Posts on Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple that stood in front of their home over the summer holding firearms as a large group of demonstrators marched by, were indicted on Tuesday on felony weapons and evidence tampering charges.
“Lawyer Joel Schwartz said he was told a grand jury indicted his clients on felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “He said he had no details. A St. Louis court clerk said the indictment was filed Tuesday but that she was not authorized to provide a copy.”
After more than 100 years, Dreyer’s is changing its popular Eskimo Pie ice cream bar to Edy’s Pie. The new name was announced by the brand Monday. The new name was a long time coming. Back in June, the company stated its intention to rename its “derogatory” product name. “We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory,” said Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for its parent Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, the U.S. subsidiary for Froneri, in a statement to FOX Business in June. “This move is part of a larger review
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told reporters while boarding a plane to Delaware from Maryland on Tuesday that next week’s presidential debate should be canceled if President Trump is still positive for COVID-19. “I think if he still has COVID, then we shouldn’t have a debate,” Biden said Tuesday evening. Trump announced he had tested positive for coronavirus last Friday -- three days after the first debate -- though there has been some speculation that he was diagnosed as early as Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Several members of the West Wing, the Trump campaign, and the Republican Party
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who once considered himself a “pro-life Democrat” told an NBC town hall event Monday night that he would enshrine abortion rights in federal law if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Biden was responding to a questioner’s concerns about the survival of “reproductive rights” if judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the nation’s highest court.
“Cassidy Brown said having birth control and reproductive health care enabled her to start a career before having a family,” an Associated Press noted of the exchange. “She asked Biden about his plan if President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett overturned women’s reproductive rights.”
A Democratic congressman is requesting a briefing from the Secret Service on President Donald Trump’s recent ride past supporters gathered outside Walter Reed Medical Center on Sunday.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) claimed Trump is being “increasingly reckless” regarding the coronavirus, according to Jackson, Mississippi, NBC affiliate WLBT. Thompson accused the president of placing Secret Service agents and their families “at risk” when he rode in a hermetically sealed car, despite the fact that the president was masked and the agents with him were decked out in necessary PPE.
Trump’s brief drive-by sparked outrage among many others, according to The Washington Post,
President Trump Tuesday night went scorched earth and authorized the total declassification of all documents related to the Russia hoax, Spygate and Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. “No redactions!” Trump said. “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” Trump tweeted.
President Trump is back at the White House after spending a few days recovering from the coronavirus at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the nation's largest joint military medical center. While he was in the hospital's presidential suite, Trump had the energy to carry out some of his duties and record a few videos to provide updates on his condition for the American people. He even summoned the energy to make a visit to his supporters who had gathered outside the hospital. He hopped in a car with a few Secret Service agents and waved to fans as they drove by.But that drive-by resulted in another round
Since the start of the coronavirus, Nancy Pelosi repeatedly has held monetary relief for businesses and individuals hostage to her demands for non-coronavirus objectives, such as voting changes and bailouts of Democrat states and cities. That hostage taking delayed the Paycheck Protection Plan twice. Pelosi has been continuing the strategy, and Trump newly energized after his release from the hospital, just broke off negotiations:(Snip)We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith. I am rejecting their request, and looking to the future of our Country.
Against Fear
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The media and Democratic establishments are in a frenzy of Schadenfreude over President Trump’s Covid diagnosis. Trump’s contracting the disease, they argue, discredits any coronavirus policy short of lockdowns and mandatory mask-wearing, outdoors as well as in. Trump is now “exhibit No. 1 for the failure of his leadership on coronavirus,” Democratic pollster Geoff Garin told the New York Times.
A U.S. judge has ordered Iran to pay $1.45 billion to the family of a former FBI agent believed to have been kidnapped by the Islamic Republic while on an unauthorized CIA mission to an Iranian island in 2007. The judgment this month comes after Robert Levinson’s family and the U.S. government now believe he died in the Iranian government’s custody, (snip). Tensions remain high between the U.S. and Iran amid President Donald Trump’s maximalist pressure campaign over Tehran’s nuclear program. And though the U.S. and Iran haven’t had diplomatic relations since the aftermath of the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran, America stills holds billions of dollars
RALEIGH, N.C. — A California woman on Tuesday confirmed to The Associated Press that she had a physical relationship with Cal Cunningham, North Carolina’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Both are married to other people. Cunningham last week admitted to texting Arlene Guzman Todd, a public relations strategist. Texts obtained by WRAL and verified by The Associated Press offer new insight into a long-distance relationship. “I just want to [expletive] him one last time and break his heart,” one text from Guzman Todd reads. The messages were not obtained from Guzman Todd. But the AP contacted her to confirm their
Top officials in charge of making sure that a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine is swiftly delivered to the American people waved caution flags on Tuesday, all but assuring that a shot won’t be widely available by Election Day. (Snip) On Tuesday, the FDA said it would demand two months of safety data before it would review any application for a vaccine emergency-use authorization. Additionally, any shot submitted will need to be considered by an independent panel. Those measures will likely add several weeks or months to a review. The release of the guidelines was followed by remarks from the
A Texas grand jury has indicted Netflix on a charge of disseminating lewd material by distributing the French film “Cuties.”
The grand jury in Tyler County, Texas, returned the indictment on Sept. 23 under a state law that forbids “the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of an unclothed, partially clothed, or clothed child.”
To be illegal, such material must appeal “to the prurient interest in sex” and have “no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
Netflix defended the film in a statement:
Facebook is banning all QAnon accounts from its platforms as part of its move to block “militarized social movements” from operating and organizing online, the social media giant announced Tuesday.
The move, which also extends to Instagram, represents the company’s strongest response yet to the controversial online right-wing conspiracy movement that has increasingly inserted itself into the nation’s political discourse.
“Starting today, we will remove Facebook pages, groups, and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon,” the company said in a press release. “We’re starting to enforce this updated policy today and are removing content accordingly, but this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks.”
Gov. Tony Evers took action Tuesday to limit indoor gatherings including in bars and restaurants as coronavirus cases surge in the state and despite repeated legal challenges from Republicans to such measures.
The move by his administration to cap businesses at 25% of capacity starting Thursday comes as Wisconsin suffers from some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the country (Snip) The new restrictions come after the coronavirus pandemic has already clobbered the service industry after Evers barred indoor dining for two months earlier this year and as health risks keep customers away.
"This could be the final dagger for the restaurant industry," said Bobby Wiltgen, who operates three
CLAIM: Former First Lady Michelle Obama claimed President Donald Trump calls fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers.” VERDICT: FALSE. The Atlantic story’s claim has never been corroborated, and it never even talked about all fallen soldiers. In a “closing argument” video released Tuesday for the campaign of former vice president Joe Biden, Michelle Obama claimed: “When our heroic young men and women answer the call and give their lives for our country, [Trump] calls them suckers and losers and publicly mocks Gold Star families and prisoners of war.” (Video)
Creepy Joe goes to Florida
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Joe Biden, who's been bunkered up out of presumably protecting himself from COVID, is back on the campaign trail, this time attempting to win votes in Florida. He was out and about, speaking impromptu, and it didn't take long for the talk to get gross. (Snip for tweets) Transcript:
[T]he good news is, for me, I'm here. The bad news, for you, is, I'm comin' back. I'm comin' back. And I wanna see these beautiful young ladies (points to elementary-school aged girls sitting in the back), I wanna see them dancin' when they're four years older, too. So. It's great to see you. So thank you.
Joe Biden traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Tuesday to call for unity.He did just the opposite. Biden gave a very dark and divisive speech. At one point, Biden claimed “white supremacists are menacing our communities.”Black Lives Matter Marxists and Antifa domestic terrorists (which Biden referred to as an “idea”) have been rioting and looting virtually nonstop for several months. But Biden is blaming violence on “white supremacists.” Watch: (Tweet/Video)
President Trump announced Tuesday that he has halted negotiations with Democrats for a new round of federal coronavirus aid, tweeting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi “is not negotiating in good faith” and is seeking too much money.In a series of tweets, Trump said he is “rejecting” a request for a $2.4 trillion package, which is far more money than the $1.6 trillion offer from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who has been negotiating on behalf of the president.Trump said he plans to pass a “major stimulus bill” after he wins a second term “that focuses on hardworking Americans and small businesses.”
House Democrats say Facebook,
Amazon, Alphabet, Apple
enjoy ‘monopoly power’ and
recommend big changes replies
Amazon, Alphabet, Apple
enjoy ‘monopoly power’ and
recommend big changes replies
After a 16-month investigation into competitive practices at Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google, the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust has released Tuesday its findings and recommendations on how to reform laws to fit the digital age.
In a nearly 450-page report, the Democratic majority staff laid out their takeaways from hearings, interviews and the 1.3 million documents they scoured throughout the investigation. They conclude that the four Big Tech companies enjoy monopoly power and suggest Congress take up changes to antitrust laws that could result in parts of their businesses being separated.
The recommendations from Democratic staff include:
A Florida man has been arrested and charged after requesting an absentee ballot for his wife, who has been dead for two years. When interviewed by authorities, the man confessed, saying he was trying to “test the system” by making the request.
Larry Wiggins, 62, a registered Democrats, was interviewed by police after getting a notification from Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett that someone had made a suspicious request, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
“Bennett said his staff discovered the fraud during a routine check of the voter roll that is done whenever someone requests a mail ballot. The voter database is constantly being updated,
The media and Democratic establishments are in a frenzy of Schadenfreude over President Trump’s Covid diagnosis. Trump’s contracting the disease, they argue, discredits any coronavirus policy short of lockdowns and mandatory mask-wearing, outdoors as well as in. Trump is now “exhibit No. 1 for the failure of his leadership on coronavirus,” Democratic pollster Geoff Garin told the New York Times. By contrast, former Vice President Joe Biden’s basement-bunker response has been vindicated, such commentators allege. [Snip] The argument that Trump’s infection demonstrates anything about a proper coronavirus strategy entails a logical fallacy, however. It is neither a vindication nor a refutation of either man’s policy choices
Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist and songwriter who helped give the radio-rock band Van Halen its name and sound, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 65.
His death was announced by his son, Wolf Van Halen, on Twitter.
"I can't believe I'm having to write this," the statement said, "but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning. He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I've shared with him on and off stage was a gift."
In a band known for its instability —
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified documents that revealed former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s purported “plan” to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server” ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Fox News has learned.
COVID-19 has certainly exposed one of two things. Either some of the dumbest people in the country are leading our states, or they are so hyperpartisan they will beclown themselves to toe the Democrats’ preferred narrative on the virus. The latest ridiculous instructions come from Gavin Newsom’s office: [Tweet] One of the primary reasons that masking is controversial is because people don’t know how to use then. Apparently, this lack of knowledge goes straight up to the governor’s office in California. As a former healthcare worker trained on how to don and doff personal protective equipment (PPE) properly, this is painfully stupid.
First, let’s look at the World Health Organization’s
Sotomayor Goes After Unethical
Prosecutors and Conservative Judges
on First Day of New SCOTUS Term replies
Prosecutors and Conservative Judges
on First Day of New SCOTUS Term replies
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor began the October term with two opinions related to orders which offer some telling insights into the progressive jurist’s legal philosophy. Neither of Sotomayor’s opinions carry the force of law and are properly understood as judicial musings about the high court’s potential and more abstract notions of what justice means and/or could be in the future. In each case, the full court declined to hear the case at issue and in each case, the justice agreed with her peers but took the opportunity to elaborate on her own decision-making processes as well as pitfalls
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe created a new category of news last week – the ho-hum smoking gun – when he released a letter regarding the Clinton campaign’s efforts to generate the Trump/Russia hoax during the 2016 election.
In three short paragraphs addressed to Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ratcliffe revealed that U.S. intelligence officials had learned in late July 2016 that the Russians believed Clinton “had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee.”Ratcliffe reported that former CIA Director John Brennan considered the information important enough
Sacrificing the economy, the education of our children, and our collective mental health for the purported purpose of slowing the spread of a disease that is survived by more than 99% of those under 70 who contract it is no longer tolerable, and President Trump is waging his presidential campaign on ending the madness.
Here is the CDC's best estimate of the lethality of COVID for each age cohort:
0–19 years: 0.00003
20–49 years: 0.0002
50–69 years: 0.005
70+ years: 0.054
Now that we know how to treat it, COVID is not something to panic over unless you are very old and already have health problems (comorbidities) that are very likely to
Homeland Security released a new threat assessment Tuesday saying White supremacists are “the most persistent and lethal” domestic extremist threat to the U.S.Acting Secretary Chad Wolf also warned of anarchist violence stemming from racial justice protests, ongoing election threats from Russia, China and Iran, and foreign-origination epidemics like COVID-19 as other dangers. But it was the announcement of White supremacists that had been anxiously anticipated. “I am particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years,” Mr. Wolf said in the assessment.(Snip) “Since 2018 they have conducted more lethal attacks
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden took great pains, Monday night, to distance himself from one of his top campaign advisors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and assure voters that he is not a stalking horse for a progressive presidential agenda.President Donald Trump has long insisted that a Biden administration would be among the most progressive in history, and Biden has done little to dismiss that claim, welcoming a number of far-left Democratic legislators — including a handful of “Democratic socialists” — on to his campaign policy teams, and making Sanders, a well-known socialist himself, a chief surrogate.Monday night, though, in a town hall event hosted by NBC News,
“I vote for the man (or woman), not the party” is what millions of Americans say and what, in fact, many do. It is intended as a noble sentiment: “I am not one of those Americans who votes blindly by party; I measure each candidate and then decide which one to vote for.” If there were ever a time when this was a noble sentiment, it would have been when Republicans and Democrats shared basic moral and American values and differed only on what policies would lead to the two parties’ shared goals.
For example, though they never ran against each other,
We All Know Why Corporate Media Is
Avoiding Hunter Biden’s Corruption
Scandals That Implicate Joe replies
Avoiding Hunter Biden’s Corruption
Scandals That Implicate Joe replies
Last week, a Senate Intelligence Committee report detailed how the son of a major presidential candidate, who has an extensive history of shady foreign business dealings, received a $3.5-million wire transfer from the wife of a Russian politician. The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, and most major media outlets didn’t cover the wire-transfer story at all. Four years ago, not reporting such a story was a possibility too absurd to even contemplate — but then again, no one would have predicted the candidate with the shady Russia ties is not Donald Trump, but Joe Biden.
Associated Press reports Guatemala has sent back almost 3,500 Honduran migrants from a caravan that was heading to the United States over concerns they might spread Covid-19, President Alejandro Giammattei announced.
(Snip) Guatemalan security forces were able to “contain” the caravan which he said posed a health threat due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are experiencing a pandemic in Guatemala which has cost us to control with months of efforts,” said the president, adding it was an “obligation” to reduce the risk of further contagion.
According to the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM), the caravan entered eastern Guatemala on their journey to the United States on Thursday, pushing over a military cordon
The top U.S. general, Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are quarantining after a top Coast Guard official tested positive for coronavirus, several U.S. defense officials tell CNN.
CNN reported several members are quarantining, but soon after, ABC News reported that all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are doing so. The vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Adm. Charles Ray, tested positive on Monday.
Ray recently attended several meetings at the Pentagon
Arizona State Student Sues After Being
Terminated Over Report on Jacob Blake’s
Criminal Record replies
Terminated Over Report on Jacob Blake’s
Criminal Record replies
An Arizona State College student is suing after she was fired from the college’s radio station for tweeting about Jacob Blake’s previous accusations of sexual assault.
“Attorney Jack D. Wilenchik has sent a letter to the public university instructing them to either rehire Rae’Lee Klein, a Cheyenne, Wyoming native, at Blaze Radio or provide monetary damages for violating her First Amendment rights,” Fox News reports.
Klein tweeted a link detailing sex assault claims against Blake in August, describing the reason for the 911 call that led Kenosha cops to the encounter with Blake. (Snip)“I was just trying to do A, what I was assigned to do and B, what I thought
Former first lady Michelle Obama offered a closing argument on behalf of Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday, telling viewers in a 24-minute speech that “our country is in chaos because of a president who isn’t up to the job” and whose administration and allies are “stoking fears about Black and Brown Americans.” Obama delivered an impassioned 24-minute speech to the American people, pleading with them to support the former vice president, who she described as an experienced leader who “understands the struggles of everyday folks” and has the ability to end the “chaos” across the country. She painted a dark picture of President Trump’s America, describing a country filled with
President Trump's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, announced Tuesday afternoon the president "reports no symptoms" of the coronavirus after doctors discharged Trump from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center the previous evening -- meanwhile, White House Physician Jesse Schonau said that Vice President Pence continues to test negative for the coronavirus and "does not need to quarantine." The positive health prognoses for the president and vice president come less than a month before Election Day and on the eve of the vice presidential debate scheduled for Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Trump, along with first lady Melania Trump
Joe Biden's campaign released a slashing video endorsement by Michelle Obama Tuesday where the former first lady denounces President Trump as 'racist' and says he 'isn't up to the job.' 'Racism, fear, division—these are powerful weapons and they can destroy this nation if we don't deal with them head on,' she says in the 24-minute video, called a 'closing argument,' where she speaks directly to the camera. 'Let's be honest, right now our country is in chaos because of a president who isn't up to the job,' says the popular former first lady, who also delivered an emotional pitch for Biden
SYDNEY - The world's largest surviving marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian Devil, has been returned to the wild on Australia's mainland for the first time in 3,000 years. Actor couple Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky joined conservation groups last month to release 11 of the animals into a wildlife sanctuary in New South Wales, with more releases to follow. Devils, the size of a small dog and made famous by the fierce Looney Tunes cartoon character known as "Taz", were listed as endangered on the United Nation's Red List in 2008. It is the "the first time in 3,000 years, or thereabouts
Wednesday’s vice presidential debate provides an opportunity for the American public to get answers from Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).The Democratic vice presidential nominee should be asked the following 25 questions. This list is by no means exhaustive.Many of these questions were suggested by this author last month, but because they remain unanswered, I offer them again in the hope that the debate moderator will see fit to get answers from the California senator who, if elected, will be one heart beat away from the presidency.1. After President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, many Democrats endorsed the idea of “packing” the Supreme Court
Marquette University mulling plan to implement
'black only' housing in response to student petition replies
'black only' housing in response to student petition replies
Marquette University is currently exploring ways to implement “black only housing” on its campus following student demands. “Marquette will work toward creating a Black Living Learning Community in a residence hall,” campus administrators said to the student body in a statement last month, adding that learning communities “bring together students with common majors or common interests.” The school’s black student council started a petition, signed by over 1,500 people on Change.org in July, outlining a list of demands, including asking the university to “publicly recognize and apologize for the traumatic events that Black students experience on campus and the part
While the nation debated the veracity of conspiracy theories on President Donald Trump's coronavirus diagnosis, I began to worry about the one thing that The Donald, quarantined Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, hospitalized former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 42.4 percent of Americans — including me — all have in common.
We're dangerously fat. As soon as Trump tweeted his positive test results, news stories quoted respected physicians and "Dr. Oz" dropping the O-word — "Obesity," that is — issuing speculative warnings that Trump's fast-food physique might cause the president extreme suffering, or worse.
That is a touchy topic in the anti-body-shaming world we live in. Obesity as a contributing factor
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told California residents they should wear masks “in between bites” of food while dining in public spaces with people from the same household. “Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend? Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites,” the office of the governor tweeted over the weekend. Correction*
On Tuesday November 8, 2016 at 7:00 pm, I entered an Uber to travel to a Chicago-area stand-up comedy club in search of escape from the inevitable. The New York Times set Clinton’s percentage chance at victory in the high-90s. The driver had his radio tuned to a panel of NPR election experts assembled to announce the results as they came in. Most of the panel members chirped enthusiastically about Clinton’s inevitable victory. But one Clinton supporter spoke in hushed tones regarding the results from a particular county in Florida. I could hear it in his voice. (Snip) But this expert’s voice told the truth: The polls were wrong.
October Surprises Everyone
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This campaign, as it enters its last month, continues to be a bouncing football. This campaign, and this president, are like no other.
The startling revelation that President Trump and his wife have contracted COVID-19 not only contributes another imponderable complexity to this torrid election campaign, it brings forth—amid a general tide of goodwill in favor of the president and his wife—the worst traits of the Trump-haters. The media response ranged from Joy Reid’s piercing aperçu that he was faking the illness to attract sympathy, to the Lemon-Tapper school of Trump-hate at CNN, which saw it as a direct consequence of the president supposedly taking the virus lightly, leading the
You know you’re in Portland when the current mayor who has chased out countless businesses and allowed Antifa and BLM terrorists to destroy the city on a nightly basis for over four months straight is somehow not far enough to the left to appease the voter base. National laughingstock Ted Wheeler is now trailing in the polls for his re-election. But not against a candidate that promises to crack down on the rioters, promote businesses, and actually fix the roads. No, of course not. He’s losing to a candidate that’s even further to the left than he is. Correction*
A former marketing executive was chastised by his bosses for being “too American,” wearing khaki pants to work and being too old, according to an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint.
Gray Hollett, the former chief marketing officer at Boyden World Corporation, a high-profile consulting and talent acquisition firm, claims he was unlawfully canned in January after he complained about the discriminatory remarks, states the complaint, filed Thursday.
“It was very upsetting and the kind of the way it happened was quite disconcerting,” Hollett, 61, told The Post of his termination.
What the First Senate Hearing for a Supreme Court
Nominee Shows about Today's Confirmation Process replies
Nominee Shows about Today's Confirmation Process replies
Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, and the possibility of another contentious Senate confirmation hearing, evoke the first time the Senate ever held such a hearing, a little over a century ago—when President Woodrow Wilson nominated, in the same election year in which he was running for a second term, a jurist who belonged to one of America’s religious minorities, and whose views were thought incompatible with the conventional opinions shared by the Washington establishment. That nominee would go on to become the first Jewish justice to sit on the Supreme Court.
The International Space Station is getting a much needed upgrade today in the form of a new toilet.
The $23 million loo weights almost 100 pounds and is 28 inches tall, or about half as big as the two Russian-built toilets already in use at the ISS, according to CNET.
Besides a smaller size, the new commode is tilted and shaped differently to accommodate female astronauts; it also features new funnels for urination and is better at capturing waste (a tour of the older suction toilet can be seen below).
The Mount Rushmore Election
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There is one thing upon which Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree. Biden has repeatedly described the 2020 Presidential election as a “battle for the soul of America.” Trump has stated that this “election will decide” whether or not “we will preserve the American way of life.” They are both right. The coming presidential election is perhaps the most important since 1860 because what is at stake is not simply policy, but the “soul,” “way of life,” or, in classical terms, the “regime” of the American nation.
I will examine the presidential election in due course. But, first, what is the “soul” of a nation?
The Path to Sophie's Choice
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On April 6, 2009, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates grabbed the control stick of the U.S. Air Force and plunged it into a nosedive from which it has yet to pull out. On that "Black Monday," Gates either curtailed or canceled 30 military procurement programs, most notably the F-22 Raptor, the air arm’s signature 5th-generation air superiority fighter. By capping the F-22 buy at just 187 aircraft, Gates pulled out the keystone to the Air Force's overarching modernization plan. In particular, its approach to preserving supremacy of the skies and projecting American military power throughout the globe.
There was a rationale behind Gates' decision.
Finally, an accurate poll?
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Everyone remembers the wildly inaccurate predictions of a Hillary Clinton landslide right up through the morning of Election Day 2016.
(snip) One Gallup polling question may be shedding light on this phenomenon. When asked who will win the election, voters responded as follows: Regardless of whom they personally support, 56% of Americans expect Trump to prevail over Biden in the November election, while 40% think Biden will win. (snip) With this type of question, voters may let their guards down and provide a truthful answer.
Who targeted the president?
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I always trust my gut. Litigators and trial attorneys tend to do that. When things don’t make sense or add up but you don’t have a smoking gun, you start nosing around with questioning and investigating to see if your hunch pans out. Obviously, I don’t have any proof that the recent COVID-19 infections of POTUS and FLOTUS, several Republican senators, and people working on his campaign and in his administration, are truly random events or something planned, but it doesn’t pass the “random cluster of infections” smell test. Come on, admit it. You are all thinking it, too.
Almost as soon as President Donald Trump announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, the left erupted in cheers, stopping only to suggest he was faking it to get out of future debates.
Pundits everywhere speculated on the impact of Trump’s illness on the presidential race, with most of the comments along the lines of: “Will Trump’s presidency be a casualty of COVID-19?”
There’s another possibility. That this turn of events will not only benefit Trump but could help snap the country out of its COVID-mania, which treats every case as a death sentence.
Here’s why.
In all likelihood,
It didn’t take long for this election’s first official October surprise to occur. Less than 22 hours into the new month, President Donald Trump tweeted that he and his wife, Melania, had tested positive for COVID-19. [Snip] Before that came a videotape with former Vice President Joe Biden appearing to call members of the military “stupid bastards.” And you can pretty much count on more such attempts to influence the November presidential election’s outcome, although the sources will likely be masked to make verification
One of Trump’s strongest moments in the first presidential debate was when he confronted Biden about the fact that he has no support from law enforcement. This week during a town hall event on NBC, Biden was asked about his plans for police, should he be elected. Joe was forced to admit that he has no support from law enforcement in this election. The Washington Free Beacon reports: Biden Admits Law Enforcement No Longer Backs Him Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden admitted during an NBC town hall on Monday that he no longer has the support of law enforcement when confronted by the wife of a police officer.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday said he got a call from Jordanian King Abdullah II wishing him well after he was hospitalized for COVID-19. The Republican told the Star-Ledger that he spoke with the king for about 10 minutes and was invited to visit the Arab kingdom when he recovers. “Chris, I’m concerned about you and wanted to be sure you’re OK,” the king said, according to Christie.“Your majesty, I really appreciate the call,” Christie says he replied.The Jordanian embassy in Washington did not
WASHINGTON — Shuttered by COVID-19 infections, the Republican-led Senate is refusing to delay confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court. They are even willing to make special arrangements so sick senators can vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, and Democrats appear powerless to stop them.Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Monday that he’ll go to the Capitol “in a moon suit” to vote if he’s still testing positive for the coronavirus, which has killed more than 209,000 Americans and infected millions.The push to put conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the high court before Nov. 3 is like
‘Some black woman’: Video of Joe
Biden saying why people stayed
home during pandemic goes viral replies
Biden saying why people stayed
home during pandemic goes viral replies
Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden attributed people's ability to stay home during the pandemic to “some black woman” stocking grocery store shelves.
“The American public, the blinders have been taken off. They've all of a sudden seen a helluva lot clearer,” Biden said on Sept. 15 in Tampa at a campaign event with veterans. “They’ve seen, 'Geez, the reason I was able to stay sequestered in my home is because some black woman was able to stock the grocery shelf.’”
“Or 'A young Hispanic is out there, these DREAMers are out there, 60,000 of them, acting as first responders, and nurses and docs.' Or, all of a sudden, people are realizing,
Chuck Schumer Wanted a Boring
White Dude Locked in a Basement.
Cal Cunningham Had Other Ideas. replies
White Dude Locked in a Basement.
Cal Cunningham Had Other Ideas. replies
Lesson learned. The next time Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) tries to lock a male Democrat in a basement, he'll make sure to take away his cell phone.
Cal Cunningham was Schumer's handpicked candidate to run for Senate in North Carolina. Reports indicated Schumer's ideal candidate to challenge incumbent senator Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) would be as boring as possible and spend the entire campaign "in a windowless basement raising money" for "negative ads about Tillis."
Apparently, Schumer forgot to throw in a prohibition on sexting side chicks because Cunningham—
State Department officials were explicitly ordered in spring 2019 to stop tracking 13 prominent Americans' social media accounts for information about the Joe Biden-Ukraine scandal because the monitoring violated federal law, according to emails that were originally redacted to hide the concerns from the American public.
"We are barred by law from actively monitoring the accounts of American citizens in aggregate — and particularly from identifying and monitoring individual, selected accounts," a State Department official wrote in an April 1, 2019 email to officials in Washington and the U.S. embassy in Kiev
Founder of an antivirus software company and former Libertarian presidential candidate John McAfee is facing charges for tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns, the Justice Department announced Monday.
The indictment alleges that McAfee failed to file tax returns between 2014 and 2018 despite earning millions of dollars through cryptocurrency, consulting work, speaking engagements and a documentary. It does not allege that McAfee earned any income from his software company during these years. “According to the indictment, McAfee allegedly evaded his tax liability by directing his income
President Trump, who was diagnosed with the Wuhan virus on Thursday and sent to the hospital on Friday, returned to the White House on Monday evening, looking like his usual self. Upon his arrival, he gave a Twitter address to the American people. Although it’s short, it may be one of the most important and powerful statements he’s made as President. In it, Trump talks about a leader’s role, and he urges the American people once again to live without fear. (snip) the principles that Trump espoused, both about leadership and living life without fear, are tremendously important.
Against Fear
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The media and Democratic establishments are in a frenzy of Schadenfreude over President Trump’s Covid diagnosis. Trump’s contracting the disease, they argue, discredits any coronavirus policy short of lockdowns and mandatory mask-wearing, outdoors as well as in. Trump is now “exhibit No. 1 for the failure of his leadership on coronavirus,” Democratic pollster Geoff Garin told the New York Times.
By contrast, former Vice President Joe Biden’s basement-bunker response has been vindicated, such commentators allege. Biden drove home his status as the country’s premiere symbol of safetyism on Friday by giving a masked and muffled speech in the vast outdoors of Grand Rapids.
Liberals often mock conservative Christians for supporting a notorious sinner and philanderer in Donald Trump, but the left has grown increasingly hostile to biblical (small-o) orthodox Christianity. Even the ostensibly moderate Democratic nominee Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. represents an insidious threat to the religious freedom of conservative Christians. He also represents a threat to Roman Catholics, even though he is himself a practicing Catholic.
How could this be? Biden’s rhetoric and policies single out those who adhere to traditional religious beliefs and moral convictions, aiming to limit their ability to live by their consciences and ostracizing them from polite society.
As I heard the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judges who denied General Flynn’s petition for a writ of mandamus — opinion here — they expected Judge Sullivan to dismiss the case against Flynn on the government’s motion without further ado when the case was returned to him. This past Tuesday Judge Sullivan held the hearing on the government’s dismissal motion and, on the contrary, it sounds like the case will be dismissed over Judge Sullivan’s dead body. The Washington Post has a long account of the hearing here as does Politico here.
Politico quotes Judge Sullivan: “The sentencing has already commenced in this case.”
British rock band Led Zeppelin on Monday effectively won a long-running legal battle over claims it stole the opening guitar riff from its signature 1971 song “Stairway to Heaven.”
The band, one of the best-selling rock acts of all time, was handed victory after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case, meaning that a March 2020 decision by a U.S. appeals court in Led Zeppelin’s favor will stand.
Lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had been accused in the six-year-long case
No one watching the presidential debate Tuesday night understood the trap “moderator” Chris Wallace set for President Trump better than Iowa Rep. Steve King. As a result of that trap, King is now serving his final days as a congressman.
The mechanics of the trap were painfully obvious. As his opening gambit, Wallace asked Trump a question fully irrelevant to the state of the nation: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups?”
“Sure,” replied Trump. The questioning should have ended there, but when Wallace persisted, Trump made the appropriate rejoinder, “Sure, I’m prepared to do it, but I would say
James Comey is not an effective liar. He fooled only the gullible last week with his evasive testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Previously, Robert Mueller was also not effective deterring the Trump Administration from uncovering significant, far-reaching crimes that the former F.B.I. Director "missed" from September 2001 through September 2013.
For almost 18 years, Comey and Mueller have been covering for powerful Republicans and Democrats, letting serious crimes go unpunished
It’s difficult to open a business in some parts of the country because of all the red tape involved. One of the places where that’s definitely the case is San Francisco. Last Friday the San Francisco Chronicle published a column outlining Jason Yu’s attempt to open an ice cream shop in the city and the months and months of delays he has faced trying to take his project through various slow-moving departments. Yu decided he wanted to open a shop selling green tea flavored ice cream back in 2018. Eventually, he found an empty storefront and in June 2019 he signed a lease which cost him $7,300 per month.
NBC's town hall featuring Joe Biden did not receive the warmest reception on Monday night.
The outdoor, televised event, which aired on both NBC and MSNBC, took place in the swing state of Florida and moderator Lester Holt told viewers that all of the Miami attendees were "undecided voters." Holt kicked off the town hall by asking him to react to President Trump's departure from Walter Reed Medical Center and grilled him by asking if he was "surprised" by Trump's coronavirus diagnosis; if he thought the president's medical team were "forthcoming" with information about his condition and whether he "trusts" their assessment;
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign slammed The New York Times over a recent report alleging that the former VP's campaign has been "cagey on health questions" following President Trump's coronavirus diagnosis.
"With transparency on health newly significant in the presidential race, Joe Biden’s safety protocols have remained largely under wraps. But on Sunday evening, his campaign said he had again tested negative for the coronavirus," the Times began a report on Sunday.
The report praised the Democratic nominee for going "great lengths to model responsible behavior in the coronavirus era," highlighting his mask-wearing, him not holding rallies, and his social distancing at campaign events.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham canceled a planned town hall appearance as a second allegation against him was made public. According to WUNC’s Jeff Tiberii, Cunningham backed out of a previously-scheduled appearance to talk to voters on Monday afternoon. “I’m disappointed for the organizers who worked hard to put this together; also that we will not hear from Cunningham about sexually suggestive texts he sent to a woman (not his wife, nor mother of his children). (snip) Erin Brinkman, a lawyer who previously worked on a campaign for Cunningham, said a friend of hers had been in a relationship with Cunningham since 2012.