
The claim: Vice President Mike Pence said he would not debate Kamala Harris The claim, posted by Facebook user Dixie DeKalb's account on Aug. 16, contradicts statements by Mike Pence about the upcoming vice-presidential debate in October. "Pence said he won't debate Kamala!" DeKalb wrote, but there is no reference to when or where Pence purportedly made this declaration.

It's possible that Trump just changed the Republican Party forever, turning the "Party of Lincoln" into the Party of the Paranoid Racist Internet Troll. Trump's embrace of far-right fringe candidates and the QAnon conspiracy theory are horrible, but predictable. Congressional Republicans refusing to rebuke them is a full-on surrender of any ideals they claim to stand for.

Tearful family members of people killed by Joseph DeAngelo assailed him Thursday for stealing away their loved ones as he escalated his attacks from burglaries and rapes to a series of horrific murders that terrorized California four decades ago. “Today the devil loses and justice wins,” Debbi Domingo McMullan, the daughter of one victim, said during the third day of a sentencing hearing for the 74-year-old man known as the Golden State Killer. Earlier in the week, a judge heard testimony from rape victims who endured sadistic, hours-long assaults by DeAngelo, a former police officer whose serial crimes began in Northern California.

A person who visited a bar during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last week has tested positive for coronavirus, according to the South Dakota Health Department. The individual was at One Eyed Jack's Saloon on Main Street in Sturgis from noon to 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, the health department said in an Aug. 18 news release. “I don't think anyone saw the photos out of Sturgis and said, 'That looks safe.'” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said during a press briefing, according to the Washington Post.

From the AirPods Pro to the latest from Bose. From Popular Mechanics

The claim: If Kamala Harris assumes the role of president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will become vice president A viral post claims that if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the election but cannot serve his full term, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris would assume the role of president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become vice president. "You people realize if Biden wins and can't finish his term that Harris becomes Pres and Pelosi VP," the post reads. "Let that sink in."

Since Ghislaine Maxwell's arrest on charges of helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse underage girls, rumors have swirled about her ties to famous figures including Democratic power couple Bill and Hillary Clinton. On Tuesday, the Daily Mail published photos of former President Clinton receiving a neck massage from Chauntae Davies, one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims, during a stopover on his infamous 2002 trip to Africa with the deceased sex-trafficker. According to Davies, Maxwell was present for the voyage and encouraged Davies to give Clinton the massage.
Three white Tennessee police officers have had their police powers suspended after they broke down the door of an innocent Black family Tuesday morning. Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake ordered a full investigation of the incident by the department's Office of Professional Accountability. He said the family should have been given more time to answer the door and officers did not exercise due diligence in confirming that the person they were looking for lived at the apartment.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany showed little sympathy Thursday for teachers expressing concerns over their safety heading into school reopenings as the coronavirus outbreak persists in many areas of the country. When asked about teachers going on strike by Fox News' Shannon Bream, McEnany compared them to "meat packers." "Look, we believe teachers are essential workers," McEnany said.
Fox News Sunday' anchor Chris Wallace reacts to former President Barack Obama's address to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Disapproval of President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has reached a new high, according to a recent CNN poll. Fifty-eight percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's COVID-19 response and 55 percent say they think the worst is yet to come in the pandemic. People who know someone who's contracted the virus had increased from 40 percent from a CNN poll in June to 67 percent.

Teams of federal and local authorities have made more than 1,000 arrests, including suspects in 90 homicides, as part of a national crackdown on violent crime in nine U.S. cities, Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday. Barr's announcement comes more than a month after the Trump administration launched the enforcement effort, known as Operation Legend. Last week, Kansas City, Missouri, authorities announced the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old boy for whom the effort was named, after about 200 federal agents had been dispatched to the city.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is slamming Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for his "misleading" announcement about the USPS after a private conversation. DeJoy on Tuesday announced he would be suspending operational changes at the United States Postal Service until after the presidential election to "avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail," as Democrats accuse the Trump administration of trying to slow down the USPS ahead of the election, in which mail-in ballots will widely be used. The House speaker also said DeJoy "frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes, and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed, and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works."

A Pakistani man charged with the killing of a U.S. citizen inside a court in the country's restive northwest has claimed he had an accomplice, a lawyer who managed to sneak the gun into the building and give it to him, the police said Thursday. The American, Tahir Naseem, was gunned down in public last month in the city of Peshawar where he was on trial for blasphemy following his arrest two years ago after he had allegedly declared himself Islam's prophet. The U.S. State Department said Naseem had been “lured to Pakistan” from his home in Illinois and entrapped by the country's controversial blasphemy law, which international rights groups have sought to have repealed.

The claim: Trump said he would go to prison if Biden were elected president A claim that President Donald Trump stated he would go to prison if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the election appears to be a satirical take on current events. Facebook user Warren Lynch posted to the claim to his account on Aug. 12. If you elect Joe Biden, I will go to prison.

China's military said on Wednesday the latest U.S. navy sailing near Chinese-claimed Taiwan was "extremely dangerous" and stirring up such trouble was in neither country's interests. The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin sailed through the narrow and sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the U.S. navy said, in what have become relatively routine trips in recent months, though they always anger China. The Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army said its air and naval forces followed and monitored the U.S. ship throughout its voyage.

The public quickly reached its verdict: Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. Video seen around the world shows him on the pavement, his neck pinned beneath the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, pleading for his life — "I can't breathe" — until his body goes limp. Chauvin was charged with murder and three other officers — Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng, who both helped hold down Floyd, and Tou Thao, who kept onlookers at bay — were charged as accomplices.

An aggressive push by Iowa's pro-Trump governor to reopen schools amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak has descended into chaos, with some districts and teachers rebelling and experts calling the scientific benchmarks used by the state arbitrary and unsafe. The clash in the Midwest has illustrated in condensed form the tension between science and politics — and between economic concerns and health fears — that has characterized the nation's response to the outbreak from the White House on down. The virus has devastated the U.S. economy and killed over 170,000 Americans.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi he has "no intention" of replacing the mail-counting machines and mailboxes that have been removed in precincts across the country, the congressional leader tweeted. "Earlier today, I spoke with Postmaster General DeJoy regarding his alleged pause in operational changes," Pelosi tweeted Wednesday afternoon. "During our conversation, he admitted he has no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other infrastructure that have been removed," she added.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will push the United Nations to reimpose sweeping international sanctions against Iran – setting up a contentious fight with U.S. allies that could leave his administration more isolated than ever. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to New York Thursday to formally trigger the process of trying to restore the sanctions, which were suspended under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. For starters, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Iran deal two years ago – a move Trump has repeatedly touted.

Sweden, which has stood out among European countries for its low-key approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, recorded its highest tally of deaths in the first half of 2020 for 150 years, the Statistics Office said on Wednesday. COVID-19 claimed about 4,500 lives in the period to the end of June - a number which has now risen to 5,800 - a much higher percentage of the population than in other Nordic nations, though lower than in some others including Britain and Spain. In total, 51,405 Swedes died in the January to June period, a higher number than any year since 1869 when 55,431 died, partly as a result of a famine.

Prison psychologists are secretly watching Ghislaine Maxwell for hours every day, her lawyers have claimed in court documents. Attorneys for Ms Maxwell, who is accused of grooming and abusing underage girls, say she is under constant surveillance. “The defense recently learned that some of these guards were, in fact [Bureau of Prisons] psychologists who were observing Ms Maxwell and evaluating her for hours each day without her knowledge,” the former British socialite's lawyers wrote in a letter to District Court Judge Alison Nathan on Monday.

The Navy wants a new fighter jet to replace Super Hornets starting in the 2030s. The Navy, faced with declining budgets through the 2020s and a short development cycle, may turn to a familiar face to get a “new jet” quickly. The U.S. Navy is laying the groundwork to field a new fighter jet sometime in the next decade.

Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed near the Israeli security fence late Thursday, and Israel carried out airstrikes on targets linked to the territory's Hamas rulers, the Israeli military said. The military said it struck a “concrete manufacturing site used for underground infrastructure and tunnel construction, belonging to the Hamas terror organization.” Tensions have risen in recent days as groups affiliated with Gaza's militant Hamas rulers have launched incendiary balloons across the frontier, igniting farmland inside Israel.

In all, according to Cal Fire, more than 50,000 California residents have evacuated because of fires that are burning about 780 square miles across the state. Statewide, as of Thursday afternoon, officials said the fires have destroyed 175 structures, including homes, and are threatening 50,000 more. One of the worst fires, the ferocious LNU Lightning Complex Fire in Napa and Sonoma counties, more than doubled in size Wednesday night into Thursday morning to over 190 square miles, Cal Fire said.

“Harris brings an unusual blend of social justice progressiveness and law-and-order conservatism.”
“It's hard to imagine Trump-skeptical independents now aching to pull the trigger for Biden with Kamala on the ticket.”
“If Biden wishes, he can delegate the daily barrage of rebukes against his opponent to her. Biden now can rise above the fray.”
“Voters viewed her as among the most qualified to be president on Day 1 — a key positive.”
“Here’s a reality check: Running mates have very little direct effect on voters.”