thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--As COVID-19 Restrictions Ease, Muslims Celebrate A Socially Distanced Eid

In states like New Jersey , New York , and Maryland , where government restrictions have loosened , mosques have been able to host Eid prayers under strict guidelines .
But others , in Illinois , for example , have decided to forgo a traditional in-person Eid prayer due to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases .
This year , mosques across the country will host Eid prayers under strict guidelines , including taking temperatures at the points of entry , mandating face masks and observing 6 feet of distance between individuals .
Muslims in the U.S. and Canada have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prayers in hopes of retaining some sort of celebratory normalcy , and others choosing to sit out and observe the holiday at home .
Muslims across the country have been forced to reexamine many traditional practices during the pandemic , particularly when it comes to congregational prayers like Eid and Friday prayers , said Shabana Mira , an associate professor at American Islamic College in Chicago who has been tracking the impact of COVID-19 on Muslim life .
In New Jersey , many mosques will host prayers outdoors with a cap on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wear masks and abide by social distancing rules at all times .
While individuals usually stand shoulder to shoulder during prayers , members will be asked to stand 6 feet apart at all times .
After prayers , Auston plans to meet up with friends and host a small picnic in an attempt to celebrate during uncertain times .
More than anything , she says she misses the physical interactions and Eid hugs with those she hasn ’ t seen in a long time .
“ This has been such a hard year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hard year for our communities , in so many ways with the pandemic and the police violence , and , particularly for me as a Black Muslim , ” said Auston .
“ Taking the time in the middle of all of that to create a space for joy and togetherness is extremely critical.
” In North Carolina , the Muslim Community Center of Charlotte will ask its congregants to preregister to attend one of its two outdoor Eid prayers .
Individuals will need to bring their own prayer rugs and wear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to those in need .
“ We ’ re just trying to make the best out of the situation ... you know , sticking with all of the scientific guidelines , ” said John Ederer , the center ’ s imam and religious director .
Usually , more than 2,000 people from his mosque participate in the Eid prayers , but this year , the mosque can only accommodate 600 people to be compliant with state regulations .
“ People are at a point in their spiritual and mental health , that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the discussions we ’ ve had with medical professionals .
It doesn ’ t look like there ’ s going to be some grand solution anytime soon , ” Ederer told HuffPost .
“ So let ’ s find out the most strict and observant way to gain some human interaction without putting ourselves in any real danger.
” We don ’ t want to deprive people of the joy that comes with this holiday , which is basically a holiday of happiness for Muslims .
Henry Hane , executive director at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center of Greater Cincinnati , which normally hosts over 5,000 congregants , will host three consecutive prayers to constrain the number of attendees at each one .
During all three prayers , individuals will be required to preregister , bring their own rugs and wear a mask at all times .
The next day , the mosque will host “ drive-thru entertainment ” in which children can receive goodie bags and watch circus performers from their families ’ cars .
“ Anyone that enters my home knows that they ’ re pretty much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last 14 days and that they have been pretty much quarantined , ” Hossenbux told HuffPost .
For this Eid , Hossenbux will be hosting a small family gathering of eight people , all of whom she trusts have been home .

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After months in lockdown and forfeiting an in-person Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr last May, some Muslim Americans will celebrate an in-person, socially distant Eid al-Adha on Friday.
In states like New Jersey, New York, and Maryland, where government restrictions have loosened, mosques have been able to host Eid prayers under strict guidelines. But others, in Illinois, for example, have decided to forgo a traditional in-person Eid prayer due to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases.
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This year, mosques across the country will host Eid prayers under strict guidelines, including taking temperatures at the points of entry, mandating face masks and observing 6 feet of distance between individuals. Muslims in the U.S. and Canada have been split, with some people attending the prayers in hopes of retaining some sort of celebratory normalcy, and others choosing to sit out and observe the holiday at home.
Muslims across the country have been forced to reexamine many traditional practices during the pandemic, particularly when it comes to congregational prayers like Eid and Friday prayers, said Shabana Mir, an associate professor at American Islamic College in Chicago who has been tracking the impact of COVID-19 on Muslim life.
With Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr suspended entirely back in May and strict protocol implemented during services for Eid Al-Adha on Friday, many Muslims have been challenged to redefine what communal religious practices look like.
“For a lot of people, we pretend that religious practice does not shift,” in circumstances like a pandemic, Mir said, adding that Islamic theology does indeed allow for flexibility. A two-time cancer survivor, Mir will not attend Eid prayers for her and her family’s safety.
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In New Jersey, many mosques will host prayers outdoors with a cap on attendees, who will be required to wear masks and abide by social distancing rules at all times. While individuals usually stand shoulder to shoulder during prayers, members will be asked to stand 6 feet apart at all times.
Donna Auston, a 47-year-old anthropologist from New Jersey, celebrated Eid in 2019 with friends. This year, she plans to have a socially distanced picnic with them. Photo provided by Donna Au
Donna Auston, a 47-year-old anthropologist and New Jersey resident, will attend Eid Prayers at Weequahic Park in Newark, a location where Muslims have prayed since the 1970s. For this Eid, residents will pray 6 feet apart in the outdoor space on their own prayer rugs and wearing masks.
After prayers, Auston plans to meet up with friends and host a small picnic in an attempt to celebrate during uncertain times. More than anything, she says she misses the physical interactions and Eid hugs with those she hasn’t seen in a long time.
This Eid, she hopes to get back some of that human interaction in a “slightly expanded, conscious and safe way,” she said.
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“This has been such a hard year for everybody and it’s been a hard year for our communities, in so many ways with the pandemic and the police violence, and, particularly for me as a Black Muslim,” said Auston. “Taking the time in the middle of all of that to create a space for joy and togetherness is extremely critical.”
Registrations And Temperature Checks
In North Carolina, the Muslim Community Center of Charlotte will ask its congregants to preregister to attend one of its two outdoor Eid prayers. Individuals will need to bring their own prayer rugs and wear masks. Additional masks will be distributed to those in need.
“We’re just trying to make the best out of the situation ... you know, sticking with all of the scientific guidelines,” said John Ederer, the center’s imam and religious director. Usually, more than 2,000 people from his mosque participate in the Eid prayers, but this year, the mosque can only accommodate 600 people to be compliant with state regulations.
“People are at a point in their spiritual and mental health, that they need to be together and considering all the discussions we’ve had with medical professionals. It doesn’t look like there’s going to be some grand solution anytime soon,” Ederer told HuffPost. “So let’s find out the most strict and observant way to gain some human interaction without putting ourselves in any real danger.”
“We don’t want to deprive people of the joy that comes with this holiday, which is basically a holiday of happiness for Muslims.” - Henry Hane, executive director at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati
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The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, which normally hosts over 5,000 congregants, will host three consecutive prayers to constrain the number of attendees at each one. During all three prayers, individuals will be required to preregister, bring their own rugs and wear a mask at all times. The next day, the mosque will host “drive-thru entertainment” in which children can receive goodie bags and watch circus performers from their families’ cars.
“We don’t want to deprive people of the joy that comes with this holiday, which is basically a holiday of happiness for Muslims,” said Henry Hane, the executive director at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati.
“We thought it was important for the community to recognize that this is an important moment in their faith and allow them the platform to enjoy it while also being safe.”
Playing It Safe
In Ontario, 44-year-old Samirah Hossenbux will not attend Eid prayers, even though her local mosque is planning a socially distanced service with mask requirements and a limit on attendees. She’s immunocompromised and has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and a lung condition, and has been hospitalized due to pneumonia. Attending Eid prayers is too risky.
On normal days, Hossenbux relies on her husband to run all her errands and restock groceries. Her family members, who are aware of Hossenbux’s vulnerability to COVID-19, will also practice social distancing on Friday.
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In Ontario, 44-year-old Samirah Hossenbux will not attend Eid prayers because she faces a higher health risk if she gets COVID-19. She's pictured here with her nephews during Eid 2019. Photo provided by Samirah Hossenbux
“Anyone that enters my home knows that they’re pretty much not in contact with other people in the last 14 days and that they have been pretty much quarantined,” Hossenbux told HuffPost. For this Eid, Hossenbux will be hosting a small family gathering of eight people, all of whom she trusts have been home.
“We discuss with each other every day what we’ve been doing so everyone’s pretty much aware of who’s been out and who’s not and who they’re meeting with and who they’re not meeting with so that we feel comfortable,” she added.
Despite the small number, Hossenbux plans to make the best out of the day, with decorations around the house and a menu that includes samosas, pineapple upside-down cake and biryani.
Back in New Jersey, Auston wants to make sure she is also sensitive about being safe while finding a way to celebrate.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Rikers Island Worker Blows Whistle On COVID-19 Risk In Infamous New York Jail

As New York City begins to gradually reopen after its coronavirus lockdown, the threat of COVID-19 infection inside Rikers Island rages on. As of July 24, 288 people in custody of the NYC Department of Correction — or 7.3% of the population — were confirmed to be COVID-19 positive.
Because of a lack of widespread testing, that number is almost certainly an undercount. Even so, it indicates a rate of infection that is almost three times higher than the rate for New York City as a whole. The city has, for months, refused to publicly disclose the total number of people incarcerated at the Rikers jail complex who have contracted COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Until recently, the city would only provide a current, rather than a cumulative, count — and the numbers released represent all individuals detained by the Correction Department, not just at Rikers, its biggest facility.
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But the information that is available indicates an abysmal failure to protect the people in the department’s custody, the overwhelming majority of whom have not been convicted of a crime. Being imprisoned at Rikers during the pandemic, several incarcerated individuals have told HuffPost, is like waiting to die. At least three people in Correction Department custody have already died from the coronavirus — including two people who were in jail because of minor parole violations.
In May, Patricia Kim, a discharge planning social worker at Rikers Island, blew the whistle when she wrote an affidavit accusing city officials of “failing to implement effective, basic, common-sense preventative measures to prevent transmission of COVID-19 to its medically vulnerable detainees.” In the affidavit, the existence of which has not previously been reported, Kim described glaring discrepancies between the jail’s official COVID-19 policies and its on-the-ground reality. Social distancing and mask-wearing are inconsistent in the poorly ventilated facility, she wrote. Some incarcerated individuals sleep in beds only a few feet apart. Correctional officers and other staff move between units used to detain COVID-19 positive individuals and the rest of the jail, potentially spreading the virus throughout the facility.
There is little acknowledgment within Rikers of the risk of asymptomatic spread and even efforts to detect symptoms are poorly enforced, Kim wrote. In March, a staff member whose temperature was recorded at an impossibly low 85 degrees was approved for entry, even though the reading was clearly inaccurate. Kim said she was told in April that even if she tested positive for the coronavirus, she should continue coming to work as long as she did not have a fever and was not “coughing all over the place.” And in May, Kim said she noticed a sign as she passed through the metal detector that incorrectly advised, “If you are feeling well, no need to wear a mask.”
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Lawyers with New York’s Legal Aid Society have secured the release of hundreds of people since the beginning of the pandemic but other clients have been denied release — including many who are elderly and have serious medical conditions. The Legal Aid Society has been incorporating Kim’s affidavit into bail applications to free their clients. HuffPost spoke with Kim in mid-July about her decision to come forward and what her job has been like since then. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What made you come forward? What compelled you to write the affidavit?
It’s the same as why I decided to work on [Rikers] Island as part of Correctional Health Services or getting into social work in general. It’s noticing and having the experience as an Asian person of color of the significant lack of resources and a really significant disparity in terms of the kind of care that one gets compared to white folks.
When you step into an environment where people acutely have been in need of care since their childhood, when you see that these interventions have not been made, and now we’re experiencing a pandemic ― it’s extraordinarily important that we continue to advocate for folks in their freedom. There is no reason why they should be waiting to catch a virus in a jail.
And were you afraid of retaliation?
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Patricia Kim, a social worker and COVID-19 whistleblower at Rikers Island, poses for a portrait in the East Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Elias Williams for HuffPost
Could you walk me through what a typical workday is for you?
I am lucky enough to have a car and so I can drive onto the island and park in the parking lot there. Others would have to take public transportation to get to the island, which is a whole other concern in terms of COVID. But then after we park in the main lots, we have to go through the security building to where the route buses are. And these are all essentially school buses that will take you to the various facilities on the island. You take this bus with other people — that’s staff, officers.
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These buses in the summer now, it’s very hot so the windows are all up and the AC is running so it’s not like you’re really getting ventilation. And I’ve noticed consistently having to get onto the bus after a group of staff and officers get off their tour where wearing masks was not 100%. And it’s troubling after work when the same bus that’s supposed to take me back to the parking lot area will stop at the EMTC [Eric M. Taylor Center], which is a facility that was reopened to provide care for folks that were transferred due to suspected COVID or COVID-positive status.
And when I get to the facility, we have to go through a pretty small front vestibule area ― where you have to take off your metal things, get your ID switched, and go through the mag [metal detector] ― and sometimes there’s a lot more people than anybody would feel comfortable with, where you cannot social distance in that area. It used to be that somebody, a correctional officer, would be taking your temperature but now I think they have a camera setup. It’s not clear if that’s a camera that is thermal imaging, but nobody is taking your temperature. It’s all self-reporting symptoms, but that does not address people who are asymptomatic.
Then there’s a long hallway as it gets to the control room where correctional officers can sign out a mask if they do not have one because people have to have a mask on when they’re going into the facility. But I’ve noticed people wear the mask on their chin or the mask is below their nose. Or, you know, no mask at all.
I am constantly reminding my guys, the guys on my units, to wear their masks. I have to remind them to get a clean mask. There’s a lack of understanding about how serious this pandemic is among a lot of the guys on my units because they’ve been incarcerated for longer than the pandemic has existed.
That, on top of all of the discharge planning work and just making sure that folks know that I’m present. Because one of the most important things to all the guys who are detained that I work with is information about their case, and it’s been very frustrating because courts have been closed and video courts are often canceled. And so throughout the day, it’s a matter of going on and off the units and making sure that there’s as much communication as possible for their legal stuff and then making sure that their concerns are taken care of.
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And then leaving a couple hours late, usually for me because we were on a reduced schedule of three days a week and so we increased to four [earlier this month] because they’re slowly putting us back into a full-time schedule, even though the numbers are not necessarily showing that the pandemic has really gone anywhere. And then I go home. And then I come back and do it all over again.
New York police officials are blaming an uptick in violence in New York City on some people being released from Rikers in response to COVID. That claim is unsubstantiated, but do you worry that this kind of rhetoric will make it harder to depopulate the jail?
I absolutely believe that kind of rhetoric can make it difficult for people to leave. It’s really concerning because it means that folks who could otherwise go to [drug treatment] programs will be denied. We have a guy who, because somebody did not do well in the program and came back, I was told that this person would not get a program.
That kind of rhetoric comes from a place of really a lack of empathy, compassion and dehumanization ― because if it were their son, their brother, their father, I would think that there would be a different kind of dialogue there.
Do your patients talk to you much about COVID? Are any of them scared?
Yeah, I mean, especially folks who are older. Or folks with respiratory issues. But again, the kind of concern that would keep a mask on their face or social distancing at the forefront of their mind doesn’t really exist for a lot of these guys. And I think it also is impacted by the fact that they see officers and staff who are not following these guidelines too. They’re not exercising the kind of precautions that these patients need to see.
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For me, the first couple of months, I had a welder’s mask on my face. I looked like something out of Mortal Kombat. I would laugh about it with my guys because it was something to connect to. I would point at my face and say, “This is how serious all of this is and if I don’t keep doing this, I cannot come in here to help you.” And they would put their mask on — but that’s because they didn’t have it on to begin with, right?
Kim holds the welder's mask she initially wore at work when the coronavirus pandemic hit New York. Elias Williams for HuffPost
You described in the affidavit a pretty jarring disconnect between official policies related to COVID and what you actually see happening at the jail. Is that because people don’t know the policies very well or because they’re just unrealistic to implement?
I would say unrealistic to implement, because you’re talking about people in a jail that these administrators are not inside of and do not work in the way that officers, staff and detained people are forced to.
You can say all that you want about what things should look like. But if you are not the one observing every day what things actually look like, then you can continue to live on whatever cloud is keeping you away from the island.
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The people who are directors, these people worked remotely. And by the time they came, I’m sure they could get access to the kind of PPE [personal protective equipment] that would make them feel safe to walk through this facility. But that was never anything that we had. The masks that I had in the beginning were literally like my mom made them overnight. She’s a seamstress in a dry cleaner’s in Chicago. And it’s made out of an old pillowcase that she had sent to me so I could wear something in the facility because we really didn’t have anything.
Has anything changed since you wrote the affidavit?
The jail looks cleaner. But that’s because they’ve been painting and they’ve been mopping.
I have to wear a mask in the office because it’s impossible to social distance with my officemates who are only 3 feet away from me now that we’ve increased our schedules. Otherwise, everything else is the same. It’s still a lack of across-the-board compliance with wearing a mask or social distancing.
Have any of your patients gotten sick that you know of?
I know that patients have been transferred off because they became symptomatic, yes.
If either a patient you worked with or a colleague contracted COVID, are you confident that you would be notified?
No. No, it would only be from fellow staff. That lack of transparency is actually quite frightening.
What kind of access testing have you had?
When I requested to be tested a couple months ago, it took me almost two weeks to get it scheduled through the phone number that we were supposed to call through the governor’s office.
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There was free antibody testing for a period if you were a health and hospital worker. I just tried to make an appointment a week ago for a COVID test at one of the urgent care or city MDs, and they actually told me that recently insurance policies have changed so I have to call my insurance to see whether or not they would cover it in the same way. I really don’t know if the hospitals are providing free COVID testing but I have not been told that it’s being provided on the island for us as employees.
So that first test a couple months ago was your only test?
Yes, and I had an antibody test after that. Those were the two tests I’ve had.
Was that first test precautionary or were you scared you had been exposed?
The first test was most definitely scared that I had been exposed.
There were patients that had been transferred off my unit and there were officers that had gone out. And the suspicion was that it was because of COVID.
How has all the risk that you’re exposed to at your job impacted your life outside of work?
I think in the beginning, it was pretty frightening because already I live with a lot of anxiety. Just the fear of bringing it home — there are children in my building and there were women that were pregnant in my building. And people in my building were also not observing the appropriate mask protocols and I would have to go to work.
And so it was just a huge increase in anxiety. It really motivated me to do everything that I could to help my folks who did not have a choice but to be detained. To try to get as many [housing] referrals out as possible, being in contact with the attorneys as much as possible. To ensure that there would be a way for them to be removed from this environment.
Even with a welder’s mask on my face, I remember a mental health employee smirking at me when she walked past me down the hall without a mask on. And that was really upsetting, because it’s like, how can you so flagrantly treat this like it’s not as serious as it really is?
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This has been incredibly stressful. And then talking about the disparities and treatment of staff of color versus white staff — that has had an active impact that has me up at night. I can’t sleep very well, I’m not eating very well, I’ve definitely lost weight. And it’s causing strain just in my relationships at home. These are not healthy things. They’re all things that can impact the kind of work that I could do on the island for the folks that I serve.
Elias Williams for HuffPost
Do you ever think about quitting?
Oh completely. Since I started, I’ve been thinking about quitting. It’s really hard as somebody who has a documented history of working towards social justice to be in a space as oppressive as a jail is. That’s why a lot of people who are in social justice circles choose not to work in a jail because it’s very triggering. It’s extraordinarily stressful.
Absolutely I would love to quit. But then I think about the kind of care that people will get or the kind of ear that people will be given.
You’re not going to find a lot of people who work in this environment with the kind of care that is necessary that would want to speak to what is happening or what it is like to be here — especially during a pandemic.
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What is the worst-case scenario if policies and enforcement around COVID don’t change at Rikers?
The worst-case scenario is this is just going to be a cyclic issue. That this will be history repeating itself so quickly and harming so many people.
It’s really a matter of people who are saying that these protocols are in place to come every day to work, do the four-days-a-week thing. You’re telling us to come in four days a week — then please, come in four days a week, go on to the units.
I don’t know how anyone could imagine that these environments are some kind of idyllic place where policies are magically being enforced, because they are not.
And if you’re thinking about how New York City addressed the COVID crisis, they shut everything down. And, by and large, people had to have their masks on and they were socially distancing. That is impossible in a jail environment, it is absolutely impossible.
I would challenge anybody who has written or claimed that these protocols are in place and are being enforced en masse: Please come and take a look. Don’t tell anybody you’re coming either. Like a food critic coming to the restaurant who wears a disguise — you go ahead and do that too. Because otherwise they will never fucking see.
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The absurdity of it to me is like, I want to laugh but really it’s making me cry. It’s very upsetting. Because it is like gaslighting people. We are telling you what we see and then that’s not being addressed. They keep wanting to stamp out voices that are — at the risk of jobs or whatever retaliatory measure — talking about what is still happening months later, and people don’t want to pay attention to that.
Read Kim’s affidavit here:
Patricia Kim Affidavit on Scribd


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Bryan Cranston Donating 'Liquid Gold' Plasma After Recovering From COVID-19

“ Breaking Bad ” star Bryan Cranston is donating his “ liquid gold ” plasma now that he has recovered from COVID-19 .
Despite carefully following recommended safety protocols , Cranston told fans in an Instagram post on Thursday that he had contracted COVID-19 .
He said he experienced mild symptoms , including a slight headache , tightness in his chest and the loss of taste and smell : Since recuperating from the virus , the actor has been donating plasma at the UCLA Blood and Plasma Donation Center “ because I have the antibodies , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ treat people suffering from COVID-19 , and can be utilized in scientific research into the virus .
On Thursday , President Donald Trump also urged those who had recovered form COVID-19 to donate plasma .
“ If you ’ ve had the virus , if you donate [ plasma ] , it would be a terrific thing , ” Trump said during a visit to the American Red Cross headquarters in Washington .
“ To those that have had the virus : You ’ ve gotten through it , and I guess that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Despite carefully following recommended safety protocols, Cranston told fans in an Instagram post on Thursday that he had contracted COVID-19. He said he experienced mild symptoms, including a slight headache, tightness in his chest and the loss of taste and smell:
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Since recuperating from the virus, the actor has been donating plasma at the UCLA Blood and Plasma Donation Center “because I have the antibodies,” he said. The plasma can be used to help treat people suffering from COVID-19, and can be utilized in scientific research into the virus.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump also urged those who had recovered form COVID-19 to donate plasma.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Joe Biden Makes The Simplest Anti-Trump Promise Ever And People Are Here For It

“ First thing , as president of United States ― not a joke ― first thing I will do is @ @ @ @ @ of education is not Betsy DeVos , it is a teacher , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ forum .
But Biden ’ s promise to simply not fire off distressing tweets went @ @ @ @ @ than 350,000 “ likes ” in a matter of hours .

“First thing, as president of United States ― not a joke ― first thing I will do is make sure that the secretary of education is not Betsy DeVos, it is a teacher,” he said at a National Education Association forum.
But Biden’s promise to simply not fire off distressing tweets went viral, racking up more than 350,000 “likes” in a matter of hours.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Bestselling Author Predicts The 3 Cards Of 'Trump's Evil Plan' For Reelection

Bestselling author Don Winslow says President Donald Trump will attempt an “ October surprise ” against former Vice President Joe Biden in a desperate attempt to swing the election .
“ It will be big , loud and another lie , ” Winslow predicted in a new video .
“ And if history is any indicator , it will be widely covered by the media without any vetting.
” Winslow said it was one of three “ cards ” Trump will play in the final days of the campaign because he won ’ t be able to run on his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run on the economy because he ’ s destroyed it , ” Winslow said .
“ And he can not run on his response to the coronavirus because it is a disaster with 150,000 dead.
” With no accomplishments to promote , Trump will instead attempt to play three cards , including the surprise attack on Biden .
Winslow , a former private investigator , has long been known for his page-turning crime novels .
But in recent years , he ’ s become a prominent Trump critic .
In 2017 , Winslow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ book “ The Force ” that was essentially a lengthy attack on Trump and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for their “ War on Drugs ” -type policies that Winslow said disproportionately impacted people of color .
And after the release of his book “ The Border ” last year , Winslow challenged Trump to a debate on the border wall .
“ Any show .
Any anchor .
Any time , ” Winslow tweeted .
“ You debated 18 Republicans during your presidential campaign , I am sure you can handle one writer @ @

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Bestselling author Don Winslow says President Donald Trump will attempt an “October surprise” against former Vice President Joe Biden in a desperate attempt to swing the election.
“It will be big, loud and another lie,” Winslow predicted in a new video. “And if history is any indicator, it will be widely covered by the media without any vetting.”
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Winslow said it was one of three “cards” Trump will play in the final days of the campaign because he won’t be able to run on his record.
“Trump can’t run on the economy because he’s destroyed it,” Winslow said. “And he cannot run on his response to the coronavirus because it is a disaster with 150,000 dead.”
With no accomplishments to promote, Trump will instead attempt to play three cards, including the surprise attack on Biden.
See the full video below:
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Winslow, a former private investigator, has long been known for his page-turning crime novels. But in recent years, he’s become a prominent Trump critic. In 2017, Winslow took out a full-page ad for his book “The Force” that was essentially a lengthy attack on Trump and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for their “War on Drugs”-type policies that Winslow said disproportionately impacted people of color.
And after the release of his book “The Border” last year, Winslow challenged Trump to a debate on the border wall.
“Any show. Any anchor. Any time,” Winslow tweeted. “You debated 18 Republicans during your presidential campaign, I am sure you can handle one writer.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Ex-RNC Chair Spells Out Harsh Reality Of COVID-19 During Tribute To Herman Cain

Michael Steele , former chair of the Republican National Committee , on Thursday remembered his friend Herman Cain and issued a pointed reminder about the threat posed by the coronavirus .
Cain , the Tea Party activist who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 , was hospitalized earlier this month after testing positive for COVID-19 , less than two weeks after being pictured not wearing a face mask during President Donald Trump ’ s campaign rally in Tulsa , Oklahoma .
“ Look , Herman Cain was a buddy of mine , ” Steele told MSNBC ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moment I got to spend with him and my heart goes out to him and his family for this loss.
” Steele then spelled out the harsh truth about the contagion that has now killed at least 150,000 people in the United States .
Worldwide , the virus has claimed more than 670,000 lives .
“ The reality of it is for those who don ’ t think this is serious , that those who think this is some made-up China virus that was imported into the country , ” said Steele .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ bubble and you will die in that bubble .
And that ’ s all that can be said.
” “ Folks , we can not , we can not stop you from being stupid .
We put the information out there , ” Steele continued .
“ We ’ ve tried to educate and inform .
We ’ ve got the best and brightest scientists in the country that have been summarily dismissed by this administration and particularly this president.
” Steele couldn ’ t “ help your stupidity at this point , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t be mine , ” he said .
“ So , my heart goes out to the fallen who ’ ve not listened .
But at the same time , for those who are , take care .
Wear the damn mask.
” '' For those who do n't think this is serious ... live in that bubble and you will die in that bubble .
And that 's all that can be said .
Folks , we can not stop you from being stupid .
`` @ MichaelSteele on conspiracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ # TheReidOut pic.twitter.com/cbOnsmjHz4 — The ReidOut ( @ thereidout ) July 30 , 2020

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Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee, on Thursday remembered his friend Herman Cain and issued a pointed reminder about the threat posed by the coronavirus.
Cain, the Tea Party activist who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, was hospitalized earlier this month after testing positive for COVID-19, less than two weeks after being pictured not wearing a face mask during President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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Cain died Thursday at the age of 74.
“Look, Herman Cain was a buddy of mine,” Steele told MSNBC’s Joy Reid. “I appreciated every moment I got to spend with him and my heart goes out to him and his family for this loss.”
Steele then spelled out the harsh truth about the contagion that has now killed at least 150,000 people in the United States. Worldwide, the virus has claimed more than 670,000 lives.
“The reality of it is for those who don’t think this is serious, that those who think this is some made-up China virus that was imported into the country,” said Steele. “You know, live in that bubble and you will die in that bubble. And that’s all that can be said.”
“Folks, we cannot, we cannot stop you from being stupid. We put the information out there,” Steele continued. “We’ve tried to educate and inform. We’ve got the best and brightest scientists in the country that have been summarily dismissed by this administration and particularly this president.”
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Steele couldn’t “help your stupidity at this point, that’s your risk, it won’t be mine,” he said. “So, my heart goes out to the fallen who’ve not listened. But at the same time, for those who are, take care. Wear the damn mask.”
Check out Steele’s comments here:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Tucker Carlson Accuses 'Greasy Politician' Obama Of 'Desecrating A Funeral'

Carlson began by attacking the Black Lives Matter movement and telling viewers that the “ professional left ” is “ not like you at all.
” “ Their first instinct is to manipulate rather than persuade .
They hide their real beliefs , ” he said .
“ They say precisely the opposite of what they mean every time .
They accuse you of the crimes they themselves are committing.
” He said they “ don ’ t believe in the existence of truth , ” and he used Obama ’ s speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eulogy to his friend and idol , said the best way to honor Lewis would be action on voting rights , one of the Democratic congressman ’ s core issues and a cause he risked his life to advance .
“ If you want to honor John , let ’ s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for , ” Obama said .
He also called for an end to gerrymandering , often done to disenfranchise Black voters , as well as the filibuster , which he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s hard to believe that clip is real , but it is , down to the cloying fake accent , Mr. Hawaii Guy , ” Carlson said , adding : “ Imagine if some greasy politician showed up at your loved one ’ s funeral and started throwing around stupid partisan talking points about Senate procedure .
Can you imagine that ?
You would be shocked if that happened .
You ’ d probably walk out .
Desecrating a funeral with campaign slogans ?
What kind of person would do that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ below :

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Carlson began by attacking the Black Lives Matter movement and telling viewers that the “professional left” is “not like you at all.”
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“Their first instinct is to manipulate rather than persuade. They hide their real beliefs,” he said. “They say precisely the opposite of what they mean every time. They accuse you of the crimes they themselves are committing.”
He said they “don’t believe in the existence of truth,” and he used Obama’s speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta as “evidence.”
Obama, in his eulogy to his friend and idol, said the best way to honor Lewis would be action on voting rights, one of the Democratic congressman’s core issues and a cause he risked his life to advance.
“If you want to honor John, let’s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for,” Obama said. He also called for an end to gerrymandering, often done to disenfranchise Black voters, as well as the filibuster, which he called a Jim Crow-era relic.
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But Carlson called Obama’s eulogy “a divisive and deeply dishonest campaign speech.”
“It’s hard to believe that clip is real, but it is, down to the cloying fake accent, Mr. Hawaii Guy,” Carlson said, adding:
“Imagine if some greasy politician showed up at your loved one’s funeral and started throwing around stupid partisan talking points about Senate procedure. Can you imagine that? You would be shocked if that happened. You’d probably walk out. Desecrating a funeral with campaign slogans? What kind of person would do that?”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Biting New Anti-Trump Video Imagines A Republican Waking Up From A Coma

The Lincoln Project says their latest video is intended to be a wake-up call for Republicans who support President Donald Trump .
The new short film from the never-Trump conservative group envisions a Republican who wakes in the hospital after being in a coma for 3-and-a-half years .
The spot from Jon Turteltaub , director of films such as “ National Treasure , ” “ The Meg ” and “ While You Were Sleeping , ” then shows the man ’ s family ― all still Trump supporters ― trying to fill him in on what he ’ s missed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cofounder John Weaver said the group was working to influence other conservatives .
“ We ’ re trying to move a percentage of Republican voters and Republican-acting independents away from Trump and into the Biden column in key states , ” he said on MSNBC .
The Lincoln Project has also joined forces with Republican Voters Against Trump ― another group of anti-Trump conservatives ― in Ohio .
“ There ’ s no path for the president if he doesn ’ t win Ohio , ” Weaver said .
The group ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ husband of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway ― as well as longtime GOP insiders , such as Rick Wilson and Steve Schmidt .
In addition to attacking Trump , the Lincoln Project is working against his enablers in Congress .
Earlier this week , the group announced a $ 4 million ad buy against Republican senators in tight races in Maine , Alaska and Montana .
However , it ’ s not yet clear if these kinds of ads can move Republicans away from Trump , who still has widespread support within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Investors Business Daily found 86 percent of Republicans plan to vote for Trump , compared to 90 percent of Democrats who are committed to Biden .
Overall , the latest FiveThirtyEight polling average has Biden up by 8.3 percentage points .

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The Lincoln Project says their latest video is intended to be a wake-up call for Republicans who support President Donald Trump.
The new short film from the never-Trump conservative group envisions a Republican who wakes in the hospital after being in a coma for 3-and-a-half years. The spot from Jon Turteltaub, director of films such as “National Treasure,” “The Meg” and “While You Were Sleeping,” then shows the man’s family ― all still Trump supporters ― trying to fill him in on what he’s missed:
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Earlier this month, Lincoln Project cofounder John Weaver said the group was working to influence other conservatives.
“We’re trying to move a percentage of Republican voters and Republican-acting independents away from Trump and into the Biden column in key states,” he said on MSNBC.
The Lincoln Project has also joined forces with Republican Voters Against Trump ― another group of anti-Trump conservatives ― in Ohio.
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“There’s no path for the president if he doesn’t win Ohio,” Weaver said.
The group’s other cofounders include attorney George Conway ― husband of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway ― as well as longtime GOP insiders, such as Rick Wilson and Steve Schmidt.
In addition to attacking Trump, the Lincoln Project is working against his enablers in Congress. Earlier this week, the group announced a $4 million ad buy against Republican senators in tight races in Maine, Alaska and Montana.
However, it’s not yet clear if these kinds of ads can move Republicans away from Trump, who still has widespread support within his party. A poll this week from Investors Business Daily found 86 percent of Republicans plan to vote for Trump, compared to 90 percent of Democrats who are committed to Biden.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-30--Trump Maneuvers To Protect Robert E. Lee's Name In Secretly Recorded Phone Call

President Donald Trump dismissed the “ bullshit ” of the effects of cancel culture as he negotiated with a senator to preserve the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at military installations , according to a recording of a phone conversation given to The New York Times .
Sen. James Inhofe ( R-Okla. ) put Trump on speakerphone at an Italian restaurant in Washington , D.C. , as the men talked politics Wednesday night .
The conversation was overheard and recorded by “ someone in the room , ” the Times reported Thursday .
“ All right , my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Are you doing good ?
We ’ re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee ?
” Trump seemed to be referring to his tweet last week that Inhofe had promised he wouldn ’ t change the names of “ Military Bases and Forts ” and was “ not a believer in ‘ Cancel Culture ’ .
” I spoke to highly respected ( Chairman ) Senator @ JimInhofe , who has informed me that he WILL NOT be changing the names of our great Military Bases and Forts , places @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( and more ! )
.
Like me , Jim is not a believer in “ Cancel Culture ” .
— Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) July 24 , 2020 Trump has threatened to veto the Senate ’ s Defense Authorization Act that overwhelmingly passed last week and would change military base names that honor Confederates .
The 86-14 vote margin could easily override a presidential veto .
Trump ’ s conversation with Inhofe appeared to be a push to protect a veto .
The president seemingly veered into another complaint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support for a person is withdrawn over offensive actions or statements .
A “ lot of people want to be able to go back to life — not this bullshit , ” he added .
In the recording of his call with the senator , the president also discussed Inhofe ’ s sudden cancellation of a confirmation hearing for retired Gen. Anthony Tata , Trump ’ s pick for a top Pentagon policy post .
The move followed deepening concerns from both Democrats and Republicans about Tata ’ s history of inflammatory tweets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama a “ terrorist leader ” and attacked Islam .
Earlier in the conversation , Inhofe , chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee , referred to holding up Tata ’ s confirmation .
Inhofe had said in a statement that Democrats and Republicans don ’ t yet “ know enough ” about Tata and hadn ’ t received required documentation .
On the recorded portion of the phone call , the men mentioned the possibility of someone “ resigning ” and being given another appointment .

President Donald Trump dismissed the “bullshit” of the effects of cancel culture as he negotiated with a senator to preserve the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at military installations, according to a recording of a phone conversation given to The New York Times.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) put Trump on speakerphone at an Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C., as the men talked politics Wednesday night. The conversation was overheard and recorded by “someone in the room,” the Times reported Thursday.
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“All right, my friend,” said Trump. “Are you doing good? We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?”
Inhofe responded on the tape: “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.”
Trump piped up: “I had about 95,000 positive retweets on that. That’s a lot.”
Trump seemed to be referring to his tweet last week that Inhofe had promised he wouldn’t change the names of “Military Bases and Forts” and was “not a believer in ‘Cancel Culture’.”
I spoke to highly respected (Chairman) Senator @JimInhofe, who has informed me that he WILL NOT be changing the names of our great Military Bases and Forts, places from which we won two World Wars (and more!). Like me, Jim is not a believer in “Cancel Culture”. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2020
Trump has threatened to veto the Senate’s Defense Authorization Act that overwhelmingly passed last week and would change military base names that honor Confederates. The 86-14 vote margin could easily override a presidential veto. Trump’s conversation with Inhofe appeared to be a push to protect a veto.
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The president seemingly veered into another complaint about so-called cancel culture, in which support for a person is withdrawn over offensive actions or statements. A “lot of people want to be able to go back to life — not this bullshit,” he added.
In the recording of his call with the senator, the president also discussed Inhofe’s sudden cancellation of a confirmation hearing for retired Gen. Anthony Tata, Trump’s pick for a top Pentagon policy post. The move followed deepening concerns from both Democrats and Republicans about Tata’s history of inflammatory tweets in which he called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader” and attacked Islam.
Earlier in the conversation, Inhofe, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, referred to holding up Tata’s confirmation.
Inhofe had said in a statement that Democrats and Republicans don’t yet “know enough” about Tata and hadn’t received required documentation.
On the recorded portion of the phone call, the men mentioned the possibility of someone “resigning” and being given another appointment.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Foreign Tour For Pompeo's Wife Reportedly Deemed 'Necessary For National Security'

A pricey overseas trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ’ s wife was partially funded by taxpayers because it was “ necessary for national security , ” insisted some State Department officials in a memo obtained by Politico .
Others disagreed that public money should be spent so that Susan Pompeo could accompany her husband on his tour of the Middle East early last year during the government shutdown , when funds were particularly tight and government workers were unpaid .
Susan Pompeo had been invited to events in Cairo and Abu Dhabi as part of the tour .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be seen as lack of courtesy , but there is no significant foreign policy interest here save the issue of courtesy , ” argued the State Department ’ s Near Eastern Affairs bureau , which oversees the Middle East , according to the same memo dated the day the trip began .
Her trip is apparently now part of an investigation by the State Department inspector general ’ s office on whether the Pompeos have used public resources inappropriately , Politico reported .
Investigators are also examining the Pompeos ’ alleged use of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pompeo ’ s political career — as well as possible use of government personnel for dog walking , dinner planning and fetching dry cleaning , according to Politico .
Steve Linck , a previous inspector general who was investigating the same issues , was fired in May by President Donald Trump at the request of Mike Pompeo .
The secretary of state insisted it was not retaliation for the probe but offered no details on exactly why the inspector general was terminated .
The investigation is apparently ongoing .
In a statement provided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the State Department ’ s “ legal and ethics team determined that Mrs. Pompeo ’ s role on this trip advanced our country ’ s foreign policy goals laid out by the administration.
“ Mike Pompeo said at the time that his wife was “ good for morale ” and that complaints about her free rides were “ sexist.
” Some State Department staffers , however , were annoyed they had to accommodate Susan Pompeo while they themselves were unable to collect paychecks during the shutdown , which was triggered amid a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the president ’ s border wall plan .
The eight-day trip included travel to Jordan , Iraq , Egypt , Bahrain , United Arab Emirates , Qatar , Saudi Arabia and Oman .
Costs for Susan Pompeo ’ s portion of the trip have not been detailed .
She was expected to cover some costs while other expenses were picked up by the government .

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A pricey overseas trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s wife was partially funded by taxpayers because it was “necessary for national security,” insisted some State Department officials in a memo obtained by Politico.
Others disagreed that public money should be spent so that Susan Pompeo could accompany her husband on his tour of the Middle East early last year during the government shutdown, when funds were particularly tight and government workers were unpaid.
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Susan Pompeo had been invited to events in Cairo and Abu Dhabi as part of the tour.
“To decline the invitation now could be seen as lack of courtesy, but there is no significant foreign policy interest here save the issue of courtesy,” argued the State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs bureau, which oversees the Middle East, according to the same memo dated the day the trip began.
Susan Pompeo went on the tour.
Her trip is apparently now part of an investigation by the State Department inspector general’s office on whether the Pompeos have used public resources inappropriately, Politico reported. Investigators are also examining the Pompeos’ alleged use of government funds for trips to further Mike Pompeo’s political career — as well as possible use of government personnel for dog walking, dinner planning and fetching dry cleaning, according to Politico.
In a statement provided Thursday to Politico, a spokesperson said that the State Department’s “legal and ethics team determined that Mrs. Pompeo’s role on this trip advanced our country’s foreign policy goals laid out by the administration.“ Mike Pompeo said at the time that his wife was “good for morale” and that complaints about her free rides were “sexist.”
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Some State Department staffers, however, were annoyed they had to accommodate Susan Pompeo while they themselves were unable to collect paychecks during the shutdown, which was triggered amid a battle between Trump and Congress over funding for the president’s border wall plan.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Critics Point Out Exactly What Donald Trump Is Trying To Hide With Election Delay Stunt

In some cases , we ca n't abide by the possibility that ignoring Donald Trump might be interpreted as approval @ @ @ @ @ that he says .
And who can say for certain what the president might have @ @ @ @ @ today ?
There was a lot to choose from .
pic.twitter.com/NXfYZ8Wu3v

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Donald Trump’s critics dismissed his idea of delaying the 2020 election as nothing more than a distraction ― and then pointed out what the president was likely trying to hide with the stunt.
Trump in a tweet on Thursday floated the idea of delaying the vote in November, repeating his unfounded claim about mail-in voter fraud.
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With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote??? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
Senators, former government officials, cable news hosts and others explained that Trump has no power to delay the election. Many top Republicans quickly rejected his suggestion.
Some commentators also pointed out what Trump was really trying to do with the tweet: divert attention from his administration’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting cratering of the U.S. economy, which experienced its worst drop on record in the second quarter of 2020.
At least 150,000 people in the United States have now died from COVID-19.
“Don’t waste time on this Trump ploy to distract from terrible economy+COVID numbers,” warned Neal Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general under former President Barack Obama.
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CNN’s Chris Cuomo, meanwhile, urged viewers to “pay no mind to the president’s ‘delay the election’ flash-bangs to disorient you.”
Some senators and House representatives described Trump’s idea as unconstitutional.
Donald Trump doesn’t have the authority to do this—but that doesn’t make what he’s doing any less dangerous. It’s clear he will stop at nothing to spread misinformation and sow division to distract from the mess he’s created. This is what we’re up against.https://t.co/VhJzKc3YTb — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 30, 2020
Trump wants to distract from the fact that we're still facing a pandemic and our economy is in shambles. And that he and Senate Republicans aren't fixing it.
Remember: When we had time to put forth solutions, McConnell sent the Senate home for two weeks and Trump went golfing. — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) July 30, 2020
The President doesn’t have the power to delay an election & he knows it.
Instead of trying to distract from his failures by delegitimizing upcoming election, Pres. Trump should focus on building an effective response to pandemic that has killed 150k Americans & devastated econ. https://t.co/9kr7dTD0mM — Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) July 30, 2020
Families in Michigan are desperate for help. Calling for a delay in our election, which he has no power to do, is the latest attempt to distract us from his failure to lead during this crisis. https://t.co/hB0dHuJF7h — Sen. Debbie Stabenow (@SenStabenow) July 30, 2020
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There is no way @POTUS can delay the election. We shouldn't let him distract us from his #COVID19 incompetence.
But the fact that he is even suggesting it is a serious, chilling attack on the democratic process. All members of Congress— and the administration— should speak out. pic.twitter.com/saznCjSe0N — Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) July 30, 2020
Trump is trying to distract from today’s devastating economic numbers that make it clear his failed response to the coronavirus has tanked the economy and caused tens of millions to lose their jobs.
He can tweet all he wants, but the reality is that he can’t delay the election. https://t.co/KFMqWo2Wsr — DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) July 30, 2020
Don’t waste time on this Trump ploy to distract from terrible economy+COVID numbers
It’s silly. Constitution(Art 2)gives this power to Congress. Cong exercised it,3 USC 1. He can’t delay election w/out Cong&he lost House in 2018
He’d lose in Court faster than he can say “Putin” https://t.co/nxBTftS0Dr — Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) July 30, 2020
"Pay no mind to the President's 'delay the election' flash bangs to disorient you," says @ChrisCuomo as Pres. Trump floats the idea of a delayed election.
"He knows that his mishandling of this pandemic...[and] the economy as a result, has him losing this election right now." pic.twitter.com/IgMzc4Xnw4 — Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) July 31, 2020
In some cases, we can't abide by the possibility that ignoring Donald Trump might be interpreted as approval or even normalizing the things that he says.
And who can say for certain what the president might have been aiming to distract from today? There was a lot to choose from. pic.twitter.com/NXfYZ8Wu3v — Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) July 31, 2020
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GDP shrank by 32.9% on an annualized basis in Q2. The hole we must dig out from is very big. That’s why Trump wants to distract us with his calls for a delay in the election, which can’t happen without a Constitutional Amendment. The economic news is terrible, and it’s on him. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 30, 2020
Trump’s acting like he can move the date of the election. He can’t. He’s just trying to get everyone all riled up to distract from the fact the economy just had its worst drop on record. Again, he can’t move the election. He is full of it. Trump belongs in prison. Vote for Biden. — Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 30, 2020
THIS is the news Trump is trying to distract us from today. He knows he can’t win with these numbers. He’s gotta go.
‘U.S. second-quarter GDP plunged by a historic 32.9%’ https://t.co/1oy1cOlqhe — brittany packnett cunningham does not do remixes. (@MsPackyetti) July 30, 2020
I do not believe trump is smart enough to distract anyone from anything. But this stupid move the election shit sure got us talking about something other than today’s shocking economic news. — Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) July 30, 2020
Trump is trying to distract us with the insinuation of delaying the election. He wants us to look away from today's news. That news being:
"The U.S. economy’s contraction in the second quarter was the worst on record."
THE. WORST. ON. RECORD.https://t.co/TrtUO4SUml — VoteVets (@votevets) July 30, 2020
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It is safe to return to school but not hold an election? We had an election during the civil war, we had mid-term elections in the middle of the Spanish flu. Pathetic attempt to distract from the failing economy, COVID response, and presidency. https://t.co/knRkgj5vcL — Dr. Lisa Welch for US House (@Welch_tx) July 30, 2020
Things Trump wants to distract from with his empty threats to delay the election:
- The rising Covid death toll that just passed 150,000
- The worst decline in US GDP ever
- Republicans letting unemployment benefits expire
We're voting him out on November 3. Period. https://t.co/VEjy0AzDOa — Virginia Democrats (@vademocrats) July 30, 2020
Trump's delay election tweet is meant to distract from this image. Don't let it. https://t.co/5TKeNm75im pic.twitter.com/tiV0v1t8SO — Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) July 30, 2020
A few things:
1. Only congress can delay Election Day.
2. Voting by mail is secure.
3. Trump posted this to distract us. The U.S. Q2 GDP plunged by a record 32.9%, more than 150,000 Americans have died from COVID, and there are 1.4 million new unemployment claims.
Vote him out. https://t.co/rMAT5FoFHN — Voto Latino (@votolatino) July 30, 2020
1/3 Trump’s tweet about delaying the #2020election is another step in his #authoritarian playbook. But we see this for what it is: #Trump is once again using his presidential platform to try to distract the American public from his most recent failures. https://t.co/jP7D8yvCHd — Truman Project (@TrumanProject) July 30, 2020
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Supercut Shows Fox Personalities Saying Trump Will Never Do Something. He Just Did.

When Joe Biden warned in April that President Donald Trump would “ try to kick back the election somehow , @ @ @ @ @ ’ s concern was dismissed by personalities on Fox News and Fox Business as fearmongering @ @ @ @ @ “ What an idea , what a conjuring , ” declared Fox Business host Lou @ @ @ @ @ supporter , at the time .
Those same personalities were exposed on Thursday , however @ @ @ @ @ baseless claim about mail-in voter fraud as a reason for possibly delaying the election .
@ @ @ @ @ not Absentee Voting , which is good ) , 2020 will be the most INACCURATE @ @ @ @ @ .
It will be a great embarrassment to the USA .
Delay the Election until @ @ @ @ @ and safely vote ?
?
?
— Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) July @ @ @ @ @ watchdog group Media Matters for America brought the receipts for the TV personalities with this @ @ @ @ @ happening now .
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Fox News Editor: Trump Election Delay Idea Is ‘Flagrant Expression Of His Weakness’

Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt said President Donald Trump may have made “ a tactical error ” that spotlights “ his current weakness ” by suggesting the 2020 election be delayed .
Trump floated the idea on Twitter Thursday .
The president cited unfounded concerns about mail-in voting fraud .
It was roundly rejected by Republicans in Congress .
The president has no power to delay an election .
“ You take it neither seriously nor literally , ” Stirewalt said of Trump ’ s proposal on Thursday ’ s broadcast of “ America ’ s Newsroom.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a reaction or trying to sow doubt about the outcome .
So , on the one hand , it ’ s whatever , ” said Stirewalt .
The journalist , who has called out Trump before , noted how the United States had successfully held elections during the Civil War , World War II and previous pandemics .
“ The idea of an incumbent to suggest we would delay an election now while he is in power is of course totally out of character with all of his predecessors , ” Stirewalt continued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a flagrant expression of his current weakness.
” “ A person who is in a strong position would never , never suggest anything like that , ” Stirewalt added .
“ So Trump may be making a tactical error here by further telegraphing his weak position in the polls and his weak position for reelection.
” Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt tells Fox viewers that Trump floating an election delay is a `` flagrant expression of his current weakness '' and telegraphs his `` weak position in the polls and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — Justin Baragona ( @ justinbaragona ) July 30 , 2020

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Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt said President Donald Trump may have made “a tactical error” that spotlights “his current weakness” by suggesting the 2020 election be delayed.
Trump floated the idea on Twitter Thursday. The president cited unfounded concerns about mail-in voting fraud. It was roundly rejected by Republicans in Congress. The president has no power to delay an election.
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“You take it neither seriously nor literally,” Stirewalt said of Trump’s proposal on Thursday’s broadcast of “America’s Newsroom.”
The president was “either trying to provoke a reaction or trying to sow doubt about the outcome. So, on the one hand, it’s whatever,” said Stirewalt.
The journalist, who has called out Trump before, noted how the United States had successfully held elections during the Civil War, World War II and previous pandemics.
“The idea of an incumbent to suggest we would delay an election now while he is in power is of course totally out of character with all of his predecessors,” Stirewalt continued. “It’s a sort of a flagrant expression of his current weakness.”
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“A person who is in a strong position would never, never suggest anything like that,” Stirewalt added. “So Trump may be making a tactical error here by further telegraphing his weak position in the polls and his weak position for reelection.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-30--Republicans In Congress Reject Trump's Suggestion To Delay Election Day

Rubio said he wished Trump hadn ’ t suggested a delay but said the election date would not be changing .
“ He can suggest whatever he wants .
The law is what it is .
We ’ re going to have an election that ’ s legitimate , it ’ s going to be credible , it ’ s going to be the same as we ’ ve always done it , ” Rubio said , according to Politico .
“ I wish he hadn ’ t said that .
But it ’ s not going to change , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to have an election in November .
And people should have confidence in it.
” Thune said Trump ’ s suggestion wouldn ’ t be taken seriously .
“ I think that ’ s probably a statement that gets some press attention , but I doubt it gets any serious traction , ” Thune told CNN .
“ I think we ’ ve had elections every November since about 1788 , and I expect that will be the case again this year.
” “ Reminder : Election dates are set by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attempts to delay the [ 2020 election ] .
”

Rubio said he wished Trump hadn’t suggested a delay but said the election date would not be changing.
“He can suggest whatever he wants. The law is what it is. We’re going to have an election that’s legitimate, it’s going to be credible, it’s going to be the same as we’ve always done it,” Rubio said, according to Politico.
“I wish he hadn’t said that. But it’s not going to change,” Rubio continued. “We’re going to have an election in November. And people should have confidence in it.”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
Thune said Trump’s suggestion wouldn’t be taken seriously.
“I think that’s probably a statement that gets some press attention, but I doubt it gets any serious traction,” Thune told CNN. “I think we’ve had elections every November since about 1788, and I expect that will be the case again this year.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)
Kinzinger responded directly to Trump’s Thursday morning tweet with a simple message.
“Reminder: Election dates are set by Congress. And I will oppose any attempts to delay the [2020 election].”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Biden’s Weak Link On Energy And Ethics Is An Ex-Obama Official With Deep Fossil Fuel Ties

But as Biden seeks to draw stark contrasts with President Donald Trump , government watchdogs say Salazar threatens to undermine the campaign ’ s promises to bring ethics back to Washington , and could help Republicans obscure the Trump administration ’ s uniquely egregious record of self-dealing and pandering to polluters .
They see Salazar as an example of the corporate influence in politics and the constant movement of people between government and industry ― the so-called “ swamp ” that Trump famously promised to drain before stacking his Cabinet with dozens of former lobbyists and industry insiders .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after stepping down as interior chief , Salazar became a partner at WilmerHale , a D.C-based law and lobbying firm that represented BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and whose clients include several other drilling and mining companies that the Interior Department regulates .
At the time , he pledged to abide by federal ethics rules , “ walling himself off from matters ” he worked on while at the federal agency , the International Business Times reported .
That would include being “ completely segregated from revenues that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
Just because Salazar is powerful enough , and our ethics laws so pathetic , that he has avoided triggering ethics rules and norms around 'registered lobbyists ’ does not mean his access peddling is healthy .
Jeff Hauser , director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research ’ s Revolving Door Project “ You have to understand that the corporate lobbyist revolving door is one of the most troublesome in American politics because when industry can afford to buy a former Cabinet secretary and U.S. senator , you get access @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ Part of that deal is you get out in front of that by getting out and saying , ‘ I ’ m being paid by this company.
’ … That he didn ’ t do that is really problematic.
” In 2010 , Salazar exempted BP and dozens of other oil drillers from environmental reviews in the Gulf of Mexico .
Roughly a year later , the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded , killing 11 workers and causing the largest oil spill in the history of marine drilling .
Yet as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months , the Interior Department waived environmental reviews for another 26 new offshore drilling projects , at least two of which were requests from BP .
Salazar granted a 27th exemption the same day the Interior Department issued a moratorium on offshore drilling .
Using His Pulpit As A Former Secretary To Push Fossil Fuels

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Ken Salazar, the Obama administration’s first-term interior secretary, took a job at an industry law and lobbying firm just months after leaving office. There, he refashioned himself as an oil champion and avoided disclosing the companies that paid him to lobby.
Now Salazar has a new role: adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
In June, after Biden clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, the campaign added Salazar, 65, to its list of potential transition team recruits. And earlier this month, the former vice president tapped the self-described “12th-generation son of the southwest” to co-chair its Latino engagement committee.
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There’s no clear indication yet that the former U.S. senator and attorney general of Colorado is advising Biden’s policy approach, which includes curbing corporate corruption of the federal government and slashing climate-changing emissions.
But as Biden seeks to draw stark contrasts with President Donald Trump, government watchdogs say Salazar threatens to undermine the campaign’s promises to bring ethics back to Washington, and could help Republicans obscure the Trump administration’s uniquely egregious record of self-dealing and pandering to polluters. They see Salazar as an example of the corporate influence in politics and the constant movement of people between government and industry ― the so-called “swamp” that Trump famously promised to drain before stacking his Cabinet with dozens of former lobbyists and industry insiders.
“Salazar’s lucrative spin through the revolving door from public servant to agent of the fossil fuel industry is no less indefensible when done by an Obama alumnus than when done by a member of Trump’s team,” said Jeff Hauser, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Revolving Door Project.
The Revolving Door Project and dozens of other left-leaning organizations sent a letter to the Biden campaign this week urging the Democratic hopeful to avoid potential conflicts of interest by committing to keep industry insiders off his transition team and out of his administration, Politico reported.
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Neither Salazar nor the Biden campaign responded to HuffPost’s emailed questions.
Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar and Vice President Joseph Biden in April 2011. Brendan Smialowski via Getty Images
Oil Lobbying For Trump-Linked Firm
In October, a month after receiving Salazar’s endorsement, Biden unveiled a sweeping plan to “restore ethics in government” and “reduce the corrupting influence of money in politics.”
The Biden proposal slams the Trump administration as “the most corrupt administration in modern history” and accuses it of dismantling the Obama administration’s stringent ethics code. “It is time that we strengthen our lobbyist rules and hold public officials accountable,” the proposal reads.
But Salazar, who also chaired Hillary Clinton’s transition team in 2016, has himself come under fire for perceived ethical shortfalls.
In June 2013, less than two months after stepping down as interior chief, Salazar became a partner at WilmerHale, a D.C-based law and lobbying firm that represented BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and whose clients include several other drilling and mining companies that the Interior Department regulates. At the time, he pledged to abide by federal ethics rules, “walling himself off from matters” he worked on while at the federal agency, the International Business Times reported. That would include being “completely segregated from revenues that come in from BP,” he said.
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“Just because Salazar is powerful enough, and our ethics laws so pathetic, that he has avoided triggering ethics rules and norms around 'registered lobbyists’ does not mean his access peddling is healthy.” - Jeff Hauser, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Revolving Door Project
While Salazar appears to have kept his promise about BP, in early 2017, he represented Anadarko Petroleum, a since-acquired Texas-based oil and gas giant that owned a 25% stake in BP’s Macondo well and in 2015 was slapped with a $159 million fine for its involvement in the Deepwater disaster.
The legal counsel Salazar provided Anadarko was not related to the Gulf spill, but rather to the explosion of a severed flowline from one of the company’s active wells in Firestone, Colorado, the International Business Times reported after obtaining emails another Anadarko lawyer sent to then-Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office. The April 2017 blast destroyed a home, killing two people and injuring three others. The company reached a settlement with victims’ families in 2018.
Salazar’s work for Anadarko in Colorado did not violate federal ethics rules, which apply only to former Cabinet officials trying to influence the federal government, not state or local governments. Those rules prohibit political appointees from lobbying federal agencies for two years after leaving government service, and permanently bar lobbying on particular matters they worked on while in government.
Still, good government groups say Salazar’s work for the oil and gas sector and failure to disclose his lobbying work on behalf of Anadarko raise serious concerns. Policy positions aside, he should have been upfront about who’s paying him to lobby, said Tyson Slocum, director of the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen’s energy program.
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“You have to understand that the corporate lobbyist revolving door is one of the most troublesome in American politics because when industry can afford to buy a former Cabinet secretary and U.S. senator, you get access and you get results,” Slocum said. “Part of that deal is you get out in front of that by getting out and saying, ‘I’m being paid by this company.’ … That he didn’t do that is really problematic.”
An Anadarko Petroleum gas well, in the upper left and covered by tan fencing, was located less than 200 feet from a home that exploded on April 27, 2017, in Firestone, Colorado, killing two people. RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images
At times, Anadarko benefited from Salazar’s tenure in government. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, Salazar’s Interior Department granted the company a waiver for an offshore drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, exempting it from conducting a detailed environmental assessment. And in 2012, flanked by Anadarko representatives, Salazar approved the company’s plan to develop more than 3,600 natural gas wells on 163,000 acres in northeast Utah. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a local environmental group, signed off on the project after Anadarko committed to protecting sensitive areas in the White River area.
Salazar’s WilmerHale biography notes his ongoing work on energy and natural resource issues and says that as interior chief, he “led the nation’s efforts to develop and implement the framework for America’s energy independence,” including overseeing development of fossil fuels and renewable energy and “overhauling the regulatory oversight of oil and gas exploration and production.”
A 1-page Anadarko fact sheet on hydraulic fracturing includes a glowing quote from Salazar: “Hydraulic fracking is very much a necessary part of the future of natural gas. I would say to everybody that hydraulic fracking is safe.”
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WilmerHale has extensive ties to the Trump administration and the Trump family. It represents Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to Politico. And Trump has tapped at least two former WilmerHale attorneys for high-ranking federal positions.
Hauser said Salazar “personifies the soft corruption of what is legal in American politics.”
“Just because Salazar is powerful enough, and our ethics laws so pathetic, that he has avoided triggering ethics rules and norms around ‘registered lobbyists’ does not mean his access peddling is healthy,” he said. “Salazar is a key cog in big fossil fuel’s efforts to push off an adequate policy response to the climate crisis.”
Big Oil’s Ally In The Obama White House
Biden won praise this month from climate activists for his proposal to phase out all carbon-emitting coal and gas power plants by 2035 and direct 40% of federal energy benefits to mostly poor and minority communities who have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution. It marked a significant shift from what he proposed earlier in the primary and tracked with how Democrats have embraced scientifically realistic goals that top party officials dismissed as a progressive “green dream” as recently as last year.
Salazar’s record with the fossil fuel industry isn’t just out of step with the dramatic shift in climate politics over the past two years, amid mounting scientific warnings and the emergence of the Green New Deal movement. Even in 2008, his nomination to head the Interior Department drew environmentalists’ ire. Daniel Patterson, a former official at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, criticized Salazar’s “disturbingly weak conservation record, particularly on energy development, global warming, endangered wildlife and protecting scientific integrity.”
“Obama’s choices for Secretary of Energy and his ‘Climate Change Czar’ indicate a determined willingness to take on global warming,” Kieran Suckling, a founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, said at the time. “That team will be weakened by the addition of Ken Salazar, who has fought against federal action on global warming, against higher fuel efficiency standards, and for increased oil drilling and oil subsidies.”
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Sure enough, even as the Environmental Protection Agency rolled out increasingly aggressive regulations on oil and gas, Salazar frequently sided with industry. In 2009, the Interior Department upheld a Bush administration policy prohibiting federal regulators from using the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, despite the key role such pollution played in the perilous decline of polar bears and other species.
WilmerHale's website credits Colorado native and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar with “developing and implementing President Obama’s ‘all of the above’ energy strategy.” Helen H. Richardson via Getty Images
In 2010, Salazar exempted BP and dozens of other oil drillers from environmental reviews in the Gulf of Mexico. Roughly a year later, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers and causing the largest oil spill in the history of marine drilling. Yet as oil gushed from an underwater well for months, the Interior Department waived environmental reviews for another 26 new offshore drilling projects, at least two of which were requests from BP. Salazar granted a 27th exemption the same day the Interior Department issued a moratorium on offshore drilling.
One month after the spill, Salazar hired Sylvia Baca, a former senior-ranking BP employee, to run Interior’s Minerals Management Service, which oversees the process for granting environmental review exemptions. The Interior Department defended the decision, insisting Baca “has been and is recused from participating personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which BP is or represents a party, for a period of two years following her appointment.”
In 2012, the Interior Department granted Royal Dutch Shell permits to drill in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, a decision The New York Times described later as a “serious miscalculation” that led to repeated accidents and delays. (The Obama administration once again approved Shell’s drilling permits in 2015.)
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Using His Pulpit As A Former Secretary To Push Fossil Fuels
Even after leaving the administration in 2013 to join WilmerHale, Salazar used his pulpit as a former Cabinet secretary to vocally advocate on behalf of the industry he once regulated.
In 2014, while the Obama administration debated permitting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Salazar threw his weight behind the project ― one Trump has prioritized throughout his term ― saying construction could be “a win-win for energy and the environment.”
“At the end of the day, we are going to be consuming that oil,” Salazar said at an industry conference in Texas. “So is it better for us to get the oil from our good neighbor from the north, or to be bringing it from someplace in the Middle East?”
The comment mirrors one that Trump’s first interior chief, Ryan Zinke, repeated often: that it is better to produce energy in the U.S. under reasonable regulations than to have it be produced overseas with none. Zinke also frequently boasted that the Trump administration favors an “all-of-the-above energy strategy” that includes fossil fuels and renewables. On its website, WilmerHale notes that Salazar was a key figure in “developing and implementing President Obama’s ‘all of the above’ energy strategy.”
It was hardly his only legacy.
The Obama administration protected more than 550 million acres of federal land and water ― more than any other president in U.S. history. Trump, on the other hand, has worked to weaken safeguards for nearly 35 million acres (nearly 1,000 times more than it has protected), earning the title of the most “anti-nature” president ever, according to a recent analysis from the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
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Greenpeace demonstrators hold up signs behind Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as he testifies before the House Committee on Natural Resources in May 2010, five weeks after the BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
In July 2018, Salazar criticized mounting lawsuits by cities and counties seeking restitution from oil companies for their role in promoting climate denial as climate change now damages infrastructure.
“I don’t agree with those who take those positions into the courts,” Salazar said at the annual Denver luncheon of Colorado Petroleum Council, a division of the national trade group the American Petroleum Institute, according to the industry-funded blog Western Wire.
He dismissed a proposed ballot measure to increase the distance oil and gas wells are required to be from schools and homes as “fundamentally unconstitutional.”
In the years since Obama’s presidency, there’s been a divergence among Obama administration alumni about their legacy on natural gas, Hauser said. His worry is that individuals who do not express remorse about that record at this stage in the fight against climate change will ultimately land key posts in a future Biden administration.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Seth Meyers Predicts Bonkers Way Donald Trump Could Flip Out Over Election Loss

Seth Meyers on Thursday envisioned the bonkers way that President Donald Trump may contest the 2020 election if he loses @ @ @ @ @ Biden .
Some of the “ Late Night ” host ’ s wild suggestions for @ @ @ @ @ appeared far-fetched .
Meyers used much of his “ Closer Look ” monologue to criticize @ @ @ @ @ of delaying the 2020 election , despite not having the authority to do so .
@ @ @ @ @ enough to combat the president ’ s claim , said Meyers , because “ the @ @ @ @ @ already laying the groundwork for Trump to do exactly what he wants to do , @ @ @ @ @ also dismissed suggestions that Trump was joking .
“ Trump isn ’ t clever and @ @ @ @ @ joke , ” said Meyers .
“ He floats things and then sees if he @ @ @ @ @ and only if everyone freaks out he suddenly claims it ’ s a joke.
” @ @ @ @ @ .
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Seth Meyers on Thursday envisioned the bonkers way that President Donald Trump may contest the 2020 election if he loses to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Some of the “Late Night” host’s wild suggestions for how Trump might flip out appeared far-fetched.
Others, sadly, did not.
Meyers used much of his “Closer Look” monologue to criticize Trump for floating the idea of delaying the 2020 election, despite not having the authority to do so.
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Simple fact-checks weren’t enough to combat the president’s claim, said Meyers, because “the craven husks around Trump are already laying the groundwork for Trump to do exactly what he wants to do, law be damned.”
Meyers also dismissed suggestions that Trump was joking.
“Trump isn’t clever and he certainly doesn’t joke,” said Meyers. “He floats things and then sees if he can get away with it and only if everyone freaks out he suddenly claims it’s a joke.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Trevor Noah Examines Breonna Taylor's Life, Reminds Viewers That Her Killers Still Walk Free

More than four months after Breonna Taylor was fatally shot as she lay sleeping in her own home , Trevor Noah reminded viewers of “ The Daily Show ” that the white police officers who killed her still walk free .
Thursday ’ s segment served as a reminder that she was a “ person , ” not a “ slogan or a post on your social media feed , ” he said .
“ Breonna Taylor was a friend , a daughter , an EMT worker working to help save people ’ s lives , and apparently one hell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , showing a montage of videos from Taylor ’ s life .
Taylor was 26 when plainclothes Louisville , Kentucky police officers broke into her apartment while executing a “ no-knock ” warrant in mid-March .
When her boyfriend Kenneth Walker responded to the intruders by firing his licensed gun in self-defense , the cops fired back , shooting Taylor at least eight times .
Despite the fact that police entered the property using a battering ram , a mostly-blank incident report filed by police listed Taylor ’ s injuries as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was used .
And according to a lawsuit filed by Taylor ’ s family , the man who officers were looking for did not even live there ― he was already in custody .
To date , none of the cops involved have been arrested or charged .
“ Every step of the way this investigation ran , the police screwed up .
They made a million mistakes , which is a million more than any Black person is ever allowed to make , ” Noah said .
“ And honestly , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made throughout the entire process , I don ’ t even know if it ’ s fair to call them mistakes at this point .
Because a mistake is something you do by accident .
But these cops blatantly ignored so many protocols and so much information , at some point , it moves from a mistake to just actively not giving a fuck.
” Breonna Taylor : who she was , how she was killed , and why justice for her murder is beyond overdue .
pic.twitter.com/NFgcRsvA7E — The Daily Show ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @

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More than four months after Breonna Taylor was fatally shot as she lay sleeping in her own home, Trevor Noah reminded viewers of “The Daily Show” that the white police officers who killed her still walk free.
Thursday’s segment served as a reminder that she was a “person,” not a “slogan or a post on your social media feed,” he said.
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“Breonna Taylor was a friend, a daughter, an EMT worker working to help save people’s lives, and apparently one hell of a TikTok dancer,” Noah said, showing a montage of videos from Taylor’s life.
Taylor was 26 when plainclothes Louisville, Kentucky police officers broke into her apartment while executing a “no-knock” warrant in mid-March. When her boyfriend Kenneth Walker responded to the intruders by firing his licensed gun in self-defense, the cops fired back, shooting Taylor at least eight times.
Despite the fact that police entered the property using a battering ram, a mostly-blank incident report filed by police listed Taylor’s injuries as “none” and denied that forced entry was used. And according to a lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family, the man who officers were looking for did not even live there ― he was already in custody.
To date, none of the cops involved have been arrested or charged.
“Every step of the way this investigation ran, the police screwed up. They made a million mistakes, which is a million more than any Black person is ever allowed to make,” Noah said. “And honestly, with the amount of mistakes that the police made throughout the entire process, I don’t even know if it’s fair to call them mistakes at this point. Because a mistake is something you do by accident. But these cops blatantly ignored so many protocols and so much information, at some point, it moves from a mistake to just actively not giving a fuck.”
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Watch as Noah examines Taylor’s life, death and the urgent need for justice:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-31--Morgan Freeman Reads John Lewis' Final Words: 'Now, It's Your Turn'

The final message of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis ( D-Ga. ) was broadcast Thursday night in a poignant reading by his friend , actor Morgan Freeman .
The essay , which Lewis asked The New York Times to publish on the day of his funeral , was titled : “ Together , You Can Redeem The Soul Of Our Nation.
” It was read by Freeman on request from MSNBC host Lawrence O ’ Donnell , who played it on “ The Last Word.
” “ While my time here has now come to an end , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last days and hours of my life you inspired me .
You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society , ” Lewis ’ message began .
He urged readers to continue carrying out his mantra of getting into “ good trouble , ” to study and learn lessons from history and to harness the “ most powerful nonviolent change agent ” in a Democratic society ― the vote .
“ Though I may not be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe .
In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace , the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way .
Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.
” Lewis , who died of cancer on July 17 , was buried on Thursday after a memorial service in Atlanta , where he was eulogized by family and former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said Lewis sent the essay to the newspaper just two days before his death .
When Lewis died , Freeman said : “ The world lost a true American hero today .
A man who fought for all of us .
”

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The final message of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was broadcast Thursday night in a poignant reading by his friend, actor Morgan Freeman.
The essay, which Lewis asked The New York Times to publish on the day of his funeral, was titled: “Together, You Can Redeem The Soul Of Our Nation.” It was read by Freeman on request from MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell, who played it on “The Last Word.”
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“While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society,” Lewis’ message began.
He urged readers to continue carrying out his mantra of getting into “good trouble,” to study and learn lessons from history and to harness the “most powerful nonviolent change agent” in a Democratic society ― the vote.
“Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.”
Lewis, who died of cancer on July 17, was buried on Thursday after a memorial service in Atlanta, where he was eulogized by family and former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. The New York Times’ acting editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said Lewis sent the essay to the newspaper just two days before his death.
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When Lewis died, Freeman said: “The world lost a true American hero today. A man who fought for all of us.”