Fact check: At his first coronavirus briefing since April, Trump repeats a handful of classic false claims

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/21/politics/fact-check-trump-coronavirus-briefing-july-21/index.html

In his first coronavirus briefing since April, President Donald Trump got a little more accurate about the state of the pandemic in the US -- but also continued to make some of the same false claims and promote some of the same misleading narratives of his previous moments in the White House briefing room.

Trump, reading from prepared remarks, acknowledged a "concerning rise" in cases in the South (he had previously dismissed the sharp increase as mere evidence of how many people are being tested) and said the situation will get worse before it gets better (he had previously claimed, as late as June, that the virus was dying out).

But Trump's new tone, like previous Trump new tones, did not last long.

He continued to boast that the US has done many more tests than other countries, ignoring the fact that many peer nations did so much better controlling the virus that they haven't needed to keep conducting so many tests.

He continued to say that the virus "will disappear," declining to acknowledge the inaccuracy of his previous suggestions that it would disappear without much harm to the American public -- or the possibility that it will take years for the virus to be eradicated, if it goes away at all.

And Trump repeated some of the specific false claims we and others fact checked repeatedly in earlier stages of the crisis: his claim that he inherited "empty cupboards" of supplies and ventilators, that he shut US borders to China and Europe, and that governors do not need anything from the federal government.

 

Senate Republicans: No reason for Biden to 'sound the alarm' on Russia

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/21/senate-republicans-no-reason-for-biden-to-sound-the-alarm-on-russia-377030

Senior Senate Republicans are rejecting Joe Biden's amped-up public warnings about Russian interference in this year's presidential election, saying foreign adversaries' efforts to meddle in U.S. democracy are nothing new after the Kremlin's hacking operation four years ago.

Senate Homeland Security Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested that Russia has been interfering in Western elections “for decades.”

“Does it surprise me if China's probably doing the same thing? Not at all,” he told POLITICO.

The GOP comments came a day after Biden offered his starkest warnings to date against any interference by Russia or other foreign governments like China.

“I am putting the Kremlin and other foreign governments on notice,” the former vice president said Monday, three days after disclosing that he had begun to receive briefings from U.S. intelligence officials as the presumptive Democratic nominee. “If elected president, I will treat foreign interference in our election as an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the interfering nation’s government.”

 

Religious leaders warn against Pompeo's push for religious freedom as priority human right

https://thehill.com/policy/international/508199-religious-leaders-warn-against-pompeos-push-for-a-hierarchy-of-human

More than 30 faith leaders on Monday issued a warning against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s new push to put property rights and religious freedom at the forefront of American diplomacy.

In a statement, faith leaders across denominations warned that Pompeo’s push for a hierarchy of rights with religious freedom at the top “will weaken religious freedom itself and undermine respect for and damage the protections of the universal values of human dignity.”

The statement was led by the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan progressive policy institute, and signed by leaders from the Catholic, evangelical, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist faiths.

 

Defense Secretary Esper has ‘concern’ about federal agents wearing military camo uniforms, spokesman says

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/esper-concern-federal-agents-wearing-military-camo-uniforms\

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has expressed “concern” within the Trump administration about federal agents dressing up in military uniforms while handling protests and riots in places like Portland, Ore., chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Tuesday.

“We want a system where people can tell the difference,” he told reporters.

 

Coronavirus in Israel: 1,977 new cases in a day; death toll hits 430

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-cases-climb-1977-in-the-last-day-635906

 Israel hit another coronavirus peak on Wednesday: Some 1,977 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday - the highest number in a single day since the start of the crisis.

With just more than 27,000 people screened, the infection rate is over 7%. Another 303 people were diagnosed since midnight.

 

Bill banning gay conversion therapy passes initial vote, enraging ultra-Orthodox

https://www.timesofisrael.com/bill-banning-gay-conversion-therapy-passes-initial-vote-enraging-ultra-orthodox/

A bill outlawing controversial “gay conversion therapy” passed a preliminary vote in the Knesset on Wednesday, drawing cheers from LGBT rights advocates and angering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox political allies.

The bill advanced after Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party supported the legislation, in a move that generated a fresh coalition crisis. The government’s Labor party also broke with the coalition to back the bill. 

Though discouraged by the Health Ministry, the practice remains legal in Israel, and is still accepted in some conservative and Orthodox circles.

The bill still has to pass three readings and be approved by a Knesset committee before it becomes law and the practice is outlawed.

After the vote results were announced, many in the plenum started applauding, but ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were visibly furious.

They shouted at Gantz, “You will not be prime minister,” an apparent threat to topple the government before the defense minister is set to replace Netanyahu as premier in November 2021.

Trump Told U.S. Ambassador to Get U.K. Government Help Steering British Open to His Resort

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/trump-ambassador-woody-johnson-uk-help-british-open-golf-tournament.html

The umpteenth example of President Donald Trump trying to profit off the presidency comes via the New York Times, which reports that in 2018 Trump pressured his newly appointed ambassador to the U.K., Woody Johnson, to try to get the British government to help steer the British Open golf tournament to his Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland. The British government doesn’t normally have anything to do with the selection of the venue for the high-profile yearly tournament, which, as a major driver of publicity and interest, could have been a financial boon for the Trump-owned course. But that’s how Trump sees government generally and his position within it specifically—something to be leveraged for personal gain. You’d like to think that the American ambassador, as a representative of his country, upon hearing such an improper, unethical request, disregarded the president’s desire for a personal favor. But you’d be wrong.

 

More than a dozen mayors join Portland in asking Trump administration to withdraw federal forces

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/22/us/portland-protests-mayors-withdraw-federal-forces/index.html

 More than a dozen mayors have joined Portland in asking the Trump administration to remove federal forces from or stop plans to send them to major American cities.

In a letter Monday addressed to Attorney General William Barr and Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, the mayors called the administration's intention to deploy federal forces against protesters an "abuse of power."

The letter -- signed by the mayors of Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Tucson, Sacramento, Phoenix and Kansas City, Missiouri -- calls on the administration to withdraw federal forces from the cities where they are currently deployed and halt plans to send them elsewhere.

 

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