Originally published on August 31, 2020
From the Hill:
Could the COVID-19 Death Effect Tip the Elections?
But COVID-19, now the third biggest cause of death in this country, is so serious that it merits analysis. And with the way we are polarized today, COVID-19 will have a death effect precisely because it hits Americans unequally. In America in 2020, even death is polarized…Consequently, nationwide, we predict a roughly 22,000-vote advantage for Trump in the popular vote as a result of COVID-19 deaths.
—Jeremy Mayer and Laurie Schintler
From the Washington Post:
Pardoning Snowden Only Helps Putin, Mr. President
So, why is the president considering it, and why now, less than 80 days from the election? Are some of the people Trump is hearing from sitting in the Kremlin?
—Michael Morell and Mike Vickers
From the Washington Post:
Beating Up on Big Tech Is Fun and Easy. Restraining It Will Require Rewriting the Law.
Of course, any honest search for who is responsible for the rise of Big Tech would also include the members of Congress themselves, who for three decades have sat on their thumbs as judges infatuated with free-market ideology were allowed to so hollow out American antitrust law that regulators are now almost powerless to restrain the tech giants. At this point, only a major rewrite of the industrial era antitrust statutes can bring the tech titans to heel.
—Steven Pearlstein
From the Washington Post:
Virginia Democrats Must Play Catch-Up on Criminal Justice Reform
All of this comes amid the persistent echo from the left to “defund the police,” a politically poisonous slogan for Democrats in their suburban strongholds. Never mind that it rarely means actually dismantling police departments but, rather, reorganizing them. In politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing.
—Mark J. Rozell
From USA Today:
COVID-19 My Force a Delay in Your Retirement Plans. Here’s How to Adjust.
Working longer also allows for additional retirement contributions (possibly including employer contributions) and reduces the number of years over which retirement savings must be stretched. Our research suggests that when inflation-adjusted interest rates are zero, working and delaying Social Security by only three to six additional months is just as effective in raising one’s retirement living standards as saving an additional one percent of earnings over 30 years.
—Sita Slavov and John Shoven
From Asia Times:
UAE-Israel Deal a ‘Win-Win-Win,’ But Not for Palestinians
But few see any early prospects for a return to diplomacy aimed at the two-state solution. The Emirati public rationale notwithstanding, there’s no celebration in Palestine. The deep cynicism and despair that is now reflected in polling was on display as Palestinians denounced the new agreement as a betrayal.
—Ellen Laipson
From the Hill:
Sell Land to Save Teachers—and Cops, Firefighters, and Nurses
If the wolf of budgetary crisis is not at the door, politicians can hear him growling. And when he begins to bite into the real meat of government, the question will arise: Sell a few acres, or close a clinic? Fire teachers? Cut pensions? Or part with a park or some old school land?
—Jeremy Mayer
From DefenseOne:
The Defense Reforms Taiwan Needs
Budget limits and legal restrictions on how often the government can mobilize reservists for training make this approach a fool’s errand. The Tsai administration should instead consider a more transformational vision: reconstitute most of its reserve units as a territorial defense force. Preparing Taiwan’s reservists to defend their homes and communities would be cheaper than trying to turn an unwieldy reserve force into a second ground army; and more effective, since it means reservists will fight on ground they know to protect the people they care most about.
—Michael Hunzeker and Brian Davis (Schar School PhD student)
From African Eye Report:
Time to Unite Behind an African Candidate to Lead WTO
The new director-general at the WTO will not speak for Africa alone, but having an African at the helm will be symbolically important for the continent: offering smart economic diplomacy, and demonstrating the advantage in its products from cotton to the creative industries.
—J.P. Singh
From the Hill:
Trump Is Fighting the Wrong War
The coronavirus is Trump’s Vietnam. It will bring him down just as the war in Vietnam ended the political career of Lyndon Johnson in 1968. The difference is that LBJ became obsessed with Vietnam, whereas Trump would like to ignore the pandemic. “The president got bored with it,” a Republican operative told the New York Times. Asked by an Axios interviewer about the staggering death toll from the pandemic, Trump responded, “It is what it is.”
—Bill Schneider
From the Hill:
Playing Politics With the USPS
A few strokes of the presidential pen have turned the Postal Service inside out and sent it back to the pre-1970 reform days of presidential control. This poses a risk to one of the foundations of our democracy.
—A. Lee Fritschler
From the Washington Post:
The Russians Infiltrated Trump’s 2016 Campaign. We May Never Know Exactly What Happened.
While we will never know to what extent Russia actually swung votes in Trump’s favor, we can put to rest forever that Putin’s motivation was to do just that.
—Michael Morell and Marc Polymeropoulos