Magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattles Southern California, but no major damage reported LA Times

Tropical Storm Beta to spend days pounding Gulf Coast AccuWeather

12 Facts About the First Day of Fall TreeHugger

On Quitting Academia London Review of Books

Roger Angell Turns 100 American Conservative. I know I posted on this just days before he actually Attained the milestone. Now that he has, he deserves a second post. It’s not even day that some hits 100.

A patient has died after ransomware hackers hit a German hospital MIT Technology Review

The Indian queens who modelled for the world’s first vaccine BBC

RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Will the Election Turn on R.B.G.? NYT MoDo

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist pioneer and progressive icon, dies at 87 Scotusblog

Trump says he will nominate woman to the Supreme Court next week WaPo

Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day The Hill

‘Nothing is off the table’: Supreme Court fight could reshape the Senate Politico

Op-Ed: Democrats have a secret weapon to thwart a rapid Ginsburg replacement. They should use it LATimes Erwin Chemerinsky

How Abraham Lincoln Fought the Supreme Court Jacobin

Alaska Senator Murkowski said Friday she would not vote for a justice ahead of Inauguration Day Alaska Public Media

Lindsey Graham Earlier Vowed a President in Their Last Year Shouldn’t Fill Supreme Court Vacancy: ‘Use My Words Against Me’ Newsweek

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Obama calls on Republicans to delay filling vacancy – as it happened Guardian

The biggest obstacle we will face in addressing the court problem isn’t Mitch McConnell, it’ll be @neal_katyal and elite lawyers. It’s the legal liberal elites who are trained to worship the Supreme Court and disdain Congress.

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) September 19, 2020

I wouldn’t count on it, but it’s a straw in the wind. Although a lame duck strategy, if that’s where #MoscowMitchMcConnell is headed, could ease the pressure on weasels like Collins, it might conceivably bring out the moral compass of Romney and Grassley:https://t.co/6nuLRDLf2V

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 19, 2020

I opted not to touch this one last night bc I wanted to preserve my sanity, but it didn’t escape me that this woman damning throngs of disenfranchised, disaffected, working class voters to hell bc they didn’t like HILLARY CLINTON of all people is peak white feminism.

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) September 19, 2020

#COVID-19

Boris Johnson unveils £10,000 fines for those breaking self-isolation rules while people on low incomes will be paid £500 to stay indoors in strict new restrictions – as infections soar and battle rages among Ministers over a second lockdown Daily Mail

Death, Miscarriage and COVID-19:  Inside ICE Air’s History of Medical Neglect Capital & Main

Time to try out some luxury PPE, now that Covid face masks are so last spring Guardian

Hong Kong records 23 new Covid-19 infections, mostly imported from India, Philippines, Nepal and Sweden SCMP

‘This is just slowing the clock on evictions’: Why the CDC’s moratorium on evictions won’t solve America’s looming $100 billion rental crisis MarketWatch

Australia reports lowest coronavirus cases in three months: Live Al Jazeera

Health Care

‘I Only Need To Stick Around 4 Or 5 More Years’: Doctor Shows How Horrific The US Healthcare System Is Bored Panda

New drug combination extends survival with advanced kidney cancer. It’s poised to enter a competitive treatment market Stat. Hope it works. My father died of kidney cancer.

New Cold War

Stephen Cohen Has Died. Remember His Urgent Warnings Against The New Cold War. Caitlin Johnstone (UserFriendly)

Julian Asssange

Why is Amnesty Barred From Monitoring Julian Assange’s Extradition Hearings? | Opinion Newsweek

MAINSTREAM US REPORTERS SILENT ABOUT BEING SPIED ON BY APPARENT CIA CONTRACTOR THAT TARGETED ASSANGE Grayzone. Max Blumenthal.

Empire’s Mask Slips at Julian Assange Trial Dissident Voice. Pepe Escobar.

Brexit

Why Boris Johnson’s Britain Is Turning ‘Rogue State’ Over Brexit Bloomberg

Our Famously Free Press

That movie was so ahead of its time. Brilliantly predicted so much of our current situation, down to the shlock religiosity of the modern political news viewing experience. https://t.co/Wgi0igggXF

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) September 19, 2020

Class Warfare

Every Single Person Has a Right to Housing Jacobin

West Coast Wildfires

Bobcat fire explodes to 93,842 acres, claims homes amid heavy winds; more evacuations ordered LA Times

Media Blame Gender Reveal Parties, Not Climate Change, for West Coast Fires FAIR

2020

Biden’s polling lead nears magic number Politico

Joe Biden’s Court Vacancy Plan: More Talk of Health Care and the Pandemic NYT

2020 Election Could Decide Whether US Pursues Nuclear Escalation or Arms Control TruthOut

Declaring 2020’s Winner Could Well Hinge on How Quickly States Count Mail Ballots WSJ

China?

In a US-China war, whose side is Southeast Asia on? Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia ponder the unthinkable SCMP

Americans won’t be able to download TikTok or WeChat from Sunday MIT Technology Review

India

How can India get out of the low-growth trap? Sabyasachi Kar has an unconventional proposa Scroll

As Bengal Elections Approach, Digital Media Fills Up with Propaganda Camouflaged as News The Wire

The Clear Night Sky Over India and China’s Hostile Border New Yorker

Interview: India’s Low COVID-19 Mortality Not Unique, Rural Spread Is Worrying The Wire

Crowded rooms, shared phones but a will to learn — how Delhi’s street kids study in a pandemic The Print

India’s coronavirus infections surge to 5.4 million Reuters

Lebanon

“We sweep trauma under the carpet and carry on” Qantara

Trump Transition

Petitions of the week: A pair of cases on Trump and the emoluments clauses Scotusblog

Iran urges defiance of sanctions as US threatens ‘consequences’ Al Jazeera

Envelope Containing Ricin Intercepted in White House Mail WSJ

Antidote du Jour (via):

And a bonus video:

A pair of endangered Swift Parrots bathing, Don Reserve, Tasmania. Not used to seeing them on the ground where the light above really shows off their colours. Handheld at 600mm @BirdlifeOz @BirdLifeTas @ausgeo #auswildlife @ParrotOfTheDay @CornellBirds @TassieWild pic.twitter.com/HUEVpjUxXB

— Thomas D.J. Sayers (@tdjsayers) September 19, 2020

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.