Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 87: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a feminist, legal liberal, and only the second woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court, has died at age 87 of pancreatic cancer.

  Only five feet tall and 100 pounds, Ginsberg was a giant of women’s rights and ultimately, by seniority, the leader of a four-member liberal bloc on the court. Late in life she became a hip cultural icon, “The Notorious RBG,” the model for female power, intelligence, and leadership.

 Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, who blocked President Barack Obama from making a court appointment for the last 10 months of his term saying the voters should decide who makes the next appointment, announced he will move forward with President Trump’s replacement with just four months left. That means Trump will have appointed a third of the Supreme Court with an imprint likely to last decades.

  As a lawyer, Ginsberg had argued critical cases, including one that established that the 14^thAmendment — equal protection of the law — covered discrimination against women.

  As a justice, writing the majority opinion in a case involving women attending Virginia Military Institute, she wrote, “Inherent differences between men and women, we have come to appreciate, remain cause for celebration, but not for denigration of the members of either sex or for artificial constraints on an individual’s opportunity.” 

Tiking Down: The Chinese-owned social media apps Tik Tok and WeChat will have to start winding down and shutting down tomorrow night according to an executive order by President Trump, who says they are a threat to national security.

  WeChat, which has heavy business use, will be unable to serve US users immediately and TikTok will be completely banned on November 12^th. In the meantime, the app will be unavailable for new users and current users will see its function begin to deteriorate until shutdown. 

  Both companies, of course, object. TikTok said in a statement, “We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses across the US of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods.”

  President Trump claims the Chinese are collecting valuable and potentially harmful data from the app users.

Viral News: After the revelation that the CDC’s own scientists did not write its guidance on who needs to be tested for the coronavirus, the agency reversed itself yesterday to say that people without symptoms who have been exposed to others who have the virus should be tested.

 The NY Times reports that a new science adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services and the department’s chief spokesman “browbeat” career officials at the CDC at the height of the pandemic, challenging the science behind their public statements and trying to silence agency staff.

  The science adviser is Dr. Paul Alexander, who wrote in one scathing memo about another official recommending the use of face masks that, “Her aim is to embarrass the president.”

  The Times reports that, “Current and former CDC officials called it a five-month campaign of bullying and intimidation.”

  This past week Caputo, who issued a crazy rant on Facebook Live about conspiracies within the CDC, went on medical leave.

  This morning, 198,603 Americans are dead of the coronavirus.

By the Numbers: Joe Biden continues to lead President Trump in the 2020 presidential election by a big number, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. 

  Biden leads Trump by 9 points; 52 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, the survey found.

  Sixty-three percent of college graduates said they would vote for Biden, 32 percent for Trump. Fifty percent of non-college graduates said they would vote for Trump.

  The poll has Biden leading with likely voters 65 and older by 51 percent to 47 percent, a reversal from 2016 when Trump won them, 52-45. 

  Biden’s numbers with nonwhites are softer that when fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton ran in 2016. Biden leads Trump 60 percent to 34 percent with nonwhites, but in 2016, Hillary won them 74 percent to 21 percent. 

Plugging in the Vote: The federal government announced it will dedicate $13 billion to rebuild and improve Puerto Rico’s hurricane-damaged electrical grid and schools. It’s the biggest storm damage check the federal government has ever written.

  Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico three years ago, after which President Trump chucked rolls of paper towels into a crowd. They’ve rebuilding ever since, but oddly, Trump has pried loose the money just weeks before election day. Trump said, “I’m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico, not even close.”

In a Name: The board of a small town in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York met this week to consider changing the name of a little hamlet within the town borders. The hamlet in question is under the jurisdiction of Black Brook, which is not the name in question.

  Recently, some people have suggested that the name of the hamlet is inappropriate and the town should change it. The town board decided that the hamlet was founded and named in the 1800s, and there’s no reason to change it. 

  The name of the hamlet is Swastika.

  The swastika, of course, is an ancient design appropriated by Nazi Germany and considered now a symbol of hate. But in Black Brook, it’s just a familiar name. 

  Black Brook’s town Supervisor Jon Douglass told North Country Public Radio, “I mean swastika was used in numerous religions. Did the Hindus and the [Buddhists] … did they erase it from their religious history because of the Germans?”

  No, but they don’t use it anymore either.

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