Cameron Williams, a library worker in Chattanooga, Tenn., who helped organize protests against police brutality, was fired from his job after being accused of appearing in a social media video burning copies of books by former President Donald Trump and conservative author Ann Coulter.

Bob Dole, 97, the longtime Republican Kansas senator who ran for president in 1996, announced he is beginning treatment for Stage 4 lung cancer, saying that while he's facing hurdles, "I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own."

Ivanka Trump, 39, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, won't seek Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat in 2022, a Rubio spokesman said, as Ivanka Trump, in a statement, called the GOP incumbent "a tremendous advocate for working families."

Gail Samuel, current president of the Hollywood Bowl and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will become the first female president and chief operating officer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra when she takes over in June.

Brent Bennett, 37, of Hartford, Ala., who bought cattle from a Thomas County stockyard last year but still owes $383,000 because of bounced checks and unpaid bills, was charged with theft by deception, sheriff's investigators said.

Robert Lombardo, 46, of Leesville, La., faces two counts of second-degree murder after deputies discovered the bodies of his 83-year-old father and 60-year-old stepmother in their home when a family member notified authorities that Lombardo had said "he had beaten his parents to death."

Jamilla Hall, who once worked for the Florida Prepaid College Program, has been sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison for stealing about $42,000 from people who had been paying into the system.

Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, journalists with Polish-funded Belsat TV, were convicted of violating public order and sentenced to two years in prison for covering a public protest against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

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In the news - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Former first lady Michelle Obamas winter CSA came courtesy of current first lady Jill Biden and the White House garden,which Obama originally planted. Obama posted a picture of the basket on Instagram, writing, So thankful for this beautiful care package from our amazing @FLOTUS! These fresh veggies from the White House Kitchen Garden were such a wonderfuland delicioussurprise. Love you, Jill! To which, Jill, who shares her husbands gentle corniness, responded, Food is love.

One can read this as a clear statement on Bidens part, just as Obamas choice to build the garden was a clearstatement. The former first lady broke ground on the garden in 2009, and at the time the symbolism wasnt subtle: She believed buying local and organically grown food, with less of a reliance on industrialfarming, would make for healthier Americans. To that end, the first lady chose to grow vegetables, which hadnt been done at scale at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt tended her victory garden.

It was a deeply intentional project, and Obama published a book in 2012,American Grown,in which she explained every choice made. She said she wanted it to be a learning garden, where children could plant seeds and come back and see the literal fruits of their labor, as well as a statement on childhood nutrition.

As both a mother and a first lady, I was alarmed about reports of skyrocketing childhood obesity rates and the dire consequences for our childrens health, she wrote. And I hoped this garden would begin a conversation about this issuea conversation about the food we eat, the lives we lead, and how all of that affects our children.

It certainly started a conversation, though not the one she intended. The gardenand what it represented (namely, the2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act)became a conservative talking point, able to fill minutes of airtime with gleeful bad faith arguments that, looking back, seem as quaint as a tan suit. The argument at the time? Vegetables are elitist (really, it was that Obamas efforts to improve school lunches threatened industrial agricultures bottom line).

So when Trump won the election, all eyes, or at least some eyes, were on the garden. Ann Coulter even tweeted in 2016: I respectfully suggest a new name for Michelles White House vegetable garden: Putting green.

Melania Trump instead chose to quietly-ish maintain the garden that Michelle built. That equivocating mirrors the equivocating on the part of the first lady at the time, which we grew used to over the past four years. She could have easily taken steamroll to it and put upI dont knowa cold, modern sculpture garden. Would have been cool! But a lot less nutritious.

Instead Melania chose to publicly harvest the vegetables that the Obamas planted, and also add cement reinforcements to help make the garden permanent.It was one of the first things she did once at the White House in 2017. Im a big believer in healthy eatingit encourages a healthy mind and body, the first lady told the children gathered around her at the event, all from a local Boys and Girls Club.Was the event in and of itself a sign that she would try to continue Obamas school lunch efforts or otherwise promote some food policy at all? No, there was never any legislation support or lobbying or even another day in which she hosted children at the garden after that. Where there was explicit intentionality before, here therewere just some simple platitudes and a lot of guesswork. Most people focused on the$1,380 Balmain top she chose to garden in, anyway. No conservative pundits managed to rail against elitism on that one.

So now the garden is back front and center, via a care package from one first lady to another, posted for all to see on Instagram. Its a signal that Obamas efforts are at least approved of in Jills East Wing, and bodes well for the support of small farms or school lunch effortsthough what, exactly, support of the garden materially means will have to be seen.

Its something of a lovely image of continuity beyond that too: The vegetables were planted during the Trump administration. Even though Melania chose not to advertiseit, beyond that 2017 photo-call, someone kept planting.At least we have the peaceful transfer of vegetables.

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From Michelle to Melania to Jill: At Least the White House Garden Experienced a Peaceful Transfer of Power - Vanity Fair

Like many Chattanoogans, I am following the upcoming Chattanooga mayors race with interest. Do I know whom I am voting for, or have I gone through and read every one of the candidates profiles or watched any Zoom campaign forums? The answer to both of those is no, but I hope to do some homework between now and the March 2 election. The same is true for the City Council race. I live on the north end of District 2, and my wife, Laura, and I actually had two candidates stop by our house on successive cold Saturdays in January pitching their qualifications. One person came by when we were both here, and we decided we would vote for that person primarily on campaigning effort amid the cold alone. And then the next Saturday, while I was home alone, another candidate came by in a winter coat and seemed like a good candidate as well, so I am actually still debating on that race. It is always healthy when there are seemingly a lot of good candidates for a local office and who represent a variety of views, as seems to be the case in the mayors race. Part of my interest in the race this year is that this is the first mayor/City Council election I have been able to vote in since Bob Corker was elected in 2001. I moved to Cleveland in 2003 due to my wifes career as a United Methodist minister and then spent 12 years in Knoxville before moving back here in 2017 just after the last mayoral/City Council election. So, I am ready to cast my vote. And the race has seemed refreshing so far in that there are a lot of upbeat TV ads by those who have enough campaign funds to run them. And there is genuine interest in serving the community by the vast majority of the candidates. I like Tim Kellys ad about fixing a few potholes as well as mentioning his other qualifications, and I find myself trying to guess all the places where Kim White is filming her ads. I have picked out Heritage Park in East Brainerd, Coolidge Park, and the retail alley area between Market and Cherry streets. And I want to guess and say the football stadium is at Hixson High School. And who cannot like Chris Longs four-sign storyboard found along busy highway intersections about his candidacy. Or at least you can admire the creativity that went into it. All the campaigning has been upbeat so far for the mayors race, which is nice after last falls ridiculously dirty presidential and federal elections. Lets hope that continues, although who knows if the race appears tight late or goes into a runoff, and what a candidate did in 1993 suddenly comes to the forefront. Politics can obviously be dirty and brutal, and I admire anyone who sticks their neck out to run for office, although I know running is part ego buildup for many and not just all serving my community or giving back, as candidates like to always say. One time when I was living in Knoxville, I saw that former mayor candidate Ann Coulter was to be there in connection with her private consulting/planning work on the Cumberland Avenue Strip area of Knoxville by the UT campus. I contacted her about interviewing her while she was there regarding her 2005 mayor campaign against Ron Littlefield that had concluded a year or so earlier. I did end up having a nice interview with her about the Knoxville work, but she was reluctant to go back and revisit that bitter race due to the personal toll, which I understood. Like Kim White, she had also been involved with the RiverCity non-profit downtown redevelopment company. And some initially thought Ms. Coulter might become the first woman mayor, a feat Ms. White and Dr. Elenora Woods are trying to accomplish. Knoxvilles last two mayors have been women. I occasionally covered the first one, Madeline Rogero. One time she spoke at our church and gave a nice talk about some of the citys accomplishments, many of which had already been well documented in TV and newspaper reports. I was tempted to ask her, While all of these accomplishments are nice and have been documented in the media, I was wondering what a typical day as mayor is like, or do you ever pinch yourself that you are the mayor, or the first woman mayor? The current Knoxville mayor is Indya Kincannon, whose father had been a top U.S education official. Besides electing Chattanoogas first woman mayor, some would also like to see Chattanooga elect its first Black mayor. Chattanoogas city electorate is diverse enough that both conservative-leaning and liberal-leaning candidates have been elected mayor in the recent past, even though the candidates dont represent a political party in theory. Among some of the candidates, Ms. White graduated from Hixson High not too long after I graduated from Baylor School in 1978. As someone who lived less than a mile from Hixson High growing up, I know a lot of Hixson graduates from that era have done well in their professional lives. Fellow candidate Monty Bruell was a year behind me at Baylor and was the first Black graduate of the independent school. I had an opportunity to interview him in the 1990s about the experiences. Tim Kelly graduated from Baylor in 1985, just one year ahead of current mayor Andy Berke. (And while I am on my Go Big Red kick, Jon Kinsey, the mayor from 1997-2001, graduated from Baylor in 1972.) A few years ago, I had a delightful interview with Tim Kellys mother, Betty Sue, about her memories of Girls Preparatory School classmate and 1958 May queen Grace Moore, who had been tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1960 in North Carolina. Betty Sues father had headed the Ayers auto dealership. I am sure a lot of the other candidates have interesting stories of their various school experiences and other life lessons, and I look forward to learning about them. Other mayoral candidates not yet mentioned are Monty Bell, Lon Cartwright, Christopher Dahl, DAngelo Davis, Russell Gilbert, Wade Hinton, George Ryan Love, Andrew McLaren, Erskine Oglesby, and Robert C. Wilson. Over the years, I have had opportunities to interview several Chattanooga mayors. One time I briefly talked with Rudy Olgiati, the mayor from 1951-63, over the phone. He was older by that time, but I was trying to talk to him about some piece of history and reached him down at a great-nephews house in South Carolina. He did not offer me much information, but I cherished just being able to talk with him, even though I knew he was in declining health. And in the 1990s while at the Chattanooga Free Press, I decided to do a series on former Chattanooga mayors and had nice interviews with Ralph Kelley (1963-69), Robert Kirk Walker (1971-75), and Pat Rose (1975-83). I remember Mr. Kelley proudly told me from his federal bankruptcy judge chambers how he, a white man, had tried hard to connect with the Black community and had no major racial conflicts of note while mayor in the turbulent 1960s. He had graduated from the University of Chattanooga. Mr. Walker, meanwhile, talked about his term from his law office and how he was going to finally take a day off for his birthday after a hard first month or so, and then the major race riots broke out after the cancellation of the Wilson Pickett concert. As a result, the Central High grad and father of former McCallie headmaster Kirk Walker had to work even harder trying to bring peace back to the community over several very tense days. Former Mayor Rose came over to the papers office and very amicably and in a goodwill ambassador style talked about his days in office. The former Atlantan could not have been nicer and more patient with me. Both he and Mayor Kelley had natural charisma that no doubt helped them as politicians. I also later interviewed lower-key Mayor Gene Roberts (1983-97), who was probably as responsible as any mayor for all the downtown redevelopment projects, like the Tennessee Aquarium. Of course, a lot of citizens and other civic leaders were also involved, including philanthropist Jack Lupton and future mayor Ron Littlefield (2005-13), who was head of the Chattanooga Venture non-profit planning group at the time. I have corresponded occasionally via email with former Mayor Littlefield over the years. I also talked with Jon Kinsey briefly, but about a development project after he left office. He seemed easily approachable. In 2001 when I was doing some freelance writing as a Chattanooga correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they asked me to interview Bob Corker right after he had been elected mayor. He kindly agreed, and I went over to his office in the Volunteer Building a day or two after the election and had a nice talk with him before he left on a brief vacation. I remember he kept pacing back and forth while talking to me. As someone who gets a little fidgety as well sitting for too long, I could certainly relate to that. I remember he also indirectly asked me if I was interested in applying to be his press spokesman, as I guess he had not filled that position. Being back in school and enjoying my freelance writing, I did not pursue it. I wrote my story and was surprised when I saw it after it was published. The editors had about doubled it in length with information about his past business dealings or some issues like that. I guess the editors were just trying to give a broader view of him, but I kind of felt like it was no longer my story or in the mostly upbeat tone in which I had written it. I hope Mr. Corker, a City High graduate, did not think any less of me, as I still think fondly of my visit with him, and I enjoyed following his career to the U.S. Senate afterward. And I always wondered if he ever had any meetings on Capitol Hill where he paced back and forth, too!

* * * Jcshearer2@comcast.net

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John Shearer: Random Thoughts About Mayoral Candidates And Past Mayors - The Chattanoogan

In 2020, one of the people on the right who drew attention to Marjorie Taylor Greene's extremism was Dr. John Cowan, the Georgia-based neurosurgeon she defeated in a GOP congressional primary. CNN's Michael Smerconish interviewed Cowan on January 30 and posed the question: is Greene's extremism a symptom of a larger problem in the Republican Party?

Greene has drawn a great deal of criticism from Democrats recently for everything from advocating the murder of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to attacking survivors of school shootings. The Philadelphia-based Smerconish opened his segment by explaining, "By now, everyone in America knows the name Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-supporting member of Congress. Her behavior before and after getting elected is a greatest-hits reel of truly deplorable conduct. Among them, before she was a candidate: agreeing that the Sandy Hook and Parkland mass shootings were staged, harassing one of the Parkland mass shooting survivors, labeling the House speaker as treasonous for which she said the punishment is death."

Smerconish noted that although Cowan is quite conservative and has described himself as "pro-Trump, pro-life, pro-gun," Greene defeated him by 15% in a GOP congressional primary in 2020 and wanted to know why Georgia Republicans found her more appealing. During that primary, Smerconish recalled, Cowan said of Greene, "My opponent is absolutely crazy."

Cowan recalled, "She presented herself as a very strong fighter outspoken, and people said, 'Maybe that's the kind of grenade we need up in Washington, D.C.'" Smerconish, however, stressed that Cowan was offering Georgia Republicans a conservative agenda "without the crazy quotient."

"The easiest part of this is to look at some of her conduct and to find it truly deplorable," Smerconish told Cowan. "But it makes me wonder: is she the problem, or is she just a symptom of something more deep-seated a kind of mindset that exists among a lot of people?"

Over the years, Smerconish has not been shy about calling out far-right extremism he was especially critical of wingnut author Ann Coulter during the 2000s and 2010s. And in 2008, the conservative/libertarian pundit sent shock waves through right-wing talk radio when he announced that he was voting for Barack Obama rather than Sen. John McCain in that year's presidential election.

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Smerconish: Who elected Marjorie Taylor Greene? http://www.youtube.com

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CNN host: Is Marjorie Taylor Greene's conduct a 'symptom' of a 'deep-seated mindset' in the GOP? - Raw Story

This is the moment Piers Morgan erupted in anger at a Conservative commentator on Good Morning Britain today.

Ann Coulter was on the ITV1 daytime TV favourite dialling in via video link for an interview in the wake of the US Election.

Joe Biden won the Election, it was confirmed on Saturday, after days of President Donald Trump alleging voter fraud.

"There may have been a little funny business with the ballots," Ann said.

Susanna hit back: "There is no evidence yet is there, though?"

Piers said: "The truth is this. There is no hard evidence of widespread fraud and the truth is there have been thousands of appeals at all levels into fraudulent voting.

"Only on three occasions have they found any substance.

"There is currently no substance on this claim."

Ann hit back: "I don't think it will change the result of the Election. Once it is baked into the cake, it is baked into the cake.

"But just looking at it, it is perfectly obvious. That is absolutely not true there is no substance.

"Just looking at it, it is obvious - 4am election night and there is four states Trump had won, in big urban areas where there are big Democrat political machines.

"I am not saying it will change the result of the election. I kind of like the result of the election.

"I do not think Kamala will be very hard to beat in four years."

GMB continues to air each weekday from 6am on ITV1.

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Piers Morgan erupts in fiery clash with GMB guest over US Election 'voter fraud' - Birmingham Live

With President Trumps chances of staying in the White House dwindling, the Republican Party potentially faces a vacuum as it works out who might be the GOPs new leader and standardbearer in 2024.

The departure of Trump from the scene opens the door to a number of potential candidates who have come up under the mercurial billionaire and who will vie to inherit the movement he created.

Never Trumpers lost, MAGA won, Ann Coulter an original Trump booster, who later soured on the president told The Post. We need Trumpism Without Trump.

Governor of Florida

Age 42

The governor of Florida went all in with Trump during his 2018 race and defied the polls to beat his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum. Defying dire warnings from liberals, the Florida populist has also moved aggressively to reopen his state and has managed to avoid devastating new surges of COVID-19.

With a population larger than New York state and a lot older under DeSantis, Florida had fewer deaths without destroying the economy, said Coulter, a DeSantis fan. He prevented BLM protests from turning into destructive riots by vowing to bring felony charges for toppling statues or blocking traffic Hes articulate, but not prissy, like [Mitt] Romney.

Senator from Texas

Age 49

If there was a second-place finisher in the 2016 Republican primary, it was Ted Cruz. The Texas senator won the Iowa caucus and was the only Trump rival who even came within running distance of the billionaire. Though famously disliked and not endorsed by any of his GOP Senate colleagues at the time, Cruz has worked hard on his image and playing nice with his fellow senators.

Cruz has also developed a vibrant Twitter account, with 4 million followers and growing, where he regularly feeds red meat to the base and has been a champion of free speech online. Where Trump was often volatile and thin-skinned on the platform, Cruz is controlled and often indulges in self-deprecating jokes that he might be the Zodiac killer.

I think Ted Cruz is the likely front-runner and will be very difficult to beat in Iowa. He will be a formidable candidate, GOP strategist Luke Thompson told The Post.

Fox News opinion host

Age 51

The Fox News primetime host is the most watched cable news star on television right now. His program Tucker Carlson Tonight was supposedly regular viewing in the White House. In March, it was Carlson who went to Mar-a-Lago to give Trump a stern warning about COVID-19 just days before the president declared a state of emergency.

A telling harbinger of his future? The enemies of Trump now view Carlson with fear. In September 2019, the New York Times produced a whole column imagining a Carlson administration, with the host himself featured above the story as the literal terminator.

Come, take a stroll with me through my recurrent nightmare: Its the sweltering summer of 2029, and the man in charge is Tucker Carlson that is, President Tucker Carlson now in his triumphant second term, after having defeated the incumbent Joseph Recession Joe Biden back in 2024, wrote Farhad Manjoo.

Rick Wilson, a founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, told The Post that Carlson was among the most likely choices his former party could rally around in 2024. Carlson (so far) says hes not interested.

Former US Ambassador to the United Nation

Age 48

Many who have despised Trumps more isolationist tendencies have been drawn to the possible candidacy of Nikki Haley. Many are hopeful the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations could rebuild trust in NATO and other US alliances around the world.

Shes a favorite of billionaire Republican mega-donor Ronald Lauder, who honored her last year with an award at the World Jewish Congress, where he serves as president.

You will not be able to rest because we expect even greater things from you, Lauder told Haley during the ceremony, where he also called her perhaps the most courageous woman in America today.

As a woman of color, electing Haley in 2024 would shatter many glass ceilings.

President of the United States

Age 74

Theres nothing stopping Trump himself from staging a political comeback. He wouldnt be much older than Biden now in 2024. He earned more votes than any Republican presidential candidate in history and few GOP aspirants would likely seek out a direct challenge a la 2016.

It wouldnt even be unprecedented, as President Grover Cleveland famously served two non-consecutive terms, from 1885 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897.

As many on the left have pointed out, the 2020 election was less a repudiation of Trump than a narrow loss for a man who proved just unpalatable enough for a critical sliver of his coalition.

Sean Spicer, a former Trump press secretary, told The Post his ex-boss would be an instant front-runner in a 2024 primary. He has a rock-solid base, I just dont think that there is anyone else who even comes close.

Teasing a potential run in 2024 would at the very least ensure Trump stays relevant and in the press for years to come.

If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump could also potentially pick up the mantle. Trump Jr. has long acted as an outside surrogate for his father online and in the press and connects strongly with his base. Ivanka, meanwhile, has years of administration experience under her belt as a White House adviser to her father.

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Here's who could be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024 - New York Post

An OU student group is holding a Thursday evening protest against a Turning Point USA event hosting best-selling author and conservative media pundit Ann Coulter.

The protest Stand Up Against Bigots like Ann Coulter will take place at 6:30 p.m. on the east side of the Oklahoma Memorial Union, according to a graphic.

Susie Kerr, a microbiology senior, said in a message this is an informal gathering organized by Student Advocates Against Governmental Injustice.

We want to use our voice to stand in solidarity and let marginalized groups or persons in the OU community know that there are people here who support them and do not condone hate, Kerr said. Ann Coulter has a history for misogynistic, racist, xenophobic and ableist rhetoric that may make some members of our community feel unsafe or unwanted, so while she is here, we would like to counter that dialogue.

The graphic contains no other information other than the time, place, and reason, which is to protest the guest speaker presenting on campus. Coulter, who has been criticized in the past for anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric after the Sept. 11 attacks, will be speaking in the union at 7 p.m. hosted by the OU chapter of Turning Point USA.

The TPUSA event will adhere to the universitys social distancing and masking guidelines, according to the event registration page,and Coulter will be discussing the outcome of the election and college politics as they relate to our community, according to a TPUSA press release. The release acknowledged a statement from OU College Democrats calling for the event to be canceled, stating the event would not be canceled or postponed.

The release also acknowledged Coulters past remarks.

We encourage the community to remember that a college campus is a place where students are meant to encounter a spectrum of ideas, and engage in open, rational debate, the release read. We must value ideological diversity, because if we are thinking the same, then we are not thinking at all.

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OU Student Advocates Against Governmental Injustice to hold informal protest at Ann Coulter speaking event - The Oklahoma Daily

Voters faced a fresh barrage of misinformation Tuesday, the latest development in a voting period that has been marred by misleading narratives across social media.

Twitter removed a post, shared from a screenshot on Instagram, in which a person falsely claiming to be a poll worker in Erie, Pa., said he had thrown out hundreds of Trump ballots. A far-right influencer falsely claimed on Twitter said that the National Guard had been deployed to Philadelphia and other cities to prevent unrest in the case of a Trump victory.

#Stopthesteal, a hashtag associated with alleged voter fraud and a Democratic theft of the election, was used more than 50,000 times, driven largely by right-leaning influencers including Donald Trump Jr. and Ann Coulter amplifying isolated incidents, according to researchers. One video, in which a pro-Trump poll watcher was mistakenly prevented from entering a Philadelphia polling location, racked up more than 287 million likes, retweets and views across Twitter by the afternoon as evidence of efforts to steal the election, according to researchers.

Late Monday, in a tweet Twitter restricted with a label, President Trump said the Supremes Courts recent decision about Pennsylvania mail-in ballots will induce violence in the streets. He added, Something must be done!

Many of the attempts appeared specifically targeted at voters in swing states, particularly in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Some, like the presidents, intimated that violence could take place. His statements echoed concerns by elected officials and businesses, which boarded up storefronts before Election Day.

My biggest fear is the potential for physical violence that we didnt have in 2016, said Alex Stamos, head of the Stanford Internet Observatory and a former Facebook chief security officer, said on a media call Tuesday morning from the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of misinformation researchers that examined the #Stopthesteal hashtag.

The lead up to the 2020 election has been uniquely influenced by social media, particularly because in-person campaigning has been more limited by the global pandemic. Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Bidens campaigns have spent millions of dollars on social media and other targeted advertising in recent weeks.

But researchers have cautioned that domestic disinformation has also taken on an increased power this election, as groups attempt to spread lies online and even the president uses his Twitter account to share misinformation to his more than 87 million followers.

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Google-owned YouTube, collectively have held more than 100 scenario-planning exercises, launched a spate of new policies including prohibitions on premature declarations of victory and calls to violence, and taken unprecedented enforcement actions, according to the companies.

They have come up with detailed plans on how they will flag whether the election is decided or not, partnering with media outlets to attempt to slow the spread of misinformation. Facebook and Google have banned political and social ads with the close of polls Tuesday, while Twitter has banned them entirely.

They are trying to prevent a repeat of 2016, when in the weeks after the election they discovered that their platforms were abused by Russian operatives who successfully showed disinformation to American voters.

The final day of voting culminates a period in which disinformation has been spread beyond just social media, including in text messages, email and old-fashioned mail.

Across the U.S. voters received an estimated 10 million robocalls in recent days encouraging them to stay safe and stay home, according to researchers.

Throughout Election Day, Twitter labeled some posts as disputed and potentially misleading about an election or other civic process, including several #StopTheSteal posts that suggested fraud was rampant. But many of them remained on the site, unflagged, including a tweet by Trump campaign official Mike Roman that said Democrats were keeping TRUMP WATCHERS OUT to steal the race. The post had gained more than 11,000 retweets by early afternoon.

On Tuesday, officials in Erie County, Pa., disputed the claims in the viral post regarding Trump ballots being tossed. The person making the statements does not work in any way with Erie County, the county said on its Twitter account.

The dissemination of misleading narratives was highly centralized, and, in places, took on the characteristics of a game. A post on 8kun, the anonymous image board at the center of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, advised the use of particular hashtags, from #Watchyourballot to #VoteInPerson to #Trump2020Landslide. The message illustrated the behind-the-scenes coordination that goes into creating the appearance of an online groundswell.

The presidents tweet about violence in Pennsylvania was labeled by Twitter with a notice that voting by mail and voting in person have a long history of trustworthiness, and that voter fraud is extremely rare. It also took actions to restrict the spread of the tweet. But the tweet had already been retweeted more than 55,000 times before the social media company throttled it, according to the Election Integrity Partnership.

Facebook appended a label to the same post on its site about the security of mail balloting. Still, it received internal pushback from Facebooks own employees saying they should do more, according to internal communications viewed by The Washington Post.

The light touch from the worlds largest social network alarmed David Brody, counsel and senior fellow for privacy and technology at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Its really important for the platforms to raise up the authoritative sources and algorithmically downlink conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated rumors, said Brody, warning about the possibility that the presidents words could lead to real-world violence.

The #stopthesteal hashtag gained momentum Tuesday as users and right-leaning influencers spread the banned poll watcher video and other isolated incidents of improper practices or glitches at polling locations, according to First Draft News, a nonprofit that focuses on tackling misinformation. Pro-Trump users had previously popularized the #stopthesteal hashtag during the 2018 midterm election, as part of similarly baseless allegations of wide-scale voter fraud. There were also some signs the hashtag had been promoted by bots.

Zignal Labs, a media intelligence firm, said the hashtag went from just a few dozen mentions at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning to more than 2,000 every 15 minutes by 8:15.

The video of a Trump poll worker wrongfully being denied entry to a polling place in Philadelphia went viral on Twitter with that hashtag and commentary around efforts to steal the election. A local polling judge incorrectly told him that his certificate only worked at one location in the city, when in fact it worked at any.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesman for the Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley, said the locations judge of election made an honest mistake in preventing the watcher from entering the location, and the commissioners office acted quickly in informing him of the correct rules.

The poll watcher did not re-enter that particular location, but Feeley said he did gain admittance to another polling location in Philadelphia.

Narratives pushing unproven allegations of widespread voter fraud have been circulating on social media for months, including from Trump, his adult sons, and affiliated outlets and supporters. Stories have been taken out of context, such as a claim that ballots which were found in a ditch in Wisconsin were put there on purpose to hurt Trump.

A video clip of Biden that was deceptively edited to make it appear as if he was admitting to voter fraud racked up more than 17 million views over the past week, according to the left-leaning human rights group Avaaz.

That has led to additional concerns about potential manipulated videos surfacing Tuesday and in the aftermath of voting, in attempts to cast doubt on results.

The Washington Posts Drew Harwell, Cat Zakrzewski and Tony Romm contributed to this report.

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Online lies and misinformation surge on Election Day - Anchorage Daily News

On the lawn of Jeff Whritenours house in Kinnelon, New Jersey, a sign reads, Presidents are temporary, the Grateful Dead is forever. A few feet away, a flag bearing the iconography of the Grateful Dead flies above a Trump 2020 banner. Passersby often pause for a double-take, no doubt questioning what many would perceive as conflicting messages. After all, the Dead were liberal, pot-smoking hippies of the San Francisco counterculture; musicians inspired by the LSD experience of the 1960s and the Beat Generation. These attributes arent what naturally comes to mind when thinking of Donald Trumps supporters but Whritenour doesnt see it that way.

Im not a big fan of the president, but at the end of the day, Trump is about individual freedom and so was the Dead, says the insurance claims consultant. His take, along with that of an unknown number of Trump-supporting Deadheads, is that the Grateful Deads philosophy was about individual liberties and not telling people what to do.

I aint buyin it, declares Dennis McNally, the Grateful Deads longtime publicist and author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. McNally worked for the band from 1984 to 2004 and feels that the essence of the Grateful Deads music and its core members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann is to be compassionate and tolerant. The capacity for people to compartmentalize their lives is infinite, and anyone who is serious about being a Deadhead and then supports Trump is more or less consciously overlooking the values that he espouses which are bigotry and cruelty.

The Deads lyrics are not a polemic, there is a lot of room for interpretation and disparate perceptions. Further, its difficult to identify a singular theme or collective Grateful Dead political philosophy. Most of their lyrics were written by Robert Hunter, a poet inspired by folk music whose words elicited no mundane meanings but rather formed an authentic journey into an old, ideal, adventurous storybook America. The Dead saw themselves as meta-political, playing concerts at anti-war protests but never supporting any political candidates. In fact, its rare that an original song by the Dead even reference a news event of its time. The Dead have no Ohio in their repertoire.

Courtesy of Jeff Whritenour

That political agnosticism may in fact be what draws Republicans and libertarians to the band. Deroy Murdock, a political commentator and Fox News contributor, saw the Dead over 70 times and uses the song Liberty specifically Hunters lyric to find my own way home as evidence that the Deads values are inherently conservative. Murdock attended Dead shows in the 80s and 90s with other rightist commentators like Ann Coulter and Marc Caputo. The emphasis of individuality, self-expression, and patriotism is appealing to Trump supporters, says Murdock, who prefers to focus on the presidents policy record rather than his public demeanor. Yet, after over four years of nonstop coverage, late-night tweet storms, and questionable leadership, its hard not to focus on Trumps character. Murdock thinks that Garcia, the Deads somewhat reluctant leader, and Hunter would have found Trump amusing. They would have laughed at his antics.

Actually, Hunter is spinning in his grave, says McNally, who worked closely with the late lyricist and Garcia. Steve Silberman, a New York Times best-selling author who co-produced So Many Roads, a boxset of Grateful Dead music, says of Garcia: Could you imagine Jerry supporting a government kidnapping 500 children and losing their parents? I cant.

This isnt to say the band never took a political stance. In the summer of 1989, members of the Dead testified before Congress to raise awareness of deforestation in Malaysia. Garcia lit a cigarette in the non-smoking chamber before Representative Claudine Schneider, a Republican from Rhode Island, stated that her guess would be 90% of Deadheads did not vote. Garcia himself rarely voted, except as Silberman recounts, for Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964. A few years later in 1993, Garcia stood in the oval office wearing sweatpants and sneakers as Vice President Al Gore explained the origins of the Resolute Desk, wearing a three-piece suit. We would have never gone to the White House if a Republican was in office, says McNally.

Garcias small acts of rebellion were indicative of a Grateful Dead philosophy that put great stock in freedom, autonomy, independence and not preaching to the population. Still his reasoning for being invested in the rainforest issue was: I am an earthling on this planet, pointing toward a spirit of caring that is at the core of the Deads philosophy.

Conservative Deadheads have gotten much more stupid and much more programmed, says Silberman, who fears civil war may be imminent with potential polling place violence on election day and Trumps continued spread of Covid-19-related misinformation. He, like countless others quarantined in their homes for months, has found himself returning to the comfort music of his youth, turning to the Deads melodies and sense of community for something more meaningful, as a place to be reborn at every show.

But Silberman also recalls shows in the 70s and 80s where he felt afraid to hold his boyfriends hand in public, worried about being gay-bashed by those in attendance. Homophobia and sexism ran in the Grateful Dead family, he says.

Murdock, who is a Black gay man, insists that the scene was inclusive. He also feels strongly that Trump is not a racist. If he were racist, he would not have ended mass incarceration, states Murdock, falsely, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The issue at the heart of conservative Deadheads point of view is the desire for little to no government interference in their private lives. Offers Whritenour: We shouldnt focus on Trump the man, but instead the right to do what I want with my time, money, and life.

North Carolina newspaper editor Brian Clary, who attended Dead shows in the 80s and 90s, counters that the peace and love vibe does not square with Trump at all. If anything, he believes Trump-supporting Deadheads are misinterpreting the songs and the culture. The I got mine, you got yours philosophy that [Trumps] supporters are all about is the antithesis of the Grateful Dead.

Among the Deads guiding mantras is Garcias oft-sung line, Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world. And while Deadheads may not collectively agree on the greatest Dark Star jam or who was the bands best keyboardist, never mind politics, fans from all walks of life would endorse the fact that American has the right and duty to make their own decision on election day.

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Wave That Flag: Meet the Deadheads Who Stump for Trump - Variety

Americans are counting down the hours to vote in an embittered election race, pitting incumbent Republican Donald Trump against his Democrat challenger Joe Biden.

Tonight, we should start to get some idea of whether President Trump will keep his place in the White House, orif Mr Biden will deny him a second term.

Many news channels will be providing live election coverage tonight heres how you can stream the event online.

The US election takes place on 3 November 2020.

With the time difference, however, the majority of election shows in the UK will start late tonight, and mainly air in the early hours of 4 November.

The BBCs US Election 2020 programme, can be watched online from BBC iPlayer, either through theBBC One live streamorthe BBC News Channel live stream.

You will also be able to watch a live stream on the BBC News website on theUS Election Live Page, where you will find text updates, key tweets and an interactive map with results and polling data too.

The live programme will be fronted by Katty Kay from Washington and Andrew Neil from London, starting at 11.30pm (GMT) on Tuesday 3 November and will also be shown live on TV on BBC One and the BBC News Channel.

Christian Fraser will show every result from a special screen, while Jon Sopel and Clive Myrie will be with the Trump and Biden campaigns with further reporters including Emily Maitlis in key states.

Tina Daheley will present bulletins throughout the night and experts will be on hand to offer analysis.

The coverage will continue into the next morning, with other presenters taking over in the early hours.

To watch a selection of additional programmes, short videos and documentaries about the US election from the BBC, such as What Does The Election Cost? as well as all the debates, you can head to BBC iPlayer.

You can watch ITVs election night special called Trump Vs. Biden: The Results, live through ITV Hub, here.

The ITVs live coverage, which you can also watch on its TV channel, runs from 11pm (GMT) to 6am and will be led by Tom Bradby, who will be presenting the show from Washington.

He will be supported from the studio by Washington correspondent, Robert Moore and US political analyst Dr. Keneshia Grant.

Additionally, Julie Etchingham will report live from the swing state of Florida, while a cast of politicians, campaigners and voters from across the US political spectrum will also offer insight and analysis.

Those set to make an appearance include Anthony Scaramucci, Ann Coulter and Martin Luther King III.

Sky News can be streamed live online, here and through its YouTube channel here.

Skys election show, calledAmerica Decides, will begin at 10pm (GMT) tonight and will also be available to watch on the Sky News TV channel.

The show will be anchored byDermot Murnaghan, and accompanied by US Correspondent Cordelia Lynch, former aide to Donald Trump, Omarosa Manigault Newman and the former British Ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darr

Broadcasting from a studio overlooking the White House, the show will present live results, expert analysis, special guests and a bespoke augmented reality studio allowing viewers to visualise the Race to the White House.

There will also be other channels providing live election coverage that can streamed online.

These include CNN which can be watched live, for free, from the UK via its website here. The channel is streaming 24/7 but the official election show kicks off at 9pm GMT (4pm ET).

Most US news channels will be showing election coverage tonight, some of which can be streamed live through YouTube.

These include ABC News which can be watched here, from midnight tonight (GMT).

Others providing coverage that can be streamed on YouTube include CBS News, which starts at 10pm (GMT) and NBC News, which will start early and provide coverage all day today, from 11am (GMT).

While we will know results from many states in the early hours of 4 November, it may be a while longer until we know the who will be the next US President.

Due to thecomplexity of voting during the coronavirus pandemic, states have taken different approaches to processing and counting votes, with some taking longer than others.

There are three basic ways to vote in the US: in person on election day, in person and early, and via a mail-in ballot all of which will be counted separately and on different timescales.

For more information on why it may take longer than usual to find out the results of the vote,see our article here.

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US election 2020 live stream: how to watch results online from UK tonight, and what time it starts - iNews