Day: July 20, 2020

Tech Drives Indexes Higher on Wall Street after Choppy Start

The Associated Press

Big technology companies powered stocks higher on Wall Street Monday, adding to the market’s gains after a three-week winning streak.

The S&P 500 rose 0.84% after being down 0.3% in the early going. Gains by technology and communication stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending outweighed losses elsewhere in the market. The rally, which gained strength in the final hour of trading, nudged the benchmark S&P 500 index to a slight gain for the year and drove the Nasdaq composite to an all-time high.

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Former Ohio Governor John Kasich Expected to Speak at the Democratic National Convention

The Associated Press

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican and frequent Trump critic, has been approached and is expected to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Biden’s behalf next month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss strategy. Kasich is among a handful of high-profile Republicans likely to become more active in supporting Biden in the fall.

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White House Coronavirus Task Force Report Classifies Tennessee a ‘Red Zone’

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Six metro areas and 19 counties in Tennessee are designated as coronavirus red zones in a private report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

The 359-page report, dated July 14, identifies local COVID-19 hotspots across the U.S. and recommends increased restrictions for those areas. It was obtained and published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit newsroom based in Washington. The authors of the report are not specified.

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Commentary: President Trump’s Overhaul of Stifling Environmental Regulations Clears the Way for Infrastructure Projects Nationwide

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President Trump recently finalized an overhaul of one of the most important environmental laws in America. Credited by some as the “Magna Carta” of environmental legislation, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is one of America’s main legislative weapons in fighting climate change. It mandates an extensive review process, including the drafting of a lengthy Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and subsequent legal challenges, before the commencement of infrastructure projects. But Trump’s revision of the law through regulatory reinterpretation dramatically weakens the bill’s potency, greatly simplifying the procedure for getting federal approval on many infrastructure projects.

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Congressional Leaders Receive at Least $1 Million in Pension Payouts Paid for by Taxpayers

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As the nation struggles with record high unemployment, extended job losses, continued statewide shutdowns, and crippling national debt, a new report reveals that congressional leaders will receive an estimated $1 million each in retirement payouts on top of their lifetime pensions, fully funded by taxpayers.

First published by Forbes, OpenTheBooks.com’s report, “Why Are Taxpayers Providing Public Pensions To Millionaire Members Of Congress?” compares the financial benefits that both top leaders in Congress receive.

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Twitter ‘Embarrassed’ as Hack Hits 130 Accounts

The Associated Press

Twitter says the hack that compromised the accounts of some of its most high-profile users targeted 130 people. The hackers were able to reset the passwords of 45 of those accounts.

The San Francisco-based company said in a blog post Saturday that for up to eight of these accounts the attackers also downloaded the account’s information through the “Your Twitter Data” tool. None of the eight were verified accounts, Twitter said, adding that it is contacting the owners of the affected accounts.

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New Polling Finds Nearly Half of Americans Believe Mail-In Voting Is Vulnerable to Significant Levels of Fraud

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Nearly 50% of American voters believe mail-in voting is likely to result in significant fraud as officials search for ways to secure the electoral system amid a]the coronavirus pandemic, a Washington Post/ABC poll published Sunday found.

Only 43% of people surveyed in the poll think there are adequate protections against potential instances of fraud. The WaPo/ABC poll also showed that 38% of Americans say they prefer to vote through mail, while another 59% want to vote in person.

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Firsthand: I Watched Seattle’s Descent Into Hell

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It’s Saturday, May 30, 2020, and thousands of protesters glut the Seattle streets. By mid-afternoon the mob grows to more than 10,000 Black Lives Matter activists, Antifa thugs, and anarchist shock troops. What starts as largely peaceful demonstrations descends rapidly into largely violent and destructive riots.

“No justice, no peace,” they holler, as they hurl Molotov cocktails at police cars, bash in store front windows, and loot jewelry, fashion clothing, and cheesecake — yes, cheesecake. The popular Cheesecake Factory was not spared.

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Commentary: The Worship of Power Over Truth

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about “purity spirals.” That’s what the journalist Gavin Haynes calls the familiar “moral feeding frenzy” that occurs whenever ideology triumphs over truth. The French Revolution provides vivid historical examples, as did Mao’s cultural revolution in the 1960s. Those caught in a purity spiral, I observed, invariably find themselves embarked on an endless search for enemies, “a concerted effort to divide the world between the tiny coterie of the blessed and the madding crowd of the damned. The game, Haynes notes, ‘is always one of purer-than-thou.’”

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Minneapolis City Council Declares Racism Causes Cancer

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Racism in Minneapolis is a “public health emergency” that causes cancer and heart disease according to the City Council.

The council officially declared racism a health emergency in their city via a resolution passed July 17. The progressive council and the democrat mayor, Jacob Frey, also “committed to a series of action steps to dedicate more resources to racial equity work,” per an official announcement.

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