Yet there is a possible workaround in Massachusetts that could shorten the window for a Republican appointment and a special election if Warren becomes president.

Under state law, an outgoing senator could file a letter of resignation, triggering the 145- to 160-day period to hold a special election — but not make the resignation effective until a later date.

So Warren could file that letter the day after Election Day — or even earlier during the general-election campaign — to expedite the date of the special election and minimize the time of any Republican replacement.

This scenario was floated when Warren was a vice presidential possibility for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

A Trump political advisor in Wisconsin was recently caught on tape bragging about the fact that “traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places” and advising Republicans to “start playing offense a little bit.” He alerted: “That’s what you’re going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program, a much better-funded program.”

Republicans are planning a “bigger,” “more aggressive,” and “much better-funded program,” because this November will be the first presidential election since 1980 that the RNC will be unencumbered by a court monitored consent decree prohibiting gross forms of voter suppression. Though voter suppression runs deep in the Republican Party, without this consent decree, the RNC can “start playing offense” and operationalize voter suppression like we haven’t seen in 40 years.

Shortly after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the RNC formed its National Ballot Security Task Force—a group whose mission was to suppress voters, particularly minority voters. Their first target was the off-year Gubernatorial election in New Jersey. As part of its program, the RNC’s National Ballot Security Task Force engaged in illegal voter-caging―mailing sample ballots to individuals in precincts with a high percentage of minorities and then creating lists of voters to challenge based on those whose mail was returned as undeliverable. On election day, the RNC posted signs near minority precincts that read:


(CBS News)
To further the intimidation, the RNC hired off-duty sheriffs and police officers to intimidate voters by standing at polling places, with guns and police radios visible, in minority precincts. These officers wore black armbands with “National Ballot Security Task Force” printed on them.

....

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft this week advised Puget Sound and Bay Area employees to work from home until March 25. In the new policy, it recommends staff postpone traveling to its campuses unless it is considered to be "essential for the continuity of Microsoft" and stressed non-essential business travel should be canceled in regions known to contain active COVID-19.

...

Today, Bloomberg reported that a Seattle-based Facebook contractor had tested positive for COVID-19. The social networking firm is now asking employees in the region to work from home, and its Stadium East office space is expected to be closed to staff until early March.

"We've notified our employees and are following the advice of public health officials to prioritize everyone's health and safety," it said in a statement, GeekWire reported.

Microsoft's guidance about working from home follows similar steps released this week by Twitter, which said it was "strongly encouraging" all employees globally to avoid company offices if able.

Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays said someone has been changing the party affiliation for some registered voters.

“At this point, we have identified 119 applications that appear to be false. We have turned those over to the sheriff's office,” Hays said.

Hays said last Tuesday, his office got calls from voters who'd received new voter registration cards reflecting a party change which the voters had not made.

Hays said the majority requested a change from no party to republican or from Democrat to Republican.

One woman told Alba that she does not believe coronavirus is real or that it was the reason two patients died in Washington.

“I don’t trust anything that Democrats do or say,” the woman said, rationalizing that coronavirus is simply a liberal-based hoax.

...

A second woman revealed she isn’t at all worried about the coronavirus because she is divinely protected.

“We’re under protection,” the woman told Alba reassuringly. “We’re under protection from Psalms 91 and God is out protector.”

Barbara Ferrer, director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said at a press conference with other county officials that leaders should expect more cases of #covid19 in the days ahead.

“If you’re sick with anything, we need people to stay home,” she said.

County officials stressed that they were acting out of “an abundance of caution” and not panic.

Appearing at a morning news conference attended by L.A. Department of Public Health officials, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn, the officials said the declaration would allow greater coordination among various levels of government.

Kevin and Susan Bryant, 55 and 48, spent most of their lives in Texas, recently in retiree hot spot Austin. But “when Austin became a mini Silicon Valley, we were priced out,” Kevin, a now-retired history teacher and principal, tells MarketWatch.

...

To find the right spot, they toured Spain, rejecting Barcelona because it was too big; Tarragona because it was too far north (they wanted somewhere a little warmer); and Peñiscola, because, though they liked it, Susan jokes, “I could never tell my mother I lived in a town with that name.”

...

The cost: The Bryants say they live on Kevin’s pension from being a teacher, and say they “live very well on $2,000 per month.” They spend about $665 on rent (they live in a two-bedroom apartment near the beach with a shared pool), $82 on electricity, $33 on water, $33 on internet, $44 on phone, $90 on gym, $130 on health insurance, $490 on food each month, they tell MarketWatch.

...

Health care: The Bryants say they spend roughly $130 for both of them for private health insurance each month — and they’ve been very pleased with the quality of their care. “I go to the freaking doctor here. I grew up male in Texas — we don’t go to the doctor unless something is dangling off or broken,” he jokes. “Any time we need something now we go to see the doctor, we get in in a day or two,” he adds, noting that “our doctor is Dutch and speaks five languages — cool guy, too.” Some expats may be able to qualify for the free state health-care system in Spain (here are the guidelines); expats who don’t qualify for that — or who want to forgo the sometimes long waits that come with the public system — can buy private insurance to cover themselves. (You can read about the different health-care systems here).

Lawyers for the 9/11 families suing Saudi Arabia claim their investigator interviewed Jamal Khashoggi on Oct. 26, 2017, and Khashoggi sent a text to “senior Saudi officials that same day.”

Covered an emergency hearing on these new filings this morning for @CourthouseNews.

Lawyers for the 9/11 families suing Saudi Arabia claim their investigator interviewed Jamal Khashoggi on Oct. 26, 2017, and Khashoggi sent a text to “senior Saudi officials that same day.”

Covered an emergency hearing on these new filings this morning for @CourthouseNews.



An earlier version of this tweet had a typo on the date that has been corrected.

More on the filings and today’s hearing in a bit.
The legal team for the families made this disclosure in court filings about their allegations of witness intimidation.

Attorneys for Saudi Arabia categorically denied those allegations and the relevance to Jamal Khashoggi.

Judge Netburn requested more info.
In court today, attorney Andrew Maloney said their investigator Catherine Hunt, a former FBI agent, interviewed Khashoggi on Oct. 26, 2017 in Washington, D.C.

The legal team's five-page letter on these claims is here:
PEC-Khashoggi letter 3.2.2020
Source document contributed to DocumentCloud by Adam Klasfeld (Courthouse News).
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6793970-PEC-Khashoggi-letter-3-2-2020.html

Saudi Arabia's attorney Michael Kellogg "categorically" denied claims of witness intimidation or relevance of Khashoggi.

"It should be struck from the record," Kellogg requested to the judge, alleging the allegations were "put forward to seek a litigation advantage."
Maloney claimed that witnesses reported a direct threat and perceived threats.

Netburn ordered Maloney to file more info to her ex parte (i.e., judge's eyes only), for her to assess whether any action--such as a criminal referral--should be taken.

Next hearing: March 23.