The Trump administration can end counting for the 2020 census after the Supreme Court approved a request for now to suspend a lower court order that extended the count's schedule. The high court's ruling, following an emergency request the Justice Department made last week, is the latest turn in a roller coaster of a legal fight over the timeline for the count. Last-minute changes by the Census Bureau and its skirting of an earlier court order for the count have left local communities and the bureau's workers across the U.S. unsure of how much longer they can take part in a national head count already upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hongoltz-Hetling is an accomplished journalist based in Vermont, a Pulitzer nominee and George Polk Award winner. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears) sees him traversing rural New England as he reconstructs a remarkable, and remarkably strange, episode in recent history. This is the so-called Free Town Project, a venture wherein a group of libertarian activists attempted to take over a tiny New Hampshire town, Grafton, and transform it into a haven for libertarian ideals—part social experiment, part beacon to the faithful, Galt’s Gulch meets the New Jerusalem. These people had found one another largely over the internet, posting manifestos and engaging in utopian daydreaming on online message boards. While their various platforms and bugbears were inevitably idiosyncratic, certain beliefs united them: that the radical freedom of markets and the marketplace of ideas was an unalloyed good; that “statism” in the form of government interference (above all, taxes) was irredeemably bad. Left alone, they believed, free individuals would thrive and self-regulate, thanks to the sheer force of “logic,” “reason,” and efficiency. For inspirations, they drew upon precedents from fiction (Ayn Rand loomed large) as well as from real life, most notably a series of micro-nation projects ventured in the Pacific and Caribbean during the 1970s and 1980s.

Minister want to change Finland's sexual harassment laws to include 'cyber flashing', with offenders facing a maximum of six months in jail for sending explicit images.

Gould also has a longstanding relationship with Renee Nahum—a self-described “20-year veteran of Los Angeles politics” that has worked on numerous Democratic Party campaigns and held prominent positions in the local party operation. In the first six months of 2019, Gould’s faux-progressive mailing organization pulled in $1,750 in donations, but paid Renee Nahum & Associates $15,000 in consulting fees. Nahum is also connected to the Council of Concerned Women Voters slate mailing organization, which SFGate confirmed paid her $20,000.

Mayor Berkowitz admitted to an inappropriate relationship with Maria Athens.

Donald Trump is hold a "Trump Pride" rally Tuesday (October 13) in what is perhaps the most confusing plot twist of 2020.

Facebook on Tuesday said it would no longer allow anti-vaccination ads on its platform, in another reversal of its longtime stance of avoiding being the referee on thorny issues. Facebook had previously shied away from stepping into debates over public health, even as anti-vaccination content on its site proliferated. But this year, it took a stand against false information related to the coronavirus to prevent public harm. It also has removed vaccine-related hoaxes that were identified by global health organizations.

Google it,” she says, her Eastern European accent pronounced with each exhalation. “Annie Leibovitz, she shot the porn hooker

Nikon has announced the winners of the 2020 Small World Photomicrography Competition and has once again shared some of the winning and honored images with us. The contest invites photographers and scientists to submit images of all things visible under a microscope. More than 2,000 entries were received from 90 countries in 2020, the 46th year of the competition.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an end to a lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats that accused President Donald Trump of violating anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution with his business dealings. The justices refused to hear an appeal by 215 Senate and House of Representatives Democrats of a lower court ruling that found that the lawmakers lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the case that focused on the Republican president’s ownership of the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The lawmakers accused Trump of violating the Constitution’s rarely tested “emoluments” clauses that bar presidents from taking gifts or payments from foreign and state governments without congressional approval. The lead plaintiff in the case is U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

Something Awful, a long-running website that had a key role in defining much of internet culture and humor, has been sold by its long time owner Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka.  “Lowtax has signed the paperwork—it is done. Something Awful LLC assets now belong to me,” Something Awful user Jeffrey of YOSPOS—a fifteen year member of Something Awful—said in an announcement on the site’s forums. “I know this has taken a long time, but it's been a long time coming before that." 

Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia’s governor during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified Tuesday during a court hearing in Michigan. Special Agent Richard Trask also revealed more detail about investigators’ use of confidential informants, undercover agents and encrypted communication to arrest and charge six men last week with plotting to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Tuesday’s court hearing was to review investigators’ evidence against Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta and whether they should be detained before trial. The men are all Michigan residents. A sixth man, Barry Croft, was being held in Delaware. The June meeting was part of the FBI’s investigation of various anti-government groups, leading to the months-long case in Michigan relying on confidential sources, undercover agents and clandestine recordings to foil the alleged kidnapping conspiracy.

A Black man who was led by a rope by two white officers on horseback has sued a south-east Texas city and its police department for $1m, saying he suffered humiliation and fear during his arrest. A lawsuit filed last week in Galveston county district court on behalf of Donald Neely, 44, alleged the officers’ conduct was “extreme and outrageous”, both physically injuring Neely and causing him emotional distress, news outlets reported, citing the court documents. Photos of the August 2019 encounter showed Neely being led by the officers on a rope linked to handcuffs – reminiscent of pictures showing slaves in chains. Neely, who was homeless at the time, was sleeping on a sidewalk when he was arrested for criminal trespass and led around the block to a mounted patrol staging area. In body-camera video, one officer could be heard twice saying that leading Neely by rope down city streets would look “bad”.

An accidentally cut cable has caused the entire Virginia voter registration system to go down on the last day to register to vote before election day.  The Virginia Information Technology Agency tweeted that a fiber cut near Route 10 in Chester, Virginia is to blame.  "Due to a network outage, the Citizen Portal is temporarily unavailable. We are working with our network providers to restore service as quickly as possible," the Virginia Department of Elections posted on their registration website. There was no estimate on if, or when, the problem would be fixed Tuesday. Once the database issues are fixed, Virginians will be again able to register to vote online with identification, or in-person at their voter registrar's offices. Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote across Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. You can check if you're already registered at vote.elections.virginia.gov. You may register to vote at your local Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office or request an application from your local general registrar. Additional information about registering to vote in Virginia can be found here or at your local registrar's website. If you've already received your mail-in ballot, your ballot must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and must be received to the Virginia Board of Elections by Nov. 6 at noon. Before mailing your ballot in, make sure that you've signed everywhere that needs to be signed. If not, your ballot could be thrown out. This includes the voter's oath or your return envelope, and anything pertaining to your witness requirements.  

Kanye West is calling on the country to vote for him as a write-in candidate in the first political ad for his long-shot White House bid. "We as a people will revive our nation's commitment to faith," the "Yeezus" rapper said in the ad released Monday. "By turning to faith, we will be the kind of nation, the kind of people, God intends us to be," West says in front of an image of a waving American flag.   A message at the end of the ad urges voters to "write in Kanye West." West only announced his presidential campaign in July, and has used at least $6 million in his own funds on the effort, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

A federal judge has upheld a Minnesota state court agreement that allows the counting of absentee ballots received up to seven days after Election Day. Republicans had asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that said ballots postmarked on or before Election Day must be counted. Brasel ruled late Sunday night that the plaintiffs in the case — state Rep. Eric Lucero and another Republican who serves as an elector in the presidential election — don’t have standing and denied their motion for a preliminary injunction. She said giving voters conflicting information after absentee ballots have gone out would create confusion. “This is a difficult genie to put back in the lamp,” Brasel ruled. Messages left Monday with Lucero and the Republican Party were not immediately returned, but attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a notice saying they will appeal. Richard Fiesta, executive director of the citizens’ group, the Alliance for Retired Americans, called it “an important common sense voting rights victory.” “Thousands of older Minnesota voters can protect their health and cast a ballot that will be counted. As in any election, the rights of voters to cast their ballots in the least burdensome manner is paramount. This decision furthers that ability,” Fiesta said.

Alaskans do not need to have a second person sign their absentee ballots, the Alaska Supreme Court said on Monday, confirming a lower-court decision. A record number of Alaskans are voting absentee this year, and “improper or insufficient witnessing” has consistently been the top reason for rejected absentee ballots during the past few primary elections, according to Division of Elections statistics. State law ordinarily requires absentee voters to sign their ballots and get the signature of a witness who is at least 18 years old, but a group of Alaskans sued last month to pause the witness requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The witness requirement will not be enforced this year, though ballots' written instructions will still say that a second signature is required.

A pair of Nashville reporters were accosted and assaulted by a man as they filmed a feel-good report about volunteers making covid masks for elementary school children, but fortunately landed his hardest blow on the pavement. Caresse Jackman, Consumer Investigative Reporter for Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV’s News 4, was being filmed by her cameraman in front of Napier Elementary School for a report on a group of women who are making “masks with love” for the kids when a red-shirted man approached them. What followed was an assault that was, by turns, harrowing and comical as the man wordlessly attacked the cameraman (apart from grumbling “I told you!” as he began the attack), then wound up on his ass after losing what could only generously be described as his balance. Jackman, filming with her camera phone, declared “That’s what you get!” Ms. Jackman tweeted videos of the encounter with the man, and in a much-appreciated touch of professionalism under pressure, did so in widescreen rather than portrait mode.

Jurisdictions once monitored by the justice department for racially discriminatory voting practices have collectively closed more than 1,000 polling places since a watershed 2013 US supreme court ruling released the jurisdictions from oversight, according to a new watchdog report. In 757 counties and county equivalents that formerly had to pre-clear voting practice changes with Washington, 1,173 polling places disappeared between 2014 and 2018, a study by the Leadership Conference Education Fund, part of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalition, found.

In a ruling issued late Monday night, a federal appeals court upheld Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that limited counties to one mail-in ballot drop-off