Saturday, October 31, 2020
Doctors groups rip Trump for touting baseless conspiracy over COVID-19 death count
Medical groups are slamming President Donald Trump for resurfacing a baseless conspiracy on campaign stops that doctors are inflating the number of COVID-19 deaths in the USA in order to drive up profits during the pandemic.
Trump uses Midwestern swing to launch false attacks on doctors while Covid cases rise
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/31/politics/donald-trump-doctors-midwest-2020-election/index.html
"With us, when in doubt -- choose Covid," Trump said. "Now they'll say 'Oh that's terrible what he said,' but that's true. It's like $2,000 more, so you get more money."
White House aide says Trump's vaccine-by-Election Day promise was 'arbitrary'
A top White House adviser on Friday called President Donald Trump’s long-shot pledge to have a coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 3 “kind of an arbitrary deadline,” as Election Day prepares to come and go with no shot having even applied for approval yet.
“We’ve got nearly half a dozen vaccines that are in Phase Three clinical trials, which is record time to get it there for a novel virus like we’re dealing with,” White House strategic communications director Alyssa Farah told reporters. “We’re still highly confident we’ll have one by the end of the year and be prepared to deploy it to a hundred million Americans.”
In the Oct. 22 debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump claimed that “we have a vaccine” that is “ready” and would be announced “within weeks.”
At a campaign rally in Arizona this week, Trump assured attendees that they would have a vaccine “momentarily,” a promise that came as the country has seen a surge in new cases nearly everywhere.
Twitter CEO suggests Holocaust denial not banned, in Senate grilling
Gardner specifically asked Dorsey: “If somebody denied the Holocaust happened, it’s not misinformation?”
“It’s misleading information,” Dorsey responded. “But we don’t have a policy against that type of misleading information.”
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.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Jared Kushner bragged in April that Trump was taking the country 'back from the doctors'
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/28/politics/woodward-kushner-coronavirus-doctors/index.html
Why deaths aren't rising as fast in Covid-19's second wave, despite big spikes in new infections
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/28/europe/coronavirus-death-rate-second-wave-lower-intl/index.html
10 Leaders Who Stuttered
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27126/quick-10-10-leaders-who-stuttered
10. Joe Biden. Vice President Joe Biden came out
very publicly a few years ago and said that he overcame a stutter after
years of childhood teasing, including taunts from his seventh-grade
teacher who mocked him in front of the whole class.
Jared Kushner has some thoughts on Black success and they’re definitely not the delusions of a spoiled white brat
Jared Kushner is a privileged white man whose greatest
accomplishments include being born into a privileged family and then
marrying into an even more privileged one. Somehow, this makes him think
he’s qualified to lecture Black people about how to make it in America.
So much so that he effectively implied that Black Americans don't want to be successful on Fox News this morning.
Trump attacked Biden for warning against '4 more years of George,' but the Democrat was probably referring to moderator George Lopez
https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-appears-confuse-trump-george-bush-campaign-gaffe-2020-10
- Trump seized on the apparent gaffe to attack Biden on Monday, tweeting: "Joe Biden called me George yesterday. Couldn't remember my name. Got some help from the anchor to get him through the interview."
- The campaign event was being hosted by the comedian George Lopez.
- Biden has been open about his stutter and previously described himself as a "gaffe machine."
- Trump's campaign has long sought to portray Biden as mentally unfit for office. In a separate interview, Biden said he was happy to have his mental capabilities compared with Trump's.
Biden was speaking to George Lopez in widely shared video
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-george-lopez-social-media-27e0006230358f0d0d98bf0e4c5959ca
CLAIM: In an interview, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden confused President Donald Trump with former President George W. Bush.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. Biden and his wife, Jill, were being interviewed by actor and comedian George Lopez during the virtual “I Will Vote” concert Sunday.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing a 27-second clip of Joe and Jill Biden to suggest that Biden is not mentally fit to run for office ahead of Election Day. But the clips being widely shared lack context.
Did Joe Biden confuse Donald Trump with George W. Bush?
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/oct/26/context-did-joe-biden-confuse-donald-trump-george-/
In the clip, Biden says "George" while discussing the significance of the upcoming election, which some viewers took as an allusion to former President George W. Bush.
The clip was shared on Twitter by Republican National Committee rapid response director Steve Guest, who used it to attack Biden’s mental acuity. The next day, media outlets including Fox News, Sky News, and the Today Show published stories on Biden’s comments, and Trump tweeted about it.
Some reporters, however, pointed out that Biden could have been referring to his interviewer, comedian George Lopez.
Joe Biden: "Well, first of all, the reason they should vote is that there’s a lot on the ballot this year. I mean, this is the most consequential… Not because I’m running but because of who I’m running against. This is the most consequential election in a long, long, long time. And the character of the country in my view is literally on the ballot, what kind of country are we going to be. Four more years of George uh… George, we’re going to find ourselves in a position where if Trump gets elected, we are going to be in a different world. And so… The reason I think people should be voting is out of their own self-interest right now, because look, you know, everything is at stake from the environment to our health. You heard what his, his, his chief of staff —"
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Obama blasts Kushner for suggesting that Black Americans need to 'want' to be successful
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/27/obama-blasts-kushner-black-american-comments-432829
Kushner made the comments during an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning during which he also referred to raising concerns about racial inequality as “complaining” and suggested that those who protested systemic racism over the summer were more interested in “virtue signaling” than solving those issues.
"The thing we've seen in the Black community, which is mostly Democrat,” Kushner argued, “is that President Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about, but he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful."
Trump tries to distract Americans on pandemic in final election sprint
President Donald Trump
launched a new attempt to mislead America over the state of the
fast-worsening pandemic Tuesday, after his prime time televised
celebration of Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation failed to distract from the mishandled emergency that is threatening his reelection hopes.
Haredim and Coronavirus: Policy Recommendations for Exit from Second Lockdown
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/32679
Large portions of the ultra-Orthodox community and their leadership have come to the conclusion that the risk posed by the virus is not as severe as claimed by the experts and professionals. This stems from their skepticism about the authorities but also from their dismissal of scientific and medical knowledge. The fact that the ultra-Orthodox sector in Israel is among the youngest communities in the world, has intensified this feeling, especially among the younger generation, that “It won't happen to me," and encouraged them to ignore the rules.
No matter who wins the US election, the world's 'fake news' problem is here to stay
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/25/world/trump-fake-news-legacy-intl/index.html
Third wave of coronavirus infections in the U.S.? More like 'wildfire,' epidemiologist says
“I look at it more as an elongated exacerbation of the original first wave,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday at an annual event for Yahoo Finance. “It’s kind of semantics. You want to call it the third wave or an extended first wave, no matter how you look at it, it's not good news.”
U.S. COVID-19 Cases Are Skyrocketing, But Deaths Are Flat—So Far. These 5 Charts Explain Why
https://time.com/5903590/coronavirus-covid-19-third-wave/
But despite this rapid uptick in cases, the daily death count in the U.S. is not yet rising at the same rate, and remains at lower levels than in April. At face value, a lower case-to-fatality rate suggests that fewer people who test positive for the virus are dying from it. But the virus hasn’t necessarily become less lethal; it isn’t mutating quickly enough for that to be the case.
What’s happening now is not a result of how the virus treats humans, but rather how humans are treating the virus—that is, how we test for it, how we avoid it and how we combat it. The following five charts explain how human-driven factors are, at least for the moment, keeping deaths from spiking as high as they did early in the pandemic, even as cases rise dramatically.
The coronavirus poses a greater mortality risk to the elderly compared to younger people. Among all Americans who have tested positive for COVID-19, the CDC’s current best estimate is that 5.4% died and were 70 or older, 0.5% died and were between 50 and 69, and only 0.02% died and were 20-49 years old.
In the first weeks of the pandemic, the virus tore through assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, where lots of vulnerable elderly people lived. As a result, the death count skyrocketed. But over time, as the virus spread in places like bars and college campuses, the share of U.S. COVID-19 cases have skewed younger, meaning many of those becoming infected are less vulnerable to severe illness. The CDC reported last month that children and adults under 30 made up around 16% of COVID-19 cases in February through April, but by August, that group accounted for more than one in three cases.
The number of younger people contracting the virus
continues to grow, contributing to the rise in overall cases. Yet
because they are less vulnerable to the virus, they are not driving up
the number of deaths in tandem. (While young people are less vulnerable
to COVID-19 in general, they can and do die from the disease, and can
spread it to other people.)
Lagging in the Polls, Trump Team Predicts Win Based on 'Enthusiasm'
https://www.newsweek.com/lagging-polls-trump-team-predicts-win-based-enthusiasm-1541073
Eric Trump told a rally crowd in Michigan the following day that he predicts a bigger win for his father than in 2016 based on "enthusiasm."
"The enthusiasm is unlike anything that we've seen before," he told a crowd of hundreds of people. "I'm telling you the polls are wrong. I am telling you they're going to get it wrong again."
Jared Kushner's very revealing comment on Black Americans' desire for success
"One thing we've seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President (Donald) Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about," senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Monday morning on Fox News. "But he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful."
On Monday, Democratic National Committee National press secretary Brandon Gassaway issued a sharp rebuke of Kushner and his ilk.
FactChecking Trump’s Fox News Interview
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/09/factchecking-trumps-fox-news-interview-2/
Trump said, “I’m bringing many of the troops home and most of the troops home.” But the number in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria is nearly the same as it was in the last month under President Barack Obama. The overall number of overseas troops is only slightly smaller.
Four years in, Trump has plenty of unfinished business
https://www.startribune.com/four-years-in-trump-has-plenty-of-unfinished-business/572853261/
Trump has made only modest progress toward meeting his 2016 pledge to bring home all troops from what he calls America's "endless wars."
When Trump took over the White House, the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan stood at about 8,400, and there were about 6,800 troops in Iraq.
Within a year, the number of troops in Afghanistan climbed to about 15,000. Trump approved commanders' requests for additional troops to reverse setbacks in the training of Afghan forces, fight an increasingly dangerous Islamic State group and put enough pressure on the Taliban to force it to the peace table.
In February, the U.S. and the Taliban signed an agreement that calls for the eventual complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
With an eye toward the election, Trump has accelerated his push to bring troops home, teasing that all U.S. troops could be out of Afghanistan by the end of the year.
Trump's Twitter promises to bring U.S. troops home make headlines. Has he kept them?
Consequently, in the closing weeks of his 2020 re-election campaign, it would seem appropriate to consider whether or not he has lived up to this promise, how he has attempted to do so and if this effort has made the nation safer.
But as Americans vote this fall, Trump’s promise of a dramatic reduction in American troop presence abroad has not been achieved, nor has he dramatically shifted costs to U.S. allies. In fact, the Trump administration has increased U.S. defense spending in the last several years by nearly $140 billion, from $611 billion in 2016 to $750 billion in 2019, Foreign Affairs reported. When Trump settled into the Oval Office in January 2017, the United States had a little under 200,000 troops deployed overseas. Best estimates are that number has been reduced slightly, but this may largely reflect a difference in accounting. Since 2017, the Department of Defense has excluded troops deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria from its official reports, arguing that providing the number of troops in a combat theater violated operational security.
US election 2020: Has Trump kept his promises on the military?
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54060026
The chart shows military spending has steadily increased since President Trump took office in January 2017.However, this spending is still significantly lower than during the first term of the Obama administration, using figures adjusted for inflation
The reduction of troops was much greater under President Obama, as both large-scale deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan ended during his years in charge.
Monday, October 26, 2020
Trump's '60 Minutes' tantrum told us everything
The blessing in Trump's "60 Minutes" performance is that it did help make the voters' choice clear. Both men are, in a sense, offering more of the same. Trump assures more drama. Biden promises a return to the steady and familiar.
Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein condemns Trump
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/289899
While a majority of Orthodox Jews are expected to vote for Donald Trump in next week’s U.S. presidential election, a major Israeli Orthodox rabbi who also has a large following in the United States strongly condemned the president in an interview this week.
Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein, one of the heads of Yeshivat Har Etzion, questioned Trump’s mental and moral fitness in an interview with the Israeli magazine Makor Rishon.
“This is a mentally disturbed person without any inhibition or judgement who controls the button of the the most powerful nuclear weapons in the world — and here people applaud him for opening an embassy in Jerusalem,” Lichtenstein said.
“They don’t stop for a moment to think about the moral damage that he inflicts on the United States, or even on the world. They don’t ask how it’s possible to abandon the fate of humanity to such an unbalanced man, who doesn’t recognize the concepts of truth and falsehood,” he said.
“All of this will harm us, even if there’s an embassy in Jerusalem,” he added.
Trump and his supporters have made a mockery of U.S. patriotism
https://www.salon.com/2020/09/20/trump-and-his-supporters-have-made-a-mockery-of-us-patriotism/
Loving your country is not the same as loving Trump
Trump continues to falsely claim that spike in coronavirus cases is due to heightened testing
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/26/politics/fact-check-testing-cases-october/index.html
President Donald Trump has claimed over and over in the past week -- at campaign rallies, on Twitter and in an interview with "60 Minutes" -- that the US is only seeing so many coronavirus cases because the country is doing so much testing.
Facts First: The spike in US coronavirus cases is not being caused by an increase in testing. The number of confirmed new cases is increasing at a faster rate than the number of new tests. And the number of hospitalizations and deaths is also rising, which shows that, contrary to Trump's repeated claims, the increase in the case numbers isn't merely being caused by tests capturing mild cases. Taken together, the numbers tell a consistent story: the situation in the US is genuinely getting worse.
Tiffany Trump says her father 'has always supported' LGBTQ people
"I know what my father believes in. Prior to politics, he supported gays, lesbians, the LGBQIA+ community," she said at the event Saturday in Tampa, Florida, which organizers said drew 150 people. "My father has always supported all of you. ... He's never done it for politics."
At the Philadelphia event, Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, called him "the most pro-gay president in history." In Tampa, Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence, said, "Mr. President, the gays love you."
The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two
https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/
There have been clear signs for weeks of a third wave of the pandemic in the U.S. as the weather gets colder and the virus has migrated from metropolitan regions to more rural settings. But it was far from certain, at the beginning of October, that the resurgence would surpass that of the summer, even though the figures were climbing far sooner than the timeline of the most promising vaccine trials, one of which was temporarily halted after a volunteer became ill but is set to resume soon.
We know now that the third wave will be worse than the second, which was far worse than the first, when cases peaked at 9.7 per 100,000 on April 7.
US ultra-Orthodox rabbis lavish Trump with praise 10 days before election
With the US seeing record levels of COVID-19 cases, the grand rabbis of Satmar, Viznitz and Bobov, and leading non-hassidic rabbis praise Trump for calling for houses of worship to remain open.
Among the rabbis who signed the letter were the Satmar Rebbe in Kiryas Joel, New York, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum; the Satmar Rebbe in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum; the Vizhnitz Rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel Hager; the Bobov Rebbe, Rabbi Benzion Halberstam; and Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, a senior member of Agudath Yisrael of America’s Council of Torah Sages.
It was also signed by the Pupa Rebbe, the Munkacs Rebbe, the New Square Rebbe, the Rachmistrivka Rebbe and several ultra-Orthodox leaders.
New Hampshire newspaper backs Biden, first Democrat for president in 100 years
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-endorsement-conservative-new-hampshire-union-leader-newspaper
“Joe Biden may not be the president we want, but in 2020 he is the president we desperately need. He will be a president to bring people together and right the ship of state,” it said. “Sadly, President Trump has proven himself to be the antithesis of thoughtful and pragmatic; he has failed to earn a second term.”
Florida is on the verge of a COVID-19 resurgence
Florida’s COVID-19 death rate since the pandemic began is ninth among states, tied with Illinois, at 76 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. That’s higher than Texas (60) and California (43). A rate for New York State including New York City is unavailable.
Over the past three months, Florida’s death rate per 100,000 people has tripled, CDC data show. It was 25.9 on July 25. California then had 20.3 deaths per 100,000 and Texas 15.8 deaths.
Fact check: Biden falsely claims he never opposed fracking
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/23/politics/biden-fracking-fact-check/index.html
Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed that he "never said I oppose fracking" when pressed by President Donald Trump on the issue during Thursday night's presidential debate.
Sunday, October 25, 2020
How Trump abandoned his pledge to ‘drain the swamp’
Trump’s rapid action after the Sept. 25 fundraiser — one of dozens of high-dollar donor events he has headlined while in office — emblemizes how much he has abandoned his 2016 pledge to “DRAIN THE SWAMP.”
In the closing weeks of that election, Trump led cheering supporters in chants of that slogan, promising that he would completely disrupt the culture of Washington. He warned of the power of lobbyists and political donors who he said effectively bought off elected officials. He told voters he was uniquely prepared to take on the issue, because he knew personally as a contributor how the system worked.
But during his four years in office, Trump has taken few steps to clean up Washington. He has instead presided over a norm-shattering expansion of private interests in government.
Among the five pledges Trump made to “drain the swamp” and curtail the influence of lobbyists in a major campaign speech in October 2016, a Washington Post review found that he sought to address only two, through an executive order in January 2017 — which contained a major loophole.
NPR explained why it’s not covering the Hunter Biden laptop story — now Trump’s son wants to ‘defund’ it
The tweet linked to further rationale. “The biggest reason you haven’t heard much on NPR about the Post story is that the assertions don’t amount to much,” NPR’s Kelly McBride wrote.
What is the Hunter Biden laptop scandal?
https://www.wilx.com/2020/10/22/what-is-the-hunter-biden-laptop-scandal/
The New York Post published installments of the leaked emails, claiming they proved Joe Biden met with an adviser to Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where Hunter Biden was a board member. However, the emails alone do not prove that allegation. The emails use vague wording, and it is not clear whether the laptop actually belonged to Hunter Biden.
Currently, no one has been able to confirm the ownership of the laptop, the authenticity of the emails, or whether they had any effect on Joe Biden’s actions. If a verifiable source is found, News 10 will report it.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
The hidden factors that could produce a surprise Trump victory
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/trump-victory-democrats-election-430013
By almost every measure that political operatives, academics and handicappers use to forecast elections, the likely outcome is that Joe Biden will win the White House.
Yet two weeks before Election Day, the unfolding reality of 2020 is that it’s harder than ever to be sure. And Democrats are scrambling to account for the hidden variables that could still sink their nominee — or what you might call the known unknowns.
Trump Is Trailing So Far in Polls That Hunter Biden 'Scandal' Has Little Impact: GOP Pollster
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-trailing-polls-hunter-biden-little-impact-gop-pollster-1541861
Republican pollster Frank Luntz thinks former Vice President Joe Biden will win the presidential election on November 3 and it's too late for President Donald Trump to turn things around.
Luntz has criticized the Trump campaign for focusing on Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and his alleged financial dealings in Ukraine and China. The veteran Republican consultant thinks most people just don't care.
Friday, October 23, 2020
WSJ Newsroom Found No Joe Biden Role in Hunter Deals After Reviewing Bobulinski's Records
The Wall Street Journal newsroom has found that texts and emails recently given to the publication by Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, provide no evidence that Joe ever used his political standing as a former vice president to aid Hunter's business dealings in China.
Following the publication of the opinion article, Wall Street Journal reporters Andrew Duehren and James T. Areddy wrote a news article stating, "The venture—set up in 2017 after Mr. Biden left the vice presidency and before his presidential campaign—never received proposed funds from the Chinese company or completed any deals, according to people familiar with the matter. Corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden."
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
'Mistake' for Trump to focus so much on Hunter Biden allegations, says Mike Huckabee
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mike-huckabee-hunter-biden-trump-mistake
"Yeah, it is a mistake because the average person doesn't understand it, it is too complicated, and, frankly, it doesn't matter to them," Huckabee said in response to "Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade, who asked whether Trump should emphasize the story in the campaign's closing days.
"They care about their health care costs, they care about their taxes, they care about safety and their neighborhood on their block and in their yard. Focus on that and he wins the election by a landslide," Huckabee suggested.
Misconceptions about marriage - asceticism is prime value
Chazon Ish (Igros Kodesh #10): Question: Concerning a person who suffers from severe depression who has tried to commit suicide. Answer. Perhaps it would be helpful to teach his wife to speak to him words of endearment and affection. Perhaps he is one who takes a very ascetic approach to marital relations. In truth that is what he needs for a cure as the Yaavetz states in his Siddur, "There is someone I know who fell into a severe depression and it became apparent from what he said that it is the result of studying Musar books. Because of these pietistic studies he only has marital relations once a week and that only happens after he makes many religious preparations and he only does it exactly at midnight...I told him that he should increase the frequency of marital relations even having them 3 or 4 times a week – or more. And he should be involved in showing affection and hugging and kissing..." Thank G-d he recovered completely from his depression and thus we see clear proof that the advice of the Yaavetz is very helpful....
Rav Yaakov Emden (Siddur):[[ "There is someone I know who fell into a severe depression and it became apparent from what he said that it is the result of studying Musar books. Because of these pietistic studies he only has marital relations once a week and that only happens after he makes many religious preparations and he only does it exactly at midnight...I told him that he should increase the frequency of marital relations even having them 3 or 4 times a week – or more. And he should be involved in showing affection and hugging and kissing... Thank G-d he recovered completely from his depression."
Steipler (Igros Kodesh #1): 1) While it is true that asceticism in dealing with the lusts of this world is an important thing [assuming that it is done for the sake of heaven to give pleasure to G-d and not just to be more developed in spirituality] but that is only if it is done after he has already fulfilled is Torah obligations. However if by being ascetic he nullifies the slightest of his Torah obligations then his deeds are credited to the Sitra Acher [evil] - G-d forbid and he doesn’t advance in true spirituality. So even though he views himself as becoming a more elevated being by his asceticism he in fact is burying himself in the grave of pride by considering himself a very spiritual person when in fact his spirituality is seriously defective. And this frequently manifests itself as degradation in that it leads him to committing an actual Torah prohibition and he is not able to restrain himself at all as we know from a actual case where this happened – G-d should preserve us!Conjugal rights of the wife is a Torah commandment just as serious as eating matzo. And even ignoring it when she is pregnant [when the wife has not truly excused him wholeheartedly from his obligations] makes into a complete sinner. And sins like this which are between two people are not atoned for even by Yom Kippur. He is like a robber or mugger who steals from his wife what is owed to her. This is comparable to killing his wife since it is known that the prime hope of a woman in this world is that she have a husband who loves her. Therefore when she see that he doesn’t love her, it is almost life threatening (pikuach nefesh) because of the great upset and anguish he causes her by making her like a widow while her husband is still alive.The conjugal obligations of workers is twice a week, for a talmid chachom it is once a week. The Achronim write that in modern times we do not have people who are called talmidei chachomim according to Chazal [that is because in modern times we are not properly careful about not nullifying ourselves from Torah study and there are other reasons], nevertheless the reason why a talmid chachom only has an obligation once a week is because the Torah weakens his physical strength. That reason would therefore apply also a talmid chachom in modern times. However a talmid chachom who knows that he has the strength retains the obligation of having intercourse twice a week. This is how it is explained in the Biur Halacha (O.C. 240). This was the practice of the Chasam Sofer as is known – see the Mishna Berura there. It is also the practise of most talmidei chachomim in modern times ]before they reach old age ] It is obvious that she married with the understanding that her husband would follow the accepted practise. And furthermore the husband is obligated by the kesuba to conduct himself according to normative practise [for those similar to himself]. It is obvious that if he wants to exempt himself by have intercourse only once a week and not twice that this is close to creating a situation of a genuine uncertainty regarding a Torah obligation. Aside from that there is a separate obligation for the husband when he is aware that she desires to have relations – even if she indicates this by very slight hints as is explained in Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 240:1 which is from Pesachim 72 and in a number of other places.2) The details of sexual intercourse of the mitzva of conjugal obligations are explained in the Siddur of Rav Yaakov Emden in the section of the laws of Shabbos night. It should be studied carefully because these are actual halachic obligations. Because according to the Torah it is prohibited to have intercourse in circumstances where the woman is not interested and therefore it is necessary to get her interested with intimate activities such as hugging and kissing until she is sexual aroused and desires intercourse. Because if this is not done first – it is like placing her before a lion who mauls and eats as is explained in Pesachim (49). [It is a terrible sin to deprive her of her sexual rights even if he is doing it for the sake of piety and asceticism. Taking what belongs to his wife can not be the basis of piety by theft and treating her as a slave]. Furthermore to have sexual intercourse against her will results in having children who are sinners and rejecters of Torah – they are call bnei anusa (children of rape).A husband who grabs and has intercourse immediately without preliminary intimacy and then separates immediate after ejaculation and leaves her, might think that he is acting like a highly spiritual angel. But in actual truth he has not lowered his lust at all even though he definitely has placated his desires for the time being sine he has in fact obtained full pleasure from this intercourse. In contrast his wife felt no pleasures at all from this abrupt sexual act. In fact she has been hurt and shamed and the tears she sheds in private will not go unanswered. That is because our Sages(Bava Metzia) tell us that the Gate of Tears has not been closed. They say that a man should be very careful with his wife honor because she readily cries. There is no question that such a brutal act arouses Divine judgment against him. Furthermore he does not merit to have Divine help either in spiritual or material issues. And this that he mistakenly thinks he becomes a highly spiritual person by trying to be insensitive to his wife in sexual matters – this is a worthless fantasy and a lie. That is because from sins and transgression, one becomes blemished and spiritually impure – not elevated.And this is stated in Shulchan Aruch (240:8) that it is done only after his wife is placated and is interested in doing it. Because otherwise it is prohibited to have intercourse without her consent as is explicit there in the Shulchan Aruch (240:3) and as is explained in the Siddur of Rav Yaakov Emden and this is actual Torah halacha. [In particular what is written in Shulchan Aruch (68). We see in Orchos Chaim in the name of Neziros Shimshon who writes that according to the Zohar and the writings of the Arizal – the halacha is in accord with the first explanation [that one should not have intent for the sake of pleasure but only for the sake of doing a mitzva]. However according to the second and third explanations [that they should be dressed during intercourse and that it should be done quickly] the opposite is true and there is a prohibition in doing this according to kabbalah. Nevertheless even according to the view of the Shulchan Aruch this is only if done with the full agreement of the wife. And thus is my understanding.3) One who is intimate with his wife with hugging and other things for the sake of Heaven because he wants to have mercy on her that she shouldn’t be pained and feel abandoned – this will not cause the slightest weakening of his fear of Heaven or succumbing to lust. The opposite is true – it will bring him to holiness (kedusha) and he will be fulfilling the Torah command of imitating G-d. Just as He is merciful so to you should be merciful. Besides that hugging and kissing or any other act of intimacy is an inherent part of the mitzva of onah (conjugal duties) as is explained by the poskim regarding Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 184:10) concerning the obligation when a man goes on a trip just before the time for his wife’s menstrual period. 4) While it is true that many talmidei chachomm conduct themselves in an ascetic manner in a number of intimate things – but that is only with the complete agreement of his wife and with her forgiveness with a full heart. And this agreement comes in most cases after it is explained to her that in truth her husband loves her and it is only for the sake of heaven that he is restraining himself. Or alternatively she married someone who is known as a tzadik whose reputation compensates for her loss of intimacy with him. But G-d forbid that the husband should conduct himself as an ascetic when it causes pain to his wife who is dependent upon him and does not forgive him whole heartedly concerning that which he is obligated to do for her.5) Our Sages (Yevamos 62b) say, One who loves his wife as himself and honors her more than himself…is described by the verse "You should know that you will have peace with your wife…." It is important to note that our Sages are not saying to love one's wife with the natural love that man is attracted to a woman but rather to love her with the love that friends have for each other - as someone he knows and has a covenant with him and that they are partners in many things and each one helps and receives help from the other. In addition the love he feels for her should also come from gratitude. He needs to have the clear image in his mind that if he had not gotten a wife and would have remained alone and isolated - how much suffering and pain he would have from this. But now that he has a wife his life is in place and functioning. The significance of gratitude is immeasurably important. In fact our Sages state in the Mishna Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 7) that all those who lack gratitude to their fellow men will eventually lack gratitude towards G-d. If you look there you will see how extremely stringent they are in this matter. This type of love is what our Sages say a man is obligated to have towards his wife. And again this love does not come from the lust a man has for a woman at all but from one of the good attributes which he is obligated to have. He needs to have this type of love and feeling towards her when he strives to cause her rejoicing at the time of intercourse and well as before and afterwards. Such a relationship is not disgusting – chas v'shalom – but rather it is a mitzva. In fact he should conduct himself in this manner even if he were not obligated by the Torah and surely now that the Torah does obligated it - as we mentioned before.
Steipler (Igros Kodesh #1): 1) While it is true that asceticism in dealing with the lusts of this world is an important thing [assuming that it is done for the sake of heaven to give pleasure to G-d and not just to be more developed in spirituality] but that is only if it is done after he has already fulfilled is Torah obligations. However if by being ascetic he nullifies the slightest of his Torah obligations then his deeds are credited to the Sitra Acher [evil] - G-d forbid and he doesn’t advance in true spirituality. So even though he views himself as becoming a more elevated being by his asceticism he in fact is burying himself in the grave of pride by considering himself a very spiritual person when in fact his spirituality is seriously defective. And this frequently manifests itself as degradation in that it leads him to committing an actual Torah prohibition and he is not able to restrain himself at all as we know from a actual case where this happened – G-d should preserve us!Conjugal rights of the wife is a Torah commandment just as serious as eating matzo. And even ignoring it when she is pregnant [when the wife has not truly excused him wholeheartedly from his obligations] makes into a complete sinner. And sins like this which are between two people are not atoned for even by Yom Kippur. He is like a robber or mugger who steals from his wife what is owed to her. This is comparable to killing his wife since it is known that the prime hope of a woman in this world is that she have a husband who loves her. Therefore when she see that he doesn’t love her, it is almost life threatening (pikuach nefesh) because of the great upset and anguish he causes her by making her like a widow while her husband is still alive.The conjugal obligations of workers is twice a week, for a talmid chachom it is once a week. The Achronim write that in modern times we do not have people who are called talmidei chachomim according to Chazal [that is because in modern times we are not properly careful about not nullifying ourselves from Torah study and there are other reasons], nevertheless the reason why a talmid chachom only has an obligation once a week is because the Torah weakens his physical strength. That reason would therefore apply also a talmid chachom in modern times. However a talmid chachom who knows that he has the strength retains the obligation of having intercourse twice a week. This is how it is explained in the Biur Halacha (O.C. 240). This was the practice of the Chasam Sofer as is known – see the Mishna Berura there. It is also the practise of most talmidei chachomim in modern times ]before they reach old age ] It is obvious that she married with the understanding that her husband would follow the accepted practise. And furthermore the husband is obligated by the kesuba to conduct himself according to normative practise [for those similar to himself]. It is obvious that if he wants to exempt himself by have intercourse only once a week and not twice that this is close to creating a situation of a genuine uncertainty regarding a Torah obligation. Aside from that there is a separate obligation for the husband when he is aware that she desires to have relations – even if she indicates this by very slight hints as is explained in Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 240:1 which is from Pesachim 72 and in a number of other places.2) The details of sexual intercourse of the mitzva of conjugal obligations are explained in the Siddur of Rav Yaakov Emden in the section of the laws of Shabbos night. It should be studied carefully because these are actual halachic obligations. Because according to the Torah it is prohibited to have intercourse in circumstances where the woman is not interested and therefore it is necessary to get her interested with intimate activities such as hugging and kissing until she is sexual aroused and desires intercourse. Because if this is not done first – it is like placing her before a lion who mauls and eats as is explained in Pesachim (49). [It is a terrible sin to deprive her of her sexual rights even if he is doing it for the sake of piety and asceticism. Taking what belongs to his wife can not be the basis of piety by theft and treating her as a slave]. Furthermore to have sexual intercourse against her will results in having children who are sinners and rejecters of Torah – they are call bnei anusa (children of rape).A husband who grabs and has intercourse immediately without preliminary intimacy and then separates immediate after ejaculation and leaves her, might think that he is acting like a highly spiritual angel. But in actual truth he has not lowered his lust at all even though he definitely has placated his desires for the time being sine he has in fact obtained full pleasure from this intercourse. In contrast his wife felt no pleasures at all from this abrupt sexual act. In fact she has been hurt and shamed and the tears she sheds in private will not go unanswered. That is because our Sages(Bava Metzia) tell us that the Gate of Tears has not been closed. They say that a man should be very careful with his wife honor because she readily cries. There is no question that such a brutal act arouses Divine judgment against him. Furthermore he does not merit to have Divine help either in spiritual or material issues. And this that he mistakenly thinks he becomes a highly spiritual person by trying to be insensitive to his wife in sexual matters – this is a worthless fantasy and a lie. That is because from sins and transgression, one becomes blemished and spiritually impure – not elevated.And this is stated in Shulchan Aruch (240:8) that it is done only after his wife is placated and is interested in doing it. Because otherwise it is prohibited to have intercourse without her consent as is explicit there in the Shulchan Aruch (240:3) and as is explained in the Siddur of Rav Yaakov Emden and this is actual Torah halacha. [In particular what is written in Shulchan Aruch (68). We see in Orchos Chaim in the name of Neziros Shimshon who writes that according to the Zohar and the writings of the Arizal – the halacha is in accord with the first explanation [that one should not have intent for the sake of pleasure but only for the sake of doing a mitzva]. However according to the second and third explanations [that they should be dressed during intercourse and that it should be done quickly] the opposite is true and there is a prohibition in doing this according to kabbalah. Nevertheless even according to the view of the Shulchan Aruch this is only if done with the full agreement of the wife. And thus is my understanding.3) One who is intimate with his wife with hugging and other things for the sake of Heaven because he wants to have mercy on her that she shouldn’t be pained and feel abandoned – this will not cause the slightest weakening of his fear of Heaven or succumbing to lust. The opposite is true – it will bring him to holiness (kedusha) and he will be fulfilling the Torah command of imitating G-d. Just as He is merciful so to you should be merciful. Besides that hugging and kissing or any other act of intimacy is an inherent part of the mitzva of onah (conjugal duties) as is explained by the poskim regarding Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 184:10) concerning the obligation when a man goes on a trip just before the time for his wife’s menstrual period. 4) While it is true that many talmidei chachomm conduct themselves in an ascetic manner in a number of intimate things – but that is only with the complete agreement of his wife and with her forgiveness with a full heart. And this agreement comes in most cases after it is explained to her that in truth her husband loves her and it is only for the sake of heaven that he is restraining himself. Or alternatively she married someone who is known as a tzadik whose reputation compensates for her loss of intimacy with him. But G-d forbid that the husband should conduct himself as an ascetic when it causes pain to his wife who is dependent upon him and does not forgive him whole heartedly concerning that which he is obligated to do for her.5) Our Sages (Yevamos 62b) say, One who loves his wife as himself and honors her more than himself…is described by the verse "You should know that you will have peace with your wife…." It is important to note that our Sages are not saying to love one's wife with the natural love that man is attracted to a woman but rather to love her with the love that friends have for each other - as someone he knows and has a covenant with him and that they are partners in many things and each one helps and receives help from the other. In addition the love he feels for her should also come from gratitude. He needs to have the clear image in his mind that if he had not gotten a wife and would have remained alone and isolated - how much suffering and pain he would have from this. But now that he has a wife his life is in place and functioning. The significance of gratitude is immeasurably important. In fact our Sages state in the Mishna Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 7) that all those who lack gratitude to their fellow men will eventually lack gratitude towards G-d. If you look there you will see how extremely stringent they are in this matter. This type of love is what our Sages say a man is obligated to have towards his wife. And again this love does not come from the lust a man has for a woman at all but from one of the good attributes which he is obligated to have. He needs to have this type of love and feeling towards her when he strives to cause her rejoicing at the time of intercourse and well as before and afterwards. Such a relationship is not disgusting – chas v'shalom – but rather it is a mitzva. In fact he should conduct himself in this manner even if he were not obligated by the Torah and surely now that the Torah does obligated it - as we mentioned before.