https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/517546-cia-found-putin-probably-directing-campaign-against-biden-report

American intelligence agencies believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is behind a disinformation campaign targeting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to a new report.

A top-secret CIA assessment concluded Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach engaged in peddling "disparaging information about Biden inside the United States through lobbyists, Congress, the media and contacts with figures close to the president," two sources with knowledge of the report told The Washington Post.

“We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November,” the first line of the document reportedly reads.

Derkach has close ties to Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, the report said.

Derkach has been identified as a Russian agent by the director of national intelligence and the Treasury Department but has denied working on behalf of Moscow.

A recent report from the Senate Intelligence Committee found Russian agents meddled in the 2016 presidential election using social media and other methods to mislead voters about then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign and bolster Trump.

The intelligence assessment comes as Republicans in the Senate are slated to release a report on a controversial investigation into Biden and his son Hunter Biden's dealings in Ukraine.

Democrats have expressed worries that the report will include similar accusations to those made by Derkach, though Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who spearheaded the report, has said he has not had any contact with Derkach.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/04/white-supremacists-terror-threat-dhs-409236

White supremacists present the gravest terror threat to the United States, according to a draft report from the Department of Homeland Security.

Two later draft versions of the same document — all of which were reviewed by POLITICO — describe the threat from white supremacists in slightly different language. But all three drafts describe the threat from white supremacists as the deadliest domestic terror threat facing the U.S., listed above the immediate danger from foreign terrorist groups.

“Foreign terrorist organizations will continue to call for Homeland attacks but probably will remain constrained in their ability to direct such plots over the next year,” all three documents say.

Russia “probably will be the primary covert foreign influence actor and purveyor of disinformation and misinformation in the Homeland,” the documents also say.

Former acting DHS Sec. Kevin McAleenan last year directed the department to start producing annual homeland threat assessments. POLITICO reviewed three drafts of this year’s report — titled DHS’s State of the Homeland Threat Assessment 2020 — all of which were produced in August. Ben Wittes, the editor in chief of the national security site Lawfare, obtained the documents and shared them with POLITICO. The first such assessment has not been released publicly, and a DHS spokesperson declined to comment on “allegedly leaked documents,” and on when the document will be made public.

None of the drafts POLITICO reviewed referred to a threat from Antifa, the loose cohort of militant left-leaning agitators who senior Trump administration officials have described as domestic terrorists. Two of the drafts refer to extremists trying to exploit the “social grievances” driving lawful protests.

The cut-off date for information analyzed in the earliest draft is August 3, 2020, while the cut-off date for the next two is August 27.

Eric Trump must testify in a New York state investigation into the financial affairs of his father President Trump and his businesses before the election, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting his attorney’s claims that his “extreme travel schedule” and “related unavailability” on the campaign trail warrant a delay.

Key Facts

New York Supreme Court judge Arthur Engoron said Eric Trump, who is executive vice president of the Trump Organization, must comply with a subpoena for his testimony no later than Oct. 7, adding that the investigation and the court are not “bound by the timelines of the national election.”

Eric Trump’s lawyers had argued that he “has been, and continues to be, willing to appear pursuant to subpoena” and said he would appear after the election “to avoid the use of his deposition attendance for political reasons” until then, according to last Thursday’s court filing.

At the hearing Wednesday, Eric Trump’s lawyer Alan Futerfas said they were “happy for him to sit down and be deposed,” but they needed more time before he testifies to review the thousands of pages of documents that the attorney general’s office is seeking as part of the investigation.

Matthew Colangelo, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, asserted that Eric Trump’s lawyers didn’t have a legal basis for the delay and were doing so “simply on the grounds of personal inconvenience to the witness,” adding that the courts have found that five days is a reasonable amount of time to comply.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/09/23/judge-orders-eric-trump-to-comply-with-ny-subpoena-before-election/#274b2f8730aa

https://news.gallup.com/poll/267047/americans-trust-mass-media-edges-down.aspx

https://www.axios.com/bloomberg-group-trump-election-night-scenarios-a554e8f5-9702-437e-ae75-d2be478d42bb.html

A top Democratic data and analytics firm told "Axios on HBO" it's highly likely that President Trump will appear to have won — potentially in a landslide — on election night, even if he ultimately loses when all the votes are counted.

Why this matters: Way more Democrats will vote by mail than Republicans, due to fears of the coronavirus, and it will take days if not weeks to tally these. This means Trump, thanks to Republicans doing almost all of their voting in person, could hold big electoral college and popular vote leads on election night.

Imagine America, with its polarization and misinformation, if the vote tally swings wildly toward Joe Biden and Trump loses days later as the mail ballots are counted.
That is what this group, Hawkfish, which is funded by Michael Bloomberg and also does work for the Democratic National Committee and pro-Biden Super PACs, is warning is a very real, if not foreordained, outcome.

What they're saying: Hawkfish CEO Josh Mendelsohn calls the scenario a "red mirage."

"We are sounding an alarm and saying that this is a very real possibility, that the data is going to show on election night an incredible victory for Donald Trump," he said.
"When every legitimate vote is tallied and we get to that final day, which will be some day after Election Day, it will in fact show that what happened on election night was exactly that, a mirage," Mendelsohn said. "It looked like Donald Trump was in the lead and he fundamentally was not when every ballot gets counted."

Trio Charged with Sex Trafficking of a Minor
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndok/pr/trio-charged-sex-trafficking-minor
Three defendants made initial appearances in federal court Tuesday after being charged with the sex trafficking of children, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

Dominique Laron Morgan, 25, of Tulsa; Rontaysha Leann Cox, 26, of Wichita, Kansas; and Treveon Marquise Cato, 22, of Tulsa, were charged in an August indictment, which was unsealed yesterday after their initial appearances.

The trio allegedly recruited, enticed, harbored, and advertised a minor to participate in sexual activity, profiting from her exploitation. Advertisements for the teenager were discovered on a website promoting prostitution and soliciting sex acts in exchange for money.

“The targeted trafficking and exploitation of minors is despicable. I am dismayed that our community continues to see child sex trafficking ventures in operation, and I am sickened that there is a customer-base for such a venture to even exist. We must target the supply and demand,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “My office will do everything we can to protect our children from harm and exploitation. We will do so in partnership with agencies like the Tulsa Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations, who are indispensable in these types of investigations.”

Two of the defendants face additional charges. Morgan is further charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Cox is also charged with coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Are you a bad motherfucker like my man here.
>SALEM, Ore. - The chair was green and plastic, the kind you might find in a patio set or along the edge of a creek.

>But for one night, Don Myron used it as a shield from embers of the Beachie Creek Fire, as he sheltered from raging flames on a rock in the middle of the Little North Santiam River in Oregon.

>"Everything around me was on fire," said Myron, 56, who has lived in the Elkhorn Woods community in the Little North Canyon for the past 11 years. "That chair helped save my butt."

>Myron's story is just one coming out of the Little North Canyon, one of the areas hit hardest during the Labor Day wildfires.

>Much of the Little North Canyon has been torched. Four people in the canyon have been killed. A majority of homes in the Elkhorn community area have been destroyed.

>Myron's story helps explain why. Trapped in the canyon by downed trees and flames roaring on 70 mph winds, he survived with a combination of guile and luck, finding an ideal rock in the middle of the river where he could stay until the worst of the firestorm passed.

>"If there's anybody who can survive that situation, it's my dad," said Chris Myron, Don's son. "He's smart, can think on his feet and is very resourceful."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/he-survived-an-oregon-wildfire-by-perching-on-a-rock-in-a-river-fending-off-embers-with-a-chair/ar-BB1997x6?ocid=NL_ENUS_A1_20200920_1_3&bep_ref=1&bep_csid=22410

The vandalism and looting following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police will cost the insurance industry more than any other violent demonstrations in recent history, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The protests that took place in 140 U.S. cities this spring were mostly peaceful, but the arson, vandalism and looting that did occur will result in at least $1 billion to $2 billion of paid insurance claims — eclipsing the record set in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of the police officers who brutalized Rodney King.

How it works: A company called Property Claim Services (PCS) has tracked insurance claims related to civil disorder since 1950. It classifies anything over $25 million in insured losses as a "catastrophe," and reports that the unrest this year (from May 26 to June 8) will cost the insurance industry far more than any prior one.

https://www.axios.com/riots-cost-property-damage-276c9bcc-a455-4067-b06a-66f9db4cea9c.html