Fraud at polls!

From the nostalgia file:  California is a reliably blue state despite aberrations like Devin Nunes and Kevin "Steve" McCarthy, but you can't blame the Republicans for trying.  The Orange County Register reports that "unofficial" ballot boxes have turned up in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange counties, and even this conservative paper identifies the culprits as the California Republican Party.  This is the way bosses from William Tweed to Richard Daley stole elections -- very low tech.  And this is why Charlie Pierce has called for election monitors -- not Trump's boogaloo boys but the UN troops in the blue helmets.  This is what we have come to.

Some lucky African Americans had their travel and lodging paid by Candace Owens's cleverly named BLEXIT group to attend a Trump rally at the White House.  They also got free BLEXIT shirts to take home.  Trump asked Owens to invite her Black friends, but she has no Black friends.

After Trump called Kamala Harris "a monster," they showed us what a "nice woman" looks like -- the appalling Amy Covid Breeder got her ritualized hug from the Republicans, including a diseased and maskless Mike Lee.  It's a good thing the Senate has no more pressing business, like a pandemic or a cratered economy or approaching environmental disaster.  Of course, in the event of alien invasion (from other planets, not "shithole countries"), Trump's got it covered.  He boasted to Maria Bartiromo that those Martians and their puny weapons are no match for "a military the likes of which we've never had before, in terms of equipment."  Well, I'm reassured.  He can't beat Biden but he can take on the little silver men. 

Expect to hear a lot more about the Alliance Defending Freedom, which describes itself as advocating "religious freedom, sanctity of life, marriage and family."  The Southern Poverty Law Center describes it as a hate group.  Guess which "nice woman" has been one of its frequent paid speakers.

In social media news Facebook announced a ban on Holocaust denial and Twitter flagged as "bullshit" Trump's claim to be covid-immune.  Baby steps.

The UN Human Rights Council is expected to add Russia, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to its board tomorrow.  Insert hollow laughter here.

And finally, lawn signs are being stolen, and in some cases burned, all over the country.  North Dakota farmer Peter Larson was taking no chances:

Twenty-two days.