BREAKING NEWS: May 2020

Sunday, 31 May 2020

What Time Is the SpaceX Arrival at the Space Station? How to Watch

By BY KENNETH CHANG from NYT Science https://ift.tt/2ySdwRU

Hear 13 Birds Flourishing in a Newly Quiet New York

By BY ANTONIO DE LUCA, DAVE TAFT AND UMI SYAM from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2zMM9Jd

Coronavirus Live Updates: G7 Summit Is Postponed

By Unknown Author from NYT World https://ift.tt/3dvARrL

Watch: Chennai Metro's New Initiative Against COVID-19, First Metro Rail To Do So

The Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) has come up with an ingenious way towards contactless operations amid the spread of coronavirus. The agency has installed foot-operated lift to avoid hand contact with the elevator buttons thereby reducing the possibility of contracting the virus. With its new initiative, the CMRL has become the first metro rail in the country to do so.

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"Goodness For Goodness": Shramik Passengers Offered Food In Bihar. Watch

A special train for labourers stranded due to nationwide restrictions stopped briefly in a village in Bihar recently and the train passengers were overwhelmed when a large number of locals came to...

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Trump Postpones G7 Summit and Calls for Russia to Attend

By BY MAGGIE HABERMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3cisePJ

Thousands Protest George Floyd’s Death In N.Y.C.

By BY YOUSUR AL-HLOU AND EMILY RHYNE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Am8oWs

A Reporter’s Cry on Live TV: ‘I’m Getting Shot! I’m Getting Shot!’

By BY FRANCES ROBLES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2MdZzR9

Migrants Gone, Farm Owners And Local Workers Fight Over Wages In Punjab

The mass exodus of migrant labourers from Punjab has led to a major challenge for the farm owners - dependency on local labourers in the paddy sowing season and demands of higher wages. The situation has led to a standoff between the labour associations and farm owners in the state. While the farm owners claim that the local labourers are taking advantage of the situation, the labourers say their wages were already very less.

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Madhuri Dixit's Dhak Dhak Story

One of the most popular Bollywood songs of the 90s was Madhuri Dixit's Dhak Dhak Karne Laga from the film Beta. In this video, Madhuri Dixit Nene shared an interesting backstory of this iconic song that played a key role in shaping her career. The actress spoke to NDTV's Rohit Khilnani about shooting this popular song in just three nights.

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"Would've Been Greeted With Vicious Dogs, Weapons": Trump On Protesters

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said demonstrators protesting the death of a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck would have been "greeted with the most vicious...

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Track Virus Exposure In High-Risk Populations: Top Medical Body To States

The top health research body, ICMR, has advised states to conduct sero-survey to assess the proportion of population including asymptomatic individuals exposed to coronavirus infection.

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Don't Do It: Nike's Stand On Racism After Protests Over Black Man's Death

Nike has taken a stand against racism with a "Don't do it" campaign, a twist on its famous catch phrase, as protests against police brutality spread across the United States.

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Madhuri Dixit's Dhak Dhak Story

One of the most popular Bollywood songs of the 90s was Madhuri Dixit's Dhak Dhak Karne Laga from the film Beta. In this video, Madhuri Dixit Nene shared an interesting backstory of this iconic ...

from NDTV News - Topstories https://ift.tt/3dkDrQW

हॉकी इंडिया के दो कर्मी पॉजिटिव, भारतीय ओलंपिक संघ ने कहा- सभी खेल महासंघ कर्मचारियों का कोरोना टेस्ट करवाएं

हॉकी इंडिया ने अपने 29 कर्मचारियों की जांच करवाई थी जिसमें दो अधिकारी पॉजिटिव मिले हैं।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala https://ift.tt/2XgPdGq

8pm saturday

By Unknown Author from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2XfPJ7C

Trump Hopes for His Own Booster Shot from SpaceX Rocket Launch

By BY PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3gJZF1d

Trump Says He Will Delay G7 Summit And Invite Other Countries

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he will delay the G7 summit scheduled to take place in June and invite other countries to join the meeting.

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"Grave Tragedy": Trump On Black Man Who Died After Arrest

US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) said that the death of African-American man George Floyd was a "grave tragedy", even as protests continue to rage across the United States.

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Photos From the Protests in 29 Cities Over Racism and Police Violence

By BY WEIYI CAI, JULIETTE LOVE AND JUGAL K. PATEL from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3dkl3aW

Draw a Self-Portrait

By BY CARSON ELLIS from NYT At Home https://ift.tt/36LkuVb

George Floyd Protests: A Timeline

By BY DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XhWhmk

Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death

By BY RICHARD A. OPPEL JR. from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3eAuQdj

Saturday, 30 May 2020

friday 10 pm

By Unknown Author from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2Mbczar

"Tremendous Suffering": In Letter To Nation, PM Modi Refers To Migrants

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter to the nation one year into his second term, said the nation took historic decisions and progressed rapidly in the last year but conceded that migrant workers, labourers and others had "undergone tremendous suffering" during the coronavirus crisis. He also predicted that India would set an example in economic revival and surprise the world like it did in its fight against the pandemic.

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अमेरिकाः 124 वर्ष के इतिहास में पहली बार रद्द हुई बोस्टन मैराथन

कोरोना के कारण बोस्टन मैराथन को पिछले 124 वर्षों के इतिहास में पहली बार रद्द कर दिया गया है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala https://ift.tt/2zIY6zJ

Confrontational

By BY CAITLIN LOVINGER from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/36KGpM4

Special Episode: The Latest From Minneapolis

By Unknown Author from NYT Podcasts https://ift.tt/3dgZRTn

"Pragya Thakur In AIIMS": BJP After 'Missing' Posters Surface In Bhopal

Posters claiming that Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal, Pragya Thakur, is "missing" appeared in different parts of the city amid the coronavirus pandemic which has infected over 1,400 people in the state's...

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America Is a Tinderbox

By BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2AjyYzu

Flynn Discussed Sanctions at Length With Russian Diplomat, Transcripts Show

By BY JULIAN E. BARNES, ADAM GOLDMAN AND NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3eA2AY2

How the Supreme Court Lets Cops Get Away With Murder

By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3cgI3qf

‘The Pain Is Too Intense’: Biden Challenges White Americans

By BY JONATHAN MARTIN AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XLfQSS

New York City, Battered by Outbreak, Finally Moves Toward Reopening

By BY ALAN FEUER AND ANDY NEWMAN from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2zH8Q1q

New top story from Time: Memorial Day Partygoer at Missouri Resort Tests Positive for COVID-19

(OSAGE BEACH, Mo.) — Health officials said Friday that they were seeking to “inform mass numbers of unknown people” after a person who attended crowded pool parties over Memorial Day weekend at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks tested positive for COVID-19.

Camden County Health Department said in a release that the resident of Boone County in mid-Missouri tested positive on Sunday after arriving at the lake area a day earlier. Officials said there have been no reported cases of the virus linked to coronavirus in residents of Camden County, where the parties seen in videos and photos posted on social media took place.

Because “mass numbers of unknown people” need to be notified, the officials released a brief timeline of the person’s whereabouts last weekend, including stops at a bar called Backwater Jacks, a bar and restaurant that has a pool, as well as a dining and pool venue called Shady Gators and Lazy Gators.

Backwater Jacks owner Gary Prewitt said previously in a statement that no laws were broken, though the images appeared to show people violating Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s state order requiring social distancing.

Parson allowed businesses and attractions to reopen May 4, but the state order requires 6-foot (2-meter) social distancing through at least the end of May.

"Tremendous Suffering": In Letter To Nation, PM Modi Refers To Migrants

"Will Set An Example In Economic Revival": Top Quotes From PM's Letter

On the first anniversary of his second tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter to the nation in which he has highlighted his government's achievements, his economic vision for the...

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PM Modi's Letter To Nation On Completing A Year Of Second Term: Full Text

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a letter to the country one year into his second term and said the nation took historic decisions and progressed rapidly in the last year but conceded that migrant...

from NDTV News - Topstories https://ift.tt/2TSxLGj

George Floyd Was Pinned Down for Nearly 3 Minutes After He Became Unresponsive, Prosecutors Say

By BY SARAH MERVOSH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2zBC0iK

China and the Rhineland Moment

By BY BRET STEPHENS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3gE2vo7

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today

By BY LARA TAKENAGA AND JONATHAN WOLFE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3dkR0A0

A Continent Reopens

By BY PATRICK KINGSLEY AND LAETITIA VANCON from NYT World https://ift.tt/3diaoNV

Ex-Officer Charged in Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis

By BY NEIL MACFARQUHAR, TIM ARANGO AND MANNY FERNANDEZ from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Am86Pv

George Floyd Worked With Officer Charged in His Death

By BY MATT FURBER, AUDRA D. S. BURCH AND FRANCES ROBLES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XeUwGB

A Justice Dept. Skeptical of Police Abuse Cases Vows to Investigate Floyd Death

By BY KATIE BENNER AND EMILY BADGER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2yLsx7T

New top story from Time: NYPD Officers Who Made Violent Social Distancing Arrest Set to Face Disciplinary Charges

(NEW YORK) — A New York City police officer will face disciplinary charges for a violent arrest during a social distancing enforcement action that ended with him kneeling on a man’s back or neck, a technique similar to the one that led to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Several other officers involved will also face discipline, the department said Friday, after an internal affairs investigation into the caught-on-video confrontation May 2 in Manhattan’s East Village. Police did not specify what violations the officers are alleged to have committed.

Bystander video showed plainclothes officer Francisco Garcia pulling a stun gun on 33-year-old Donni Wright and leveling him in a crosswalk, slapping him in the face and punching him in the shoulder before dragging him to a sidewalk and kneeling on his backside to handcuff him.

Garcia was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty after the incident, which Mayor Bill de Blasio called “very troubling” and “absolutely unacceptable.” He could still face criminal charges.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said Friday that it is “conducting an independent review of this incident.”

A message seeking comment was left with Garcia’s union.

The police disciplinary process sometimes involves an administrative trial, where a department employee acting as a judge hears testimony before deciding what, if any, punishment is warranted, such as a loss of vacation days all the way up to firing. The final decision is left to the police commissioner.

Wright was treated at a hospital after his arrest and has filed a notice of claim with the city, the first step before a filing a lawsuit. Prosecutors deferred charges resulting from his arrest pending further investigation.

Wright’s lawyer, Sanford Rubinstein, called the disciplinary charges a “step in the right direction” and said Garcia should be fired.

The Rev. Kevin McCall, an adviser to Wright’s family, said: “We want to send a clear message that Donni Wright could have been dead today. Before we were calling George Floyd’s name, we could’ve been calling Donni Wright’s name. Thank God he wasn’t also killed by the actions of the police.”

The video of Wright’s arrest was one of several that spurred outrage over the city’s use of police to enforce social distancing, along with data showing people of color were subject to the vast majority of distancing-related arrests and summonses in the city.

One video showed a police officer running at a black man and throwing him to the ground for mouthing off. Another showed an officer punching a man in the head as he lay pinned to a sidewalk, unable to fight back.

The city later altered its approach, telling officers to stop citing people for not wearing face coverings.

Minutes before the confrontation with Wright, video from a security camera showed officers using force to arrest a couple for allegedly failing to comply when asked to disperse. Police said officers saw that one of them had a “bag of alleged marijuana in plain view.”

Bystander video of Wright’s arrest showed Garcia helping take one of those people to the ground before turning to Wright, who was walking toward the area of that arrest from about 10 to 15 feet away.

Garcia turned toward Wright and cursed at him to “[get] back right now,” according to the video. At the same time, the officer pulled up his Taser and pointed it at Wright, possibly triggering the device. Garcia continued toward Wright and eventually holstered his Taser.

It wasn’t clear what Wright was doing because he wasn’t in the frame the entire time, though just before Garcia tackled him, he stopped and stood in front of the officer with what appeared to be a clenched fist at his side.

“What you flexing for? Don’t flex,” Garcia said, before grabbing Wright and wrestling him to the ground. Another officer then stepped in and helped handcuff Wright.

A police spokeswoman said shortly after the arrest that Wright “took a fighting stance against the officer” when he was ordered to disperse.

Over the years, Garcia been named as a defendant in six lawsuits that the city settled for a total of $182,500, according to court records and a Legal Aid Society database.

In a case similar to the May 2 incident, Garcia and other officers allegedly threw a man to the ground and then punched and kicked him. In another, Garcia was accused of throwing a woman against a metal grate and onto a sidewalk and using a homophobic slur after she asked for his badge number.

Friday, 29 May 2020

दिल्ली में कोरोना ने तोड़ा रिकॉर्ड, 1 दिन में 1000 से ज्यादा मामले

दिल्ली में कोरोनावायरस के मामलों ने सारे रिकॉर्ड तोड़ दिए हैं. पिछले 24 घंटों में पहली बार एक हजार से ज्यादा केस सामने आए हैं. दिल्ली में बीते एक दिन में 1024 केस सामने आए हैं. फिलहाल थोड़ी राहत की बात यह हो सकती है कि इस दौरान एक भी मौत नहीं हुई है. पिछले 24 घंटों में 231 मरीज ठीक भी हुए हैं. राजधानी में कोरोना के कुल मामले 16,281 हो गए हैं. अब तक 316 मरीजों की मौत हुई है.

from Videos https://ift.tt/2XGA8Nn

गृह मंत्री अमित शाह ने मुख्यमंत्रियों के साथ की बैठक

केंद्रीय गृह मंत्री अमित शाह ने गुरुवार को सभी मुख्यमंत्रियों से बात की और राष्ट्रव्यापी लॉकडाउन को 31 मई के बाद बढ़ाए जाने पर उनके विचार जाने. अधिकारियों ने यह जानकारी दी. लॉकडाउन के चौथे चरण की समाप्ति से महज तीन दिन पहले गृह मंत्री ने मुख्यमंत्रियों से टेलीफोन पर बातचीत की. कैबिनेट सचिव राजीव गौबा ने दिल्ली, मुंबई, कोलकाता और चेन्नई समेत देश के सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित 13 नगरीय निकायों के आयुक्तों और जिलाधिकारियों के साथ बैठक की थी.

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"Are We Animals?": COVID Patients On "Inhuman Conditions" At UP Hospital

A video of patients protesting against lack of food and water at a COVID-19 government hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj has been widely shared on social media.

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PM Modi Not In "Good Mood" Over Border Row With China: Donald Trump

Reiterating his offer to mediate on the border dispute between India and China, US President Donald Trump has said that he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is not in a "good mood" over the "big conflict" between the two countries.

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New top story from Time: Shots Fired During George Floyd Protest Near Colorado Capitol

(DENVER) — Shots were fired and protesters blocked traffic during a demonstration in downtown Denver to protest the death of a handcuffed black man during a confrontation with a white police officer in Minnesota, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Gary Cutler, a spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol, said the shooting happened in a park across the street from the Capitol. Most of the protesters already had left the area and were marching downtown.

Cutler said the Capitol building was locked down, and everyone inside was safe.

State Rep. Leslie Herod, who was at the Capitol, tweeted, “We just got shot at.”

We just got shot at. Capitol.

— Leslie Herod (@leslieherod) May 28, 2020

Police said they don’t know if the protesters were being targeted.

“We do believe that the shots were towards the Capitol, but we do not at this point have any correlation to the protest or the protesters,” police spokesman Kurt Barnes told The Denver Post.

He said about six or seven shots were fired, and no one has been arrested.

Several hundred protesters had gathered to call for justice following the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday after an officer knelt on his neck for almost eight minutes. In footage recorded by a bystander, Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe.

Some among the Denver protesters carried signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and chanted, “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Racist police got to go.”

They marched through downtown Denver, snarling traffic. Aerial footage showed protesters briefly blocking traffic from moving on Interstate 25 in both directions before swarming back through the downtown streets outside the Capitol.

Four police officers have been fired. The mayor of Minneapolis has called for the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck to be criminally charged.

The death has led to violent protests in Minneapolis and demonstrations in other cities, including Los Angeles.

After Trump Fact-Check, Twitter Flags China Official's Tweet On COVID-19

Twitter has flagged a tweet written in March by a Chinese government spokesman that suggested the U.S. military brought the novel coronavirus to China, as the social media platform ramps up...

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Death Of Migrants On Trains "Isolated" Incidents: Bengal BJP Chief

The death of migrants returning home on Shramik Special trains are "small and isolated" incidents, and the railways cannot be blamed for it, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said on Thursday,...

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Inside Malayalam Actor Gokulan And Dhanya's Lockdown Wedding

Gokulan got married to his long-time girlfriend Dhanya on Thursday

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"Lunches At Devnar Cottage Will Never Be Same": A Kapoors' Throwback Pic

"Lunches at Devnar Cottage will never be the same," wrote Armaan Jain

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Corrections: May 29, 2020

By Unknown Author from NYT Corrections https://ift.tt/2MaqU6I

Quotation of the Day: His Project in Lockdown: A Giant Bird

By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/2M9llFH

Tough Nut to Crack

By BY DEB AMLEN from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/3cjhTDi

THURSDAY

By Unknown Author from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2Mbc9kh

G.O.P. Pressures North Carolina’s Governor on Convention

By BY MAGGIE HABERMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2zwwuOn

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today

By BY PATRICK J. LYONS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3cevNGs

Pompeo Releases Letter Clearing Him of Violating Law With Kansas Trips

By BY DAVID E. SANGER AND EDWARD WONG from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/36EmcHX

दशक की सबसे अमीर खिलाड़ियों में टेनिस गर्ल का दबदबा

टेनिस में ग्लैमर तो है ही साथ में ही अच्छा खेलने पर पैसा भी खूब है। शायद यही एकमात्र ऐसा खेल हैं जहां महिला खिलाड़ियों को पुरुषों के बराबर इनामी राशि मिलती है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala https://ift.tt/2yGRama

National Geographic Plan to Dismantle Granite Sculpture Hits Snag

By BY REBECCA J. RITZEL from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2TLEzoX

Kosovo Court Says New Government Can Be Formed Without an Election

By BY REUTERS from NYT World https://ift.tt/2Xc45pG

National Guard Called as Minneapolis Erupts in Solidarity for George Floyd

By BY MATT FURBER, JOHN ELIGON AND AUDRA D. S. BURCH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3esGzdN

Trump’s Order Targeting Social Media Sites, Explained

By BY CHARLIE SAVAGE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/36FNvBR

Millions Relying on Pandemic Aid Can See Its End, and They’re Scared

By BY BEN CASSELMAN from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2ZM0qk5

New top story from Time: Donald Trump is Waging War on Vote-By-Mail. The Facts Don’t Support It

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson doesn’t follow the President of the United States on Twitter.

She was sitting in her basement office eating breakfast May 20 when her staff called to inform her that Donald Trump had called Benson a “rogue Secretary of State,” accusing her of mailing ballots to Michigan voters (in fact, they were ballot applications) and suggesting (incorrectly) that vote by mail would lead to fraud. Oh, and he threatened to withhold funding from Michigan over the issue. (It’s unclear what funding he was referring to; the White House did not respond to a request for comment.)

What stood out about the episode to Benson, a Democrat, wasn’t just how Trump had addressed her, the factual inaccuracies, or the threat tucked into his tweet. It was that she was hardly the only Secretary of State to take a step like this. States like Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, and West Virginia—which Trump won in 2016, and which have Republican Secretaries of State—have taken similar actions in sending out applications for absentee ballots in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, at least for their primaries.

“This is nothing other than me doing my job. And it’s the same policy, vote by mail, that voters on both sides of the aisle embrace,” Benson says. “To me it was just disingenuous that while you have Republican colleagues of mine doing the same thing, that I get singled out, in part I’m sure because I’m a Democrat. I’m sure it’s relevant that Michigan’s playing an important, prominent role in this year’s election. It helps feed into a national narrative that there are shenanigans happening in states that are critical to the election. A false narrative.”

Before the pandemic, five states (Washington, Utah, Hawaii, Oregon and Colorado) conducted all-mail elections, and three (California, North Dakota, and Nebraska, the latter with some exceptions) gave counties the ability to determine their rules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty-nine states plus Washington, D.C. have no-excuse absentee voting, which means voters do not need to provide a reason to request an absentee ballot.

But with the prospect of the coronavirus disrupting elections looming, others have moved to make vote-by-mail more easily accessible, with some taking action for primaries and others for the general election. Three states (Michigan, New Hampshire and California) have made changes to enhance vote-by-mail availability in November. Michigan announced it will send out absentee ballot applications for the general election. New Hampshire, which typically is not a no-excuse absentee voting state, decided to allow absentee voting in November if the pandemic is still a factor, a decision announced by the state’s Republican governor. And California will distribute vote-by-mail ballots to all of its registered voters.

In recent weeks, Trump has seized on these changes, turning a process designed to safeguard voters’ health and ballot access into a political wedge, arguing falsely that it will lead to widespread voter fraud and creating fear among election experts that the President is undermining the legitimacy of the contest. The irony in this goes beyond the fact that Trump often votes by mail himself. There is little evidence, experts say, that either party benefits politically from allowing citizens to vote by mail, while places that use it see increased voter turnout overall. And it’s not just Democrats pushing the idea: Republican Secretaries of State and other executives in red states have also employed it.

“I’m bumfuzzled by the President’s objections to vote by mail. Republicans historically have done fine if not better in heavy-mail scenarios,” says Michael Steel, a Republican strategist. “They disproportionately tend to be used by older voters who disproportionately tend to vote Republican.”

“It’s kind of a mystery why he’s picked this particular fight to have at this particular time with a pandemic raging and a very tight election,” Steel adds. “If I were the President, I would be encouraging the Republican Party nationally and across the country to invest in the infrastructure to make sure that we can vote by mail successfully.”

You don’t need to reach back very far to find an example of vote-by-mail helping Republicans. The May special election in California’s 25th congressional district was mostly conducted by mail. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom had ballots and prepaid postage-return envelopes sent to every registered voter. An analysis by Political Data Inc., a voter data firm, showed that of the approximately 425,000 ballots sent to all voters, 34% were mailed back in. Though more ballots went out to Democrats, Republicans returned them at a higher rate. The seat, previously held by a Democrat, was won by the Republican candidate, Mike Garcia.

Which isn’t to say vote-by-mail favors Republicans, either. A study published earlier this spring by Stanford University examined counties in a handful of states that implemented vote-by-mail programs and concluded vote by mail “does not appear to increase either party’s vote share.” The researchers noted it’s difficult to extrapolate their findings to wider use during a pandemic. But generally, “vote by mail doesn’t overwhelmingly advantage one party over the other,” says Daniel Thompson, a PhD candidate at Stanford and the paper’s lead author.

In Michigan’s May 5 county and municipal elections, turnout was double past May contests, coming in at 25% of eligible voters, with 99% of those who cast a ballot doing so by mail. Vote-by-mail was equally popular in Republican and Democratic communties, Benson said. “The ability to vote by mail actually significantly increased turnout across the board.”

Despite this, many of Trump’s allies have followed suit in attacking the process. The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Campaign Committee, and the California GOP this week filed a lawsuit against Newsom and Secretary of State Alex Padilla over expanding vote-by-mail in California, arguing it would invite “fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting.” Lawsuits over voting rights are playing out in several states, including Texas, where Democrats also sought to expand vote by mail.

Sam Reed, an advocate for vote-by-mail who served from 2001 to 2013 as a Republican Secretary of State in Washington, says suggesting that vote by mail will lead to voter fraud “is totally incorrect.” He pointed to checks in place to avoid it, like election staff taking training from the state police on how to verify signatures. “We have really tight systems,” Reed says.

Yet Trump has a history of pushing false narratives about voter fraud. He has long propagated conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud despite the fact that studies have found it to be rare. A voter fraud commission the President put in place was disbanded by January 2018 with nothing to show for it.

The President’s tweets on voter fraud even led to Twitter attempting to fact check him for the first time on Tuesday. In response to a tweet claiming in part that “Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed,” the social media platform added a label directing users to “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”

Asked on Thursday by TIME whether the President’s comments on vote-by-mail were an effort to lay groundwork to cast doubt on November election results, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded: “No, he’s certainly not doing that.”

With reporting by Brian Bennett.

Thursday, 28 May 2020

Twitter-Trump Clash New Challenge For Social Media During Toxic Campaigns

President Donald Trump's threat to shut down social media companies after Twitter labeled two of his tweets misleading sets up a fresh challenge for platforms as they struggle to deal with political...

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