Good morning — and happy Friday! It’s also International Mental Health Day, but that doesn’t mean the whole world is taking a much-needed day off — it’s just one of those awareness campaigns.
Election news…
- A federal judge struck down Texas’ voter ID law, calling it a “poll tax.” Ryan Reilly reports for HuffPo.
- The Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin’s ID law, but state officials are vowing to fight for its implementation. Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Bill Glauber have the details at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
- The FEC issued rules implementing SCOTUS’ Citizens United decision that left campaign finance reformers deeply frustrated. They gut spending limits for national party committees but don’t include any disclosure requirements to address an avalanche of dark money. NPR has more.
- All of this came down a day after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority blocked a lower court’s order that North Carolina restore early voting and allow out-of-precinct voting. In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued that the decision would disproportionately impact black voters, “in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.”
- WaMo’s Ed Kilgore says that the recent revelation that David Perdue, the GOP candidate in Georgia’s US Senate race, had been a dedicated outsourcer — and his claim that he’s proud of it — may swing that race to Democrat Michelle Nunn.
Ebola –> TNR’s Jonathan Cohn is exactly right: “Stop Freaking Out About America’s Single Ebola Death, and Start Worrying About West Africa.” BUT: One group that has some reason for concern are the workers who clean up airplanes. They say they haven’t been provided with adequate training or safety gear and are striking, according to the WSJ. AND: A British man has died at a hotel in Macedonia. Ebola is suspected, but hasn’t been confirmed, according to The Telegraph.
Speaking of airplanes –> Vanity Fair’s William Langeweische writes that today’s pilots enjoy so much automation that they may not be getting enough experience to handle situations when their systems fail them.
Solar –> At MoJo, Tim McDonnell notes that Walmart is the biggest corporate user of solar panels, and wonders why the company is funding groups that are working to undermine state-level clean energy policies.
IS –> The Daily Beast headlines that US warplanes are “blowing the Hell” out of Islamic State fighters near the besieged Syrian town of Kobani. But despite the airstrikes, Jamie Dettmer writes, Kobani is likely to fall to the militants. AND: At New York magazine, Sulome Anderson writes about a reporter and Iraq vet who has been captured by the Islamic State, and who happens to be a friend.
Mysterious death –> A popular, seemingly happy black teenager was found hanging from a swing set near his home in Bladenboro, North Carolina. Police quickly concluded that there was no evidence of foul-play, but the boy’s family and the broader community aren’t satisfied with the investigation. Ed Pilkington reports for The Guardian.
Lego distances itself from Big Oil –> A Greenpeace campaign has successfully pressured the Danish toymaker to end its co-promotion deal with Shell Oil. Robert Eshelman has the story at Vice.
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