Happy Wednesday!

There are only 20 days to go to the election, meaning we’re halfway through our 40-day fast for the nation. Thank you to all the prayer warriors and fasting fighters taking part.

Pennsylvania Is Key … And They’re Going to Spend Days Counting the Ballots

The presidential candidates aren’t spending so much time in Pennsylvania for the foliage. The path to 270 electoral votes goes through the Keystone State. According to Rasmussen polling out Monday, Donald Trump is now up three points in Pennsylvania. Voter registration guru Scott Pressler says Republicans have been registering more than twice as many voters as Democrats have this past week. Kamala Harris is so unpopular in the state that Senate candidate Bob Casey wouldn’t even join her campaign appearance this weekend.

However, when you have a Never Trumper secretary of state in charge of elections, Trump’s going to need an indisputable blowout on Nov. 5. One that’s too big to rig, as the saying goes. First off, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt told the Washington Post it will take several days after the election to process and count all the ballots. We’ve already seen how that works, with the late-night ballot dumps, ballots showing up after the election and being counted, lax verification, etc.

Schmidt also denied that any election irregularities took place in 2020 and harped about “misinformation.” This is to inoculate the populace against claims of irregularity in the coming election. And don’t expect Schmidt to be terribly concerned if noncitizens vote. As The Federalist details, 60 Minutes asked Schmidt a very straightforward question: “If a noncitizen tried to cast a ballot, would you be able to catch it?”

His answer: “That’s just not something that happens, because when it gets identified, there are severe consequences, whether it’s prosecution and/or deportation from the country.”

Cecilia Vega offered no follow-up to get an actual answer, such as, “Well, what are you doing to identify and stop noncitizens from voting?”

“That doesn’t happen” is not an answer. James Agresti at JustFacts estimates that between 10% and 27% of noncitizens are illegally registered to vote, with a 2014 study indicating 6.4% actually have voted along the way.

According to the U.S. Census, 19 million noncitizens were living in the country in 2022. If the percentages hold, that means some 1.2 million noncitizens would illegally vote in this election.

Even if that figure is off by a factor of ten, 120,000 votes is still almost three times the number of votes that made a difference in 2020. And when you have the Biden-Harris administration funding NGOs that help illegals get in the country while encouraging them to vote Democrat, as Heritage Oversight uncovered, Schmidt’s answer of “That’s just not something that happens” is willful ignorance.

Speaking of Scott Pressler, he also posted on X a little prayer that fits in well with our 40-day effort.

Dear God,

I’m so imperfect. I’ve made many mistakes throughout my life & hope to have learned from them.

Use me — use me as your tool. I’m ready. I will go.

— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) October 15, 2024

Georgians Hitting Polls for Early Voting

Early voting began Tuesday in the swing state of Georgia with a vengeance. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, more than 72,000 people had already voted by mid-morning, a record-setting pace.

Meanwhile, some intriguing news is coming out of Virginia. The prevailing wisdom is that Democrats are high on early voting, while Republicans have been resistant. However, according to WVTF, early voting rates thus far are higher in Republican districts than Democratic districts. Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker says she’s not worried, claiming the early vote numbers underestimate Democratic support in rural areas.

However, Cardinal News took a deeper look. Reporter Dwayne Yancey noted that the worst-performing districts thus far are four strongly Democratic congressional ones. After a long breakdown of the data from across the state, Yancey concluded, “I’m not in a position to predict anything other than the sun will come up tomorrow. All I can do is describe what I see, and what I see right now is not the usual order of things.”

The current RealClearPolitics poll average for Virginia shows Harris up 5.6% on Trump.

Fox News Has Both Candidates Today

Fox News has a doozy of an election double-header: Donald Trump will be holding an all-female townhall session with Harris Faulkner at 11 a.m. Eastern. Then at 6 p.m., Kamala Harris will do her first interview on the network with Special Report’s Brett Baier.

Will Baier go after Harris? Of course not. But that’s okay. All you need are fair questions with follow-ups. She’ll toss so many word salads at him that you’ll think you’re watching the Food Network. Harris’s body language will also be key. If she looks like a scared rabbit or a student who knows she’s cheated on a test, that will create almost as much trouble as her actual answers. There’s a reason she hasn’t had a press conference and has avoided tough interviews, while Trump and Vance have been eager to talk to anyone with a microphone.

Nuclear Whack-a-Mole

With all this election talk, it’s easy to forget the radioactive powder keg the rest of the planet is sitting on.

Over in the Middle East, the U.S. has reportedly convinced Israel not to attack Iranian nuclear and oil facilities in response to Iran’s recent missile attack. As we reported the other day, Iran got word out that a response that did not target the nukes and the oil would not be met with a counter-response. According to the Washington Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed Joe Biden Monday the Jewish state will hit only military targets.

Meanwhile, North Korea is getting bellicose again. According to The Associated Press, North Korea has blown up parts of the inter-Korean road and rail links, signaling increased tension with its southern rival. It’s a symbolic gesture, the AP says, since the roads and rail links aren’t used anymore, anyway. The move comes after North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over the capital of Pyongyang.

And speaking of drones…

Pentagon Let Swarms of Drones Fly Over Sensitive Military Sites for 17 Straight Days Last Year, Still Doesn’t Know Who Did It

Did you know that swarms of drones flew unimpeded for two and a half weeks over the highly sensitive military facilities at Langley Air Force Base and Naval Station Norfolk last year? According to The Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon still hasn’t figured out who flew them. They don’t even know if the drones had a hostile intent or were operated by innocent hobbyists.

However, a Chinese national attending the University of Minnesota was arrested this January after his drone was caught in a tree near Langley and found to contain photos of Navy ships.

Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones unless a threat is imminent.

Giant Pandas Back in DC!

Will the donkeys or the elephants rule Washington, D.C., come January 25? Neither. That honor goes to the two new giant pandas flown in from China early Tuesday. Bao Li and Qing Bao arrived at the National Zoo from Dulles International Airport in special Fed Ex trucks.

Drum roll please! 🥁🥁🥁 DC’s newest celebearities are HERE! Our two new giant pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao, have arrived at the Zoo after landing this morning at Dulles International Airport. Get more updates about the bear pair by following #DCPandas pic.twitter.com/ulJrQBTJKk

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) October 15, 2024

For security reasons, the zoo was closed Tuesday, and the timing of the pair’s arrival was kept secret. (Perhaps the zoo should be put in charge of the presidential protection detail.)

So ends a long 11 months without a giant panda in Washington — which has been almost as tough as enduring 25 years without a decent football team. Before that, the zoo had three pandas, including Bao Li’s grandparents. Bao Li’s mother is Bao Bao, who was born at the National Zoo in 2013 and became an instant zoo favorite.

We won’t be able to see Bao Li and Qing Bao right away. The duo needs to be quarantined from the public for at least 30 days. However, the National Zoo says the duo will be making their official debut on January 24, 2025, in the newly renovated panda house.

So if you’re coming to town for the presidential inauguration on January 20, you might want to hang out those few extra days.

Along The Stream

Intercessors for America offers another prayer guide for our 40-day fast for the nation. This one is “Contending for Breakthrough: Government Leaders.”

Dr. Michael Brown wonders, “Could the Antisemitism of 2024 Cost Kamala Harris the Presidency?”

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.