Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Trump accuses FDA, Pfizer of deliberately delaying vaccine news until after vote

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-accuses-fda-pfizer-of-deliberately-delaying-vaccine-news-until-after-vote/

US President Donald Trump on Monday falsely accused the US Food and Drug Administration, drugmaker Pfizer and the Democrats of apparently conspiring to delay an announcement of progress on a coronavirus vaccine until after last week’s elections.

Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90 percent effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control.

DOJ's top election crimes prosecutor quits in protest after Barr tells federal attorneys to probe unsupported allegations of voting irregularities

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/09/politics/william-barr-voting-irregularities/index.html

 The Justice Department's top election crimes prosecutor resigned Monday in protest after Attorney General William Barr told federal prosecutors that they should examine allegations of voting irregularities before states move to certify results in the coming weeks.

Richard Pilger, director of the elections crimes branch in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, told colleagues in an email that the attorney general was issuing "an important new policy abrogating the forty-year-old Non-Interference Policy for ballot fraud investigations in the period prior to elections becoming certified and uncontested." Pilger also forwarded the memo to colleagues in his resignation letter.

 

Monday, November 9, 2020

An unusual medrash about King David

 Yalkut HaMakiri  Tehilim (118 28): Tehlim (51:7) Behold I was born in sin. One view is that Dovid’s mother was the son of a beloved wife while another  says  a hated wife.. Yishai was separated from his wife for three years. After three years he had a pretty maid servant that he lusted for. He said to the slave,”My daughter; I prepared myself for you tonight to free you.” The slave went to his wife, “ “Save yourself and the soul of your husband from Hell.”She replied, “What is happening?”The slave told her everything. She replied, “My daughter what can I do since he hasn’t touched me for three years?. Go prepare yourself and so will I” And she did. That evening, the slave got up and extinguished the candle. and closed the door. The wife entered and the slave left. The wife was with her husband the whole night and became pregnant with Dovid. Because of his strong passion for the slave  Dovid was born very ruddy compared to his brothers. His brothers wanted to kill him seeing that he was red {a sign of adultery]. However their father told them to leave him alone so instead of killing him they treated him instead as a slave and shepherd. 

 http://www.daat.ac.il/he-il/tanach/iyunim/neviim/rishonim/shmuel/prakim/grosman-ahavati.htm

A Dose of Optimism, as the Pandemic Rages On

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/health/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-optimism.html

Clearly, the pandemic has not ended. So far some 215,000 Americans have lost their lives to the coronavirus, and reliable estimates suggest that the number could reach 400,000. Health experts agree that, with stronger leadership, the death toll would have been far lower.

Since January, when I began covering the pandemic, I have been a consistently gloomy Cassandra, reporting on the catastrophe that experts saw coming: that the virus would go pandemic, that Americans were likely to die in large numbers, the national lockdown would last well beyond Easter and even past summer. No miracle cure was on the horizon; the record for developing a vaccine was four years.

Events have moved faster than I thought possible. I have become cautiously optimistic. Experts are saying, with genuine confidence, that the pandemic in the United States will be over far sooner than they expected, possibly by the middle of next year.

Brooklyn rabbi accused of molesting kids dies of COVID-19

 https://nypost.com/2020/11/07/brooklyn-rabbi-accused-of-molesting-children-dies-of-covid-19/

 Rabbi Joel Kolko, one of NYC’s most notorious accused pedophiles, has reportedly died of COVID-19 while in Israel, sources told The Post.

Kolko, 74, was visiting the country for recent holidays and fell ill with the coronavirus, they said.

 n 2016, Torah Temimah agreed to pay an unprecedented $2.1 million [https://nypost.com/2016/10/23/brooklyn-yeshiva-settles-with-sexual-assault-victims-for-2-1m] to two former students who charged that Kolko sexually assaulted them.

Biden’s call for unity a welcome change from pain, mistrust and division under Trump

 https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/biden-victory-speech-election-richard-fowler

  Unfortunately, many Republicans have been quick to attack Biden’s call for unity. That’s a mistake. Perhaps once Trump’s term of office is over, at least some Republicans will accept Biden’s olive branch and agree to work in the national interest instead of fanning the flames of division.

Trump plans to revive campaign-style rallies as he pursues legal challenges to election results

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-plans-to-revive-campaign-style-rallies-as-he-pursues-legal-challenges-to-election-results

 According a report by Axios and confirmed by Fox News, Trumps’ campaign plans to take less traditional path to challenging the results of the election, including holding “a series of Trump rallies” focused on the campaigns ongoing legal efforts in numerous states across the country.

Along with the rallies, Trump is also planning to use obituaries of people who allegedly voted but are actually dead as evidence of the voter fraud he's been claiming. The campaign is also sending recount teams Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, with Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., heading up the effort in the Peach State.

President Trump refuses to concede

Mary Trump: ‘If he thinks he’s going down, he’s going to try to take the rest of us down with him.’

I Gave Donald Trump a Chance After He Was Elected. The President's Supporters Should Do the Same for Joe Biden Now

 https://time.com/5909222/i-gave-donald-trump-a-chance/

 I’m an optimist, but I’m not cock-eyed. As my friend, historian Jon Meacham says, disagreement is the oxygen of democracy. I’m just looking forward to, as Joe Biden said, lowering the temperature of our national thermostat and seeing each other as human beings, not bumper stickers or lawn signs. Perhaps then we can get back to work and start making progress on some enormous problems that won’t just go away on their own. I wanted Donald Trump to succeed and I gave him a chance. For all those who voted for him, please do the same for the incoming Administration. I’m excited to do my part. Are you?

 

 

Trump’s election challenges more about keeping base loyal than changing outcome

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trumps-election-challenges-more-about-keeping-base-loyal-than-changing-outcome/

 The Trump campaign’s strategy to file a barrage of lawsuits challenging US President-elect Joe Biden’s win is more about providing President Donald Trump with an off-ramp for a loss he can’t quite grasp and less about changing the election’s outcome, according to senior officials, campaign aides and allies who spoke to The Associated Press.

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Cruz insists Trump 'still has a path to victory,' vote count lawsuits could 'easily' reach Supreme Court

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cruz-trump-path-to-victory-supreme-court

 Meanwhile, some Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, are criticizing Trump's strategy as Biden seems set to take the reins.

"The President is within his rights to request recounts, to call for investigation of alleged voting irregularities... He is wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen—doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie at the foundation of the Republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions," Romney said in a statement posted on Twitter.

 

 

WSJ: Trump Aides Warn ‘No Legal Effort’ Can Help Him Catch Up To Biden | All In | MSNBC

'Loser': Trump Headed For Court Losses In 2020 Cases, Per Obama’s SCOTUS Lawyer | MSNBC