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http://www.thrillist.com/travel/nat...es-will-not-be-permitted-onboard-the-aircraft

Your cell phone can now be confiscated at airport security

Having a low cell phone battery at the airport is bad enough; outlet hogs are just one of the awful people getting on a plane. But now you'll have to worry about your battery being charged for a different reason -- because if your phone doesn't turn on, the Department of Homeland Security will confiscate it.

According to a DHS statement announcing the change last week, passengers flying on non-stop routes to the US from select airports abroad may be asked to "power up some devices, including cell phones", adding that "powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft".

In particular, officials are targeting Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy devices, according to Reuters. So, you know, only the two most popular phones out there.

The order came from DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who confirmed he "directed TSA to implement enhanced security measures in the coming days at certain overseas airports with direct flights to the United States". According to Secretary Johnson's statement, the DHS is liaising with "foreign allies" and airlines, and "will work to ensure these necessary steps pose as few disruptions to travelers as possible".

The reinforced security checks reportedly come in response to an alleged terrorist threat, the details of which are unknown, as well as intelligence that suggests bombs involving cell phones and shoes are being made by terrorists in Yemen and Syria.

Thus far, overseas airport to officially comply with this new rule are London's Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport, while British Airways passengers will also have their powerless electronics denied. According to the BBC, the UK, Germany, and France have said they will meet the requirement.

To avoid getting booted off your flight, carry a charger wherever you go -- and maybe rethink that second game of Candy Crush on the way to the airport.
 
Gregzs said:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/04/1...ested-after-bodies-7-babies-were-found-garage

Utah Woman Arrested After Bodies of 7 Babies Were Found in Garage

A Utah neighborhood was left in shock this weekend after the arrest of a woman who police say had the remains of seven dead babies at the home where she used to live. The gruesome discovery was made by 39-year-old Megan Huntsman's ex-husband.

Neighbors were at a loss after hearing of Huntsman's arrest, with one woman saying she "loved" the family and believed them to be good people.

Investigators believe that Megan Huntsman, 39, who lived in the Pleasant Grove home until 2011, gave birth to the babies before killing them at various times between 1996 and 2006.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that police were called to the house Saturday by Huntsman's ex-husband, who had discovered the body of a newborn infant who appeared to be at full term. Police obtained a search warrant for the house and discovered the bodies of six more babies packed in boxes in the garage.

Police Capt. Michael Roberts told the paper that investigators are still working on DNA tests, but Huntsman's ex-husband, identified by family and neighbors as Darren West, is believed to be the father of all seven children. The Associated Press reported that West discovered the bodies while cleaning out the garage after recently getting out of prison. Authorities do not believe West was aware of the killings and is not a person of interest at this time.

Roberts said police believe West and Huntsman were together when the babies were born.

"We don't believe he had any knowledge of the situation," Roberts told The Associated Press

Asked how the man could not have known about the situation, Roberts replied, "That's the million-dollar question. Amazing."
Click to expand...


Motive Given to Utah Mom Accused of Killing Six Babies

A Utah mother's motive for killing six of her newborns and storing them in a garage was that she was addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs and didn't want to deal with the responsibility, authorities said Tuesday.

Megan Huntsman, 39, was heavily into a meth addiction when she strangled or suffocated the infants from 1996 to 2006, Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts told The Associated Press. She wasn't worried about potential health problems caused by her drug abuse while pregnant, she simply didn't want to care for them, he said.

"It was completely selfish. She was high on drugs and didn't want the babies, or the responsibility," Roberts said. "That was her priority at the time."

Authorities think a seventh baby found in her Pleasant Grover garage was stillborn. Police had previously declined to discuss a motive, which they say was uncovered during interviews with Huntsman. Huntsman is in jail on $6 million bail, charged with six counts of first-degree murder. She is due back in court in Provo on July 21 and has not yet entered a plea. Her lawyer, public defender Anthony Howell, declined comment Tuesday. He said office policy precludes him from discussing open cases.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/motive-given-utah-mom-accused-killing-six-babies-n151216
 
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/08/06/video-australian-commuters-tip-train-cars-free-trapped-man

Dozens of people rushed to help free a fellow commuter whose leg became trapped at a train station today in Perth, Australia.

Closed-circuit footage reveals the man lost his footing while boarding and his foot became trapped between the train and platform gap.

A passenger alerted railway staff, who stopped the train from leaving. Then, dozens leapt into action to tilt the train carriages to free the man, who was believed to have escaped injury and caught the next train.
 
http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/10/...usands-dollars-fines-small-e-zpass-violations

Man Gets $17K E-ZPass Fine for $30 in Missed Tolls and He's Not Alone

E-ZPass is supposed to make life easier for commuters, but that doesn't appear to be the case for some in the D.C. area.

Emily Miller of FOX's WTTG-TV has been reporting extensively on drivers who are being hit with amazingly high fines for much small violations.

Miller reported this morning on "Fox and Friends" on the case of Joe Mischler, who received $17,000 in fines for $36 in missed tolls!

"They don't care," said Mischler, alleging that in his eyes, it's all about "shaking down" ordinary citizens.

Mischler argued that his transponder wasn't being read properly, causing the violations to add up.

Mischler tried to resolve it on his own, but when he was summoned to appear in a Virginia civil court, he contacted WTTG.

The company that manages E-ZPass lanes and violations, Transurban, called the case "rare" and eventually agreed to reduce the fines to a few hundred bucks.

But Miller reports that Mischler's ordeal is not rare at all because when her story aired, she began getting calls from many others who have dealt with similar predicaments.

Elise Pizarro, for example, was facing more than $9,500 in fines for $28 in missed tolls. She says the issue is again related to the E-ZPass transponders failing to read her tag in express lanes.

?This is happening all the time. I'm not the only one it's happening to. Obviously it happened to Joe Mischler. It's happened to other people," she said.

Pizarro accepted an out-of-court settlement with the company, agreeing to pay $2,000 and had to take out a loan on her 401(k) to pay for it.

Transurban maintains the cases are rare and almost all of these cases are resolved before court.

"About 96 percent of our customers are using the Express Lanes and not having issues -- 99.9 percent of them are solving any issues before court,? said a Transurban spokesperson.

But Pizarro notes that 96 percent sounds like a good figure until you realize that about a million drivers use E-ZPass on the D.C. area's 495 express lanes, meaning around 4,000 people could be experiencing these problems.

Watch Miller's full report above, and if this has happened to you, contact "Fox and Friends" at friends@foxnews.com.
 
http://laughingsquid.com/state-of-c...that-will-link-los-angeles-and-san-francisco/

State of California Begins Construction of a High-Speed Rail System That Will Link Los Angeles and San Francisco

Tuesday marked the official groundbreaking of California?s high-speed rail, a $68 billion project to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco with passenger trains capable of traveling at 200 MPH. Supporters of the system say the electric trains, powered by renewable energy, will provide a greener alternative to road and air travel. The trains, managed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority, are also expected to cut transit time on the 520-mile trip between downtown Los Angeles and downtown San Francisco to three hours. Present-day rail service takes 11 to 19 hours, while a flight takes one hour and 15 minutes (plus, of course, transit to and from airports, security lines, etc.). Ticket prices are projected to be comparable to air travel. California?s high-speed rail system is set to open in 2029.

FLV_California_train-750x423.jpg
 
Ice Shards Are Falling From the Top of the World Trade Center

Oh, what a season it's been!

Sure, we haven't had as much snow as Chicago, but we did have a city-crippling blizzard, slush puddles of doom, and manholes are exploding all over the place (read: Park Slope). And in a great new twist, SHARDS OF ICE fell from the top of the World Trade Center on Monday.

According to the Daily News, foot-long ice shards started falling from 7 and 4 World Trade Center at noon, Monday Feb. 2. Officials noted that the walkways around 4 World Trade Center and parts of Vesey St were shut down for a number of hours. Panic ensued, because... shards of ice... falling... but thankfully, no injuries were reported. Though, just to be safe, maybe we should all stop going places and doing things until like, July.

http://www.thrillist.com/news/new-york/financial-district/shards-of-ice-fall-from-world-trade-center
 
Baltimore Police Officer Bites Man?s Testicles In Ballsy Cinco De Mayo Attack

So you celebrate Cinco de Mayo because you?re a red-blooded American who has pride in the fact that an underdog Mexican army marched to victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. You head on over to your favorite Mexican-themed restaurant, or Looney?s Pub which is an Irish-style bar in this circumstance, and you proceed to eat your weight in enchiladas verdes and get shitfaced on $2 cervezas. That?s when some unpatriotic tool who can?t handle a few shots of tequila reposado gets up and attacks you by gnawing your testicles. And that?s exactly how you ruin the cherished American holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

This Cinco de Mayo party was gorishly disrupted on Tuesday night when Anne Arundel County police officer Michael Flaig, 31, attacked a man. Allegedly, the man was assaulted by two men, one of whom, Flaig, bit his testicles in the alley behind Looney?s Pub. There?s no good place to have your nuts chomped off, but in an alleyway has got to be one of the worst and probably least sanitary.

A police investigation learned that Flaig and another man jumped the victim outside the bar after the victim confronted Flaig about his touching his female friend and roommate. This guy wanted to get in this woman?s pants soooo badly that he nibbled on some other dude?s bollocks to show his unwavering allegiance to her. That?s nuts!

Flaig was found by police on the second floor of the bar with ball blood stains on his shirt and appeared inebriated. Flaig was placed under arrest for ballsy attack. Cinco de Mayo, more like Cero de Huevos.

Flaig is being charged with second-degree assault.

On Wednesday, Anne Arundel County police released the following statement:


?On May 5, 2015, the Anne Arundel County Police Department was informed by investigators with the Baltimore Police Department that a member of our agency was arrested. We have learned that Corporal Michael Flaig, a 10-year veteran of the Anne Arundel County Police Department assigned to the Northern District, was arrested and charged with a second-degree assault and public intoxication after an altercation in the Canton area of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Police Department is investigating this matter and any further inquiries as to the circumstances of this arrest should be directed to them. The officer?s police powers have been suspended and he has been placed on paid administrative duties.?

As if the Baltimore police P.R. department doesn?t have enough on it?s plate right now.

http://www.brobible.com/life/article/baltimore-police-officer-bites-mans-attack/
 
Gregzs said:
Baltimore Police Officer Bites Man?s Testicles In Ballsy Cinco De Mayo Attack

So you celebrate Cinco de Mayo because you?re a red-blooded American who has pride in the fact that an underdog Mexican army marched to victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. You head on over to your favorite Mexican-themed restaurant, or Looney?s Pub which is an Irish-style bar in this circumstance, and you proceed to eat your weight in enchiladas verdes and get shitfaced on $2 cervezas. That?s when some unpatriotic tool who can?t handle a few shots of tequila reposado gets up and attacks you by gnawing your testicles. And that?s exactly how you ruin the cherished American holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

This Cinco de Mayo party was gorishly disrupted on Tuesday night when Anne Arundel County police officer Michael Flaig, 31, attacked a man. Allegedly, the man was assaulted by two men, one of whom, Flaig, bit his testicles in the alley behind Looney?s Pub. There?s no good place to have your nuts chomped off, but in an alleyway has got to be one of the worst and probably least sanitary.

A police investigation learned that Flaig and another man jumped the victim outside the bar after the victim confronted Flaig about his touching his female friend and roommate. This guy wanted to get in this woman?s pants soooo badly that he nibbled on some other dude?s bollocks to show his unwavering allegiance to her. That?s nuts!

Flaig was found by police on the second floor of the bar with ball blood stains on his shirt and appeared inebriated. Flaig was placed under arrest for ballsy attack. Cinco de Mayo, more like Cero de Huevos.

Flaig is being charged with second-degree assault.

On Wednesday, Anne Arundel County police released the following statement:


?On May 5, 2015, the Anne Arundel County Police Department was informed by investigators with the Baltimore Police Department that a member of our agency was arrested. We have learned that Corporal Michael Flaig, a 10-year veteran of the Anne Arundel County Police Department assigned to the Northern District, was arrested and charged with a second-degree assault and public intoxication after an altercation in the Canton area of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Police Department is investigating this matter and any further inquiries as to the circumstances of this arrest should be directed to them. The officer?s police powers have been suspended and he has been placed on paid administrative duties.?

As if the Baltimore police P.R. department doesn?t have enough on it?s plate right now.

http://www.brobible.com/life/article/baltimore-police-officer-bites-mans-attack/
Click to expand...
Haha epic!
 
Nevada OKs $200M in bonds for Vegas-to-SoCal high-speed train

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) ? Nevada officials have approved issuing up to $200 million in state bonds for a high-speed train project connecting Las Vegas with Southern California.

The State Board of Finance unanimously approved the bond financing for XpressWest, the parent company of the Virgin Trains project, during a meeting Friday.

XpressWest will be able to issue the bonds at up to four times the state allocation, meaning they could be worth as much as $800 million.

The bonds could only be used for designing, developing and building facilities for the high-speed rail, and not for the trains themselves, said Terry J. Reynolds, director of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry, during Friday's meeting.

The project also received approval for up to $750 million in bond allocation from the federal government.

A spokesman for the Nevada Treasurer's office said the bonds won't use any taxpayer dollars and wouldn't impact the state's ability to finance any future projects.

"This project is a long time coming to Nevada and I'm pleased to take this step forward to bring this vision to reality and bring additional jobs to our state," Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said in a statement.

The proposed high-speed train would begin at a station near Blue Diamond Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, run south along Interstate 15 and end in Victorville, California.

State officials expect the project to result in $2 billion in economic impact, with $325 million in new tax revenue for Nevada, according to a press release from the treasurer's office.

Clark County commissioners gave their approval for the bond financing earlier this week. The rail system is pegged for completion in 2023.

https://news3lv.com/news/local/200-...s-approved-for-high-speed-train-to-california
 
USPS Plans to Slash Hours at Many Post Offices, Hoping to Save A Buck

Post offices around the country are slashing their hours?including during the busiest times of day?with little notice as yet another abrupt cost-saving measure, according to interviews with union officials conducted by Motherboard and various local news reports. The USPS had also planned to close some offices entirely with just three weeks? notice, likely in violation of federal law, but appears to be backtracking.

The sudden changes come as part of a slate of policies instituted by the new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump donor with a history of anti-union practices at his private logistics firm New Breed Logistics, that are ostensibly about fiscal responsibility but have contributed to mail being delayed across the country and have postal workers concerned they?re no longer being allowed to do their jobs. Many postal employees also believe the changes will only make the post office?s financial situation worse.

?A lot of this has been dropped on us with little or no communication,? said Elizabeth Coonan, a steward for the American Postal Workers Union Local 3264 in the Clarksburg, West Virginia area. ?The times that they?re slating [the offices] to close is when they do a lot of business.?

When asked about the hours reductions and closures, USPS spokesperson Kim Frum provided the same written statement the USPS has been providing to most national media inquiries over recent weeks regarding the USPS?s cost-cutting measures. The statement uses broad language about ?developing a business plan to ensure that we will be financially stable and able to continue to provide dependable, affordable, safe and secure delivery of mail and packages to all Americans as a vital part of the nation?s critical infrastructure.? Frum then provided a link to DeJoy?s similarly vague ?Statement on Operational Excellence.? Pressed for details on the closures, Frum said she could not provide any further information.

As a result, it?s difficult to get a complete picture of how many of the post office?s 31,322 retail locations nationwide are impacted by the new hours. Coogan told Motherboard that in her region of West Virginia 26 offices are being forced to reduce hours from the typical eight-hour weekday schedule to under four hours per day. Another 31 offices are being forced to close during lunch hours, typically among the busiest times of day at a post office. Frank Bollinger, the business agent for APWU Local 526 in southern New Jersey, told Motherboard that 10 offices in his region are dropping from nine open hours per weekday to four, while another 30 are slated to close during lunch hours.

Included in those 10 offices is one in East Camden, a low income neighborhood with many unbanked residents who rely on the post office?s money order processing. Bollinger says that at the beginning of the month, that office typically fields ?well above? $35,000 in money orders per day, which is now in jeopardy thanks to the reduced hours.

?If I can?t make it to the post office,? Bollinger said, ?I?m not going to use the post office.?

In addition to West Virginia and New Jersey, post offices in Berkeley, California; Petersburg, Alaska, Youngstown, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tennessee have announced similar plans to reduce hours. All of the changes Motherboard has reviewed were announced only by signs hanging on the post office doors.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia sent a letter to DeJoy regarding the ?imminent closure or significant reduction in hours and services? as post offices ?in my state and across the nation.? Manchin?s letter noted that ?this would likely be a violation of both federal law and United States Postal Service (USPS) rules that prescribe a specific closure process which requires, at minimum, 120 days? notice,? a far cry from the three weeks under the current plan. By Tuesday evening, Coonan told Motherboard the post office had ?walked back its position on closing the offices? and they are ?currently reevaluating the situation.?

This is not the first time the USPS has moved to abruptly close post office locations without following the legally prescribed procedures for doing so. In 2011, the Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway protested in a letter to then-Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe that the USPS was closing offices nationwide without informing the PRC as they are required to do by law.

For her part, Coonan doesn?t think DeJoy?who has never worked for the USPS before becoming postmaster general in June?is putting the USPS on a path to success or that his cost-cutting measures will do anything positive. ?Slashing and hacking has already been tried,? she said. ?It?s not going to work.?

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...4LaOWaY-R_0n7Uqa8wzWn5p3agQeEcyRBTq6uCtihz_3g
 
Tailored Brands, the parent company of Men?s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank and other men?s fashion brands, announced Sunday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company hopes the bankruptcy filing will help alleviate its $630 million debt.

It was also announced in July that up to 500 stores have been identified that could potentially close ?over time.?

Tailored Brands said the coronavirus pandemic has caused it to implement ?a series of operating and organizational changes.?

A list of potentially affected stores has not yet been released.

The company also operates K&G Fashion Superstore and Moores Clothing for Men.

In New Jersey, there are currently 13 Men?s Wearhouse, 12 Jos. A. Bank and five K&G Fashion Superstores. There are no Moores Clothing for Men stores in the U.S., since it?s based in Canada.

Although not marketed as a liquidation sale, Men?s Wearhouse is offering up to 70% off on clearance items, while Jos. A. Bank is holding a ?Super Tuesday? sale. K&G Fashion Superstore is also having a summer clearance sale where you can find items for up 75% off.

It has been a rough few months for the brick-and-mortar retail industry, which already had been struggling.

JCPenney, Brooks Brothers, New York & Company, Sur La Table, Pier 1 Imports and Lucky Brand have all filed for bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.nj.com/business/2020/08...LGsRB8KhbUadTRJJZHnpz-WHYIKIt_oXRiq_NlFR6pGUg
 
Massive Explosion Rocks Beirut: ?I Haven't Seen Destruction On This Scale?

The explosion was reportedly felt as far away as Cyprus, some 150 miles away.

The Lebanese capital Beirut was hit by a colossal explosion Tuesday afternoon, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands of others as it unleashed a massive shockwave across the city.

The explosion destroyed entire blocks of residential and office buildings, causing widespread casualties. At least 50 people have been killed and some 2,750 wounded,Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan told reporters, with the death toll expected to rise further as rescue teams work their way through the rubble.

Videos of the blast, in the port area of the city, showed a thick column of smoke rising in the air, before a large fireball exploded, swiftly followed by a larger explosion, that sent a mushroom cloud into the sky.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud likened the scale of the destruction to ?Hiroshima and Nagasaki.?

?It resembles ... what happened in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That?s what [it] reminds me of. In my life, I haven?t seen destruction on this scale," he told reporters.

?This is a national catastrophe.?

The cause of the blast was unclear. Lebanon?s state-run National News Agency initially reported it was due to a major fire at a fireworks warehouse near the port, but Lebanon?s Director-General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, told Al Jazeera that the blast was caused by a highly explosive material that had been confiscated. Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi said it appeared to have been caused by huge quantities of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse.

In a televised statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that ?those responsible will pay for what happened.?

?Facts about this dangerous warehouse that has been there since 2014 will be announced and I will not preempt the investigations,? he said.

The blast left clouds of pink and yellow smoke over the city, leading the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to warn people in the area to stay inside or wear masks to avoid toxic gases.

Hospitals in the city, inundated with victims of the blast, put out urgent calls for people to donate blood to help the injured.. Staff at one overwhelmed hospital were photographed treating patients in the parking lot. Doctors told VICE News most of the injuries they treated were head and skeletal trauma, caused by buildings collapsing on patients.

In the aftermath of the blast, the port area was a scene of devastation, with bloodied survivors staggering through the streets, roads strewn with rubble and broken glass, still falling from damaged buildings. Ambulance sirens could be heard throughout the city.

The explosion was reportedly felt as far away as Cyprus, some 150 miles away.

?We live 10 KM away from the explosion site and the glass of our [buildings] got shattered,? tweeted Abir Ghattas, a Berlin-based Lebanese activist who was sent footage of the blast by her brother in Beirut.

Leila Molana-Allen, Middle East correspondent at France 24, tweeted that the blast had destroyed her block.

?All the buildings in my block are destroyed. Huge explosion in [Beirut]. Everyone covered in glass and blood,? she wrote. ?My apartment in Beirut was just blown apart.?

A reporter at the Daily Star newspaper, whose office is near the port, tweeted footage from inside the newsroom, showing windows blown out and office equipment strewn across the room.

As the scale of the devastation became apparent, pledges of support came in from the international community.

French President Emmanuel Macron said "rescue and aid" were already on the way, while Britain, the EU, and Israel said they were ready to provide humanitarian support.

The World Health Organization said it was urgently working to make trauma supplies available, while he U.S. Pentagon said in a statement that it was ?concerned for the potential loss of life due to such a massive explosion.?

The explosion has come at an already tense time for Lebanon, which has been rocked by large-scale demonstrations against the government's handling of the country?s economic crisis.

The country is also bracing for the verdict Friday in the trial of four suspects from the Shi?ite Hezbollah movement, accused of orchestrating the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut.



https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...hFoAhaJvqLcaw7qBlmzjaPfmbwFp1F5PirfdcjZUp957c

This guy lives there. The stories section on IG expire after 24 hours: https://www.instagram.com/bahijkaddoura/
 
Inside Beirut After the Explosion

 
North Carolina hit by 5.1 magnitude earthquake, the strongest since 1916

 
USPS Workers Don?t Know What to Make of So-Called ?Friday Night Massacre?

Around 1:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday afternoon, postal workers around the country started seeing a post on the internal post office network announcing yet another seemingly massive and confusing change to the United States Postal Service.

The new policies, which were first reported by the Washington Post, amount to an executive and management shakeup. The memo announced a management-level hiring freeze and the beginning of a process to accept voluntary early retirement from non-union employees in the management class. The USPS will also consolidate by enlarging regions and operations areas. For example, instead of dividing the U.S. into seven retail and delivery operations areas, it will now be divided into four.

Typically, such changes to any government entity would barely be noticed by most of the employees within the organization, much less those outside of it. But these are not typical times at the USPS. Its every move has become highly politicized due to the critical role it will play in the upcoming election and the suspicion that the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, a longtime Republican fundraiser and Trump donor, is intentionally disrupting the USPS so as to aid in his preferred candidate?s re-election. And DeJoy has wasted no time making lots of moves.

DeJoy made one of his first orders of business desecrating the sacred notion that every piece of mail gets delivered every day no matter what, causing widespread mail backups and package delays across the country. At Friday?s Board of Governors meeting, DeJoy called on Congress to ?enact reform legislation that addresses our unaffordable retirement payments? while also promising to make more changes in the future to ?focus on improving operational efficiency and pursuing other reforms in order to put the Postal Service on a trajectory for long-term financial stability.?

But Democrats don?t see a small-business Republican cutting costs from a bloated bureaucracy?which lost $2.2 billion in the most recent quarter, roughly on par with the $2.3 billion lost in the same quarter last year?as DeJoy would have them believe. Instead, they see a ?trojan horse? sabotaging the postal service.

Pennsylvania Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon called the new policies another ?Friday night massacre? by the Trump administration, even though it does not appear anyone lost their job. ?The announcement on Friday set forth a change to organizational structure only,? USPS spokesman David Partenheimer told Motherboard. ?The announcement did not include any terminations or layoffs and very specifically stated that the changes did not initiate a reduction in force and there were no immediate impacts to USPS employees.?

But the term made headlines over the weekend nonetheless. Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly tweeted it was ?deliberate sabotage to disrupt mail service on the eve of the election.? Senator Elizabeth Warren asked ?How many ways can the new Postmaster General sabotage the USPS?? In a press release, Congresswoman Alma Adams of North Carolina and Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon called for DeJoy to resign or be removed from office.

While many postal workers are wary of DeJoy?s actions and motivations, the three postal workers at various levels Motherboard spoke to don?t know what to make of the changes announced Friday, partly because the changes are so vague it?s hard to know what the changes really mean. But they?re also leaving open the possibility the changes could have some positive effects. A bloated, wasteful management structure that obstructs productivity rather than enabling it has been one of the most consistent complaints among postal employees for decades, according to dozens of interviews conducted with postal workers over recent weeks.The question is whether the new changes address that or merely shuffle the problem around.

At the surface level, DeJoy?s reorganization echoes what has occurred in the private sector as logistics management has become more sophisticated. A 2010 blog post by the USPS Office of Inspector General explained that, since 1992, the USPS conducted an increase in the number of regions and areas of management from five to nine in 2006 (it has since been reduced to seven). But private sector companies like UPS and Walmart did the opposite, reducing the number of operational regions over that same time.

What, exactly, these changes mean for the USPS?s ability to deliver mail, packages, medication, and ballots remains to be seen. A powerpoint presentation obtained by Motherboard lays out a four week ?transition plan? schedule beginning today, August 10, and ending September 4.

While some have criticized Trump for appointing DeJoy as postmaster general even though he?s never worked for the post office, the new divisions will at least be headed by longtime Post Office employees for now, according to the PowerPoint presentation. For example, the head of delivery operations, Joshua Colin, has worked for the USPS since 2006, according to his LinkedIn profile. The new Vice President of retail, Angela Curtis, has worked there since 2011. Mike Barber, the new head of processing and maintenance operations, is in his 40th year at the organization.

That being said, the current postal workers Motherboard spoke to?on condition of anonymity because they?re not authorized to speak to the media?are worried not so much by what is being done as they are the speed with which it is occurring, especially when it?s implemented by a postmaster general with questionable motives, who has been on the job for less than two months. As one person familiar with the reorganization plan put it, there have been ?too many major changes for DeJoy who has not had the time at the helm to fully understand the organization, which is not like any other business.?

Likewise, the USPS also announced a ?new organizational structure? broken down into three units: Retail and delivery operations, logistics and processing operations, and commerce and business solutions.

This announcement confused some postal workers who don?t understand how it?s different than what currently exists. ?We do have a separation between retail and delivery services and processing services and commercial services,? said a postmaster from New England. ?Those are all different people in my district.? This person is unsure how a reorganization that doesn?t change anything can lead to efficiency and savings.

Even more concerning is the degree to which these changes have been seemingly coming out of nowhere. Typically the postmaster in New England will get some details from the district manager about what changes are coming before they?re announced. But that?s not how it?s happened under DeJoy. ?I didn?t have any sense this was going to happen at all.?

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...A_4D15hE3hlw8rOs9ECa01DY4dwSDM4WwnEggeIIbrbvs
 
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Sinabung Volcano Erupts in North Sumatra, Indonesia - Aug. 10, 2020

 
Lebanon?s Entire Government Just Resigned Over Beirut Explosion

Lebanon?s embattled Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the resignation of his government Monday, bowing to public outrage over last week?s catastrophic explosion in the capital.

Addressing the nation in a televised speech, Diab said he was resigning alongside his entire Cabinet, several of whom had already publicly announced they were standing down in protest over the blast.

The resignations followed consecutive days of rage on the streets of Beirut, where security forces clashed over the weekend with protesters demanding the ouster of Lebanon?s political class over the country?s worst peacetime disaster. The explosion of a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate at Beirut?s port, which occurred despite repeated warnings among officials of the dangers it posed, has been widely blamed on an entrenched government culture of incompetence and corruption.

?We will back down and stand with the people. We need to open the door for the people,? said Diab.

?I declare today the resignation of this government. God bless Lebanon.?

Diab, a self-styled reformer who led a cabinet of technocrats, only came to power in December, months after a protest movement unseated the previous administration. He blamed his predecessors for the devastating Aug. 4 explosion, which killed more than 200 people and devastated the Lebanese capital.

?They [the political class] should have been ashamed of themselves because their corruption is what has led to this disaster that had been hidden for seven years,? he said.

But even the whole Cabinet?s resignation is unlikely to be enough to quell public fury, analysts say.

?The problem extends much deeper than the current government ? it really rests with the entire political class,? Aya Majzoub, a Beirut-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, told VICE News. ?People are calling for a regime change. They don?t want to see any of the faces that we?ve seen before in government; they want a completely new system.?

Sam Heller, a Beirut-based analyst for International Crisis Group, told VICE News that Lebanon was ?heading into the unknown.?

?People are understandably so angry at the country?s leaders,? he said, blaming the government's negligence for a disaster of "world-historical scale that?s devastated the city at a time when I think so few are able to bounce back from that.?

This weekend, riot police in body armour clashed with demonstrators advancing on Parliament Square, using disproportionate levels of violence, according to Human Rights Watch. Protesters set up gallows and nooses to hang effigies of Lebanese politicians, while others held signs that read "resign or hang?.

Human Rights Watch?s researchers observed security forces using excessive amounts of tear gas Saturday, as well as firing a tear gas canister directly at a protester?s head ? severely injuring him ? and shooting rubber bullets and birdshot pellets indiscriminately at protesters.

Majzoub from Human Rights Watch was herself beaten at the protest, hit by an officer before others threw away her phone, which she had been using to document the event.

Mazjoub told VICE News that the heavy-handed response by security forces had only added to the public?s anger over the disaster, which was caused when a massive stockpile of highly explosive ammonium nitrate ? a compound used in fertiliser and bomb-making ? was left unsecured at the port for years, despite repeated warnings among officials of the risks it posed.

?They?re livid that, after this horrific blast happened, security forces chose to repress people who were expressing their very justified rage and anger over the incompetence and corruption that led to the explosion,? she said.

?What?s even more egregious is that the army and security forces have been noticeably absent from the clean-up and relief efforts. They weren?t helping to pick up the rubble, clean up homes and provide shelter, yet they spend all their resources to crack down on people who were demonstrating. It shows very clearly the priorities of the state.?

Lebanon?s top Maronite Christian cleric, Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, had called in his Sunday sermon for the entire government to resign, as it could not ?change the way it governs?.

?The resignation of an MP or a minister is not enough ... the whole government should resign, as it is unable to help the country recover,? he said.

International donors pledged $297 million in aid for emergency relief on Sunday at a summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, stipulating the funds had to be "directly delivered to the Lebanese population? to avoid being siphoned off by corrupt elites.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...-boPo3R75WNnC2Hol0fI35YPozfHOSqnRDlKZsMjPjeoY
 
Kamala Harris is Joe Biden's running mate

Joe Biden announced Tuesday that Kamala Harris will be his running mate for the 2020 election ballot, making the California senator the first Black woman to run on a major political party?s presidential ticket.

In selecting Harris, Biden adds a former primary rival who centered her own presidential bid on her readiness to take on Trump and show Americans she would fight for them.

She rose to national prominence within the Democratic Party by interrogating Trump nominees during Senate hearings, from former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris? selection comes months after Biden committed to picking a woman to join him on the Democratic ticket. Harris, 55, is now the third woman to serve as a vice presidential candidate for a major political party, following Geraldine Ferraro as the Democratic vice presidential pick in 1984 and Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential pick in 2008.

Aware that his age could be a concern to some voters, Biden, 77, has said that he is ?a bridge? to a new slate of Democratic leaders, and by selecting Harris, more than 20 years his junior, he has elevated a leading figure from a younger generation within the party.

Within the pantheon of female candidates that the former vice president considered, Harris was long viewed as the most-likely choice because of the breadth of her experience as a US senator, former California attorney general and former district attorney of San Francisco.

While potential candidates like Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, California US Rep. Karen Bass and Florida Rep. Val Demings were viewed as fresh-faced additions to the ticket, none of them had been vetted by Democratic voters like Harris, nor did they have her experience in all levels of politics. With her multi-racial background as the child of two immigrants to the United States, her allies believed she could complement Biden as a symbol of a changing America.

She also proved to be a hardworking surrogate for Biden in recent months, taking part in everything from virtual policy events with voters in swing districts to a live DJ dance party fundraiser with Diplo and D-Nice online.

Still, some members of Biden?s team resisted choosing Harris. A recent Politico story noted that former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who was helping vet candidates, was still galled by her attack on Biden during a June 2019 debate in Miami when she criticized his work with segregationist senators and highlighted his fight against busing to desegregate schools decades ago.

The pushback against Harris apparently became so strong that Biden felt the need to defend her during his July 28 press conference, where an Associated Press photo captured the talking points about her on his notecard that included ?do not hold grudges? and ?great help to campaign.?

Harris also benefited from being a running mate who could match this turbulent moment in American history.

Many of the issues at the center of her life?s work ? including criminal justice reform, improving healthcare for Black Americans and tackling income inequality ? have come to the forefront in the three-pronged crisis America is now facing: the coronavirus pandemic (which has disproportionately affected communities of color), the fight against systemic racism and an economic recession.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/2020-election-biden-vp-pick/index.html
 
New Jersey's Atilis Gym, which reopened against COVID-19 emergency orders, loses business license

BELLMAWR, N.J. ? A New Jersey gym that reopened against statewide pandemic orders has lost its business license.

The 5-1 vote by the Bellmawr Borough Council on Tuesday night came nine days after the owners of Atilis Gym kicked in a plywood barrier installed by authorities after a state judge found the gym in contempt for violating court-ordered limits on indoor operations.

The gym?s owners, Frank Trumbetti and Ian Smith, have also defied COVID-19 emergency orders imposed by Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

The license revocation took effect immediately, but patrons continued to use the gym Wednesday.

At Tuesday's meeting, a lawyer for the gym owners argued the business did not threaten public safety.

?You?re saying they violated safety standards?? asked attorney John McCann. ?What?s the standard??

?Where?s the evidence that they?re a danger?? continued the attorney, who claimed the gym is ?the safest place in New Jersey right now.?

Prior to the vote, Bellmawr Police Captain Michael Draham described repeated violations of shutdown orders at the gym.

The borough?s zoning officer, Jim Burleigh, also said the gym had failed to request township approval before moving some exercise equipment into the parking lot for patrons? use.

Burleigh asserted large pieces of equipment outside the business could be a hazard for children.

McCann, however, argued borough officials had not shown the gym was a threat to public health. He contended no gym patrons have been infected by the coronavirus, attributing that information to Trumbetti and Smith.

?I take my clients at their word,? said the attorney, who noted Trumbetti's mother had died from COVID-19.

McCann also said council members should require proof that the gym is a health risk.

?Demand the science from the state,? McCann said.

?The Atilis Gym would close tomorrow if we could see the science,? he added.

The state Attorney General?s Office has cited scientific reports to support the view that ?extensive and prolonged interactions (at gyms) continue to present significant risks."

In a May 22 court filing, the state noted a study from South Korea found the risk of infection in gyms ?is high, perhaps higher than other confined indoor spaces in which people remain for extended period (sic) of time."

The gym controversy has drawn sign-carrying, flag-waving supporters to the Bellmawr business and led to appearances by Trumbetti and Smith on national television.

In a Facebook post Sunday, Smith predicted the council session would be "very clearly an extension of Murphy's will." Smith also said he and Trumbetti were prepared to live at the gym in an effort to prevent its closing.

Several protest participants were among audience members who sharply criticized the council?s vote. Among other points, they claimed the COVID-19 death toll has been inflated and that the governor?s emergency orders are unconstitutional.

The license revocation ?was damaging and it doesn?t promote unity,? said Dawn Fantasia, a Sussex County freeholder who attended the meeting remotely.

The only Bellmawr residents to speak supported the council?s vote.

?I just wanted to say, ?Thank you,?? said Jesse Jamison.

Kathleen Mortka said her initial support for the gym ended when promised safety guidelines were not implemented.

"There are photos on social media ? showing unmasked people who were not social distancing," Mortka told the council. She said that showed "they did not care about me or any other patrons."

Murphy closed gyms statewide under a March 16 order intended to curb the spread of COVID-19, which is blamed for more than 14,000 confirmed deaths and more than 1,800 probable deaths in New Jersey.

Persichilli issued another shutdown order May 20 after the gym reopened without authorization. The gym was allowed to reopen on June 15 to accommodate retail businesses inside the building.

The state took the gym back to court last month, alleging "wanton violation" of a court order that allowed only individualized instruction inside the building.

Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy in Trenton issued the contempt finding on July 24, setting the stage for Trumbetti and Smith to force their way into the closed gym on Aug. 1.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...vuIsbxoo16vZxQDTcLsW70YmEA15m5wT7lats7S-chd74
 
The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election

Good thing nobody's predicting a huge surge in mail any time soon.


The United States Postal Service is removing mail sorting machines from facilities around the country without any official explanation or reason given, Motherboard has learned through interviews with postal workers and union officials. In many cases, these are the same machines that would be tasked with sorting ballots, calling into question promises made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that the USPS has ?ample capacity? to handle the predicted surge in mail-in ballots.

Motherboard identified 19 mail sorting machines from five processing facilities across the U.S. that either have already been removed or are scheduled to be in the near future. But the Postal Service operates hundreds of distribution facilities around the country, so it is not clear precisely how many machines are getting removed and for what purpose.

Even to local union officials, USPS has not announced any policy, explained why they are doing this, what will happen to the machines and the workers who use them. Nor has management provided a rationale for dismantling and removing the machines from the facility rather than merely not operating them when they?re not needed.

?I?m not sure you?re going to find an answer for why [the machines being removed] makes sense,? said Iowa Postal Workers Union President Kimberly Karol, ?because we haven?t figured that out either.?

The postal workers Motherboard spoke to said having machines removed, replaced, or modified is nothing new, but this time it seems to be more widespread, include a larger number of machines at their respective facility, and potentially impacts the facility?s ability to process large numbers of mail, including ballots, in a short time span.

?Look at it this way: Your local grocery store was forced to cut 1/3 of its cash-out lines, but management expected the same productivity, quality, and speed for the customer,? said an employee at a Buffalo distribution facility, which they said is set to lose six out of 21 mail sorting machines. ?It?s just never going to happen.?

After publication, USPS spokesperson David Partenheimer told Motherboard, ?The Postal Service routinely moves equipment around its network as necessary to match changing mail and package volumes. Package volume is up, but mail volume continues to decline. Adapting our processing infrastructure to the current volumes will ensure more efficient, cost effective operations and better service for our customers.?

While the consequences of this new policy are mostly unclear for now, it neatly fits with the sudden, opaque, and drastic changes made by DeJoy, a longtime Republican fundraiser and Trump donor, in the less than two months he?s been postmaster general. Like his other changes, including the curtailing of overtime resulting in the widespread mail delays and sudden reorganization of the entire USPS, it is possible to see some semblance of corporate logic while second-guessing the decision to make drastic changes on the eve of the presidential election in which the USPS will play a critical role.

Most of the machines being dismantled in the facilities Motherboard identified are delivery bar code sorters (DBCS), into which letters, postcards and similarly sized mail (but not magazines and large envelopes, which are categorized as ?flats? and sorted differently) are fed. The DBCS sorts the mail into one of hundreds of ?stackers,? a slot about a foot long. Each slot is for a different destination, be it another post office or distribution facility.

A DBCS typically requires two workers to operate: one to feed the mail into the machine, and the other to collect the mail from the stackers and put them in the appropriate bins for transport. Running at peak efficiency, the machines can sort about 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, a remarkable and oddly mesmerizing feat. But during times of short staffing or low mail volume?both of which have occurred during COVID?DBCSs can be run with one and a half or even just a single worker, albeit less productively.

Marketing mail is down more than 15 percent through June of this year compared to last year. While this is a much steeper drop than recent years, it is continuing a decade-long trend of mail volume decline for everything but packages. In other words, DBCSs have less mail to sort than they ever have before and it?s far from clear how much of that mail is ever coming back. So it stands to reason the USPS might not need as many of them.

The postal workers interviewed by Motherboard understood this, and in some cases even made the argument some DBCS machines might be of better use at other facilities. But they had other concerns about removing the machines altogether. If something goes wrong with the DBCSs they have left, there are fewer machines to pick up the slack.

?When you take out one of the machines, it takes away our ability to respond to unforeseen things that may happen,? said Karol, who added that although her facility in Waterloo will have other DBCSs, having fewer of them ?limits our ability to respond? by making adjustments and moving mail around.

Paul McKenna, president of Milwaukee Area Local 3 of the American Postal Workers Union, said that some of the DBCSs staying will have about 50 more stackers added to them, meaning the machines can sort mail to a larger number of destinations. This will help alleviate the pressure during high mail volume periods like the Christmas rush?when there is simply more mail in general to all places?as well as provide advantages during lower-volume periods like the dead of summer. But it won?t necessarily help the unique challenge of election mail. In that case, the mail surge stays local.

Some letter carriers and distribution facility employees told Motherboard election mail is often sorted by hand to ensure it gets handled promptly and properly, but this seems to vary by location.

That being said, this would only be a problem for voters who waited until the last minute to send back their ballots. If mail-in ballots are sent and returned over a period of weeks instead of days, it is unlikely, the postal workers said, to stress the machines even if some are taken away.

?We would have the capacity to run the volume of ballots that are expected if we have it in a longer period of time,? said Paul McKenna, president of Milwaukee Area Local 3 of the American Postal Workers Union. He likened it to flattening the curve of coronavirus. Now, he said, Americans have to flatten a different curve.


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...Vm8ObIClZKGtwdppXwY2WBzDjEtDENXt7f84q0-ZARenQ
 
U.S. Postal Service shakeup sparks election fears

 
Mailboxes Removed in NYC as President Trump's USPS War Rages On

A United States Postal Service truck in NYC hauled away mailboxes ... an ominous sign in the middle of a voter war over mail-in ballots ... a war waged by President Trump.

The USPS mailbox removal in NYC comes on the heels of a similar move in Portland and Eugene, OR this week ... which a Postal Service spokesperson passed off as necessary because of declining mail volume and duplicate boxes in the area.

Many Americans are growing more concerned, as the President has been a foe of mail-in voting and the USPS in general ... and recently made alarming comments about putting the brakes on funding.

Trump also met with U.S Postmaster General Louis DeJoy -- a longtime ally and supporter -- earlier in the month amid his increasing attacks on the USPS ... and shortly after DeJoy made the decision to eliminate overtime for postal workers.

Oh, and the Postal Service also recently removed some mail sorting machines

All of this has sparked big worries and outrage ... that the goal here is to make mail delivery slow and in some cases impossible, 'cause of delays. Of course, the operating theory is that mail-in ballots help Democrats and Trump will stop at nothing to blunt it.

It's pretty outrageous ... in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic where lots of people want to vote by mail because they fear for their safety and the safety of others, 45's focus is winning re-election.

UPDATE:
9:29 AM PT -- Barack Obama's weighed in on the Postal Service situation ... and took a major shot at Trump in the process.''

The former president says EVERYONE depends on the USPS, and they "can't be collateral damage for an administration more concerned with suppressing the vote than suppressing a virus."

https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/14/usps...-FZava_TdP0WKzFRxUIG4-iJfBWZECjkpO35UJGhGCOtI
 
The Post Office Is the New Battleground for Trump's War on Mail-In Voting

 
Trump campaign sues N.J. to stop Murphy?s vote-by-mail order, calling it ?brazen power grab'

Accusing Gov. Phil Murphy of a ?brazen power grab,? President Donald Trump?s re-election campaign has asked a federal judge to overturn the state?s plan to send ballots to all 6.2 million registered voters this fall.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court by the Trump campaign, joined by the Republican National Committee and the New Jersey Republican State Committee. Among their lawyers is state Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, a frequent Murphy critic.

?In the state of New Jersey, where their universal vote-by-mail system has already resulted in fraud and disenfranchisement, Governor Murphy continues to remove safeguards against abuse,? Trump campaign counsel Matt Morgan said.

?With a stroke of his pen, the governor told his people their votes may not count ? they may even be stolen ? and that?s fine by him.?

Murphy has sought to expand mail voting due to the coronavirus pandemic, and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on Tuesday said the state will sue the U.S. Postal Service over concerns the Trump administration is purposely crippling the agency ahead of the surge in mail-in ballots.

The postmaster general on Tuesday backed off on making changes blamed for delaying mail delivery, but Grewal said the lawsuit would proceed and the House is to vote Saturday to rescind the adjustments to mail operations already made.

?Governor Murphy has consistently put people ahead of politics and protected the health and safety of New Jersey residents throughout the pandemic, and his decision to allow universal mail in voting in the November election is no different,? state Democratic chairman John Currie said. ?President Trump?s lawsuit is another clear attack on our democracy and on our voting rights, just like his efforts to destroy the Post Office and delegitimize the electoral process.?

Trump and other Republicans, though, claimed that more absentee balloting would lead to more vote fraud.

?We said every option was on the table,? state Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt said. ?We picked one. Governor Murphy, we?ll see you in court, again.?

The Trump campaign also has sued Pennsylvania, Nevada and Iowa, which also have sought to expand vote by mail, according to Rick Hasen a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, and author of a blog on election law.

Trump last week said he opposed House Democratic efforts to provide $25 billion to the Postal Service and $3.6 billion to states to help them handle an expected surge of mail ballots. The funds are in the House-passed $3.4 trillion stimulus bill that the president has threatened to veto.

?They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,? Trump told the Fox Business Network last Thursday. ?If they don?t get those two items, that means you can?t have universal mail-in voting because they?re not equipped to have it.?

Studies have shown vote by mail has not prompted widespread fraud, as Republicans have claimed. A 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that the rate of voter fraud for mail-in ballots was 0.00004% to 0.0009%.

And the Washington Post found possible double voting or voting on behalf of dead people in just 372 of 14.6 million ballots cast in Colorado, Oregon and Washington, which send ballots to all registered voters as New Jersey plans to do this fall.

Still, there were cases of voter fraud in Paterson?s municipal elections in May, where 800 ballots were thrown out and state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal brought charges against four individuals.

?In New Jersey?s primary election, dead people voted, a mail truck carrying ballots actually caught fire, countless voters saw their ballots rejected, and the Democrat attorney general is prosecuting multiple people for fraud, yet Democrats still want to implement a rushed transition to an all-mail election,? Republican National Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said.

Murphy acknowledged some problems with the July 7 primary, the first election conducted primarily by mail, but said that the system overall worked well and county clerks will have a lot more time to prepare for the general election.

Primary turnout was 26% of New Jersey?s registered voters, the same percentage as the presidential primary four years ago. Both recorded the highest percentage turnout since 2008, when 35% of New Jersey voters cast ballots.

?We think largely it was a very good result, particularly balancing the sacred right to vote at the center of democracy along with public health and respecting people?s health and the combination of vote-by-mail and in-person,? Murphy said Aug. 10 at his coronavirus press briefing.

He also contended that the fact that the Paterson voter fraud was easily found showed that systems are in place to prevent ballots from being cast illegally.

?I view that data point in Paterson as a positive one,? Murphy said during his coronavirus press briefing Monday. ?People tried to mess with the system and they got caught and they?ve been indicted, and that?s the way it should be.?

Trump and other Republicans have cited fear of fraud in fighting efforts across the country by states to send out ballots to all registered voters or count votes postmarked by Election Day but received later.

They?ve been able to be so active because this is the first presidential election in almost four decades where the Republican National Committee?s voter activities are not encumbered by court-ordered restrictions stemming from the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election.

Those activities had been limited by a court decree after the state GOP was accused of targeting heavily minority communities that tend to support Democratic candidates.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/08...sA7__vxgQogLsFk0os_8u7lFVXfgYOqGLkj4YOyuWjyww
 
Trump's sister criticizes her brother in secretly recorded audio

 
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