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- 993 coronavirus deaths and 39,124 new cases recorded yesterday
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12.15pm BST
Kari Paul in San Francisco has been reporting for us on some of the problems that have been hampering firefighters attempting to deal with the unprecedented wildfires that have ravaged the west cost of the US.
When wildfires burned near Palo Alto last month, emergency workers in this city legendary for its resident high-tech companies relied on relatively low-tech tools to coordinate a response.
Emergency response units talked by two-way radio and sent each other text messages with photos of paper maps, said Kenneth Dueker, the director of Palo Alto’s office of emergency services.
Related: Paper maps, two-way radios: how firefighting tech is stuck in the past
11.56am BST
In an op-ed this morning for the New York Times, Dan Coats who served as the director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2019 has called for Congress to establish a bipartisan commission to monitor voting and ensure that laws and regulations are followed in November’s election. It is expected that both the process and results will be heavily contested, with Joe Biden already assembling an army of attorneys for the expected post-election legal fight. Coats writes:
Our democracy’s enemies, foreign and domestic, want us to concede in advance that our voting systems are faulty or fraudulent; that sinister conspiracies have distorted the political will of the people; that our public discourse has been perverted by the news media and social networks riddled with prejudice, lies and ill will; that judicial institutions, law enforcement and even national security have been twisted, misused and misdirected to create anxiety and conflict, not justice and social peace.
If those are the results of this tumultuous election year, we are lost, no matter which candidate wins. No American, and certainly no American leader, should want such an outcome. Total destruction and sowing salt in the earth of American democracy is a catastrophe well beyond simple defeat and a poison for generations. An electoral victory on these terms would be no victory at all. The judgment of history, reflecting on the death of enlightened democracy, would be harsh.
Continue reading…Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by former modelTrump claims CDC director is ‘confused’ over 2021 vaccine timetableHurricane Sally kills one and leaves ‘historic’ flooding across Gulf coastPelosi demands investigation into hysterectomy claims at Ice centre993 coronavirus deaths and 39,124 new cases recorded yesterdaySign up for our First Thing newsletter 12.15pm BSTKari Paul in San Francisco has been reporting for us on some of the problems that have been hampering firefighters attempting to deal with the unprecedented wildfires that have ravaged the west cost of the US.When wildfires burned near Palo Alto last month, emergency workers in this city legendary for its resident high-tech companies relied on relatively low-tech tools to coordinate a response.Emergency response units talked by two-way radio and sent each other text messages with photos of paper maps, said Kenneth Dueker, the director of Palo Alto’s office of emergency services. Related: Paper maps, two-way radios: how firefighting tech is stuck in the past 11.56am BSTIn an op-ed this morning for the New York Times, Dan Coats who served as the director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2019 has called for Congress to establish a bipartisan commission to monitor voting and ensure that laws and regulations are followed in November’s election. It is expected that both the process and results will be heavily contested, with Joe Biden already assembling an army of attorneys for the expected post-election legal fight. Coats writes:Our democracy’s enemies, foreign and domestic, want us to concede in advance that our voting systems are faulty or fraudulent; that sinister conspiracies have distorted the political will of the people; that our public discourse has been perverted by the news media and social networks riddled with prejudice, lies and ill will; that judicial institutions, law enforcement and even national security have been twisted, misused and misdirected to create anxiety and conflict, not justice and social peace.If those are the results of this tumultuous election year, we are lost, no matter which candidate wins. No American, and certainly no American leader, should want such an outcome. Total destruction and sowing salt in the earth of American democracy is a catastrophe well beyond simple defeat and a poison for generations. An electoral victory on these terms would be no victory at all. The judgment of history, reflecting on the death of enlightened democracy, would be harsh. Continue reading…