Day: October 7, 2020

Commentary: Pence Can Win this Debate by Letting Ohio Know about Harris’ Record of Radicalism

Admin

Vice President Mike Pence has a relatively straightforward job to do: help the American people understand the true nature of Senator Kamala Harris.

As the two meet on the debate stage in Salt Lake City, Harris is still introducing herself to a large portion of the electorate. The Biden campaign no doubt prefers it that way, because the Democratic vice presidential hopeful’s California-centric career offers relatively little that would appeal to most Americans in the Heartland.

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Davidson County Election Commission Has Not Yet Identified Section of Tennessee Code That Authorizes Change of Date for Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Referendum

Chris Butler

  The Davidson County Election Commission has not yet specified the section of the Tennessee Code Annotated (the most recent compilation of all of the current statutes of the state) by which it has the authority to change the “conditional date” of the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act election referendum from December 5–the date specified for the election in the petition signed by 27,000 residents of Davidson County, verified by the commission, and certified by the Metro Clerk’s Office–to December 15. The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, if approved, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent tax increase. At the September 25 meeting at which the commission voted to seek a declaratory judgment from the Davidson County Chancery Court that the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act was not legally sufficient and unconstitutional, chose not to set a referendum election date of December 5, 2020, as is their ministerial duty under both Tennessee law, the Metro Charter, and Tennessee Supreme Court precedent, but instead chose to set a “conditional” election date of December 15, 2020, Davidson County Election Commission Chairman Emily Reynolds made reference to an earlier comment by Davidson County Election Administrator Jeff Roberts as to the date…

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Commentary: This Campaign, and This President, Are Like No Other

Admin

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 resistance to it incompetently, and pretending that it was a fiction, “a hoax.”

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Belmont University Says It Will Be ‘100 Percent’ Ready to Host Final U.S. Presidential Debate

Zachery Schmidt

The University of Belmont announced Monday that it will be “100 percent” prepared to host the last U.S. presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Fox 17 reported.

“Twelve months ago, Belmont was selected to host the third and final presidential debate of 2020. With less than three weeks to go, we are fully committed to working with the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) and our health advisors on final preparations and will continue to follow their lead and guidance,” Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, according to Fox 17.

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State Dept. Officials Told They Broke Law by Monitoring Americans During Ukraine Scandal

Admin

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.

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Brennan Personally Briefed Obama on Clinton Campaign’s Russia Collusion Operation in 2016

Admin

CIA Director John Brennan personally briefed former President Barack Obama on Russia’s knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s “plan” to smear then-candidate Donald Trump as a Russian stooge during the 2016 presidential election, newly declassified documents reveal.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified Brennan’s handwritten notes from the briefing, as well as a CIA memo revealing that officials referred the matter to the FBI for potential investigative action. That referral was sent to then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok.

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Harvard Lecturer Pushes Wild Conspiracy Theory About Russian Spies at Walter Reed Hospital

Admin

Harvard University professor and CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem alleged that it is “very likely” that Russian spies infiltrated Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and gained access to information about President Donald Trump’s medical condition.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The president experienced symptoms before moving to Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, out of an “abundance of caution” the following day.

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Commentary: Biden Is Behind the Curve in Fighting COVID

Admin

To hear former Vice President Joe Biden tell it, in January, he had perfect knowledge about the Chinese coronavirus, what its mortality would be and all the actions that would be necessary to save American lives.

On July 20 on MSNBC, Biden claimed, “I, all the way back in January, warned him this pandemic was coming. I talked about what we needed to do,” referring to President Trump and a Jan. 27 oped he wrote on the virus.

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Andrew Cuomo Threatens to Shut Down Churches, Synagogues, Says ‘Religious Institutions Have Been a Problem’

Admin
Andrew Cuomo

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened Monday to close down religious institutions, specifically Jewish synagogues, if they do not follow his coronavirus restrictions.

“We know religious institutions have been a problem,” Cuomo said at a Monday press conference. “We know mass gatherings are the super spreader events. We know there have been mass gatherings going on in concert with religious institutions in these communities for weeks. For weeks.”

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Texas Grand Jury Indicts Netflix for ‘Lewd Visual Material’ in Cuties, State Rep Says

Admin

A Texas grand jury has indicted Netflix, Inc. for “lewd visual material” in the movie “Cuties,” a Texas state representative said Tuesday.

Republican Texas state Rep. Matt Schaefer announced Tuesday afternoon that a grand jury for Tyler County, Texas, indicted Netflix, Inc., for “promoting material in Cuties film which depicts lewd exhibition of pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child who was younger than 18 yrs of age which appeals to the prurient interest in sex.” 

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Boeing Says Pandemic Will Cut Demand for Planes for a Decade

The Associated Press

Boeing is lowering its expectations around demand for new planes over the next decade as the coronavirus pandemic continues to undercut air travel.

The company on Tuesday predicted that the world will need 18,350 new commercial airplanes in the next decade, a drop of 11% from its 2019 forecast. The value of that market will slide by about $200 billion from last year’s forecast, to $2.9 trillion.

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CDC Updates Coronavirus Guidance Again, Warns About Transmission from More than Six Feet

Admin

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its coronavirus guidance Monday to warn about the potential for virus spread from beyond six feet.

The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance also says that the virus can “linger in the air” for hours. The revision comes weeks after the agency retracted a similar update to its coronavirus guidance.

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‘Dune’ Ditches 2020, While AMC Commits to Staying Open

Admin

The 2020 theatrical release calendar is getting even slimmer in the wake of the announcement that Regal cinemas are temporarily closing, although AMC, North America’s largest theater chain, says it will remain open.

Warner Bros. said late Monday that its sci-fi pic “Dune” will now open in October 2021, instead of this December. The studio also pushed back “The Batman” to March 2022 and moved up its “Matrix” sequel to Dec. 2021.

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Gov. Northam Criticizes President Trump’s ‘Don’t Live in Fear’ Message, Suggests Exercising to Help Fight COVID

Corinne Murdock

Governor Ralph Northam criticized President Donald Trump’s statement preceding his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

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Whitmer Asks Michigan Supreme Court To Clarify Ruling Takes Effect Oct. 30, Republicans Say Order Effective Immediately

Jordyn Pair

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday asked the state’s Supreme Court for clarification that its recent order overturning her emergency powers does not take effect until October 30.

The ruling, mandated October 2, struck down the statute under which Whitmer had been issuing coronavirus emergency orders, nullifying the orders and saying that their issuance had been unconstitutional.

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Two Richmond Detectives Indicted by Grand Jury on Misdemeanor Assault Charges Related to Summer Protests

Jacob Taylor

Two Richmond police detectives have been indicted on misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from the protests that took place during the summer, the Richmond Police Department said in an emailed statement Monday night.

The charges were brought against the two detectives after Richmond’s Commonwealth Attorney Colette McEachin presented 18 sealed indictments to a Grand Jury on Monday concerning the actions of certain officers during the protests.

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JMU Students Have Returned to Campus and Resumed In-Person Classes Again

Jacob Taylor

Students at James Madison University (JMU) resumed in-person classes on Monday after spending almost a month away from campus learning virtually because of a significant rise in COVID-19 cases and inadequate isolation/quarantine spaces.

At the beginning of September, university president Jonathan Alger announced JMU was temporarily sending most on-campus students home and switching to virtual instruction. Now, students are back at the Harrisonburg, Virginia campus to give the 2020 fall semester another shot.

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Sparks Fly at Richmond Mayoral Debate Between Stoney and Gray

Eric Burk

The top four candidates for Richmond’s mayor debated in a forum on Tuesday night that saw incumbent Mayor Levar Stoney again defending his record from attacks on all sides. Councilmember Kim Gray and candidate Justin Griffin took turns attacking Stoney for corruption and mismanagement while candidate Alexsis Rodgers suggested that many of Stoney’s best ideas for the future are cribbed from her own platform.

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Report Says Ohio Unemployment Trend Doesn’t Follow COVID-19 Restrictions

Admin

Ohio bucked the trend shown in a new report that compared state’s COVID-19 restrictions and unemployment rate.

Ohio ranked 16th in the nation for fewest restrictions but ranked 39th in unemployment ranking, according updated rankings released Tuesday by WalletHub, a personal-finance website. Not surprisingly, states with the fewest COVID-19 restrictions had lower unemployment rates than states with more.

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Minnesota’s $6.9 Million COVID Morgue Converted into Storage Facility, Media Barred from Entering

Admin

Gov. Tim Walz’s administration purchased a warehouse for $6.9 million in May to be used for the “temporary storage of human remains,” but the facility was recently converted into a storage space for vaccines and other medical supplies.

The facility was intended to serve as “a building where we can properly handle with dignity and respect and safety the bodies of Minnesotans who may fall victim to the coronavirus,” Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Joe Kelly said at the time of the purchase.

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TRUMPDATE: Latest from the Team Trump Virginia Campaign for October 7

Jordan Bondurant

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of our daily Virginia Trump campaign update! We will provide our readers with daily updates on the Trump Virginia campaign from today to November 3 (and after…if need be!).

It’s officially 27 days until the election on November 3 – and 24 days until early voting in Virginia closes. The deadline to register to vote in time for the 2020 election is October 13, six days from today.

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