Wednesday, August 26, 2020
What Pompeo and Kushner are up to
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/25/opinions/pompeo-and-kushner-opinion-miller/index.html
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left for Israel and the Gulf on Sunday not with the two-state solution on his mind; but with a focus on what you might call the 22-state solution: how best to use Arab state relationships with Israel to support President Donald Trump's reelection campaign.
Enamored of Arab money, arms sales and enlisting Arab states in their pro-Israeli and anti-Iranian agenda, the Trump administration's real play was never about the Palestinians or two states. It was always about the Arab nations. And authoritarian Arab regimes eager to please an autocrat-friendly president have been only too happy to follow along with Donald Trump. The only question is how many more will do so.
In essence, as we've seen recently with the likely sale of F-35 advanced fighter aircraft to the UAE, what the Arab states wanted, they more or less got.
Fact Check: Second night of RNC riddled with dishonesty as Melania Trump appeals for 'total honesty'
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/25/politics/rnc-night-two-fact-check/index.html
First Lady Melania Trump concluded the second night of the Republican National Convention with a speech in which she said, "Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our president."
Peace in the Middle East
Chris Wallace reacts to Trump's White House RNC, Pompeo remarks: ‘All of this has never happened before’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chris-wallace-trump-white-house-rnc-reaction
Night two of the Republican National Convention featured events that bucked longstanding tradition, "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said during Fox News' special coverage.
“What stands out to me is that about two or three weeks ago, Donald Trump suggested that he might make his acceptance speech at the White House,” Wallace said Tuesday night. “And there was an uproar in Washington. Republican Senate leaders said, 'That can't happen. We can't have that.' That barrier was completely blown away tonight, for good or for ill.”
“We do need to point out that secretaries of state have never participated in political speeches,” he said. “In fact, it's a regulation of the State Department that nobody that's in the State Department can attend a political event, let alone participate in it. The State Department said, 'Well, he's operating in his personal capacity.' But I don't know what personal capacity a secretary of state has.”
“People can think it's a big deal, they can think that's a little deal, but all of this has never happened before,” Wallace added. “And it's worth noting."
Netanyahu freezing construction in Judea and Samaria
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/285960
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has frozen new housing construction in Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria, withholding new housing permits for the expansion of Israeli towns for more than half a year.
The Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee, which is charged with providing housing permits for construction of new units in Area C of Judea and Samaria, was slated to convene this week, but the meeting was cancelled – the latest in a string of cancellations.
Settlement leaders from the Yesha Council blasted the repeated delays.
“For more than half a year not a single housing unit has been approved in the area, and we haven’t been given a final date for the convening of the committee. We now find ourselves in the midst of a construction freeze in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley.”
Trump says Biden will ‘hurt God’. What can he mean by that?
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/trump-says-biden-will-hurt-god-what-can-he-mean-by-that-639935
During a campaign speech made from that tarmac at the Cleveland, Ohio airport last week, President Donald Trump said that his presumptive Democratic opponent in the November election, Joe Biden, will “Take away your guns, take away your Second Amendment. No religion, no anything. Hurt the Bible. Hurt God. He’s against God. He’s against guns. He’s against energy.”
The Ford Administration Rolled Out a Vaccine Program Right Before the 1976 Election. It Backfired—And Not Just Politically
https://time.com/5882949/trump-coronavirus-vaccine-election-history/
Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan, remembers getting the shot as a high school sophomore: “Everyone went to school gyms or large areas, and I remember vividly my mother making us go, and waiting in line, and saying ‘this is ridiculous.'”
“Things like the small increased risk of GBS from the 1976 vaccine become…convenient for post-hoc justification of those pre-existing fears,” says Jonathan M. Berman, author of the forthcoming history of the anti-vaxxer movement Anti-vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement. “Later studies showed that there was likely no link, but already wary parents and anti-vaxxers see it as a justification for the fear.”
On the other hand, the 1976 controversy “does provide important lessons,” Berman argues. “When vaccination decisions appear politically motivated, it can undermine trust.”
The fact that even people who are not generally anti-vaccine are worried about the safety of a COVID-19 inoculation means it’s all the more important that a coronavirus vaccine is not rushed, argues Markel. “This is a very touchy issue,” he says, “so this [vaccine] has to be rolled out exactly right.”
Pompeo dives into GOP confab from Jerusalem, defying precedent and possibly law
Casting aside his own advice to American diplomats and bulldozing a long tradition of secretary of state non-partisanship, Mike Pompeo plunged into the heart of the US 2020 presidential race Tuesday with a speech from Jerusalem supporting Donald Trump’s reelection. The address was roundly condemned by Democrats and others as an inappropriate breach of decades of diplomatic precedent and a possible violation of federal law prohibiting executive branch employees from overt political activism while on duty. Indeed, Pompeo himself had reminded State Department staffers of those restrictions only last month. Yet he went ahead with the speech, which was recorded in Jerusalem during an official visit to the Middle East, over strident objections, complaints of hypocrisy and the threat of a congressional investigation.
FDA chief apologises for overstating benefits of plasma on Covid-19
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53911565
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn came under fire after his agency on Sunday gave emergency authorisation to use convalescent plasma on Covid patients.
Echoing President Donald Trump, Mr Hahn touted the treatment as life-saving.
Scientists quickly questioned the data provided by Mr Hahn, who suggested plasma could reduce deaths by 35%.
This claim exaggerated preliminary findings from a clinic at the Mayo Clinic.
"I personally could have done a better job and should have done a better job at that press conference explaining what the data show regarding convalescent plasma," Mr Hahn told CBS News on Tuesday.
Fact-checking the second night of the RNC
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/25/politics/rnc-night-two-fact-check/index.html
As we noted in our fact check on Monday, the first night of the Republican National Convention featured more misleading and false claims than all four nights of the Democrats' convention combined.
Ultra-Orthodox publicist sentenced to 17 years in prison for rape
Matti Ben-David, an ultra-Orthodox director of a Jerusalem-based advertising agency, was sentenced on Sunday to 17 years in prison for sexual assault against six ultra-Orthodox women he employed, according to Ynet.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
More nonsense!Delusional Democrats' lies and misleading claims take center stage on second night of convention
Clinton suggested that had the Trump administration done a better job of controlling the pandemic, unemployment would be lower than it is today.
However, Clinton conveniently left out that Democrats, including Joe Biden, demanded early in the pandemic that governments close economies across the country. The coronavirus did not force businesses to close—government bureaucrats did.
Further, many of the states with the highest COVID-19 death tolls are led by members of the Democratic Party, like Andrew Cuomo in New York, and none of them are controlled directly by President Trump, who can in most instances do nothing more than issue suggested guidelines for states to follow.
Clinton also failed to mention that Democrats are the ones who have insisted the United States pursue policies that discourage people from returning to work, like paying unemployed Americans more money to stay home than they earned when they had jobs. Or a radical plan put forward by Kamala Harris, Biden’s choice for vice president, that would send Americans $2,000 per month until the pandemic ends, plus an additional three months.
These policies, more than any others, are responsible for the unemployment rate remaining higher than it ought to be. If Democrats really want people to go back to work, then they should stop calling for workers to continue being paid to stay home.
In one of the most outrageously dishonest moments of the night, a video promoting Biden alleged that Trump, despite the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus, is “still trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act” and “take … health care away” from Americans at risk.
Although it’s true that President Trump has continued to call for the elimination of the ACA and is fighting in court to have much of the law struck down because, according to the administration, it’s unconstitutional, Trump has repeatedly said ObamaCare should be replaced with something better, not merely eliminated.
The examples of misinformation listed above are just the tip of the iceberg.
In one presentation after another, Democrats showed on Tuesday night that they are not interested in providing voters with a positive vision for the future of the United States—or even just telling the truth.
Their election strategy for 2020 is simple: Say and do anything possible to beat Donald Trump, regardless of how dishonest they must be to accomplish their goal.
Trump still 'humiliated' by brother Fred Jr dumping mashed potatoes on his head when he was 7, says niece Mary
Stephanopoulos asked Mary about an incident that happened when the president was young and which ended in Donald receiving a head full of mashed potatoes. "Yes. Yeah. That's one of our favorite family stories. They were really young kids, and I think Donald was maybe 7. And one of his favorite things to do was torment my Uncle Rob, who was a couple years younger. And it was, you know, my grandmother's cooking dinner, and getting the table ready, and Donald was just being merciless. And Maryanne and my dad could not get him to stop," she said.
She added: "And finally, my dad had no other option but to pick up a bowl of mashed potatoes and just dump it on his little brother's head. And it ended the -- it ended the fight. But I think it also started something, because Donald was humiliated by it, as evidenced by the way he reacts to the story now, is no sense of humor about it whatsoever."
Total nonsense!: At Democratic Convention, lies, conspiracy theories and meanness fill third night
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/democrat-convention-lies-conspiracy-theories-liz-harrington
Former President Barack Obama spoke of sitting in the Oval Office, but he left out the part where he plotted with Biden to get the “right people” from the FBI to investigate his successors.
Through lies and deceit Democrats have weaponized government, criminalized dissent, and launched conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory to wield against anyone who had the audacity to go to work and serve in a duly-elected president’s administration.
Former RNC chairman joins anti-Trump Lincoln Project
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-rnc-chairman-joins-anti-trump-group-lincoln-project
The first Black chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, is joining the anti-Trump group Lincoln Project, which endorses Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and is working to oust the president's supporters in Congress.
RNC tries to rewrite pandemic history, casting Trump as decisive leader
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/25/rnc-trump-covid-19-401387
The Republican National Convention put President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic front and center on opening night, depicting him as a decisive leader who marshaled resources, forcefully responded to the deadly threat, and “moved mountains” to save American lives.
What it didn’t say is that the United States, with more than 5 million cases and more than 175,000 dead, with schools and businesses still closed and millions unemployed, has had one of the worst records on the pandemic in the world. Or that Trump repeatedly downplayed the virus threat until it had already spread throughout the country unchecked, and that to this day he inexplicably asserts that it will one day magically disappear.
But numerous public health experts, including top scientists whom Trump has diminished or contradicted, have said that the president failed, tragically, to mount a coordinated national response using the basic building blocks of public health, including a widespread, efficient and accessible national testing program.
FDA chief issues mea culpa for his plasma treatment claims
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/25/fda-chief-plasma-benefits-criticism-401514
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn issued a mea culpa late Monday, conceding that he had overstated the benefits of convalescent plasma as a treatment of coronavirus at a press conference last weekend with President Donald Trump.
“I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. The criticism is entirely justified,” the commissioner said in a string of tweets. “What I should have said better is that the data show a relative risk reduction not an absolute risk reduction.”
While the therapy is considered safe, plasma has not yet been proven effective against the coronavirus.
In a statement released Sunday, the FDA said plasma “does not yet represent a new standard of care based on the current available evidence.”
The commissioner’s actions Sunday, which came after Trump accused the FDA of slow-walking the therapy to harm his reelection, renewed many public health experts' fears that the administration will rush through a Covid-19 vaccine without proof that it works.
Hasidic group in New York urges members to wear masks in public
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/285890
The Bobover Hasidic movement in New York City has called on its members to adhere to state social distancing regulations, and to wear masks whenever they are unable to maintain a six-foot distance from others in public.
In a statement released by Congregation Khal Shaarei Zion Bobov, the movement implored its members over the age of 60 or who have serious medical conditions – including heart problems, diabetes, or respiratory problems – to take special precautions to avoid becoming infected with the coronavirus.
In addition, the movement urged all members to adhere to state regulations, including social distancing, or, in situations where that is not possible, to wear masks.
Minister: We oppose sale of ‘even one screw’ of the F-35 to UAE
https://www.timesofisrael.com/minister-we-oppose-sale-of-even-one-screw-of-the-f-35-to-uae/
Last week, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that the US planned to sell the fifth generation F-35 stealth fighter jet to the UAE as part of a recently announced normalization agreement between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. Netanyahu quickly denied the report as fake news, though US President Donald Trump and other senior American officials later confirmed that Washington was indeed considering selling the aircraft to the UAE and that the normalization deal was a significant factor in that decision.
F.D.A. ‘Grossly Misrepresented’ Blood Plasma Data, Scientists Say
Mr. Trump called it a “tremendous” number. His health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, a former pharmaceutical executive, said, “I don’t want you to gloss over this number.” And Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said 35 out of 100 Covid-19 patients “would have been saved because of the administration of plasma.”
What’s more, many experts — including a scientist who worked on the Mayo Clinic study — were bewildered about where the statistic came from. The number was not mentioned in the official authorization letter issued by the agency, nor was it in a 17-page memo written by F.D.A. scientists. It was not in an analysis conducted by the Mayo Clinic that has been frequently cited by the administration.