Georgia Lead on Biden's Mind, 'Fraud' on Trump's

Three days out from Election Day, the race for the presidency is still too close to call. Joe Biden has more remaining paths to 270 electoral votes than President Donald Trump, but the contests in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona sit on a knife’s edge, with Biden pulling ahead in Georgia this morning. While Biden asked for patience with the count, Trump blasted the election as rigged in an extraordinary speech at the White House. His lawyers filed lawsuits across key states seeking better access to ballot counting and making claims of fraud that have not held up in court.

Sources: AP, NYT, Fox News, Chicago Tribune

2. Circling the Wagons

Key Republicans are increasingly lining up behind Trump’s baseless assertions that the election is being stolen from him. After Donald Trump Jr. tweeted an attack on the “2024 GOP hopefuls” who were not standing by his father, figures such as Sens. Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz, as well as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, chimed in on Trump’s behalf. Even as some party members such as Sen. Mitt Romney and Gov. Larry Hogan rebuked Trump’s rhetoric, Sen. Lindsey Graham said “everything should be on the table,” when asked whether Pennsylvania's results should be nullified. Protests, meanwhile, continued at key ballot counting locations such as Phoenix.

Sources: CNN, The Hill, Axios, The Independent, Arizona Republic

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After hitting Nicaragua as a hurricane, Eta was downgraded to a tropical depression as it churned into Honduras and Guatemala, but still dumped an estimated month’s worth of rain on the latter and caused a landslide that buried 20 houses and killed at least 50 people. Rescuers are now attempting to reach the affected areas on foot. Meteorologists say they may never know exactly how strong Eta was at the peak as several observer aircraft had to turn back or were grounded by mechanical issues. The storm is expected to strengthen again as it moves toward Cuba and Florida.

Sources: BBC, Washington Post

2. AstraZeneca Predicts January for Vaccine Delivery

Final trial data on the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University is expected before the end of the year after current late-stage trials conclude, the company said, predicting that delivery of actual inoculations could begin in January. Health care workers will likely be the first priority for vaccinations, according to the CDC, followed by other essential workers and those in high-risk groups. Meanwhile, health officials in the U.S. — where 20 states reported record new daily infections yesterday — worry that people are “giving up” on anti-virus measures and that state leadership has been more concerned about losing political clout than saving lives.

Sources: AP, CBS, Washington Post, NPR

3. Facebook Implements “Break Glass” Restrictions in US Election

Hoping to stop the spread of misinformation, the social network last night announced temporary emergency measures regarding the U.S. election: Users sharing political posts will have to click through Facebook’s “Voter Information Center” beforehand, and algorithms will be adjusted to limit the viral spread of live videos and information that’s deemed suspect. The site also shut down a group called “Stop the Steal,” which alleged widespread voter fraud — despite there being no evidence of it — and was dedicated to organizing protests around the nation. Conservative activists decried the move as a way to silence their voices.

Sources: The Verge, WSJ (sub)

4. Also Important …

Japan’s government plans to subsidize IVF treatments in an attempt to reverse a plunging birth rate. The U.S. Postal Service estimates that it failed to deliver at least 150,000 ballots by Election Day around the United States — including thousands in swing states with razor-thin margins. And Uber’s CEO says the successful California ballot initiative to keep from having to classify drivers as employees could serve as a model for other states.

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They call it “sportswashing.” Saudi Arabia is preparing to host its first Formula One Grand Prix next November, upsetting human rights activists. They’re urging drivers to speak out about Saudi violations like its jailing of government critics and women’s rights advocates. F1 officials — beset by COVID-19-cancellations and boosted by the race’s reported $50 million take — have said they’re excited about the race, while Saudi officials lauded it as an opportunity to change public perceptions. Celebrated F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who’s been a voice for social justice, said he thinks the circuit can be a force for change.

Sources: Al Jazeera, The Guardian

2. US Government Seizes $1B in Bitcoin

The writing’s on the wallet. With 12-year-old cryptocurrency Bitcoin in the midst of a surge this week, many were puzzled when a mysterious online wallet containing about 69,000 Bitcoins suddenly started to empty after sitting untouched for years. It turns out the U.S. Justice Department was confiscating the assets, which once belonged to Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned founder of dark web marketplace Silk Road. A hacker stole the coins from Ulbricht in 2012 and 2013, then left most of them untouched in the wallet. It’s unclear what the government will now do with its biggest-ever Bitcoin seizure.

Sources: Vice, WSJ (sub)

3. The Magnetar: Source of Mysterious Cosmic Signals

The call was coming from inside the galaxy. For 13 years, astrophysicists have been tracking fast radio bursts (or FRBs), extremely energetic blips from faraway galaxies that last just milliseconds — and trying to figure out what causes them. But a new study of an FRB from inside the Milky Way has determined the origin was a magnetar, the super-magnetic corpse of a giant star. It’s still not clear how the magnetar created the FRB, or if all FRBs can be traced to these rare dead stars.

Sources: CNET, Wired

4. Warner Bros. Issues Apology Over ‘The Witches’

First the studio and then lead actress Anne Hathaway have publicly asked forgiveness over their new movie, based on Roald Dahl’s childrens’ book, in which Hathaway plays an evil witch with three fingers on each hand — a detail added for the movie which is similar to a real medical condition, ectrodactyly. After people spoke out against the movie’s depiction of a person with limb difference as a monstrous villain, Hathaway apologized on Instagram, saying she didn’t connect the character with a real community and promising “now that I know better I promise I’ll do better.”

Sources: Yahoo, USA Today