newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Kellyanne Conway’s daughter Claudia ‘officially pushing for emancipation’

Kellyanne Conway ’ s Trump-hating daughter is apparently ready for a new family .
“ I ’ m officially pushing for emancipation .
Buckle up because this is probably going to be public one way or another , unfortunately .
Welcome to my life , ” 15-year-old Claudia Conway tweeted Saturday night .
Left-leaning Claudia has been openly feuding with her parents on TikTok and Twitter all summer , bashing them for their conservative views .
At one point she urged progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to adopt her .
Saturday ’ s tweet came alongside many more in which she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s work for the president , and over recent praise of her father , George Conway , for his work as co-founder of the Lincoln Project , a Republican anti-Trump group .
“ As for my dad , politically , we agree on absolutely nothing .
We just both happen to have common sense when it comes to our current president .
Stop “ stanning ” him , ” Claudia tweeted .
She added that her mother was “ selfish ” for pursuing her line of work .
“ My mother ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she wrote .
“ Heartbreaking that she continues to go down that path after years of watching her children suffer .
Selfish .
It ’ s all about money and fame , ladies and gentlemen.
” The daughter ’ s tweets have racked up tens of thousands of likes and retweets .
Claudia thanked her followers for supporting her and showed no remorse .
“ I ’ m a savage lol I ’ m aware , ” read her last tweet , punctuating her busy Saturday night .

Kellyanne Conway’s Trump-hating daughter is apparently ready for a new family.
“I’m officially pushing for emancipation. Buckle up because this is probably going to be public one way or another, unfortunately. Welcome to my life,” 15-year-old Claudia Conway tweeted Saturday night.
Left-leaning Claudia has been openly feuding with her parents on TikTok and Twitter all summer, bashing them for their conservative views.
At one point she urged progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to adopt her.
Saturday’s tweet came alongside many more in which she penned her frustration over her mother’s work for President Trump, and over recent praise of her father, George Conway, for his work as co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a Republican anti-Trump group.
“As for my dad, politically, we agree on absolutely nothing. We just both happen to have common sense when it comes to our current president. Stop ‘stanning’ him,” Claudia tweeted, using a term referring to someone who admires someone or something to the point of obsession.
She added that her mother was “selfish” for pursuing her line of work.
“My mother’s job ruined my life to begin with,” she wrote.
“Heartbreaking that she continues to go down that path after years of watching her children suffer. Selfish. It’s all about money and fame, ladies and gentlemen.”
The daughter’s tweets have racked up tens of thousands of likes and retweets.
Claudia thanked her followers for supporting her and showed no remorse.
“I’m a savage lol I’m aware,” read her last tweet, punctuating her busy Saturday night.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Missing Arkansas jogger Sydney Sutherland found dead, farmer arrested in connection

An Arkansas jogger who has been missing for days was reportedly found murdered not far from her home — and a farmer has been arrested in connection to her death .
Sydney Sutherland , 25 , was last seen Wednesday afternoon when she left home for a jog on a highway between the cities of Newport and Grubbs , KAIT reported .
After nearly two days of searching with local residents , authorities discovered a body Friday not far from her home and on Saturday confirmed through a DNA test it was Sutherland .
Quake Lewellyn , 28 , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ custody on the suspicion of capital murder , the local NBC affiliate reported .
Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas told reporters Friday afternoon that Lewellyn was familiar with Sutherland , though details of their connection were are not immediately clear .
The Sheriff ’ s office major lead was Sutherland ’ s cellphone , which was found Thursday evening about a quarter-mile from her home , KAIT reported .
Her body was discovered nearby the next day at 2 p.m. Sutherland worked at the Harris Medical Center in Newport and was remembered as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her family first .
“ She ’ s very close to her family , ” Jennifer Eddington , a co-worker , told WMC5 .
“ We just know that she wouldn ’ t leave on her own without contacting somebody ; that ’ s not her nature at all.
” Sheriff Lucas said Sutherland ’ s death hit him especially hard because he knows her family .
“ It ’ s taken a toll , it really has , ” he said .
“ Just because I know the people of this county @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I know this young lady personally .
I ’ ve known her and watched her grow up .
It hits me personally , ” he said .
“ And that ’ s another reason why we want to work so hard and try to find her .
”

An Arkansas jogger who has been missing for days was reportedly found murdered not far from her home — and a farmer has been arrested in connection to her death.
Sydney Sutherland, 25, was last seen Wednesday afternoon when she left home for a jog on a highway between the cities of Newport and Grubbs, KAIT reported.
After nearly two days of searching with local residents, authorities discovered a body Friday not far from her home and on Saturday confirmed through a DNA test it was Sutherland.
Quake Lewellyn, 28, a farmer from Jonesboro, was taken into custody on the suspicion of capital murder, the local NBC affiliate reported.
Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas told reporters Friday afternoon that Lewellyn was familiar with Sutherland, though details of their connection were are not immediately clear.
The Sheriff’s office major lead was Sutherland’s cellphone, which was found Thursday evening about a quarter-mile from her home, KAIT reported.
Her body was discovered nearby the next day at 2 p.m.
Sutherland worked at the Harris Medical Center in Newport and was remembered as a friendly and outgoing person who put her family first.
“She’s very close to her family,” Jennifer Eddington, a co-worker, told WMC5.
“We just know that she wouldn’t leave on her own without contacting somebody; that’s not her nature at all.”
Sheriff Lucas said Sutherland’s death hit him especially hard because he knows her family.
“It’s taken a toll, it really has,” he said.
“Just because I know the people of this county. I know this family personally. I know this young lady personally. I’ve known her and watched her grow up. It hits me personally,” he said.
“And that’s another reason why we want to work so hard and try to find her.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Carter Page: ‘I was a pawn in the Democrat crusade to bring down Trump’

Not until lurid headlines damned Carter Page as a traitor to his country in September 2016 , six weeks before the presidential election , did he realize someone was using him to play a dirty political trick .
Reporters had been hounding the energy investor with strangely detailed questions about his ties to Russia .
Page told each of them that he was a former US Navy lieutenant , a graduate of Annapolis , an Eagle Scout — hardly a likely protagonist in some cloak-and-dagger drama .
But he had also served as a foreign policy adviser to Donald J.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ collection of Democratic opposition-research memos soon to be known as the Steele Dossier , Page had been cast as the GOP candidate ’ s liaison to Vladimir Putin .
It was the launch of the collusion tale that nearly destroyed a presidency .
And the little-known Page , now 49 , had an unsought starring role .
Page told reporters the truth that fall — but it wasn ’ t the whole truth , he writes in “ Abuse and Power : How an Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out Tuesday .
In fact , as he repeatedly informed FBI investigators all the way up to Director James Comey himself , Page was a longtime CIA informant , not only on Russian affairs but on China and the Middle East .
His status as a trusted US intelligence source extended beyond the CIA .
Only months before , Page had helped the FBI itself make a case against an accused Russian spook .
That should have been enough to clear Page ’ s name .
Instead , the FBI painted a target @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal charges were filed against Kevin Clinesmith , an FBI lawyer involved in all three of the political investigations centered on the 2016 election : the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe , the Crossfire Hurricane inquiry into Trump ’ s campaign , and the Special Counsel office of Robert Mueller .
Attorney General Bill Barr has assigned US Attorney John Durham to get to the bottom of Crossfire Hurricane — and the case against Clinesmith could mean that answers are near .
In October 2016 , the FBI obtained a Title I warrant against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a law that set up a secret court to hear dangerous terrorism and national security cases .
A Title I warrant , the most intrusive type , gives investigators access to all of a target ’ s communications — along with those of the target ’ s contacts , and all of the contacts ’ contacts .
That “ two-hop ” coverage opened not only Page ’ s electronic records to investigators , but Trump ’ s as well , while he was a candidate and throughout his first eight months in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wires tapped in Trump Tower , ” as the president alleged in an explosive March 2017 tweetstorm , but the digital-age equivalent .
And as Durham ’ s court filing showed , Clinesmith and his colleagues knew all along that Page was never a Russian spy .
In August 2016 , documents show , the CIA told the Crossfire Hurricane team that Page had been a trusted informant for years .
That explained all of the Russian contacts the FBI saw as suspicious — two months before agents filed the first warrant against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exculpatory evidence from the FISA court .
Later , in June 2017 , Clinesmith — by then a member of Mueller ’ s staff — made the offense overt by altering a CIA document that confirmed Page ’ s status with the agency , Durham told the court .
Clinesmith took a guilty plea on Aug. 19 .
The US government snooped on Page for 11 months .
He was never charged with any crime .
But , he says , the death threats and the public hounding never ended .
His life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whole system of secret surveillance is broken , ” Page writes in his book .
The FBI ’ s abuse of his constitutionally guaranteed rights “ is just one sign of a national security establishment that is divorced from the values and freedoms of the people it is charged with protecting.
” It ’ s an insidious overuse of federal power that , if not checked , puts all Americans ’ civil liberties at risk , he writes .
Page , eager to set the record straight , testified before the special counsel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jury in November 2017 .
There he met Mueller attorneys Jeannie Rhee and L. Rush Atkinson , two of the “ Angry Democrats ” that President Trump later railed against on Twitter .
In this excerpt , Page gives us the first peek inside Mueller ’ s grand jury — where he began to grasp how high the deck was stacked against him … The first time I ever met Jeannie Rhee , I saw her in the courthouse hallway outside my grand jury room .
I politely introduced myself , “ Hello @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rather than identify herself , she angrily scowled and pointed a finger toward my holding pen area .
Like a cold prison warden she barked orders … I was starting to get the picture of how the day was likely to go down .
I had got a sense of her lieutenant Rush Atkinson ’ s place in the pecking order by watching him shadow Rhee .
Given no advance warning of whom I was dealing with , I looked up stories about the Mueller team during one of my breaks that day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggressive stance quickly became quite clear .
As Business Insider reported , “ Rhee represented Hillary Clinton in a 2015 lawsuit that sought access to her private e-mails .
She also represented the Clinton Foundation in a 2015 racketeering lawsuit.
” Worse , the profile continued : “ Rhee … has doled out more than $ 16,000 to Democrats since 2008 , CNN reported .
She maxed out her donations both in 2015 and 2016 to Clinton ’ s presidential campaign , giving a total of $ 5,400.
” I struggled to comprehend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contributed cash to the Democratic organizations which launched this whole domestic political-intelligence operation is also among the same people now effectively leading this official US government interrogation against me ?
Such Democrat campaign donations were the same fuel that paid for the DNC-funded consultant Christopher Steele ’ s infamous Dodgy Dossier .
The fact that such individuals had now found a way to perpetrate this vindictive harassment against their political adversaries in their official roles as US government prosecutors seemed to defy common sense and common decency .
As I put two and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a state of shock .
In just a few minutes , my break would end , and I would have to face Rhee again … I began to fully understand the frivolous game that I had been forced to play .
Though I was hardly comforted , things were starting to make sense .
By comparison , Lawrence Rush Atkinson reportedly only gave a paltry $ 200 donation to the 2016 Clinton campaign .
A token sum to be sure , but that was enough to reveal his loyalties .
Clearly Rush had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of political prosecutions .
I faced about twenty grand jurors — each of them studying my face as I spoke , looking for any sign of intimidation or deception .
The relatively junior lawyer Rush Atkinson took up much of the grunt work in the interrogation .
It immediately became clear who was driving the train .
Atkinson would ask me a question , and Rhee would furiously write her next question on a yellow sticky note , her choice of communication medium , and slap it in front of Atkinson for him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrong in her eyes , and she would wrathfully scribble a correction and slap it down even harder .
I started to wonder : If there ’ s something she wants to know , why doesn ’ t she just go ahead and ask all of these foolish questions herself ?
… I eventually figured out the likely reason for her methods .
Similar to many courthouse forums , the Democrat prosecutors were sitting next to a court reporter who kept record of who said what throughout the day .
Certainly it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attorney sitting somewhere in the Justice Department noted that the stenographer had transcribed records showing Jeannie Rhee was the one asking all the highly aggressive and blatantly political gotcha questions .
She clearly intended to trip me up but didn ’ t want to be the one doing so on the official record .
Atkinson humbly complied with the yellow stickies and recited , as best he could , the questions that Rhee demanded .
After going through an additional stack of stickies , the junior prosecutor meekly noted how prolific her requests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Jeannie grew increasingly irritable , she would slap the yellow stickies down even harder next to Rush ’ s photocopies of my personal documents .
The show-trial format of the day had all the trappings of a quiz-bowl-styled game show … the game cards for this contest consisted of big stacks of paper that the partisan special counsel team had printed out .
For some reason , one of the quirks of the grand jury game prevented contestants such as me from bringing even one sheet of paper into the arena .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked to participate in a game of “ What ’ s in my pocket ?
” Though it was over two years ago , my memory of the day ’ s events is as vivid as ever .
Rhee , working through Atkinson , impatiently demanded to know things like : In January 2016 , you wrote an e-mail referring to someone without mentioning their name .
Who exactly did you have in mind then ?
As I tried explaining the details of what really happened , one of the grand jurors sitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in agreement before I got rudely cut off by my questioners .
At least one member of the jury wasn ’ t buying this political charade .
Mueller ’ s prosecutors left Page in limbo for 16 months following his grand jury appearance .
They pursued cases against several Trump advisers , including Gen. Michael Flynn , Paul Manafort , Michael Cohen , and Roger Stone — none on charges of Russian collusion .
For all that time , Page could never be sure he was in the clear .
On March 24 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress that Mueller had completed his work without uncovering evidence that any American had conspired with Russia to further Trump ’ s presidential chances .
For Page , the threat of legal jeopardy had finally passed .
But , as Page writes in his book , he wanted more : vindication : Not a single crime related to the campaign or related to Russia in any significant way was identified .
All the partisan Democratic challengers who tried prosecuting this series of show trials started to limp back to their old jobs without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ efforts .
Though my time in the barrel was now over , I still didn ’ t feel that I had seen justice .
In fact , Mueller ’ s testimony [ to Congress in July 2019 ] only deepened the sense that so many Americans had been betrayed .
I had eagerly supported Robert Mueller ’ s appointment , believing that his record of military service and his prior reputation would help clear my name .
But by the time his investigation came to a close , with no evidence of any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suspicions hang around President Trump , myself , and countless other innocent souls .
Watching Mueller on television showed me how deep the decay ran in our justice system .
The man I had thought would exonerate me was evidently not the person running the show .
And after all this time , justice still hadn ’ t been served .
“ Abuse and Power : How An Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against the President ” by Carter Page is available Aug. 25 , 2020 , from Regnery Publishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 by Carter Page

Not until lurid headlines damned Carter Page as a traitor to his country in September 2016, six weeks before the presidential election, did he realize someone was using him to play a dirty political trick.
Reporters had been hounding the energy investor with strangely detailed questions about his ties to Russia. Page told each of them that he was a former US Navy lieutenant, a graduate of Annapolis, an Eagle Scout — hardly a likely protagonist in some cloak-and-dagger drama.
But he had also served as a foreign policy adviser to Donald J. Trump. And secretly, within a collection of Democratic opposition-research memos soon to be known as the Steele Dossier, Page had been cast as the GOP candidate’s liaison to Vladimir Putin.
It was the launch of the collusion tale that nearly destroyed a presidency. And the little-known Page, now 49, had an unsought starring role.
Page told reporters the truth that fall — but it wasn’t the whole truth, he writes in “Abuse and Power: How an Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against the President” (Regnery), out Tuesday.
In fact, as he repeatedly informed FBI investigators all the way up to Director James Comey himself, Page was a longtime CIA informant, not only on Russian affairs but on China and the Middle East.
His status as a trusted US intelligence source extended beyond the CIA. Only months before, Page had helped the FBI itself make a case against an accused Russian spook.
That should have been enough to clear Page’s name. Instead, the FBI painted a target on his back.
This month, federal charges were filed against Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer involved in all three of the political investigations centered on the 2016 election: the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe, the Crossfire Hurricane inquiry into Trump’s campaign, and the Special Counsel office of Robert Mueller.
Attorney General Bill Barr has assigned US Attorney John Durham to get to the bottom of Crossfire Hurricane — and the case against Clinesmith could mean that answers are near.
In October 2016, the FBI obtained a Title I warrant against Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that set up a secret court to hear dangerous terrorism and national security cases.
A Title I warrant, the most intrusive type, gives investigators access to all of a target’s communications — along with those of the target’s contacts, and all of the contacts’ contacts.
That “two-hop” coverage opened not only Page’s electronic records to investigators, but Trump’s as well, while he was a candidate and throughout his first eight months in the White House. Not exactly “wires tapped in Trump Tower,” as the president alleged in an explosive March 2017 tweetstorm, but the digital-age equivalent.
And as Durham’s court filing showed, Clinesmith and his colleagues knew all along that Page was never a Russian spy.
In August 2016, documents show, the CIA told the Crossfire Hurricane team that Page had been a trusted informant for years. That explained all of the Russian contacts the FBI saw as suspicious — two months before agents filed the first warrant against Page.
The FBI illegally withheld that exculpatory evidence from the FISA court.
Later, in June 2017, Clinesmith — by then a member of Mueller’s staff — made the offense overt by altering a CIA document that confirmed Page’s status with the agency, Durham told the court. Clinesmith took a guilty plea on Aug. 19.
The US government snooped on Page for 11 months. He was never charged with any crime. But, he says, the death threats and the public hounding never ended. His life and business were ruined.
“The whole system of secret surveillance is broken,” Page writes in his book. The FBI’s abuse of his constitutionally guaranteed rights “is just one sign of a national security establishment that is divorced from the values and freedoms of the people it is charged with protecting.”
It’s an insidious overuse of federal power that, if not checked, puts all Americans’ civil liberties at risk, he writes.
Page, eager to set the record straight, testified before the special counsel’s Washington, DC, grand jury in November 2017. There he met Mueller attorneys Jeannie Rhee and L. Rush Atkinson, two of the “Angry Democrats” that President Trump later railed against on Twitter.
In this excerpt, Page gives us the first peek inside Mueller’s grand jury — where he began to grasp how high the deck was stacked against him …
The first time I ever met Jeannie Rhee, I saw her in the courthouse hallway outside my grand jury room. I politely introduced myself, “Hello, I’m Carter Page.” Rather than identify herself, she angrily scowled and pointed a finger toward my holding pen area. Like a cold prison warden she barked orders … I was starting to get the picture of how the day was likely to go down.
I had got a sense of her lieutenant Rush Atkinson’s place in the pecking order by watching him shadow Rhee. Given no advance warning of whom I was dealing with, I looked up stories about the Mueller team during one of my breaks that day. The reason for Rhee’s aggressive stance quickly became quite clear. As Business Insider reported, “Rhee represented Hillary Clinton in a 2015 lawsuit that sought access to her private e-mails. She also represented the Clinton Foundation in a 2015 racketeering lawsuit.”
Worse, the profile continued: “Rhee … has doled out more than $16,000 to Democrats since 2008, CNN reported. She maxed out her donations both in 2015 and 2016 to Clinton’s presidential campaign, giving a total of $5,400.”
I struggled to comprehend: One of the financial funders who contributed cash to the Democratic organizations which launched this whole domestic political-intelligence operation is also among the same people now effectively leading this official US government interrogation against me?
Such Democrat campaign donations were the same fuel that paid for the DNC-funded consultant Christopher Steele’s infamous Dodgy Dossier. The fact that such individuals had now found a way to perpetrate this vindictive harassment against their political adversaries in their official roles as US government prosecutors seemed to defy common sense and common decency.
I struggled to comprehend: One of the financial funders of … this whole domestic political intelligence operation … is leading this official US government interrogation against me?
As I put two and two together, I was almost in a state of shock. In just a few minutes, my break would end, and I would have to face Rhee again … I began to fully understand the frivolous game that I had been forced to play. Though I was hardly comforted, things were starting to make sense.
By comparison, Lawrence Rush Atkinson reportedly only gave a paltry $200 donation to the 2016 Clinton campaign. A token sum to be sure, but that was enough to reveal his loyalties. Clearly Rush had not yet graduated to the big leagues of political prosecutions.
I faced about twenty grand jurors — each of them studying my face as I spoke, looking for any sign of intimidation or deception. The relatively junior lawyer Rush Atkinson took up much of the grunt work in the interrogation. It immediately became clear who was driving the train. Atkinson would ask me a question, and Rhee would furiously write her next question on a yellow sticky note, her choice of communication medium, and slap it in front of Atkinson for him to verbalize. He would get something wrong in her eyes, and she would wrathfully scribble a correction and slap it down even harder.
I started to wonder: If there’s something she wants to know, why doesn’t she just go ahead and ask all of these foolish questions herself?
… I eventually figured out the likely reason for her methods. Similar to many courthouse forums, the Democrat prosecutors were sitting next to a court reporter who kept record of who said what throughout the day. Certainly it would be a bad look if some independent-minded attorney sitting somewhere in the Justice Department noted that the stenographer had transcribed records showing Jeannie Rhee was the one asking all the highly aggressive and blatantly political gotcha questions. She clearly intended to trip me up but didn’t want to be the one doing so on the official record.
Atkinson humbly complied with the yellow stickies and recited, as best he could, the questions that Rhee demanded. After going through an additional stack of stickies, the junior prosecutor meekly noted how prolific her requests were. As the day wore on and Jeannie grew increasingly irritable, she would slap the yellow stickies down even harder next to Rush’s photocopies of my personal documents.
The show-trial format of the day had all the trappings of a quiz-bowl-styled game show … the game cards for this contest consisted of big stacks of paper that the partisan special counsel team had printed out. For some reason, one of the quirks of the grand jury game prevented contestants such as me from bringing even one sheet of paper into the arena. I felt as if I were being asked to participate in a game of “What’s in my pocket?”
Though it was over two years ago, my memory of the day’s events is as vivid as ever. Rhee, working through Atkinson, impatiently demanded to know things like: In January 2016, you wrote an e-mail referring to someone without mentioning their name. Who exactly did you have in mind then?
As I tried explaining the details of what really happened, one of the grand jurors sitting right before me slightly nodded his head in agreement before I got rudely cut off by my questioners. At least one member of the jury wasn’t buying this political charade.
Mueller’s prosecutors left Page in limbo for 16 months following his grand jury appearance. They pursued cases against several Trump advisers, including Gen. Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, and Roger Stone — none on charges of Russian collusion. For all that time, Page could never be sure he was in the clear.
On March 24, 2019, Attorney General Barr told Congress that Mueller had completed his work without uncovering evidence that any American had conspired with Russia to further Trump’s presidential chances. For Page, the threat of legal jeopardy had finally passed.
But, as Page writes in his book, he wanted more: vindication:
Not a single crime related to the campaign or related to Russia in any significant way was identified. All the partisan Democratic challengers who tried prosecuting this series of show trials started to limp back to their old jobs without anything material to show for their expensive efforts.
Though my time in the barrel was now over, I still didn’t feel that I had seen justice. In fact, Mueller’s testimony [to Congress in July 2019] only deepened the sense that so many Americans had been betrayed. I had eagerly supported Robert Mueller’s appointment, believing that his record of military service and his prior reputation would help clear my name. But by the time his investigation came to a close, with no evidence of any wrongdoing, the Mueller Report still let suspicions hang around President Trump, myself, and countless other innocent souls. Watching Mueller on television showed me how deep the decay ran in our justice system. The man I had thought would exonerate me was evidently not the person running the show. And after all this time, justice still hadn’t been served.
“Abuse and Power: How An Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against the President” by Carter Page is available Aug. 25, 2020, from Regnery Publishing, www.regnery. com. Copyright © 2020 by Carter Page


newyorkpost--2020-08-22--LeBron James, Anthony Davis lead Lakers past Trail Blazers

LAKE BUENA VISTA , Fla. — More of a spectator than a supporter for LeBron James in the first half , Anthony Davis had a message for his teammate .
“ I told LeBron at half I ’ ve got to take some of the pressure off of him , ” Davis said .
With both superstars rolling and another dominant defensive effort , the Lakers again looked like the best of the West .
James had 38 points , 12 rebounds and eight assists , Davis scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in the first-round series .
The Lakers shut down the high-scoring Blazers for the second straight game after the No .
1 seed was knocked off in Game 1 .
This was Portland ’ s highest-scoring performance in the series and it wasn ’ t close to good enough .
“ That ’ s just who we ’ ve always been , ” James said .
“ That has not changed since the first day we stepped on the floor at training camp.
” Damian Lillard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left index finger , and CJ McCollum added 28 for the Trail Blazers .
They will try to even the series in Game 4 on Monday .
Davis scored 31 points in Game 2 but had only six at halftime Saturday .
Coach Frank Vogel thought the power forward was trying to move the ball and make the right play — he finished with eight assists — but looked for his own offense in the second half .
“ A.D. , he just turned it on , ” Vogel said .
Portland was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minutes left .
But Davis then re-entered and started scoring from everywhere , turning lob passes into dunks or stepping outside for jumpers on his way to 12 points in the period .
The Lakers ’ defense handled the rest , limiting the Blazers to just three field goals over more than seven minutes as they pushed the lead to 109-98 with a little more than 2 minutes to go .
“ It wasn ’ t our night to make those shots , ” Lillard said .
“ The effort was there .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t make the shots that we usually make.
” Carmelo Anthony added 20 points in his first good game of the series .
He was 4 for 17 in the first two games and he started Game 3 with seven straight misses before making his eighth — by tipping in his own miss .
The Blazers made a lineup change , inserting Hassan Whiteside to play alongside Jusuf Nurkic in a big starting five .
The unit got Portland off to a good start and the Blazers nursed the early lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without ever really stopping James , who was 5 for 6 for 15 points in eight minutes in the period .
But McCollum capped his 13-point period with a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer , making it 57-53 .
James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined for 12 straight points to send the Lakers from six down to a 70-64 lead .
The Blazers came right back behind Anthony , who made three straight jumpers before a dunk on the break tied it at 72 .
The Lakers surged back ahead with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they led by seven entering the fourth .
“ It came down to a fourth-quarter game .
Anthony Davis made his perimeter shots and we came up empty too often , ” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said .
Lillard was hurt in the third quarter of Game 2 and hadn ’ t done anything on the court until arriving early Saturday to test the finger , which was wrapped in black tape .
It didn ’ t appear to have much effect on his ballhandling or shooting for much of the game but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1 for 6 and missing all four 3-pointers .

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — More of a spectator than a supporter for LeBron James in the first half, Anthony Davis had a message for his teammate.
“I told LeBron at half I’ve got to take some of the pressure off of him,” Davis said.
With both superstars rolling and another dominant defensive effort, the Lakers again looked like the best of the West.
James had 38 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, Davis scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half, and the Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 116-108 on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
The Lakers shut down the high-scoring Blazers for the second straight game after the No. 1 seed was knocked off in Game 1. This was Portland’s highest-scoring performance in the series and it wasn’t close to good enough.
“That’s just who we’ve always been,” James said. “That has not changed since the first day we stepped on the floor at training camp.”
Damian Lillard scored 34 points playing with a dislocated left index finger, and CJ McCollum added 28 for the Trail Blazers. They will try to even the series in Game 4 on Monday.
Davis scored 31 points in Game 2 but had only six at halftime Saturday. Coach Frank Vogel thought the power forward was trying to move the ball and make the right play — he finished with eight assists — but looked for his own offense in the second half.
“A.D., he just turned it on,” Vogel said.
Portland was down only three with about 9 1/2 minutes left. But Davis then re-entered and started scoring from everywhere, turning lob passes into dunks or stepping outside for jumpers on his way to 12 points in the period.
The Lakers’ defense handled the rest, limiting the Blazers to just three field goals over more than seven minutes as they pushed the lead to 109-98 with a little more than 2 minutes to go.
“It wasn’t our night to make those shots,” Lillard said. “The effort was there. The aggressiveness was there. We just didn’t make the shots that we usually make.”
Carmelo Anthony added 20 points in his first good game of the series. He was 4 for 17 in the first two games and he started Game 3 with seven straight misses before making his eighth — by tipping in his own miss.
The Blazers made a lineup change, inserting Hassan Whiteside to play alongside Jusuf Nurkic in a big starting five. The unit got Portland off to a good start and the Blazers nursed the early lead all the way through the second quarter without ever really stopping James, who was 5 for 6 for 15 points in eight minutes in the period. But McCollum capped his 13-point period with a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer, making it 57-53.
James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined for 12 straight points to send the Lakers from six down to a 70-64 lead. The Blazers came right back behind Anthony, who made three straight jumpers before a dunk on the break tied it at 72.
The Lakers surged back ahead with a 10-0 burst that made it 89-78 and they led by seven entering the fourth.
“It came down to a fourth-quarter game. Anthony Davis made his perimeter shots and we came up empty too often,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.
Lillard was hurt in the third quarter of Game 2 and hadn’t done anything on the court until arriving early Saturday to test the finger, which was wrapped in black tape. It didn’t appear to have much effect on his ballhandling or shooting for much of the game but he faltered in the fourth, going 1 for 6 and missing all four 3-pointers.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--3 in 4 Republicans think America is better off now than in 2016: poll

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he wished “ we had listened ...

The majority of Republicans have a rosier picture of America now than they did four years ago — because of their confidence in President Trump, a new poll found.
Three in four GOP-identified voters who responded to a nationwide CBS News poll said that the nation is better off than it was in 2016.
When asked why they believed the nation was better off, 82 percent cited their faith in Trump and 70 percent gave the state of the economy as the reason.
Seventy percent said it was because Democrats are no longer in power and 64 percent cited their own family’s finances.
Overall, just 35 percent of registered voters who were polled said the country is better off now than four years ago.
The poll was conducted between Aug. 19-21 with a sample of 2,226 registered voters across the country.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Roger Goodell admits NFL regret in Colin Kaepernick saga

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he wished “ we had listened earlier ” to Colin Kaepernick , when asked what he would say in an apology to the former 49ers quarterback who was catapulted back into the national spotlight amid the country ’ s reckoning on racism .
“ Well the first thing I ’ d say is , ‘ I wish we had listened earlier , Kap , to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to , ’ ” Goodell said , when prompted by former linebacker and commentator Emmanuel Acho during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Sunday , titled “ Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man : The National Anthem Protest.
” Goodell added that the league had “ invited [ Kaepernick ] in several times to have the conversation , ” but “ we never did.
” He did not offer an explanation as to why that meeting hasn ’ t happened .
The NFL over the past four years had mostly been silent when it came to Kaepernick , who hasn ’ t played since 2016 after kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police , which prompted NFL stars in June to demand the league to “ listen to your players ” and “ condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people.
” Only after facing pressure from the league ’ s biggest names , including Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes , Goodell responded , “ We , the National Football League , admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.
” Goodell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mentioning the 32-year-old Kaepernick by name .
Goodell later said he would “ support ” a team to sign Kaepernick , who continues to train in hope of another opportunity .
Kaepernick sparked the movement to peacefully protest during the national anthem , and it has become the norm since sports have returned from the coronavirus pandemic .
“ It is not about the flag .
The message here , and what our players are doing , is being mischaracterized , ” Goodell said .
“ These are not people who are unpatriotic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ re not against our military .
In fact , many of those guys were in the military , and they ’ re a military family .
What they were trying to do was exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed .
That misrepresentation in who they were and what they were doing was a thing that really gnawed at me.
” Kaepernick and the NFL reached an undisclosed settlement in February 2019 over his collusion grievance against the league and owners .
The following season @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrange a workout for Kaepernick in what many saw as a publicity stunt for the league .
The workout turned into a disaster when Kaepernick and the NFL couldn ’ t agree on details , and only a few teams attended .

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he wished “we had listened earlier” to Colin Kaepernick, when asked what he would say in an apology to the former 49ers quarterback who was catapulted back into the national spotlight amid the country’s reckoning on racism.
“Well the first thing I’d say is, ‘I wish we had listened earlier, Kap, to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to,’ ” Goodell said, when prompted by former linebacker and commentator Emmanuel Acho during an interview, shared to social media on Sunday, titled “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man: The National Anthem Protest.”
Goodell added that the league had “invited [Kaepernick] in several times to have the conversation,” but “we never did.”
He did not offer an explanation as to why that meeting hasn’t happened.
The NFL over the past four years had mostly been silent when it came to Kaepernick, who hasn’t played since 2016 after kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
But that began to change following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which prompted NFL stars in June to demand the league to “listen to your players” and “condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people.”
Only after facing pressure from the league’s biggest names, including Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, Goodell responded, “We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”
Goodell, however, drew backlash for not mentioning the 32-year-old Kaepernick by name.
Goodell later said he would “support” a team to sign Kaepernick, who continues to train in hope of another opportunity.
Kaepernick sparked the movement to peacefully protest during the national anthem, and it has become the norm since sports have returned from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is not about the flag. The message here, and what our players are doing, is being mischaracterized,” Goodell said. “These are not people who are unpatriotic, they’re not disloyal, they’re not against our military. In fact, many of those guys were in the military, and they’re a military family. What they were trying to do was exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed. That misrepresentation in who they were and what they were doing was a thing that really gnawed at me.”
Kaepernick and the NFL reached an undisclosed settlement in February 2019 over his collusion grievance against the league and owners.
The following season, Goodell and the league attempted to arrange a workout for Kaepernick in what many saw as a publicity stunt for the league.
The workout turned into a disaster when Kaepernick and the NFL couldn’t agree on details, and only a few teams attended.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Formerly homeless Marine vet-turned-nurse gives back amid pandemic

NORTON , Mass .
— Dustin Johnson looked dominant as he ever ...

A US Marine veteran who went from living on the streets to becoming an ER nurse at a Long Island hospital found inspiration to help the homeless in the coronavirus pandemic.
Antranik “Andy” Garabedian, 41, used his experience to start a charity for the homeless as he watched the virus take its toll on people on the street — and said he’s handed out close to 1,500 meals across the five boroughs and Nassau County, Long Island since April.
“I always said I was going to do something to help people that needed more help than me,” Garabedian told The Post. “I just didn’t know it was going to take a pandemic.”
The Long Island native knows first-hand about homelessness: He spent about three years on the streets in the early 2000s after receiving a medical discharge from the Marines.
Garabedian still adhered to the Marine Corps.’ values of “adapt, improvise, overcome” as he struggled to make his own way. He would even volunteer at food pantries and soup kitchens — without admitting he needed help himself.
“I could go there to steal food, and nobody would know I was in need,’’ he said. “Embarrassment was probably the largest thing … admitting that I wasn’t OK.”
Eventually, Garabedian said, he knew he couldn’t keep on living the way he was.
“I was at my wits’ end,” he said. The worst part “was knowing that I didn’t really exist.”
“I’d walk on the street telling myself, ‘There’s got to be more than this.’ It got overwhelming. I didn’t want to be homeless.”
New Year’s Eve 2007 was cold and dreary on the streets of Smithtown, LI, and Garabedian said he contemplated ending his life that night.
Then he happened to stop by the rectory of the local Catholic church, St. Patrick’s.
The man who answered the door “could tell that I was at the end of my rope, and he invited me inside,’’ Garabedian said.
A nun there gave him a grilled-cheese sandwich and a glass of milk, and the priest offered him a cot for the night.
Their kindness prompted Garabedian to figure out a way to apply to Suffolk County Community College and get back on his feet. He found his passion in nursing.
At the height of New York’s coronavirus outbreak this past spring, Long Island Jewish Valley Stream was getting “slaughtered,” said Garabedian, a nurse there.
“We were so inundated. You didn’t even have a chance to breathe.”
In one day, the Northwell Health hospital’s emergency room saw 200 people, though it was built to handle a maximum of 60, he recalled. Garabedian said he once lost 10 patients in a 24-hour span.
At least 40 of the COVID-19 patients he treated were homeless.
They told him life on the streets was made rougher by the virus, with no panhandling, few food scraps to take out of the trash and less room at shelters and soup kitchens. He asked what they planned to do, and they told him, “Try not to die,” he said.
“It was weighing on me,” Garabedian said. “I knew exactly what they were going through.”
After a spur-of-the-moment visit to Midtown, where Garabedian gave out protein bars, socks and other items he had in his car to a group of homeless people, he decided to give back on a larger scale.
He asked co-workers for help — and they donated $4,000 in just one week.
“People started to realize that we’ve become so desensitized to what goes on around us, a lot of us feel very hopeless, that this is a way to get redemption,” Garabedian said.
“This is about trying to give people a sense of community, making them feel like they belong.”
The healthcare hero used the cash to buy sandwiches and meals from local restaurants — supporting them amid the pandemic, too — and then donated the food to the homeless. He supplemented the packages with items bought with his own money.
“Putting myself out there makes me feel doubly good,” Garabedian said.
With the help of another nurse, Dawna Scheich, and the support of the hospital’s administration, he was able to register his charity — Aggregate Hearts. He now works five days a week as a nurse and spends one day on prep for the charity and one day on making deliveries.
Still, the do-gooder does need some help himself — such as with building a website — and is no longer embarrassed to admit it.
“It’s not just about me,” he said, “It’s about all of us making a sacrifice.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Dustin Johnson regains No. 1 ranking with dominant Northern Trust win

NORTON , Mass .
— Dustin Johnson looked dominant as he ever as , and nothing could stop him Sunday in The Northern Trust .
Not even the weather .
Johnson played the final two holes in near darkness after a late storm delay and finished with a birdie for an 8-under 63 and an 11-shot victory over Harris English .
It was the 22nd victory of his PGA Tour career , and he never made it look easier .
Johnson won his fifth FedEx Cup playoffs event — tied with Rory McIlroy for most — and returned to No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finished at 30-under 254 .
Staked to a five-shot lead over Harris English going into the final round , Johnson sent a towering 7-iron over the water to a front pin on the par-5 second , the ball settling 8 feet next to the pin for an eagle .
Two holes later , his 3-wood was placed perfectly in front of the fourth green for a simple up-and-down for birdie .
It was like that all day .
It was like that all week .
He led by five and went out in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shots at the turn .
On the 500-yard 12th hole , where on Saturday he hit a tight draw with a 6-iron to a foot , this time he hit a slight fade with a 6-iron to 3 feet for anther birdie .
The only drama was whether he could set two PGA Tour scoring records — 31-under par by Ernie Els at Kapalua in 2003 , and the 253 by Justin Thomas at the Sony Open in 2017 .
But after that birdie on the 12th put him at 29 under , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He is only the third player to finish 30 under , joining Els and Jordan Spieth , also at Kapalua .
So he at least owns the record on the mainland .
It was reminiscent of Friday , when he was 11 under through 11 holes and the only question was whether he could become the first player to shoot 57 .
He made seven straight pars for a 60 .
This closing stretch was different .
Johnson cares more about trophies than records , and getting his round finished was all that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years ago at Riviera , when he was poised to break Lanny Wadkins ’ 72-hole record at Riviera , the longest standing on the PGA Tour schedule .
But he finished with three bogeys over the last 10 holes playing conservatively , and only later said he didn ’ t know what the record was .
Nor did he care .
English tried to hold his own , three times matching birdies with Johnson .
He finished with a bogey that didn ’ t matter , shot 69 and moved to No .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ started the year without a full card .
Now he has locked up a spot in the Tour Championship .
There ’ s just no stopping Johnson when he puts all parts of his game together , particularly the irons .
Johnson didn ’ t miss a green in the final round .
Kevin Kisner , who grew up playing junior golf with Johnson in South Carolina , has seen this all before .
“ He can absolutely dismantle a golf course when he ’ s on , ” Kisner said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 25 years .
I ’ m pretty accustomed to it .
When he ’ s on , I just step to the side and try to add to my bank account.
” Kisner did that part well .
He closed with a 66 , well enough that he is in good shape in his bid to lock up a spot in the Tour Championship .
He had said all week he wanted to take care of that at the TPC Boston instead of having to deliver next week in the BMW Championship at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never seen .
The top 70 in the FedEx Cup advance to the BMW Championship , and there was one shot that mattered when play resumed .
Louis Oosthuizen at No .
99 in the standings was in the 18th fairway , easily in range of the green on the par-5 closing hole .
He managed a two-putt birdie in the dark to lock up the 70th spot .
Robby Shelton closed with a 63 , enough for him to be among six players who moved into the top 70 .
The others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Noren , Russell Henley and Jason Kokrak .
Five of the six players knocked out missed the cut , including Phil Mickelson .
The other was Denny McCarthy , who shot 73 on Sunday .

NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Dark clouds gathered. Thunder rumbled. Lightning flashed on the horizon. Just as unsettling was seeing Dustin Johnson in complete control of his game with a performance worthy of his return to No. 1 in the world.
He was as close to unbeatable as he has ever been.
Johnson capped off his dominant week at The Northern Trust with an 8-under 63, finishing with a tap-in birdie in the dark following a storm delay for an 11-shot victory at the TPC Boston.
It was the largest margin of victory since Phil Mickelson won by 13 at the TPC Sugarloaf in 2006.
“The best I’ve ever seen him look,” said Claude Harmon III, his swing coach, as he stood off the 18th green that was partially illuminated by the video board that flashed the scores of this astounding feat.
Johnson hit every green in regulation Sunday, and missed only three greens over his last 54 holes. His final 54 holes were rounds of 60-64-63.
Johnson finished at 30-under 254, making him only the third player in PGA Tour history to finish at 30 under or better. He missed the record by one shot set by Ernie Els in 2003 at Kapalua. Jordan Spieth also was 30 under at Kapalua in 2016. Johnson at least holds the record on the mainland.
“I knew I was playing well and I knew the guys were going to shoot low,” Johnson said. “I was trying to get to 30 under. … I’ve never shot 30 under in four rounds. Just something that I wanted to do.”
That was about the only competition he faced.
Harris English figured that out early when he trailed by five shots at the start of the final round, shot 32 on the front nine and fell seven shots behind.
“Kind of had my own tournament that I was playing,” English said. “I mean, really, the goal starting today wasn’t necessarily to win. It was to put myself in position to have a run in the FedEx Cup. That’s why we’re all here.”
English did the job, With a bogey in the dark that didn’t matter at the end, he shot 69 to finish alone in second and moved to No. 6 in the FedEx Cup, securing his place among the top 30 who go to East Lake for the Tour Championship. English started the year with only partial status.
Louis Oosthuizen delivered, too, in what might have been the only drama Sunday. Oosthuizen was No. 99 in the FedEx Cup and appeared to waste his opportunity when he was 4 over through 14. He came to the par-5 18th needing birdie, drove into the fairway, and then had to wait more than an hour because of the storm delay.
He hit the green with a 3-iron, rolled the eagle putt 4 feet by the hole because he could barely see, and knocked in the birdie to move to No. 70 on the number. The top 70 go to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields next week.
“Most happy 73 that I’ve had in a while,” Oosthuizen said.
Johnson won for the 22nd time in his career, and he never made it look easier. He said his game felt as good as the spring of 2017, when he won three straight tournaments — Riviera and two World Golf Championships — to first reach No. 1.
It was his fifth victory in a FedEx Cup playoff event, tied for most with Rory McIlroy.
Staked to a five-shot lead over Harris English going into the final round, Johnson sent a towering 7-iron over the water to a front pin on the par-5 second, the ball settling 8 feet next to the pin for an eagle. Two holes later, his 3-wood was placed perfectly in front of the fourth green for a simple up-and-down for birdie.
It was like that all day. It was like that all week.
On the 500-yard 12th hole, where on Saturday he hit a tight draw with a 6-iron to a foot, Johnson hit 6-iron with a slight fade to 3 feet for another birdie.
All that was left was to see he could top the 72-hole record of 253 set by Justin Thomas at the Sony Open in 2017. Johnson settled into a string of pars until the final hole, and later said he didn’t know what the record was.
“Next time,” he said.
That’s not unusual. During his peak run in 2017, he was poised to break the longest 72-hole tournament record on the PGA Tour at Riviera, the 20-under by Lanny Wadkins in 1985. Johnson was at 20 under with 12 holes to play, went into conservative mode and made three bogeys on his last 10 holes. He was unaware of that record, too, and wasn’t bothered.
Johnson is more about trophies than records. And this trophy was never in doubt
“He can absolutely dismantle a golf course when he’s on,” said Kevin Kisner, who grew up playing junior golf in South Carolina with Johnson. “I’ve been watching it for 25 years. I’m pretty accustomed to it. When he’s on, I just step to the side and try to add to my bank account.”
Kisner did that part well. He closed with a 66, moving him to No. 23 in his bid to lock up a spot in the Tour Championship. He had said all week he wanted to take care of that at the TPC Boston instead of having to deliver next week in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, a course he has never seen.
Robby Shelton closed with a 63, enough for him to be among six players who moved into the top 70. The others were Oosthuizen, Harry Higgs, Alex Noren, Russell Henley and Jason Kokrak. Five of the six players knocked out missed the cut, including Phil Mickelson. The other was Denny McCarthy, who shot 73 on Sunday.
Tiger Woods opened with four straight birdies and had to settle for a 66 to tie for 58th. He fell to No. 57 in the FedEx Cup, in danger of missing the Tour Championship for the second straight year.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--The MTA is headed for a total financial derailment

The cash-strapped MTA will no longer offer free taxi rides ...

How bad are the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s finances? Last week, the MTA was forced to borrow money from the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank and the lender of last resort to financial firms — not transit authorities. As the months tick by without congressional aid, the MTA’s options dwindle, imperiling Gotham’s recovery.
Even as people try to get back to day-to-day life, they’re shunning crowds, which means shunning transit. The MTA’s ridership, after spiking in early summer, has stalled at a fraction of pre-pandemic trips. Last Wednesday, subway ridership was down 77 percent.
Metro-North ridership is down 83 percent, illustrating that New York’s white-collar workforce has not returned to Manhattan.
People who do have to move around are using other options. Citi Bike ridership is running even with last year, and the MTA’s toll-bridge traffic is down only 12 percent.
So transit fares have cratered, by $5.3 billion this year alone, along with the tax dollars the MTA gets from Albany.
Even with the $4 billion Congress provided in early April, the MTA expects a $10.3 billion budget hole, against a $34.5 billion, two-year budget this year and next — or 30 percent of spending.
Because of these figures, the MTA cannot borrow from traditional bond markets, at least not at an interest rate it wants to pay. Last week, it tried to borrow $451 million from traditional lenders (like banks), with a three-year repayment term, but lenders demanded an interest rate more than double the January rate.
So the MTA went to the Fed, taking advantage of an emergency program. It’s only the second government borrower to do so, after the state of Illinois, which has long been broke. And the agency still had to pay 50 percent higher than January.
The MTA won’t be getting much for this new debt, in being able to accelerate projects like subway-signal modernization.
The new borrowing only pays back previous debt, which would have matured Sept. 1. The Fed’s action is just as much a bailout of the MTA’s existing lenders, who would have been in trouble if the MTA couldn’t raise new debt to repay the old.
OK, the MTA has bought time — but time for what? Congress should come through with a new aid package. But what if Congress doesn’t come through with enough or for long enough?
A nightmare scenario is, three years from now, an MTA hobbling along with, say, 60 percent of pre-pandemic ridership. People with options have either left the city or stuck with bicycles within Manhattan and cars in the boroughs. The MTA doesn’t have resources to repair and maintain its infrastructure, and it has to slash service to repay its existing $46 billion in debt.
Consider: $2.6 billion in annual debt-payment costs, in last year’s pre-pandemic budget, represented 17 percent of MTA revenues. Next year’s $3 billion in debt-payment costs will consume a full quarter of sharply lower revenues.
For the moment, it’s not bondholders who have to worry. Legally, they have first claim on revenues. It’s riders who will suffer sharply reduced service immediately and maintenance cuts that lead to even worse service later. (Of course, if the transit crisis lasts past a few years, the reality on the ground will erode bondholder protection, as it did in Puerto Rico and Detroit.)
The MTA has limited choices. It’s already budgeting $1.8 billion in budget cuts over two years, ranging from a hiring freeze to cutting consultants.
Much beyond that would require a wage freeze, including for union workers — for which it needs state political backing. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo has awarded a new statewide holiday, Juneteenth, without taking away an existing holiday, a new $32 million yearly additional cost to the MTA.
The MTA is already budgeting a 4 percent fare hike next March — now a tax on essential workers. It could consider raising tolls by far higher, and faster, than fares, since car and truck traffic has rebounded. But even a 20 percent hike in tolls — much beyond that would send drivers away from New York altogether — raises less than $300 million.
The MTA, with political support, can do more faster. But big picture: For New York to get back to normal, we’re counting on Congress or a vaccine miracle — and then a quick return to five-day-a-week office life.
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Connecticut city facing ‘serious’ COVID-19 outbreak, residents urged to stay home

The city of Danbury in Connecticut is facing a “ serious outbreak ” of the coronavirus , officials warned Friday @ @ @ @ @ stay home .
“ This is a serious outbreak in Danbury and we really need @ @ @ @ @ approach , ” Acting DPH Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford said in a statement .
From @ @ @ @ @ recorded 178 new cases of the virus , compared to 40 over the previous two @ @ @ @ @ blaming the outbreak on outdoor barbecues , travel and youth sports , which have been @ @ @ @ @ Danbury residents should also avoid unnecessary gatherings , church services and limit other indoor activities @ @ @ @ @ who feel they have been exposed to the illness are urged to self-quarantine for 14 @ @

The city of Danbury in Connecticut is facing a “serious outbreak” of the coronavirus, officials warned Friday as they urged residents to stay home.
“This is a serious outbreak in Danbury and we really need an all hands on deck approach,” Acting DPH Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford said in a statement.
From Aug. 2 to 20, the city recorded 178 new cases of the virus, compared to 40 over the previous two weeks.
Health officials are blaming the outbreak on outdoor barbecues, travel and youth sports, which have been canceled over the uptick.
Danbury residents should also avoid unnecessary gatherings, church services and limit other indoor activities, officials said.
Those who feel they have been exposed to the illness are urged to self-quarantine for 14 days.
With Post wires


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--What Mets’ schedule may look like in coronavirus aftermath

The Nos .
4 and 7 trains will take the entire ...

Following a lost weekend for the Mets, indications pointed toward a workout at Citi Field on Monday followed by a series starting against the Marlins there Tuesday.
And the possibility exists of a very busy week ahead for the Mets, who could play as many as three doubleheaders by the end of next weekend.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the teams could play one or two doubleheaders during the next scheduled Subway Series in The Bronx, which would begin Friday. And Marlins president Michael Hill said he expected his team to face the Mets beginning Tuesday, with the chance of a doubleheader Thursday, since the upcoming series is the last time the two teams are slated to meet during the regular season.
“They’re on our schedule to open up Tuesday night, so we’re expecting that we have a three-game series with the Mets until we hear otherwise,’’ Hill told reporters Sunday in Miami. “But the expectation also would be that at some point, given the fact that this is the last series of the year versus the Mets, that we are planning to make up that lost game.”
Submit your Mets questions here to be answered in an upcoming Post mailbag
The Marlins have already been severely impacted by their own coronavirus outbreak, when their season was paused. And the Yankees had a series against the Phillies postponed earlier in the season, although they were able to pivot and play Baltimore instead.
A statement Saturday night released by the Mets said two rounds of COVID-19 tests taken by the traveling party from New York to Miami late in the week had all returned negative. In addition, tests for all close contacts that remained in Miami were negative.
The tests on the traveling party were conducted Thursday night and Friday morning at Citi Field, after a position player and coach tested positive for the coronavirus in Miami, which caused four straight days of postponements. The player and coach who tested positive remained in quarantine in Miami.
There remains no plan for the Mets and Yankees to play on Monday’s mutual off day. The teams have mutual days off on Sept. 3 and 14.
The Mets have not been allowed to use Citi Field this weekend. They last played on Wednesday in Miami, when they beat the Marlins. A day later, the Mets were notified about an hour before the scheduled first pitch of the positive test results.
Before the unscheduled break, the Mets had started to break out of their offensive slump. They won three straight games in Miami and were headed home to face an injury-riddled Yankees team. But the postponements also allowed them to realign a pitching rotation that was in disarray.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Face the facts on when America’s divisions got so deep

Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday accused President Trump of ...

Give Politico’s chief Washington correspondent, Ryan Lizza, some credit.
After Michelle Obama’s speech capping the first night of the Democrats’ virtual convention, he tweeted: “Story of an era in two convention speeches: Barack 04: ‘There’s not a black America and white America . . . there’s the United States of America.’ Michelle 20: ‘my message won’t be heard by some people’ because ‘we live in a nation that is deeply divided.’ ”
But who’s to blame? Democrats like to load all the blame on President Trump and, despite their continued failure to cite evidence for his “racism,” there’s no denying his coarse insults have contributed to an increasing sense of national division.
Balance that off by recognizing that bipartisan electoral politics inevitably divides a citizenry, as it has ours since President James Monroe was reelected without opposition in 1820. That Era of Good Feelings ended four years later when a four-candidate deadlock made the House decide the election. It’s been division ever since.
Then-Sen. Barack Obama’s 2004 speech made an Illinois state legislator into a plausible presidential candidate, an African American whose election promised to smooth over racial divisions as the election of John Kennedy in 1960 smoothed over Catholic-Protestant divisions.
The letdown came well before Trump descended that escalator in June 2015. Gallup showed the percentage of Americans rating black-white relations as very or somewhat good plunging in Obama’s second term, from 70 percent in 2013 to 51 percent in 2015. The 2014 exit poll showed 38 percent of voters believing “race relations in this country” had “gotten worse” in the last few years, versus 20 percent saying they’d “gotten better.”
Plainly, there was a sense of disappointment, of expectations being unmet. Comments by the president and his appointees about incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere probably contributed to this.
It surely also reflected continuing poor conditions and relatively high crime rates in many predominantly black neighborhoods.
Politically, the Obama presidency left us an America very sharply divided into two countries. Responses to COVID-19 have widened the already-sharp partisan differences between big cities and the countryside.
Democrats have vastly overestimated the virus’ death rate and its danger to people under 75 and have embraced stringent lockdowns and mandatory masking and social distancing. Republicans’ estimates have been closer to reality.
Partisan media have hailed Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, despite his persistence in sending infected patients to senior citizen homes and the resulting high death rates. They’ve denigrated Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, though his 450 COVID-19 deaths per million is a fraction of New York’s 1,690.
There’s also a vivid contrast between the “mostly peaceful” (translated into English: often violent) demonstrations in Portland and Seattle and the criminal mobs in Minneapolis and Chicago, and the relatively calm and intact exurbs and small towns.
You could argue that Democrats’ extreme risk aversion and the resulting lockdowns have imposed hideous damage on Democratic turf. “New York City Is Dead Forever,” read a headline by Manhattan comedy club owner James Altucher.
With restaurants, bars, museums and clubs closed down; storefronts up and down the avenues boarded up; and giant office buildings near empty, a de-policed Manhattan has been transformed from a garden into a combat zone.
Teachers’ union members’ refusals to return to school, despite overwhelming evidence that kids don’t get and don’t transmit the virus, may end up promoting school choice. Colleges and universities going virtual may demonstrate their dispensability.
Democratic convention speakers blamed Trump for not stamping out the virus, for the lockdowns’ economic devastation and for intensified partisan rancor. He’s made mistakes and missteps, but the charges are over the top. Maybe they’re an attempt to cover up the differences between red and blue America, which don’t work to Democrats’ advantage.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Israel pays a security price for its latest peace deal and other commentary

“ What ’ s an advanced weapons system between new friends ?
” quips Bloomberg Opinion ’ s Eli Lake .
Yet Israel , which has long relied on America ’ s policy not to sell the same weapons systems to Arab countries , is unhappy with the US openness to selling the United Arab Emirates the F-35 fighter jet .
While the two nations are normalizing relations , the Jewish state knows “ today ’ s friends can be tomorrow ’ s adversaries ” — and that “ more volatile ” countries may demand the jet “ as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UAE with state-of-the-art fighter jets ” hedges against “ the very real possibility of Chinese and Russian arms sales to Iran.
” Yet the price of “ turning the UAE from foe to friend ” may be “ the erosion of the military advantage ” Israel ’ s “ most important friend ” — the United States — has provided “ for nearly 50 years.
” Some school districts are “ not amused ” that families are using “ pandemic pods ” to “ provide some kind of in-person instruction for their children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jason Bedrick at National Review .
The Fairfax County , Va. , district , for one , claimed pods will “ widen the gap in education access and equity ” — “ an implicit admission ” that its online-only learning is “ inferior to the education students could be receiving in pods.
” Of course , school boards are really just trying to protect the “ residentially assigned and government-run ” status quo , which “ podding calls into question.
” If they were really “ interested in the ‘ public good ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they ’ d “ be doing everything in their power to provide education continuity to children ” — including embracing pods .
“ The leaders of the coup that ousted Mali ’ s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita spent most of the year training in Russia before returning to boot out the democratically elected leader at gunpoint , ” reports Philip Obaji Jr. at The Daily Beast .
Sources said the Russian military trained rebel leaders Malick Diaw and Sadio Camara , and while it ’ s not yet certain “ Diaw and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the Kremlin , “ military officials aren ’ t ruling out Russia ’ s direct involvement , ” especially as it has “ a reputation for swooping into African countries and hoping to reshape their politics for material gain.
” The Russians , however , may need to watch out : The coup could result in “ nationwide disharmony and political uncertainty ” — allowing jihadist groups to “ expand their reach.
” “ Joe Biden has presented himself ” to black Americans as “ a savior figure for whom they have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is “ a total fraud , ” blasts Rudy Giuliani at The Washington Times .
In his announcement speech , Biden justly criticized white supremacists but “ failed to mention ” much worse “ threats to blacks and other Americans.
” In fact , “ violent crime in America ’ s major cities ” destroys “ far more black lives ” than “ white supremacist bogeymen , ” yet “ Biden has chosen to attack police , exploiting the false charge of ‘ systemically racist ’ law enforcement.
” His party has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for decades , while under President Trump , black unemployment and poverty “ hit a record low ” and “ black wages ” hit a record high .
In sum , Biden offers black voters only more “ fear and dependency.
” The “ Reclaim Her Name ” project , 25 novels “ whose women authors were originally published under male pseudonyms ” reissued with the authors ’ “ real ” names , is “ well-intentioned ” but “ misses the point of the pseudonymous writer , ” argues Catherine Taylor at The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” author George Eliot “ really need ‘ reclaiming ’ as Mary Ann Evans ?
” The project “ glibly states that Eliot was ‘ forced to use a male pen name , ’ as if she were incapable of making her own decisions.
” Same with Amantine Aurore Dupin : “ ‘ George Sand ’ was as much a part of her image as the men ’ s clothes she wore and the tobacco she openly smoked.
” Indeed , the project ’ s “ rather superficial ” and “ one-size-fits-all approach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which pseudonyms aren ’ t always about conforming to patriarchal ” standards .

Eye on the Mideast: Israel-UAE Friendship’s Cost
“What’s an advanced weapons system between new friends?” quips Bloomberg Opinion’s Eli Lake. Yet Israel, which has long relied on America’s policy not to sell the same weapons systems to Arab countries, is unhappy with the US openness to selling the United Arab Emirates the F-35 fighter jet. While the two nations are normalizing relations, the Jewish state knows “today’s friends can be tomorrow’s adversaries” — and that “more volatile” countries may demand the jet “as a price for normalization.” Providing “the UAE with state-of-the-art fighter jets” hedges against “the very real possibility of Chinese and Russian arms sales to Iran.” Yet the price of “turning the UAE from foe to friend” may be “the erosion of the military advantage” Israel’s “most important friend” — the United States — has provided “for nearly 50 years.”
Education beat: The Anti-Pod People
Some school districts are “not amused” that families are using “pandemic pods” to “provide some kind of in-person instruction for their children,” scoff Lindsey M. Burke and Jason Bedrick at National Review. The Fairfax County, Va., district, for one, claimed pods will “widen the gap in education access and equity” — “an implicit admission” that its online-only learning is “inferior to the education students could be receiving in pods.” Of course, school boards are really just trying to protect the “residentially assigned and government-run” status quo, which “podding calls into question.” If they were really “interested in the ‘public good’ of public education,” after all, they’d “be doing everything in their power to provide education continuity to children” — including embracing pods.
Foreign desk: Real Russian Interference
“The leaders of the coup that ousted Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita spent most of the year training in Russia before returning to boot out the democratically elected leader at gunpoint,” reports Philip Obaji Jr. at The Daily Beast. Sources said the Russian military trained rebel leaders Malick Diaw and Sadio Camara, and while it’s not yet certain “Diaw and Camara sought military assistance or cover” from the Kremlin, “military officials aren’t ruling out Russia’s direct involvement,” especially as it has “a reputation for swooping into African countries and hoping to reshape their politics for material gain.” The Russians, however, may need to watch out: The coup could result in “nationwide disharmony and political uncertainty” — allowing jihadist groups to “expand their reach.”
Campaign watch: Biden Offers Blacks Only Fear
“Joe Biden has presented himself” to black Americans as “a savior figure for whom they have a moral duty to vote” — which is “a total fraud,” blasts Rudy Giuliani at The Washington Times. In his announcement speech, Biden justly criticized white supremacists but “failed to mention” much worse “threats to blacks and other Americans.” In fact, “violent crime in America’s major cities” destroys “far more black lives” than “white supremacist bogeymen,” yet “Biden has chosen to attack police, exploiting the false charge of ‘systemically racist’ law enforcement.” His party has “ignored and exploited” African Americans for decades, while under President Trump, black unemployment and poverty “hit a record low” and “black wages” hit a record high. In sum, Biden offers black voters only more “fear and dependency.”
Culture critic: What’s in a Name?
The “Reclaim Her Name” project, 25 novels “whose women authors were originally published under male pseudonyms” reissued with the authors’ “real” names, is “well-intentioned” but “misses the point of the pseudonymous writer,” argues Catherine Taylor at The Times Literary Supplement. Does “Middlemarch” author George Eliot “really need ‘reclaiming’ as Mary Ann Evans?” The project “glibly states that Eliot was ‘forced to use a male pen name,’ as if she were incapable of making her own decisions.” Same with Amantine Aurore Dupin: “ ‘George Sand’ was as much a part of her image as the men’s clothes she wore and the tobacco she openly smoked.” Indeed, the project’s “rather superficial” and “one-size-fits-all approach overlooks the complexities of publishing history, in which pseudonyms aren’t always about conforming to patriarchal” standards.
— Compiled by Karl Salzmann & Kelly Jane Torrance


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--How NYC could make remote learning into a winner for many kids

Remote learning has been a near-disaster for city school kids , but City Councilmen Ben Kallos and Robert Cornegy hope it can bring at least one plus .
The lawmakers want the city to expand its Gifted & Talented program online , letting more kids take advantage of the higher-speed , more intense instruction .
Limited funds and space have long left the city unable to offer G & T classes to all who can benefit .
But online learning doesn ’ t require more classroom space , and may be cheaper per student than in-person teaching .
Kallos and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way to better “ desegregate ” schools — though schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has seen G & T programs as a form of segregation .
Yet the main benefit is simply giving more kids the chance to shine with a more challenging program .
Yes , school officials have a lot of kinks to work out when it comes to remote classes .
But expanding G & T should be relatively easy : Kids who qualify and opt into the program should be fairly motivated .
In the name of racial justice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to scrap the Specialized High School Admissions Test as the gateway to the city ’ s most rigorous high schools .
Far better to put more kids on the path to ace the exam , with a truly challenging elementary and middle-school education — with expanded G & T a fine start .

Remote learning has been a near-disaster for city school kids, but City Councilmen Ben Kallos and Robert Cornegy hope it can bring at least one plus.
The lawmakers want the city to expand its Gifted & Talented program online, letting more kids take advantage of the higher-speed, more intense instruction.
Limited funds and space have long left the city unable to offer G&T classes to all who can benefit. But online learning doesn’t require more classroom space, and may be cheaper per student than in-person teaching.
Kallos and Cornegy also see their plan as a way to better “desegregate” schools — though schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has seen G&T programs as a form of segregation.
Yet the main benefit is simply giving more kids the chance to shine with a more challenging program.
Yes, school officials have a lot of kinks to work out when it comes to remote classes. But expanding G&T should be relatively easy: Kids who qualify and opt into the program should be fairly motivated.
In the name of racial justice, Carranza and Mayor Bill de Blasio want to scrap the Specialized High School Admissions Test as the gateway to the city’s most rigorous high schools. Far better to put more kids on the path to ace the exam, with a truly challenging elementary and middle-school education — with expanded G&T a fine start.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Andrew Cuomo doubles down in his ‘war on fun’

The New York State Liquor Authority is cracking down on ...

No dancing at bars. No darts. No karaoke. So orders Gov. Andrew Cuomo, adding to his “order food, not just alcohol” mandate in what sure looks like an all-out war on fun.
Heck, the Great Drinktator has also banned comedy shows. You can’t have people guffawing into their face masks despite practicing social distancing.
The gov has even used his emergency powers to ban dancing at wedding receptions. This when New York hasn’t just flattened the curve, but crushed it — with new coronavirus cases and deaths at ever-lower levels.
As Karol Markowicz writes in Monday’s Post, these lockdown rules are “nutty.”
Eminently progressive state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) reports that Cuomo’s State Liquor Authority agents have been harassing bar and restaurant owners in her district with summonses and the loss of liquor licenses under the gov’s “Three Strikes and You’re Closed” policy.
Cuomo’s rules are almost as deadly to businesses as the bug he says he’s fighting.
Andrew Rigie, head of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, says an industry survey found that 83 percent of dining establishments couldn’t pay their full rent last month.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, meanwhile, told WNYC he has “no plan” for the return of indoor dining in the city, since the bug resurged somewhat in Hong Kong and Europe after indoor dining resumed.
Is it any wonder that 100 restaurants in Brooklyn and Staten Island plan a class-action lawsuit to force the mayor and the gov to let their eateries reopen?
Give it a shot: Businesses will work to ensure that patrons practice safe dining and obey health protocols. If the curve bends too far up, you can always lock down again.
We join Markowicz in saying “Enough!” Give us back our city.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--The incredible chutzpah of Jumaane Williams’ complaint about an NYPD ‘slowdown’

The latest NYPD data shows , though , cops have made nearly ...

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams last week wrote Police Commissioner Dermot Shea demanding answers about “rumors” that the NYPD “is taking part in a deliberate slowdown,” implying that this is the explanation for the “horrific rise in shootings across every borough.”
What effing chutzpah.
Williams has devoted much of his career to handcuffing the NYPD. As a blistering critic of stop-and-frisk, he led the City Council to pass the Community Safety Act in 2013 over then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s veto, installing an Inspector General over the department and creating a “ban on racial profiling” — one in a long series of police “reforms,” all authored or backed by Williams, that leave officers second-guessing their every move, with ever-growing fears that their lives will be ruined simply because they did their jobs in a way that doesn’t meet standards that ignore street reality.
The capper was the new law that criminalizes not just police use of “chokeholds,” but a large variety of physical contact with a perp — even one violently resisting arrest.
Last month, as the council moved to “defund the NYPD,” Williams threatened to block city property-tax collections if he didn’t think the cuts were deep enough. Then he complained that a budget that eliminated the entire next NYPD class of recruits to shrink the force by 1,000-plus still allowed for a chance of hiring new cops.
Beat officers, especially, have gotten the message: Avoid trouble.
Don’t act on any mere suspicion or instinct to check out possible criminal activity. Leave the obvious gang-bangers alone — the gangs all have lawyers ready to make your life hell. Beware of any physical contact. Unless explicitly ordered, stay out of areas where a crowd might surround you screaming the instant you try to act on a clear violation.
“Deliberate slowdown,” Mr. Advocate? No, this is the result of your deliberate demands — the end of the aggressive policing that you’ve been complaining about non-stop for the last decade.
You got exactly what you wished for, Jumaane — and the whole city’s paying the price.


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Biden denies feeling pressured to pick black woman as running mate

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he didn ’ t feel as if he had to select a black woman as his running mate .
“ No , I didn ’ t feel pressure to select a black woman , ” Biden said when asked the question by ABC ’ s “ Good Morning America ’ ’ co-host Robin Roberts during the candidate ’ s first co-interview with vice-presidential pick Kamala Harris .
“ The government should look like the people , look like the country .
Fifty-one percent of the people in this country are women , ” Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goes , ‘ Women hold up half the sky.
’ And in order to be able to succeed , you ’ ve got to be dealt in across the board.
” The pol said Harris just “ fit the closest and best ” to the agenda he is pushing for the country , which has been torn by racial strife .
“ I can not understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes , to be an African-American woman , with Indian-American background , a child of immigrants , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California senator .
“ She can ’ t assume exactly what it ’ s like to walk in my shoes .
What we do know is we have the same value set .
”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he didn’t feel as if he had to select a black woman as his running mate.
“No, I didn’t feel pressure to select a black woman,” Biden said when asked the question by ABC’s “Good Morning America’’ co-host Robin Roberts during the candidate’s first co-interview with vice-presidential pick Kamala Harris.
“The government should look like the people, look like the country. Fifty-one percent of the people in this country are women,” Biden said. “As that old expression goes, ‘Women hold up half the sky.’ And in order to be able to succeed, you’ve got to be dealt in across the board.”
The pol said Harris just “fit the closest and best” to the agenda he is pushing for the country, which has been torn by racial strife.
“I cannot understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes, to be an African-American woman, with Indian-American background, a child of immigrants,” Biden said of Harris, a California senator.
“She can’t assume exactly what it’s like to walk in my shoes. What we do know is we have the same value set.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-23--Enough! Time to seriously loosen lockdown rules for restaurants and others

Every day there ’ s a new story about the death of New York , how we ’ re so broken we can never be rebuilt .
And every day brings a new crazy piece of news to a New York already on the brink to prove those people right .
Our elected officials are crushing our city and state .
Enough .
A new rule , for instance , bans events “ where patrons buy tickets to see a performance , ” Don Cazentre reported at Syracuse.com last week .
“ It seems to have suddenly popped up in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
How does charging a cover for music put us at risk for the coronavirus ?
Like every other dagger in the heart of small business , it doesn ’ t .
Enough .
We can ’ t live like this anymore .
The constant new rules , the continued dance around reopening .
New York City is failing .
Our governor and mayor are keeping us in a state of disarray .
Gov .
Andrew Cuomo says gyms can open ; Mayor Bill de Blasio says nope .
Officials are no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re flexing their muscles just to prove they ’ re in charge .
Cuomo and de Blasio ’ s squabbles , perhaps entertaining in normal times , are destroying us in the age of COVID .
The rest of the state has had indoor dining for nearly two months but New York City has been stuck with tables in street parking spots .
Restaurants and bars in the city that never sleeps are forced to close at 11 p.m .
Yet the city infection rate , according to de Blasio , is 0.24 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to close restaurants again in the fall .
But NYC hasn ’ t even really opened yet !
If we can ’ t open restaurants now , we can ’ t open them ever , and our city dies .
Enough .
The real problem is limited outcry from New Yorkers .
Cuomo and de Blasio are destroying the fabric of our city , and people are too afraid of the virus to stop them .
Throughout this crisis , we ’ ve seen a division : One group , the pajama-wearers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaving their couches .
They happily collect their checks and spend their time smug in the satisfaction that they have handled this pandemic flawlessly .
They bake bread , buy a Peloton bike and post Instagram pictures of sunrises from vacation homes .
They ’ re happy to listen to every backward directive from elected officials .
They haven ’ t suffered like their fellow New Yorkers .
The second group has either worked through the lockdown or had sleepless nights wondering if their businesses will ever reopen .
They ’ ve contended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and constant attacks on their livelihoods .
I ’ m a pajama-wearer , but as a lifelong New Yorker , most of my world consists of people in the second group .
Many of these people compare their lives right now to living in a totalitarian regime , where rules make no sense but people are afraid to say so .
The East Village bar Lucky had its liquor license pulled , according to the Web site Eater , after the owner started a petition “ to reverse the state ’ s new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of food with any alcohol purchase.
” The Village Line bar in Erie County mocked Cuomo with its menu items , and it too had its liquor license suddenly pulled .
If you speak up , your pain could be extended , and every business owner in New York knows it .
You don ’ t have to think the coronavirus is a hoax — I don ’ t — to see these rules make no sense .
But what they highlight , more than anything else , is that we are not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small-business owners with nonsensical regulations and unfair enforcement .
Enough .
De Blasio and Cuomo love to celebrate how well New York handled the pandemic .
Please .
We didn ’ t cooperate and stay inside for so long so our kids could go to school , maybe , sometimes .
We did it to “ flatten the curve ” and not overwhelm hospitals for a few months — but then to be able to go to dinner , listen to live music and get a drink with a friend .
We did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want it back .
We want our lives back , all of us — not just the pajama class .
If you love New York , stand up for it now or don ’ t be surprised that when you finally change out of pajamas and leave the house , there will be no more New York to return to .

Enough.
Every day there’s a new story about the death of New York, how we’re so broken, we can never be rebuilt. And every day brings a new crazy piece of news to a New York already on the brink to prove those people right. Our elected officials are crushing our city and state. Enough.
A new rule, for instance, bans events “where patrons buy tickets to see a performance,” Don Cazentre reported at Syracuse.com last week. “It seems to have suddenly popped up in the rules this week,” he said.
How does charging a cover for music put us at risk for the coronavirus? Like every other dagger in the heart of small business, it doesn’t. Enough.
We can’t live like this anymore. The constant new rules, the continued dance around reopening. New York City is failing. Our governor and mayor are keeping us in a state of disarray.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says gyms can open; Mayor Bill de Blasio says nope. Officials are no longer keeping us safe; they’re flexing their muscles just to prove they’re in charge. Cuomo and de Blasio’s squabbles, perhaps entertaining in normal times, are destroying us in the age of COVID.
The rest of the state has had indoor dining for nearly two months but New York City has been stuck with tables in street parking spots. Restaurants and bars in the city that never sleeps are forced to close at 11 p.m. Yet the city infection rate, according to de Blasio, is 0.24 percent.
And Cuomo is already threatening to close restaurants again in the fall. But NYC hasn’t even really opened yet! If we can’t open restaurants now, we can’t open them ever, and our city dies. Enough.
The real problem is limited outcry from New Yorkers. Cuomo and de Blasio are destroying the fabric of our city, and people are too afraid of the virus to stop them.
Throughout this crisis, we’ve seen a division: One group, the pajama-wearers, can work from home indefinitely, never leaving their couches. They happily collect their checks and spend their time smug in the satisfaction that they have handled this pandemic flawlessly. They bake bread, buy a Peloton bike and post Instagram pictures of sunrises from vacation homes. They’re happy to listen to every backward directive from elected officials. They haven’t suffered like their fellow New Yorkers.
The second group has either worked through the lockdown or had sleepless nights wondering if their businesses will ever reopen. They’ve contended with ever-changing rules, ever-deferred opening dates and constant attacks on their livelihoods. I’m a pajama-wearer, but as a lifelong New Yorker, most of my world consists of people in the second group.
Many of these people compare their lives right now to living in a totalitarian regime, where rules make no sense but people are afraid to say so.
The East Village bar Lucky had its liquor license pulled, according to the website Eater, after the owner started a petition “to reverse the state’s new mandate that bars must serve substantial amounts of food with any alcohol purchase.” The Village Line bar in Erie County mocked Cuomo with its menu items, and it too had its liquor license suddenly pulled.
If you speak up, your pain could be extended, and every business owner in New York knows it.
You don’t have to think the coronavirus is a hoax — I don’t — to see these rules make no sense. But what they highlight, more than anything else, is that we are not all in this together.
Stop torturing small-business owners with nonsensical regulations and unfair enforcement. Enough.
De Blasio and Cuomo love to celebrate how well New York handled the pandemic. Please. We didn’t cooperate and stay inside for so long so our kids could go to school, maybe, sometimes.
We did it to “flatten the curve” and not overwhelm hospitals for a few months — but then to be able to go to dinner, listen to live music and get a drink with a friend.
We did it because we love New York and want it back.
We want our lives back, all of us — not just the pajama class.
If you love New York, stand up for it now or don’t be surprised that when you finally change out of pajamas and leave the house, there will be no more New York to return to.
@Karol