Friday, October 30, 2020
Donald Trump has run a historically bad reelection campaign
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/29/opinions/trump-bad-reelection-campaign-wierson-honan/index.html
As we head into the final days of the presidential contest -- a time when candidates generally race to make their best closing arguments to the voters -- it is worth looking at how badly run the Trump campaign has been.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
White House informs Congress of plans to sell as many as 50 F-35s to UAE
The Trump administration has updated Congress of its intent to sell F-35 advanced fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, a ranking House Democrat announced on Thursday. The informal notification to the House Foreign Affairs Committee revealed that the White House plans to sell as many as 50 units of the Lockheed Martin-made jets for roughly $10.4 billion, a senior congressional staffer told The Times of Israel. Israel has ordered the same number of F-35s from the US, though not all of them have been transferred yet.
Donald Trump's secret sauce for not paying his debts
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/28/politics/donald-trump-loans-debt-new-york-times/index.html
How do you get a bank to forgive almost $300 million in loans for a failed real estate project? You act like Donald Trump.
Which means this: Donald Trump was such a public bully that the lenders preferred to work to eat the debt (or a large portion of it) rather than risk a fight with him because, well, they had made the calculation it simply wasn't worth it.
U.S. election result will shake up Israeli politics
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest domestic political asset is on the ballot on Nov. 3 — his relationship with President Trump.
Why it matters: The outcome of America's election could help determine whether Israel soon faces yet another election of its own.
White House Touts Trump’s 5 Science Accomplishments, Including ‘Ending The Pandemic’
Well, here’s some amazing news. On Tuesday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a press release of the Trump Administration’s science and technology accomplishments from President Donald Trump’s first term. The release accompanied the unveiling of a longer document from the Office and listed five highlights. Guess what the first one on the list was. “Ending the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The press release included a quote from Ivanka Trump, listed as an Advisor to the President. Because, after all, when you think of science and technology, you think of Ivanka Trump, right? This was the statement from Trump’s daughter: “Over the past four years, President Trump’s policies and investments in science and technology ensure America stands ready to solve today’s most pressing challenges and that our workforce is prepared for tomorrow’s innovations. For years to come, these achievements will guarantee the United States remains the world’s leader in research, discovery and the advancement of industries that will shape our future.”
Trump claims he ‘ended’ the pandemic as cases surge
The deluge of early votes for Tuesday’s US presidential election has topped 70m – the equivalent of more than half of all votes cast in 2016 – as Donald Trump brazenly listed one of the highlights of his presidency as “ending the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Trump’s claim, delivered in a White House press release, came in a week that has seen days of record new infections, daily deaths running at almost 1,000 a day, and a 23% increase in cases.
But it was the coronavirus pandemic that continued to dominate the agenda. Asked about Trump’s claim to have “ended it”, even the White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, struggled to defend the assertion.
“I think that was poorly worded,” Farah told Fox news. “The intent was to say that it is our goal to end the virus. But what I would say is this, because of the president’s leadership, we are rounding the corner on the virus.”
Covid-19: Antibody levels ‘waning quite rapidly’ after infection, new study finds
Antibodies appear to decrease rapidly after SARS-CoV-2 infection, a recent study found
Asymptomatic individuals involved in the study were also found to quickly lose antibodies
The results stress the need for everyone to continue following preventative measures
Covid-19 May Cause 'Significant' Declines in Cognitive Function, According to Survey of Patients
https://gizmodo.com/covid-19-may-cause-significant-declines-in-cognitive-fu-1845499990
A study of more than 84,500 people backs
prior indications that surviving the novel coronavirus may be associated
with potentially serious cognitive deficits, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
While the new study, which is based on an online survey, has some major
limitations, other research has found that covid-19 can cause
neurological issues even in people with mild cases.
The research team, led by Imperial College London’s Adam Hampshire, reviewed data from the Great British Intelligence Test—a collaborative project with BBC2 Horizon that collects a broad array of cognitive test and questionnaire data. It was expanded to include questions about covid-19 infection in May; in the dataset of about 84,500 people, 9,201 reported infections without respiratory symptoms; 3,466 had respiratory difficulties but did not obtain medical assistance; 176 required medical attention at home; 147 were hospitalized; and another 60 had to go on a ventilator.
Some Covid Survivors Have Antibodies That Attack the Body, not Virus
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/health/covid-antibodies-autoimmunity.html
Some survivors of Covid-19 carry worrying signs that their immune system has turned on the body, reminiscent of potentially debilitating diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, a new study has found.
At some point, the body’s defense system in these patients shifted into attacking itself, rather than the virus, the study suggests. The patients are producing molecules called “autoantibodies” that target genetic material from human cells, instead of from the virus.
This misguided immune response may exacerbate severe Covid-19. It may also explain why so-called “long haulers” have lingering problems months after their initial illness has resolved and the virus is gone from their bodies.
Is Netanyahu dumping Trump? - opinion
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/is-netanyahu-dumping-trump-opinion-647287
Netanyahu, who is more fluent in many more languages than Trump, including English, has no doubt seen the writing on the wall, and in both directions it says Joe Biden has a good chance of becoming the next US president.