Enjoyed having health care for a while Just one week before the presidential election, the Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, cementing its conservative majority. As The Washington Post’s Seung Min Kim reports, Barrett is the first Supreme Court justice since Edwin Stanton in 1869 to be confirmed without bipartisan support, according to a review of Senate voting data by the National Journal.  How’s it going over? Reza Aslan puts it this way: “A historically unpopular president puts three people on the Supreme Court by stealing one seat and jamming another one in 8 days before an election he is going to lose and after 50 million people have already voted and you think we’re just gonna let it go?”
“Well, I enjoyed having health care for a while,” adds Mark Rahner, who links to the coverage by Trish Turner, Ben Gittleson and Devin Dwyer at ABC News, Following confirmation to Supreme Court, Barrett takes 1st oath at White House. Ian Millhiser of Vox describes Amy Coney Barrett’s legitimacy crisis, in just 2 numbers. He reminds us that Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 by 2,865,075 votes, and the 48 senators who voted against Barrett represent 13,524,906 more people than the senators who voted for her. “Barrett owes her new job to two of our Constitution’s anti-democratic pathologies,” he writes.  At Slate, Mark Joseph Stern notes that Amy Coney Barrett’s First Votes Could Throw the Election to Trump. In other words, “they’re gearing up for bush v. gore part ii,” tweets Jamelle Bouie. “And perhaps most disturbing of all,” says Scott Lemieux, “is Kavanaugh’s embrace of Rehnquist’s radical Bush v. Gore concurrence, suggesting that when ACB arrives the Court will be willing to stop state courts from protecting voting rights using state constitutions.”
About that, “This is amazing. In the article Kavanaugh cites below the author *explicitly* calls for pushing back the receive-by date for ballots—in a section header, no less. Pildes thinks three days post-election is too short!” Robert Baird links to the article by Rick Pildes, published in the University of Chicago Law Review, How to Accommodate a Massive Surge in Absentee Voting . As Marshall Cohen points out, “Kavanaugh ruled AGAINST the six-day extension for Wisconsin to accept ballots postmarked by Election Day. He cited an article from legal scholar (and CNN contributor) Rick Pildes. But in that article, Pildes says states SHOULD extend postmark deadlines.” Closing arguments  Wrapping up the messaging in this final week, Trump adviser Jared Kushner said Black people must ‘want to be successful.’ Also in that “Fox and Friends” interview, Kushner said many BLM supporters are “virtue signaling,” as Jennifer Jacobs and Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou report at Bloomberg News.
Put another way, “After removing silver spoon from mouth Jared offers Horatio Alger-advice to Black folks,” tweets Charles Stile. Or maybe it’s just that we’re missing the real objective here. Bobby Ghosh argues that “Jared Kushner is working very hard, and with very little appreciation, to bring out the Black vote for Joe Biden.” Bouie says it’s “worth noting that ‘they just don’t want to work’ has been in the racist’s bag of rhetorical tricks since the moment the ink was dry on the thirteenth amendment.” In fact, says Astead Herndon, “one of the most offensive things abt racist stereotypes is that they're unbearably stale.” Indeed, as Annie Karni’s New York Times piece contextualizes it, Kushner, Employing Racist Stereotype, Questions if Black Americans ‘Want to Be Successful.’ “Whoa the Times found a headline writer. Where have they been for past four years?” tweets Matt Mitovich. The lying is the story A new piece by Linda Qiu and Michael Shear of The New York Times reveals how Rallies Are the Core of Trump’s Campaign, and a Font of Lies and Misinformation. You’ll want to check out the accompanying graphic by Larry Buchanan and Blacki Migliozzi. “May have to steal this visualization approach…” shares Brian Duggan. “The lying is the story,” tweets Brian Stelter, who highlights, “Trump's ‘falsehoods are the foundation of his campaign rallies and the connective tissue of the often 90-minute narrative he spins at every stop.’” Blitzing for Biden Alexander Burns of The New York Times reports that, after spending millions for Joe Biden in Florida, Mike Bloomberg is now funding a last-minute advertising blitz for Biden in Texas and Ohio. “A familiar move for Bloomberg, who made big last minute plays in red CDs in 2018,” says Nate Cohn.  And take a trip back to 2015 for some vintage Kayleigh McEnany interviews that CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski dug up, in which Kayleigh McEnany praised Biden as a ‘man of the people’ who resonates with ‘middle class’ over ‘tycoon’ Trump. That’s the headline, but Maggie Haberman points out, “The headline on this doesn't do justice to the full clip, including saying the focus on Biden gaffes backfires on people attacking him for them.”
Wielding a knife, shot 10 times Moving on, “Fuck the police yet again,” says Mike Whitney. Police officers fatally shot Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man armed with a knife, during a confrontation Monday afternoon in West Philadelphia, an incident that quickly raised tensions in the neighborhood and sparked a standoff that lasted deep into the night. Ellie Rushing, Anna Orso, Robert Moran and Samantha Melamed of the Philadelphia Inquirer report that Wallace’s father said his son struggled with mental health issues and was on medication. “Why didn’t they use a Taser?” he asked. “His mother was trying to defuse the situation.” More good questions, from Noah Gittell: “A Black man wielding a knife was shot 10 times by two officers, and killed. How about learning to disable someone with a knife? How about using a Taser? How about shooting someone in the shoulder instead of the chest?” Adds Christina Kristofic, “I am not going to share the video from the shooting in West #Philadelphia, but I will say I have never understood why trained police officers would need to shoot someone with a knife.” You might have missed this Bad Thing David Folkenflik of NPR reports that a regulatory “firewall” intended to protect Voice of America and its affiliated newsrooms from political interference in their journalism was swept aside late Monday night by the chief executive of the federal agency which oversees the government’s international broadcasters. The upshot: U.S. Agency Targets Its Own Journalists’ Independence.  “Trump shifts the mission of Voice of America to spew propaganda instead of deliver news,” tweets Mark Jacob. “It’s the latest federal agency to be politicized in the Republicans’ ongoing fascist takeover of our government.” Or as Nina Jankowicz puts it, “Amid last night’s storm of Bad Things you might have missed this Bad Thing: Trump appointee Michael Pack has eliminated the US Agency for Global Media's editorial firewall, which protected networks like @VOANews, @RFERL, etc from political influence.”
“I am stunned,” former Voice of America director Amanda Bennett told NPR early Tuesday morning. “It removes the one thing that makes Voice of America distinct from broadcasters of repressive regimes.” More media news According to Maxwell Tani, Justin Baragona, Diana Falzone and Noah Shachtman of The Daily Beast, Fox News COVID Infection Sends Election Coverage Plans Into ‘Chaos.’ From that piece, Mike Elgan highlights the “Claim of the moment: ‘Everyone is in a panic about election night.’” On Twitter, Tani points out, “This isn’t the only recent COVID-related scare for the network. Several sources confirmed to The Daily Beast that a longtime staffer died last week from COVID complications.” That staffer was web video producer Rob Brown, who had been with the network since 1999. “RIP Rob, a genuinely nice guy,” tweets Stephanie McNeal. Sara Fischer of Axios brings us the scoop that The Lincoln Project is becoming a media business, and Christopher Novembrino says, “This was an eye-opening piece.” Simon Owens shares, “Currently working on a piece about why Crooked Media was brilliant for creating a hybrid organization that blended political activism with media. Looks like The Lincoln Project is going that same route.” Tony Semerad reports that The Salt Lake Tribune will move to a weekly print edition in 2021. The nonprofit Tribune’s board of directors announced the decision Monday, shortly after The Tribune and the Deseret News released their decision to end a generations-long print partnership. George Pyle says, “Most of us, I think, saw this coming. Maybe not so soon, but coming all the same. If we do this right, that means more news and more commentary on fewer dead trees.” From Natalie Jennings at The Washington Post, The Fix has compiled its 2020 list of outstanding politics reporters to follow in every state. “Support local news and follow these great political reporters in every state ahead of next week's election,” urges Christal Hayes. Global news In an exclusive for the South China Morning Post, Chris Lau reports that four Hong Kong activists entered the US consulate on Tuesday afternoon in a dramatic bid for asylum, just hours after the city’s police national security unit arrested the former leader of a pro-independence group as he was planning a similar move at the diplomatic mission. It is understood that the four were later rejected, but there was no official confirmation. In a new long read for The Guardian, Martin Chulov writes about how Syria’s disinformation wars destroyed the co-founder of the White Helmets. Bethan Mckernan shares, “This is the story of how one of the most impactful aid interventions ever - the White Helmets - was maligned by enemies and abandoned by supporters as Syria’s war ground on, and the personal toll it took on James, who was the very best of men. It’s been almost a year since the terrible day James died. I know how difficult this story was for his widow Emma to tell and for @martinchulov to write. I am very proud of both of them.” Moon’s humid  Some big news from space. NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places. Ben Guarino and Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post have more on that: Pair of studies confirm there is water on the moon. “NASA: Oh hey you guys are back early Astronaut: Moon’s humid,” tweets Adam Serwer.
The inimitable Joni Finally today, Laura Snapes links to “Some good news.” At The Guardian, Cameron Crowe talks with Joni Mitchell in a rare new interview as she releases a box set of her earliest recordings. In it, Mitchell talks about life before fame, the correct way to sing her songs and her long struggle to walk and talk again after an aneurysm. Yes, “At least we still have Joni, who, as @CameronCrowe shows us, is as sharp and contrary as ever,” tweets David Kamp. “The inimitable Joni,” as Barbara Kiser says. And Will Richards is “Just leaving this photo of Joni Mitchell and her new kitten here.” | 
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