much larger nations like China and India. Various states have struggled at different periods as the coronavirus has spread from coast to coast; over the last week, Montana has reported more cases than in any other seven-day period since the pandemic began. Presently, about 800 Americans are lost to the disease daily, according to The New York Times and Reuters.
The mismanaged approach to the virus continues to hurt millions of people. Even those spared from infection are struggling because of its effect on the economy, the upheaval of the country’s health care and education systems and often painful individual efforts to keep themselves and their families safe.
Advertisement
Tuesday’s marker is a striking one because it’s a reminder of the promises that things would not be this way. Trump and his staff began promoting the number of around 200,000 total deaths, based on modeling chiefly promoted by Trump health adviser Dr. Deborah Birx, when they were still encouraging social distancing and business closures. Once they publicized that figure, they felt they could be guided not by health concerns but by the president’s desire to lift restrictions and shift responsibility away from himself to state leaders.
When Trump aides were citing those predictions, beginning in late March, medical experts warned that they were based on the assumption that the U.S. would successfully enforce tactics like mask-wearing and distancing for months to come ― a big factor to take for granted.
Privately, even some within the president’s team, like health officials Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield, warned that too many variables were at play to make an accurate prediction, The Washington Post reported. And analysts cited by the White House told the Post its procedure in forming estimates was rushed and overly predictive.
The president’s team was less interested in feedback than presenting a rosy story. A New York Times deep dive reported that Birx’s repeated private references to the models helped drive Trump’s public proclamations that the U.S. had the virus under control.
After Trump presented a figure he could describe as the extent of the crisis, he turned to his political priorities and instincts, even though he was aware of COVID-19’s seriousness, Bob Woodward’s recently released book showed. Trump began encouraging states to “liberate” citizens by ending lockdown policies even though they had not met guidelines set by his own administration and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, sought to limit public appearances by Fauci, whom Trump aides saw as overly pessimistic.
Advertisement
The direct result was the politicization of a nonpartisan concern: protecting people from a little-known and highly contagious new disease.
With Trump leading the charge, Republicans challenged policies requiring people to wear masks in public as assaults on Americans’ liberties and questioned the importance of testing people so they could be made to isolate. Top officials began noticing an uptick in infections in early June, the Times reported, but by that point the damage was done. The forecasters Birx had relied on were updating predictions upwards and debates over coronavirus mitigation policies had activated tribal instincts among both conservatives and liberals, making it near-impossible to restore the shared sense of urgency ― and openness to public health measures ― that existed in March before the talk of estimated death tolls. In some areas, people even began attacking health officials.
Still mired in crisis and political discord, the U.S. has proved unable to either stem the spread of the virus or even process its effects thus far. Activists who lost family members to the virus are planning events to ensure the latest increases in numbers affected have a greater effect than simply making people’s eyes glaze over. Yet acknowledgement involves taking responsibility ― a big ask in current times.
Asked on Tuesday about the 200,000 milestone, White House press secretary Kayeligh McEnany responded that at least it wasn’t 2 million.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--Sen. Susan Collins Says She'll Vote No On Trump's SCOTUS Nominee Before Election Day

Sen. Susan Collins ( R-Maine ) said Tuesday that she would vote against President Donald Trump ’ s Supreme Court nominee before Election Day , signaling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) likely doesn ’ t need her vote to ensure the nominee is confirmed .
Collins ’ pledge followed a statement she made Saturday , in which she said she opposes the Senate holding a confirmation vote ahead of the Nov. 3 election .
Just hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday , McConnell announced Trump ’ s nominee would receive a vote on the Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his nominee on Saturday , and has called for the confirmation vote to be held before Nov. 3 .
“ I made it very clear ... that I did not think there should be a vote prior to the election , ” Collins told reporters Tuesday .
“ And if there is one , I would oppose the nominee , not because I might not support that nominee under normal circumstances , but we ’ re simply too close to the election , and in the interest of being fair to the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans of being hypocrites for pushing through a vote on Trump ’ s nominee ahead of Election Day this year after blocking a confirmation vote on Merrick Garland , then-President Barack Obama ’ s pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia , eight months before the 2016 election .
The Republicans need a simple majority to confirm Trump ’ s nominee .
The GOP holds 53 seats in the upper chamber , while Democrats hold 45 .
There are two independent senators who caucus with the Democrats .
If Collins follows through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican senators vote in favor of Trump ’ s nominee , the nominee will be confirmed .
Only a handful of Republican senators were considered to be potential swing votes in the Supreme Court confirmation vote , including Collins , Lisa Murkowski of Alaska , Mitt Romney of Utah and Cory Gardner of Colorado .
Gardner , who has been a reliable vote for Trump in the Senate , said Monday that he would vote to confirm a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court .
Romney said Tuesday that he supports the Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all but ensuring Republicans have enough votes to move forward with a Trump nominee .
GOP Sens .
Lisa Murkowski ( Alaska ) and Susan Collins ( Maine ) walk together following a vote at the Capitol in February .
So far , they are the only Republicans to publicly break with their party ’ s leadership on the timing of a vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee .
So far , Collins and Murkowski are the only Republicans to publicly break with their party ’ s leadership on the timing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Murkowski said she opposes “ taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election.
” “ I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia , ” she said .
“ We are now even closer to the 2020 election — less than two months out — and I believe the same standard must apply.
” Murkowski has not said whether she would vote against Trump ’ s nominee should a confirmation vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office did not respond to a request for comment .
Collins ’ vow to vote against Trump ’ s nominee before Election Day could be an attempt to woo some independent-minded voters in Maine , where she ’ s facing the toughest reelection battle of her career .
But the self-proclaimed moderate seems only to break from her party on major issues when McConnell has already secured the votes he needs .
Her decision to stick with McConnell and Trump on key votes ― including voting for Trump ’ s tax bill in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Supreme Court in 2018 , and voting to acquit Trump during the impeachment trial earlier this year ― has mobilized a wave of voters against her .

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Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday that she would vote against President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee before Election Day, signaling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) likely doesn’t need her vote to ensure the nominee is confirmed.
Collins’ pledge followed a statement she made Saturday, in which she said she opposes the Senate holding a confirmation vote ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Just hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday, McConnell announced Trump’s nominee would receive a vote on the Senate floor.
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Trump is expected to announce his nominee on Saturday, and has called for the confirmation vote to be held before Nov. 3.
“I made it very clear ... that I did not think there should be a vote prior to the election,” Collins told reporters Tuesday. “And if there is one, I would oppose the nominee, not because I might not support that nominee under normal circumstances, but we’re simply too close to the election, and in the interest of being fair to the American people and consistent.”
Democrats have accused Republicans of being hypocrites for pushing through a vote on Trump’s nominee ahead of Election Day this year after blocking a confirmation vote on Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obama’s pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, eight months before the 2016 election.
The Republicans need a simple majority to confirm Trump’s nominee. The GOP holds 53 seats in the upper chamber, while Democrats hold 45. There are two independent senators who caucus with the Democrats.
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If Collins follows through on her pledge, but all other Republican senators vote in favor of Trump’s nominee, the nominee will be confirmed.
Only a handful of Republican senators were considered to be potential swing votes in the Supreme Court confirmation vote, including Collins, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah and Cory Gardner of Colorado.
Gardner, who has been a reliable vote for Trump in the Senate, said Monday that he would vote to confirm a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court. Romney said Tuesday that he supports the Senate voting ahead of the November election, all but ensuring Republicans have enough votes to move forward with a Trump nominee.
GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) walk together following a vote at the Capitol in February. So far, they are the only Republicans to publicly break with their party’s leadership on the timing of a vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
So far, Collins and Murkowski are the only Republicans to publicly break with their party’s leadership on the timing of the vote. In a statement Sunday, Murkowski said she opposes “taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election.”
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“I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia,” she said. “We are now even closer to the 2020 election — less than two months out — and I believe the same standard must apply.”
Murkowski has not said whether she would vote against Trump’s nominee should a confirmation vote be held before Election Day. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.
Collins’ vow to vote against Trump’s nominee before Election Day could be an attempt to woo some independent-minded voters in Maine, where she’s facing the toughest reelection battle of her career.
But the self-proclaimed moderate seems only to break from her party on major issues when McConnell has already secured the votes he needs. Her decision to stick with McConnell and Trump on key votes ― including voting for Trump’s tax bill in 2017, voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018, and voting to acquit Trump during the impeachment trial earlier this year ― has mobilized a wave of voters against her.
And despite identifying as “pro-choice,” Collins has voted to confirm dozens of Trump’s judicial nominees who have signaled they oppose abortion.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--Wall Street's Fearless Girl Dons Signature Collar Of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In a striking tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , the iconic Wall Street statue known as the Fearless Girl over the weekend wore a white lace collar similar to one of several collars that Ginsburg traditionally wore as a “ gauntlet ” over her robes , per The New York Times .
The Fearless Girl ’ s new accessory was part of an ad by State Street Global Advisors , the asset management company that originally commissioned the popular statue .
In Sunday ’ s edition of The New York Times , an advertisement for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fearless Girl donning her new collar with the words : “ Here ’ s to the original.
” “ We created Fearless Girl to inspire and promote women in leadership , ” Cyrus Taraporevala , CEO for State Street Global Advisors , said in a statement .
Adding a lace collar to the statue was a way to honor “ the remarkable life and legacy of Justice Ginsburg , ” he said .
Ginsburg , a liberal icon and the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court , died on Friday at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancer .
The legendary feminist began wearing her collars along with Justice Sandra Day O ’ Connor to highlight “ something typical of a woman ” on the male-dominated high court , Ginsburg once told The Washington Post .
The standard justice robe is made for a man , designed to reveal part of the shirt and tie , she said .
“ Sandra Day O ’ Connor and I thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman .
So I have many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Post .
In a tour of Ginsburg ’ s office closet with journalist Katie Couric in 2014 , the justice showed off several collars , including a lace selection , a spiky black collar for “ dissenting ” opinions ( she also wore it the day after the 2016 presidential election ) , and an elaborate golden one for when she announced a majority opinion for the court .
The Fearless Girl , created by artist Kristen Visbal , has been standing in lower Manhattan since International Women ’ s Day in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wall Street ’ s fearsome statue of a twisting bull , then she was moved to the outside of the New York Stock Exchange .

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In a striking tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the iconic Wall Street statue known as the Fearless Girl over the weekend wore a white lace collar similar to one of several collars that Ginsburg traditionally wore as a “gauntlet” over her robes, per The New York Times.
The Fearless Girl’s new accessory was part of an ad by State Street Global Advisors, the asset management company that originally commissioned the popular statue. In Sunday’s edition of The New York Times, an advertisement for the company featured a photo of the Fearless Girl donning her new collar with the words: “Here’s to the original.”
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“We created Fearless Girl to inspire and promote women in leadership,” Cyrus Taraporevala, CEO for State Street Global Advisors, said in a statement. Adding a lace collar to the statue was a way to honor “the remarkable life and legacy of Justice Ginsburg,” he said.
'Fearless Girl' dons a lace collar in tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg https://t.co/ayf36rTiLI pic.twitter.com/DIVE7VJeeR — Ad Age (@adage) September 21, 2020
Ginsburg, a liberal icon and the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died on Friday at the age of 87 from complications of cancer. The legendary feminist began wearing her collars along with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to highlight “something typical of a woman” on the male-dominated high court, Ginsburg once told The Washington Post.
The standard justice robe is made for a man, designed to reveal part of the shirt and tie, she said. “Sandra Day O’Connor and I thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman. So I have many, many collars,” she told the Post.
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In a tour of Ginsburg’s office closet with journalist Katie Couric in 2014, the justice showed off several collars, including a lace selection, a spiky black collar for “dissenting” opinions (she also wore it the day after the 2016 presidential election), and an elaborate golden one for when she announced a majority opinion for the court.
The Fearless Girl, created by artist Kristen Visbal, has been standing in lower Manhattan since International Women’s Day in 2017. She first faced off against Wall Street’s fearsome statue of a twisting bull, then she was moved to the outside of the New York Stock Exchange.
Collar placed on New York City’s “fearless girl” statue in honor of RBG. Perfect! pic.twitter.com/KXq8M2DvFe — Sue Monk Kidd (@suemonkkidd) September 21, 2020
We will keep moving forward. In her honor, for her, because of her. RIP #RBG #Fearlessgirl pic.twitter.com/z4jzNLR6Rn — Sonia Angell (@DrSoniaAngell) September 19, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--5 Takeaways From This Year’s Democratic Primaries

Then , in June , the left earned its first big win of the cycle when Black middle school principal Jamaal Bowman unseated New York Rep. Eliot Engel , a 16-term incumbent and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee .
That same day , attorney Mondaire Jones won a primary in the New York City suburbs to succeed retiring Rep. Nita Lowey , chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee .
Though Jones , who is Black and openly gay , had the advantage of running for an open seat , he had originally entered the race as a challenger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ played a role in her decision to announce her retirement last year .
The left is building a bench in state and local governments .
As The Intercept reported in detail , the slate of progressive wins in Rhode Island ’ s Sept. 8 Democratic primaries exemplified a division of labor , adoption of professional campaign tactics , and coalition building that showed what new left-wing organizations are capable of achieving when at their best .
Progressive candidates won a total of 15 seats in Rhode Island ’ s state House and Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party that is notoriously corrupt and socially conservative .
David Segal , a former progressive Rhode Island state representative who now runs the advocacy group Demand Progress , estimated that this cycle ’ s victories bring the total number of progressive pickups in the legislature to 23 seats since 2016 , when the Working Families Party ’ s state chapter was first up and running .
If you want to bring people into the fold , you ’ ve got to meet them where they ’ re at .
Leonela Felix , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Island House seat But in two of the Bay State ’ s House races , moderate Democrats showed their resilience against the ascendant progressive ecosystem .
In Western Massachusetts ’ 1st Congressional District , Rep. Richard Neal , chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee , defeated Alex Morse , the progressive mayor of Holyoke , by 17 percentage points .
Neal ’ s fundraising edge and a plot by college students to smear Morse shaped the outcome , but Neal ’ s margin of victory defied public polling , which had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups spent $ 1.5 million on Morse ’ s behalf to help even the scales .
The previous candidate to challenge Neal raised a tiny fraction of Morse ’ s war chest , and received 12 percentage points less than Morse did — raising questions about whether Morse was a worthy investment for national progressives , given Neal ’ s strength in his district .
There ’ s also at least one case of a progressive challenger who came close to ousting an incumbent with little to no help from left-wing groups .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Suraj Patel , an attorney who worked for his family ’ s hotel development business , lost to Rep. Carolyn Maloney , a 14-term incumbent , by 3 points following a prolonged period of vote counting in which the New York City board of elections disqualified thousands of mail-in ballots for technical reasons .
Patel , who stayed neutral in the presidential primary , could claim neither the mantle of Sanders ’ movement nor the socialist ideology and modest background of a figure like Ocasio-Cortez .
He is the son of Indian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little but gradually built a successful hotel development company .
The family ’ s business was the subject of federal labor complaints that allowed Maloney to cast aspersions on Patel ’ s pro-union credentials .
The Democratic establishment is learning how to outmaneuver the left .
The left has no chance to elect a new senator this year .

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Delaware voters cast their statewide primary ballots last week, drawing to a close a primary season that began in February.
For Democrats, the year’s down-ballot primaries showcased the growing strength of its activist progressive wing — which continued its winning streak with a handful of congressional and state legislative races — as well as its limits. The party’s establishment maintained dominance in Senate races, and the left squandered some straightforward opportunities for the House of Representatives.
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Here are five takeaways from the Democrats’ internecine contests this year:
Cori Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist, defeated Rep. Lacy Clay. Her win in Missouri is one of five times left-wing candidates have unseated House Democrats since 2018. Lawrence Bryant/Reuters
Progressive challengers have put House Democrats on notice.
After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) ousted then-chair of the House Democratic Caucus Joe Crowley in 2018, centrists were eager to write off her victory as a fluke. Ayanna Pressley’s defeat of veteran Boston congressman Michael Capuano later that cycle likewise elicited dismissals that the left’s success was limited to districts where a white incumbent represented a majority-minority district.
As primary voters rejected progressive presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden earlier this year, it looked like Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley might indeed be exceptions, rather than harbingers of a new era.
Then, in June, the left earned its first big win of the cycle when Black middle school principal Jamaal Bowman unseated New York Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. That same day, attorney Mondaire Jones won a primary in the New York City suburbs to succeed retiring Rep. Nita Lowey, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. Though Jones, who is Black and openly gay, had the advantage of running for an open seat, he had originally entered the race as a challenger to Lowey, and his candidacy likely played a role in her decision to announce her retirement last year.
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Two months later, nurse and Black Lives Matter activist Cori Bush pulled off an impressive upset against Rep. Lacy Clay, whose family has represented St. Louis in Congress since the late 1960s.
Together with Marie Newman’s somewhat more expected victory over conservative Illinois Rep. Dan Lipinski in March ― Newman, who also had the backing of mainstream liberals groups, had nearly beat Lipinski in 2018 ― the activist left, led by groups like Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement and the Working Families Party, can claim credit for ousting five incumbent House Democrats over the course of two election cycles.
For powerful Democrats who have eluded the insurgent wave, such as Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, five victories in two cycles is nothing to brag about.
But a few big wins can have an outsize impact by nudging other entrenched incumbents to the left or inspiring early retirements. Progressives now have primary challenges down to something of a formula, carefully picking incumbents in districts where there is a mismatch between a white incumbent and a majority-minority constituency (Crowley, Capuano, Engel); a member who is no longer present in the district (Crowley, Engel); or someone who has forgotten how to run in a competitive race (Engel, Clay).
Defeating Clay also showed that the left is capable of making inroads against Black incumbents in districts with a large Black population, putting the lie to the idea that the anti-incumbent wave is a movement primarily pushed by hyper-ideological, white gentrifiers.
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And the 2020 wins flexed the muscle of a new progressive campaign infrastructure that developed after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decided, in 2019, to blacklist vendors that work for primary challengers. A left-wing candidate hoping to replace a more moderate Democrat now has the benefit of specialized polling, media and fundraising firms, and super PACs willing to match establishment dollars on television.
Leonela Felix is one of a host of progressive candidates who won competitive primaries in Rhode Island. She prevailed in a predominantly white working-class part of Pawtucket. Leonela Felix for State Representative/Facebook
The left is building a bench in state and local governments.
The more local a race was, the more success left-wing candidates had this election cycle. In state legislative and municipal races, progressives have the advantage of catering to a smaller, more specific electorate. And social movement-driven candidates’ reliance on highly motivated volunteers carries disproportionate weight.
Progressives ousted incumbents or won open seats in a series of key state legislative and municipal races in the blue states of New Mexico, New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island. Their successes are the product of work by both new groups, like the Democratic Socialists of America, that have exploded in the wake of Sanders’ presidential runs, and more seasoned players like the Working Families Party, which has quietly been building up state and local progressive infrastructure for several election cycles.
As The Intercept reported in detail, the slate of progressive wins in Rhode Island’s Sept. 8 Democratic primaries exemplified a division of labor, adoption of professional campaign tactics, and coalition building that showed what new left-wing organizations are capable of achieving when at their best. Progressive candidates won a total of 15 seats in Rhode Island’s state House and Senate, chambers run by a state Democratic Party that is notoriously corrupt and socially conservative. David Segal, a former progressive Rhode Island state representative who now runs the advocacy group Demand Progress, estimated that this cycle’s victories bring the total number of progressive pickups in the legislature to 23 seats since 2016, when the Working Families Party’s state chapter was first up and running.
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“If you want to bring people into the fold, you’ve got to meet them where they’re at.” - Leonela Felix, who won her Democratic primary for a Rhode Island House seat
Healthy collaboration between groups with varied missions and ideological perspectives was a critical component of the left’s success in Rhode Island. Not all of the winning candidates were endorsed by the same organizations, but the different groups focused on their individual goals, rather than policing the tactics preferred by their counterparts in other corners of the left.
The Rhode Island Political Cooperative functioned as a left-wing candidate recruitment and training center and campaign consultancy. Reclaim Rhode Island and Providence DSA provided the troops necessary to canvass as many blocks as possible in a small state where field work can be a game changer. And the Working Families Party helped candidates craft their strategies and build institutional coalitions with labor unions and other mainstream organizations.
One particularly notable win was Leonela Felix’s victory over Deputy House Majority Leader Raymond Johnston in the blue-collar city of Pawtucket. Felix, a Dominican-American immigration attorney, won in a predominantly white and aging part of the city, thanks to a message that combined traditional progressive ideas like investing in renewable energy jobs and increasing social program spending with an anti-status quo argument. She generally eschewed using controversial slogans like “defund the police” in favor of talking about improving access to health care and other services that might prevent crime.
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“If you want to bring people into the fold, you’ve got to meet them where they’re at,” Felix told HuffPost.
The next order of business for Rhode Island’s progressive movement is leveraging its new power to thwart moderate Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo’s plans to seek budget savings necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic through spending cuts. Some of the newly elected lawmakers, including Felix, have already urged Raimondo to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, rather than cut important services.
Jake Auchincloss, a former Republican and Marine veteran, is decidedly to the right of Rep. Joe Kennedy III, whom he is due to succeed in the House. Erin Clark/Boston Globe/Getty Images
The left missed some opportunities.
National coverage of the Democratic primaries in Massachusetts rightly focused on Sen. Ed Markey’s defeat of Rep. Joe Kennedy III, an important win for the left in a solidly Democratic Senate seat.
But in two of the Bay State’s House races, moderate Democrats showed their resilience against the ascendant progressive ecosystem. In Western Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District, Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, defeated Alex Morse, the progressive mayor of Holyoke, by 17 percentage points. Neal’s fundraising edge and a plot by college students to smear Morse shaped the outcome, but Neal’s margin of victory defied public polling, which had predicted a tighter race. Progressive outside groups spent $1.5 million on Morse’s behalf to help even the scales. The previous candidate to challenge Neal raised a tiny fraction of Morse’s war chest, and received 12 percentage points less than Morse did — raising questions about whether Morse was a worthy investment for national progressives, given Neal’s strength in his district.
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“Jake Auchincloss is going to be Richie Neal ― and we could have stopped that.” - Sean McElwee, Data for Progress
Meanwhile, in eastern Massachusetts’ 4th district where Kennedy’s departure opened up a seat, Jake Auchincloss, a moderate former Republican and Marine, narrowly won the Democratic nomination thanks to a crowded progressive field. Jesse Mermell — a former Planned Parenthood official and aide to former Gov. Deval Patrick, who emerged in the final days as the preferred, more-progressive candidate — lost to Auchincloss by a single percentage point. Ihssane Lecky, a financial regulator backed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Natalia Linos, an epidemiologist, both received more than 11% ― a share of the vote that critics believe deprived Mermell of enough liberal support to win. Becky Grossman, a local elected official backed by progressive Rep. Ro Khanna and daughter-in-law of a famous Democratic Party power broker, won 18% of the vote.
To some progressives, the losses on either side of Massachusetts are a sign that left-wing institutions ― and the donors and voters who take their cues from them ― need to do a better job of consolidating behind a single progressive candidate. That’s particularly true in open seats, which have less cachet than primary challenges against incumbents, but statistically offer the left a greater chance of victory.
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“This is devastating,” Sean McElwee, co-founder of the polling firm Data for Progress, said of the results. His firm published a poll weeks before the election predicting that Auchincloss would narrowly beat Mermell.
“The solution to having to primary Richie Neal 20 years from now is to not have Richie Neal in Congress,” he added. “Jake Auchincloss is going to be Richie Neal ― and we could have stopped that.”
There’s also at least one case of a progressive challenger who came close to ousting an incumbent with little to no help from left-wing groups. In New York’s 12th District, Suraj Patel, an attorney who worked for his family’s hotel development business, lost to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a 14-term incumbent, by 3 points following a prolonged period of vote counting in which the New York City board of elections disqualified thousands of mail-in ballots for technical reasons. Patel, who stayed neutral in the presidential primary, could claim neither the mantle of Sanders’ movement nor the socialist ideology and modest background of a figure like Ocasio-Cortez. He is the son of Indian immigrants who came to the U.S. with little but gradually built a successful hotel development company. The family’s business was the subject of federal labor complaints that allowed Maloney to cast aspersions on Patel’s pro-union credentials.
But in a district comprised mostly of residents of Manhattan’s affluent East side, Patel was likely the most progressive a candidate could be while still having a shot at winning. He attacked Maloney’s past flirtations with anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, her support for tough-on-crime policies that fueled mass incarceration, her opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, and her reliance on corporate PAC money.
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Had left-wing institutions taken a greater interest in the race, they might have succeeded in nudging out two rival progressive challengers, Lauren Aschraft and Pete Harrison, who were to Patel’s left but never gained much traction.
“Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot” if they only run socialists against establishment incumbents, said Cassie Moreno, Patel’s campaign spokeswoman.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) easily defeated a progressive primary challenger. His success shows how incumbents are beginning to take challengers more seriously. Tom Williams/Getty Images
The Democratic establishment is learning how to outmaneuver the left.
Establishment Democrats are adjusting to the growing strength of the insurgent left flank in two key ways. First, they have started taking challengers seriously and spending the money to show it. Neal, who hit Morse’s mayoral record hard from the moment Morse entered the race, exemplified this trend.
Likewise, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a conservative Democrat in South Texas, beat left-wing challenger Jessica Cisneros, an attorney, by less than four points in March. In a pre-election bid to shore up his credentials with loyal Democrats, Cuellar invited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to appear at his campaign headquarters in Laredo.
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At the same time, some establishment Democrats have chosen to adopt the left’s positions as their own in a bid to inoculate themselves from a potential challenge. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has introduced legislation decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level, co-sponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and welcomed Sanders and Warren onto his party leadership team. He is now advocating for the Working Families Party to retain its place on New York’s ballot line ― a position that puts him at odds with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Perhaps the greatest example of a mainstream Democrat embracing the activist left’s agenda is Markey’s decision to transform himself into a progressive champion ahead of his reelection battle. Markey’s record combines a host of staunch liberal stances ― such as early advocacy for nuclear disarmament and climate action ― with votes for the Iraq War and the 1994 crime bill that progressives look back on in horror.
Anticipating a primary challenge from Kennedy, Markey decided to go all in with the Democratic Party’s youthful left flank. Together with Ocasio-Cortez, he co-authored the Green New Deal resolution and has become an outspoken proponent of even the most controversial progressive causes, like abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
However much of Markey’s evolution came out of political expediency, left-wing groups like Sunrise Movement evidently believe their role in his reelection has been mutually beneficial. Progressive activists helped Markey win, demonstrating their strength and winning them an ally in the process.
Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker's near-defeat of Amy McGrath in the Kentucky Democratic Senate primary is the closest the left came to winning in a Senate race. JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images
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The left has no chance to elect a new senator this year.
While progressives did manage to defend Markey, they otherwise had little-to-no impact on the battle for control of the Senate. Establishment candidates romped to victory in Colorado, Maine and Iowa. A primary runoff in Texas pitted two establishment-oriented candidates against each other. The left’s biggest success in a Senate race was nearly beating Amy McGrath in Kentucky, which is the Democratic Party’s 13th-best opportunity to pick up a Senate seat.
Senate races are, quite simply, much more important, much more expensive and much harder to win the House contests. A House incumbent losing to a primary challenger is typically not going to dramatically shift the balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, while every Senate race has the potential to make or break legislation and the ideology of the Supreme Court.
The left’s total failure to add a Senate candidate to its ranks in the Trump era stands in stark contrast to what the Tea Party did during the first years of the Obama administration: Candidates aligned with the Tea Party won Senate primaries in Pennsylvania, Utah, Nevada, Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Texas, Wisconsin and Colorado over the course of the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. Five of those winners went on to join the Senate: Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.
The small left-wing contingent in the Senate may still grow — Markey’s victory could inspire some liberals to adopt bolder stances — but progressives will have essentially no power to actually dictate legislation if Democrats gain control of Washington in November.
There is a flip side: The left also hasn’t won a Senate primary only to lose to a Republican in the general election. Controversial Tea Party candidates lost in Delaware, Indiana and Missouri, making it harder for Republicans to win a Senate majority. That prompted the GOP establishment to confront the Tea Party head-on, rendering it far less effective in the 2014 election cycle and onward.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Hometown To Name A Major Building After Her

On Tuesday , New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Brooklyn Municipal Building , located in the borough ’ s bustling downtown area , will be renamed after the late Supreme Court justice , who was born in Brooklyn ’ s Midwood neighborhood in 1933 .
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a native of Brooklyn , New York , and the city plans to honor her .
“ We want to make sure we honor her in every conceivable way , especially in the borough she came from , ” de Blasio told reporters at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the New York Post .
The mayor said renaming the building after Ginsburg is “ an extraordinary opportunity to say to the people of Brooklyn , ‘ Here ’ s one of our own who changed the world.
’ ” Ginsburg , a feminist icon and the second woman ever appointed to the high court , died on Friday at the age of 87 .
A memorial outside Harvard Law School was created for the justice known as RBG on Tuesday .
“ Icon .
Trailblazer .
Daughter of Brooklyn , ” de @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tuesday .
“ May her example inspire all of us to fight for justice in the months ahead.
” Icon .
Trailblazer .
Daughter of Brooklyn .
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’ s memory will live on in our city .
I ’ m proud to announce that we 're renaming the Brooklyn Municipal Building in her honor .
May her example inspire all of us to fight for justice in the months ahead .
pic.twitter.com/hrSn5mLJpB — Mayor Bill de Blasio ( @ NYCMayor ) September 22 , 2020 Brooklyn borough president Eric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to rename the municipal building after Ginsburg and renewed his call over the weekend following her death .
“ RBG ran her mile .
Now it ’ s time for us to pick up the baton and run ours , ” he tweeted Sunday .
Today , we grieve .
Tomorrow , we fight .
RBG ran her mile .
Now it ’ s time for us to pick up the baton and run ours .
It ’ s also past time we put her name on the Brooklyn Municipal Building to honor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contributions to our country .
pic.twitter.com/bM3FH808Tx — Eric Adams ( @ BKBoroHall ) September 20 , 2020 “ As a lawyer , jurist , and professor , she redefined gender equity and civil rights and ensured America lived up to her founding ideals ― she was a monumental figure of equality , and we can all agree that she deserves a monument in her honor , ” Cuomo said in a statement .
A planned statue of Ginsburg may get a view of the Statue of Liberty like this soccer field in Brooklyn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his statement that he will appoint a commission to select an artist and oversee picking a location .
According to the New York Post , the governor said in a press conference Monday that the state is already “ considering Brooklyn Bridge Park on a site that will overlook the Statue of Liberty .
”

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s hometown will never fuhgeddaboud her.
On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Brooklyn Municipal Building, located in the borough’s bustling downtown area, will be renamed after the late Supreme Court justice, who was born in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood in 1933.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a native of Brooklyn, New York, and the city plans to honor her. Tom Brenner via Getty Images
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“We want to make sure we honor her in every conceivable way, especially in the borough she came from,” de Blasio told reporters at a City Hall press briefing, per the New York Post.
The mayor said renaming the building after Ginsburg is “an extraordinary opportunity to say to the people of Brooklyn, ‘Here’s one of our own who changed the world.’”
Ginsburg, a feminist icon and the second woman ever appointed to the high court, died on Friday at the age of 87.
A memorial outside Harvard Law School was created for the justice known as RBG on Tuesday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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“Icon. Trailblazer. Daughter of Brooklyn,” de Blasio tweeted in announcing the name change Tuesday. “May her example inspire all of us to fight for justice in the months ahead.”
Icon. Trailblazer. Daughter of Brooklyn.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memory will live on in our city. I’m proud to announce that we're renaming the Brooklyn Municipal Building in her honor.
May her example inspire all of us to fight for justice in the months ahead. pic.twitter.com/hrSn5mLJpB — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) September 22, 2020
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams had begun a campaign in 2018 to rename the municipal building after Ginsburg and renewed his call over the weekend following her death.
“RBG ran her mile. Now it’s time for us to pick up the baton and run ours,” he tweeted Sunday.
Today, we grieve. Tomorrow, we fight.
RBG ran her mile. Now it’s time for us to pick up the baton and run ours.
It’s also past time we put her name on the Brooklyn Municipal Building to honor this daughter of Brooklyn for her lasting contributions to our country. pic.twitter.com/bM3FH808Tx — Eric Adams (@BKBoroHall) September 20, 2020
Ginsburg will also be honored with a statue in Brooklyn, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday.
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“As a lawyer, jurist, and professor, she redefined gender equity and civil rights and ensured America lived up to her founding ideals ― she was a monumental figure of equality, and we can all agree that she deserves a monument in her honor,” Cuomo said in a statement.
A planned statue of Ginsburg may get a view of the Statue of Liberty like this soccer field in Brooklyn Bridge Park enjoys. HECTOR RETAMAL via Getty Images


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--Trump To Announce His Supreme Court Nominee On Saturday

WASHINGTON , Sept 22 ( Reuters ) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the announcement of his nominee @ @ @ @ @ vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will likely be made at @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We ’ re getting very close to having a final decision made , @ @ @ @ @ the White House .
He said the announcement will be “ I believe at 5 @ @ @ @ @ ” Senate Republicans including Mitt Romney on Tuesday lined up behind Trump ’ s push @ @ @ @ @ ’ s conservative majority , leaving Democrats little hope of blocking a confirmation vote on @ @ @ @ @ before the Nov. 3 election .
( Reporting by Steve Holland ; Writing by Mohammad @ @ @ @ @ Maler and Sam Holmes )

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WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the announcement of his nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will likely be made at 5 p.m. EDT on Saturday.
“We’re getting very close to having a final decision made,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
He said the announcement will be “I believe at 5 o’clock on Saturday.”
Senate Republicans including Mitt Romney on Tuesday lined up behind Trump’s push to widen the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, leaving Democrats little hope of blocking a confirmation vote on a nominee that could come before the Nov. 3 election. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Sandra Maler and Sam Holmes)


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--Coronavirus Relief Takes Back Seat As Senate Gears Up For Supreme Court Fight

The GOP ’ s push to quickly confirm another conservative Supreme Court justice is overshadowing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Washington and makes the odds of another federal relief package even less likely before the November election .
As the U.S. reached the grim pandemic milestone of 200,000 deaths on Tuesday , the focus in the GOP-controlled Senate was on filling the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’ s seat and solidifying a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for decades to come .
“ It seems to me the GOP said , ‘ We don ’ t care about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this done , ’ ” Sen. Tim Kaine ( D-Va. ) told reporters on Capitol Hill .
In reality , negotiations between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats over another fiscal stimulus package for millions of Americans and businesses suffering amid the pandemic have been stalled for months .
Congress is struggling to even do the bare minimum and avert another government shutdown at the end of the month .
Democrats last month blocked a narrow GOP coronavirus bill with aid for businesses , schools and the unemployed because , they said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the public health crisis and the accompanying economic devastation .
It did not include rental assistance or aid to cities and states , which Democrats have insisted on .
“ Either Republicans do not understand the gravity of the situation or do not care about the needs of America ’ s working families , ” Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) said in a statement on Tuesday before a moment of silence in the House in honor of the victims of the pandemic .
Trump again attempted to downplay the pandemic at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it affects “ elderly people with heart problems and other problems.
” The number of people seeking and collecting unemployment benefits has remained at historically high levels in recent weeks , a sign that the recovery in the labor market has lost momentum .
More than a million people are losing their jobs every week ― more than the number who lost jobs in any given month of the Great Recession that started in 2007 .
Trump ’ s partial replacement for expanded unemployment benefits , meanwhile , has begun to run dry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provisions of the $ 3 trillion economic stimulus package known as the Cares Act that Congress passed in March are due to expire at the end of the month , including its protections for airlines and thousands of their employees .
Republicans continue to blame Democrats for standing in the way of delivering more aid to those suffering amid the pandemic , even though the GOP argued for a monthslong pause to more congressional action over the summer .
“ We ought to be able to do both , ” Sen. John Barrasso @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Monday when asked about the Supreme Court fight and its impact on another coronavirus stimulus bill .
“ We ’ re going to continue to talk about the fact that people need help , people want to get back to work , in school , and the Democrats have voted to block it all.
” Sen. John Cornyn ( R ) of Texas acknowledged the Supreme Court battle added “ some complexity ” to the odds of Congress reaching a deal on more coronavirus stimulus , but he , too , pinned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I hadn ’ t seen Speaker Pelosi very interested in reaching a coronavirus deal , ” Cornyn said .
“ I hope that ’ s still possible and I ’ ve heard some rumors that there was some movement , but we don ’ t have a whole lot of time .
”

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The GOP’s push to quickly confirm another conservative Supreme Court justice is overshadowing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Washington and makes the odds of another federal relief package even less likely before the November election.
As the U.S. reached the grim pandemic milestone of 200,000 deaths on Tuesday, the focus in the GOP-controlled Senate was on filling the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat and solidifying a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for decades to come.
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Senate Republicans met behind closed doors to discuss the timing of hearings and a confirmation vote ― which is expected before the Nov. 3 election.
“It seems to me the GOP said, ‘We don’t care about COVID, we just want to get this done,’” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told reporters on Capitol Hill.
In reality, negotiations between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats over another fiscal stimulus package for millions of Americans and businesses suffering amid the pandemic have been stalled for months. Congress is struggling to even do the bare minimum and avert another government shutdown at the end of the month.
Democrats last month blocked a narrow GOP coronavirus bill with aid for businesses, schools and the unemployed because, they said, it failed to adequately address the scope of the public health crisis and the accompanying economic devastation. It did not include rental assistance or aid to cities and states, which Democrats have insisted on.
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Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, met behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss the timing of hearings and a confirmation vote for the next Supreme Court nominee. NICHOLAS KAMM via Getty Images
“Either Republicans do not understand the gravity of the situation or do not care about the needs of America’s working families,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement on Tuesday before a moment of silence in the House in honor of the victims of the pandemic.
Trump again attempted to downplay the pandemic at a campaign rally on Monday by saying it affects “elderly people with heart problems and other problems.”
“It affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing,” he added.
The number of people seeking and collecting unemployment benefits has remained at historically high levels in recent weeks, a sign that the recovery in the labor market has lost momentum. More than a million people are losing their jobs every week ― more than the number who lost jobs in any given month of the Great Recession that started in 2007.
Trump’s partial replacement for expanded unemployment benefits, meanwhile, has begun to run dry in several states. And several key provisions of the $3 trillion economic stimulus package known as the Cares Act that Congress passed in March are due to expire at the end of the month, including its protections for airlines and thousands of their employees.
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There’s little hope among either party that a breakthrough will come any time soon.
Republicans continue to blame Democrats for standing in the way of delivering more aid to those suffering amid the pandemic, even though the GOP argued for a monthslong pause to more congressional action over the summer.
“We ought to be able to do both,” Sen. John Barrasso (R) of Wyoming told reporters on Monday when asked about the Supreme Court fight and its impact on another coronavirus stimulus bill. “We’re going to continue to talk about the fact that people need help, people want to get back to work, in school, and the Democrats have voted to block it all.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas acknowledged the Supreme Court battle added “some complexity” to the odds of Congress reaching a deal on more coronavirus stimulus, but he, too, pinned the blame on the other party.
“I hadn’t seen Speaker Pelosi very interested in reaching a coronavirus deal,” Cornyn said. “I hope that’s still possible and I’ve heard some rumors that there was some movement, but we don’t have a whole lot of time.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--What Is A 'Zombie' Tropical Storm?

What Is A 'Zombie' Tropical Storm?

A week after slamming into Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane , Paulette is back from the dead ― this time as a tropical storm spinning off the coast of North Africa .
Paulette made landfall in Bermuda on Sept. 14 ― the first hurricane to strike the British island territory since Gonzalo in 2014 ― before turning east and dissipating into the Atlantic .
But remnants of Paulette regained tropical storm strength late Monday southeast of the Azores , an archipelago off the coast of Portugal , with maximum sustained winds reaching 60 mph on Tuesday .
The so-called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phenomenon for a hyperactive Atlantic hurricane season , which has already seen so many storms that forecasters ran out of names and were forced to move on to the Greek alphabet .
“ Welcome back to the land of the living , Tropical Storm # Paulette , ” the National Weather Service wrote in a Tuesday post to Twitter .
The good news is Paulette is not forecast to make a third run across the Atlantic .
It began weakening Tuesday and is expected to become post-tropical later this week .
The last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tropical storm was Ivan in 2004 , which struck Alabama as a Category 3 before making a loop over the Florida peninsula and making landfall in Louisiana as a tropical depression .
Zombie # Paulette is back ... Fifteen days after it first formed , eight days after passing over Bermuda , and six days after it was declared to be extratropical , Paulette is back as a tropical cyclone .
https : //t.co/xD42sBbn8H pic.twitter.com/QOq2hlu8b9 — Brian McNoldy ( @ BMcNoldy ) September 22 , 2020 The Atlantic basin has seen a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and we ’ re only halfway through the official hurricane season .
Hurricane Sally made landfall in Alabama last week as a slow-moving Category 2 storm , dumping more than two feet of rain on parts of the Florida panhandle and causing widespread flooding .
Tropical Storm Beta ― the 23rd named storm of the season ― made landfall in Texas late Monday with sustained winds of 45 mph .
Beta is the ninth named storm to make landfall in the U.S. this year , which ties the 1916 record for the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Hurricane Teddy is swirling off the U.S. northeast coast as a Category 2 as it heads for Nova Scotia , Canada .
The tail of the storm stretches all the way to Beta in the Gulf of Mexico .
Scientists already see the fingerprints of human-caused climate change in hurricanes ― a federal study in May concluded that climate change is supercharging cyclones , making them larger and more intense ― and the impacts are forecast to worsen as global temperatures continue to soar .

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A week after slamming into Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane, Paulette is back from the dead ― this time as a tropical storm spinning off the coast of North Africa.
Paulette made landfall in Bermuda on Sept. 14 ― the first hurricane to strike the British island territory since Gonzalo in 2014 ― before turning east and dissipating into the Atlantic. But remnants of Paulette regained tropical storm strength late Monday southeast of the Azores, an archipelago off the coast of Portugal, with maximum sustained winds reaching 60 mph on Tuesday.
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The so-called “zombie” storm is a fitting phenomenon for a hyperactive Atlantic hurricane season, which has already seen so many storms that forecasters ran out of names and were forced to move on to the Greek alphabet.
“Welcome back to the land of the living, Tropical Storm #Paulette,” the National Weather Service wrote in a Tuesday post to Twitter.
Because 2020, we now have Zombie Tropical Storms. Welcome back to the land of the living, Tropical Storm #Paulette pic.twitter.com/98QNEaTr4S — National Weather Service (@NWS) September 22, 2020
The good news is Paulette is not forecast to make a third run across the Atlantic. It began weakening Tuesday and is expected to become post-tropical later this week.
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The last hurricane to fizzle out and re-spawn as a tropical storm was Ivan in 2004, which struck Alabama as a Category 3 before making a loop over the Florida peninsula and making landfall in Louisiana as a tropical depression.
Zombie #Paulette is back... Fifteen days after it first formed, eight days after passing over Bermuda, and six days after it was declared to be extratropical, Paulette is back as a tropical cyclone. https://t.co/xD42sBbn8H pic.twitter.com/QOq2hlu8b9 — Brian McNoldy (@BMcNoldy) September 22, 2020
The Atlantic basin has seen a frenzy of cyclone activity in 2020, and we’re only halfway through the official hurricane season.
Hurricane Sally made landfall in Alabama last week as a slow-moving Category 2 storm, dumping more than two feet of rain on parts of the Florida panhandle and causing widespread flooding. Tropical Storm Beta ― the 23rd named storm of the season ― made landfall in Texas late Monday with sustained winds of 45 mph. Beta is the ninth named storm to make landfall in the U.S. this year, which ties the 1916 record for the most landfalls in a single season.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Teddy is swirling off the U.S. northeast coast as a Category 2 as it heads for Nova Scotia, Canada. The tail of the storm stretches all the way to Beta in the Gulf of Mexico.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--ICE Deports Immigrant Father Who Sued Agents For Assault

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported an immigrant detainee to his native Uzbekistan on Tuesday , just four days after he filed a lawsuit alleging that three ICE agents beat him and shocked him with a stun gun during a previous removal attempt .
Madjitov , a caregiver who works with elderly people , wasn ’ t able to say goodbye to his family in person .
He has never met his youngest son , who was born a week after ICE detained Madjitov in 2017 .
He won ’ t get the chance to appear in court for his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ICE agents , which was filed on Friday in the Eastern District of New York .
“ Bakhodir should be with his family and holding his youngest son in his arms in America , ” said Ahmed Mohamed , legal director at the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations , which worked on Madjitov ’ s case along with the New Haven Legal Assistance Immigrant Rights Clinic .
“ Madjitov received extensive legal due process before the U.S. courts , to include numerous appeals , and he was removed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have no lawful basis to remain , ” said Bryan D. Cox , the Southern Region ’ s public affairs director .
Immigrants who allege abusive behavior by the U.S. government have the odds stacked against them .
Their rights are limited , as is their access to outside help .
And they can risk being deported before they are able to achieve justice .
Madjitov ’ s lawyers tried to obtain a temporary restraining order for an emergency stay , but it was denied .
An ICE spokesperson told HuffPost the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the “ absence of comment should in no way be construed as to suggest that ICE thinks any particular lawsuit has merit.
” Madjitov first arrived in the U.S. in 2006 , after he was granted a visa to perform at a music festival in Texas .
Once in the U.S. , Madjitov applied for asylum , citing persecution against political dissidents and devout Muslims , like his family .
Madjitov had been arrested in Uzbekistan among scores of other protesters against an oppressive government , and feared he would be at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rejected Madjitov for asylum , throwing him into the U.S. immigration system .
For years , he appealed his case but was denied .
In 2011 , he received a final order of removal , but the Obama administration deemed him a low priority since he had no criminal record .
All of that changed when Donald Trump took office .
Changes implemented by the Trump administration ― including severely limiting access to asylum claims , and making it harder for migrants to prove they are in danger of persecution or torture if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made it nearly impossible for those like Madjitov to receive asylum .
In 2017 , ICE officials arrested Madjitov at his Connecticut home for overstaying his visa , and moved him from one detention facility to another .
His wife , an American citizen , and his three children have begged for his release .
In June 2019 , ICE attempted to deport Madjitov , even though he ’ d been granted a stay of removal at the time , according to his lawyers .
In the early hours of June 10 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s John F. Kennedy Airport .
He resisted , repeating that he had been allowed to stay , and began to scream for help .

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported an immigrant detainee to his native Uzbekistan on Tuesday, just four days after he filed a lawsuit alleging that three ICE agents beat him and shocked him with a stun gun during a previous removal attempt.
Bakhodir Madjitov, 39, who was able to avoid deportation twice in the past, was denied a temporary restraining order Monday afternoon. He was forced to board a plane from Louisiana that night.
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Madjitov, a caregiver who works with elderly people, wasn’t able to say goodbye to his family in person. He has never met his youngest son, who was born a week after ICE detained Madjitov in 2017. He won’t get the chance to appear in court for his civil rights suit against the U.S. government and ICE agents, which was filed on Friday in the Eastern District of New York.
Now Madjitov is headed back to Uzbekistan, where he fears he will be persecuted over his Muslim faith and family ties.
“Bakhodir should be with his family and holding his youngest son in his arms in America,” said Ahmed Mohamed, legal director at the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which worked on Madjitov’s case along with the New Haven Legal Assistance Immigrant Rights Clinic.
“Instead, he is being deported thousands of miles away from his wife and kids,” Mohamed said. “No family should be tortured in this way.”
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ICE confirmed to HuffPost that Madjitov was removed on Tuesday.
“Madjitov received extensive legal due process before the U.S. courts, to include numerous appeals, and he was removed after the courts repeatedly found him to have no lawful basis to remain,” said Bryan D. Cox, the Southern Region’s public affairs director.
Immigrants who allege abusive behavior by the U.S. government have the odds stacked against them. Their rights are limited, as is their access to outside help. And they can risk being deported before they are able to achieve justice. Madjitov’s lawyers tried to obtain a temporary restraining order for an emergency stay, but it was denied.
“This is yet another shameful stain in American history,” Mohamed said.
Madjitov’s lawyers said they plan to fully pursue his lawsuit “and hold all responsible parties accountable.”
An ICE spokesperson told HuffPost the agency does not comment on pending litigation and said the “absence of comment should in no way be construed as to suggest that ICE thinks any particular lawsuit has merit.”
Trapped In Immigration Limbo
Madjitov first arrived in the U.S. in 2006, after he was granted a visa to perform at a music festival in Texas. Once in the U.S., Madjitov applied for asylum, citing persecution against political dissidents and devout Muslims, like his family. Madjitov had been arrested in Uzbekistan among scores of other protesters against an oppressive government, and feared he would be at risk of death there.
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The U.S. rejected Madjitov for asylum, throwing him into the U.S. immigration system. For years, he appealed his case but was denied. In 2011, he received a final order of removal, but the Obama administration deemed him a low priority since he had no criminal record.
Bakhodir Madjitov and his wife, Madina Mamadjonova, are seen in an undated photo. Courtesy Ahmed Mohamed
All of that changed when Donald Trump took office. Changes implemented by the Trump administration ― including severely limiting access to asylum claims, and making it harder for migrants to prove they are in danger of persecution or torture if returned to their countries of origin ― made it nearly impossible for those like Madjitov to receive asylum.
In 2017, ICE officials arrested Madjitov at his Connecticut home for overstaying his visa, and moved him from one detention facility to another. His wife, an American citizen, and his three children have begged for his release.
In June 2019, ICE attempted to deport Madjitov, even though he’d been granted a stay of removal at the time, according to his lawyers. In the early hours of June 10, ICE took Madjitov to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. He resisted, repeating that he had been allowed to stay, and began to scream for help.
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“Defendants ruthlessly beat him, injuring his neck, and twice subjected him to painful tasings that burned his body,” his lawsuit against the ICE agents states. “After Mr. Madjitov’s screams for help drew a large crowd of bystanders, Defendants dragged Mr. Madjitov away.”
The lawsuit alleges that Madjitov sustained “serious injuries caused by the tortious and unconstitutional conduct of United States Government officials” when ICE agents attempted to force him onto a plane at JFK.
Madjitov said the illegal removal attempt resulted in long-term physical and psychological repercussions.
A Father Who’s Never Met His Son
While in ICE custody, Madjitov has undergone solitary confinement and contracted COVID-19, according to his family and lawyers. Last week, Madjitov was relocated to an ICE processing center and then to a staging facility.
“Bakhodir and his family have endured profound suffering since ICE tore them apart almost three years ago,” New Haven Legal Assistance Immigrant Rights Clinic said in a statement. “Bakhodir’s prolonged detention by ICE has always been unconscionable.”
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During a press conference in New York City on Monday, Madjitov briefly spoke on the phone from custody, telling attendees he was fearful that he would be deported any minute.
His wife, Madina Mamadjonova, held out her phone for those around her to listen. Next to her was her youngest son, who carried a sign calling for his father’s sanctuary.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-22--Dog Trapped In Sinkhole Saved Thanks To Beef Jerky

Burke County Rescue Squad via AP A member of the Burke County Rescue Squad rescues a dog trapped 30 feet ( 9 meters ) down in a sinkhole , Sunday , Sept. 20 , 2020 , at Pisgah National Forest in Morganton , N.C MORGANTON , N.C. ( AP ) — A group of mountain bikers on a North Carolina trail spotted a dog trapped 30 feet ( 9 meters ) down in a sinkhole — and it took a salty snack and some straps to lift him to safety .
The group was riding the Sinkhole Trail at Pisgah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 80 kilometers ) south of Asheville , on Sunday when they encountered the dog , who had apparently been stuck in the hole for several days , according to Burke County Search And Rescue .
The bikers called for help and led rescuers more than a mile to the stranded animal , where they repelled into the sinkhole , enticed the starving dog with some beef jerky and raised him to safety using a harness , the rescue squad said .
The dog was not injured , but was starving and dehydrated , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken to Burke County Animal Services for an examination and named “ Sinker.
” Officials said he did not have a collar or a microchip , and if owners are not found , he could be placed up for adoption .
The 7-mile ( 11-kilometer ) trail is named for the large sinkhole along its ridge .

A member of the Burke County Rescue Squad rescues a dog trapped 30 feet (9 meters) down in a sinkhole, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020, at Pisgah National Forest in Morganton, N.C Burke County Rescue Squad via AP
MORGANTON, N.C. (AP) — A group of mountain bikers on a North Carolina trail spotted a dog trapped 30 feet (9 meters) down in a sinkhole — and it took a salty snack and some straps to lift him to safety.
The group was riding the Sinkhole Trail at Pisgah National Forest, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Asheville, on Sunday when they encountered the dog, who had apparently been stuck in the hole for several days, according to Burke County Search And Rescue.
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The bikers called for help and led rescuers more than a mile to the stranded animal, where they repelled into the sinkhole, enticed the starving dog with some beef jerky and raised him to safety using a harness, the rescue squad said.
The dog was not injured, but was starving and dehydrated, according to the rescuers.
He was taken to Burke County Animal Services for an examination and named “Sinker.” Officials said he did not have a collar or a microchip, and if owners are not found, he could be placed up for adoption.