Comment on News Summary-Intelligence Report Wednesday 8/12/2020

A new Meredith poll in North Carolina finds Donald Trump edging Joe Biden in the presidential race, 41% to 39% with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At 9%.

“Republicans are waking up to the reality that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could sink their standard-bearer just as easily as he could hurt President Joe Biden, after a pair of new polls showed the presence of third-party candidates on the ballot might not necessarily benefit former President Donald Trump,” Politico reports. “Even Trump is acknowledging his potential problem.” Said Trump: “They say he hurts Biden.

Donald Trump violated his gag order by calling the jurors in his “hush money” criminal trial “Democrats” in a new interview, Los Angeles Magazine reports. Said Trump: “That jury was picked so fast. 95% are Democrats. The area is mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a purely Democrat area.

As testimony opened in Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York, one of the big questions is whether Trump will take the stand in his own defense. Trump doesn’t have to testify, but he insists he wants to. .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{ -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); } Join now to continue reading. Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising.

Since last week, at Columbia University—as students have gathered to protest the war in Gaza and call for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel’s military campaign—the college radio station, WKCR, has taken on a new role: near-constant news. It has suspended its usual programming and doggedly covered the demonstrations on campus.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Joe Biden marked Monday’s Earth Day by announcing a $7 billion investment in solar energy projects nationwide, focusing on disadvantaged communities, and unveiling a week-long series of what the White House say will be “historic climate actions.” The president was speaking at Prince William Forest Park, in Triangle, Virginia, touting his environmental record and unveiling measures to tackle the climate crisis and increase access to, and lower costs of, clean energy. The centerpiece was the announcement of $7 billion in grants through the Environmental Protection Agency’s “solar for all” program, funded by last year’s $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act, and which Biden said will benefit hundreds of thousands of mostly low-income families who currently spend up to 30 percent of their income on energy. “These awards across the country [are to] states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities and nonprofits to develop programs to enable low income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from residential solar power.