Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Fmr. CIA officer: ‘Trump Knew What Russia Was Doing’ | The Last Word | MSNBC


How did Florida get so badly hit by Covid-19?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53357742

 
"There's a lot of misinformation all over the web about the seriousness of this outbreak," says Dr Aileen Marty, a Florida International University infectious disease expert who has been working with state officials on the pandemic response. She says this is partly why Florida is now among the worst-hit regions.
"Since we don't have a consistent message in our state, let alone our country, there's even more confusion."

The Republican governor has also downplayed the severity of Florida's outbreak by pointing to the increase in testing and younger Floridians being infected - particularly those aged 25 to 34 - as well as a lower death rate.
"Generally, deaths follow about two weeks behind when we get the positive tests," Dr Marty explains. She pushes back against the notion that America is doing well with deaths from this virus, saying even looking at just the raw data shows the nationwide rate - around 5.6% - is concerning.
"That's considering the fact that we're better at it now than we were," she adds. "We're getting people in beds sooner, moving people to ICUs sooner."
Testing, despite delays in getting results, has also aided mitigation. Medication is helping, though Florida has run out of the Remdesivir antiviral drug and is awaiting new shipments.
"I just don't understand people who say our death rate is great," Dr Marty says.
The median age of infections in Miami-Dade County, the state's most populous region, is 40. In Tallahassee, the median recently hit a low of 25 years old.

Monday, July 13, 2020

Trump Cancels NH Rally, Claiming Bad Weather. What's REALLY Raining On Trump's Reelection Parade?


Los Angeles, San Diego schools to resume online classes in fall due to jump in coronavirus cases

https://www.foxnews.com/us/los-angeles-san-diego-schools-wont-reopen


California's two largest school districts announced Monday that they would not be opening its facilities to students in the fall but will resume classes online.
In a letter to parents, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner said the nation’s second-largest school district had decided to resume online classes due to a resurgence of the novel coronavirus.
“We made the decision to close school facilities before there was any occurrence of the virus at our schools, and this proved to be the right call,” Beutner said. “Science was our guide then, and it will continue to be. Unfortunately, Covid-19 continues to spread in the Los Angeles area and the virus is going to impact how we start the new school year.”

Trump Predicts ‘Beginning of the End’ for Fox News

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-predicts-beginning-of-the-end-for-fox-news

President Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday morning at Fox News even as the network continued to defend him at every turn of the ongoing impeachment trial. “Really pathetic how @FoxNews is trying to be so politically correct by loading the airwaves with Democrats like Chris Van Hollen, the no name Senator from Maryland,” Trump tweeted, equating political correctness with any attempt to hear from the “other” side. 
 “So, what the hell has happened to @FoxNews,” he continued. “Only I know! Chris Wallace and others should be on Fake News CNN or MSDNC. How’s Shep Smith doing? Watch, this will be the beginning of the end for Fox, just like the other two which are dying in the ratings. Social Media is great!”

Brianna Keilar: Trump is peddling in debunked and illogical crap


Judge asks if Trump ally Roger Stone must serve probation after prison sentence commuted

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/13/judge-asks-if-roger-stones-probation-still-applies-after-trumps-commutation.html

 A federal judge ordered the parties in Roger Stone’s criminal case to clarify the “scope” of President Donald Trump’s executive action commuting the prison sentence of his longtime ally.
  • U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson asked those parties to address whether Trump’s clemency applies only to Stone’s prison term or also to the two-year probation period included in his sentence.
  • Jackson also asked for a copy of Trump’s executive order.

Trump retweets game show host Chuck Woolery’s baseless claim that ‘everyone is lying’ about coronavirus

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/13/coronavirus-trump-cites-chuck-woolery-questioning-covid-19-on-twitter.html


President Donald Trump retweeted a post by game show host Chuck Woolery that baselessly claimed “everyone is lying” about the coronavirus pandemic in a possible effort to thwart Trump’s reelection by harming the economy.
The conservative Woolery, who hosted shows such as “Love Connection,” wrote on Sunday evening, “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19.”
“Everyone is lying. The CDC [federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust,” Woolery wrote.

Soon after Trump shared the post, the president retweeted another comment by Woolery about the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
“There is so much evidence, yes scientific evidence, that schools should open this fall. It’s worldwide and it’s overwhelming. BUT NO,” wrote Woolery, whose game show resume also includes acting as the first host of “Wheel of Fortune,” and hosting “Scrabble,” “Greed” and “Lingo.”

Heart scans of Covid-19 patients show range of abnormalities

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/13/heart-scans-of-covid-19-patients-show-range-of-abnormalities

Heart scans of coronavirus patients in hospital have revealed a range of abnormalities that can disrupt the ability to pump blood and in severe cases lead to a life-threatening failure in the organ.
Doctors at Edinburgh University examined ultrasound scans known as echocardiograms from more than 1,200 patients in 69 countries and found heart problems in 55%, with one in seven exhibiting signs of “severe abnormalities”.
The scans found damage to the ventricles – the two main chambers of the heart – in more than a third of the patients, while 3% had experienced heart attacks and a further 3% had inflamed heart tissue. The majority had no known heart disease before the scans were done.

 

Steve Schmidt On Republicans’ Silence: ‘It Is A Tragic Hour’ | Stephanie Ruhle | MSNBC


French Bus Driver Beaten to Death After Asking Passengers to Wear Face Masks

https://time.com/5866326/french-bus-driver-beaten-masks/

The wife of a French bus driver who was beaten to death after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for “exemplary punishment” for his killers.
The assault on Philippe Monguillot has scandalized France. President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday dispatched the interior minister to meet the driver’s widow after his death was announced Friday. He had been hospitalized in critical condition after the July 5 attack.

Coronavirus unlikely to be spread by children, research suggests

https://www.pe.com/2020/07/10/coronavirus-why-kids-arent-the-germbags-and-grownups-are/


For months, we’ve kept children carefully isolated, pleading with them to behave, wear masks, wipe their boogers and not hug Gram and Grandpa. We’ve assumed this new virus acts just like the flu and common cold — so classrooms full of kids would create one giant cootie colony.
But a growing body of research suggests young children aren’t responsible for most viral transmission. Adults are.
Based on these findings, school-based transmission could be a manageable problem, particularly for  elementary school aged-childrenwho appear to be at the lowest risk of infection, according to a recent commentary in the journal Pediatrics.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump team's false comfort on schools, virus

https://www.startribune.com/ap-fact-check-trump-team-s-false-comfort-on-schools-virus/571737892/

President Donald Trump's aides are misrepresenting the record on kids and the coronavirus as they push for schools to reopen.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday inaccurately characterized what the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said on the matter. A day earlier, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also was wrong in stating that the research shows there is no danger "in any way" if kids are in school.
No such conclusion has been reached.

 
McENANY: "Just last week you heard Dr. Redfield say that children are not spreading this." — Monday on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends"
THE FACTS: No, Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC director, did not say that. He said officials don't have evidence that children are "driving" infections at this point. But they have not ruled out that children spread the virus to adults.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus coordinator, said last week the government doesn't have enough data to show whether and to what degree kids can infect others.
The bulk of data has been collected from adults and particularly from those who were sick, leaving questions about children still unanswered, Birx said. She said children under 10 are the least tested age group.
The officials did not reach a conclusion that "children are not spreading this." Nor does the evidence prove that they are.
 The government has counted tens of thousands of children who have been infected with the virus and in some cases hospitalized. Overall, public health officials believe the virus is less dangerous to children than adults.


Florida Breaks Daily Record Sunday With 15,300 New Cases | Morning Joe | MSNBC


Lockdowns go into effect in neighborhoods of 5 cities, as virus hits new high

https://www.timesofisrael.com/lockdowns-go-into-effect-in-neighborhoods-of-5-cities-as-virus-surges/

Lockdowns came into effect at 1 p.m. on Friday in neighborhoods in five towns and cities hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, a day after cabinet ministers approved the measure as the number of new cases in Israel continued to surge.
Parts of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Lod, Ramle and Kiryat Malachi became “restricted zones” for seven days. The restrictions will be lifted at 8 a.m. on July 17.
In Jerusalem, the neighborhoods of Romema, Kiryat Sanz and Matersdorf — all majority ultra-Orthodox areas — have been closed; in Beit Shemesh, the areas of Nahala and K’ne Habosem; in Lod, Ganei Ya’ar and Sach; in Ramle, Amidar Beilav; and in Kiryat Malachi, the Rotner area and Chabad neighborhood.
Other parts of Lod will be closed for five days.

Florida breaks U.S. record for new coronavirus cases in a single day


Governor Ron DeSantis blasts reporters over fearmongering criticism of his state while VP Pence


An Indefensible Commutation

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/an-indefensible-commutation/

 Trump has commuted the sentence of Roger Stone. The timing, late on Friday, suggests internal embarrassment over the move, and we wish there were more.
The commutation is a move fully within the president’s powers and in keeping with the long-established pattern of presidents’ pardoning or commuting the sentences of associates caught up in special-counsel probes, although usually the associates aren’t as sleazy as Stone. We’re a long way from George H. W. Bush’s pardoning Cap Weinberger, the great Reagan-era defense official, who had been indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice in the Lawrence Walsh investigation.
No one would think of letting Roger Stone anywhere near any serious responsibility, and even the Trump campaign in 2016 had the sense to keep him at arm’s length.
 
There is no doubt, though, that Stone was guilty of perjury and a laughably ham-handed attempt at witness tampering. He was justly convicted of these charges and deserved to go to jail; in our system of justice, self-parody is no defense.
Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly opposed the commutation and was right to do so. The act of clemency is made worse by the fact that Stone repeatedly argued that he was owed it for his loyalty to the president.

FULL Morning Joe 7/13/20 [7AM] | MSNBC News Morning Joe July 13, 2020


✡ Who's REALLY Protecting Israel? [Scientific Study]


Terms of Michael Cohen's return to prison under scrutiny

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/10/politics/michael-cohen-prison-paperwork-dispute/index.html

After spending the past several weeks on New York's tony Upper East Side, Michael Cohen has found himself back in federal prison after a dispute with the government over what his lawyers say were restrictions in paperwork designed to prevent him from finishing a book about the president.
The form in question, a two-page document titled "Federal Location Monitoring Program Participant Agreement," had called for Cohen to abstain from communicating with members of the media — a provision that he had balked at given the pending release of his tell-all book, and one which his legal team has claimed is unusual.
Defense attorneys and legal experts that CNN spoke with Friday said that the form appeared to be tailored to Cohen, the flamboyant former fixer to President Donald Trump, whose affinity for the press is well known. Some called it unfair.

 
A spokesman for the Administrative Office of the US Courts, the judiciary agency that oversees the federal probation system, declined to comment on the specifics of Cohen's case, but added that no standard probation forms include language related to media contacts.

Shlach: Repairing the Sin of the Spies

http://www.ravkooktorah.org/SHLACH_65.htm


Rav Kook wrote that even today we still suffer the consequences of this catastrophic error. The root cause for the exiles and humiliations of the Jewish people, throughout the generations, is due to our failure to correct the sin of the spies.
 
To repair this national failure, a teshuvat hamishkal is needed, a penance commensurate with the sin which will “balance the scales.” The spies defamed the Land of Israel, as it says, “They despised the desirable land” (Psalms 106:24). We must do the opposite and show our unwavering love for the Land.

The Sin of the "Spies"

https://www.etzion.org.il/en/sin-spies


According to the Ramban (13:1 and 13:27) and the Akeidat Yitzchak (77) it appears that the sin of the spies lay in overstepping the bounds of their authority, in their transition from being faithful reporters – which was the mandate given to them - to becoming advisors with their own independent views and evaluations – which lay outside the bounds of their mission. Indeed, such a distinction exists in modern intelligence bodies, where the function of the information gatherers is to report on what they have seen or heard, and that of the intelligence evaluators is to evaluate the situation or even to provide advice, on the basis of that information. In the transition from one function to the other they did indeed overstep their authority, but ultimately this was no more than a formal sin. Is this really what constituted the true sin of the spies?

Is Aliyah a Mitzvah?

https://www.ou.org/blog/is-aliyah-a-mitzvah/

 
Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (Igros Moshe E.H. 102) discusses whether there is a mitzvah to make aliyah and why many rabbanim have lived in the Diaspora. He writes that even according to the opinion of the Ramban, that there exists a biblical obligation, the nature of this obligation is different than many other mitzvos. He feels that this mitzvah is “kiyumis” not “chiyuvis”.
To fully appreciate this distinction, it is necessary to offer an introduction regarding different types of mitzvos. There exist two types of mitzvos: 1) “kiyumis”- A mitzvah that is not obligatory, rather if one fulfills this mitzvah one receives reward (ex. Eating in the Succah following the first night. For the following meals one does not need to eat in the Succah, if one were to choose, one can refrain from eating bread and the like and would not be in violation of any prohibition. However, if one chooses to eat bread then one must eat it in the succah. Thus this mitzvah is “optional”.) 2) “Chiyuvis”- A mitzvah that one must fulfill and is obligatory in nature. (ex. Wearing Tefillin. One must wear tefillin every day and if one neglects this mitzvah and does not wear tefillin has done something wrong. Thus this mitzvah is “obligatory”.)
Now we can understand the ruling of Rav Moshe. He explains that although there is a mitzvah to live in Israel, however, this mitzvah is “optional”. Meaning that one is not obligated to move to Israel, rather, if one lives in Israel he fulfills a mitzvah. Rav Moshe continues, that because there is no prohibition of living outside of Israel it might be preferable to do so for the reasons given by Rav Chaim Kohen (namely that there are many mitzvos and prohibitions that apply specifically to the Land of Israel and it is difficult to fulfill all of those obligations.)
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l agreed with the premise of Rav Moshe Feinstein. He also felt that the mitzvah to live in Israel is a mitzvah “kiyumis” and not “chiyuvis” (oral ruling cited by Rav Hershel Schachter shlit”a sefer Peninei Harav).

Anderson Cooper slams 'lies and noise' from Mike Pence


Doctor reacts to Trump's claim: It's a preposterous thought


White House Works To Discredit Dr. Fauci As Coronavirus Surges in U.S. | MSNBC


Trump says Fauci 'made a lot of mistakes'

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-says-fauci-made-lot-mistakes-n1233402

  President Donald Trump on Thursday publicly criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying that one of the nation’s top infectious disease experts "has made a lot of mistakes."
In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump was asked what he makes of hotspots like Texas and Florida and of some of Fauci’s latest comments, though Hannity didn't specify which remarks he was referring to.
 

White House takes aim at Fauci as he disagrees with Trump on virus

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/12/politics/fauci-trump-coronavirus/index.html

 As coronavirus cases surge in the United States, the White House is taking aim at the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In a statement Saturday, a White House official told CNN that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things." The official went on to provide a lengthy list of examples, citing Fauci's comments early in the pandemic and linking to past interviews.

DeVos asked if she has a plan to reopen schools. See her response


Chris Wallace RIPS DeVos for trying to illegally cut off funding to schools that don’t re-open


President Trump has now spent 100 days at his golf clubs since he took office

https://www.fox4now.com/news/national/president-trump-has-now-spent-100-days-at-one-of-his-golf-clubs-since-he-took-office


 
But the primary criticism has stemmed from how Trump, as a private citizen, slammed Barack Obama for hitting the links while president.
"Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf," Trump tweeted in 2014. "Worse than Carter."
 
Norm Eisen, the chief White House ethics lawyer under Obama, called Trump's 100th day at a golf property as president "an ignominious anniversary."

Trump Insists Obama Played More Golf as President. The Numbers Say Otherwise.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/trump-falsely-claims-obama-played-more-golf-president.html


President Donald Trump is apparently none too happy that people are criticizing him for playing golf as a pandemic is raging in the United States. The commander in chief took to Twitter Sunday to defend his frequent trips to the golf course saying that it is the only exercise he gets and that his predecessor “played more and much longer rounds.” And that was “no problem” but when he decides to play, “Fake News, CNN, and others” go to great lengths to get a picture and show people how the president is playing golf. “Actually, I play VERY fast, get a lot of work done on the golf course, and also get a ‘tiny’ bit of exercise,” Trump wrote.
That Trump doesn’t gets any other exercise beyond the golf course may very well be true. But his claim to play less frequently than his predecessor just isn’t. Trump went to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, for the second time this weekend on Sunday, marking the 276th time he’s visited a golf course as president. Numbers vary slightly. Mark Knoller of CBS News, for example, specifies that Trump has made 193 visits to golf courses over at least part of 258 days during his presidency. NBC News, meanwhile, says Trump has spent 269 days at one of his golf properties.
Regardless of which number you use, though, the conclusion is still the same: Barack Obama was nowhere near Trump’s levels during the same point of his presidency. According to Knoller, Obama had played 102 rounds of golf. CNN says that Trump “has played more than twice as many rounds of golf than former President Barack Obama had at the same point in his presidency.” In his whole first term in office, Obama played 113 rounds of golf, according to Golf Digest. The website Trumpgolfcount.com even has a handy chart that makes crystal clear that Trump has played more golf than Obama. It’s difficult to know exactly how many times Trump has actually played golf at his properties because it’s something the administration doesn’t usually confirm unless the president is playing with a dignitary or celebrity. “However, if he’s going to the golf club for about 4-5 hours, you can be pretty sure he’s playing golf,” notes Golf News Net.

Brian Stelter : We are in a truth emergency


Trump Rant Part 1: "I barely know Mary "Loser" Trump & her book is full of LIES!" John Di Domenico


One Day


Mary Trump is releasing a book. Michael Cohen is finishing a book. Both are being restricted

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/12/media/mary-trump-michael-cohen-books-reliable-sources/
Michael Cohen's sudden return to prison is under scrutiny because his lawyers say the dispute 
centered on "restrictions in paperwork designed to prevent him from finishing a book about the president."
index.html

"No standard probation forms include language related to media contacts," CNN's David Shortell and Mark Morales report. But the form presented to Cohen seemed to be tailored specifically to him. CNN has obtained a copy. This has all the appearances of an attempt to stifle Cohen's right to speak freely about his work for President Trump.

Trump Frees Stone, Barr Imprisons Cohen. The Goal Is The Same: Silence Witnesses to Protect Trump


Sunday, July 12, 2020

New records released in Flynn case as appeals court issues stay of dismissal


Lawrence And Rachel On Trump's Commutation Of Roger Stone | The Last Word | MSNBC


Trump corruptly commutes Roger Stone sentence.


Criteria for imposing lockdowns on cities to be published in advance

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/283404


PM agrees to demand by Aryeh Deri to publish guidelines for declaring restricted areas amid reports of discrimination against haredim.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri demanded at the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday that the criteria for the declaration of a neighborhood as a restricted area be published before areas are closed off so that the haredi community will not feel that it is being targeted by the government.
Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted Deri's request and ordered that the criteria for the closure imposed on each locality be published on the prime minister's website.

Historians will likely rank Trump as one of the worst presidents

Historians will likely rank Trump as one of the worst presidents
A new Gallup poll puts President Donald Trump's approval rating at 38%. His disapproval rating stands at 57%.
The average poll similarly shows Trump's approval rating hovering around 40%, while his disapproval rating is above 55%.
What's the point: Trump's approval rating isn't getting any better. In the polls, he is continuing to lose to former Vice President Joe Biden by double-digits. Trump could win a second term, but there is no clear path to doing so.

 

If gedolim dont follow halacha better to have them become idolators

       Berachos 63a-b)
R. Safra said: R. Abbahu used to relate that when Hananiah the son of R. Joshua's brother went down to the Diaspora,38 he began to intercalate the years and fix new moons outside Palestine. So they [the Beth din] sent after him two scholars, R. Jose b. Kippar and the grandson of R. Zechariah b. Kebutal. When he saw them, he said to them: Why have you come? — They replied: We have come to learn Torah [from you]. He thereupon proclaimed: These men are among the most eminent of the generation. They and their ancestors have ministered in the Sanctuary (as we have learnt: Zechariah b. Kebutal said: Several times I read to him39 out of the book of Daniel). Soon they began to declare clean what he declared unclean and to permit what he forbade. Thereupon he proclaimed: These men are worthless, they are good for nothing. They said to him: You have already built and you cannot overthrow, you have made a fence and you cannot break it down.40 He said to them: Why do you declare clean when I declare unclean, why do you permit when I forbid? — They replied: Because you intercalate years and fix new moons outside of Palestine. He said to them: Did not Akiba son of Joseph intercalate years and fix new moons outside of Palestine?41 — They replied: Don't cite R. Akiba, who left not his equal in the Land of Israel. He said to them: I also left not my equal in the Land of Israel. They said to him: The kids which you left behind have become goats with horns, and they have sent us to you, bidding us, ‘Go and tell him in our name. If he listens, well and good; if not, he will be excommunicated.       R. Safra said: R. Abbahu used to relate that when Hananiah the son of R. Joshua's brother went down to the Diaspora,38 he began to intercalate the years and fix new moons outside Palestine. So they [the Beth din] sent after him two scholars, R. Jose b. Kippar and the grandson of R. Zechariah b. Kebutal. When he saw them, he said to them: Why have you come? — They replied: We have come to learn Torah [from you]. He thereupon proclaimed: These men are among the most eminent of the generation. They and their ancestors have ministered in the Sanctuary (as we have learnt: Zechariah b. Kebutal said: Several times I read to him39 out of the book of Daniel). Soon they began to declare clean what he declared unclean and to permit what he forbade. Thereupon he proclaimed: These men are worthless, they are good for nothing. They said to him: You have already built and you cannot overthrow, you have made a fence and you cannot break it down.40 He said to them: Why do you declare clean when I declare unclean, why do you permit when I forbid? — They replied: Because you intercalate years and fix new moons outside of Palestine. He said to them: Did not Akiba son of Joseph intercalate years and fix new moons outside of Palestine?41 — They replied: Don't cite R. Akiba, who left not his equal in the Land of Israel. He said to them: I also left not my equal in the Land of Israel. They said to him: The kids which you left behind have become goats with horns, and they have sent us to you, bidding us, ‘Go and tell him in our name. If he listens, well and good; if not, he will be excommunicated.
Berachos (63b)Tell also our brethren in the Diaspora [not to listen to him]. If they listen to you, well and good; if not, let them go up to the mountain, let Ahia1 build an altar and let Hananiah play the harp,2 and let them all become renegades and say that they have no portion in the God of Israel’. Straightway all the people broke out into weeping and cried, Heaven forbid, we have a portion in the God of Israel. Why all this to-do? — Because it says, For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.3 We can understand that if he declared clean they should declare unclean, because this would be more stringent. But how was it possible that they should declare clean what he declared unclean, seeing that it has been taught: If a Sage has declared unclean, his colleague is not permitted to declare clean? — They thought proper to act thus so that the people should not be drawn after him.

Hershel Schachter The Coercion Director(V11)


WHCA president accuses McEnany of 'denying reality' during press briefings


 White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany may have resumed regularly scheduled press briefings, but ABC News correspondent Jon Karl argued Saturday that she's not conducting them the right way.
Karl, who leads the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), penned an op-ed in which he accused McEnany of giving partisan monologues and "denying reality" during press briefings.
"The job is to inform the public: to be an intermediary between the president and a press corps the public relies on for information ... Denying reality and using the White House podium for purely political purposes is a violation of public trust," he wrote in The Washington Post.
He added: "Briefings under the current press secretary rarely last 30 minutes -- which is short by traditional standards -- but routinely include opening and closing messages that more closely resemble the monologues of a partisan political talk show than a public official’s briefing."

Trump’s refusal to appeal to centrists could make Biden president and give Dems Senate majority

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/biden-trump-race-arnon-mishkin

 
Former Vice President Joe Biden is getting help in his presidential campaign from a surprising source — President Trump.
Rather than trying to appeal to centrist voters — moderate Republicans, independents and moderate Democrats — to widen his base of support, Trump is doubling down on his most extreme positions in an effort to boost turnout by his most fervent supporters in November.
In addition to posing grave risks to the president’s reelection chances, this unconventional strategy increases the chances Democrats will capture majority control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House of Representatives.

President Donald Trump defends decision to commute Roger Stone's sentence


Roger Stone: Critics blast Trump for commuting ex-adviser's jail term

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53373128

 
Mr Biden's spokesman Bill Russo said Mr Trump could not be shamed and could only be stopped at the ballot box.
"President Trump has once again abused his power, releasing this commutation on a Friday night, hoping to yet again avoid scrutiny as he lays waste to the norms and the values that make our country a shining beacon to the rest of the world," he said.
House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff condemned Mr Trump's clemency.
"With this commutation," said the top Democratic lawmaker, "Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else."
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said it showed Donald Trump was the most corrupt president in history.

Sen. Mitt Romney Calls Trump's Decision to Commute Roger Stone's Sentence 'Historic Corruption'

https://time.com/5865809/mitt-romney-trump-roger-stone/

On Saturday morning, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney became the first Congressional Republican so far to speak out against President Donald Trump’s Friday night decision to commute the sentence of his longtime associate Roger Stone. Stone had been sentenced to 40 months in prison for multiple felonies including lying to Congress and attempting to obstruct the Congressional investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.