theblaze--2020-10-19--CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin suspended by New Yorker after allegedly masturbating on Zoom call

CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin suspended by New Yorker after allegedly masturbating on Zoom call Toobin has apologized for exposing himself @ @ @ @ @ made an embarrassingly stupid mistake , believing I was off-camera . '

CNN chief legal analyst and staff writer for the New Yorker Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended by the magazine and taken some personal time off from the network after colleagues saw him expose himself while allegedly masturbating during a work Zoom call last week.
What are the details?
Vice reported Monday that Toobin had been suspended by the New Yorker for allegedly exposing himself on the call, and updated the piece shortly thereafter to clarify "that Toobin was masturbating" during an election simulation that involved other employees of the New Yorker and some from WNYC radio.
Vice described the purported incident as such:
Both people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, noted that it was unclear how much each person saw, but both said that they saw Toobin jerking off. The two sources described a juncture in the election simulation when there was a strategy session, and the Democrats and Republicans went into their respective break out rooms for about 10 minutes. At this point, they said, it seemed like Toobin was on a second video call. The sources said that when the groups returned from their break out rooms, Toobin lowered the camera. The people on the call said they could see Toobin touching his penis. Toobin then left the call. Moments later, he called back in, seemingly unaware of what his colleagues had been able to see, and the simulation continued.
Prior to Vice making updates to the story, Toobin told the outlet, "I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers."
"I believed I was not visible on Zoom," he added. "I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video."
The New Yorker told The Washington Post, "Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter," but did not elaborate further. A spokesperson for CNN issued a statement saying, "Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted."
Anything else?
According to the Associated Press, Toobin has been a writer at the New Yorker for more than 20 years, and an analyst for CNN since 2002. He has written several books, and his most recent was titled, "True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump."
The phrase "Zoom d***" began trending on Twitter, in a nod to Vice's original headline, which read, "New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Zoom D*** Incident."
Editor's note: For several minutes, this article was updated to note that Vice removed the paragraph describing the Toobin incident. But the paragraph in question is now back in their story. Vice said it was technical glitch.


theblaze--2020-10-19--North Carolina governor caught on hot mic telling Joe Biden they'll drag disgraced Senate candidate

North Carolina governor caught on hot mic telling Joe Biden they'll drag disgraced Senate candidate across the line

North Carolina governor caught on hot mic telling Joe Biden they 'll drag disgraced Senate candidate across the line

The Democratic governor of North Carolina was caught on a hot microphone moment telling presidential candidate Joe Biden that they would drag a disgraced candidate across the line to keep a seat in the Democratic column.
Gov. Roy Cooper was meeting with Biden on the campaign trail when the comments were accidentally caught.
Cal Cunningham's campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Thom Tillis was roiled when inappropriate texts between him and a Californian public relations strategist were published. Cunningham is married with two children.
Cooper promised Biden that they would drag him across the line in the election despite the "frustrating" scandal.
"Thanks for coming out, you didn't have to do this," Biden said in the video as they are both wearing masks.
"No I wanted to, I wanted to express my strong support for you, and I think we're all going to get across the line," said Cooper in the video on the tarmac. "I think Cal's going to get across the line, too."
Biden's reply is unintelligible in the video.
"I know that's frustrating, but we'll get it across," Cooper responded.
Cunningham addressed the texts and apologized to the voters and his family, but said that he would stay in the race.
"I have hurt my family, disappointed my friends, and am deeply sorry," Cunningham said in a statement on Oct. 2.
"The first step in repairing those relationships is taking complete responsibility, which I do," he continued. "I ask that my family's privacy be respected in this personal matter. I remain grateful and humbled by the ongoing support that North Carolinians have extended in this campaign, and in the remaining weeks before this election I will continue to work to earn the opportunity to fight for the people of our state."
Later, the sexting partner told the Associated Press that she and Cunningham had an intimate physical relationship in addition to the text exchanges.
Then, allegations emerged of a second affair between Cunningham and an unidentified woman in a separate report from National File on Oct. 5.
Polls showed Cunningham still remained ahead of Tillis even after the damaging sexting scandal.
North Carolina's Senate race is the most expensive Senate race ever, with more than $242 million spent on ads, according to Advertising Analytics, the Associated Press reported.
Here's more about the Cunningham sexting scandal:


theblaze--2020-10-19--READ: Trump campaign shreds presidential debate commission for breaking tradition on foreign policy

READ : Trump campaign shreds presidential debate commission for breaking tradition on foreign policy The final presidential debate is on @

President Donald Trump's campaign wants the Commission on Presidential Debates to "recalibrate" the topics for the final presidential debate to include foreign policy, a topic that would allow Trump to pressure Vice President Joe Biden on his son's foreign business dealings.
In a letter sent Monday, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien wrote "with great concern" to the debate commission to object to the exclusion of foreign policy in the final debate. The current debate topics, announced last Friday, were selected by moderator Kristen Welker, a NBC News White House correspondent. They are: "Fighting COVID-19," "American Families," "Race in America," "Climate Change," "National Security" and "Leadership."
"The topics announced by Kristen Welker ... are serious and worthy of discussion, but only a few of them even touch on foreign policy," Stepien wrote. "As is the longstanding custom, and as had been promised by the Commission on Presidential Debates, we had expected that foreign policy would be the central focus of the October 22 debate. We urge you to recalibrate the topics and return to subjects which had already been confirmed."
"We understand that Joe Biden is desperate to avoid conversations about his own foreign policy record," the letter continued, going on to tout Trump's foreign policy accomplishments and criticize Biden's record.
Stepien, referring to recent allegations made against Biden in reports published by the New York Post, accuses Biden of being a "financial beneficiary of a deal arranged by his son Hunter and a communist Chinese-related energy company." He also accused the debate commission of protecting Biden from facing questions on his record.
"It is completely irresponsible for the Commission to alter the focus of this final debate just days before the event, solely to insulate Biden from his own history," Stepien wrote.
He accused the CPD of engaging in other "pro-Biden antics."
"The Commission's pro-Biden antics have turned the entire debate season into a fiasco and it is little wonder why the public has lost its faith in objectivity," he said.
"For the good of campaign integrity, and for the benefit of the American people, we urge you to rethink and reissue a set of topics for the October 22 debate with an emphasis on foreign policy. This is what the campaigns had agreed to and it has been the tradition of past campaigns," the letter concluded. "We await your immediate reply to these concerns. We further advise you that there is no reason to consult with the Biden campaign before replying because we all know what they think."
The final presidential debate between Trump and Biden is scheduled to take place on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 9 p.m. ET at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The debate will follow the format of the first debate, devoting 15 minutes to each topic and providing each candidate with two minutes to respond to prompts from the moderator.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Man, 60, tells cops he burned Trump flag hanging from home during paper route because he was 'angry'

Man , 60 , tells cops he burned Trump flag hanging from home during paper route because he was 'angry @

Police said a 60-year-old man told them he set fire to a flag supporting President Donald Trump — which was hanging from a home on his newspaper route — because he was "angry," NorthcentralPA.com reported.
What are the details?
Harrison Bennett was charged with felony arson after police in Shamokin City, Pennsylvania, said he set the flag ablaze when it was attached to an occupied building, the outlet said.
Bennett is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before District Judge John Gembic on Nov. 10, the outlet added.
Officer Tyler R. Bischof said Bennett used a cigarette lighter to burn a Trump flag attached to a house in the 400 block of South Shamokin St. just after 3 a.m. Aug. 27, the outlet reported, citing a Sept. 4 criminal complaint.
The homeowner had a video of the flag burning incident, and a photograph from the video was posted to the Shamokin Crime Watch Facebook page in an attempt to identify him, Bischof told the outlet.
Police said they got a tip that the man in the video may work for a paper in the city, the News-Item, the outlet noted. Turns out Bennett helped another man deliver newspapers along a route that included the scene of the flag burning, the outlet added, citing the complaint.
"Bennett said that he has anger problems and that it spilled over and so he lit the flag," Bischof wrote, according to NorthcentralPA.
What did the suspect have to say?
Bennett made the following written statement: "I got up at 2:00 am and went and helped with newspaper. Was angry and burned flag," the outlet said, citing the complaint.
Besides felony arson, Bennett also was charged with one felony count of risking catastrophe and one count of summary criminal mischief.
More of the same
Pro-Trump flags and banners seem to be occupying a more prominent space within the news cycle as the presidential election draws closer:


theblaze--2020-10-19--Bill Gates: 'Shutting down' economy not nearly enough to stem climate change — we need to 'get rid o

Bill Gates: 'Shutting down' economy not nearly enough to stem climate change — we need to 'get rid of emissions from all the different sectors'

Bill Gates : 'Shutting down ' economy not nearly enough to stem climate change — we need to 'get rid @ @ @ @ @ different sectors '

Billionaire Microsoft founder and climate activist Bill Gates said Monday that large-scale economic shutdowns are "nowhere near sufficient" to curtail climate change. Rather, we need "to get rid of emissions from all the different sectors."
What are the details?
Gates made the remarks during a keynote address for the National Academy of Medicine's 2020 annual meeting, which this year was titled, "Confronting Urgent Threats to Human Health & Society: COVID-19 and Climate Change."
"The change in behavior, like driving less or flying less, is helpful but nowhere near sufficient — 2020 is a great example of this," Gates said. "We've cut down carbon emission with these drastic changes in the economy, but the reduction in emissions is actually quite modest."
He noted that this year, even with the implementation of large-scale economic shutdowns in many places around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, the global emissions rate was only cut by 8%, according to International Energy Association estimates.
"Simply shutting down [the economy] is not going to get [us] to our goal," he concluded. "So just like we need innovation for COVID-19, we also need that to get rid of emissions from all the different sectors and bring down climate change."
"This crosses many areas," Gates continued. "How we make electricity, how we make industrial products, grow food, cool our buildings, and all of transportation."
What else?
Gates recently reiterated many of the same details during a discussion with Bloomberg News as a part of the Bloomberg Green Festival, in which the tech billionaire argued stopping climate change is a much bigger problem than the coronavirus pandemic.
Tackling climate changes, he said, would require starting "many decades ahead of when you want that solution deployed" and involve nearly every key infrastructure sector.
"Transport, industry, buildings, electricity, all of those things — and agriculture — contribute to emissions. For many of these sources of emissions, we have no solutions," he added. "With climate, we need ... increased speed and more. We need policies, we need more [research and development] money, we need more risk capital because of all those hard areas."
The price tag on many of these supposedly must-needed investments would likely be in the trillions. But that's not necessarily surprising, given the whopping cost of the left's Green New Deal plan — which is estimated to be at least $10 trillion.
In July last year, the Competitive Enterprise Institute estimated that if the Green New Deal was implemented as currently proposed, it would cost the average household $70,000 in just the first year.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Debt doesn't matter: Democrats promise unfathomable spending if they win — except for the military

Debt does n't matter : Democrats promise unfathomable spending if they win — except for the military 'We can afford @ @ @ @ @ want to do '

As the United States' budget deficits and national debt have reached post-World War II highs during President Donald Trump's administration, thanks in part to the trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus , Democrats are openly telling voters ahead of the election they can't stop and won't stop the spending if they win.
For the first time in a decade, Congress next year will face no budget caps or automatic spending cuts as the limits on spending imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 are set to expire. Also, next year Congress is set to vote on another debt ceiling increase to allow the government room to borrow the trillions of dollars to cover its profligate spending. Knowing this, Democrats openly told Politico that if they win the election, controlling the House, the Senate, and the White House, the plan is to spend, spend, spend on anything and everything they want.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden has proposed $5 trillion in new spending on universal pre-K child care, tuition-free community college, Green New Deal-lite policies, expanding Obamacare, and more. Though the national debt is over $27 trillion and a full 37% bigger than the size of the U.S. economy, Democrats believe there is no consequence to the amount of spending they envision.
"There's really been no negative economic impact from a doubling of the national debt," House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said in an interview with Politico. "I think economists are thinking differently about the national debt and how much room we have in the economy for fiscal stimulus. … We can afford to do almost anything we want to do."
There's always the chance that the U.S. Senate may block some of the most extreme spending dreamed up by progressives in the House, but Yarmuth and other Democrats have a plan for that. According to Politico, Democrats intend to use a legislative maneuver called budget reconciliation — the same tactic they used to pass Obamacare — to dodge a Senate filibuster and pass massive bills related to infrastructure and other Democratic priorities with a simple majority in the Senate.
"I don't think there's any question of whether we'd use it, if we had to," Yarmuth said. "The possibilities are endless. I think you'd want to do it for the biggest possible package you could."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) echoed Yarmuth and said now is the time for progressives to "use every tool" to pass their agenda.
"This is the time to do that," she said. "We have to use every tool in our toolbox. ... We have to be bold. This is not a time for meekness, this is not a time for incremental change."
Democrats are emboldened by the end of the Budget Control Act. Without limits on overall total spending for defense and non-defense programs, progressives are eyeing major cuts to defense spending to make room for their expensive domestic agenda.
"This will be a top priority of the progressive caucus — to really get some meaningful budget cuts in Pentagon spending this next cycle," Jayapal said. "It shouldn't be considered patriotic to just sign up for more money for defense contractors."
There is little reason, however, to think that Republicans will do much to cut spending if they win the election. Under President Trump, the budget deficit grew $3.9 trillion — and that was before the coronavirus pandemic. Though the White House claims reducing the budget deficit would be a second-term priority for Trump and Trump's budgets have repeatedly called for reduced spending, the president has done little to signal to lawmakers he would veto the spending bills Congress sends him.
For now, the Congressional Budget Office projects the United States will experience trillion-dollar deficits indefinitely.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Thug beats cop's face bloody in brutal attack livestreamed on Facebook. Of course, it features laugh

Thug beats cop's face bloody in brutal attack livestreamed on Facebook. Of course, it features laughing onlookers egging on suspect.

Thug beats cop 's face bloody in brutal attack livestreamed on Facebook .
Of course , it features laughing onlookers @ @ @ @

A North Carolina police officer was airlifted to a hospital early Saturday morning after he was beaten while trying to make an arrest — and the attack was livestreamed on Facebook, left his face bloody, and featured laughing onlookers.
What are the details?
Rowland Officer Michael Sale, 27, responded to a disturbance call and was beaten while trying to arrest a man, Chief Hubert B. Graham told WPDE-TV.
Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @KittyLists
A bystander recorded the attack on cellphone, and it went live on Facebook, the station said, adding that the video gained dozens of shares. The video lasted 11 minutes, WPDE reported in an earlier story.
The station said the officer asked a man for assistance, but the man refused. Several people came outside, and some urged others to help, WPDE noted. The officer was repeatedly punched in the face.
The clip does show one man pulling the attacker away from the officer, but another man is heard saying, "Let 'em whup his ass! Let 'em whup his ass!"
Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @KittyLists
After the man lets go, the beating continues. "Don't you let that man take you to f***in' jail!" the same man is heard saying to the attacker.
The following are several clips of the attack. ( Content warning: Language):
What happened after help arrived?
Graham told WPDE that there was concern Officer Sale broke a bone around his eye, so he was airlifted to a hospital. He has since been discharged and is recovering at home with his family, the station said in a follow-up story.
Authorities charged Jamel Alphonso Rogers with assault with a deadly weapon with intentions to kill while inflicting serious injuries, kidnapping, and two counts of resisting a public officer, the station said.
Jamel Alphonso Rogers Image source: Robeson County Detention Center
Rogers appeared before a judge Monday and his bond was set at $500,000, WPDE said, adding that he's being held at Robeson County Detention Center and that it's unlikely Rogers will make bond.
Graham said Sale was the only officer on duty Friday night, the station said, which is why it took some time for backup to arrive.
"He was working by himself that night," the chief said in a separate story. "That is being worked on."
Graham also told WPDE he wishes others had stepped up to help "because they knew the situation the officer was in."
Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins shared his thoughts about the attack on Facebook:
Officer Sale was surrounded by a crowd outside a store last December when he worked for the Maxton Police Department and was violently beaten by one man in the crowd, the station said. As with this weekend's attack, the incident last year was recorded on cellphone and shared on social media, WPDE said.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Disney adds lengthy content warnings for racist stereotypes in films such as 'Dumbo,' 'Peter Pan,' a

Disney adds lengthy content warnings for racist stereotypes in films such as 'Dumbo,' 'Peter Pan,' and more

Disney adds lengthy content warnings for racist stereotypes in films such as 'Dumbo , ' 'Peter Pan , ' and @ @ @ @ @ 'mistreatment of people or cultures '

Disney Plus has added new disclaimers to many of its classic films for featuring what some viewers might consider "negative depictions" and "mistreatment of people or cultures."
What are the details?
According to the Daily Wire, a 12-second disclaimer on the company's streaming platform says, "These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it, and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together."
In a video titled "Stories Matter," the Walt Disney Company breaks down what makes some of its beloved classics so offensive.
Some of those films include 1941's "Dumbo," 1953's "Peter Pan," and 1970's "The Aristocats."
On its "Stories Matter" page, the company writes, "As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, we are in the process of reviewing our library and adding advisories to content that includes negative depictions or mistreatment of people or cultures. We can't change the past, but we can acknowledge it, learn from it, and move forward together to create a tomorrow that today can only dream of."
Here's why "Dumbo" is problematic according to the company:
The crows and musical number pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations. The leader of the group in Dumbo is Jim Crow, which shares the name of laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. In “The Song of the Roustabouts," faceless Black workers toil away to offensive lyrics like 'When we get our pay, we throw our money all away.
The streaming site explains that "Peter Pan" is offensive as it portrays native people in a "stereotypical manner" and repeatedly uses the word "redskins."
The film portrays Native people in a stereotypical manner that reflects neither the diversity of Native peoples nor their authentic cultural traditions. It shows them speaking in an unintelligible language and repeatedly refers to them as "redskins," an offensive term. Peter and the Lost Boys engage in dancing, wearing headdresses and other exaggerated tropes, a form of mockery and appropriation of Native peoples' culture and imagery.
"The Aristocats" makes the list as it features a cat depicting a "racist caricature of East Asian people."
The cat is depicted as a racist caricature of East Asian peoples with exaggerated stereotypical traits such as slanted eyes and buck teeth. He sings in poorly accented English voiced by a white actor and plays the piano with chopsticks. This portrayal reinforces the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype, while the film also features lyrics that mock the Chinese language and culture such as "Shanghai, Hong Kong, Egg Foo Young. Fortune cookie always wrong."


theblaze--2020-10-19--Bill O'Reilly: The Left HATES Trump so much, they'd rather vote for the 'senile, corrupt guy'

Bill O'Reilly : The Left HATES Trump so much , they 'd rather vote for the 'senile , corrupt guy' @ @ @ @ @ when you vote for Biden , you 're voting against your own self interest ?
@

The king of "No Spin" and bestselling author of "Killing Crazy Horse," Bill O'Reilly joined Glenn Beck on this week's podcast to talk about the latest developments in Joe Biden's Ukraine and China corruption scandal. Now that some of the details are finally coming out in the open, does the average Democrat care? Maybe, but the Left doesn't seem to.
O'Reilly argued there's more hatred for President Donald Trump now than in 2016, and that some people hate President Trump so much that they'd rather vote for the "senile, corrupt" Joe Biden.
"Hunter got tens of millions of dollars from Ukraine, from Russia, from China because his father was vice president. I have no doubt in my mind," O'Reilly said. "But the hatred for Donald Trump overrides that in the minds of millions of viewers. They're saying, 'You know, we'd rather have the senile corrupt guy than Trump.'"
Asked by Glenn if any other Republican running for president would be met with the same level of vitriol, O'Reilly answered, "The Left is the Left. They don't like America. The want to redo the Constitution. They want to take some of our freedoms, like the Second Amendment and the First Amendment, and change them. And they want to destroy capitalism and replace it with a big centralized government in Washington that controls the economy … but I'm talking about the folks. I have liberal friends and I say to them, 'Do you not understand that when you vote for Biden, you're voting against your own self interest?'"
Watch the video clip from the full podcast below, or find the full episode HERE:
Want to listen to more Glenn Beck podcasts?
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theblaze--2020-10-19--Police arrest Bernie Sanders sticker-wearing woman for reportedly assaulting 73-year-old Vietnam vet

Police arrest Bernie Sanders sticker-wearing woman for reportedly assaulting 73-year-old Vietnam vet Trump supporter

As vile and ugly as it gets

Authorities in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, arrested a woman after she reportedly assaulted a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran over his apparent support of President Donald Trump.
What are the details?
According to WBZ-TV, police charged 34-year-old Kiara Dudley with assault and battery on an elderly person causing injury. She was released on $250 bail on Monday.
Investigators say that Dudley approached the unnamed vet and a second person — both of whom were standing on a street corner on Saturday with Trump flags and signs — and "began to berate them with insults."
The veteran and the other person reportedly attempted to move away from Dudley, but she then allegedly "bumped" the veteran with her body and stepped on his "Veterans for Trump" sign. The station reported that when the elderly gentleman bent over to pick up the sign, Dudley "knocked him to the ground causing an injury to his finger."
Bystanders called 911 and Dudley was taken into custody without incident.
According to the station, Dudley on Monday told a judge at her arraignment that the elderly man attacked her during the incident. The judge ordered Dudley to stay away from the man, or her bail would be revoked.
She is due back in court on Nov. 20.
What else?
In the woman's booking photo, she can be seen smiling wryly and staring with a vacant expression while wearing a Bernie Sanders sticker on her T-shirt.
Heavy reports that Dudley — who lives in the area with her wife — is also a supporter of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's policies and the Black Lives Matter movement.
What else?
This is the second time this weekend a Trump supporter was attacked while demonstrating to support the president.
Women's March and Black Lives Matter activists in Washington, D.C., reportedly pummeled a female pro-Trump supporter on Saturday, causing the woman to seek treatment for head and neck injuries.
The victim, Isabella Maria DeLuca, said that she was waving a pro-Trump flag when an elderly woman approached her and began hitting her while attempting to wrest away the flag. A second person, according to DeLuca, entered the fracas and also began hitting her while attempting to take away the flag.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Rabbi who pushed Brooklyn's Jewish community to follow 'draconian' coronavirus lockdown rules dies o

Rabbi who pushed Brooklyn's Jewish community to follow 'draconian' coronavirus lockdown rules dies of COVID-19

Rabbi who pushed Brooklyn 's Jewish community to follow 'draconian ' coronavirus lockdown rules dies of COVID-19

New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio have been on the receiving end of serious pushback for their perceived targeting of Orthodox Jewish communities with their COVID-19 policies and rhetoric.
They had an ally, however, in Orthodox Rabbi R'Mayer Zelig Rispler, who repeatedly urged Jewish communities to follow safety measures impose by city officials.
In April, after de Blasio had issued multiple threats to the Jewish community to follow his coronavirus rules or else, Rispler was one of the leading Orthodox voices calling on the Hasidic community to follow the COVID-19 commands, the New York Post reported.
"We do not condone any behavior that puts people at risk and pledge to keep working alongside the brave men and women of the NYPD in addressing and eliminating any such occurrences," he wrote, according to the Times of Israel.
According to the Post, the rabbi fell ill last month.
Rispler, 70, died of COVID-19 last week, the Times reported, and was buried Friday.
De Blasio and Cuomo have a history of targeting Jews
Cuomo and de Blasio have repeatedly come under fire for their coronavirus policies and statements that have been seen as especially unfair to the Orthodox Jewish community.
For example:
● In March, law enforcement was sent to crack down on a large Jewish prayer meeting in Brooklyn for violating the city's social distancing rules.
● Also in March, de Blasio threatened to shut down synagogues for violating his order to stop gathering during the pandemic. He issued the threat on a Friday afternoon just hours before the Jewish community was set to meet for weekly Shabbat gatherings.
● In April, the mayor, shortly after closing synagogues for Passover, announced that the city would be providing 500,000 Halal meals for Muslims during Ramadan.
● Later in April, Hizzoner singled out the Jewish community for arrest for violating social distancing guidelines, tweeting, ""My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period." (He was later forced to apologize.)
● Just days later, NYC cops were sent to break up an outdoor Jewish funeral procession.
● In June, the mayor booted Hasidic Jewish kids from a park in Brooklyn because of social distancing while de Blasio himself endorsed massive BLM protests. He even went so far as to say that the BLM protests trumped religious services.
● A few days later, the mayor was once again upset that people were once again gathering at the park, so he had the gates welded shut.
● This month, Cuomo threatened to shut down New York City synagogues if the Jewish community did not follow his coronavirus rules.
● At the same time, Cuomo used a photo of a gathering from 2006 to attempt to justify shutting down Jewish gatherings.
● Also in October, Cuomo issued new "draconian" coronavirus measures during Jewish holiday celebrations and had police sent in to enforce the new rules, which resulted in the community coming together to burn face masks in the streets and holding a festive Trump rally.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Connecticut paper runs editorial claiming every last Trump voter supports racism

'You ca n't support Trump without supporting the racism that forms the bedrock of his political persona '

The editorial board at the Hartford Courant officially endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for president on Sunday — and in doing so called every last supporter of President Donald Trump a racist.
They said what?
"You probably think you can vote for Donald Trump but not support racism; here's why you're wrong," the story's headline stated, making no mistake about the argument to be offered below.
Then, after briefly stating that there are "many reasons" not to endorse Trump, the editors dove into the "one issue that demands a closer look as we approach Election Day ... racism":
President Trump's views on race and his willingness to exploit deep-rooted divisions are well documented. He jump-started his 2016 campaign by equating Mexicans with rapists and drug dealers. When racist violence erupted at a Charlottesville, Va., white-supremacist rally, Trump said there were "very fine people on both sides." And most recently, when asked during a debate with Biden to denounce white nationalism, Trump said it was time for the militaristic hate group the Proud Boys to step back — but also to "stand by."
That alone should frighten you, but right about now is when some of you are probably saying that you don't subscribe to the kind of racist invective Trump uses to fire up his base. You believe in the free market and low taxes, or you're against abortion, or you just don't trust the Democrats.
But on race? You believe that all men and women are created equal. I see the person, you say, not the color of their skin.
Side note: The oft-repeated invocation that Trump referred to neo-Nazis and white nationalists at the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, as "very fine people" is a flat-out lie.
The full context of the remarks, as reported by Politifact, show that Trump clarified during his remarks, saying, "You had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists."
As for Trump's "Proud Boys" remarks, he would later clarify that, too, saying that the "alt-right" group should "stand down and let law enforcement do its work."
Furthermore, despite the left-wing media's insistence that he hasn't, Trump has repeatedly condemned white supremacism.
It gets worse
Alas, moving on from their misleading portrait of Trump as a bonafide racist, the Hartford Courant editors insisted that all those who support him are racists, too.
"Politics is always about compromise," they acknowledged. "But Trump's racism isn't the same, not even close."
"The difference now, in 2020, is that Donald Trump doesn't just exploit racism, he revels in it," they claimed. "Trump wears his whiteness like a badge of honor and plays his affinity for groups like the Proud Boys and other agents of racial hatred for applause. Trump doesn't simply mine the racial divide for political advantage, he treats it like a worldview to be celebrated and adored."
As such, whoever votes for Trump is not an innocent party but a guilty participant in the proliferation of racist practices.
"You can't support Trump without supporting the racism that forms the bedrock of his political persona," the editorial stated. "You may not think of yourself as promoting racism if you vote for Trump, but you are giving comfort and aid to the hateful among us."
Bet you didn't know that, Trump supporters. You'll likely change your vote now.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Horowitz: How disproportionate coronavirus panic will create excess cancer deaths for years to come

Horowitz : How disproportionate coronavirus panic will create excess cancer deaths for years to come

Last week, I presented an analysis showing that not only does SARS-CoV-2 replace the flu while it is circulating, its casualty targets draw heavily from the pool of past and future flu and pneumonia fatality victims. This has the long-term effect of flattening out the curve of excess deaths over time to a point that the imprint of this virus will be barely noticeable in many states. However, our panicked response to the virus will likely produce excess deaths for years to come that will grow over time because the years of life lost are much greater.
There are dashboards in nearly every country to monitor and tabulate every death caused (or allegedly caused) by the virus, even though there is no evidence at this point that any human intervention could have prevented those deaths. But there are no dashboards for people like 31-year-old Kelly Smith, a U.K. cancer patient who had her chemotherapy paused for three months beginning in March. Unfortunately, she didn't last long enough for the treatments to resume. According to the U.K Daily Mail, she is one of "thousands" of cancer patients abandoned by the lockdown policies, a policy that inherently regarded COVID-19 as a larger threat than cancer.
The overwhelming majority of COVID-19 deaths are people at or above life expectancy. The estimated 3-million-person backlog for cancer screenings in the U.K. will result in exponentially more life years lost because many of them, like Kelly Smith, are young. The U.K., like so many other countries, swapped out medical treatment and science that we know has worked for a strategy of locking down a virus that has never worked. The results are devastating and will continue to claim casualties long after the virus is over.
While the U.S. isn't quite as bad off because we don't have as much rationed care as the U.K., the death toll both from the initial lockdown and from the continued fear and panic, which drive people away from seeking preventive care, will continue to grow over time.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that medical billing and insurance claims data show there have been hundreds of thousands of missed and delayed mammograms and other forms of cancer screening since March. That is a recipe for thousands of people, over time, not getting a diagnosis until their diseases reacs stage 4 rather than the demonstrably more treatable stage 3. That is a very scary prospect, given that one in eight women develop breast cancer, and 78% of those with stage 4 breast cancer don't live past five years. Remember, the chance of dying of COVID-19 for most people is an infinitesimal number – below 1%.
Although most of the effects will be long-term, the Journal reports that cancer care provider 21st Century Oncology has already seen noticeable increases in the share of breast and lung cancer cases that are in advanced stages relative to the past five years.
"Claims tallied by researchers at UnitedHealth Group Inc., parent of the largest U.S. health insurer, show mammograms dropped by as much as 95% in the second week of April compared with that same week in previous years," reports the WSJ. "Screenings began to resume later in the summer, though they returned only to typical levels."
The nation's largest insurer has also observed through its claims data nearly a million fewer mammograms and colorectal and cervical cancer screenings for the first eight months of 2020, compared to the same period last year.
An analysis of medical billing from Community Oncology Alliance and Avalere Health indicate that oncology visits were down between 29% and 70% from March through July and biopsies for breast, lung, and colon cancer fell between 11% and 79% over the same period.
While the drop was the most severe during the first months of the actual full-scale shutdown, they are still well below average. According to the Health Care Cost Institute, mammograms fell 77 percent at the height of the pandemic, but were still down 23 percent in September long after the shutdown.
Why so? Although access to such care is no longer denied in most places, the fear and panic induced by the government and media are leading too many to believe that they are at greater risk of dying from the virus than from other ailments and to therefore delay critical preventive care. One Mayo Clinic doctor reported seeing more patients who ignored lumps in their bodies for fear contracting the virus while going out for testing. Other doctors and health networks have seen similar delays in colonoscopies, which have proven themselves lifesavers in catching silently growing colon cancer.
Now multiply these numbers of extra cancer deaths for many other ailments, such as heart and neurological illnesses, and you will find hundreds of thousands of excess deaths for years to come. A study published last week in Jama by Yale and Virginia Commonwealth University researchers found that even during the peak of the epidemic – from March through July – 33% of this year's excess deaths were not from the virus, but from non-respiratory causes, primarily cardiovascular, diabetes, and dementia. The cancer excess deaths will likely be spread out over time for years to come and, as this coronavirus becomes less deadly and more treatable, overshadow the deaths from the virus.
Moreover, this study accounted heavily for New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, where the virus hit particularly hard. In many places throughout the country, excess deaths from non-COVID causes are already higher than COVID-19 deaths in that given area.
Take Colorado, for example. A recent analysis of excess deaths in the Rocky Mountain State showed that at least 1,038 Coloradans have died from Colorado's reaction to COVID from June 14 through September 26, as compared to just 438 from the virus. My friend Karl Dierenbach, an engineer and attorney from Denver, posted an analysis of CDC mortality data showing that 200 of those excess deaths were Alzheimer's patients and 300 were from circulatory disease such as heart attacks and strokes. This harmonizes with an analysis published by local Denver doctors showing more people died of heart attacks because they declined to come to the ER than died from the virus in the area during the two week stay-at-home order in early April.
Among young people under 45, Colorado recorded just 100 virus deaths for the entire duration of the epidemic, while the CDC shows 500 additional excess deaths not related to COVID-19. They were likely due to suicides and drug overdoses from the stress, depression, fear, and mental illness.
The cruel irony is that there are generations of science and data vouching for the effectiveness of preventive measures in lowering the death rate of heart disease, cancer, and strokes. On the other hand, after six months of observations, it has become clear that none of these draconian social control measures have done anything to save a single life from the virus. Rather, the panic, fear, and depression these measures induce in the population will kill more people just from the mental health issues and the higher blood pressure and stress alone.
How true were the words of King David thousands of years ago when he was presented with a choice between a God-made punishment of pestilence and a man-made problem of war. As he opted for the plague, he told the prophet, "Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands." ~2 Samuel 24:14.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Conference cancels keynote speech by Stanford biophysics professor Michael Levitt because of his ske

Conference cancels keynote speech by Stanford biophysics professor Michael Levitt because of his skepticism regarding COVID-19 lockdowns

Stanford professor and Nobel laureate Michael Levitt has been disinvited as a keynote speaker at a conference dedicated to his field of expertise, allegedly because of his controversial views regarding the efficacy of many of the measures that have been taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Levitt is a professor of structural biology at Stanford and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013.
According to Levitt, he was disinvited due to concerns expressed by other speakers about his views on the COVID-19 pandemic. In a tweet, Levitt noted that the conference was not expected to discuss the pandemic and that he did not plan for his remarks to include any discussion of the pandemic.
Levitt has sparked controversy this year by arguing that the lockdown measures instituted to combat the coronavirus pandemic would likely lead to more deaths than the pandemic itself. He has also argued that many countries are vastly overcounting coronavirus deaths, and that it is unjustified to include all individuals who died with the coronavirus in the official death counts.
He has also caused controversy by asserting that controlling the panic associated with the pandemic is as important as controlling the pandemic itself.
Recently, he has also waged a crusade against what he perceives as a scientific censorship campaign that is being waged, with the help of Big Tech, against anyone who does not toe the current line on how to control the pandemic.
Levitt has also aggressively championed the work of his Stanford colleague Dr. John Ioannadis, who has faced criticism for estimating that the infection fatality rate of COVID-19 is much lower than was believed at the start of the pandemic.
The organizers of the Biodesign Research Conference did not return a request for comment on this story.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Comedian Rob Schneider savages Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom over bizarre Thanksgiving restrictions

Comedian and actor Rob Schneider went off on California Democratic Gov .
Gavin Newsom 's recently announced restrictions on Thanksgiving for Californians .
Last week , Newsom announced that Californians should not mix more than three households during a celebration .
He also suggested that those people gather outside for the Thanksgiving feast and should socially distance as well as wear masks .
Newsom also said that the gatherings should not last more than two hours and that those gathering for the holiday should not sing or shout .
`` We are entering into the holidays , but also we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where things cool down and people are more likely to congregate back indoors in settings that put their physical proximity and likelihood of transmission and transmitting disease at higher risk , '' he reasoned .
What are the details ?
In response to Newsom 's new rules , Schneider wrote , `` Dear Emperor @ GavinNewsom .
During our allotted 3 family limit this Thanksgiving , if my Aunt comes over , can I throw her a slice of turkey from the window ?
We promise NOT to sing ... we will all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ sic ] ! '
'' Just days before the rebuke , Schneider attacked Newsom for closing wineries across the state in July — except for those he owns .
The former `` Saturday Night Live '' comedian shared a snap of Newsom standing in front of various bottles of wine and captioned it , `` Enjoy @ GavinNewsom 2020 Vintage Wine !
A Smokey ash flavored Cab with hints of incompetence & authoritarian overstepping .
Who needs science ?
Just Lock yourself down & go bankrupts with this morally corrupt table wine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of one man dictatorial rule & 16.8 % tax . ''
Earlier in October , Newsom caught the ire of many social media users when he said that restaurant diners should be sure to wear their masks between bites .
`` Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend ? ''
the governor 's office said in a tweet at the time .
`` Do n't forget to keep your mask on in between bites .
Do your part to keep those around you healthy . ''

Comedian and actor Rob Schneider went off on California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's recently announced restrictions on Thanksgiving for Californians.
What's a brief history here?
Last week, Newsom announced that Californians should not mix more than three households during a celebration. He also suggested that those people gather outside for the Thanksgiving feast and should socially distance as well as wear masks.
Newsom also said that the gatherings should not last more than two hours and that those gathering for the holiday should not sing or shout.
"We are entering into the holidays, but also we're entering into part of the year where things cool down and people are more likely to congregate back indoors in settings that put their physical proximity and likelihood of transmission and transmitting disease at higher risk," he reasoned.
What are the details?
In response to Newsom's new rules, Schneider wrote, "Dear Emperor @GavinNewsom. During our allotted 3 family limit this Thanksgiving, if my Aunt comes over, can I throw her a slice of turkey from the window? We promise NOT to sing ... we will all just whisper 'PLEASE RECALL DIPS**T GAVIN NEWSON [sic]!'"
Just days before the rebuke, Schneider attacked Newsom for closing wineries across the state in July — except for those he owns.
The former "Saturday Night Live" comedian shared a snap of Newsom standing in front of various bottles of wine and captioned it, "Enjoy @GavinNewsom 2020 Vintage Wine! A Smokey ash flavored Cab with hints of incompetence & authoritarian overstepping. Who needs science? Just Lock yourself down & go bankrupts with this morally corrupt table wine with it's [sic] bouquet of one man dictatorial rule & 16.8% tax."
Anything else?
Earlier in October, Newsom caught the ire of many social media users when he said that restaurant diners should be sure to wear their masks between bites.
"Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend?" the governor's office said in a tweet at the time. "Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites. Do your part to keep those around you healthy."


theblaze--2020-10-19--Twitter tries to cancel Chris Pratt for being a Trump supporter. Reports say it's all because he isn

Twitter tries to cancel Chris Pratt for being a Trump supporter. Reports say it's all because he isn't set to appear at a Biden fundraiser

Twitter tries to cancel Chris Pratt for being a Trump supporter .
Reports say it 's all because he is @ @ @ @ @ a Biden fundraiser Attacking for no particular reason

Social media came for actor Chris Pratt this weekend, blasting him as a Trump supporter — and more — though he didn't do anything save for possibly declining an invite for an upcoming appearance at a Biden fundraiser.
What are the details?
Pratt, who has appeared to be largely apolitical, came under fire this weekend after TV writer Amy Berg — whose avatar is a picture of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wearing a set of boxing gloves — shared a four-split photo featuring the most popular Chrises of Hollywood: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Chris Pine, and Chris Evans.
"One has to go," she wrote of the photo, and the tweet quickly went viral.
A large variety of social media users said that Pratt should be canceled because his support of President Donald Trump — which has never been confirmed — "disqualifies him."
One user wrote, "Chris Pratt. Sadly the Trump supporter stuff disqualifies him despite all the of delightful Andy Dwyer/Johnny Karate/Bert Macklin glory."
Another user added, "Dammit, I am literally just finding out that Chris Pratt is a trump supporter and I am so messed up behind that."
Though no users tweeted substantial information corroborating the claim that Pratt is a Trump supporter, the tweets continued.
"Chris Pratt being a MAGA dummy really was not something I was mentally prepared for," another user complained.
Yet another added, "Just learned Chris Pratt is a [T]rump supporter, let's end celebrities."
"[C]hris pratt's [social media] bio radiates homophobic white christian supremacist energy," another user wrote.
What else?
According to a Monday Newsweek report, one thing fans are "saying is a major telltale of Pratt's politics" is the fact that he is not, at the time of this reporting, set to take part in an "Avengers" fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
"Some of Pratt's fellow Marvel colleagues — Don Cheadle, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, and Zoe Saldana — are due to join the Democratic candidate and vice-presidential hopeful Kamala Harris for a virtual event on October 20 to raise money for the Biden campaign," the outlet reports.
The event, called "Voters Assemble: The Cast of The Avengers Unite for Democracy," will gather the cast of "Avengers" as they "unite for democracy."
"Pratt's name is missing from the lineup, as are several other Marvel stars," the outlet points out.
Other stars who do not appear in the lineup but have not been dragged across social media as a result include Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr.
According to Vanity Fair, "While there was broad interest in the latest star-studded push for the Biden campaign," Pratt's "absence ... caused the biggest stir on social media."
"Shortly after the event was announced, Chris Pratt's name trended on Twitter, with many criticizing the Guardians of the Galaxy star for his perceived political views," the outlet added.
According to Open Secrets, Pratt donated to the campaigns of former President Barack Obama in 2007 and 2012 and former presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) in 2019.
In 2017, Pratt insisted that he doesn't particularly feel represented by either Democrats or Republicans.
In an interview with Men's Health, the A-list actor said, "I don't feel represented by either side."
"I really feel there's common ground out there that's missed because we focus on the things that separate us," he explained to the popular men's magazine. "You're either the red state or the blue state, the left or the right. Not everything is politics. And maybe that's something I'd want to help bridge, because I don't feel represented by either side."
What else?
Pratt took fire earlier in October after jokingly asking fans to vote for his newest animated film, "Onward."
“With all that's going on in the world it is more important than ever that you vote. Just ask any celebrity. They will tell you. Every day. Several times a day. To vote. But me? I will tell you EXACTLY who to vote for," he wrote, pointing to his film.


theblaze--2020-10-19--New York Gov. Cuomo casts doubts on potential COVID vaccine

New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo ( D ) on Monday said he is not confident in the Food and Drug Administration 's approval process for a potential COVID-19 vaccine or in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
Speaking with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos , Cuomo added that he believes the American people share his skepticism of any vaccine approved under President Donald Trump and that people should be skeptical .
`` I 'm not that confident , but my opinion does n't matter .
I do n't believe the American people are that confident , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to say to the American people now , 'Here 's a vaccine , it was new , it was done quickly , but trust this federal administration and their health administration that it 's safe ' ?
We 're not 100 percent sure of the consequences ?
I think it 's going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine , and they should be ! ''
Cuomo indicated that he would not approve distribution of a vaccine until his own state agencies and medical experts reviewed it first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to do in New York is we 're going to put together our own group of doctors and medical experts to review the vaccine and the efficacy and the protocol , and if they say it 's safe , then I 'll go to the people of New York and I will say it 's safe , with that credibility .
But I believe all across the country , you 're going to need someone other than this FDA and this CDC saying it 's safe , '' Cuomo said .
Cuomo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump 's leadership `` does n't have any credibility . ''
He brought up comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , in which Fauci said the administration had restricted his media appearances .
`` You have Doctor Fauci now saying they basically tried to muzzle him , '' Cuomo said .
`` He has the highest credibility in the nation on this issue . ''
Cuomo also questioned the Trump administration 's preparedness to administer a vaccine to millions of Americans , criticizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus last January and February , saying `` it 's going to be a debacle . ''
While criticizing the Trump administration , Cuomo did not acknowledge the criticisms leveled at his state government over New York 's response to the coronavirus .
Last March , Cuomo issued an executive order that required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients returning from New York Hospitals into their facilities to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed and all of the beds occupied .
This executive decision led to thousands of elderly New Yorkers dying as coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has so far refused to take responsibility for the consequences of his executive order , blaming Republicans and the New York Post for his failures .

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday said he is not confident in the Food and Drug Administration's approval process for a potential COVID-19 vaccine or in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Speaking with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, Cuomo added that he believes the American people share his skepticism of any vaccine approved under President Donald Trump and that people should be skeptical.
"I'm not that confident, but my opinion doesn't matter. I don't believe the American people are that confident," Cuomo said. "You're going to say to the American people now, 'Here's a vaccine, it was new, it was done quickly, but trust this federal administration and their health administration that it's safe'? We're not 100 percent sure of the consequences? I think it's going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be!"
Cuomo indicated that he would not approve distribution of a vaccine until his own state agencies and medical experts reviewed it first.
"What I said I'm going to do in New York is we're going to put together our own group of doctors and medical experts to review the vaccine and the efficacy and the protocol, and if they say it's safe, then I'll go to the people of New York and I will say it's safe, with that credibility. But I believe all across the country, you're going to need someone other than this FDA and this CDC saying it's safe," Cuomo said.
Watch:
Cuomo charged that the FDA and CDC under Trump's leadership "doesn't have any credibility." He brought up comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in which Fauci said the administration had restricted his media appearances.
"You have Doctor Fauci now saying they basically tried to muzzle him," Cuomo said. "He has the highest credibility in the nation on this issue."
Cuomo also questioned the Trump administration's preparedness to administer a vaccine to millions of Americans, criticizing how the federal government responded to the coronavirus last January and February, saying "it's going to be a debacle."
While criticizing the Trump administration, Cuomo did not acknowledge the criticisms leveled at his state government over New York's response to the coronavirus.
Last March, Cuomo issued an executive order that required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients returning from New York Hospitals into their facilities to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed and all of the beds occupied. This executive decision led to thousands of elderly New Yorkers dying as coronavirus ran rampant in nursing homes.
Cuomo has so far refused to take responsibility for the consequences of his executive order, blaming Republicans and the New York Post for his failures.
(H/T: National Review)


theblaze--2020-10-19--Fox News host backs Biden surrogate into corner over Hunter Biden stories, forcing her to make admis

Fox News host backs Biden surrogate into corner over Hunter Biden stories, forcing her to make admission

Fox News host backs Biden surrogate into corner over Hunter Biden stories , forcing her to make admission 'Jenna , @ @ @ @ @ You say it 's unconfirmed .
Tell us what parts are not true '

Fox News host Leland Vittert grilled Biden campaign surrogate Jenna Arnold over the explosive Hunter Biden email stories on Sunday, eventually backing Arnold into a corner over her own spin.
In the end, Vittert forced Arnold into making a revealing admission.
What happened?
The contentious segment began with Joe Biden's own words last October, when he claimed he never discussed his son's overseas business dealings. That claim was disputed last week by numerous stories related to emails and a computer hard drive allegedly connected to Hunter Biden.
Arnold began by claiming that "so much of this is unconfirmed."
"Jenna, it's real simple. You say it's unconfirmed. Tell us what parts are not true," Vittert shot back. "Hunter Biden knows what emails he has and hasn't sent. Are you saying, and the campaign saying, that these emails aren't his?"
What ensued was more than two minutes of spin by the Biden campaign surrogate.
"It's unclear to me — I would say that what's so important right now, from both the American citizen and the media — yourself included, Leland — is to continue to ask clarifying questions about this, why the FBI is investigating —" Arnold said before Vittert interjected. "It's imperative to note that the NSA told Trump that Giuliani was being played by these emails."
"But again," Vittert responded, as the two talked over one another. "Again, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. The easiest thing in the world to do: Stop with all the obfuscation. The easiest thing in the world to do would be to say, 'These aren't Hunter Biden's emails.' Nobody, including Hunter Biden, and including the campaign, has said it."
After back-and-forth over Biden's one response to the Hunter Biden email controversy — in which Biden attacked the CBS News reporter who questioned him — Arnold attempted to divert the conversation to talk about China and the coronavirus pandemic instead.
But Vittert shot her down.
"I'm so confused. What's interesting is I feel like you still haven't answered the fundamental question, which is: Can anyone say that these emails are inauthentic? And so far, I haven't heard anybody say that," Vittert said.
Shockingly, Arnold then admitted, "I think that's fair. I don't think anybody is saying they are inauthentic."
Biden Surrogate On Alleged Hunter Emails: “I Don't Think Anybody Is Saying They Are Inauthentic" www.youtube.com
Anything else?
It is true that the Biden campaign has not denied a single material fact revealed in the explosive Hunter Biden email stories from last week.
Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe revealed Monday that the stories are not part of a Russian disinformation campaign, as top Democrats are claiming.
"Let me be clear, the intelligence community doesn't believe that, because there's no intelligence that supports that," Ratcliffe said of Democrats' claims.
"Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."


theblaze--2020-10-19--President Trump blasts Fauci as a 'disaster' during campaign call

President Trump blasts Fauci as a 'disaster ' during campaign call Trump 's comments came Monday following Dr. Anthony Fauci @ @ @ @ @ '

President Donald Trump went off on Dr. Anthony Fauci on a campaign call Monday, calling him a "nice guy" but also a "disaster" and saying that most Americans are tired of hearing about the coronavirus.
CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins was given access to the phone call, during which Trump reportedly claimed that if his administration had listened to Fauci, more than half a million people would have died.
"People are tired of COVID. I have these huge rallies," Trump said. "People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots ... Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years."
"Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths," he added, going on to say it would be 700,000 or 800,000. "If there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less."
According to New York Post Washington correspondent Ebony Bowden, Trump also said that firing Fauci would be a bombshell story, seeming to imply that doing so before the election would be a bad idea.
Fauci made headlines over the weekend for comments he made on CBS' "60 Minutes," where he said he was "absolutely not" surprised that Trump contracted a coronavirus infection. He said he was concerned after watching the Sept 26. Rose Garden event announcing Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court and noticing that there was "almost nobody wearing a mask."
"'Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come outta that, that's gotta be a problem.' And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event," he said.
He also said that the Trump administration has restricted his media appearances and expressed anger at the Trump campaign for using his remarks in a TV ad. Fauci said his comments were taken out of context and emphasized that he has not and will not publicly endorse any political candidate for office.
On the effectiveness of wearing masks to slow the spread of the disease, Fauci claimed that "masks really do work in preventing infection." He admitted he was wrong when he said in March there was "no reason to be walking around with a mask."
"When you find out you're wrong, it's a manifestation of your honesty to say, 'Hey, I was wrong. I did subsequent experiments and now it's this way,'" Fauci said.
He expressed opposition to calls for a new national lockdown.
"The country is fatigued with restrictions," Fauci said. "So we wanna use public health measures not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy."
Over 8.1 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. More than 200,000 Americans have died.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Sen. Chris Coons: Democrats might have to pack the courts to 'rebalance the federal judiciary'

Sen. Chris Coons : Democrats might have to pack the courts to 'rebalance the federal judiciary '

For the second time in as many weeks, Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons was pressed for his views on court-packing during the Sunday morning talk shows. And for the second time in as many weeks, Coons indicated that Democrats will almost certainly attempt to pack the Supreme Court — as well as take other measures — as retribution against the Republicans for confirming President Donald Trump's judicial nominees, including potentially Amy Coney Barrett.
In a Sunday interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Coons stated that he's "not a fan" of court-packing, but made clear that he would support such a measure if Republicans proceed to confirm Barrett's appointment to the Supreme Court.
"We have a few weeks here to see whether there are four Republicans who will step back from this precipice," Coons said in response to a question about whether he favors court-packing.
"It is the Republican majority that's responsible for racing forward with this extreme unqualified nominee, unqualified because of her extreme judicial philosophy, and that is who should be bearing the brunt at the ballot box in this election. We need to focus on that, and then if we happen to be in the fact pattern where we have a President Biden, we'll have to look at what the right steps are to rebalance our federal judiciary," Coons continued.
Although Coons had by this point made his position obvious, Tapper continued to press whether Coons' mind was "open" to adding justices to the Supreme Court, to which Coons responded, "Yes."
This isn't the first time that Coons has suggested that there is something improper about a Republican Senate confirming the judicial nominees of a Republican president, as it is expressly permitted to do by the Constitution. The previous Sunday, when Fox News' Chris Wallace asked if he favors court-packing, Coons responded, "I'll tell you, for the last four years I've seen unprecedented court-packing. ... Instead of passing a COVID relief package that will help millions of Americans who are unemployed, who have been infected, whose businesses or employers have closed, we are focusing on jamming through Judge Barrett. I think this constitutes court-packing."
Of course, if Barrett is confirmed, she will become the ninth justice on the Supreme Court, which is a clear indication that her confirmation would not constitute court-packing, as the term has been understood since the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.
Multiplerecent polls have confirmed that the American public is solidly opposed to adding more justices to the Supreme Court.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Ranting actress claims Trump supporters 'f***ing boxed me in' on freeway, cries that they were 'poin

Ranting actress claims Trump supporters 'f***ing boxed me in' on freeway, cries that they were 'pointing at me and laughing at a Mexican'

Ranting actress claims Trump supporters ' f***ing boxed me in ' on freeway , cries that they were 'pointing at @ @ @ @ @ Mexican' Francia Raisa also said , 'That 's what makes America great ?
That 's @ @ @ @ @ have f***ing died right now . '

Actress Francia Raisa claimed Sunday, without evidence, that supporters of President Donald Trump traveling to a rally boxed her in while she was driving on Interstate 405 in southern California, wouldn't let her go around, and ridiculed her in the process.
Raisa — the 32-year-old star of "Grown-ish" and recent kidney donor to Selena Gomez — delivered her tearful rant while driving her vehicle. (Content warning: Language):
Selena Gomez's Kidney Donor Francia Raisa Tormented by Trump Caravan youtu.be
"I was just on the 405, and I got stuck in that stupid Trump rally, and they f***ing boxed me in and they're pointing at me and laughing at me, saying, 'Ha ha.' And literally I almost crashed because they wouldn't let me out," she said. "I was trying to go around it. ... They boxed me in on the f***ing freeway. All I wanted to do was go around. And they were just being so violent. I could have crashed. I could've f***ing crashed. It was so dangerous. And I just don't understand why that's the country that y'all are supposedly wanting right now. Really? That's what makes America great? That's f***ed up. I could have f***ing died right now. That was so f***ing dangerous, pointing at me and laughing at a Mexican. Oh God, that was really f***ing scary."
'The line of cars seems to go for miles and miles'
TMZ posted a gushing story about Raisa's so-far unverified claims, noting Twitter clips and photos of a Trump caravan that appeared to be heading south to Newport Beach in Orange County for a Trump fundraiser:
"To celebrate, it seems like a parade of Trump flag-waving drivers are clogging the lanes and cruising incredibly slow to take their sweet time," TMZ wrote.
"The line of cars seems to go for miles and miles — the distance from central L.A. to Newport is about 44 miles give or take — and lots of people are posting shots of the traffic jam, either in the thick of it, or passing ... so it's clear Francia dealt with something wild out there," the outlet added.
Errol Webber, a California Republican running for Congress, posted the following video:
What was the reaction to Raisa's claims?
As you might imagine, lots of fans and fellow left-wingers lined up behind Raisa and used her unverified claims as a reason to not vote for Trump on Election Day — but not everyone was buying her story:
"So she was driving peacefully down the road and then was attacked and tormented for no reason? That doesn't even make sense," one Twitter user said. "Was she flipping people off or yelling or bring an a**hole? All different colors of people today on videos from highway. No one cares that you're Mexican!"
This user claimed Raisa was doing the tormenting: "OMG!! what a liar!! This girl has no shame. I was in that rally; she passed us with anger flipping everybody like there is no tomorrow! So they did not move out of her way... it was in [a] Latinos for Trump parade!! Why the hell are you playing the Mexican card??"
And Trump-supporting singer Joy Villa — who famously donned a "Make America Great Again" dress at the Grammys in 2017 — delivered the following video response:


theblaze--2020-10-19--DNI shoots back at Schiff: 'No intelligence' that Hunter Biden laptop story is 'part of some Russian

DNI shoots back at Schiff: 'No intelligence' that Hunter Biden laptop story is 'part of some Russian disinformation campaign’

DNI shoots back at Schiff : 'No intelligence ' that Hunter Biden laptop story is 'part of some Russian disinformation @ @ @ @ @ that Adam Schiff gets is the intelligence that we ... give him . '

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe fired back at Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats Monday by clarifying that the bombshell reports on a laptop allegedly tied to Hunter Biden are "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."
Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, recently told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the reports, which stem from a hard drive that has an alleged connection to former Vice President Joe Biden's son, are actually Russian propaganda. Schiff, along with other Democrats who parroted the narrative, did not supply any evidence for their claims.
According to Ratcliffe, that's because there isn't any.
Speaking with Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo on Monday, Ratcliffe said, "Let me be clear, the intelligence community doesn't believe that, because there's no intelligence that supports that, and we have shared no intelligence with Chairman Schiff or any other member of Congress that Hunter Biden's laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign — it's simply not true."
"Apparently Chairman Schiff wants anything against his preferred political candidate to be deemed as not real and is ... attempting to use the intelligence community to say 'There's nothing to see here,'" Ratcliffe continued. "Don't drag the intelligence community into this; Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."
In the interview with CNN, Schiff declared, "We know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin. That's been clear for well over a year now that they've been pushing this false narrative about the vice president and his son."
Ratcliffe suggested that is patently false, arguing that "the only intelligence that Adam Schiff gets is the intelligence that we, the intelligence community, give him, and we have given him no such intelligence."
"Members of Congress have the ability and have a platform to say things, and to say those things not under oath and to make representations to the American people. Unfortunately, sometimes the things that they say and the things that they represent are not true," the DNI pointed out. "In this case, with regard to Hunter Biden's laptop being part of a Russian disinformation campaign and the intelligence community believing that or assessing that, [it] is simply not true."
The controversy surrounding the laptop was first reported by the New York Post last week. In a series of articles, the Post disclosed emails and text messages purportedly demonstrating how Hunter Biden was cashing in on his father's high-profile government position, making business deals in Ukraine, China, and elsewhere under the promise of political leverage.
The Post reportedly obtained a copy of the hard drive from President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, after it was allegedly dropped off at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. The repair shop owner reportedly gave a copy of the hard drive to Giuliani and handed over the hard drive to the FBI, as well.
Hunter Biden has not denied dropping off a laptop at the computer repair shop in 2019.


theblaze--2020-10-19--NY Times circulates false claim about woman fired over viral Central Park racism video

Amy Cooper 's world was turned upside down in May when she , a white woman , called the police on Christian Cooper , a black man , in Central Park .
Amy Cooper was walking her dog without a leash in a section of the park that requires animals to be leashed .
Amy Cooper told police that her life was being threatened , but video evidence proved that was not true .
The story was immediately thrust into the national spotlight as yet another instance of blatant racism .
Amy Cooper was eventually fired from her job .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ news last week following a new story from the New York Times .
What did the Times report ?
The Times reported that Amy Cooper called police not just once , but twice , to claim that Christian Cooper was threatening her life .
In a story titled , `` Amy Cooper Falsely Accused Black Bird-Watcher in 2nd 911 Conversation , '' the so-called `` newspaper of record '' reported : The story came the same day as the explosive story about Hunter Biden in the New York Post .
And as was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Times ' story , `` Amy Cooper '' trended on Twitter — not Hunter Biden .
But , as it turned out , the Times ' story was incorrect .
Although it was easily provable by watching the video of Amy Cooper that went viral , Cooper did not , as the Times ' claimed , call police twice to report that Christian Cooper was threatening her life .
In fact , the second call between Amy Cooper and police was initiated by a 911 dispatcher .
An editor 's note at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now reads , `` Editors ' note : The New York Times and several other news organizations originally reported on Wednesday that Ms. Cooper made a second call to 911 , citing courtroom statements .
But on Friday , people familiar with the case clarified that the second call had actually been made by a 911 dispatcher who called Ms. Cooper back .
This story has been updated to reflect that new information . ''
However , the Times did not update the headline of the story , nor did it delete social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , leading to new scorn against Cooper .

Amy Cooper's world was turned upside down in May when she, a white woman, called the police on Christian Cooper, a black man, in Central Park. Amy Cooper was walking her dog without a leash in a section of the park that requires animals to be leashed. Amy Cooper told police that her life was being threatened, but video evidence proved that was not true.
The story was immediately thrust into the national spotlight as yet another instance of blatant racism. Amy Cooper was eventually fired from her job.
But she found herself back in the news last week following a new story from the New York Times.
What did the Times report?
The Times reported that Amy Cooper called police not just once, but twice, to claim that Christian Cooper was threatening her life.
In a story titled, "Amy Cooper Falsely Accused Black Bird-Watcher in 2nd 911 Conversation," the so-called "newspaper of record" reported:
Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park, had a second, previously unreported conversation with a 911 dispatcher in which she falsely claimed that the man tried to assault her, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.
"The defendant twice reported that an African-American man was putting her in danger, first by stating that he was threatening her and her dog, and then in a second call indicating that he tried to assault her in the Ramble area of the park," Joan Illuzzi, a senior prosecutor, said.
The story came the same day as the explosive story about Hunter Biden in the New York Post. And as was noted on social media, because of the Times' story, "Amy Cooper" trended on Twitter — not Hunter Biden.
But, as it turned out, the Times' story was incorrect.
What's the truth?
Although it was easily provable by watching the video of Amy Cooper that went viral, Cooper did not, as the Times' claimed, call police twice to report that Christian Cooper was threatening her life.
In fact, the second call between Amy Cooper and police was initiated by a 911 dispatcher.
An editor's note at the top of the Times' story now reads, "Editors' note: The New York Times and several other news organizations originally reported on Wednesday that Ms. Cooper made a second call to 911, citing courtroom statements. But on Friday, people familiar with the case clarified that the second call had actually been made by a 911 dispatcher who called Ms. Cooper back. This story has been updated to reflect that new information."
However, the Times did not update the headline of the story, nor did it delete social media posts that reported the false information, leading to new scorn against Cooper.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Massive caravan of Trump supporters stretches 30 miles — thousands of cars long — in battleground st

Massive caravan of Trump supporters stretches 30 miles — thousands of cars long — in battleground state Arizona

A bevy of President Donald Trump's Arizona supporters took to the streets over the weekend and staged what was reported to be a 30-mile-long procession on one of the state's highways.
The parade took place ahead of the president's visit to the battleground state.
According to KSAZ-TV, polls show a tight race in the state.
What are the details?
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) shared video of the parade on Twitter, captioning it, "Today I was driving on I-17 in Phoenix and I came across an AWESOME caravan parade for President @realdonaldtrump! Arizona loves Trump and we're ready to reelect him in November! #FOURMOREYEARS."
At the time of this reporting, Lesko's video has been viewed more than 36,000 times.
The caravan's organizer, Theresa Montoya, said that the event generated a lot of interest.
"It's overwhelming and profound to see the support and the compassion and love for this president," she told KPHO-TV. "This has taken a life of its own. We have a common goal and that's to get the president elected for four more years."
Trump supporter Karen Patterson told the outlet that the parade stretched for at least 30 miles.
“We love what he's done for this country," Patterson gushed.
KPHO described the scene as patriotic.
"Some of the pickup truck drivers had huge flags that said 'Trump 2020' or had the Thin Blue Line flag along with American flags," the station reported. "The Trump Train also featured trucks with digital billboards that said 'Hate Cops? Next Time You Need Help Call a Crackhead' and 'Vote No on Prop. 208.'"
According to KSAZ, the caravan was also intended to be a "Back the Blue" parade in support of law enforcement officials.
The station reported that "thousands" of vehicles took part in the caravan.
Trump is set to appear at rallies in Prescott and Tucson beginning on Monday.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Horowitz: Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh suggest that identity theft might not warrant deportation o

Horowitz: Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh suggest that identity theft might not warrant deportation of illegal alien

Horowitz : Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh suggest that identity theft might not warrant deportation of illegal alien

Democrats are panicking that, with Amy Coney Barrett's impending confirmation, conservatives are on the cusp of a long-term five-seat majority on the Supreme Court. If only that were true. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch have already demonstrated that they are not on the level of Amy Coney Barrett, so at most, we will likely have only three reliable originalists on the court. Nowhere is this more evident than on the issue of illegal aliens continuously getting standing to block deportations.
For over 130 years, the Supreme Court has established a simple principle that all immigrants, and certainly those here illegally who commit crimes, are only in this country at the pleasure of the political branches of government and can be removed at any time without interference from the courts. This principle "has become about as firmly embedded in the legislative and judicial tissues of our body politic as any aspect of our government," not "merely" by "a page of history … but a whole volume" (Galvan v. Press). The concept is "inherent in sovereignty," consistent with "ancient principles" of international law, and "to be exercised exclusively by the political branches of government" (Kleindienst v. Mandel).
The lower courts and the leftists on the Supreme Court have gradually chipped away at this principle in recent years, and unless we get an originalist majority to push back against this trend, immigration enforcement will go the way of abortion regulations. Rather than upholding this doctrine, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch appear to be playing a dangerous game of flirting with the notion that courts can second-guess deportations of even criminal aliens by gradually granting them an array of due process they simply don't have in our immigration law.
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Pereida v. Barr, one of many cases in which criminal aliens are trying to litigate a right to remain in the country. Mexican citizen Clemente Pereida was convicted of stealing the identity of a citizen in order to obtain employment in Iowa as an illegal alien and is now seeking relief from deportation, despite a denial from an immigration judge and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Even without stealing identity, he came here illegally and should have no legal standing to remain in the country. This case should never even have been in court, yet there were some disturbing comments from justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch indicating a sea change in the legal thinking of illegal immigration.
Law360 reports that Justice Kavanaugh "expressed doubt over the government's claim that immigrants facing deportation carry the burden of proving they are eligible for immigration protections despite being convicted of certain crimes, when the record surrounding such convictions is incomplete or unclear."
"He's lived here for 25 years in the United States, has a wife and three kids here, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, works construction and cleaning, had a fraudulent Social Security number which got him a $100 fine but no jail time under state law," Justice Kavanaugh said. "That seems a thin reed to make someone categorically ineligible for cancellation of removal."
This statement is very concerning. Pereida's life story doesn't matter to the law, and identity theft is a very serious crime that has devastating effects on its victims. Moreover, this man is here illegally, so he has no right to remain regardless of whether he committed a serious crime or no crime at all. The entire philosophy behind sovereignty and the long-standing judicial doctrine that the executive branch has plenary power over these decisions is rooted in the fact that the burden of proof is on the alien to show that he is entitled to remain in the country.
Yes, the attorney general "may" grant cancellation of removal to some illegal aliens, but since when did that give aliens a judicial right to demand this voluntary act of leniency? The onus is on the alien to show that his record does not fit the standard of "crimes involving moral turpitude," and if the record is too incomplete to determine that, he is on the losing end of the argument. As the law clearly states (8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(4)(A)(i)), "An alien applying for relief or protection from removal has the burden of proof to establish that the alien … satisfies the applicable eligibility requirements." Unlike with criminal punishment, request for an immigration benefit places the burden of proof on the individual, not the government.
Then there is Neil Gorsuch. According to Law360, Gorsuch was concerned "that immigrants convicted of misdemeanors, where the underlying criminal statute is vague or broad, may struggle to produce sufficient court records to show that their conviction shouldn't bar them from deportation relief."
This has been Gorsuch's game from day one. He takes simple concepts and makes them complicated. A half-century after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, he suddenly felt that the definition of human sexuality in the context of sex discrimination was vague and could possibly include transgenderism! In Sessions v. Damaya, he struck down an entire section of criminal law governing the deportation of clearly violent aliens because he felt the statute was "too vague." As I noted at the time, even if he was correct about the vagueness in the law, aliens have no due process right in the context of the vagueness doctrine to know what is a deportable offense. They remain here at the discretion of the political branches of government until they are naturalized. Thousands of criminal aliens have remained in this country because of that opinion.
What was further disconcerting and downright offensive is that Gorsuch dismissed and downplayed Pereida's offense on account that he "wasn't using a Social Security card to defraud anybody of anything, but just to get a job."
Tell that to the millions of victims of identity theft! It often takes years to clean up the financial mess, the endless purchases under the victim's name, and the watchlists that he was placed on as a result of the illicit activity. It has particularly devastating consequences for the child victims, who begin their adulthood saddled with all of the criminality, fiscal liabilities, and taxes of these illegal aliens. Hispanic Americans with Latino-sounding surnames are most vulnerable to such theft. Illegal aliens seeking employment will often be given the stolen Social Security numbers of children by the smuggling industry, because that will take longer to be detected.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, "Eight of the 10 states with the highest percentage of illegal aliens in their total population are among the top 10 states in identity theft." In Arizona alone, over one million children are victims of stolen identity, more than four times the national rate.
The fact that we have two of Trump's appointees accepting the Left's legal and philosophical outlook on sovereignty and due process is very concerning. Kavanaugh already said during his confirmation hearings that he disagrees with the plenary power doctrine (which is settled precedent) as expressed in a great dissent by his former colleague on the D.C. federal appeals court, Karen Henderson, that illegal aliens are considered to be standing outside our boundaries. He also wrote a shocking 7-2 opinion (in Nasrallah v. Barr) ruling that illegal aliens have access to judicial review to fight a denial of relief from deportation under the United Nations Convention Against Torture ("CAT"), despite a clear statute stripping the courts of jurisdiction to review such a case. Gorsuch signed on to the opinion, while Thomas and Alito dissented.
In addition, as Art Arthur, a former immigration judge and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, observed, Kavanaugh used the term "non-citizen" 19 times instead of illegal alien in his concurrence in Preap, an immigration case from last year. Judges are usually very precise with these sort of terms, and technically, his use of this word actually made a few of his statements factually incorrect (see Arthur's column for more).
It's also important to remember that we have several million criminal aliens in this country out of 12-20 million illegal aliens. Those individuals should be out of this country immediately, according to any standard. Yet it takes years to remove even the worst gang members because each one can encumber his deportation order in court indefinitely. Pereida had his first court hearing in 2009! As Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told me, "What is especially concerning about this case is Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh's apparent willingness to intrude on the clearly established executive branch authority to adjudicate an immigration benefit – in this case, cancellation of removal."
The consequences are enormous, and we are already seeing them in the increased flow at our border because so many illegal immigrants rightly believe they can litigate themselves into legal status. "We can't have every illegal alien who is told to go home, every failed applicant for immigration benefits, or every unqualified visa applicant taking their case to the federal courts," warned Vaughan. "We can't have federal judges and Supreme Court justices deciding routine immigration applications."
When it comes to immigration and judicial picks, Trump was given bad advice and has swung and missed on two occasions. It is to be hoped that Barrett will not result in a strikeout. The bad news is that we still need two more originalist justices simply to uphold our national sovereignty and long-standing Supreme Court precedent.


theblaze--2020-10-19--Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: 'If you're tired of lockdowns ... wearing masks, or you wish you were in chur

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: 'If you're tired of lockdowns ... wearing masks, or you wish you were in church this morning,' then vote for Joe Biden

Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer : 'If you 're tired of lockdowns ... wearing masks , or you wish you were @ @ @ @ @ ' then vote for Joe Biden 'It 's time for change in this country '

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that if Americans are weary of coronavirus lockdowns and the fallout from socioeconomic restrictions related to the pandemic, they should vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Election Day instead of President Donald Trump.
"If you're tired of lockdowns, or you're tired of wearing masks, or you wish you were in church this morning or watching college football or your kids were in-person instruction, it is time for change in this country, and that's why we've got to elect Joe Biden," Whitmer told Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" Sunday.
What else did Whitmer say?
Whitmer blasted Trump during the interview, accusing the president of inciting violence and not doing his job.
"The Trump virus response is the worst in the globe — I mean, in the world it's the worst," she said. "Eight million people have contracted COVID-19, 220,000 dead. We've got people in food pantry lines who never would have imagined that they'd be there. And no light on the horizon because our numbers keep going up. This is a gravely serious moment for all of us."
What was the reaction?
Some Twitter users who commented on the "Meet the Press" clip said Whitmer's insistence on Americans voting for Biden if they want lockdowns to end and if they want to go back to church sounded like a thinly veiled ultimatum:
"Wait, so if we elect Biden, magically we'll be able to lift lock downs, stop wearing masks & go back to church? That's ALL we have to do, elect Biden?" one commenter said. "Something smells like a lie here."
"So is she basically admitting that they are 'punishing us" unless we vote for Biden? That's what it sounds like to me," another commenter said. "I would rather be locked down for the next 4 years than put a criminal who sells out America with our tax dollars into office. No thanks."
"So what's her point, she's holding people hostage until Trump [is] out?" another user asked. "Dictator much???"
Anything else?
In part of her interview not shown on the above video, Whitmer said Trump is inciting "domestic terrorism" due to "lock her up" chants at his Michigan rally Saturday night, the Associated Press said, and that his words are "incredibly disturbing."
"The president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism," Whitmer told "Meet the Press," according to the AP. "It is wrong. It's got to end. It is dangerous, not just for me and my family, but for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans. People of good will on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down."
Earlier this month she accused Trump of being "complicit" with "hate groups" — not unlike the group federal authorities arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap her and overthrow the state government.
Also this month Michigan's attorney general indicated she would no longer enforce Whitmer's executive orders on the coronavirus after the state Supreme Court ruled the emergency powers that the governor seized were unconstitutional — a ruling Whitmer was not happy with, to say the least.