Top Senate Republicans pressing for investigation on Mueller team phones being 'wiped'

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/12/politics/senate-doj-mueller-phones/index.html

Two top Senate Republicans are pressing Justice Department officials to investigate whether special counsel Robert Mueller's team violated federal record keeping laws during a probe by the Justice Department's watchdog into the FBI's Russia investigation

Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Friday pointed to a recent Freedom of Information Act release from the Justice Department that shows at least 27 instances of phones assigned to Mueller's team being "wiped" or reset for various reasons, including 15 due to passcodes forgotten or being entered too many times.

Trump Bragged About Protecting Saudi Prince Whose Goons Dismembered a Journalist via Bone Saw

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/donald-trump-mbs-saved-his-ass

 In a world in which Donald Trump is president, it can be hard to remember scandals that happened two years ago, let alone last week. But try, if you can, to recall the incident in which journalist, U.S. resident, and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was kidnapped and dismembered via bone saw, allegedly on the order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Trump let Prince Mohammed get a way with it, because the kingdom bought some weapons from the U.S. and the guy was bros with Jared Kushner. (Also, because he has a fondness for dictators.) While you’re recollecting, also remember that Trump continued to defend the de facto Saudi leader even after Saudi Arabia admitted the killing was premeditated and the CIA separately concluded the prince directed the murder. (The prince, naturally, denies the whole thing.) All in all, it was a pretty messed up situation, even for a guy who muses about dating his own daughter. Also messed up? That Trump apparently boasted about helping bin Salman get away with the whole thing, according to—what else?— Bob Woodward’s new book. Per Business Insider:

 Donald Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from congressional scrutiny after the brutal assassination of the American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That’s according to the veteran reporter Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, Rage, set to be released next Tuesday.… Woodward wrote that Trump called him on January 22 shortly after attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During the conversation, Woodward pressed the president about Khashoggi’s gruesome murder. Khashoggi, 59, a longtime Washington Post columnist known for his criticism of the Saudi kingdom, was assassinated and dismembered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after going there to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage. “The people at the Post are upset about the Khashoggi killing,” Woodward told Trump on January 22, his book says. “That is one of the most gruesome things. You yourself have said.”

 “Yeah, but Iran is killing 36 people a day, so—” Trump began, before Woodward redirected the conversation and continued to press Trump about MBS’s role in ordering Khashoggi’s killing. “I saved his ass,” Trump had said amid the U.S. outcry following Khashoggi's murder, the book says. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”

Poll suggests Trump may be losing support of some evangelical voters

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It's hard to write a tell-all book when Trump is constantly telling on himself

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/12/opinions/woodward-book-impact-trump-zelizer/index.html

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Rage," hasn't even been released yet and it's already causing quite a stir. In it, President Donald Trump acknowledged in early February that the novel coronavirus was airborne and deadlier than the flu, even though he continued to downplay the threat of the virus in public.

 This is hard to believe given that the President does little to evoke calm. Indeed, as the story broke, and Woodward released recordings of his conversations with Trump, the President continued to tweet about the alleged breakdown of law and order in the country, stoking fears of violence in response to largely peaceful protests.

 Fast forward to 2020 and things are vastly different. It is possible that Woodward's book won't do much to sway public opinion. The intense partisan polarization in the electorate means that there are fewer undecided voters who might be swayed either way by the revelations in Woodward's new book.

 

Trump’s nomination makes a mockery of the Nobel Peace Prize

 https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-nobel-peace-prize-israel-peace-deal-uae-b421672.html

 President Trump is unfit for nomination and his inclusion makes a mockery of this important accolade. This is not merely due to his incendiary Twitter rants and threats of nuclear war. Trump has not dealt with persistent systemic inequalities and has mostly refused to deal with the climate crisis – as well as leaving a large Covid-19 death toll in his wake. This is not peace.

 “It’s hard to imagine an individual less worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize,” said Tim Wright, a 2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, recognised for his work with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. “He has fomented violence against his own citizens, abandoned longstanding arms control agreements, and undermined multilateralism at every opportunity. His few diplomatic initiatives, such as the summits with North Korea, have been little more than photo-ops.” It is unlikely that Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize, announced via a virtual ceremony on 9 October, but regardless he has been nominated by right-wing Norwegian MP Christian Tybring-Gjedde for his purported role in the Israel-UAE deal.

 Anybody can be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize but only “qualified nominators” may throw their hat into the ring and offer suggestions for future nominees. You might be surprised to learn who qualifies to make this important choice – and you may even be able to make a qualified nomination of your own.

The Atlantic calls to 'end the Nobel Peace Prize' following Trump nominations

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-atlantic-end-nobel-peace-prize-trump

 The Atlantic magazine raised eyebrows on Friday when it published a piece calling for the abolition of the Nobel Peace Prize after President Trump was nominated for the prestigious honor.

The president's name was submitted for the 2021 prize by Norwegian lawmaker Christian Tybring-Gjedde, who cited Trump's role in brokering a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Trump has since earned a second nomination from Swedish lawmaker Magnus Jacobsson for overseeing an economic deal between Kosovo and Serbia.

The nominations, however, apparently didn't sit well with the liberal magazine, which declared Friday that "peace had its chance, and blew it."

 

"Effect of Calcifediol Treatment and best Available Therapy versus best Available Therapy on Intensive Care Unit Admission and Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Pilot Randomized Clinical study"

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076020302764

 Highlights

•The vitamin D endocrine system may have a variety of actions on cells and tissues involved in COVID-19 progression.

•Administration of calcifediol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D to hospitalized COVID-19 patients significantly reduced their need for Intensive Care United admission.

•Calcifediol seems to be able to reduce severity of the disease.

The First Clinical Trial to Support Vitamin D Therapy For Covid-19

 https://medium.com/microbial-instincts/the-first-clinical-trial-to-support-vitamin-d-therapy-for-covid-19-906a9d907468

Oral calcifediol, the main metabolite of vitamin D3, reduced ICU admission from 50% to 2% among Covid-19 patients.

Flynn Case "Prosecutor" Gleeson Slams Barr's Position, Urges Judge Sullivan to Sentence Flynn

Britain is risking a car-crash Brexit of food shortages, another recession and isolation

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/12/business/brexit-no-deal-uk-economy/index.html

 In the four years that have passed since Britain voted to leave the European Union, business executives have consistently delivered one message to the country's political leaders: Do not under any circumstances crash out of our largest export market without a deal to protect trade.

Now, after painstaking negotiations that resulted in an amicable divorce with the European Union earlier this year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has instigated a confrontation with Brussels that could turn the nightmare "no-deal" scenario for business into reality.

The UK government said this week that it intends to break the terms of the divorce agreement that settled the country's departure from the European Union at the end of January. EU officials have given Johnson until the end of this month to abandon his would-be violation of international law.

QAnon fans spread fake claims about real fires in Oregon

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/11/tech/qanon-oregon-fire-conspiracy-theory/index.html

 Authorities in Oregon are pleading with the public to only trust and share information verified by official sources about the unprecedented wildfires sweeping the state. The pleas come as law enforcement agencies described 911 dispatchers being overrun with calls about a false online rumor that "Antifa" members had been arrested for setting the fires — a claim promoted by the anonymous account behind the QAnon conspiracy theories.

The incident highlights how online conspiracy theories, a sustained right-wing campaign to create increased fear of anti-fascist groups, and amplification of false claims by QAnon followers, have real consequences.

On Friday, the FBI responded, saying, "reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue."

 

 

Trump and the GOP Rocked by Bombshell Woodward Tapes: A Closer Look

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