• This NYT editorial lays it all out – “End Our National Crisis – The Case Against Donald Trump“; as they opine, “This is the moment when Americans must recover that sense of outrage” and act to remove “the worst American president in modern history” from office. Vote.

• NY Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie talks about long lines at the polls in low-income areas acting as the equivalent of poll taxes – one of the many ways voter suppression continues to manifest itself. From Bouie’s lates newsletter: “Voters in affluent precincts don’t face long lines. White voters don’t tend to face long lines. Long lines for voting are most common in areas where Black Americans and Hispanics make up a majority of voters, and they are generated by concrete policy decisions: cuts to voting resources in the form of fewer polling stations, poll workers and voting machines.

The culprits, as has often been the case in decisions that limit access to the ballot, are Republican lawmakers and officials who have made the reduction of voting resources a deliberate strategy for shrinking the size of the electorate. In Georgia, for example, the Republican former secretary of state (and current governor) Brian Kemp closed 214 polling stations between 2012 and 2018, often in rural, high-poverty areas with significant Black populations. In Texas, as well, Republicans have fought to reduce options for early voting, contributing to long waits this past week.

When you see long lines for voting, Americans devoting entire days to exercising their right to suffrage, you should remember that these lines are a choice meant to burden our ability to choose our leaders. You should be angry.”

And then there’s Paul Krugman’s How the G.O.P. Can Still Wreck America column.  Sigh. Please make sure you vote.

• Anne Applebaum’s excellent piece in The Atlantic references the Cornell University misinformation study in laying it all out (italics are my own):

“…Trump’s super-spreading of disinformation has already changed America. Just a few days ago, Cornell University published a study showing that 38 percent of media stories containing misinformation about the virus refer to the president: Trump is literally, not metaphorically, the single most important reason so many Americans distrust information they receive about the disease. He is literally, not metaphorically, the reason so many Americans distrust our electoral system too. He is literally, not metaphorically, the reason so many Americans distrust one another…And we are all … unsurprised. This kind of obfuscation, this level of confusion, is exactly what we have come to expect from our national leader. Trump has destroyed our trust with wanton abandon—trust in our political system, trust in our institutions, trust in science, trust in America itself—simply because it benefits him, personally, to do so. Whatever happens to Trump over the next few weeks, that is the legacy that will outlast his presidency. It has already distorted and changed and altered the country just as profoundly as the coronavirus itself.”

• Barton Gellman, writing in the  Atlantic, lays out ways in which DJT could hijack the election.  Don’t read it before bedtime, the nightmares could be horrific.  This story, appearing in conjunction with the orange one’s response to questions about a peaceful White House transition should he lose the election, are most alarming. “We’re going to have to see what happens,” he told reporter Brian Karem during a news conference at the White House. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”, “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,” The potential ways things could go sideways are terrifying.

• Featuring VP Pence’s former homeland security, counterterrorism and coronavirus staffer Olivia Troye, this is a powerful (and eminently believable) indictment of our current president’s character and empathy. Worth watching.

• Eric Topol does a wonderful takedown in his Medscape piece Dear Commissioner Hahn: Tell the Truth or Resign, calling out FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn’s derelict behavior re. several of his recent statements and Agency decisions, ones obviously in obeisance to political pressure. Worth a read.

I found Latif Nasser’s  exposition on Benford’s (also known as the Newcomb-Benford) Law in the Digits episode of his Connected Netflix series a fascinating exploration of the topic. Yes, it’s about the non-intuitive, nonrandom frequency distribution of leading digits in many real-world numerical datasets, but trust me, Latif makes it kinda fun and interesting.

Steve Rattner, writing in the the NY Times, once again delineates the facts rather than the distortions and untruths emanating from the White House. The Truth Behind Trump’s ‘Rocking’ Economy

I have to admit I really look forward to reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. You can read archives and/or sign up or subscribe here: Letters from an American