Monthly Archives: August 2020

The Spread of ‘Stranger Than We Can Think’ – SFGate

Posted: August 17, 2020 at 6:17 am

By Deepak Chopra,TM MD and Menas C. Kafatos, PhD

As we go about everyday life, we are embedded in a mystery no one has ever solved. The mystery was voiced by one of the most brilliant quantum pioneers, Werner Heisenberg: Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think. (There are variants of the quote that use reality for universe, and the remark has also been attributed to other famous scientists, but the gist is always the same.)

If we take this remark seriously, it turns out to be truer today than it was in 1900 when the quantum revolution began and the revolutionary new theory of quantum mechanics was put together. How can reality be stranger than we could possibly think? Look at the framework of your life. You pick up your morning coffee, and instantly you are acting in space and time. Your perception of the cup in your hand depends upon the five senses as communicated through the brain. You can think about anything you fancy as you sip your coffee.

These might not seem so mysterious, but there is one mystery after another nested inside everyday experience. Science can reach no consensus on the following:

Where did time come from? Why do properties of physical objects have their origin in invisible waves of probability of observation? Where does a thought come from? How did matter transform into mind? Is consciousness solely a human trait or is it everywhere in the universe?

The pioneers of quantum physics werent the first to ask such questions, but quantum physics got to the nub of how the physical universe is constructed. Everything in existence emerges from ripples in the quantum field, and underlying these ripples is an invisible or virtual domain that goes beyond spacetime, matter, and energy. In the virtual domain, the universe and everything in it is a field of infinite possibilities, and yet the virtual domain cannot be observed directly. As a result, contemporary physics can take us to the horizon of reality, the womb of creation, but it cannot cross the boundary between us and our source of existence.

Almost all the recent models that have gained popularity, including superstrings, the multiverse, and dark matter and energy, exist in so-called mathematical space, or Hilbert space, in recognition that they are not going to yield direct empirical evidence that can be perceived with our senses. Astrophysics had already gotten used to the fact that just 4% of the created universe is accounted for by the matter and energy visible to the eye or to telescopes. With dark matter and energy added in, most of what we see is not really what the universe consists of.

Leaving the technicalities aside, it has become far more difficult to foresee that the human mind can fully comprehend the nature of reality when so many crucial aspects are beyond the setup that our brains can grasp. The thinking mind needs the brain in order to operate, and the brain is a creation in spacetime consisting of matter and energy, that are in spacetime. We wear mind-made manacles. When this fact dawned on the late Stephen Hawking, he ruefully conceded that scientific models might no longer describe reality in any reliable or complete way.

When we discussed these issues in our book, You Are the Universe, the title reflected another approach entirely. Instead of founding the universe on physical things, however small, or even ripples in the quantum field, which are knowable only through advanced mathematics, reality can be grounded in experience. Everything we call real is an experience in consciousness, including the experience of doing science. Mathematics is a very refined, complex language, but there is no language, simple or complex, without consciousness.

The vast majority of scientists will continue to engage in experimentation and theoretical modeling without this venture into metaphysics, which is a no-no word in science (a famous put down when things get to speculative is Shut up and calculate). But it was quantum physics that brought the mystery of reality into the laboratory in modern terms, even though Plato and Aristotle also wondered about what is real.

A younger generation has proved more open-minded, and a growing cadre of cosmologists now hold to the notion of panpsychism, which holds that mind is built into reality from the start. This is a huge turn-around from the view that mind evolved out of matter here on Earth as a unique creation. The fact is that nobody in the physicalist camp could explain how atoms and molecules learned to thinkcreating mind out of matter was dead on arrival, even though the vast majority of scientists still hold on to this view as an assumption or superstition.

Ironically, to say that reality is stranger than we can think isnt confined to the queer behavior of atoms and subatomic particles. You cannot think about consciousness, either, any more than the eye can see itself or the brain know that it exists (without cutting through the skull to seethe brain from the outside). A fish cannot know that water is wet unless it jumps out of the sea and splashes back down again. We cannot think about consciousness without a place to stand outside consciousness, and such a place doesnt exist in the entire cosmos.

The source of space isnt inside space; the source of time isnt in time. Likewise, the source of mind isnt inside the mind. The ceaseless stream of sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts that run through your mind are the products of consciousness. Consciousness itself has no location. It is infinite, without dimensions in space and time, unborn and undying. Can you really think about such a thing as consciousness? And yet you know without a doubt that you are conscious. This is what allows us to make peace with reality being too strange to think about.

We can simply drop the strange part. Reality can be founded on knowing that you exist and that you are aware. Existence is consciousness. If science is dedicated to the simplest, most complete explanation of things, existence = consciousness is the simplest and most complete explanation. There is no need for religious or spiritual beliefs in order to accept this foundation for reality, since it is based on what science has arrived at. By removing our outdated allegiance to things existing independently of consciousness, the basis of reality can be seen clearly. In our everyday life we navigate with existence and consciousness at our side, indivisible, secure, inviolate, and unchallengeable. A whole new future may spring from accepting this simple but awe-inspiring fact.

DEEPAK CHOPRATM MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.

Menas C. Kafatos is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics at Chapman University. Author, physicist and philosopher, he works in quantum mechanics, cosmology, the environment and climate change and extensively on philosophical issues of consciousness, connecting science to metaphysical traditions. Member or candidate of foreign national academies, he holds seminars and workshops for individuals, groups and corporations on the universal principles for well-being and human potential. His doctoral thesis advisor was the renowned M.I.T. professor Philip Morrison who studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer. He has authored 334 articles, is author or editor of 20 books, including The Conscious Universe, Looking In, Seeing Out, Living the Living Presence (in Greek and in Korean), Science, Reality and Everyday Life (in Greek), and is co-author with Deepak Chopra of the NY Times Bestseller You are the Universe (Harmony Books), translated into many languages and at many countries. You can learn more at http://www.menaskafatos.com

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The Spread of 'Stranger Than We Can Think' - SFGate

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Nuh Gedik and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero are 2020 Moore Experimental Investigators in Quantum Materials – MIT News

Posted: at 6:17 am

Physics professorsNuh GedikandPablo Jarillo-Herrerohave been named Experimental Investigators in Quantum Materials by theGordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The two are among 20 winners nationwide of the foundation's Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) Initiative. Each will receive a five-year, $1.6 million unrestricted grant to support their research in quantum materials.

Gediks research centers on using advanced optical techniques for probing and controlling properties of quantum materials. He will use his grant to search for novel, light-induced phases in these systems.

These materials display fascinating but poorly understood properties, such as high-temperature superconductivity or topological protection, says Gedik. We use ultrafast laser pulses to make femtosecond movies of electrons and atoms inside these systems to understand the mechanism behind their exotic behavior. Our ultimate goal isto use light as a controllable tuning parameter (just as magnetic field orpressure) to switch between equilibrium phases and to engineer newlight-induced stateswith no equilibrium counterparts.

Jarillo-Herrero, theCecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics,leads a laboratory that uses quantum electronic transport and optoelectronic techniques to investigate novel 2D materials and heterostructures, with a focus on emergent correlated and topological phenomena/phases resulting from the interplay between unusual electronic structures and electron interaction effects.

This Moore Foundation award will allow my group to focus on a novel experimental platform called twistronics, where a new degree of freedom, namely the twist angle between two stacked 2D crystalline lattices, enables the exploration of a plethora of intriguing quantum mechanical effects, such as superconductivity. This emergent platform may provide important clues about the origin of many of the most fascinating phases of matter present in the universe, as well as the potential engineering of these phases to create new quantum technologies.

The EPiQS Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation aims to stimulate experimental research in the physics of quantum materials by providing some of the fields most creative scientists with freedom to take risks and flexibility for agile change of research direction. The collective impact of these investigators will produce a more comprehensive understanding of the fundamental organizing principles of complex quantum matter in solids.

The Experimental Investigator awards are the largest grant portfolio within the EPiQS initiative, says Amalia Fernandez-Paella, program officer of the EPiQS Initiative. We expect that such substantial, stable, and flexible support will propel quantum materials research forward and unleash the creativity of the investigators.

The cohorts research will cover a broad spectrum of research questions, types of materials systems, and complementary experimental approaches. The investigators will advance experimental probes of quantum states in materials; elucidate emergent phenomena observed in systems with strong electron interactions; investigate light-induced states of matter; explore the vast space of two-dimensional layered structures; and illuminate the role of quantum entanglement in exotic systems such as quantum spin liquids. In addition, the investigators will participate in EPiQS community-building activities, which include investigator symposia, topical workshops, and theQuantEmX scientist exchange program.

Since 2013, EPiQS has supported an integrated research program that includes materials synthesis, experiment, and theory, and that crosses the boundaries between physics, chemistry, and materials science. Thesecond phaseof the initiative was kicked off earlier this year with the launch of two major grant portfolios:Materials Synthesis Investigators and Theory Centers. The 20 newly inaugurated experimental investigators will join these grantees to form a vibrant, collaborative community that strives to push the entire field toward a new frontier.

The first cohort of EPiQS Experimental Investigators made advances that changed the landscape of quantum materials, and I expect no less from this second cohort. Emergent phenomena appear when a large number of constituents interact strongly, whether these constituents are electrons in materials, or the brilliant scientists trying to crack the mysteries of materials. says Duan Pejakovi, director of the EPiQS Initiative. Gedik and Jarillo-Herrero were also part of the first cohort of EPIQS awardees.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters pathbreaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements, and preservation of the special character of the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Students in the news | Announcements – Indiana Gazette

Posted: at 6:17 am

An Indiana native has been named a Fulbright Scholar.

The U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board have announced that Dr. Thomas E. Baker, who studies at University de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to the United Kingdom.

Baker will research and provide mentorship at the University of York as part of a project to study the exact properties of density functional theory. Density functional theory was discovered in 1964 and has provided a way to simulate the quantum physics of large systems, especially to simulate materials. While density functional theory is proven to be exact, the theory requires approximations to use and approximations can give inaccurate results. Baker seeks to improve the theory by discovering more with modern methods from the broader field of condensed matter physics.

The son of John and Kathy Baker, of Indiana, he is a 2005 graduate of Indiana Area Senior High School.

The Fulbright program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to forge lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, counter misunderstandings, and help people and nations work together toward common goals. The program was established in 1946.

The following Indiana County-area graduates were recognized as members of the class of 2020 of Edinboro University:

Julie E. Shirley, of Blairsville, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice, with honors

Teresa A. Shields, of Clarksburg, who earned a Bachelor of Science in education middle level education, with honors

Makayla Dawn Murray, of Dayton, who earned a Master of Arts in communication studies

Nearly 1,200 students were named to the spring 2020 deans list at Edinboro University. The following Indiana County-area students are among them:

Ashleigh P. Bowman, of Indiana

Julie E. Shirley, of Blairsville

Rachael Duncan, of Blairsville

Teresa A Shields, of Clarksburg

Aubrie R. Putt, of Home

Matthew Anthony Wehrle, of Rossiter

Gabrielle M. LaBovick, of Saltsburg

In order to attain this academic honor, students must maintain a quality-point average of 3.4 or higher, complete a minimum of 12 semester hours of credit and receive no grade lower than a C in any course.

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Indian American Engineer Develops Parachute That Helped Curiosity Land on Mars – India West

Posted: at 6:17 am

An Indian American aerospace engineer at the University of Southern California was an integral part of helping NASA land Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity on the red planet.

Anita Sengupta, a NASA engineer and adjunct professor at USC, helped develop the parachute that assisted the $2.5 billion Curiosity hardware in making a successful touchdown on Mars, according to a USC report.

Sengupta, who graduated from USC with a masters degree in 2000 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 2005, developed the supersonic parachute that slowed the spacecrafts blistering descent onto Mars, the report said.

The parachute deployed 7 miles above the surface of the planet while Curiosity was careening toward the ground at 900 miles per hour at Mach 2.

At 70 feet in diameter, it was the largest parachute opening at the highest speed ever on Mars, it said.

Sengupta teaches spacecraft design in the Department of Astronautical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Shes also an expert in Entry, Descent and Landing at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, according to the university report.

Her career at JPL began with the design of ion engines, a type of spacecraft propulsion system that generates thrust by accelerating a plasma, but she switched to EDL to broaden her knowledge and join the team that would land Curiosity on Mars, the report adds.

As an aerospace engineer, the more areas of expertise you have, the better able you are to work on a variety of mission types, Sengupta told the university.

Tests done in the 1960s and 70s in support of the Viking Lander mission have showed that, at speeds greater than 1.5 times the speed of sound on Mars, parachutes tend to inflate and collapse over and over, reducing their ability to effectively slow down falling payloads and in some cases resulting in the failure of the parachute, it said.

It kind of looks like crazy jellyfish. But with Mars EDL you only get one parachute so it has to work and survive, Sengupta added.

No one bothered to figure out why, until now when, due to the size of Curiosity, a 2,000-pound behemoth rover encapsulated inside a 15.5-ft. diameter entry capsule, it became necessary to design a massive parachute to survive at in excess of two times the speed of sound on Mars, the USC report continued.

Sengupta and her colleagues discovered that the turbulent wake from the falling entry capsule would modify the bow shock and pressure distribution in front of the parachute, causing the collapsing or deflating cycle that had been observed.

Armed with this knowledge, the team was able to design a parachute that was similar to ones used in the past but strong enough to survive flight through the Martian atmosphere, the report said.

Through careful ground testing in a vacuum chamber to simulate the Martian environment, Sengupta also analyzed how the engine plumes from the sky crane that lowered Curiosity to the ground would affect the terrain around the rover.

Though the landing parachute, sky crane and all was a huge success, Senguptas work is far from over. Up next shes designing a quantum physics experiment that could launch to the International Space Station as early as 2015, and then a spacecraft to explore the habitability of Europa, one of Jupiters moons that is covered in ice, possibly with an ocean beneath the surface, the university said.

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Donald Trump keeps blasting ‘universal’ mail voting. But few states are planning that in November – USA TODAY

Posted: August 15, 2020 at 1:42 pm

President Donald Trump has offered conflicting statements about supplementary funding for the U.S. Postal Service. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON As he unleashesa barrage of attacks on voting by mail, President Donald Trump hasincreasinglywarned that"universal" mail-voting poses the biggest dangerfor voter fraud and threatto democracy.

But only nine states and the District of Columbia so far plan to hold universalmail-in elections in which ballots areautomaticallymailed to all registered voters without needing to first request one.And with early mail-voting set to begin as early as September in some states, election experts say it's unlikely many more states would have time to make that switch.

A coronavirus pandemic relief package passed by House Democrats would require states to mail absentee ballots to registered voters butit has gained no traction in the Senate and talks on the aid bill are stalled.

Instead, most states are preparing to make mail ballotsan option available by request. That includes several states encouraging the method during the pandemic by mailingvoters applications for absentee ballots.

Five of the universal mail-votingstates already planned to conduct mostly all-mail elections before the coronavirus pandemic, and only one of the ninestates, Nevada, is considered a battleground in the race for president between Trump and presumptive Democratic nomineeJoe Biden.

'He's scaring our own voters': Republicans run into a Donald Trump problem as they push mail voting

In-person polling places, although reduced in many states,remain available even in states that vote fully by mail.New Jersey on Friday became the latest state to decide to send ballots out to allvoters.

"It's a tiny number of states that do this," saidLawrence Norden, director of theElection Reform Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at theNew York School of Law. "Andthey're not the states that are probably going to determine the outcome of the presidential election.

"In the vast majority of states, voters are given the optionto vote by mail, and we should expect that if the primaries were any indication, that many, many people are going to choose that option."

FILE - President Donald Trump points to a question as he speaks during a briefing with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. TikTok and its U.S. employees are planning to take the Trump administration to court over a sweeping order that could ban the popular video app, according to a lawyer preparing one of the lawsuits.(Photo: Alex Brandon, AP)

Trump and Republicans have drawn a distinction between absentee votingoffered to seniors, the military,people with disabilities and others who are unable to vote in person on Election Day. The president says he is OK with this in fact, Trump and First Lady MelaniaTrump requested absentee ballotsin Florida on Wednesday.But he opposes ballotsautomatically sent to registered voters.

Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, Washington were the only universal vote-by-mail states before the pandemic. California, Nevada,Vermontand New Jersey have since signed on for the November election. In addition, Montana, North Dakota and Nebraska allowindividual counties to decide whether to mail ballots to all registered voters.

A New York Times analysis found that 76% of voters will have the choice to vote-by-mail this November, but only 18% are set to automatically receive a ballot in the mail.

Trump routinely slamstheseveral weeks it took New York to count mail ballots following its June 23 state primary, as well as voter fraud allegations out of Paterson, New Jersey, to push his argument that the country is not ready for widespread mail-voting and that it's ripe for fraud.

More: President Trump requests mail-in ballot for upcoming Florida primary, despite rhetoric

(Photo: Getty Images)

New York mailed ballot applicationsnot ballotsto all its registered voters, but John Conklin, spokesman for the New York Board of Election said it's unlikely the state will send applications to all voters in the November election, citing cost considerations. All New York voters will still be able to cite the fear of contracting the coronavirus to request a mail ballot.

No winner on election night?Mail-in ballots could put presidential outcome in doubt for weeks

New Jersey mailed ballots to all voters for its primaryand will do so again in November. The state already allowed any voter to request absentee ballots without an excuse.

"His attacks, by and large, have been on elections that have been conducted as no-excuse absentee (elections), and he seems to say absentee voting is OK," Norden said. "Certainly his remarks on the subject are not logistically consistent and they're confusing if you're taking him by his word."

More: In dramatic shift, half of Americans fear difficulties voting in November election, poll says

President Donald Trump says his administration plans to sue Nevada after the state's lawmakers passed a bill to mail active voters ballots ahead of the November election amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Aug. 3) AP Domestic

The pandemic, combined with state efforts' to promote mail-voting,produced record-setting absentee voting totalsduring recent primariesand isexpected to do so in November. Some states absorbed the deluge of ballots with few hiccups. Others saw long lines in the limited number of polling sites that remained opened, while states like Pennsylvania and New York took weeks to count all absentee ballots.

Most did not send ballots to all voters.

More: 'A substantial challenge': What Kentucky, New York tell us about voting in a pandemic come November

Nevertheless,Trump, in a tweet this month floating the idea of delaying the election, said "universal mail-in voting" will make the 2020 election the most "INACCURATE AND FRAUDULENT Election in history."

"Absentee ballots, by the way, are fine," Trump said Thursday."But the universal mail-ins that are just sent all over the place, where people can grab them and grab stacks of them, and sign them and do whatever you want, thats the thing were against."

These statements arefalse, according to election experts.No states send ballots to people who are not registered voters, and states use signature verification tools to ensure the authenticity of ballots.

"The president, I think, doesn't understand the process," said Amber McReynolds,CEO of the National Vote At Home Institute.

In 34 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, voterseven before the pandemic, could vote absenteewithout needing an excuse. Several states sentmail-ballot applications to all voters in their primaries and are doing the same in November.

In most of the 16states, including New York,where voters must provide an excuse to receive an absenteeballot being over 65 years old, out of town during Election Dayor in the military, for example they can now cite coronavirus as a reason to receive a mail mail ballots. Some states like Kentucky, which opened absentee voting to all voters for its primary election, have said they aren't in November. In Tennessee, the state Supreme Court ruled that concernsabout COVID-19 could not be used as a reason for residents to vote by mail.

More: Fear of COVID-19 will not be reason to vote absentee in November, Tennessee Supreme Court rules

Despite Trump's warnings,thenonpartisan Brennan Centerfor Justiceat theNew York School of Law said it's more likely for an American to "get struck by lightning than to commit mail voting fraud." Outof billions of votes cast across all U.S. elections from 2000 to 2012,one analysis foundonly 491 cases of absentee voter fraud.

Many states are planning on drastically different elections this year and mail-in ballots could be a big game changer. USA TODAY

Trump continued his attacks on"universal" mail votinglast week during a press briefing at Bedminster Golf Club when he announced plans to sign fourexecutive orders to help families struggling during the pandemic.

In opposing the coronavirus relief bill that passed the House, dubbed the HEROES Act, Trump accused Democrats of wanting to force states to have universal mail-in balloting regardless of whether they have the infrastructure

"They want to steal an election," Trump said. "Thats all this is all about: They want to steal the election."

More: What you need to know about the Nevada mail-in voting bill Trump wants to block

Democrats reject that assertion. They alsoargue"universal" mail-voting means something else voting conductedentirelyby mail.

Drew Hammill, deputy chief of staff for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the election measures in the bill wouldn't result in "universal" mail voting because in-person voting sites would remain open. The bill would give states $3.6 billion for election preparedness, which could be used for making safety accommodations for in-person votingin addition to mail-voting equipment. It would also requireaccessible polling places and at least 15 days of early voting, among other provisions.

Some mail-voting advocates share that view.

"I don't really use the term 'universal vote-by-mail' or 'all vote-by-mail," said McReynolds, who previously oversaw predominantly mail elections inDenver. "You're not confined or constrained to only vote by mail. To me, if you say 'universal vote-by-mail', that's it."

McReynolds said ballots sent to voters automatically or after a requestare "fundamentally the same thing" subject to the same verification processes from one state to another.

"He's kind of using a false term as a premise. He's (warning) against something that doesn't exist in a lot of ways."

Voters in five US states go to the polls Tuesday as election security experts say there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud through mail-in voting. (August 4) AP Domestic

Appearing on the Fox Business Network this week, Trump linked his opposition to $25 billion for the U.S. Postal Service, also proposed in theHEROES Act, to the expected surge in mailballots expected in November.

"(Democrats) need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,"Trump said. "If they dont get those two items, that means you cant have universal mail-in voting because theyre not equipped to have it."

More: Experts held 'war games' on the Trump vs. Biden election. Their finding? Brace for a mess

Trump has taken particular aim at Nevada, this month tweeting that the Nevada legislature's decision to send mail ballots to all voters "latenight coup" orchestrated by the state's Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolok. The Trump campaign sued Nevada seeking to stop its plan.

"Their infrastructure is a total disaster," Trump said."They dont want to have signature verification, they dont want to have any of the safeguards that you need.

But Nevada's' plan does have signature verification. And althoughNevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, did not support the plan, her office said the state has many voting protections includingsafeguards that ensure no voter is allowed to cast more than one ballot in any given election.

Cegavskesaid she was not aware of any fraudin the state's June primary, when the state also sent ballots to all Nevada registered voters.

More: Trump campaign sues Nevada over mail-in ballot law before November election

The president'smessaging took another turn last week when Trump singled out the battleground state of Florida. In a tweet, he said hisFlorida supporters should request an absentee ballot and vote by mail because the election system in the Republican-run battleground state is "Safe and Secure, Tried and True." One week later, Trump made his personal request for a Florida absentee ballot.

Florida is among the 34states that offer absentee ballots toall eligiblevoters without needing an excuse.

Some Republicans worry that Trump's harsh rhetoric about mail-voting could hurt his own chances in swing states and give an edge to Democrats, who have embraced vote-by-mail expansion during the pandemic. Florida Democrats haverequested nearly 600,000 more absentee ballots thanRepublicans, 1.9 million vs. 1.3 million.

"It is evolving,"University of Florida Political ScientistMichael McDonald, an expert on mail voting, said of Trump's message on mail-voting. "Republicans are listening to Trump and it's causing these huge disparities in ballot requests where Democrats are well outpacing Republicans in mail-ballot requests."

He speculated the Trump campaign, concerned by these numbers, probably asked Trump to change his tone. "Maybe that's how they've eased Trump into changing his stance on his rhetoric on thisfocusing it on these all mail-ballot states."

Contributing: Associated Press.Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

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Trump Questions Whether Oakland Is Located in United States – The New Yorker

Posted: at 1:42 pm

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)Donald Trump stirred controversy on Saturday by questioning whether the city of Oakland was located in the United States of America.

Some very smart people are wondering about that, Trump told reporters at the White House. Its something that needs to be looked into.

Trump explained that Oakland was probably a completely different country, because a lot of countries end in the word land.

Youve got countries like Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland, he said. So you probably would have to add a country like Oakland to that list.

Trumps suffix-based theory of countries drew a question from one of the reporters present, CNNs Jim Acosta.

Portland also ends in land, Acosta said. Does that mean that, when you sent federal troops to Portland, you were invading a foreign country?

No, that means youre a terrible person, Trump replied.

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Trump’s election meddling is threatening US democracy – CNN

Posted: at 1:42 pm

Trailing badly in the polls, overtaken by the worst health crisis in 100 years and deprived of the cruising economy he had hoped to ride to a second term, President Donald Trump is actively trying to discredit an election that could see him turned out of office -- or is at least preparing the groundwork for a bitter legal battle that could drag on for weeks in the event of a close result.

"If it's not going to be an honest and fair election, people really need to think long and hard about it," Trump said Thursday in some of the most foreboding and loaded comments ever uttered by a leader of the world's most powerful democracy.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden summed up all of these Trump attacks when he said, reacting to earlier comments in which the President had trashed postal balloting: "Pure Trump. He doesn't want an election."

It makes discomforting, but perfect, sense that a President who was impeached for abusing his power by trying to coerce a foreign nation, Ukraine, into interfering in the election to damage his opponent would do anything within -- and beyond -- his legitimate powers to save his skin in an election. Confident of impunity, Trump is now behaving in exactly the power-grabbing manner that was predicted when he was acquitted in his Senate trial.

Even before he was President, Trump and his campaign expected to benefit in 2016 from a Russian election interference scheme -- which he publicly encouraged by asking Moscow's hackers to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails, according to former special counsel Robert Mueller.

American democracy at stake

Trump's full-bore effort to convince Americans that an election he may lose is corrupt is far more sinister than simply preparing a potentially face-saving exit from the White House.

The President's voters and his conservative media enablers have shown that when it is coming from him, they are not too concerned about assaults on America's constitutional norms and the institutions that hold presidents to account. That means Trump's anti-democratic tendencies will not necessarily rebound against him with constituencies that voted for a strongman four years ago.

But Trump's wild lies about election fraud are another example of how he prioritizes his personal advantage ahead of national interests and the health of the political system. Guaranteeing elections -- the bedrock of a free society -- and the institutions that support them is a fundamental duty of any president, bound up in the oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. The same goes for ensuring a peaceful transition of power -- even if he loses, however personally sickening to Trump that may be.

Freedom erodes quickly when leaders with unaccountable power begin to discredit the mechanics of free and fair elections. While his US political rivals are far from having to worry about knocks on the door in the middle of the night, Trump is adopting the rhetoric of the autocrats he idolizes. Already, the period before and after the November 3 election is looking like one of the most perilous in recent US history.

If he loses the election but claims it was rigged, Trump will delegitimize the result among millions of voters who backed him but might accept a loss if he graciously conceded, as is expected of every beaten presidential candidate who puts nation above self.

The appearance of a tainted election would certainly shatter hopes that a Biden administration might harbor of uniting a deeply divided nation and of summoning national resolve to finally prevail over a pandemic that Trump mismanaged and ignored.

It would also sow distrust of elections on the right, potentially for decades, further fueling conspiratorial fringe groups like QAnon. A sense that Trump was trying to destroy a legitimate Democratic presidency would also exacerbate liberal fury, pouring gasoline on the current national political inferno.

A disputed election in 2020 would be far more corrosive to democracy even than the bitterly fought aftermath of the George W. Bush vs. Al Gore duel that was eventually decided by the Supreme Court in 2000. On that occasion, despite the resentment and huge stakes, it could be fairly argued that both candidates were democrats committed to the preservation of the US political system. That is a hard case to make 20 years later.

The President's constant trashing of the US electoral system also has another menacing side effect: It throws open the door to the Russian election interference that Trump has refused to admit happened on his behalf in 2016 and that US intelligence agencies assess is happening again, with other US foes like China and Iran also mulling their own preferences for the next president. The influence and disinformation aspects of Moscow's meddling operation in 2016 aimed to exploit and widen angry divides that already existed in American politics. The more the President creates discord and distrust in the electoral system, the easier that job becomes.

Senior intelligence and law enforcement officials are not worried that the President's incessant warnings that foreign powers could flood the country with fake ballots are realistic. But they do fear that his rhetoric could provide fertile ground for their propagandists and misinformation farms, CNN reported last month.

"They can't physically do anything about (mail-in ballots) but (they can) create social media narratives to create levels of doubt and play into the debate," a law enforcement official said. "We are alert for the fact they may take doubts about mail-in ballots and exploit that online," the official said.

Trump is frustrated conspiracies about 2016 are not prompting action

Trump's aides and defenders have often suggested that critics who worry whether he will peacefully leave power or who fear he is trying to interfere in the election are paranoid and have a political agenda.

But the President -- in one of the periodic lightning bolts of damning truth (like when he told NBC he had fired former FBI Director James Comey because of the Russia investigation) -- exposed the extent of his own malfeasance in an interview with Fox Business News on Thursday.

"They want $25 billion, billion, for the post office. Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trump said on Fox Business, repeating his false claims that mail-in voting would be "fraudulent."

"But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because you -- they're not equipped to have it," Trump added.

There was another sign on Thursday that the President was getting antsy about the failure so far of the Justice Department to move against former Obama administration officials linked to the Russia investigation.

Prodded by friendly questions from Fox's Maria Bartiromo, Trump lashed out at Wray -- whom he appointed -- and even seemed to cast doubt on the ultimate loyalty of Barr, who has repeatedly intervened in cases and controversies to Trump's political benefit. The President appeared to be agitating for both men to effectively intervene in the election by producing evidence hurtful to his opponent.

"So Christopher Wray was put there. We have an election coming up. I wish he was more forthcoming. He certainly hasn't been," the President said.

"There are documents that they want to get, and we have said we want to get. We're going to find out if he's going to give those documents. But certainly he's been very, very protective."

Trump said Wray should provide more documents to prosecutor John Durham, who was tapped by Barr to lead the review into the origins of the Russia investigation in yet another exercise apparently designed to gut highly critical findings by Mueller about the President's conduct.

More suspicion of the White House's behind-the-scenes activity surfaced last week, when it emerged that Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with rapper Kanye West, who has announced a run for president that has no chance of winning electoral votes but that some critics have surmised could attract sufficient votes among young Black voters in states decided by razor-thin margins to drive down Biden's share of the vote.

That's an answer that is unlikely to put concerns about the White House's pre-election activity to rest.

Adam Levine, Manu Raju and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.

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Trump says manufacturing has increased in US as nation works to fight coronavirus – WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland

Posted: at 1:42 pm

by: Talia Naquin, Natasha Anderson

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WJW) President Donald Trump held a press conference at the White House Friday afternoon to provide an update on the nations response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He said that new factories and laboratories are being built all across the country to help America fight the coronavirus. This new infrastructure was made reportedly possible under the Defense Production Act.

The president quoted newmanufacturing production numbers and said the US was producing so many ventilators that they are able to send them to countries all over the world.

He also said American companies are producing 400 more masks than last year.

Trump also shared that there are currently three COVID-19 vaccine candidates that are in Phase 3 of trials. He said he believed that the elderly and those who are considered at high-risk should be the first to receive the vaccine.

He added that officials are working on a plan for how the vaccine will be distributed once it is created.

Additionally, Trump addressed concerns about his brother Robert, who is hospitalized in New York. There is no word on his condition.

I have a wonderful brother. We have a great relationship for a long time, from day one, so long time ago. And hes in the hospital right now, Trump said when asked what ailed his brother.

Hopefully hell be alright, but hes hes pretty hes having a hard time, he added.

The president is expected to head to New York later Friday.

In a series of tweets Friday before his press conference, Trump said he is ready to send another round of stimulus checks and additional PPP payments.

I am ready to have @USTreasury and @SBA send additional PPP payments to small businesses that have been hurt by the ChinaVirus. DEMOCRATS ARE HOLDING THIS UP!

I have directed @stevenmnuchin1 to get ready to send direct payments ($3,400 for family of four) to all Americans. DEMOCRATS ARE HOLDING THIS UP!

I am ready to send more money to States and Local governments to save jobs for Police, Fire Fighters, First Responders, and Teachers. DEMOCRATS ARE HOLDING THIS UP!

When asked during the press conference if he would approve funding for the Post Office if the Democrats agreed to what GOP leaders requested, Trump said, Sure, If they give us what we want.

The president spoke Thursday about the United States Postal Service and coronavirus.

The president said Thursday he is not approving more funding for USPS because he doesnt want a mail-in vote.

If we dont make a deal, that means they dont get the money, Trump told host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. That means they cant have universal mail-in voting; they just cant have it.

The U.S. has passed 167-thousand coronavirus deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

More than 5.2 million people have been sickened with coronavirus in America.

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Israel-UAE agreement a meek version of the historic Mideast deal Trump pledged – CNN

Posted: at 1:42 pm

Yes, it is historic, but it is only an illusion of the peace President Trump vowed he'd deliver.

Back in January this year Trump announced the contours of what he called his Vision for Peace -- officially known as Peace for Prosperity. Palestinians boycotted it denouncing it as money for land, in their view giving up territory in return for promises of improved business prospects, while Israel threatened to take the land regardless.

In recent years, Trump had raised expectations of a breakthrough Palestinian-Israeli deal, and with it, the prospect of an even more precipitous fall if it failed.

The new agreement is implicit recognition that Trump's original peace plan is dead, yet it revives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political fortunes.

Netanyahu gets what he wants, decades of Arab intransigence to a deal on Israel's terms is crumbling, at little or no cost.

The Israeli PM's impulse to annex swaths of Israeli occupied West Bank land could have been the match to ignite tinder dry tensions, torching Palestinian aspirations for their own viable state. For now, the UAE appears to have dampened that prospect.

Anwar Gargash, the UAE's erudite Minister of State for Foreign Affairs defines the agreement's success, in part, as "Israel's commitment to stop the annexation of Palestinian lands, which will preserve the two-state solution."

At first read, the agreement sounds rock-solid, but kick the tires and the threat of escalation has only been moved down the road a little. The clue is in the word "suspend."

The architect of the agreement, Kushner, described it thus, "I believe they [Israel] will not take action to move forward unless we have an understanding between America and Israel that it's the right action at the right time."

When asked when that might be his reply could as well have been, how long is a piece of string? Saying, "Somewhere between a long time and a short time, that's what temporary means."

Netanyahu has no doubts, temporary means temporary.

"We received a request to wait temporarily from President Trump. It is a temporary postponement. It is not removed from the table, I am telling you that," he said. He is also a skilled political operator playing to a domestic audience, annexation is less an immediate goal, more a manipulation to turn negotiations in his favor.

Gargash appears to hint that the UAE is playing for time, possibly calculating if temporary runs to the November US elections, "we think there is a never a right time, never a right moment, but at the same time if we really get this commitment it will be like diffusing a time bomb on the two state solution."

So the timing works for the UAE -- kind of -- but why now for the others?

Both Trump and maybe Netanyahu face elections and need votes. And both are running out of time to cement a legacy, to shore up their otherwise relatively controversial records in office. Netanyahu has a corruption trial hanging over his head, Trump's legal troubles are likely coming too.

In the deal Trump, and the UAE, have handed Netanyahu the means to bury his misdemeanors under a veneer of success opening the lucrative Arab market to Israel's high tech and security.

Look no further than the second paragraph of the joint statement for the mutual back slapping and clues to the hyping of the event, "This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region."

It was only yesterday one of Trump's National Security advisors, Robert O'Brien, opined Trump deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.

Well why not, his predecessor Barack Obama got one and this is one piece of Obama's legacy that Trump hasn't been able to deconstruct -- the next best thing is to get one himself.

And what about the OTHER party whom if they were at the table could make this a truly historic moment of profound regional significance, the Palestinians.

In short, they feel sold out, again. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas labeling the deal "an aggression on the Palestinian people" and "a betrayal of Jerusalem."

His hard-line Palestinian rivals Hamas are equally dismissive, saying: "We strongly condemn, in all possible ways, normalization with Israel, which is considered a stab in the back to the Palestinian cause".

The reality though, even while Gargash says they've kept alive the possibility of a Palestinian state that would have been extinguished had Netanyahu followed through on his threat to annex chunks of the West Bank, the Emirates has re-bolded the writing on the Arab wall. Palestinians don't conjure the regional support they once did and that means the Gulf states -- who help bank roll the Palestinians -- are running out of patience.

This deal reaffirms a Gulf view that Palestinian leaders are perceived as the problem, or rather their failure to clean corruption, and negotiate is the problem, albeit their counterpart for talks for the past decade, Netanyahu is not a palatable negotiating partner. Even when they play by the rules, the perception in Palestinian homes is that the deck is always stacked against them, precisely what this agreement amply reinforces.

Progressively weakened by division and radicalism, the Palestinians' standing is shakier than it used to be. So when they cry foul they may be right, the UAE has kicked them in the shins.

What remains to be seen, is whether it's a "pay attention" kick, as in wake up and smell the coffee, or if it is designed to fell this generation of Palestinian leaders.

Gargash isn't talking about turning off the money tap, but he is hinting at it.

"We are committed to seeing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital of that, that is our political commitment. But on the other hand, I think we as part of our world we have been a big supporter historically of the Palestinians politically financially and otherwise," he said.

So is it a good deal?

Gargash's "time bomb" was ticking on them too. Witness the near calamitous backlash to Trump's killing of Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani in January this year.

The stakes in the region are high, Iraq is less than stable, there is a war in Syria, Lebanon is in political freefall, Yemen's war grinds on and infused in all of it an Iranian foreign policy that seeks to scuttle stability and push already sky-high tensions with the US further towards crisis.

If all that weren't enough to encourage the UAE towards compromise on what is a monumental step for them, then the threat of economic carnage in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic ratcheting regional fragility to even greater heights certainly is.

For Trump, who lives by short-term political sells, the agreement is still only intent, nothing but hot political air until the signing in three weeks.

The test will be traction on the promise of bilateral deals to be signed on "investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, culture, the environment" turning in to tangible results.

Netanyahu has fewer worries now, the hitherto immovable object of Arab opposition to Israel's terms has shifted, and Trump says more Arab states will come on board.

Even if you are Palestinian, the agreement is better than drowning, but only marginally.

And how long can all sides keep treading water? That could depend on the American electorate and a president with the acumen, energy and passion to make a real difference, and if that's lacking, then treading water will work out just fine for Netanyahu.

Does anyone come out ahead?

The UAE has certainly diplomatically upstaged its bigger regional partner Saudi Arabia. And has gained some, albeit temporary, leverage over regional security, while maintaining some independence of Trump's hawkish policies on Iran.

And whatever opprobrium the UAE gets from Palestinians the Arab street isn't in firmament so costs on that are low.

Ultimately the deal is only as strong as the benefits all parties get, and yet again with Trump in office, Netanyahu appears to have bagged the lion's share of those.

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‘There’s going to be a lot of angry people.’ Despite Trump tweets, Americans still face weeks before more stimulus money arrives – CNBC

Posted: at 1:42 pm

President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Aug. 3.

Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump is "ready to send" more coronavirus stimulus money.

But it remains unclear if that is enough to move stalled Congressional negotiations forward so that Americans can see more money in their pockets.

On Friday, Trump posted several tweets with one key message: "Democrats are holding this up!"

In the tweets, he addressed direct payments to families, which would amount to $3,400 for a family of four; additional Paycheck Protection Program funds to small businesses affected by the shutdown; money for state and local governments, so that they can save jobs of firefighters, police officers, first responders and teachers; funding for states to open schools safely; and payments for rental assistance.

It is not clear if the president's tweets will be enough to dislodge the political stalemate, which could last until September now that Congress is not in session and both parties are set to hold their national conventions in the coming weeks.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to be in agreement on the additional stimulus checks and small business funding. Money for state and local governments has been a sticking point in negotiations between the parties. Democrats want to fund state and local governments, while some Republican lawmakers have dug in their heels on providing the money.

Democrats are willing to spend more than $3 trillion on a new bill, while Republicans have said they want to keep the total cost down to about $1 trillion.

"On the back of the envelope, that's at least $1 trillion right there," Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said of the priorities Trump mentioned in his tweets.

Trump needs Congress to authorize the aid spending, Hoagland said. The executive orders he signed last weekend including extended unemployment insurance was possible because they were categorized as disaster rather than regular payments.

Key details, including who will get those unemployment benefits and when, are still unknown.

Millions of Americans will also have to wait for second stimulus checks, which both sides of the aisle have indicated they want, but would need to pass legislation in order to put in motion.

The second round of payments would likely be similar to the first checks, which were $1,200 per individual or $2,400 per married couple, plus $500 for eligible dependents. Some changes have been proposed, including raising the dependent pay to $1,000 or $1,200 per person, raising the cap on the dependent eligibility age, and making it so that Americans who filed jointly with non-citizen spouses (those without Social Security numbers) would still get the money.

But action on that may not happen until September, when Congress also has to address appropriations for fiscal year 2021, which begins in October. A delay on that would prompt a partial government shutdown.

"I cannot imagine any way in which Republicans or Democrats want to have a government shutdown a month out from the election," Hoagland said.

The stimulus aid could get taken up in a continuing resolution, he said.

Meanwhile, Americans who are counting on more financial help will have to wait, Hoagland said. That's as Trump's executive order did little to prevent evictions and details of how the new extended unemployment benefits will be paid on a federal and state level is still getting sorted out.

"I think there's going to be some people that are going to be hurting between now and September," Hoagland said. "Come Labor Day, there's going to be a lot of angry people."

If Congress signs off on the stimulus checks in September, Americans may have to wait until October or later to receive the money.

More from Personal Finance:Trump wants stimulus checks to be more than $1,200How HEALS Act stimulus checks would be differentHow soon you can expect another stimulus check in the mail

"Politically, some of the people in the White House might think it's a good thing to get a check signed by Donald Trump right before the election," Hoagland said.

This time around, deploying millions of $1,200 payments will likely be easier for the IRS, which means people could receive the funds more quickly, said Kris Cox, senior tax policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

"Despite decades of funding cuts, the IRS impressively got stimulus payments out the door within weeks of the CARES legislation passing," Cox said. "We expect the IRS is anticipating a second round and they're ready and equipped to get money out the door quickly."

But that depends on lawmakers coming back to the negotiating table and agreeing, she said.

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'There's going to be a lot of angry people.' Despite Trump tweets, Americans still face weeks before more stimulus money arrives - CNBC

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