thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--The Disgusting Truth About Birthday Candles In A Covid-19 World

Nothing says “ happy birthday ” like blowing your germs all over a piece of food and handing it to your friends .
Birthday candles are a tradition we ’ ve somehow accepted until now , but will the coronavirus pandemic extinguish them for good ?
“ COVID-19 aside , it ’ s a bit of a disgusting habit , putting all your spittle over a cake before your family and friends eat it , ” Paul Hunter , a professor of medicine at University of East Anglia and an expert in infectious diseases told HuffPost UK .
`` Certainly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I wouldn ’ t encourage it.
” A 2017 study published in the Journal of Food Research highlighted just how gross the tradition is .
Volunteers were instructed to blow out birthday candles after eating pizza .
The researchers found blowing out the candles resulted in 1400 % more bacteria on the icing compared to when the candles were not blown out .
“ Due to the transfer of oral bacteria to icing by blowing out birthday candles , the transfer of bacteria and other microorganisms from the respiratory tract of a person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ others is likely , ” the researchers said .
Eww .
Although no specific studies on Covid-19 and birthday candles have been conducted , it ’ s highly likely the ritual would increase Covid-19 transmissions .
We know the virus can spread in droplets and smaller aerosols , which are expelled from the nose and mouth when a person is chatting , laughing , singing and even breathing .
These particles can then be inhaled into the nose , mouth , airways and lungs of others , and cause infection .
One solution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” like those designed by Top It , which is selling shields from $ 4.99 to fit a single slice to $ 14.99 for a whole cake .
But remember , Covid-19 can spread by touching contaminated surfaces , so be sure to wash your hands extremely throughly if you ’ re handling the shield .
If you ’ re celebrating a birthday within your household or bubble , though – where you ’ re already mixing and likely to catch the virus if one person becomes infected – blowing out candles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , says Professor Hunter .
“ If I bought a cake for my wife ’ s birthday and put candles on and it ’ s just the two of us , there ’ s no issue about her blowing the candles out , ” he says .
” Similarly , if my son and his partner and their child have a party just the three of them , there ’ s no issue in that context , because it ’ s in the household .
The issue is if the neighbors then bring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that ’ s when I ’ d be twitchy about it.
” Will we ever blow out candles again ?
The answer remains uncertain and probably depends on if and when we get a vaccine and herd immunity .
For now , stick to blowing out a candle on your individual pre-cut slice well away from another human being if you truly must .
Sorry to be the party poopers .

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Nothing says “happy birthday” like blowing your germs all over a piece of food and handing it to your friends. Birthday candles are a tradition we’ve somehow accepted until now, but will the coronavirus pandemic extinguish them for good?
“COVID-19 aside, it’s a bit of a disgusting habit, putting all your spittle over a cake before your family and friends eat it,” Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at University of East Anglia and an expert in infectious diseases told HuffPost UK. "Certainly at the moment with Covid-19 around, I wouldn’t encourage it.”
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A 2017 study published in the Journal of Food Research highlighted just how gross the tradition is. Volunteers were instructed to blow out birthday candles after eating pizza. The researchers found blowing out the candles resulted in 1400% more bacteria on the icing compared to when the candles were not blown out.
RuthBlack via Getty Images
“Due to the transfer of oral bacteria to icing by blowing out birthday candles, the transfer of bacteria and other microorganisms from the respiratory tract of a person blowing out candles to food consumed by others is likely,” the researchers said. Eww.
Although no specific studies on Covid-19 and birthday candles have been conducted, it’s highly likely the ritual would increase Covid-19 transmissions. We know the virus can spread in droplets and smaller aerosols, which are expelled from the nose and mouth when a person is chatting, laughing, singing and even breathing. These particles can then be inhaled into the nose, mouth, airways and lungs of others, and cause infection.
Advertisement
One solution is to use transparent “cake shields,” like those designed by Top It, which is selling shields from $4.99 to fit a single slice to $14.99 for a whole cake. But remember, Covid-19 can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, so be sure to wash your hands extremely throughly if you’re handling the shield.
If you’re celebrating a birthday within your household or bubble, though – where you’re already mixing and likely to catch the virus if one person becomes infected – blowing out candles probably won’t make much difference, says Professor Hunter.
“If I bought a cake for my wife’s birthday and put candles on and it’s just the two of us, there’s no issue about her blowing the candles out,” he says. ”Similarly, if my son and his partner and their child have a party just the three of them, there’s no issue in that context, because it’s in the household. The issue is if the neighbors then bring their kids around to celebrate the party, that’s when I’d be twitchy about it.”
Will we ever blow out candles again? The answer remains uncertain and probably depends on if and when we get a vaccine and herd immunity. For now, stick to blowing out a candle on your individual pre-cut slice well away from another human being if you truly must. Sorry to be the party poopers.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Joe Biden Releases His 2019 Tax Returns

Joe Biden Releases His 2019 Tax Returns

Just hours before the first presidential debate of 2020 , the campaign of Democratic nominee Joe Biden released his 2019 tax returns , showing a taxable income just shy of a million dollars .
Biden and his wife , Jill , paid $ 299,346 in taxes through the year on a taxable income of $ 944,737 , after receiving a $ 46,858 refund , according to their 2019 federal tax returns .
His vice presidential running mate , Sen. Kamala Harris ( Calif. ) , also posted her federal and California tax returns from 2019 , showing she and her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taxable income of more than $ 3 million and paid $ 1,185,628 in taxes .
The releases from the Biden campaign come just days after The New York Times published records from President Donald Trump ’ s tax returns , showing he paid no federal income tax in 10 of the last 15 years , and paid only $ 750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected president and in his first year in office .
Trump , despite promising to release his tax returns as a candidate , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public , breaking with a 40-year precedent of candidates doing so .
The Trump family has filed lawsuits against the House Oversight and Reform Committee and several banks to block subpoenas of their financial records .
In the end , it wasn ’ t House Democrats who got the records , but the press .
The papers revealed that Trump paid zero in federal income taxes for many years , claiming his businesses had huge financial losses .
He ’ s also in a fight with the Internal Revenue Service over an audit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. government .
He has $ 421 million in debt , which has mostly been traced back to the German Deutsche Bank .
The Biden campaign has jumped on these revelations with digital ads , releasing a short video highlighting the different income taxes paid by those in the middle class .
“ Teachers paid $ 7,239 .
Firefighters paid $ 5,283 .
Nurses paid $ 10,216 , ” the Biden campaign ’ s message said .
“ Donald Trump paid $ 750.
” Biden and his campaign have spent the summer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difference between the working class and the elite , highlighting Biden ’ s upbringing in the working-class town of Scranton , Pennsylvania , versus Trump ’ s Park Avenue residence in New York City .
“ Donald Trump only sees the world from Park Avenue , ” Kate Bedingfield , Biden ’ s deputy campaign manager , told reporters Tuesday , foreshadowing the Democratic nominee ’ s strategy for the debate stage .
“ He looks out for the stock market but looks down on workers .
”

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Just hours before the first presidential debate of 2020, the campaign of Democratic nominee Joe Biden released his 2019 tax returns, showing a taxable income just shy of a million dollars.
Biden and his wife, Jill, paid $299,346 in taxes through the year on a taxable income of $944,737, after receiving a $46,858 refund, according to their 2019 federal tax returns.
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His vice presidential running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), also posted her federal and California tax returns from 2019, showing she and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, had a taxable income of more than $3 million and paid $1,185,628 in taxes.
The releases from the Biden campaign come just days after The New York Times published records from President Donald Trump’s tax returns, showing he paid no federal income tax in 10 of the last 15 years, and paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected president and in his first year in office.
Trump, despite promising to release his tax returns as a candidate, has repeatedly fought against making his financial records public, breaking with a 40-year precedent of candidates doing so. The Trump family has filed lawsuits against the House Oversight and Reform Committee and several banks to block subpoenas of their financial records.
In the end, it wasn’t House Democrats who got the records, but the press. The papers revealed that Trump paid zero in federal income taxes for many years, claiming his businesses had huge financial losses. He’s also in a fight with the Internal Revenue Service over an audit and could owe $100 million to the U.S. government. He has $421 million in debt, which has mostly been traced back to the German Deutsche Bank.
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The Biden campaign has jumped on these revelations with digital ads, releasing a short video highlighting the different income taxes paid by those in the middle class. “Teachers paid $7,239. Firefighters paid $5,283. Nurses paid $10,216,” the Biden campaign’s message said. “Donald Trump paid $750.”
They also released campaign merchandise with the slogan: “I paid more income taxes than Donald Trump.”
Biden and his campaign have spent the summer trying to cast this election as the difference between the working class and the elite, highlighting Biden’s upbringing in the working-class town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, versus Trump’s Park Avenue residence in New York City.
The former vice president is expected to emphasize this contrast Tuesday night.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Our Tax Code Is Designed To Create Donald Trump

The GE story touched off a furious debate by the standards of its day .
The company ’ s defenders took to CNBC to insist that under a more flexible definition of tax liability , GE had paid quite a bit .
Others insisted the firm was an outlier and that most corporations were paying plenty of taxes , if not too much .
In the nine years since , public opinion on tax policy has been remarkably consistent .
Overwhelming majorities of the public , including large swaths of the Republican Party , think that big corporations and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet the opposite has occurred .
In 2013 , the Obama administration cut a deal with then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to give households making over $ 250,000 a tax break .
And in 2017 , President Donald Trump signed into law his signature policy achievement , a sweeping $ 1.5 trillion tax law that slashed the tax obligations of the rich and large corporations , hacked away at federal revenues and exacerbated economic inequality .
In short , everyone knew the American tax system was a corrupt nightmare before The New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president ’ s taxes on Sunday .
Its details are breathtaking : Trump didn ’ t pay taxes at all in 11 of the previous 18 years , paid just $ 750 a year for the first two years of his presidency , has been living in the shadow of a multimillion-dollar IRS audit for nine years , and appears to be on the verge of financial ruin .
But as stunning as the particulars are , the bigger picture is by now familiar .
The Trump family is exactly what the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an incompetent , intergenerational graft that our government rewards for draining the nation ’ s resources and destroying social value .
Tipping the scales in favor of the rich doesn ’ t just generate inequality , it creates an inept upper class shielded from the consequences of its errors and granted access to political power .
Trump is not an anomaly .
Much of the so-called innovation that drives up corporate share prices amounts to little more than devising ways to stiff workers on their pay , rip off customers , or hide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to offshoring to Wells Fargo ’ s fake accounts , executives are rewarded for creating inequality .
Even when they get caught actually breaking the law , these oligarchs nevertheless retire on piles of money .
Disgraced former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf still owns more than $ 80 million in company stock after collecting $ 60 million in salary and bonuses over the course of his career and accruing a $ 22.7 million pension .
In the days since the Times story dropped , reformers have rightly called to increase the enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agency the resources it needs to take on rich fraudsters .
Such a boost would be welcome .
But the cancer on our democracy can not be cured with a few appropriations bills .
Many of the tax loopholes Trump has been exploiting were enacted with bipartisan support .
Trump may not be able to get away with it forever .
But he got away with it for years , and rode getting away with it to the highest office in the country .
The IRS began auditing Trump in 2011 ― it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his presidential run .
It doesn ’ t take nine years to figure out if a tax refund is aboveboard .
As the Times story makes clear , some of the trouble appears to lie with the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation , which has jurisdiction over multimillion-dollar tax refunds .
One of the reasons Trump ’ s reputation as a businessman survived for so long is because a bipartisan congressional panel couldn ’ t be bothered to do its job .
One of our two political parties is devoted to celebrating the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the other party wants to do the same .
It is a failure of leadership that with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives , the public is learning about Trump ’ s tax returns from the Times instead of the House Ways and Means Committee .
The effort to release those returns has been tied up in court , but only after seemingly endless foot-dragging from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal ( D-Mass . )
, who has prioritized deal-making with the administration over confrontation about corruption .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ away with it forever .
But he got away with it for years , and rode getting away with it to the highest office in the country , where his political opposition has been reluctant to challenge him on what he has been getting away with .

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In 2011, The New York Times published what was, at the time, the most shocking expose on tax policy in decades. General Electric, the largest American corporation, had notched a $14.2 billion profit in the previous year ― and paid no federal income tax.
GE had achieved this financial miracle through creative accounting, ferocious lobbying and years of corporate hiring that lured top tax officials away from just about every government agency, office or committee with jurisdiction over the matter.
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The GE story touched off a furious debate by the standards of its day. The company’s defenders took to CNBC to insist that under a more flexible definition of tax liability, GE had paid quite a bit. Others insisted the firm was an outlier and that most corporations were paying plenty of taxes, if not too much.
But critics and admirers alike agreed on one thing: GE’s practices were unusually aggressive, but it hadn’t done anything illegal, in part because GE and its lobbying allies had persuaded Congress and regulators to write rules in the company’s favor.
In the nine years since, public opinion on tax policy has been remarkably consistent. Overwhelming majorities of the public, including large swaths of the Republican Party, think that big corporations and the wealthy should be paying more. And yet the opposite has occurred. In 2013, the Obama administration cut a deal with then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to give households making over $250,000 a tax break. And in 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law his signature policy achievement, a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax law that slashed the tax obligations of the rich and large corporations, hacked away at federal revenues and exacerbated economic inequality.
Donald Trump wrote off likely payments to his daughter Ivanka Trump as "consulting fees," one of many tax dodges revealed in The New York Times' report. Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
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Trump’s tax law has always been deeply unpopular. In March 2019, a survey from the Pew Research Center showed that just 36% of Americans approved of it. A month later, a Monmouth University poll put approval at 34%.
In short, everyone knew the American tax system was a corrupt nightmare before The New York Times released its extraordinary expose on the president’s taxes on Sunday. Its details are breathtaking: Trump didn’t pay taxes at all in 11 of the previous 18 years, paid just $750 a year for the first two years of his presidency, has been living in the shadow of a multimillion-dollar IRS audit for nine years, and appears to be on the verge of financial ruin.
But as stunning as the particulars are, the bigger picture is by now familiar. The Trump family is exactly what the American tax code is designed to create ― an incompetent, intergenerational graft that our government rewards for draining the nation’s resources and destroying social value. Tipping the scales in favor of the rich doesn’t just generate inequality, it creates an inept upper class shielded from the consequences of its errors and granted access to political power.
Trump is not an anomaly. Much of the so-called innovation that drives up corporate share prices amounts to little more than devising ways to stiff workers on their pay, rip off customers, or hide from the tax man. From Uber to offshoring to Wells Fargo’s fake accounts, executives are rewarded for creating inequality.
Even when they get caught actually breaking the law, these oligarchs nevertheless retire on piles of money. Disgraced former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf still owns more than $80 million in company stock after collecting $60 million in salary and bonuses over the course of his career and accruing a $22.7 million pension.
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In the days since the Times story dropped, reformers have rightly called to increase the enforcement budget of the IRS to give the agency the resources it needs to take on rich fraudsters. Such a boost would be welcome. But the cancer on our democracy cannot be cured with a few appropriations bills. Many of the tax loopholes Trump has been exploiting were enacted with bipartisan support.
“Trump may not be able to get away with it forever. But he got away with it for years, and rode getting away with it to the highest office in the country.”
The IRS began auditing Trump in 2011 ― it knew the deal years before Trump began his presidential run. It doesn’t take nine years to figure out if a tax refund is aboveboard. As the Times story makes clear, some of the trouble appears to lie with the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which has jurisdiction over multimillion-dollar tax refunds. One of the reasons Trump’s reputation as a businessman survived for so long is because a bipartisan congressional panel couldn’t be bothered to do its job.
One of our two political parties is devoted to celebrating the rich for being rich, while half of the other party wants to do the same. It is a failure of leadership that with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, the public is learning about Trump’s tax returns from the Times instead of the House Ways and Means Committee. The effort to release those returns has been tied up in court, but only after seemingly endless foot-dragging from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who has prioritized deal-making with the administration over confrontation about corruption.
Trump may not be able to get away with it forever. But he got away with it for years, and rode getting away with it to the highest office in the country, where his political opposition has been reluctant to challenge him on what he has been getting away with.
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It’s enough to make you wonder why GE bothers with all the fancy revolving-door accountants. Who, really, would make them pay?


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Amy Coney Barrett Closely Tied To Group Ex-Members Say Subjugates Women

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court has close ties to a charismatic Christian religious group that holds men are divinely ordained as the “head” of the family and faith. Former members of the group, called People of Praise, say it teaches that wives must submit to the will of their husbands.
Federal appeals judge Amy Coney Barrett has not commented publicly about her own or her family’s involvement, and a People of Praise spokesman declined to say whether she and her husband are current members.
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But Barrett, 48, grew up in New Orleans in a family deeply connected to the organization and as recently as 2017 she served as a trustee at the People of Praise-affiliated Trinity Schools Inc., according to the nonprofit organization’s tax records and other documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Only members of the group serve on the schools’ board, according to the system’s president.
The AP also reviewed 15 years of back issues of the organization’s internal magazine, Vine and Branches, which has published birth announcements, photos and other mentions of Barrett and her husband, Jesse, whose family has been active in the group for four decades. On Friday, all editions of the magazine were removed from the group’s website.
People of Praise is a religious community based in charismatic Catholicism, a movement that grew out of the influence of Pentecostalism, which emphasizes a personal relationship with Jesus and can include baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. The group organizes and meets outside the purview of a church and includes people from several Christian denominations, but its members are mostly Roman Catholic.
Barrett’s affiliation with a conservative religious group that elevates the role of men has drawn particular scrutiny given that she would be filling the high court seat held by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a feminist icon who spent her legal career fighting for women to have full equality. Barrett, by contrast, is being hailed by religious conservatives as an ideological heir to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch abortion-rights opponent for whom she clerked as a young lawyer.
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In accepting Trump’s nomination Saturday, the Catholic mother of seven said she shares Scalia’s judicial philosophy.
“A judge must apply the law as written,” Barrett said. “Judges are not policy makers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.”
Barrett’s advocates are trying to frame questions about her involvement in People of Praise as anti-Catholic bigotry ahead of her upcoming Senate nomination hearings.
Asked about People of Praise in a televised interview last week, Vice President Mike Pence responded, “The intolerance expressed during her last confirmation about her Catholic faith I really think was a disservice to the process and a disappointment to millions of Americans.”
But some people familiar with the group and charismatic religious groups like it say Barrett’s involvement should be examined before she receives a lifelong appointment to the highest court in the nation.
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“It’s not about the faith,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University, who has studied similar groups. He says a typical feature of charismatic groups is the dynamic of a strong hierarchical leadership, and a strict view of the relationship between women and men.
Several people familiar with People of Praise, including some current members, told the AP that the group has been misunderstood. They call it a Christian fellowship, focused on building community. One member described it as a “family of families,” who commit themselves to each other in mutual support to live together “through thick and thin.”
But the group has also been portrayed by some former members, and in books, blogs and news reports, as hierarchical, authoritarian and controlling, where men dominate their wives, leaders dictate members’ life choices and those who leave are shunned.
The AP interviewed seven current and former members of People of Praise, and reviewed its tax records, websites, missionary blogs and back issues of its magazine to try to paint a fuller picture of an organization that Barrett has been deeply involved in since childhood.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a meeting with Barrett. Some familiar with People of Praise and charismatic religious groups like it say Barrett’s involvement should be examined before she receives a lifelong appointment to the highest court in the nation. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS POOL New / Reuters
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People of Praise was founded in South Bend, Indiana, in 1971 as part of the Catholic Pentecostal movement, a devout reaction to the free love, secular permissiveness and counterculture movements of the 1960s and early ’70s. Many of the group’s early members were drawn from the campus of nearby Notre Dame, a Catholic university.
The group has roughly 1,800 adult members nationwide, with branches and schools in 22 cities across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. All members are encouraged to continue to attend church at their own parishes.
After a period of religious study and instruction that lasts from three to six years, people involved in People of Praise can choose to make a lifelong covenant pledging love and service to fellow community members and to God, which includes tithing at least 5% of their gross income to support the group’s activities and charitable initiatives, according to a statement on the group’s website.
People of Praise’s more than 1,500-word covenant, a copy of which was reviewed by the AP, includes a passage where members promise to follow the teachings and instructions of the group’s pastors, teachers and evangelists.
“We agree to obey the direction of the Holy Spirit manifested in and through these ministries in full harmony with the church,” the covenant says.
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It’s unclear whether Barrett took the covenant. But members of the organization and descriptions of its hierarchy show that members almost invariably join the covenant after three to six years of religious study or they leave, so it would be very unusual for Barrett to continue to be involved for so many years without having done so.
A 2006 article in the group’s magazine includes a photo of her attending a People of Praise Leaders’ Conference for Women. The magazine also includes regular notices when members are “released from the covenant” and leave the group. The AP’s review found no such notice of Barrett’s or her husband’s departure.
A request to interview Barrett made through the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, where she currently serves as a judge, was declined. The judge didn’t mention People of Praise in her 2017 Senate judicial questionnaire, filled out prior to her confirmation for the bench.
Jesse Barrett did not respond to voicemail or email sent through his law firm in South Bend.
People of Praise spokesman Sean Connolly declined to discuss the Barretts or their affiliation with the group.
“Like most religious communities, the People of Praise leaves it up to its members to decide whether to publicly disclose their involvement in our community,” Connolly said by email. “And like most religious communities, we do not publish a membership list.”
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Several people familiar with the group told the AP that, unlike some other charismatic movements, People of Praise has a strong commitment to intellectualism, evidenced in part by the schools they have established, which have a reputation for intellectual rigor.
Barrett’s father, Michael Coney Sr., has served as the principal leader of People of Praise’s New Orleans branch and was on the group’s all-male Board of Governors as recently as 2017. Her mother, Linda Coney, has served in the branch as a “handmaid,” a female leader assigned to help guide other women, according to documents reviewed by the AP.
“One of the key principles of People of Praise is freedom, the exercise of our own freedom in following the Lord and in following our own — what we believe, what we think is right,” Michael Coney, 75, said Friday in an interview with the AP.
Joannah Clark, 47, grew up in People of Praise and became a member as an adult. She acknowledged that the board of governors consists of all men, but said that is not a reflection on the “worth or ability of women,” but rather the approach the group has chosen for that level of leadership.
“In a marriage, we look at the husband as the head of the family. And that’s consistent with New Testament teaching,” said Clark, who is the head of Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. “This role of the husband as the head of the family is not a position of power or domination. It’s really quite the opposite. It’s a position of care and service and responsibility. Men are looking out for the good and well-being of their families.”
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Clark said she had previously served as a “handmaid.” The term was a reference to Jesus’ mother Mary, who called herself “the handmaid of the Lord.” The organization recently changed the terminology to “woman leader” because it had newly negative connotations after Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” was turned into a popular television show.
Clark said the woman leaders in People of Praise do things like provide pastoral care and organize help for community members, such as when people are sick or need other help.
“They’re also in a role of advising, so the men will ask the women leaders’ advice on issues that affect the patterns of life within the community, certainly issues that affect women and families,” Clark said.
Barrett, in accepting Trump’s nomination at the White House on Saturday, put particular emphasis on the equality of her own marriage, saying she expected from the start the she and her husband would run their household as partners.
“As it has turned out, Jesse does far more than his share of the work,” she said. “To my chagrin, I learned at dinner recently that my children consider him to be the better cook.”
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Though People of Praise opposes abortion, those familiar with the group said it would be a mistake to pigeonhole their politics as either left or right. While socially conservative in their understanding of family and gender, some members are deeply committed to social justice in matters of race and economics, they said. Barrett’s parents are both registered Democrats, according to Louisiana voter registration records.
Protestors demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court the day after Trump announced Barrett as his nominee. Though People of Praise opposes abortion, those familiar with the group said it would be a mistake to pigeonhole their politics as either left or right. REUTERS/Tasos Katopodis Tasos Katopodis / Reuters
Tax records and other documents show that as recently as 2017 Barrett sat on the board of Trinity Schools, a campus of which was recently designated by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as a National Blue Ribbon School. The schools are coed, but most classes are segregated by gender.
The school’s website says the group sees men and women “created by God equal in dignity but distinct from one another.”
“We seek to uphold both that equality and appropriate distinction in our culture,” it goes on.
Similarly, at People of Praise the leadership structure is largely segregated by gender. And as they become adults, members frequently live together in same-gender communal houses sometimes owned by the group, or they are invited to live with a family within the community. Articles in the People of Praise magazine frequently note when young single members get married to each other. Multiple birth announcements often follow.
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The group’s magazine also offers insights into the group’s views on marriage, community and members’ finances. A 2007 issue discusses how the 17 single women who live together in a household, called the Sisterhood, had their paychecks direct deposited into a single bank account. One member said she had “no idea” what the amount of her paycheck was.
The pooled money was managed by one woman, who budgeted for everyone’s clothing and other expenses, including $36 weekly per person for food and basics like toilet paper. All women were expected to give 10% of their pay to People of Praise, another 1% to the South Bend branch and additional tithes to their churches.
Married couples and their children also often share multifamily homes or cluster in neighborhoods designated for “city building” by the group’s leaders, where they can easily socialize and walk to each other’s houses.
As part of spiritual meetings, members often relay divine prophecies and are encouraged to pray in tongues, where participants make vocal utterances thought to carry direct teachings and instructions from God. Those utterances are then “interpreted” by senior male leaders and relayed back to the wider group.
A 1969 book by Kevin Ranaghan, a co-founder of People of Praise, dedicates a chapter to praying in tongues, which he describes as a gift from God.
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“The gift of tongues is one of the word-gifts, an utterance of the Spirit through man,” Ranaghan wrote in “Catholic Pentecostals.” “Alone, the gift of tongues is used for prayer and praise. Coupled with the gift of interpretation it can edify the unbeliever and strengthen, console, enlighten or move the community of faith.”
In a blog entry on the group’s website from March of this year, a mother described taking her children to pray in tongues as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Barrett speaks as Trump announces her nomination in the Rose Garden of the White House. Barrett is a favorite of religious conservatives and is already battle-tested after going through a ferocious confirmation fight in 2017 for her seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) The Washington Post via Getty Images
While People of Praise portrays itself as a tightknit family of families, former members paint a darker picture of that closeness.
Coral Anika Theill joined People of Praise’s branch in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1979, when she was a 24-year-old mother of 6-month-old twins.
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“My husband at the time was very drawn to it because of the structure of the submission of women,” recounted Theill, who is now 65.
Theill, who converted to Catholicism after getting married, said in her People of Praise community women were expected to live in “total submission” not only to their husbands, but also the other male “heads” within the group.
In a book she wrote about her experience, Theill recounts that in People of Praise every consequential personal decision — whether to take a new job, buy a particular model car or choose where to live — went through the hierarchy of male leadership. Members of the group who worked outside the community had to turn over their paystubs to church leaders to confirm they were tithing correctly, she said.
Theill says her “handmaid,” to whom she was supposed to confide her innermost thoughts and emotions, then repeated what she said to the male heads, who would consult her husband on the proper correction.
“There’d be open meetings where you just have to stand for the group and they’d tell you all that was wrong with you,” Theill recounted to the AP last week. “And I would ask questions. I was a critical thinker.”
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When she told her husband she wanted to wait to have more children, Theill said, he accompanied her to gynecological appointments to ensure she couldn’t get birth control.
“I was basically treated like a brood mare,” she said, using the term for a female horse used for breeding. During her 20-year marriage, Theill had eight children from 11 pregnancies.
Theill, who says she declined to take the covenant, described being dominated and eventually shunned because of the doubts she expressed about the group.
Clark, a current member in Oregon, said she had never heard of members being shunned.
“At any point, a community member can decide to leave and is free to do so,” Clark said. She said she has friends who have left the community. “These are people I’ve maintained a good friendship with and people who’ve maintained friendships with other people in community.”
But Theill isn’t the only former member to describe forced subjugation of women within People of Praise or shunning of former members.
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Among People of Praise’s very first members in South Bend were Adrian Reimers and his wife, Marie. The couple was active for more than a dozen years before he said he became disillusioned and was “dismissed” from the group in the mid-1980s.
Reimers, who teaches philosophy at Notre Dame, went on to write detailed academic examinations of the group’s inner workings and theological underpinnings. In a 1997 book about People of Praise and other covenant communities, Reimers wrote that the fundamental principle of the group was St. Paul’s stipulation from the Bible that the husband is the “head” of his wife and that the wife is to “submit in all things.”
“A married woman is expected always to reflect the fact that she is under her husband’s authority,” Reimers wrote. “This goes beyond an acknowledgment that the husband is ‘head of the home’ or head of the family; he is, in fact, her personal pastoral head. Whatever she does requires at least his tacit approval. He is responsible for her formation and growth in the Christian life.”
Though women are allowed to serve in some administrative roles within the community, Reimers wrote that no woman is allowed to hold a pastoral position of leadership in which she would oversee or instruct men.
“People who leave these communities are often shunned by other members and are spoken of as no longer brothers and sisters in Christ or even no longer Christian,” he wrote.
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Reimers declined to expand on his experience with People of Praise, saying he doesn’t know Amy Coney Barrett and didn’t want to get drawn into a political fight. But he said he stands by his prior account.
“To quote Pontius Pilate, ‘What I have written, I have written,’” he said last week, referring to the Roman official in the Bible who signed the order condemning Jesus to be crucified.
Lisa Williams said her parents joined the Minnesota branch of People of Praise in the late 1970s, when she was a fourth-grader. She chronicled her experience in a blog called “Exorcism and Pound Cake,” a reference to how she knew as a child that it was a meeting night because of the smell of baked goods coming from the kitchen.
“I remember my mother saying a wife could never deny sex to her husband, because it was his right and her duty,” said Williams, 56. “Sex is not for pleasure. It’s for as many babies as God chooses to give you. ... Women had to be obedient. They had to be subservient.”
Corporal punishment of children was common, Williams told the AP. When she was insufficiently obedient to her father, she was beaten with a belt and then required to kneel and ask forgiveness from both him and God, she said.
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She recalled People of Praise meetings held in her parents’ living room where members prayed in tongues to cast out demons from a person writhing on the floor, rituals she described as exorcisms.
When her parents, from whom she is now estranged, decided to leave People of Praise when she was a junior in high school, she remembers the leaders said her family would be doomed to hell and they were shunned. “Nobody would talk to you,” she recalled.
Steven Hassan, a mental health counselor who works with people who have left fundamentalist authoritarian religious groups, said the culture within People of Praise as described by Theill and Williams, including the practice of shunning former members, creates fear so that people are dependent and obedient.
“A person who is in one of these groups has to suppress their own thoughts, feelings, desires that doesn’t align with the dogma,” Hassan said.
He cautioned, however, that Theill’s and Williams’ experiences were from decades ago and not necessarily illustrative of how the group now operates. And current members of People of Praise interviewed by the AP strongly disputed those characterizations.
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“There’s a high value on personal freedom,” said Clark, the Trinity School director in Oregon.
She said she had never heard of some of the practices the former members detailed to the AP, such as micromanaging finances or handing over paychecks. She grew emotional when she recounted the sacrifices people in the group make for each other as part of their covenant, like the case of a man known for helping his fellow members move, who was in turn cared for by group members as he died.
“I’ve never been asked to do anything against my own free will,” said Clark, a member of the group for 25 years. “I have never been dominated or controlled by a man.”
Thomas Csordas, an anthropology professor at University of California San Diego, has studied the religious movement that includes People of Praise. He said such communities are conservative, authoritarian, hierarchical and patriarchal.
But, he said, in his view, the group’s leaders are unlikely to exert influence over Barrett’s judicial decisions.
Coney, Barrett’s father, said the culture of female submission described by some former members was based on misunderstandings of the group’s teachings.
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“I can’t comment on why they believe that. But it is certainly not a correct interpretation of our life,” he said. “We’re people who love each other and support each other in their Christian life, trying to follow the Lord.”
As a lawyer himself, he rejected the notion that his daughter’s religious beliefs will unduly influence her opinions if she is confirmed to the high court.
“I think she’s a super lawyer and she will apply the law as opposed to any of her beliefs,” he said. “She will follow the law.”
Smith reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press reporters Mitch Weiss in Greenville, South Carolina, and Juliet Linderman in Baltimore, Maryland, contributed.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Amy Coney Barrett Is Not A Feminist Icon

Yes , Amy Coney Barrett is a successful working mother .
Currently a judge on the 7th U.S .
Circuit Court of Appeals , Barrett was nominated by President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court just last week .
She has seven children , ages 8–18 .
Clearly , this is someone who ’ s doing well for herself professionally while raising a family .
Nonsense .
Liberals don ’ t need to celebrate every woman who achieves power .
Certainly , feminists don ’ t .
None have taken to Twitter , for example , to cheer on Ivanka @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being a working mother while actively supporting policies that are not good for women .
Feminism is not about any one woman ’ s success ; it ’ s about all of us being freed from discrimination and oppression : not just professional white women , but trans women , gay women , poor women , immigrant women , Black and brown women .
Feminism is even interested in doing this for men , who are also burdened by toxic expectations and limitations .
“ Feminism doesn ’ t mean anything that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman .
It doesn ’ t mean one individual woman gaining power .
Feminism is a movement for liberation from gender and sex oppression , ” said Jaclyn Friedman , a feminist writer , activist and co-editor of ” Believe Me : How Trusting Women Can Change The World.
” There is no evidence in her three years on the bench that Barrett is anything but supportive of typically anti-feminist causes , including gun rights , limits on reproductive freedom and hostility toward the Affordable Care Act , which has brought health insurance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are mothers .
“ Feminists support upholding Roe v. Wade .
Amy Coney Barrett does not .
Feminists support government policies to ensure equality and equity for women .
Amy Coney Barrett does not .
Feminists value the importance of affirmative action , environmental protection , and universal health care .
Amy Coney Barrett does not , ” said Jennifer Lawless , a political science professor at the University of Virginia .
“ Opposing a female nominee who is antithetical to feminist principles reflects a commitment to the cause.
” The conservative argument @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around the fact that she is a mother of many children who still managed to succeed .
“ She is a walking example of how young children and demanding work can coexist—I dare suggest even happily , ” writes Wall Street Journal opinion writer Kate Bachelder Odell in a piece calling Barrett a role model for mothers .
Conservative Christian women , particularly those who are anti-abortion , told the The New York Times how happy they were about Barrett ’ s nomination .
“ She shows that it ’ s possible for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of her profession while having many children , ” a Stanford Law School graduate and mother of 10 who heads a conservative legal advocacy group focusing on religious liberty told the Times .
But Barrett is a particular kind of successful woman ; one of a very privileged few upper-income mothers who get to have good jobs with flexible hours .
Most working mothers do not have paid leave or workplace flexibility or health care ; they are struggling to succeed .
They don ’ t need a well-off lady role model .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ruth Bader Ginsburg isn ’ t a feminist legend because she was a working mother any more than Brett Kavanaugh is a feminist legend for being a working father .
RBG is a feminist hero because , as a litigator , she took on hundreds of cases fighting for gender equality and is literally responsible for getting the Supreme Court to put women ’ s rights into the Constitution .
As a justice on the high court , she continued that project .
Representation does matter , of course , but it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matters .
“ Representation without ideology is empty , ” said Friedman .
“ It signifies an attitude towards women in which we are all interchangeable .
That our gender is the only thing that matters about us .
And that we ’ re completely interchangeable .
Which is what patriarchs in the conservative movement believe .
”

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Yes, Amy Coney Barrett is a successful working mother. Currently a judge on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett was nominated by President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court just last week. She has seven children, ages 8–18. Clearly, this is someone who’s doing well for herself professionally while raising a family.
But her individual success does not make her some kind of feminist superhero.
Incredibly, that’s the storyline pushed by conservatives and Republicans, who appear eager to co-opt the legacy of women’s rights champion Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Barrett’s behalf.
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A piece in Politico calls Barrett “A New Feminist Icon.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee is selling shirts that say “Notorious A.C.B,” appropriating the affectionate nickname used for Ginsburg, an actual feminist icon.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, another successful working mother who has not been on the side of gender equality, tweeted last week, “If liberals actually cared about empowering women, they’d be applauding Judge Amy Coney Barrett - a working mom with impeccable legal credentials.”
Nonsense. Liberals don’t need to celebrate every woman who achieves power. Certainly, feminists don’t. None have taken to Twitter, for example, to cheer on Ivanka Trump, who talks a lot about being a working mother while actively supporting policies that are not good for women.
“I think it speaks to the success of the modern feminist movement that conservatives think their best move is to co-opt it.” - Jaclyn Friedman, feminist writer and activist
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Feminism is not about any one woman’s success; it’s about all of us being freed from discrimination and oppression: not just professional white women, but trans women, gay women, poor women, immigrant women, Black and brown women. Feminism is even interested in doing this for men, who are also burdened by toxic expectations and limitations.
“Feminism doesn’t mean anything that’s good for an individual, particular woman. It doesn’t mean one individual woman gaining power. Feminism is a movement for liberation from gender and sex oppression,” said Jaclyn Friedman, a feminist writer, activist and co-editor of ”Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change The World.”
“I think it speaks to the success of the modern feminist movement that conservatives think their best move is to co-opt it,” she said.
There is nothing in Barrett’s history that would indicate that she’s spent any time empowering women.
Barrett’s mentor was Antonin Scalia, a Supreme Court justice who consistently ruled against gender equality. As an academic, Barrett is not known for writing or studying feminist issues. She is known for being pro-life.
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There is no evidence in her three years on the bench that Barrett is anything but supportive of typically anti-feminist causes, including gun rights, limits on reproductive freedom and hostility toward the Affordable Care Act, which has brought health insurance to many many millions of women who are mothers.
In fact, from her short time on the bench, it seems Barrett’s conservative inclination is to rule against the rights of individuals, particularly those who are oppressed.
President Donald Trump with Judge Amy Coney Barrett as she and some of her children gather in the Rose Garden of the White House on Sept. 26, 2020. OLIVIER DOULIERY via Getty Images
“Feminists support upholding Roe v. Wade. Amy Coney Barrett does not. Feminists support government policies to ensure equality and equity for women. Amy Coney Barrett does not. Feminists value the importance of affirmative action, environmental protection, and universal health care. Amy Coney Barrett does not,” said Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. “Opposing a female nominee who is antithetical to feminist principles reflects a commitment to the cause.”
The conservative argument for a feminist Barrett seems to center around the fact that she is a mother of many children who still managed to succeed. “She is a walking example of how young children and demanding work can coexist—I dare suggest even happily,” writes Wall Street Journal opinion writer Kate Bachelder Odell in a piece calling Barrett a role model for mothers.
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Conservative Christian women, particularly those who are anti-abortion, told the The New York Times how happy they were about Barrett’s nomination. “She shows that it’s possible for a woman to rise to the top of her profession while having many children,” a Stanford Law School graduate and mother of 10 who heads a conservative legal advocacy group focusing on religious liberty told the Times.
But Barrett is a particular kind of successful woman; one of a very privileged few upper-income mothers who get to have good jobs with flexible hours. Most working mothers do not have paid leave or workplace flexibility or health care; they are struggling to succeed. They don’t need a well-off lady role model. They need policies that support their lives.
That’s something that even Barrett herself acknowledged in a 2013 talk at Notre Dame University when she said best way to prevent abortions would be through policies that support “poor, single mothers.”
Still, there’s little indication that Barrett backs policies that would support such women, especially because such policies include access to birth control.
Barrett has openly criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding Obamacare, which greatly expanded access to birth control and health care more generally and unquestionably helps poor women. She opposes abortion, which studies have shown is critical to the economic empowerment of women.
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“Most working mothers do not have paid leave or workplace flexibility or health care; they are struggling to succeed. They don’t need a well-off lady role model. They need policies that support their lives.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg isn’t a feminist legend because she was a working mother any more than Brett Kavanaugh is a feminist legend for being a working father. RBG is a feminist hero because, as a litigator, she took on hundreds of cases fighting for gender equality and is literally responsible for getting the Supreme Court to put women’s rights into the Constitution. As a justice on the high court, she continued that project.
Conservatives are playing identity politics with Barrett, selling the idea that one woman is interchangeable with any other woman. That any woman who gets to the top is a win for women.
Representation does matter, of course, but it’s not the only thing that matters. “Representation without ideology is empty,” said Friedman. “It signifies an attitude towards women in which we are all interchangeable. That our gender is the only thing that matters about us. And that we’re completely interchangeable. Which is what patriarchs in the conservative movement believe.”
Nominating Barrett to the Supreme Court is also part of a longtime Republican goal of having a woman overturn Roe v. Wade. “It’s helpful for optics,” said Lawless, who pointed out that President George W. Bush passed restrictions on abortion while surrounded by “smiling white men.”
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But those optics aren’t likely to fool many people, she said.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Meet Joe Biden's Super Fans. No, Really.

“ I wear Biden head to toe every day when I ’ m not at work , ” said Charland , who also took the week off of work to watch the Democratic convention in August .
“ I have a hat .
I have a mask .
I have about six shirts .
In my car ― I just bought a flag for it .
I call it the Bidenmobile .
I have bumper stickers on the back .
So if I ’ m not working , I have a Biden uniform that I go out in every day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of people , like at the grocery store , and talk to them about Biden .
It ’ s really cool.
” “ I don ’ t see that .
I feel like that ’ s a big narrative in the media , but when I have conversations with my friends , with my family members ― when they get to know Joe , they ’ re really excited about him because he ’ s a real person .
He ’ s gone through a lot of the same struggles that we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Daniela Ferrera , 22 , a Miami resident who was born in Cuba and came to the United States in 2001 .
Ferrera and her boyfriend have been Biden supporters all along in the 2020 campaign .
She grew up as a Republican but remembers having respect for him back when he was vice president .
She said her support for him really solidified after seeing him deal with the death of his son , Beau , who passed away from brain cancer in 2015 .
“ It really hit home as someone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cancer , ” Ferrera said .
“ Seeing how he is just such a warm and empathetic person and someone that has genuine care for other people and seeing that public display of grief .
I really thought that that showed a different side of Joe Biden , his more human side.
” Ellie Boyle is 17 ( but will be able to vote in this year ’ s election ) and lives in Bowling Green , Ohio .
She first started liking Biden when she was in eighth grade , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Parks and Recreation ” ― where the main character is also obsessed with the former vice president .
As she became more interested in politics , she also began to get more interested in Biden and enjoyed the many memes during the Obama years .
Biden stickers made their way on to her water bottle and computer .
“ It was like the second day of school .
I was getting the mail because I ’ m the first one home .
And I was like , ‘ Oh , my gosh.
’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , ‘ I ’ m teaching a class.
’ And I ’ m like , ‘ Dad , Joe wrote back to me !
’ I was freaking out .
I called everyone I knew .
To have that personal touch like that ― he took time out of his day to like write people back ― that was what got me hooked , ” recalled Boyle .
A few months later , at an American Cancer Society event in Washington , D.C. , Boyle and her father actually got the chance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Boyle talked to him first , separately , recalling that Biden empathized with her about having a family member with cancer .
And then he spoke to both of them about the relationship between fathers and daughters .
During the primary , Biden and his moderate message struggled to attract the support of younger voters who were drawn more to some of his progressive challengers .
But during the Obama administration , Biden was a fixture in political pop culture .
The satirical publication The Onion portrayed him as a lovable , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Joe .
His signature aviators were widely covered .
There was even a meme of Biden removing his scarf .
“ For a really long time , I was thinking we can ’ t just be sharing messaging that is against the current president , ” he said .
“ That ’ s not going to get us as far as we want .
So the whole point of the Soul Squad creation team is to create content that ’ s pro-Joe and Kamala and gets people kind of excited in that way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I do have a Biden mask that I ordered , but I will not use it , ” she said .
“ I will keep it in its packaging because it ’ s going to be a collector ’ s item due to the fact that it ’ s a mask in this pandemic and because ― knock on wood ― Biden will be the next president .
”

Joe Biden really does have his super fans. Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
Kyle Charland loves Joe Biden.
“When they call him Uncle Joe, that’s like the perfect thing because you feel like you know him even though you don’t,” he said.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Charland, a 35-year-old from Royal Oak, Michigan, temporarily had to go on unemployment when he couldn’t go to his job in retail. But even that didn’t stop him from donating to Biden.
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“Even though I was on unemployment for a while, I was able to afford to give a little bit. But now that I’m back to work, I donate every week, and every time they text me, I’ve been donating too,” he said.
Plenty has been written about how Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, may have an enthusiasm problem. An ABC/Washington Post poll from August found that 44% percent of adults supporting Biden say they’re enthusiastic about supporting him, compared to 56% for Trump.
But true Biden super fans like Charland do exist. They’ve started up online booster networks, written him letters and named their dog after him. They don’t just want to beat Donald Trump ― they want Biden to be the next president.
“I wear Biden head to toe every day when I’m not at work,” said Charland, who also took the week off of work to watch the Democratic convention in August. “I have a hat. I have a mask. I have about six shirts. In my car ― I just bought a flag for it. I call it the Bidenmobile. I have bumper stickers on the back. So if I’m not working, I have a Biden uniform that I go out in every day. ... I get to meet a lot of people, like at the grocery store, and talk to them about Biden. It’s really cool.”
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Kyle Charland is a Joe Biden super fan and wears Biden campaign clothing whenever he's not dressed for work. Kyle Charland
There’s no doubt that Trump inspires a fierce devotion in some of his most hardcore supporters. The worry among some Democrats is that his base will turn out while Democrats ― many of whom supported other candidates in the primary ― may sit home, unexcited and uninspired.
Popular progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) made an appeal to her supporters on social media recently, telling them not to stay home just because Biden isn’t their favorite.
“November is about survival. Voting for Joe Biden is no longer about whether you agree with him. It’s a vote to let our democracy live another day,” she said.
Many Biden super fans are frustrated by the narrative that Democrats are holding their nose and voting for the former vice president, and they’re doing what they can to turn people around them into supporters.
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“I don’t see that. I feel like that’s a big narrative in the media, but when I have conversations with my friends, with my family members ― when they get to know Joe, they’re really excited about him because he’s a real person. He’s gone through a lot of the same struggles that we’ve gone through,” said Daniela Ferrera, 22, a Miami resident who was born in Cuba and came to the United States in 2001.
Ferrera and her boyfriend have been Biden supporters all along in the 2020 campaign. She grew up as a Republican but remembers having respect for him back when he was vice president. She said her support for him really solidified after seeing him deal with the death of his son, Beau, who passed away from brain cancer in 2015.
“It really hit home as someone that has had family members pass because of cancer,” Ferrera said. “Seeing how he is just such a warm and empathetic person and someone that has genuine care for other people and seeing that public display of grief. I really thought that that showed a different side of Joe Biden, his more human side.”
Ferrera is the co-founder of Cubanos con Biden, a Facebook group with 13,000 members. At the first Democratic primary debate in June, which took place in Miami, Ferrera and some of her friends borrowed a friend’s ice cream truck and, with their own money, gave out free ice cream that they called “Joe Cones.”
“People absolutely loved it and they ate it up,” she said. “We even had Trump supporters that came over to get some Joe Cones, which was super super awesome.”
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It’s common to find Biden supporters who have connected to him after hearing his life story.
Ellie Boyle is 17 (but will be able to vote in this year’s election) and lives in Bowling Green, Ohio. She first started liking Biden when she was in eighth grade, as a big fan of the show “Parks and Recreation” ― where the main character is also obsessed with the former vice president. As she became more interested in politics, she also began to get more interested in Biden and enjoyed the many memes during the Obama years. Biden stickers made their way on to her water bottle and computer.
In April 2018, she decided to write Biden a letter. She told him about how her dad had cancer and how she admired what he was doing with his “cancer moonshot.” She never expected a response back and was shocked when, four months later, she received one.
“It was like the second day of school. I was getting the mail because I’m the first one home. And I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I called my dad. And he said, ‘I’m teaching a class.’ And I’m like, ‘Dad, Joe wrote back to me!’ I was freaking out. I called everyone I knew. To have that personal touch like that ― he took time out of his day to like write people back ― that was what got me hooked,” recalled Boyle.
A few months later, at an American Cancer Society event in Washington, D.C., Boyle and her father actually got the chance to meet Biden backstage before his speech. Boyle talked to him first, separately, recalling that Biden empathized with her about having a family member with cancer. And then he spoke to both of them about the relationship between fathers and daughters.
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In 2018, Ellie Boyle and her father met Biden at an American Cancer Society event. Ellie Boyle
“He gave me a challenge coin and he kind of joked like, ‘The next time I see you, whoever forgets theirs, you have to buy the other one a Coke,’” she said.
Since then, Boyle has written to Biden one other time ― and once again received a response.
During the primary, Biden and his moderate message struggled to attract the support of younger voters who were drawn more to some of his progressive challengers. But during the Obama administration, Biden was a fixture in political pop culture. The satirical publication The Onion portrayed him as a lovable, charming ― yet slightly embarrassing ― Uncle Joe. His signature aviators were widely covered. There was even a meme of Biden removing his scarf.
Chris Schmidt, 26, from Perkasie, Pennsylvania, is a newer Biden super fan. In the primary, he actually supported Pete Buttigieg as the nominee, saying that it was inspiring to see a fellow member of the LGBTQ community running for president. He became interested in Biden after Buttigieg quickly endorsed the former vice president.
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“I’m definitely a Pete super fan, but through this whole process and seeing how compassionate and empathetic Joe Biden is, that’s what makes me a super fan for Joe Biden is the empathy,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt started Joe & Kamala’s Soul Squad Content Team, a team of graphic designers, artists and others who create art to help the Democratic ticket online. The focus, Schmidt said, is on positive content.
“For a really long time, I was thinking we can’t just be sharing messaging that is against the current president,” he said. “That’s not going to get us as far as we want. So the whole point of the Soul Squad creation team is to create content that’s pro-Joe and Kamala and gets people kind of excited in that way about both of them as candidates.”
Amanda Linton has been a Biden fan for much longer. Demonstrating her super fan status, she noted that her dog’s name is Zac Biden Linton.
Amanda Linton, a Biden super fan in Virginia, named her dog after the Democratic presidential nominee. Amanda Linton
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As someone who dealt with domestic violence about 12 or 13 years ago, Linton, 42, knew about Biden through his work on the issue, both in the Obama administration and the Senate.
“At the time, it was kind of hard dealing with it on your own,” she said. “But to know that Biden was there, that he had done stuff even earlier than that, when it was the good ol’ boys club and they never did stuff for women. I wanted somebody that I knew had women staff before it was even popular to do that.”
Linton traveled to multiple states ― including Iowa, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania ― to campaign for Biden during the primary. She had a get-out-the-vote event at her house in Woodbridge, Virginia. While she had volunteered a bit for Hillary Clinton, she’s never been as involved in a campaign as she is with Biden’s.
“At the risk of sounding corny, I know that ‘the soul of the nation’ is his slogan, but I really feel that this is his time,” added Stacey Munro, 51, from Palm Springs, California. “There couldn’t be a starker contrast between the person who is now occupying the Oval Office and Biden, from everything from empathy, to compassion, to kindness, to experience, to competency. And I’m very excited.”
One of Munro’s favorite pieces of Biden campaign paraphernalia is a face mask. But, in true super fan fashion, she’s not going to take it out of the packaging.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Hero US Airways Pilot Sully Sullenberger Appears In New Anti-Trump Ad

Retired pilot Chesley “ Sully ” Sullenberger , whose 2009 landing of a stricken US Airways airliner in the Hudson River saved the lives of 155 people on board , stars in a new campaign ad denouncing what he calls President Donald Trump ’ s “ lethal lies and incompetence.
” The ad , released on Tuesday , was co-sponsored by the Lincoln Project and the VoteVets nonprofit .
In it , Sullenberger says that in the highest calling of serving a cause greater than oneself , Trump has “ failed us so miserably.
” “ Now it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on our very democracy , knowing nearly a quarter-million Americans won ’ t have a voice ― casualties of his lethal lies and incompetence , ” Sullenberg says .
“ Eleven years ago , I was called to my moment .
Now , we are all called to this moment .
When you look down at our beautiful , boundless country , you don ’ t see political divisions .
It reminds us of who we are and what we can be .
That we are in control of this nation ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is vote him out .
”

Retired pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, whose 2009 landing of a stricken US Airways airliner in the Hudson River saved the lives of 155 people on board, stars in a new campaign ad denouncing what he calls President Donald Trump’s “lethal lies and incompetence.”
The ad, released on Tuesday, was co-sponsored by the Lincoln Project and the VoteVets nonprofit. In it, Sullenberger says that in the highest calling of serving a cause greater than oneself, Trump has “failed us so miserably.”
“Now it’s up to us to overcome his attacks on our very democracy, knowing nearly a quarter-million Americans won’t have a voice ― casualties of his lethal lies and incompetence,” Sullenberg says. “Eleven years ago, I was called to my moment. Now, we are all called to this moment. When you look down at our beautiful, boundless country, you don’t see political divisions. It reminds us of who we are and what we can be. That we are in control of this nation’s destiny. All we have to do is vote him out.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Sean Hannity Defends Donald Trump's Tax Avoidance With WTF Attack

But he did it by attacking the messenger .
“ Let ’ s see their taxes , ” the Fox News personality said of the Times , a publicly traded company , on his radio show Monday .
( Hear the audio below . )
The Times report said the president paid $ 750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House .
He paid nothing in 10 of the past 15 years , using an array of suspicious claims to reduce his taxable income .
The report punctures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , revealing hundreds of millions in debts that could pose a “ national security ” issue , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) said .
But Hannity dismissed the claims by barking back at the Times and saying the report is “ not the bombshell ” because the newspaper reported the “ exact same story ” four years ago .
That story focused on pages from Trump ’ s 1995 tax return in which he declared a $ 916 million loss .
The latest report is based on two decades of Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t give you their sourcing , and they ’ re admitting in the article they don ’ t have all of the information and that the president used legitimate tax deductions on his tax return , ” Hannity said .
“ That by the way , that is all legal .
If you don ’ t like the system , ask yourself , does The New York Times do it ?
Have they written things off ?
Let ’ s see their taxes.
” Corporate tax returns , like individual returns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ publicly traded companies like The New York Times Co. file quarterly earnings reports that disclose vast amounts of financial data .

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But he did it by attacking the messenger.
“Let’s see their taxes,” the Fox News personality said of the Times, a publicly traded company, on his radio show Monday. (Hear the audio below.)
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The Times report said the president paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House. He paid nothing in 10 of the past 15 years, using an array of suspicious claims to reduce his taxable income.
The report punctures Trump’s boasts of business triumph, revealing hundreds of millions in debts that could pose a “national security” issue, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said.
But Hannity dismissed the claims by barking back at the Times and saying the report is “not the bombshell” because the newspaper reported the “exact same story” four years ago. That story focused on pages from Trump’s 1995 tax return in which he declared a $916 million loss. The latest report is based on two decades of Trump’s tax records.
“They won’t give you their sourcing, and they’re admitting in the article they don’t have all of the information and that the president used legitimate tax deductions on his tax return,” Hannity said. “That by the way, that is all legal. If you don’t like the system, ask yourself, does The New York Times do it? Have they written things off? Let’s see their taxes.”
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Corporate tax returns, like individual returns, are not public. Nevertheless, publicly traded companies like The New York Times Co. file quarterly earnings reports that disclose vast amounts of financial data.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Michael Cohen Reveals Trump's 'Biggest Fear' After New York Times Tax Report

“ His biggest fear is … he will end up with a massive tax bill , fraud penalties , fines , and possibly even tax fraud , ” Cohen said in an interview with Yahoo News on Monday , the morning after the New York Times published a report detailing how Trump , a self-described billionaire , paid zero dollars in income taxes for more than 10 years .
The article , which was based on tax return data obtained by the Times , also revealed that Trump paid only $ 750 in income taxes both in 2016 , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 , after he became president .
According to the newspaper , the documents showed Trump used losses at his various businesses and expenses , including personal hair care , to justify taking massive tax deductions .
“ Donald Trump ’ s financial records are the Rosetta stone for understanding the depth of his corruption and crimes , ” Cohen said in the interview .
“ The more it is unraveled , the more he will unravel .
It ’ s the reason he ’ s fought so hard to keep it under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has blamed this on an ongoing IRS audit , which he has claimed prevents him from disclosing the returns .
The president ’ s own IRS commissioner confirmed last year that there is no rule stopping Trump from releasing his returns while he is under audit .
The Times article confirmed that a $ 72.9 million tax refund Trump received after claiming losses is under audit , meaning that an “ adverse ruling ” could lead to him receiving a tax bill of over $ 100 million .
The Times ’ s reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ability to pay any major penalties , since he has more than $ 300 million in loans coming due within the next four years .
While the Times report has sparked a renewed conversation about Trump ’ s taxes , Cohen has been raising alarms about the real estate magnate ’ s finances since the pair had a falling out in 2018 during a legal drama that ensued following investigations into the president and his campaign .
Cohen has also gone further than the Times article , alleging that Trump ’ s tax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In his book “ Disloyal , ” which was published earlier this month , Cohen said Trump “ almost certainly illegally evaded ” income taxes .
Cohen also recounted a scene in which the pair were in Trump ’ s Manhattan office tower and the future president showed off a $ 10 million tax refund check he received from the IRS .
“ Can you believe how fucking stupid the IRS is ?
” Trump said , according to Cohen , adding , “ Who would give me a refund of 10 fucking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ News that moment made him certain Trump had engaged in illegal conduct with respect to his taxes .
“ To me , it didn ’ t make any sense , ” Cohen said of the refund .
“ There ’ s no doubt that he had to have committed some sort of a fraud.
” Cohen , whose book accuses Trump of habitually engaging in unethical business practices at his real estate company , also said tax fraud would fit the president ’ s modus operandi .
“ Nothing that goes on at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There ’ s always some form of a shady angle , ” he said .
The details on Trump ’ s tax payments also go to the heart of his image as a billionaire real estate mogul that has been central to his fame and political career .
In 2015 , as he announced his presidential campaign , Trump distributed a single-page laminated document that claimed he was worth about $ 8.7 billion .
About a month later , his campaign released a statement claiming his net worth was actually in “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a staunch Trump loyalist for over a decade .
He first made allegations about the president ’ s finances and behavior after he began cooperating with prosecutors in 2018 while being investigated for his role in payments that were made to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump , as well as issues related to his own taxes .
Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to multiple charges including criminal tax evasion and served about a year of a three-year sentence in federal prison before being released to home confinement in May due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finds it ironic that he was imprisoned over his own tax issues .
Cohen was briefly returned to prison in July after prison officials claimed he had violated the terms of his home confinement .
For his part , Cohen described his reimprisonment as an effort to silence him , since it came shortly after he announced his plan to publish a book .
He was ultimately released after about two weeks when Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that the move to place him back in prison was a “ retaliatory ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this month , Cohen also launched a podcast , “ Mea Culpa , ” in which he has detailed his experiences working for Trump and concerns about the president ’ s “ lies and personal madness.
” Along with his book and the podcast , Cohen made serious allegations about Trump ’ s finances in testimony before Congress in February 2019 .
During that hearing , he testified that Trump fraudulently adjusted the values of his properties to receive favorable treatment from lenders and tax authorities .
That testimony led New York state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wide-ranging investigation into Trump ’ s real estate company that is ongoing .
Last month , Yahoo News reported that two sources familiar with the situation confirmed that the U.S. Attorney ’ s Office for the Southern District of New York was conducting an investigation into Trump ’ s real estate business , with a specific focus on questionable practices related to the valuation of his properties last year .
A spokesperson for that office has declined to comment on whether that federal probe is ongoing .
Cohen ’ s claims about Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He has also raised the possibility that , as he wrote in his book , Trump will “ not leave office easily.
” The president has repeatedly joked about pursuing an unconstitutional third term .
He has also cast baseless doubts on the integrity of the coming election .
And on Sept. 23 , Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when he was asked to do so by a reporter at the White House .

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Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime former personal attorney, has a theory. He believes the president is terrified of receiving a large bill from the Internal Revenue Service.
“His biggest fear is … he will end up with a massive tax bill, fraud penalties, fines, and possibly even tax fraud,” Cohen said in an interview with Yahoo News on Monday, the morning after the New York Times published a report detailing how Trump, a self-described billionaire, paid zero dollars in income taxes for more than 10 years.
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Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The article, which was based on tax return data obtained by the Times, also revealed that Trump paid only $750 in income taxes both in 2016, as he ran for office, and in 2017, after he became president. According to the newspaper, the documents showed Trump used losses at his various businesses and expenses, including personal hair care, to justify taking massive tax deductions.
Trump’s taxes have long been the subject of intense speculation, since he is the first president since Richard Nixon to be elected without making some of his tax returns public.
Cohen, who was also an executive at the Trump Organization, the president’s eponymous real estate company, attributed that reluctance to share the data to a fear of legal consequences.
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“Donald Trump’s financial records are the Rosetta stone for understanding the depth of his corruption and crimes,” Cohen said in the interview. “The more it is unraveled, the more he will unravel. It’s the reason he’s fought so hard to keep it under wraps.”
In the past, Trump has blamed this on an ongoing IRS audit, which he has claimed prevents him from disclosing the returns. The president’s own IRS commissioner confirmed last year that there is no rule stopping Trump from releasing his returns while he is under audit.
The Times article confirmed that a $72.9 million tax refund Trump received after claiming losses is under audit, meaning that an “adverse ruling” could lead to him receiving a tax bill of over $100 million. The Times’s reporting also raised questions about Trump’s ability to pay any major penalties, since he has more than $300 million in loans coming due within the next four years.
While the Times report has sparked a renewed conversation about Trump’s taxes, Cohen has been raising alarms about the real estate magnate’s finances since the pair had a falling out in 2018 during a legal drama that ensued following investigations into the president and his campaign. Cohen has also gone further than the Times article, alleging that Trump’s tax avoidance was clearly against the law.
Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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In his book “Disloyal,” which was published earlier this month, Cohen said Trump “almost certainly illegally evaded” income taxes. Cohen also recounted a scene in which the pair were in Trump’s Manhattan office tower and the future president showed off a $10 million tax refund check he received from the IRS. “Can you believe how fucking stupid the IRS is?” Trump said, according to Cohen, adding, “Who would give me a refund of 10 fucking million dollars?”
Cohen told Yahoo News that moment made him certain Trump had engaged in illegal conduct with respect to his taxes. “To me, it didn’t make any sense,” Cohen said of the refund. “There’s no doubt that he had to have committed some sort of a fraud.”
Cohen, whose book accuses Trump of habitually engaging in unethical business practices at his real estate company, also said tax fraud would fit the president’s modus operandi. “Nothing that goes on at the Trump Organization is done straight up. There’s always some form of a shady angle,” he said.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere responded to Cohen’s claims by questioning his credibility.
“Michael Cohen is a disgraced liar who has no idea what he’s talking about,” Deere wrote in an email to Yahoo News.
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Trump Organization spokesperson Kimberly Benza similarly dismissed Cohen as unreliable.
“If you are interested in reporting the truth we would suggest you find a source other than Michael Cohen,” Benza wrote.
On Twitter, Trump denied that he engaged in any impropriety in a series of messages posted on Monday morning.
“The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits,” he wrote.
The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020
The details on Trump’s tax payments also go to the heart of his image as a billionaire real estate mogul that has been central to his fame and political career. In 2015, as he announced his presidential campaign, Trump distributed a single-page laminated document that claimed he was worth about $8.7 billion. About a month later, his campaign released a statement claiming his net worth was actually in “excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.”
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Experts and outside observers have long questioned Trump’s claims about his wealth. Cohen suggested Trump’s reluctance to release his financial documents also stemmed from a desire to falsely keep up appearances.
“Donald Trump’s entire image and self-worth is based on his inflated, actual net worth,” Cohen said.
Cohen was a staunch Trump loyalist for over a decade. He first made allegations about the president’s finances and behavior after he began cooperating with prosecutors in 2018 while being investigated for his role in payments that were made to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump, as well as issues related to his own taxes. Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to multiple charges including criminal tax evasion and served about a year of a three-year sentence in federal prison before being released to home confinement in May due to the coronavirus. He indicated he finds it ironic that he was imprisoned over his own tax issues.
“While he paid $750, I paid millions in taxes, and yet, somehow, I’m the one who ended up in jail,” he said.
Cohen was briefly returned to prison in July after prison officials claimed he had violated the terms of his home confinement. For his part, Cohen described his reimprisonment as an effort to silence him, since it came shortly after he announced his plan to publish a book. He was ultimately released after about two weeks when Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that the move to place him back in prison was a “retaliatory” effort to stop the book. Earlier this month, Cohen also launched a podcast, “Mea Culpa,” in which he has detailed his experiences working for Trump and concerns about the president’s “lies and personal madness.”
Advertisement
meaculpapodcast.com
Along with his book and the podcast, Cohen made serious allegations about Trump’s finances in testimony before Congress in February 2019. During that hearing, he testified that Trump fraudulently adjusted the values of his properties to receive favorable treatment from lenders and tax authorities. That testimony led New York state Attorney General Letitia James to open a wide-ranging investigation into Trump’s real estate company that is ongoing.
Last month, Yahoo News reported that two sources familiar with the situation confirmed that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York was conducting an investigation into Trump’s real estate business, with a specific focus on questionable practices related to the valuation of his properties last year. A spokesperson for that office has declined to comment on whether that federal probe is ongoing.
Cohen’s claims about Trump have not been limited to financial matters. He has also raised the possibility that, as he wrote in his book, Trump will “not leave office easily.” The president has repeatedly joked about pursuing an unconstitutional third term. He has also cast baseless doubts on the integrity of the coming election. And on Sept. 23, Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when he was asked to do so by a reporter at the White House.
In his conversation with Yahoo, Cohen predicted that Trump won’t leave office without a fight and suggested this was due to his concerns about looming legal woes and potential tax bills. “There will never be a peaceful transition of power,” Cohen predicted.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--New York City Voters Receive Absentee Ballot Envelopes With Wrong Addresses

A number of voters in New York City on Monday received absentee ballots with return envelopes mislabeled with a different voter ’ s name and address , adding to the chaos surrounding the influx of mail-in voting this election season .
Amazing , I received my absentee ballot today and @ BOENYC has given me someone else ’ s privacy envelope with their barcode and everything .
This election is gon na be a shit show .
pic.twitter.com/VNj9yKtaNK — Gary He ( @ garyhe ) September 29 , 2020 The city ’ s Board of Elections attributed the incorrect envelopes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A private company was contracted to print and mail the ballot packets , according to Gothamist and WNYC .
Initially , voters were instructed to contact the Board of Elections to receive a correct envelope .
But by Tuesday afternoon , the board said all voters “ potentially affected ” will receive a new ballot packet “ to make certain absolutely no disenfranchisement occurs , ” Mike Ryan , the board ’ s executive director , said at a public board meeting .
All of the incorrect envelopes were distributed in one batch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election officials do not have exact data on who received the mislabeled envelopes .
Returning the ballot with the wrong voter ’ s name and address would render it invalid .
Across the country , the surge in mail-in voting and a flurry of changing voting procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused headaches for many voters and election officials .
For New York City voters , this is the second ballot printing error this week .
Earlier Monday , election officials said the absentee ballots have been mislabeled “ absentee military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ absentee/military ballot.
” They stressed that these ballots are valid and will be counted .
Note : absentee ballots say “ Official Absentee Military Ballot ” in the top corner .
This is the correct ballot , even if you are not serving in the military .
pic.twitter.com/IbtAcdJqL5 — NYC Votes ( @ NYCVotes ) September 28 , 2020 We want to know what you ’ re hearing on the ground from the candidates .
If you get any interesting ― or suspicious !
― campaign mailers , robocalls or hear anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , email us at scoops @ huffpost.com .

A number of voters in New York City on Monday received absentee ballots with return envelopes mislabeled with a different voter’s name and address, adding to the chaos surrounding the influx of mail-in voting this election season.
Amazing, I received my absentee ballot today and @BOENYC has given me someone else’s privacy envelope with their barcode and everything. This election is gonna be a shit show. pic.twitter.com/VNj9yKtaNK — Gary He (@garyhe) September 29, 2020
My mail-in ballot also has someone else's return envelope. This is gonna be a real huge problem, huh. https://t.co/ygx9XgeEE7 pic.twitter.com/JsGxb6yzP5 — Barry Petchesky (@barry) September 28, 2020
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The city’s Board of Elections attributed the incorrect envelopes to “an outside vendor error.” A private company was contracted to print and mail the ballot packets, according to Gothamist and WNYC.
Initially, voters were instructed to contact the Board of Elections to receive a correct envelope. But by Tuesday afternoon, the board said all voters “potentially affected” will receive a new ballot packet “to make certain absolutely no disenfranchisement occurs,” Mike Ryan, the board’s executive director, said at a public board meeting.
All of the incorrect envelopes were distributed in one batch in Brooklyn, Ryan said, but election officials do not have exact data on who received the mislabeled envelopes.
Returning the ballot with the wrong voter’s name and address would render it invalid.
Across the country, the surge in mail-in voting and a flurry of changing voting procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused headaches for many voters and election officials.
Advertisement
For New York City voters, this is the second ballot printing error this week. Earlier Monday, election officials said the absentee ballots have been mislabeled “absentee military ballot.” The ballots should have read “absentee/military ballot.”
They stressed that these ballots are valid and will be counted.
Note: absentee ballots say “Official Absentee Military Ballot” in the top corner. This is the correct ballot, even if you are not serving in the military. pic.twitter.com/IbtAcdJqL5 — NYC Votes (@NYCVotes) September 28, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-29--Twitter Users Dream Up The Debate Questions They Really Want Asked

A lot of questions are lingering about tonight ’ s first 2020 presidential debate in Cleveland ― especially about what questions will be thrown to President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden .
Obvious topics , of course , include the coronavirus pandemic , the economy , and the president ’ s own record .
But what are the questions Americans really want to be answered ?
That ’ s the challenge that Chip Franklin , a host on San Francisco radio station KGO , posed Tuesday morning to people on Twitter .
What ’ s the single most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ # PresidentialDebate2020 ?
— Chip Franklin ( @ chipfranklin ) September 29 , 2020 As for whether debate moderator Chris Wallace will use any of the proposals ― we can dream , right ?
If a train left New York at 300 miles per hour , and accelerated speed 15 miles per hour , and traveled a distance of 683 miles , tell me sir : what time would that train reach Chicago ?
!
— Eyewitness to Something ( @ acetomatoco ) September 29 , 2020 Can you have your shit out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — Mz .
Cabibi ( @ SoulofDemocracy ) September 29 , 2020 Recite any one COMPLETE SENTENCE from the Constitution and explained how your administration will make that so in 2021 through 2124 .
— LKLDFL ( @ LKLDFL ) September 29 , 2020 Is ANYONE better off than they were 4 years ago ?
?
?
NO !
— Blake ( @ Blake_RESISTS ) September 29 , 2020 What color drapes are the Biden ’ s going to go with for The White House .
— Anthony ( @ eclipse676 ) September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you reverse every executive order Trump implemened ?
— Ariaa Jaeger ( @ AriaaJaeger ) September 29 , 2020 Do you think you should resign and have all of your security clearances revoked ?
Should Pence take over for the remainder ?
— PapaBear ( @ DonnieReid16 ) September 29 , 2020 Biden : Will you meet with Putin or Kim Jong Un in complete private and end up with a few notes on a piece of paper ?
— TLC ( @ Resagail ) September 29 , 2020 What advice for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avoid paying taxes ?
— MincedNut ( @ MincedNut ) September 29 , 2020 Will trump be wearing an ear piece to receive answers to questions ?
— Bruce Scott ( @ scottbd70 ) September 29 , 2020

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A lot of questions are lingering about tonight’s first 2020 presidential debate in Cleveland ― especially about what questions will be thrown to President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Obvious topics, of course, include the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, and the president’s own record.
Advertisement
But what are the questions Americans really want to be answered?
That’s the challenge that Chip Franklin, a host on San Francisco radio station KGO, posed Tuesday morning to people on Twitter.
What’s the single most important question to be asked during the #PresidentialDebate2020? — Chip Franklin (@chipfranklin) September 29, 2020
Twitter users came through.
As for whether debate moderator Chris Wallace will use any of the proposals ― we can dream, right?
If a train left New York at 300 miles per hour, and accelerated speed 15 miles per hour, and traveled a distance of 683 miles, tell me sir: what time would that train reach Chicago?! — Eyewitness to Something (@acetomatoco) September 29, 2020
Can you have your shit out of our house tonight??? — Mz. Cabibi (@SoulofDemocracy) September 29, 2020
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Boxers or truss? — Tiberius Gracchus (@T_Gracchus) September 29, 2020
Recite any one COMPLETE SENTENCE from the Constitution and explained how your administration will make that so in 2021 through 2124. — LKLDFL (@LKLDFL) September 29, 2020
Is ANYONE better off than they were 4 years ago??? NO! — Blake (@Blake_RESISTS) September 29, 2020
What color drapes are the Biden’s going to go with for The White House. — Anthony (@eclipse676) September 29, 2020
To Biden: Will you reverse every executive order Trump implemened? — Ariaa Jaeger (@AriaaJaeger) September 29, 2020
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"Should a man offer a lady a Tiparillo?" — Doctor Emmit L Brown (@DoctorEmmit) September 29, 2020
Do you think you should resign and have all of your security clearances revoked? Should Pence take over for the remainder? — PapaBear (@DonnieReid16) September 29, 2020
Biden: Will you meet with Putin or Kim Jong Un in complete private and end up with a few notes on a piece of paper? — TLC (@Resagail) September 29, 2020
What advice for the future do you give young voters to avoid paying taxes? — MincedNut (@MincedNut) September 29, 2020
Will trump be wearing an ear piece to receive answers to questions? — Bruce Scott (@scottbd70) September 29, 2020
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why should anyone believe you? — Time to be heard Nov 3rd (@KnotlongN) September 29, 2020