One Per Minute

The country has reached a grim level in the form of the accelerating rate of deaths from Covid-19.

* One person in the United States dies about every minute from COVID-19 as the national death toll has surpassed 150,000, the highest in the world. (Reuters)

* Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is warning Republicans that his state could go blue during November’s presidential election. Even though Texas hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president since 1976, Joe Biden currently has a 0.7 percentage point edge over Trump, according to the latest FiveThirtyEight polling average. “Texas is in play,” Cruz warned. “The whole country is divided right now and the hard left is angry.” [HuffPost]

* The federal moratorium on evictions expired last Friday, ending protections for nearly 12 million Americans. This Friday, 25 million people will stop receiving an extra $600 in weekly coronavirus relief in their unemployment benefits. And on Saturday, rent is due for millions of Americans who won’t be able to pay. If Congress doesn’t step in, these people could be evicted come September. All lawmakers need to do is take quick and decisive action by extending the moratorium and additional unemployment benefits as the pandemic crisis continues. But that’s yet to happen. [HuffPost]

* The Department of Homeland Security had ‘intelligence reports’ on journalists covering Portland unrest. The agency disseminated three reports on tweets written by two journalists who published leaked, unclassified documents. Current and former officials described it as an alarming use of a system meant to share information about suspected terrorists and violent actors. (Washington Post)

* President Donald Trump suggested the country should delay November's presidential election on Thursday, as polls indicate he currently trails his opponent by double digits.Trump has no authority to delay an election, and the Constitution gives Congress the power to set the date for voting. Senior Republicans, who often refuse to weigh in on President Trump’s controversial tweets, overwhelmingly rejected his idea that the November election be postponed over the risk of fraud. (CNN. Washington Post)

* The co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society said Thursday in a blisteringNew York Times op-ed that President Donald Trump's tweet musing about a delay to November's presidential election is grounds for impeachment. Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor who has offered broad defenses of the President in recent years, wrote, "I am frankly appalled by the president's recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election. Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats' assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president's immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate," he said. (CNN)

* Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton eulogized the late civil rights icon John Lewis Thursday. Trump was absent. Obama likened the recent federal push by Trump to use force against protesters to the attitudes fostered by men such as George Wallace, who opposed civil rights for African Americans. (CNN, Washington Post)

* The U.S. economy contracted at a 32.9% annual rate from April through June, its worst drop in history, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Business collapsed during the pandemic lockdown in the spring, as the country plunged into its first recession in 11 years, wiping out five years of economic gains in just a few months. (CNN)

Cycle after cycle, the news channels just keep churning out bad news like these summaries indicate. Because of that, many of us are feeling overwhelmed by it all. This is a strange, strange time.

But that also makes this a good time to reach out to each other. So...

"If there's anything that you want
If there's anything I can do
Just call on me and I'll send it along
With love, from me to you"

-- The Beatles

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