theguardian--2020-10-31--If Trump wins, will I be giving my twins a life lesson: sometimes bad guys finish first? | Hadley Fr

If Trump wins, will I be giving my twins a life lesson: sometimes bad guys finish first? | Hadley Freeman

The other night I watched The Trump Show – the new BBC series about , oh , go on , have a guess .
I do recommend it as a kind of This Is Your Life experience , and by “ Life ” I mean “ the past four years , which your poor brain , has desperately tried to forget in real time , like the broom dog in Alice ’ s Adventures In Wonderland , sweeping away the path as he goes ” .
You ’ d think watching a documentary about Trump would pummel you into a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it ’ s like going through an old school yearbook , looking at photo after photo of people who held such an outsized position of importance in your mind at the time , but whom you ’ ve totally forgotten about since : “ Oh yeah , Sean Spicer !
Scaramucci !
Reince Priebus !
Whatever happened to those guys ?
” you shout from the sofa .
Trump goes through men faster than Jessica Rabbit , and if I had to describe the experience of watching The Trump Show in one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oh yeah , that guy !
” Of course , watching it now , before the election , the question is whether the documentary captures some weird blip in time , or the beginning of the apocalypse .
You ’ ll probably be amazed to know that I ’ d prefer the former .
In fact , if it were really up to me , I ’ d like the past four years to be like the opening scene in the classic 1991 comedy King Ralph , in which the entire royal family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Goodman becoming the king of England .
I ’ m not saying I want all of the Trumps and everyone associated with them to die ( although I wouldn ’ t say no to Goodman taking charge of the country ) .
But when we all wake up next Wednesday morning , I would very much like the past four years to be erased and for us all to agree to pretend they never happened and never to mention them again .
And so , to achieve that end by legal means as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in my overseas ballot last week .
I posted it with my twin boys , who are now five , because these days going to the post office counts as quite an exciting outing , and you don ’ t say no to one of those during a housebound half-term .
But there were other reasons , too .
They were barely toddlers during the last election , and I remember thinking – on that innocent , calm-before-the-hellscape day of 7 November 2016 – how cool it was that the first president my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , would be President Hillary Clinton .
Insert hollow laugh here .
Well , now their baby sister is wearing the poignantly tatty Clinton 2016 onesies ( tatty , like my hopes and dreams ) , and the boys are asking questions about who the president is and what he ’ s like .
And I had thought the conversation to dread was how their sister got in mummy ’ s tummy in the first place .
( That one , in fact , turned out to be very easy – like all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ate her , and they accepted that with little apparent surprise .
But Donald Trump is harder to explain than maternal cannibalism . )
In the hormonal fug after their birth , it felt desperately important to get US citizenship for my twins , in the same way I was determined to include my surname in their names somehow .
It was something to do with stamping an identity on them – my identity , I guess , or the one I ’ d grown up with .
Within a year , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing , and not just because I realised I ’ d saddled my kids with the hell that is paying US taxes for the rest of their lives .
It turned out I ’ d also saddled them with a president who outdoes any Philip Roth satire , and who probably paid less in tax at the age of 72 than my children did at the age of one .
So here we are , four years later , and I ’ m explaining to them why I ’ m ticking this box @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We ’ re making good Joe the king , and not bad Donald !
” they tell everyone in the post office .
And , monarchy aside , that does sum up the situation as I see it .
But how will I explain it to them if the bad guy wins ?
A small part of me broke for ever on the morning of 9 November , when everything I thought I understood about my past , present and future proved untrue and Trump won .
If I felt like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pair of five-year-olds feel if I have to tell them that , contrary to what their parents taught them , being good doesn ’ t always get you what you want .
Sometimes the bad guys finish first .
Five seems a little young for innocence to be shattered .
Or maybe not .
When I solemnly explained to them that good Joe might not be president next week – it really might be bad Donald – they took the news pretty much in the same way they took the revelation that their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shrugging acceptance , swift uninterest .
They then turned back to the more pressing matter of Hey Duggee , and the only person looking anxious , confused , miserable and scared on the sofa was me .

The other night I watched The Trump Show – the new BBC series about, oh, go on, have a guess. I do recommend it as a kind of This Is Your Life experience, and by “Life” I mean “the past four years, which your poor brain, has desperately tried to forget in real time, like the broom dog in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, sweeping away the path as he goes”.
You’d think watching a documentary about Trump would pummel you into a state of catatonic depression but, actually, it’s like going through an old school yearbook, looking at photo after photo of people who held such an outsized position of importance in your mind at the time, but whom you’ve totally forgotten about since: “Oh yeah, Sean Spicer! Scaramucci! Reince Priebus! Whatever happened to those guys?” you shout from the sofa. Trump goes through men faster than Jessica Rabbit, and if I had to describe the experience of watching The Trump Show in one sentence, it would be, “Oh yeah, that guy!”
Of course, watching it now, before the election, the question is whether the documentary captures some weird blip in time, or the beginning of the apocalypse. You’ll probably be amazed to know that I’d prefer the former. In fact, if it were really up to me, I’d like the past four years to be like the opening scene in the classic 1991 comedy King Ralph, in which the entire royal family is accidentally electrocuted, resulting in John Goodman becoming the king of England. I’m not saying I want all of the Trumps and everyone associated with them to die (although I wouldn’t say no to Goodman taking charge of the country). But when we all wake up next Wednesday morning, I would very much like the past four years to be erased and for us all to agree to pretend they never happened and never to mention them again.
And so, to achieve that end by legal means as opposed to murderous ones, I sent in my overseas ballot last week. I posted it with my twin boys, who are now five, because these days going to the post office counts as quite an exciting outing, and you don’t say no to one of those during a housebound half-term. But there were other reasons, too. They were barely toddlers during the last election, and I remember thinking – on that innocent, calm-before-the-hellscape day of 7 November 2016 – how cool it was that the first president my children would remember, their formative president, would be President Hillary Clinton. Insert hollow laugh here. Well, now their baby sister is wearing the poignantly tatty Clinton 2016 onesies (tatty, like my hopes and dreams), and the boys are asking questions about who the president is and what he’s like. And I had thought the conversation to dread was how their sister got in mummy’s tummy in the first place. (That one, in fact, turned out to be very easy – like all high-quality parents, I lied and said I ate her, and they accepted that with little apparent surprise. But Donald Trump is harder to explain than maternal cannibalism.)
In the hormonal fug after their birth, it felt desperately important to get US citizenship for my twins, in the same way I was determined to include my surname in their names somehow. It was something to do with stamping an identity on them – my identity, I guess, or the one I’d grown up with. Within a year, I was bitterly regretting the whole citizenship thing, and not just because I realised I’d saddled my kids with the hell that is paying US taxes for the rest of their lives. It turned out I’d also saddled them with a president who outdoes any Philip Roth satire, and who probably paid less in tax at the age of 72 than my children did at the age of one.
So here we are, four years later, and I’m explaining to them why I’m ticking this box on the ballot and not that one. “We’re making good Joe the king, and not bad Donald!” they tell everyone in the post office. And, monarchy aside, that does sum up the situation as I see it. But how will I explain it to them if the bad guy wins? A small part of me broke for ever on the morning of 9 November, when everything I thought I understood about my past, present and future proved untrue and Trump won. If I felt like that at 38, how will a pair of five-year-olds feel if I have to tell them that, contrary to what their parents taught them, being good doesn’t always get you what you want. Sometimes the bad guys finish first. Five seems a little young for innocence to be shattered.
Or maybe not. When I solemnly explained to them that good Joe might not be president next week – it really might be bad Donald – they took the news pretty much in the same way they took the revelation that their mother eats babies: mild consternation, shrugging acceptance, swift uninterest. They then turned back to the more pressing matter of Hey Duggee, and the only person looking anxious, confused, miserable and scared on the sofa was me.


theguardian--2020-10-31--'Red mirage': the 'insidious' scenario if Trump declares an early victory

Scenarios for how an election disaster could unfold in the United States next week involve lawsuits , lost ballots , armed insurrection and other potential crises in thousands of local jurisdictions on 3 November .
But there is one much simpler scenario for election-night chaos , centering on a single address , that many analysts see as among the most plausible .
The scenario can be averted , election officials say , by heightening public awareness about it – and by cautioning vigilance against carefully targeted lies that Donald Trump has already begun to tell .
Known as the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ develop if Trump appears to be leading in the presidential race late on election night and declares victory before all the votes are counted .
The red mirage “ sounds like a super-villain , and it ’ s just as insidious ” , the former Obama administration housing secretary Julían Castro says in a video recorded as a public service announcement to voters this week .
“ On election night , there ’ s a real possibility that the data will show Republicans leading early , before all the votes are counted .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s going on when the counts change in Democrats ’ favor.
” In the scenario , Trump ’ s declaration of victory is echoed on the conservative TV network Fox News and by powerful Republicans across the US .
By the time final returns show that in fact Joe Biden has won the presidency , perhaps days later , the true election result has been dragged into a maelstrom of disinformation and chaos .
To some officials , the scenario is too realistic for words .
A potential multi-day delay in counting votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic votes are crucial for Biden to win in Pennsylvania , currently the state the quants see as most likely to tip the election one way or the other .
After counting only 6,000 absentee ballots in the 2016 election , the city of Philadelphia , where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one , expects to receive and count as many as 400,000 mail-in ballots this year , with the coronavirus pandemic raging .
All of those ballots will be counted inside the city ’ s cavernous convention center on Arch Street , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the election , by an army of poll workers , including many new recruits , using recently purchased equipment .
The delay that officials know will be required to finish the counting could be enough time for Trump to sow doubt about the result , an effort the president has already begun .
“ Bad things happen in Philadelphia , ” Trump said at the first presidential debate in September , warning about “ tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated ” and “ urging my people ” to watch polling sites carefully @ @ @ @ @ @ @ widespread fraud in US elections .
Current and former Pennsylvania officials and activists say that the antidote to the “ red mirage ” is as simple as the scenario itself .
The public must understand , these officials say , that Philadelphia will not be able to report its election result on the night of 3 November , and may not be able to do so for days afterward , owing to the extraordinary circumstances that the pandemic has wrought .
In turn , the surge of Democratic votes out of Philadelphia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ create the perception of a huge swing in the state to Biden .
And finally , that swing could well be large enough to erase a lead that Trump might build up in rural counties elsewhere in the state – to appear to turn Pennsylvania from “ red ” to “ blue ” – and to potentially decide the entire election .
“ All votes will not be counted by midnight on November 3 , ” said Tom Ridge , a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and homeland security secretary under George W @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absolutely despicable conduct and rhetoric ” about the election .
“ Because of Covid-19 , there ’ ll be millions of mail-in votes that it ’ ll take several days to tally , ” Ridge said in a phone interview .
“ One of the ways to reduce the anxiety level is to remind Americans of that reality , and call for peace and patience so that every vote can be counted.
” The blood-curdling thing about the red-mirage scenario , for some analysts , is that some aspects of it look more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ People should know that there will not be a result on election night , ” said Lisa Deeley , chair of a three-member panel of Philadelphia city commissioners that runs the election .
“ So people will go to bed and we won ’ t have that count finished .
But we will be working continuously , through the night , to make sure we get that count as quickly and accurately – we won ’ t sacrifice accuracy for speed.
” “ The key term is ‘ election week ’ , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the non-partisan Committee of Seventy good government organization in Philadelphia .
“ There ’ s no longer going to be an election day here.
” As plausible as it is , however , there are also many reasons why a “ red mirage ” scenario might not unfold .
Biden could put the race away with a win earlier on election night in a key battleground state such as Florida .
Or Biden could win the state of Pennsylvania , where he leads by 6 points in polling averages , without needing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Philadelphia .
Alternatively , a “ red mirage ” for Trump might develop elsewhere in the country , outside of Philadelphia – anywhere that a big city in a swing state , from Milwaukee to Miami to Cleveland , ends up taking a long time to report results .
But the enormous task that Philadelphia faces in counting an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots while observing social distancing and other coronavirus mitigation measures means the city is in a uniquely difficult spot .
Making life more difficult for Philadelphia election officials , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state ’ s Republican-led legislature and the Democratic governor to allow the processing of mail-in ballots – meaning removing the ballots from their envelopes and smoothing them for insertion into counting machines – before election day itself .
Florida allows weeks for such early processing , as do North Carolina , Arizona and other battleground states , making it possible for those states to report results promptly on election night .
Wisconsin , another key battleground , does not have early processing , while Michigan allows just one day for early processing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ me , it ’ s very troubling , that the political parties couldn ’ t agree on this , ” said Ridge , who is involved in two bipartisan organizations to secure the ballot , Vote Safe and the National Council for Election Integrity .
At the Pennsylvania convention center in downtown Philadelphia , mail-in ballots are already on site , under lock and key , waiting for election day .
Promptly at 7am , officials will begin to feed the ballots into new extraction machines that use suction cups to open the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can remove an inner privacy envelope containing the ballot .
Then the ballot must pass through the extraction machine again .
Then the ballot must be smoothed , and then put through a counting machine .
Many representatives from each party will be allowed inside the convention center to observe the process , but arrangements for media to be inside have been shelved .
Any ballot whose validity is contested – perhaps because the voter neglected to use the inner envelope , rendering a so-called “ naked ” ballot – must be reviewed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not been publicly described .
“ There are challenge guidelines that are outlined in the state election code , and we will follow those guidelines , ” Deeley said .
Some election observers fear that the presence inside the hall of Trump supporters could create an opportunity for havoc – especially with concerns about coronavirus – that could interrupt the operation in a way that could allow Trump to amplify his claims of fraud in Philadelphia .
Deeley said election officials were prepared for attempts to tamper in the election .
“ There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said , and pointed to statements by Philadelphia ’ s district attorney , Larry Krasner , that the city was ready to prosecute election-related wrongdoing .
“ He announced he ’ s ready to go , and that ’ s not going to be allowed on Philadelphia election day.
” In each election , voters entrust their neighbors who volunteer as poll workers to tally election results , and that trust is as well-placed this year as in years past , no matter what Trump says , Ridge said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ local officials would engage in willful , intentional , massive fraud , in order to discredit or delegitimize the process , is unfathomable and unpresidential , ” Ridge said .
“ We ’ ve hopefully begun to inoculate and educate Americans around the necessity of patience so that every vote can be counted .
”

Scenarios for how an election disaster could unfold in the United States next week involve lawsuits, lost ballots, armed insurrection and other potential crises in thousands of local jurisdictions on 3 November.
But there is one much simpler scenario for election-night chaos, centering on a single address, that many analysts see as among the most plausible.
The scenario can be averted, election officials say, by heightening public awareness about it – and by cautioning vigilance against carefully targeted lies that Donald Trump has already begun to tell.
Known as the “red mirage”, the scenario could develop if Trump appears to be leading in the presidential race late on election night and declares victory before all the votes are counted.
The red mirage “sounds like a super-villain, and it’s just as insidious”, the former Obama administration housing secretary Julían Castro says in a video recorded as a public service announcement to voters this week.
“On election night, there’s a real possibility that the data will show Republicans leading early, before all the votes are counted. Then they can pretend something sinister’s going on when the counts change in Democrats’ favor.”
In the scenario, Trump’s declaration of victory is echoed on the conservative TV network Fox News and by powerful Republicans across the US. By the time final returns show that in fact Joe Biden has won the presidency, perhaps days later, the true election result has been dragged into a maelstrom of disinformation and chaos.
To some officials, the scenario is too realistic for words. A potential multi-day delay in counting votes is anticipated in Philadelphia, whose mostly Democratic votes are crucial for Biden to win in Pennsylvania, currently the state the quants see as most likely to tip the election one way or the other.
After counting only 6,000 absentee ballots in the 2016 election, the city of Philadelphia, where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one, expects to receive and count as many as 400,000 mail-in ballots this year, with the coronavirus pandemic raging.
All of those ballots will be counted inside the city’s cavernous convention center on Arch Street, beginning at 7am on the day of the election, by an army of poll workers, including many new recruits, using recently purchased equipment.
The delay that officials know will be required to finish the counting could be enough time for Trump to sow doubt about the result, an effort the president has already begun.
“Bad things happen in Philadelphia,” Trump said at the first presidential debate in September, warning about “tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated” and “urging my people” to watch polling sites carefully, despite there being no evidence of widespread fraud in US elections.
Current and former Pennsylvania officials and activists say that the antidote to the “red mirage” is as simple as the scenario itself.
The public must understand, these officials say, that Philadelphia will not be able to report its election result on the night of 3 November, and may not be able to do so for days afterward, owing to the extraordinary circumstances that the pandemic has wrought.
In turn, the surge of Democratic votes out of Philadelphia, when they do land, will probably create the perception of a huge swing in the state to Biden. And finally, that swing could well be large enough to erase a lead that Trump might build up in rural counties elsewhere in the state – to appear to turn Pennsylvania from “red” to “blue” – and to potentially decide the entire election.
Voters wait in line outside of city hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 27 October. Photograph: Mark Makela/Getty Images
“All votes will not be counted by midnight on November 3,” said Tom Ridge, a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and homeland security secretary under George W Bush who decries Trump’s “absolutely despicable conduct and rhetoric” about the election.
“Because of Covid-19, there’ll be millions of mail-in votes that it’ll take several days to tally,” Ridge said in a phone interview. “One of the ways to reduce the anxiety level is to remind Americans of that reality, and call for peace and patience so that every vote can be counted.”
The blood-curdling thing about the red-mirage scenario, for some analysts, is that some aspects of it look more like a certainty than a scenario.
People should know that there will not be a result on election night Lisa Deeley
“People should know that there will not be a result on election night,” said Lisa Deeley, chair of a three-member panel of Philadelphia city commissioners that runs the election. “So people will go to bed and we won’t have that count finished. But we will be working continuously, through the night, to make sure we get that count as quickly and accurately – we won’t sacrifice accuracy for speed.”
“The key term is ‘election week’,” said Patrick Christmas, policy director of the non-partisan Committee of Seventy good government organization in Philadelphia. “There’s no longer going to be an election day here.”
As plausible as it is, however, there are also many reasons why a “red mirage” scenario might not unfold. Biden could put the race away with a win earlier on election night in a key battleground state such as Florida. Or Biden could win the state of Pennsylvania, where he leads by 6 points in polling averages, without needing the last 200,000 or so votes out of Philadelphia.
Alternatively, a “red mirage” for Trump might develop elsewhere in the country, outside of Philadelphia – anywhere that a big city in a swing state, from Milwaukee to Miami to Cleveland, ends up taking a long time to report results.
But the enormous task that Philadelphia faces in counting an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots while observing social distancing and other coronavirus mitigation measures means the city is in a uniquely difficult spot.
Making life more difficult for Philadelphia election officials, negotiations broke down last week between the state’s Republican-led legislature and the Democratic governor to allow the processing of mail-in ballots – meaning removing the ballots from their envelopes and smoothing them for insertion into counting machines – before election day itself.
Florida allows weeks for such early processing, as do North Carolina, Arizona and other battleground states, making it possible for those states to report results promptly on election night. Wisconsin, another key battleground, does not have early processing, while Michigan allows just one day for early processing.
A poll worker places mail-in ballots in a drop box in Doral, Florida. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“It’s very sad to me, it’s very troubling, that the political parties couldn’t agree on this,” said Ridge, who is involved in two bipartisan organizations to secure the ballot, Vote Safe and the National Council for Election Integrity.
At the Pennsylvania convention center in downtown Philadelphia, mail-in ballots are already on site, under lock and key, waiting for election day.
Promptly at 7am, officials will begin to feed the ballots into new extraction machines that use suction cups to open the ballots’ outer envelopes so that officials can remove an inner privacy envelope containing the ballot. Then the ballot must pass through the extraction machine again. Then the ballot must be smoothed, and then put through a counting machine.
The key term is ‘election week’. There’s no longer going to be an election day here Patrick Christmas
Many representatives from each party will be allowed inside the convention center to observe the process, but arrangements for media to be inside have been shelved. Any ballot whose validity is contested – perhaps because the voter neglected to use the inner envelope, rendering a so-called “naked” ballot – must be reviewed by commissioners in a process that has not been publicly described.
“There are challenge guidelines that are outlined in the state election code, and we will follow those guidelines,” Deeley said.
Some election observers fear that the presence inside the hall of Trump supporters could create an opportunity for havoc – especially with concerns about coronavirus – that could interrupt the operation in a way that could allow Trump to amplify his claims of fraud in Philadelphia.
Deeley said election officials were prepared for attempts to tamper in the election.
“There’s security at the convention center,” she said, and pointed to statements by Philadelphia’s district attorney, Larry Krasner, that the city was ready to prosecute election-related wrongdoing.
“He announced he’s ready to go, and that’s not going to be allowed on Philadelphia election day.”
In each election, voters entrust their neighbors who volunteer as poll workers to tally election results, and that trust is as well-placed this year as in years past, no matter what Trump says, Ridge said.
“For him to suggest that these local officials would engage in willful, intentional, massive fraud, in order to discredit or delegitimize the process, is unfathomable and unpresidential,” Ridge said.
“We’ve hopefully begun to inoculate and educate Americans around the necessity of patience so that every vote can be counted.”


theguardian--2020-10-31--We left the UK for Portland expecting a liberal dream. That wasn’t the reality

It was Labor Day .
We were having a barbecue in our back garden when gale-force winds started out of nowhere .
As we scrambled to hold down plates and glasses , our neighbour ’ s horse chestnut trees swayed menacingly , their leaves swirling around us .
Over the next hour , smoke filled the air and the sky changed from bright blue to dirty grey .
We moved everything inside and shut up the house .
Soon after , the power went .
We had no idea what was happening : rumours started online that protestors – some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – were starting fires on the outskirts of the city .
We soon learned the truth : a “ rare wind event ” had caused wildfires to spread rapidly across Oregon , including to forests south of Portland .
As the week progressed , the fires and smoke intensified and people were evacuated from neighbouring towns .
Portlanders now had three reasons to wear a mask : coronavirus , police teargas and deadly smoke .
I refreshed local fire maps every 15 minutes , tracking the flames ’ path .
My husband and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ escape route but we would have been met by smoke from other wildfires in almost any possible direction .
Local government advice was to stay put unless an evacuation warning was issued .
We held tight .
Climate change was suddenly tangible , and it made our already small pandemic-lives contract further .
Within five days , Portland had the most polluted air in the world , according to the air quality index .
Our numbers exceeded the standardised scale .
We were told to continue to stay indoors .
For 10 days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bins stood full and uncollected ; it felt as if even the grass had stopped growing .
My friend said her two usually hyper dogs no longer asked for walks .
I wanted just the pandemic back : putting on a mask when you ’ re within two metres of another person is better than putting on a mask to open your front door .
Five years ago , when we dreamed up our relocation from London to Portland , it went something like this : we ’ d land in the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and which we knew to be a liberal , laid-back place , full of quirky , outdoorsy people ( the Patagonia sort , not hunting ) .
Whenever Portland featured on TV , it was mostly being sent up for its progressive earnestness , aided by the long-running comedy series Portlandia , which skewered the city ’ s hipster tendencies .
But if the worst you could say about a city is that the restaurants know the provenance and name of every chicken they serve , it can ’ t be too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a campervan and drive up and down the west coast under limitless blue skies .
Obama was president and Oregon had just legalised cannabis .
Where was the hitch ?
We moved in August 2015 , and some of the city lived up to the stereotypes .
There were adverts for yoga with goats and yoga with weed .
We went to the popular 24-hour Voodoo Doughnut store and tried flavours with names like Dirt and Pothole .
But there was a lot I didn ’ t know about the city – and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first surprise was the lack of non-white people .
I later discovered that the 2010 census found Portland to be the whitest big city in the US .
When our daughter started daycare , she came home and said she didn ’ t like her brown skin ; she wanted to be white like the other kids .
She was three .
I felt like a fool for moving her out of a city where she would have been surrounded by people who look like her .
Living in Portland was also the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a mixed-race marriage .
In rural Oregon , where you now regularly see Trump signs and bumper stickers , it ’ s become an unsaid agreement between my husband and I that I get out of the car as little as possible .
He goes into the gas stations ; he checks us into motels .
I was horrified but not surprised when , during the fires , armed vigilantes set up “ checkpoints ” in small towns – claiming they were worried about “ antifa looting ” .
They stopped drivers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I write all of this as a brown person and a recent transplant .
Racism for black people in Portland is far more pervasive and damaging .
It ’ s visible in housing policy , police brutality and who gets to work where .
In 1859 , when Oregon joined the union , it was the only state to explicitly ban all black people living there .
That legacy of racism has cast a long shadow .
As recently as the 1990s , lenders in the state engaged in redlining ( not giving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they live – which mainly affected the city ’ s small black population ) .
There continues to be de facto racial segregation in schools .
But , until this summer , Portland ’ s white population didn ’ t talk about it much .
Then in May , Portland , like many other cities , held nightly Black Lives Matter protests in response to the killing of George Floyd .
Thousands of people gathered in predominantly peaceful protests , but small groups who damaged property grabbed headlines and the president ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were sent in to stop “ the riots ” , and acting homeland secretary Chad Wolf described Portland as a “ city under siege ” .
Protesters were snatched off the street by unmarked police cars , teargassed and charged with no warning .
Trump described Portland as a “ beehive of terrorists , ” labelling protesters “ professional anarchists ” and “ people that hate our country ” .
But from my home , that ’ s not how it looked .
The “ riots ” were confined to a couple of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not threatening Portlanders .
We took our seven-year-old to family friendly protests .
Meanwhile , the police were threatening .
They shot my husband ’ s friend in the face with a rubber bullet while he was wearing a press vest .
Four mothers I know were gassed on different nights .
A neighbour was pulled out of his car and had his leg hit with a baton .
The militarisation and lack of accountability – when our taxes support the police to protect us – does not make this a city I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrified by the “ counter-protesters ” .
The Proud Boys , a violent , neo-fascist group , held an armed rally 10 minutes from our house a few Saturdays ago .
I incessantly checked Twitter to monitor their movements .
In the end , they had a turnout of just a thousand compared to their projected 10,000 .
Still , I ’ d be more encouraged by the rally ’ s failure if the president hadn ’ t subsequently told them to “ stand by ” during the first presidential debate .
Portland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , never for its artsy quaintness .
The moderator quizzed Joe Biden on how he would handle the city ’ s “ riots ” .
President Trump pointed to it as an example of a radical left-run city in need of “ law and order ” .
When Trump first came to power , I naively hoped he ’ d be too lazy , too narcissistic to put into effect policies that would really dismantle the country .
But the assaults on immigration and healthcare were swift .
Then , in 2018 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school , a student at a Florida school shot and killed 17 of his classmates .
The scale of the massacre and the president ’ s further embrace of the National Rifle Association were impossible to understand .
On a personal level , having our five-year-old come home and tell us she hid in a cupboard during an active shooter drill was a punch to the gut .
Another day she came home and said , “ This kid said that the president puts kids in cages but that ’ s not true @ @ @ @ @ @ @ growing inside of me that , yes , it was our choice to be here – but did we have to stay ?
When Trump talked on the TV or radio , she started asking to turn it off .
The hidden anxieties of living in the US were mounting .
Because my husband and I were both freelance , we had to take out a health insurance policy .
Through Obamacare , we paid $ 750 a month .
This covered seeing our GP , but not emergency room visits ; policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ navigate .
One Saturday evening , our daughter came up in hives .
At the hospital , they took our insurance details , recorded her vitals , gave her some antihistamine and a remote control , and she lay in bed and watched Frozen .
She was fine and we were relieved .
As we were leaving , the doctor brought out paperwork and I asked how much it would cost ; she blinked and said our insurance company would be in touch .
A week later , we got a bill for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my British mindset ; we learned to avoid the emergency room .
In May , I looked on in envy as the UK expressed outrage at Dominic Cummings ’ covert Durham trip , while the US government had failed to muster any kind of national response .
Politicians didn ’ t have to hide cross-country trips .
Trump was proudly appearing on TV to reject the science .
I watched the UK ’ s first curve drop as the US ’ s continued to rise .
The question grew bigger : do we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s local government took matters into its own hands and locked down with little resistance .
Rates of Covid-19 infection have remained relatively low .
The city ’ s lack of density , too , has felt comforting .
Yet the sadness mounts when you ’ re watching a preventable nationwide death toll rise beyond 200,000 , with millions losing their jobs .
It was after a postcard-perfect , reception-free camping trip this August that my husband and I started to talk in earnest about returning to London .
Driving back from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a kayak strapped to our roof , I became consumed by the anxiety of living in a US city in 2020 .
On a micro scale , we ’ ve made a happy life .
What I love most about living in America is the feeling of possibility .
Get in your car and you can drive for days through deserts , ghost towns , canyons , glaciers .
We ’ ve spotted brown bears and bald eagles , driven around tornadoes , spent eight straight hours gripped to the wheel on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I find people less judgmental and cynical than in the UK .
But as we emerged back into phone reception , I saw my best friend Maggie had posted a selfie in a helmet , goggles and mask .
She ’ d been at a Black Lives Matter protest when , without warning , the police had teargassed her and other protesters .
“ I couldn ’ t breathe , it felt like glass entering my lungs , I vomited , ” she wrote .
On the rest of the drive home , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it would mean to pack up and start life again in London .
I know how lucky we are to have options : everyone I know wants an escape plan .
But I feel sad thinking about it .
I feel cowardly not to stay and fight .
Many Portlanders are organising furiously for change , and the city ’ s demographics also seem to be shifting .
I decided I needed to leave over the election period .
The paralysing fear of the unknown outcome became too much , in a country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I am in London now , quarantining in my old bedroom in my parents ’ attic .
I usually regress to teenage ways when I stay here , but this time I feel I am unfurling .
We ’ re spending our days doing online school , and for the first time since the pandemic began , I ’ m able to give over enough of my brain to help my daughter learn .
Of course , the UK has its own problems , too .
But I am physically and mentally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carrying guns on the streets , the threat of pandemic-related medical debt , and the specific cruelty of the Trump administration .
We have a return ticket booked ; we just have to decide if we ’ ll use it .

It was Labor Day. We were having a barbecue in our back garden when gale-force winds started out of nowhere. As we scrambled to hold down plates and glasses, our neighbour’s horse chestnut trees swayed menacingly, their leaves swirling around us.
Over the next hour, smoke filled the air and the sky changed from bright blue to dirty grey. We moved everything inside and shut up the house. Soon after, the power went. We had no idea what was happening: rumours started online that protestors – some said Antifa, some said Proud Boys – were starting fires on the outskirts of the city.
We soon learned the truth: a “rare wind event” had caused wildfires to spread rapidly across Oregon, including to forests south of Portland. As the week progressed, the fires and smoke intensified and people were evacuated from neighbouring towns. Portlanders now had three reasons to wear a mask: coronavirus, police teargas and deadly smoke.
I refreshed local fire maps every 15 minutes, tracking the flames’ path. My husband and I discussed whether we should plan an escape route but we would have been met by smoke from other wildfires in almost any possible direction. Local government advice was to stay put unless an evacuation warning was issued. We held tight.
‘Some of the city lived up to the stereotypes. There were adverts for yoga with goats and yoga with weed.’ Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian
Climate change was suddenly tangible, and it made our already small pandemic-lives contract further. Within five days, Portland had the most polluted air in the world, according to the air quality index. Our numbers exceeded the standardised scale. We were told to continue to stay indoors.
For 10 days, the sun and moon disappeared, bins stood full and uncollected; it felt as if even the grass had stopped growing. My friend said her two usually hyper dogs no longer asked for walks. I wanted just the pandemic back: putting on a mask when you’re within two metres of another person is better than putting on a mask to open your front door.
Five years ago, when we dreamed up our relocation from London to Portland, it went something like this: we’d land in the city where my husband’s mother lives, and which we knew to be a liberal, laid-back place, full of quirky, outdoorsy people (the Patagonia sort, not hunting).
Whenever Portland featured on TV, it was mostly being sent up for its progressive earnestness, aided by the long-running comedy series Portlandia, which skewered the city’s hipster tendencies. But if the worst you could say about a city is that the restaurants know the provenance and name of every chicken they serve, it can’t be too bad. Our plan was to get a campervan and drive up and down the west coast under limitless blue skies. Obama was president and Oregon had just legalised cannabis. Where was the hitch?
We moved in August 2015, and some of the city lived up to the stereotypes. There were adverts for yoga with goats and yoga with weed. We went to the popular 24-hour Voodoo Doughnut store and tried flavours with names like Dirt and Pothole. But there was a lot I didn’t know about the city – and living in America, too.
‘Many Portlanders are organising for change.’ Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian
The first surprise was the lack of non-white people. I later discovered that the 2010 census found Portland to be the whitest big city in the US. When our daughter started daycare, she came home and said she didn’t like her brown skin; she wanted to be white like the other kids. She was three. I felt like a fool for moving her out of a city where she would have been surrounded by people who look like her.
Living in Portland was also the first time I felt noticed for being in a mixed-race marriage. In rural Oregon, where you now regularly see Trump signs and bumper stickers, it’s become an unsaid agreement between my husband and I that I get out of the car as little as possible. He goes into the gas stations; he checks us into motels. I was horrified but not surprised when, during the fires, armed vigilantes set up “checkpoints” in small towns – claiming they were worried about “antifa looting”. They stopped drivers and asked them to identify themselves.
I write all of this as a brown person and a recent transplant. Racism for black people in Portland is far more pervasive and damaging. It’s visible in housing policy, police brutality and who gets to work where. In 1859, when Oregon joined the union, it was the only state to explicitly ban all black people living there. That legacy of racism has cast a long shadow. As recently as the 1990s, lenders in the state engaged in redlining (not giving people loans and mortgages because of where they live – which mainly affected the city’s small black population). There continues to be de facto racial segregation in schools. But, until this summer, Portland’s white population didn’t talk about it much.
Then in May, Portland, like many other cities, held nightly Black Lives Matter protests in response to the killing of George Floyd. Thousands of people gathered in predominantly peaceful protests, but small groups who damaged property grabbed headlines and the president’s attention. In July, federal police were sent in to stop “the riots”, and acting homeland secretary Chad Wolf described Portland as a “city under siege”. Protesters were snatched off the street by unmarked police cars, teargassed and charged with no warning. Trump described Portland as a “beehive of terrorists,” labelling protesters “professional anarchists” and “people that hate our country”.
But from my home, that’s not how it looked. The “riots” were confined to a couple of blocks downtown, and the protesters were not threatening Portlanders. We took our seven-year-old to family friendly protests.
Meanwhile, the police were threatening. They shot my husband’s friend in the face with a rubber bullet while he was wearing a press vest. Four mothers I know were gassed on different nights. A neighbour was pulled out of his car and had his leg hit with a baton. The militarisation and lack of accountability – when our taxes support the police to protect us – does not make this a city I feel safe in.
I was also terrified by the “counter-protesters”. The Proud Boys, a violent, neo-fascist group, held an armed rally 10 minutes from our house a few Saturdays ago. I incessantly checked Twitter to monitor their movements. In the end, they had a turnout of just a thousand compared to their projected 10,000. Still, I’d be more encouraged by the rally’s failure if the president hadn’t subsequently told them to “stand by” during the first presidential debate.
Portland came up numerous times in that debate, never for its artsy quaintness. The moderator quizzed Joe Biden on how he would handle the city’s “riots”. President Trump pointed to it as an example of a radical left-run city in need of “law and order”.
When Trump first came to power, I naively hoped he’d be too lazy, too narcissistic to put into effect policies that would really dismantle the country. But the assaults on immigration and healthcare were swift. Then, in 2018, our daughter’s first year in school, a student at a Florida school shot and killed 17 of his classmates. The scale of the massacre and the president’s further embrace of the National Rifle Association were impossible to understand. On a personal level, having our five-year-old come home and tell us she hid in a cupboard during an active shooter drill was a punch to the gut.
Another day she came home and said, “This kid said that the president puts kids in cages but that’s not true, right?” A feeling was growing inside of me that, yes, it was our choice to be here – but did we have to stay? When Trump talked on the TV or radio, she started asking to turn it off. The hidden anxieties of living in the US were mounting.
Because my husband and I were both freelance, we had to take out a health insurance policy. Through Obamacare, we paid $750 a month. This covered seeing our GP, but not emergency room visits; policy coverage differs wildly and is dizzying to navigate.
One Saturday evening, our daughter came up in hives. At the hospital, they took our insurance details, recorded her vitals, gave her some antihistamine and a remote control, and she lay in bed and watched Frozen. She was fine and we were relieved. As we were leaving, the doctor brought out paperwork and I asked how much it would cost; she blinked and said our insurance company would be in touch. A week later, we got a bill for $600. I had to reprogramme my British mindset; we learned to avoid the emergency room.
In May, I looked on in envy as the UK expressed outrage at Dominic Cummings’ covert Durham trip, while the US government had failed to muster any kind of national response. Politicians didn’t have to hide cross-country trips. Trump was proudly appearing on TV to reject the science. I watched the UK’s first curve drop as the US’s continued to rise. The question grew bigger: do we still need to be here?
Portland’s local government took matters into its own hands and locked down with little resistance. Rates of Covid-19 infection have remained relatively low. The city’s lack of density, too, has felt comforting. Yet the sadness mounts when you’re watching a preventable nationwide death toll rise beyond 200,000, with millions losing their jobs.
It was after a postcard-perfect, reception-free camping trip this August that my husband and I started to talk in earnest about returning to London. Driving back from Oregon’s fir-lined lakes and mountains with a kayak strapped to our roof, I became consumed by the anxiety of living in a US city in 2020.
On a micro scale, we’ve made a happy life. What I love most about living in America is the feeling of possibility. Get in your car and you can drive for days through deserts, ghost towns, canyons, glaciers. We’ve spotted brown bears and bald eagles, driven around tornadoes, spent eight straight hours gripped to the wheel on icy snow. And in general, I find people less judgmental and cynical than in the UK.
‘I decided I needed to leave over the election period.’ Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian
But as we emerged back into phone reception, I saw my best friend Maggie had posted a selfie in a helmet, goggles and mask. She’d been at a Black Lives Matter protest when, without warning, the police had teargassed her and other protesters. “I couldn’t breathe, it felt like glass entering my lungs, I vomited,” she wrote. On the rest of the drive home, my husband and I talked through what it would mean to pack up and start life again in London.
I know how lucky we are to have options: everyone I know wants an escape plan. But I feel sad thinking about it. I feel cowardly not to stay and fight. Many Portlanders are organising furiously for change, and the city’s demographics also seem to be shifting.
I decided I needed to leave over the election period. The paralysing fear of the unknown outcome became too much, in a country I can’t even vote in. I am in London now, quarantining in my old bedroom in my parents’ attic. I usually regress to teenage ways when I stay here, but this time I feel I am unfurling. We’re spending our days doing online school, and for the first time since the pandemic began, I’m able to give over enough of my brain to help my daughter learn.
Of course, the UK has its own problems, too. But I am physically and mentally relieved to be distanced from white supremacists carrying guns on the streets, the threat of pandemic-related medical debt, and the specific cruelty of the Trump administration. We have a return ticket booked; we just have to decide if we’ll use it.


theguardian--2020-11-01--Biden campaign says Trump supporters tried to force bus off highway

Trucks with Trump signs and flags surrounded a Biden campaign bus on a Texas highway on Friday and attempted to slow the vehicle down and run it off the road , the Biden campaign said on Saturday .
Several video clips posted on social media by both Biden and Trump supporters showed the trucks surrounding the bus .
The trucks then tried to slow the bus down and run it off the road before staff called 911 , according to the Biden campaign .
The president himself appeared to endorse the behavior of his supporters , tweeting a video of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the comment “ I LOVE TEXAS !
” “ They ’ re literally escorting him out of town , ” one man says , laughing as he narrates one clip of the incident shared by Trump supporters .
Some of the Trump supporters surrounding the Biden campaign bus were armed , according to Democratic state representative Rafael Anchía and other observers .
While the vice-presidential candidate , Kamala Harris , was campaigning in Texas that day , she not on the bus , a spokesman for a state Democratic representative confirmed .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Texas as the bus was traveling from San Antonio to Austin , the Biden campaign said , adding that local law enforcement responded to the campaign ’ s calls and assisted the bus in reaching its destination .
The campaign did not identify the law enforcement agency .
A group of the same 12 cars has been following the Biden bus all over the country , CBS News Austin reported , citing Texas Democrats .
Texas state Democrats also said they cancelled a campaign event on Friday evening for “ public safety and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scheduled for Friday evening in Pflugerville was cancelled due to security concerns related to the cars following the Biden bus , Sheryl Cole , a Democratic state representative , tweeted on Friday .
“ Unfortunately , pro-Trump Protesters have escalated well beyond safe limits , ” she wrote .
The decision to cancel the Pflugerville event came after Democrats received reports in the late afternoon that there had been some kind of collision between a pro-Trump vehicle and another vehicle on I-35 , André Treiber , a spokesperson for Cole , told the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the highway are still not clear , Treiber said , including whether the collision turned out to be “ an accident or an escalation ” .
“ When you have two hours to make the call , you make the safe call , ” Treiber said .
“ We wanted to make sure everyone was safe.
” An event with Democratic politicians in Austin was also cancelled on Friday and law enforcement were present to ensure staff could leave the bus safely , the Biden campaign said .
When the Biden-Harris bus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump supporters heckled and faced off with Democrats , with Trump supporters calling Biden a “ Chinese communist ” , CBS Austin reported .
The cars following the bus include a pro-Trump hearse emblazoned with the slogan , “ Vote like your life depends on it , ” according to social media and news reports .
Republicans apologized after Trump supporters brought a casket to a Biden event outside Houston , with a dark-haired mannequin that some viewers saw as representing Kamala Harris , a local Fox News affiliate reported .
Texans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days with more than 9.6 million having voted ahead of election day , surpassing the total number of votes cast four years ago .
In what has been a reliably red state with low voter participation , 30.4 % of this year ’ s ballots have been cast by voters who didn ’ t participate in 2016 at all , according to Tom Bonier , chief executive of political data firm TargetSmart .
Turnout has surged especially among Asian , college-educated white and young Texans .
“ You can definitively say now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have voted already in Texas than have ever voted in any election , and that ’ s remarkable , ” Bonier said .
Trump is still slightly favored to win Texas – a state he took by nine points in 2016 – though polls showing a close race have ignited a firestorm of speculation about whether this is the year the state turns blue .
“ We feel good with where we ’ re at , but we need to keep on going , and you know , we ’ re not there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communications director for the Texas Democratic party .

Trucks with Trump signs and flags surrounded a Biden campaign bus on a Texas highway on Friday and attempted to slow the vehicle down and run it off the road, the Biden campaign said on Saturday.
Several video clips posted on social media by both Biden and Trump supporters showed the trucks surrounding the bus. The trucks then tried to slow the bus down and run it off the road before staff called 911, according to the Biden campaign.
These tactics have no place in Texas, my home state, and no place in America.
Please vote. Please volunteer this weekend. The future of our democracy is at stake. pic.twitter.com/G0O4yg2vnJ — Dr. Eric Cervini (@ericcervini) October 31, 2020
The president himself appeared to endorse the behavior of his supporters, tweeting a video of the incident on Saturday evening along with the comment “I LOVE TEXAS!”
“They’re literally escorting him out of town,” one man says, laughing as he narrates one clip of the incident shared by Trump supporters.
Some of the Trump supporters surrounding the Biden campaign bus were armed, according to Democratic state representative Rafael Anchía and other observers.
While the vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, was campaigning in Texas that day, she was not on the bus, a spokesman for a state Democratic representative confirmed.
The incident happened on the I-35 highway in Texas as the bus was traveling from San Antonio to Austin, the Biden campaign said, adding that local law enforcement responded to the campaign’s calls and assisted the bus in reaching its destination.
The campaign did not identify the law enforcement agency.
A group of the same 12 cars has been following the Biden bus all over the country, CBS News Austin reported, citing Texas Democrats.
Texas state Democrats also said they cancelled a campaign event on Friday evening for “public safety and security reasons.”
A Democratic campaign event scheduled for Friday evening in Pflugerville was cancelled due to security concerns related to the cars following the Biden bus, Sheryl Cole, a Democratic state representative, tweeted on Friday.
“Unfortunately, pro-Trump Protesters have escalated well beyond safe limits,” she wrote.
The decision to cancel the Pflugerville event came after Democrats received reports in the late afternoon that there had been some kind of collision between a pro-Trump vehicle and another vehicle on I-35, André Treiber, a spokesperson for Cole, told the Guardian. The details of the incident on the highway are still not clear, Treiber said, including whether the collision turned out to be “an accident or an escalation”.
“When you have two hours to make the call, you make the safe call,” Treiber said. “We wanted to make sure everyone was safe.”
An event with Democratic politicians in Austin was also cancelled on Friday and law enforcement were present to ensure staff could leave the bus safely, the Biden campaign said.
When the Biden-Harris bus stopped briefly in Austin earlier on Friday, Trump supporters heckled and faced off with Democrats, with Trump supporters calling Biden a “Chinese communist”, CBS Austin reported.
The cars following the bus include a pro-Trump hearse emblazoned with the slogan, “Vote like your life depends on it,” according to social media and news reports.
Republicans apologized after Trump supporters brought a casket to a Biden event outside Houston, with a dark-haired mannequin that some viewers saw as representing Kamala Harris, a local Fox News affiliate reported.
Texans have flocked to the polls in recent days with more than 9.6 million having voted ahead of election day, surpassing the total number of votes cast four years ago.
In what has been a reliably red state with low voter participation, 30.4% of this year’s ballots have been cast by voters who didn’t participate in 2016 at all, according to Tom Bonier, chief executive of political data firm TargetSmart. Turnout has surged especially among Asian, college-educated white and young Texans.
“You can definitively say now, more voters under the age of 30 have voted already in Texas than have ever voted in any election, and that’s remarkable,” Bonier said.
Trump is still slightly favored to win Texas – a state he took by nine points in 2016 – though polls showing a close race have ignited a firestorm of speculation about whether this is the year the state turns blue.
“We feel good with where we’re at, but we need to keep on going, and you know, we’re not there yet,” said Abhi Rahman, communications director for the Texas Democratic party.


theguardian--2020-11-01--Obama hails Biden's 'decency and kindness' and takes swipe at Trump – as it happened

With Joe and Kamala at the helm … you ’ re not going to have to think about them every day .
You ’ re not going to have to argue with your family about him every day .
It won ’ t be so exhausting .
You ’ ll be able to get on with your lives knowing that the president is not going to suggest we inject bleach as a possible cure of Covid .
You won ’ t have to wake up in the morning , kind of open your phone and , hey , news flash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Navy Seals didn ’ t actually kill Bin Laden .
You ’ re not going to have a president who goes out of his way to insult people just because they don ’ t support them .
This is not normal behavior , people .
We would not tolerate it from a teacher or a coach or a co-worker or a family member .
If a neighbor was acting like this , you would stay away from that neighbor .
Why would we accept it from the president of the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are consequences to his actions .
There are consequences to his actions .
This is not just a joke .
It ’ s not funny .
Those actions embolden other people to be mean , and divisive , and racist .
And it frays at the fabric of all of our lives and it affects how our children see the world and how they treat each other .
It affects the way our families get along .
It affects the way the world sees America .
That ’ s why Joe talks about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s why he talks about decency , and kindness , and responsibility and hard work .
That more than anything is what separates Joe Biden from his opponent : he actually cares about every American .
He does not have a mean-spirited bone in his body .
I have seen him spend time with people , strangers that he doesn ’ t know , when he hears they ’ re going through hardship , he talks about what he ’ s gone through .
When he sees a kid , his eyes light @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own kids and grandkids .
Joe Biden tries to live the values we cherish : honesty , hard work , kindness , humility , responsibility , helping somebody else out .
That used to be the definition of manliness .
Not strutting and showing off , acting important , bullying people .
It used to be being a man meant taking care of other people .
Not going around bragging , but just doing the work .
Not looking for credit .
Trying to live right .
Passing on those values to your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Carrying your weight .
Giving up a little bit of what you might have to help somebody who has a real need .
When you elect Joe , that ’ s what you ’ ll see reflected from the White House .
And those shouldn ’ t be Republican or Democratic values – they didn ’ t used to be !
They ’ re what we grew up learning for our parents and from our grandparents .
And they ’ re the values we still try to teach our kids .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or Hispanic or Asian or Native American values – they ’ re American values .
And we ’ ve got to reclaim them right now .
And to reclaim them , we ’ re going have to turn out like never before .
And if we ’ re going to reclaim those values , we need to leave no doubt .
We can ’ t afford to be complacent .
Not this time .
Not in this election .

Bryan Armen Graham in New York (now), Tim Hill and Martin Belam (earlier)

1 Nov 2020 00.35 GMT Thousands of Donald Trump supporters appear to have been left out in the cold following his rally outside Pittsburgh tonight, according to CNN. CNN’s DJ Judd shared a photo from outside Trump’s rally in Butler showing hordes of rallygoers waiting in near-freezing temperatures for shuttles to take them back to the designated parking areas. Trump has finished and left, but there’s thousands of supporters who have been let loose into the night with no sign of the shuttles they’ve been told will take them back to parking. People are filling the street, blocking the road for ambulances and police. pic.twitter.com/uMgfvUZ4Jg — DJ Judd (@DJJudd) October 31, 2020 Judd said the temperature outside the venue at the time of his photos was 41F (5C). It’s the second time in four days that transportation snarls have left Trump rally attendees stranded after an event. On Tuesday, seven people were hospitalized after supporters at a late-night Trump rally at an Omaha airport remained at the site waiting on buses hours after Trump’s plane had departed. The problem was blamed on limited traffic flow on the two-lane road that led to the site of the rally. The Washington Post reported that Trump supporters were stuck after the president spoke at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. It said many elderly supporters of Trump were among those stranded. Omaha police said in a written statement that first responders dealt with 30 people for medical reasons throughout the day and seven were sent to hospital. At the rally, Trump said he’s issued a memorandum that calls on government agencies to determine fracking’s impact on the economy and trade and the costs of banning the oil and gas extraction through fracking. The president has repeatedly charged that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris support restrictions on the industry. “In other words, if one of these maniacs come along and they say we’re gonna end fracking we’re gonna destroy the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Trump said in announcing his memorandum during his remarks. “You can say ‘sorry about that.”’
Updated at 00.37 GMT
1 Nov 2020 00.15 GMT Barack Obama briefly showed off his silky left-handed shooting stroke at Flint Northwestern High School where he spoke at a drive-in rally with Joe Biden earlier today.
so this was absolutely insane pic.twitter.com/W4JL6LQZxq — Olivia Raisner (@OliviaRaisner) October 31, 2020 The clip of the impromptu three-pointer has gone viral in the hours since Saturday’s rally, garnering praise from no less than LeBron James. “Now you just showing out now my friend!!” the recently minted NBA finals Most Valuable Player tweeted. “That’s what you do huh?? Ok ok I see. All cash!”
Updated at 00.15 GMT
31 Oct 2020 23.44 GMT A federal judge has ordered the US Postal Service to take “extraordinary measures” to deliver ballots in time to be counted in Wisconsin and around Detroit, including using a priority mail service. The Associated Press reports: Chief US district judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, issued the order on Friday after being presented with data showing on-time delivery of ballots sent by voters was too slow in Michigan and Wisconsin. They are both “battleground states” in the November election. Delivery of ballots in the USPS’ Detroit district, for example, has dipped as low as 57% over the past week, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office said Saturday. “Every vote must be counted,” Ferguson said. “Our democracy depends on it.” National on-time delivery has been at 93% or higher, said the statement from Ferguson, who leads a coalition of 14 states that filed a lawsuit on 18 August over changes to the Postal Service. Bastian, an appointee of former US president Barack Obama, said that starting Sunday and continuing through 10 November, the USPS must report to his court the prior day’s “all clear” status for each facility and processing center in the Detroit area and a district covering most of Wisconsin. If the USPS identifies any incoming ballots in its “all clear” sweeps of these facilities, it must make every effort to deliver those ballots by 8pm local time on Election Day, including by using Priority Mail Express or other extraordinary measures, Bastian said. Priority Mail Express is an overnight service that costs a minimum of $26.35 per envelope, according to the USPS.com website. Asked for comment on the judge’s order, Postal Service spokesman Dave Partenheimer referred to a fact sheet posted Saturday that says as of Friday, Postal Service employees are authorized to use the Express Mail network to speed completed ballots to their intended destinations. “We take our legal obligations very seriously and (are) complying with all court orders,” Partenheimer said. “The Postal Service continues to implement extraordinary measures across the country to advance and expedite the delivery of the nation’s ballots.” They include extra pick-ups, extra deliveries, and collecting mail on Sunday, Partenheimer said.
31 Oct 2020 23.20 GMT US judge to hear Republican bid to void 100,000 votes in Texas A federal judge in Texas scheduled an emergency hearing for Monday on whether Houston officials unlawfully allowed drive-through voting and should toss more than 100,000 votes in the Democratic-leaning area, Reuters reports. US district judge Andrew Hanen in Houston on Friday agreed to hear arguments by a Republican state legislator and others that votes already cast at drive-through voting sites in the Houston area should be rejected. More from Reuters: The lawsuit was brought on Wednesday by plaintiffs including Steve Hotze, a conservative activist, and state representative Steve Toth. They accused Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, a Democrat, of exceeding his constitutional authority by allowing drive-through voting as an alternative to walk-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Harris County, home to about 4.7 million people, is the third most populous county in the United States. It currently has 10 drive-through polling sites, which are available to all voters. The lawsuit came after the Texas Supreme Court, one of the most conservative state courts in the United States, rejected similar bids to halt drive-through voting in Harris County. The plaintiffs ask the court to “reject any votes it finds were cast in violation of the Texas Election Code” and “requir all memory cards from the 10 drive-thru voting locations be secured and not entered or downloaded into the Tally machine until this Court issues an order on this Complaint.” Hanen was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. The request is “wholly unreasonable,” Democratic groups, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on Friday in a motion asking to intervene in the case. “Plaintiffs ask this Court to throw Texas*s election into chaos by invalidating the votes of more than 100,000 eligible Texas voters who cast their ballots at drive-thru voting locations at the invitation of county officials and in reliance on the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to allow drive-thru voting to proceed,” the groups said. An election worker accepts ballots from voters in cars at a drive-through mail ballot drop-off site at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Photograph: Go Nakamura/Getty Images
31 Oct 2020 22.47 GMT Donald Trump was greeted by former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz on the tarmac after Air Force One touched down at Pittsburgh International Airport, where he’s traveled for his third of four rallies today in the crucially important battleground state of Pennsylvania. “Lou Holtz is a friend of mine and it’s so nice for him to be here,” Trump said during a brief gaggle with reporters. “He’s getting the presidential medal of freedom. He’s a very inspiring guy.” He added: “I hear we’re doing great in Florida, great in Ohio. Doing really well in Florida, doing great in Texas. ... Iowa’s doing really great. We’re going tomorrow but we’re doing really good.” Trump’s rally in Butler, about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh, is expected to begin shortly. Donald Trump speaks with the press alongside former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz upon arrival at Pittsburgh International Airport on Saturday. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
31 Oct 2020 22.21 GMT Stevie Wonder was back in his home state on Saturday performing at a get-out-the-vote event for Joe Biden in Detroit. “The only way we’re gonna win this fight, a fight against injustice, is by voting,” the Saginaw native told a crowd at the drive-in rally. “We must vote justice in and injustice out.” Wonder, who stumped for both Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, was warming up the crowd before scheduled remarks by Obama and Biden, their second joint campaign stop of the day in the battleground state oof Michigan. At one point he admonished the crowd for not adhering to social distancing guidelines while taking a swipe at Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. “I know you’re having a good time but I want y’all to social distance,” he said. “I’ve seen y’all get to close, come on. Don’t do all that. We’ve got a situation going on cause somebody didn’t handle their business right.” Stevie Wonder to attendees at a @JoeBiden rally:
"I know you're having a good time but I want y'all to social distance. I've seen y'all get to close, come on. Don't do all that. We've got a situation going on cause somebody didn't handle their business right." pic.twitter.com/21fo8MyAsa — Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 31, 2020 The 25-time Grammy winner also joked about Trump’s debate comments telling the far-right Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” “You know what we say in the ghetto when somebody says that, right?” he asked the crowd, adding, “watch yourself, get your ass whipped.” Stevie Wonder performs during a mobilization event for Joe Biden at Belle Isle Casino in Detroit on Saturday. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 22.28 GMT
31 Oct 2020 21.53 GMT Lois Beckett Amid rising partisan tension in the United States, at least 11 Americans have been killed while participating in political demonstrations since May this year, according to new data from a non-profit monitoring political unrest in the United States.
Nine of the people killed during protests were demonstrators taking part in Black Lives Matter protests. Two were conservatives killed after pro-Trump “patriot rallies”. All but one were killed by fellow citizens, and most of them were shot to death. Another 14 Americans have died in other incidents linked to unrest this summer, including two law enforcement officers allegedly killed by an anti-government “Boogaloo” extremist, who deliberately targeted federal law enforcement during a protest against police violence. At least 25 Americans were killed during protests and political unrest in 2020 Read more
31 Oct 2020 21.18 GMT A get-out-the vote rally in the battleground state of North Carolina on Saturday ended with police using pepper spray on some participants and making several arrests. Multiple people were arrested outside Alamance county’s courthouse and police used pepper spray to disperse a crowd which including a five-year-old girl and other children, according to the Raleigh News & Observer: A racially diverse group of about 200 people walked with a police escort from Wayman’s Chapel AME Church to Court Square, where they held a rally encouraging people to vote. The event was organized by Rev. Greg Drumwright, a Burlington native who leads the the Citadel Church in Greensboro, according to his website. At least three politicians participated in some parts of the event: the current mayor of Burlington, Ian Baltutis; Democratic candidate for county commissioner Dreama Caldwell; and Democratic school board candidate Seneca Rodgers. At one point, the marchers held a moment of silence in the street in honor of George Floyd, the Black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis earlier this summer. After the moment of silence concluded, law enforcement told people to clear the road. Then, deputies and police officers used pepper spray on the crowd and began arresting people. Several children in the crowd were affected by the pepper spray. Melanie Mitchell said her 5-year-old and 11-year-old daughters were pepper-sprayed just after the moment of silence. She said Graham police approached the crowd assembled in the street and told them to move onto the sidewalk and soon began spraying pepper spray toward the ground. Mitchell’s 5-year-old took off running, she said. Both kids threw up. “My 11-year-old was terrified,” Mitchell said. “She doesn’t want to come down to Graham anymore.” Josh Stein, the attorney general of North Carolina, issued a statement on the conflagration, saying: “All eligible voters in North Carolina have a constitutional right to cast their vote safely and securely, without threats or intimidation. After today’s troubling events in Alamance county, I went to the courthouse in Graham and all is calm now. “I reached out to the State Board of Elections and was informed that the events appear not to have impacted voting at the early voting location. The site there was calm, and the voters got in line and voted. I have also reached out to the Alamance county sheriff but have not yet connected. I will update when I learn more.”
Updated at 21.22 GMT
31 Oct 2020 20.21 GMT Nina Lakhani reports from Pennsylvania, where she is speaking with Trump supporters outside his rally at Reading regional airport ... Vincent Tusa, 56, who works in advertising and twice voted for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, is a third-generation Italian American who supports Donald Trump’s hardline – some would say cruel and unjust – immigration policies. “I’m not a staunch Republican but we can’t be overrun by illegal immigrants. They need to come legally like my grandparents.” Advocates have documented the dismantling of America’s immigration and asylum system over the past four years, as well as the separation of thousands of children from their parents at the southern border. Tusa added: “Trump is a businessman and that gives me confidence. Biden doesn’t have the accomplishments, he’s cognitively challenged and he’s chosen an unqualified running mate based on identity politics.” Vice-president candidate Kamala Harris’s experience includes being state attorney general and a US senator for California. Tusa was wearing a mask but many people were not. However, volunteers were checking people’s temperatures as they entered the airport for the second of Trump’s four rallies on Saturday in the crucial swing state. Nicolette Miller, 30, is here with her friend Megan Shaddick, 30. They grew up nearby but now live in Philadelphia. Both will be voting for Trump for the second time and said the main reason for coming today was to be around like-minded people to express their support for the president without fear of being called racist. “He stands behind small businesses, our law enforcement and hard-working people – that’s what this country was built on. And look at what he achieved in the Middle East: four major peace deals,” said Miller. “He’s done more than any other president in the history of America. He’s trying to find the parents of those 500 children separated at the border but their parents are coming to claim them because they are illegal. The mainstream media spins and takes out of context everything he says,” added Shaddick. Trump won the state’s precious 20 electoral votes by just over 44,000 votes in 2016 – or less than one percentage point – but the RealClearPolitics average of recent Pennsylvania polls, taken between 21 and 27 October, shows Biden with an 3.7-point advantage.
Updated at 20.23 GMT
31 Oct 2020 19.57 GMT Donald Trump, who is currently at the podium at the second of four rallies today in Pennsylvania, has issued a statement on the rescue of an American citizen in Nigeria. US special forces rescued Philip Walton, 27, who was abducted on Tuesday from his home in neighboring southern Niger, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. Last night, at my direction, the United States military conducted a successful operation to rescue an American hostage in Nigeria, kidnapped just 96 hours earlier. United States Special Forces executed a daring nighttime operation to rescue their fellow American with exceptional skill, precision, and bravery. No United States Service Members were harmed. The former hostage is currently in good health and has been reunited with his family. Securing the freedom of Americans held in captivity abroad has been a top national security priority of my Administration. Since the beginning of my Administration, we have rescued over 55 hostages and detainees in more than 24 countries. Today’s operation should serve as a stark warning to terrorists and criminal thugs who mistakenly believe they can kidnap Americans with impunity. Niger, like much of West Africa’s Sahel region, faces a deepening security crisis as groups with links to al-Qaida and the Islamic State carry out attacks on the army and civilians, despite help from French and US forces. Four US soldiers were killed in an ambush in Niger in 2017, sparking debate about the US role in the sparsely populated West African desert that is home to some of the world’s poorest countries.
31 Oct 2020 19.15 GMT Axios reports that early voting in the 2020 election on Saturday afternoon had already reached 65.5% of 2016’s total turnout, citing state data compiled by the US Elections Project. Michael McDonald, the University of Florida professor who administers the US Elections Project, said last week the high level of early voting augurs a record turnout of about 150 million, representing 65% of eligible voters, the highest rate since 1908. People line up to cast their in-person absentee ballots at the Berkeley County Library on Friday in Hanahan, South Carolina. Voters waited about an hour and a half to cast their ballots. Photograph: Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images


theguardian--2020-10-31--US sets world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours

The US has set a world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours , according to one count with just over 100,000 new infections recorded .
The daily caseload of 100,233 – as counted by Reuters – surpassed 97,894 cases reported by India on a single day in September .
The news came three days before the presidential election , and as Donald Trump continued to stage large-scale events at which Covid mitigation measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing are not enforced .
The president himself , the first lady , senior aides and Republican leaders contracted the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who spent time in hospital , has insisted the US is “ rounding the corner ” in the fight to contain the pandemic .
This week his oldest son , Donald Trump Jr , a key campaign surrogate , said deaths from Covid-19 were “ almost nothing ” .
According to Johns Hopkins University – which counted nearly 99,000 US cases on Friday – nearly 230,000 of more than 9m US cases of Covid-19 have resulted in death .
The president and his campaign have sought to present a contrast to Democratic challenger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another lockdown if necessary .
On Saturday , Biden said in a statement : “ President Trump still has no plan to address Covid-19 .
He quit on you , on your family , on America .
He just wants us to grow numb to the horrors of the death toll and the pain .
We can not afford another four years of his failed leadership.
” On Friday , scientists at Stanford University released a study which said recent Trump rallies produced more than 30,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and “ likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The authors set out to “ investigate the effects of large group meetings on the spread of Covid-19 by studying the impact of 18 Trump campaign rallies ” over “ up to 10 post-rally weeks for each event ” .
“ Our estimate of the average treatment effect across the 18 events , ” they wrote , “ implies that they increased subsequent confirmed cases of Covid-19 by more than 250 per 100,000 residents .
“ Extrapolating this figure to the entire sample , we conclude that these 18 rallies ultimately resulted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Covid-19 .
Applying county-specific post-event death rates , we conclude that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths ( not necessarily among attendees ) ” .
The US has exceeded its previous single-day record , of 77,299 cases registered in July , five times in the past 10 days .
The number of daily infections reported in the last two days suggests the country is reporting more than one new case every second .
Despite the overall figure , the US has a rate of about 28,100 cases per million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the world for prevalence .
Many states experiencing surges in case numbers are re-instituting social restrictions .
In New York on Saturday , Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters most people arriving in the state must now quarantine for at least three days before taking a coronavirus test .
If that test comes back negative , the traveler can leave quarantine .
The requirements will not apply to residents of “ contiguous ” states , Cuomo told reporters , and there will be different requirements for New Yorkers who leave the state for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named Connecticut , Pennsylvania and New Jersey as examples of contiguous states , home to many commuters to New York City .
But it was unclear if neighbouring Vermont and Massachusetts would also be exempt .
Cuomo 's office did not reply to questions seeking clarification on Saturday .

Martin Pengelly in New York and agencies

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The US has set a world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours, according to one count, with more than 100,000 new infections recorded.
The daily caseload of 100,233 – as counted by Reuters – surpassed the 97,894 cases reported by India on a single day in September.
The news came three days before the presidential election, and as Donald Trump continued to stage large-scale events at which Covid mitigation measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing are not enforced. The president himself, the first lady, senior aides and Republican leaders contracted the virus after attending such events.
Trump, who spent time in hospital, has insisted the US is “rounding the corner” in the fight to contain the pandemic. This week his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, a key campaign surrogate, said deaths from Covid-19 were “almost nothing”.
According to Johns Hopkins University – which counted nearly 99,000 US cases on Friday – nearly 230,000 of more than 9m US cases of Covid-19 have resulted in death.
The president and his campaign have sought to present a contrast to Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s promise to implement another lockdown if necessary.
On Saturday, Biden said in a statement: “President Trump still has no plan to address Covid-19. He quit on you, on your family, on America. He just wants us to grow numb to the horrors of the death toll and the pain. We cannot afford another four years of his failed leadership.”
On Friday, scientists at Stanford University released a study which said recent Trump rallies produced more than 30,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and “likely led to more than 700 deaths”.
The authors set out to “investigate the effects of large group meetings on the spread of Covid-19 by studying the impact of 18 Trump campaign rallies” over “up to 10 post-rally weeks for each event”.
“Our estimate of the average treatment effect across the 18 events,” they wrote, “implies that they increased subsequent confirmed cases of Covid-19 by more than 250 per 100,000 residents.
“Extrapolating this figure to the entire sample, we conclude that these 18 rallies ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 incremental confirmed cases of Covid-19. Applying county-specific post-event death rates, we conclude that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths (not necessarily among attendees)”.
The US has exceeded its previous single-day record, of 77,299 cases registered in July, five times in the past 10 days. The number of daily infections reported in the last two days suggests the country is reporting more than one new case every second.
Despite the overall figure, the US has a rate of about 28,100 cases per million people, which places it about 14th in the world for prevalence.
Many states experiencing surges in case numbers are re-instituting social restrictions. In New York on Saturday, Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters most people arriving in the state must now quarantine for at least three days before taking a coronavirus test. If that test comes back negative, the traveler can leave quarantine.
The requirements will not apply to residents of “contiguous” states, Cuomo told reporters, and there will be different requirements for New Yorkers who leave the state for less than 24 hours.
The governor named Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey as examples of contiguous states, home to many commuters to New York City. But it was unclear if neighbouring Vermont and Massachusetts would also be exempt. Cuomo’s office did not reply to questions seeking clarification on Saturday.