Coronavirus czar apologizes for criticizing senior ultra-Orthodox rabbi

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1TFk6X4w

 Prof. Ronni Gamzu says Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky did not, as reported by ultra-Orthodox publication, tell yeshiva students to avoid all coronavirus testing, after claiming Haredi leader was endangering public health

 "I regret the misunderstanding as a result of the biased publication of the remarks of Rabbi Kanievsky, whom I respect and admire, and take back what I said," Gamzu said. 

 “I checked it and it seems Rabbi Kanievsky never gave an instruction not to get checked, but was rather a decision based on the opinion of several rabbis for specific cases of yeshiva students in closed capsules, who had already taken coronavirus tests, and in accordance with policies that were set in advance.”

Boris Johnson is battling to reach a Brexit deal. But hardliners already fear betrayal

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/07/uk/johnson-brexit-betrayal-intl-gbr/index.html

 When Boris Johnson first took over as British Prime Minister, many in his Conservative Party couldn't believe their luck. After years of watching Theresa May's government rub out red line after red line on Brexit, the man who led the triumphant march to freedom in 2016 was in charge.

Barely a year on, a decent chunk of that optimism has turned to frustration and agitation. Despite the fact Johnson has taken the UK out of the European Union and won a landslide election victory, there is fear the Prime Minister's desire to end the Brexit story on a personal note of triumph is clouding his thinking.

In recent weeks, talks on a future trade deal between London and Brussels have been uneasy. Both sides are indicating that negotiations are going nowhere and that the other is making unacceptable demands. Both have made clear that unless things change the time to walk away could come soon, meaning a no-deal crash out of the transition period on December 31.

Trump likely can't win without veteran support

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/07/politics/donald-trump-election-2020-veterans/index.html

President Donald Trump has been on the defensive since Thursday over an article in The Atlantic magazine that alleged, among other things, that he used derogatory language about fallen US soldiers.

While Trump has forcefully denied that reporting, CNN has largely confirmed it, as have Fox News, the Associated Press, the New York Times and the Washington Post in part.

We obviously don't know what effect, if any, these stories will have on the 2020 campaign and Trump's chances of winning a second term.

What we do know is Trump relies on active military members and veterans as a base of support, and any degradation of that backing is bad for him. Further, Trump wants to put former Vice President Joe Biden on the defensive, and this story does the opposite of that.

 

 

Vietnam Vet and Counterterrorism Official Knows Trump is Not Good for the Military or our Country

Trump's Support Among Military Voters Is Tanking

 https://time.com/5886241/trumps-support-among-military-voters-is-tanking/

 At this point four years ago, then-candidate Donald Trump held a massive lead of 20 points over Hillary Clinton among military voters. This time around, he’s struggling to keep up. A new Military Times poll revealed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads Trump by about four percentage points among active-duty troops.

And that was before today’s bombshell report published in the Atlantic. The article outlines a number of instances when President Donald Trump derided U.S. service members, even describing the country’s war dead as “losers” and “suckers.”

 

 

Trump’s popularity slips in latest Military Times poll — and more troops say they’ll vote for Biden

 https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/08/31/as-trumps-popularity-slips-in-latest-military-times-poll-more-troops-say-theyll-vote-for-biden/

 The latest Military Times poll shows a continued decline in active-duty service members’ views of President Donald Trump and a slight but significant preference for former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming November election among troops surveyed.

 

 

Trump Losing The Military Vote, A Traditional Republican Bloc

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-military-poll_n_5f52b8b4c5b6578026cdea89

 President Donald Trump’s numerous lies on military issues, from claims of delivering historic pay raises to providing brand new ships and planes, do not appear to be working with service members, with polling suggesting he could lose this traditional Republican voting bloc this November.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads Trump, 41% to 37%, in a survey of more than 1,000 subscribers to the Military Times. Trump held a 20-percentage-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the same poll before the 2016 election.

 “I’ve done more, I think, than almost anybody to help our military, to get the budgets of our military, to get the pay raises for our military,” Trump said again late Thursday night on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrew after returning from a rally near Pittsburgh.

In fact, each one of his claims is at best an exaggeration and at worst a lie. While his total military budgets are larger than those in predecessor Barack Obama’s second term when House Republicans insisted on cutting spending, they are smaller than those in Obama’s first term, after adjusting for inflation. Similarly, the pay raises he brags about are the cost-of-living increases that have been standard for years.

The racist myth of France’s ‘descent into savagery’

 https://www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-racist-myth-france-descent-into-savagery/

 To be sure, the recent attacks should not be dismissed or played down. Nor should the long-standing problem of violent and criminal behavior from gangs of mostly young men in the inner suburbs of French cities. Many of them — though not all — are of North African or African origin, though most are second-, third- or even fourth-generation. In other words, whatever Le Pen may say, they are not migrants; they are French.

But the claim that France is descending into some apocalyptic twilight world of migrant-driven violence is nonsense. Or rather, it is a lie calculated to stir racial prejudice and hatred. The use of the word “savage” is not accidental.

 What Le Pen is not so subtly suggesting is that the presence of large numbers of brown and Black people on French soil, whether they are recent migrants or not, is undesirable. Brown and Black people, she implies, are culturally alien to France and prone to violence.

There is, in fact, no evidence that France is becoming more violent. Rather the opposite.

In the last 25 years, the French murder rate has fallen by almost half and is five times lower than in the United States, when you account for population. Violent robbery and acts of personal violence are stable — even falling, if you exclude sexual assaults which, thankfully, are now reported more systematically to the police.

 

Trump faces new character tests as campaign enters final stretch

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/07/politics/donald-trump-election-2020-character-test/index.html

 Maybe the biggest surprise about allegations President Donald Trump uttered rude dismissals of American war dead was how unsurprising it really was.

The remarks, reported first in The Atlantic magazine and corroborated by several outlets, including CNN, seemed so in character with Trump's public persona that even an onslaught of denials from current and former officials did little to negate the impression that Trump is a man who sometimes says terrible things.

When excerpts soon followed of his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen's book portraying Trump as a cheat, liar, fraud, bully, racist, predator and con man, the surprise again failed to materialize -- even though Cohen had worked intimately with Trump for years.

 Now, as the presidential campaign begins its post-Labor Day finale, the question has become less about what Americans know of Trump's character but whether they care.

Trump appears to be betting they don't. He's continued his attacks on war heroes and generals, even as he tries to claim utmost respect for the military. And he's dismissing efforts to reckon with the country's racist past, even as he works to convince suburban White voters he's not racist himself.

In Final Stretch, Biden Defends Lead Against Trump’s Onslaught

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/us/politics/trump-biden-2020.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Private polls conducted for both parties during and after their August conventions found the race largely stable but tightening slightly in some states, with Mr. Trump recovering some support from conservative-leaning rural voters who had drifted away over the summer amid the worsening pandemic. Yet Mr. Biden continues to enjoy advantages with nearly every other group, especially in populous areas where the virus remains at the forefront for voters, according to people briefed on the data.

Facing Haredi rebellion, ministers approve local curfews instead of lockdowns

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/under-heavy-haredi-pressure-netanyahu-proposes-curfews-instead-of-lockdowns/

 Ministers on Sunday evening approved nightly curfews in some 40 cities with high infection numbers, instead of the previously planned full lockdown on a smaller number of towns — a plan that had sparked a threat of rebellion from some ultra-Orthodox mayors and a major political crisis with the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The curfews will be in effect every day between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. Non-essential businesses will be closed during the curfew. Schools will be closed at all times.

The Latest Polls, the Great Non-Tightening: This Week in the 2020 Race

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/us/politics/trump-biden-polls-election.html

 A wave of data this week suggested that the race was largely holding steady after the parties’ conventions. Will the uproar over President Trump’s reported remarks on the military shake things up?

 A batch of national polls released in the wake of the Democratic and Republican conventions showed Joe Biden leading President Trump by anywhere from seven to 10 percentage points.

• 
  

 

Biden leads Trump by 10 points in new national poll

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/515308-biden-leads-trump-by-10-points-in-new-national-poll

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading President Trump by 10 points nationally, according to a new poll. 

More than half of likely voters, 52 percent, said they would cast their ballots for Biden, and 42 percent said they would support Trump, according to a CBS News-YouGov poll released Sunday. The poll found 3 percent said they are “not sure” who they would vote for, and 3 percent said they would vote for someone else.

 

Jeffrey Goldberg: I Think Trump Is Genuinely Confused By Service | Morning Joe | MSNBC