TRUMP ACOLYTE MARK MEADOWS DIAGNOSED WITH COVID 19: President Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic. Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year. They offered no details on when the chief of staff came down with the virus or his current condition. His diagnosis was first reported by Bloomberg News. One administration official said several other staffers had tested positive as well. Meadows traveled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public early Wednesday morning without a mask as Trump falsely declared victory in the vote count.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/article247033092.html

AS BIDEN INCHES CLOSER TO VICTORY, TRUMP FILES LAWSUITS: As Democrat Joe Biden inched closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, President Donald Trump's campaign put into action the legal strategy the president had signaled for weeks: attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean his defeat. Democrats scoffed at the legal challenges the president's campaign filed Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. In spite of the aggressive move, the flurry of court action did not seem obviously destined to impact the election's outcome. The new filings, joining existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada, demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and raised absentee ballot concerns, the campaign said. The Trump campaign also is seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted, deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said.
https://www.wral.com/trump-sues-in-3-states-laying-ground-for-contesting-outcome/19371426/

US DOJ WILL MONITOR WAKE AND MECKLENBURG VOTING SITES FOR HARASSMENT: The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send staffers to Mecklenburg and Wake counties on Election Day to monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws, including those that prohibit voter intimidation and voter suppression based on race, color, national origin or religion. The two N.C. counties are among 44 in 18 states that will be monitored Tuesday, the department announced Monday. “Our federal laws protect the right of all American citizens to vote without suffering discrimination, intimidation, and harassment,” said Eric S. Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, in a statement Monday. “The work of the Civil Rights Division around each federal general election is a continuation of its historical mission to ensure that all of our citizens can freely exercise this most fundamental American right.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article246896212.html

TRUMP'S SPIN ONLY PROMOTES COVID 19'S DEADLY SPREAD: Against all reason, evidence and even concern for the safety and health of Americans, President Donald Trump and his White House echo chamber continue to treat the COVID-19 pandemic as a political problem and not a life-and-death global crisis. While Trump’s public relations operations release mission accomplished statements concerning ending the pandemic, numbers of COVID-19 infected and dead Americans continues to expand – and at an increasing rate (8.8 million cases and 226,000 deaths nationwide; 264,000 cases in North Carolina and 4,236 deaths). To anyone listening to the comments spreading virally from Trump and the White House in the last few days, it is hard to tell if they’re declaring victory, announcing “mission accomplished” or simply accepting surrender. “We’re rounding the turn, we’re doing great. Our numbers are incredible,” Trump said during his appearance last Saturday in Lumberton.
https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/editorial-trump-s-spin-only-promotes-covid-19-s-deadly-spread/19357...

NC GOP MAILER HAS PICTURE OF BLACK JUDGE WHO ISN'T EVEN RUNNING THIS YEAR: The North Carolina Republican Party featured a Mecklenburg County judge who isn't even on the ballot this year on a recent political mailer, beseeching voters not to choose "liberal activist judges." Superior Court Judge Karen Eady-Williams is Black, and the North Carolina Democratic Party blasted the mailer Thursday as "just the latest racist dog whistle from the state Republican Party." "This mailer is a disgusting example of the bigotry and discrimination that has permeated the North Carolina Republican Party for years," Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin said in a statement. "It’s dishonest, deceptive and blatantly racist." North Carolina Republican Party spokesman Tim Wigginton said those "wild false accusations ... do not merit a response."
https://www.wral.com/this-judge-isn-t-on-the-ballot-but-she-s-on-a-gop-mailer/19361065/