- Stranger Than Fiction
- Posts
- Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction
A brief daily note on things you might find interesting or useful
You can support the newsletter that you’re reading right now using PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, or purchase a subscription on Substack.Don’t forget to join us in the Stranger Slack for access to source documents and a running feed of news throughout the day. (this link was broken for awhile and has now been fixed)TOP NEWS
A Texas School Reopens and Everyone Holds Their Breath “Temperature checks, X’s on seats and masks on the playground become the new normal; “if they’re not concerned, something’s wrong with them.””
New applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, “a possible sign of a slowly improving labor market and the impact of a new measurement method. Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 130,000 to a seasonally adjusted 881,000 in the week ended Aug. 29, the Labor Department said Thursday. The number of people collecting unemployment benefits through regular state programs, which cover most workers, decreased by 1.24 million to about 13.3 million for the week ended Aug. 22.”
Trump suggests voters cast ballots twice, which if done intentionally is illegal “The president encouraged people to vote twice — once by mail and once in person — to test the protections intended to guard against double voting. Intentionally voting twice is illegal, and in many states, including North Carolina, it is a felony.”
White House orders review aimed at blocking federal funding from places Trump labels ‘anarchist jurisdictions’ “The presidential memo directs the White House Office of Management and Budget to specifically review federal funding that goes to Portland, New York City, and Washington, D.C.”
Biden blames Trump for schools’ inability to fully reopen “The speech marked another attempt by the former vice president to emphasize President Trump’s response to the global pandemic, the issue that Biden’s campaign believes will guide voters’ decisions more than any other.”
Collection of Americans’ phone data by U.S. was illegal, court finds “The ruling will not have much of an effect on the government surveillance program in question, which was launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and ended in 2015.”
WHAT I’M READING + WATCHING + LISTENING TO
🎧 LISTEN: Why NYC Delayed Reopening SchoolsNew York City had been moving ahead with plans to bring students back to the classroom next week. This week things changed. Leslie Brody explains.
Hall of Fame pitcher for New York’s ‘Miracle’ Mets of 1969 dies at 75 “Nicknamed “Tom Terrific,” he led his once-hapless team from the National League basement to an improbable World Series championship.”
How to stop eye strain when you relentlessly state at screens
Covid-19 Tests: Answers on Cost, Accuracy and Turnaround Time
THE COMMENT
“It’s weird enough that a Republican party that campaigned for so long on the war on terrorism finds it so hard to see homegrown terrorists in places like Kenosha. It’s weirder still that the party now blindly follows a man who likens shooting someone in the back to missing a putt. But the weirdest thing in Biden’s America is that Donald Trump can only echo Joe Biden. One of them said this week, “I know most cops are good and decent people. I know the risk they take every day with their lives.” The other said: “The vast and overwhelming majority of police officers are honorable, courageous, and devoted public servants.” Which candidate hates law enforcement again? The last Republican president to promise to keep us safe was George W Bush, running for re-election after 9/11. But every few days in Trump’s America, we lose more Americans to the rampant pandemic than to the terrorist attacks that traumatized this nation 19 years ago.” - Richard Wolffe
THE STRANGEST
THE AV ROOM