The Party of Death II: Republican South Dakota governor Kristi Noem also continues with her own version of the GOP "killing spree....."

Kristi Noem (R) has religiously towed the 'herd immunity' line of the Trump administration

CC™ Politico News

By Connor Perrett

• The South Dakota Department of Health on Saturday reported 54 new deaths from COVID-19, surpassing the state's previous record death total of 53.

• The same day, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem encouraged state residents in a tweet to go shopping, writing that small "businesses are the lifeblood of so many South Dakota communities."

• Noem, a Republican, has refused to issue a statewide mask mandate and has otherwise disputed science and calls to enact stricter measures to contain the virus in the state.

• Over the past week, more than 42% of COVID-19 tests in South Dakota administered have come back positive, according to data analyzed by Johns Hopkins University.

• The South Dakota Department of Health on Saturday reported 54 new COVID-19 deaths since Friday, the highest single-day increase in deaths of all time in the state as cases of the virus surge statewide.

• The previous record, 53, was set earlier this month on November 14, the Rapid City Journal reported. As the outlet noted, there have been 942 deaths in the state from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus since the pandemic began, with more than half of those — 517 — occurring in the month of November. There were more than 800 new cases diagnosed in the state Saturday.

  But hours earlier, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, encouraged state residents to go shopping to support local businesses.

  "Remember, today is #SmallBusinessSaturday," Noem tweeted Saturday morning. "These businesses are the lifeblood of so many South Dakota communities. Please support them today and every day! #shopsmall."

  Earlier in the week, Noem, who has been in office since 2019, celebrated the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's restrictions that imposed limits on capacity at religious services to curb the spread of the coronavirus. "Another thing to add to the list of reasons to be very thankful today," Noem said in a tweet Thursday.

  In addition to refusing to issue a statewide mask mandate, Noem has also defended individuals who neglect to wear masks despite repeated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and health experts who have pleaded that widespread adoption of mask-wearing would curb the spread of the disease.

  A CDC study in Kansas reported last week reaffirmed that mask mandates are effective in curbing the spread of COVID-19.

  "We talk often about the government's role in a situation like this in dealing with a pandemic," Noem said on November 18, disputing that the lack of a mask mandate was responsible for a surge in cases, according to The Associated Press. "At this point, frankly, I'm getting more concerned about how neighbors are treating neighbors."

  Noem said that it was an individual's "personal decision" to wear a mask, refused to encourage residents to wear a mask or to practice social distancing, and claimed the most effective way to combat COVID-19 spread was through handwashing, according to the AP.

  There have been more than 79,000 cases of COVID-19 in South Dakota diagnosed since the pandemic began, per Johns Hopkins University data. Over the past week, more than 42% of all COVID-19 tests administered there have come back positive. That's more than four times higher than the 9.4% national positivity rate, according to the Hopkins data.

  Read the original article on Business Insider

The Party of Death: Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis accused of ‘killing spree’ after extending ban on cities from imposing own mask mandates

Two peas in a pod - President Trump (L) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R)

CC™ Political News

By James Crump

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been accused of overseeing a “killing spree”, after he extended a ban on cities in the state imposing their own mask mandates.

On Wednesday, Mr. DeSantis extended an executive order issued in September, which prevented local governments from fining residents who refused to wear face masks, or from closing restaurants not complying with coronavirus measures.

The decision on 25 September prompted the start of the state’s third phase of pandemic measures, which allowed restaurants and bars to open at 100 per cent capacity.

Florida Democratic officials criticized the governor for the extension of the executive order on Wednesday, amid a spike in cases in the state.

Chris King, the 2018 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, quote tweeted a local news story about the decision, adding: “Alternate headline: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Continues Killing Spree.”

Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava called the decision “deeply frustrating” in a series of tweets on Wednesday evening.

“Bipartisan governors nationwide are putting mask orders in place as one of the best tools we have to fight #COVID19.

“It’s deeply frustrating that @GovRonDeSantis continues to block local actions and make it harder for local leaders to keep our communities safe,” the mayor wrote.

Last week, a bipartisan group of Florida mayors pleaded with Mr DeSantis to allow mask mandates to be enforced in areas across the state, according to Forbes.

The governor rejected their plea..

Florida is the largest state in the US to have lifted a majority of its coronavirus restrictions and is one of only 13 that have not issued statewide mask mandates.

It has seen a spike in coronavirus cases over the last couple of months, as the number of Covid-19 infections reported in a week has tripled since Mr. DeSantis lifted restrictions, according to CNN.

Last week, the state recorded 53,000 positive tests, which was three times more than the week before Mr. DeSantis’ executive order in late September.

The governor has not addressed the increase in cases, and has only tweeted about Covid-19 five times since election day on 3 November.

Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has recorded more than 962,000 Covid-19 cases and at least 18,253 deaths.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 12.7 million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached 262,266.

The Independent has contacted Mr. DeSantis’ office for comment.

First family super spreaders: Donald Trump Jr. says he is 'all done with the Rona' and ends self isolation in violation of CDC guidelines

Like father like son - Trump Jr. (L) with the older Trump (R)

CC™ News

By Aylin Woodward

• Donald Trump Jr. announced Wednesday night that he'd been cleared to end his COVID-19 isolation and celebrate Thanksgiving "the way it's meant to be."

• On Friday, Trump Jr. announced that he tested positive for COVID-19.

• It's not clear when Trump Jr. received his positive diagnosis, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend even asymptomatic COVID patients isolate for 10 days.

• A spokesman for Trump Jr. told Business Insider that the president's son is asymptomatic and has been isolating since he received his positive test, which came in "at the start of the week" last week.

• It is not known when he received his last negative test.

Donald Trump Jr. announced he'd tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

Five days later, Trump Jr. announced he was cleared to be with his family for Thanksgiving: "I got the medical OK I'm all done with the Rona," he wrote on Instagram.

An Instagram video showed Trump Jr. with his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle in front of a turkey dinner Wednesday evening: "So I got cleared, happy to be healthy, and we get to spend Thanksgiving the way it's meant to be," he said.

The two bought enough food for "six or seven people," Trump Jr. said, and were eating it on Wednesday "as a little extra celebration."

He added that the meal in the video was their "back up plan." He added that they were "just going to double up on the Thanksgiving day feast," suggesting that couple will have a second Thanksgiving meal Thursday with other people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against any gathering that brings together people from different households for the holidays.

CDC recommends people sick with COVID-19 isolate for 10 days, even if they're asymptomatic

In a Friday Instagram video confirming his diagnosis, Trump Jr. emphasized that he was "totally asymptomatic" but would "follow the regular protocols."

He suggested it could have been a false positive test, and said that he hoped he could "test a couple times in a row negative before the holidays." 

According to the CDC, even people who have no symptoms need to isolate for 10 days following the date of their positive test before they can be around others (including household and family members). Experts also warn that a negative test is not necessarily a free pass to spend the holiday with family.

It's not clear when Trump Jr. first learned he had COVID-19.

A spokesman for Trump Jr. told Business Insider Friday that the president's eldest son had been isolating since he received his positive test.

"Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result," the spokesperson said. "He's been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines."

It also recommends against anyone attending or hosting a Thanksgiving gathering with a person who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, which would include Guilfoyle.

Trump Jr.'s girlfriend did test positive for COVID-19 earlier this year.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The Monday Brew and other matters arising.....

CC™ Monday Rehash

By Boyejo A. Coker - Chief Editor

Here is a rundown of a few things of note as America and indeed the world moves on from the tumultuous last four years of the Trump charade of incompetence masquerading as a presidency:

Donald J. Trump will go down in history as the worst U.S. President and the most divisive

For those waiting for Trump to concede, they will be essentially wasting their time as he will never do such. Trump is not wired that way as he does not have an ounce of humility or magnanimity in his make-up and you just don't suddenly develop those qualities in your mid-seventies. Trump will go down in history as the worst U.S. President and the most divisive. The last four years have shown the absolute worst and I believe, the best of America as well. What is important though is for the forces of good to overwhelm the forces of evil who hide behind the veils of religion and appropriate the virtues of morality to themselves when even the Lord Himself says "ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Donald J. Trump, like most rulers and Kings, was indeed raised by God, but that same God, to whom all glory and honor belongs, also removed him. It is done and there will be no Angels from Africa being dispatched to save his wicked and destructive presidency.

Georgia Senate run-off elections is a must-win for Democrats to neutralize Graham and McConnell

Do not be fooled America, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. is an eternal obstructionist, while if Lindsey Graham tells you good morning, you had better make sure you look outside first to make sure it is actually morning. In the Senate Majority leader and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee respectively, you have two men whose words mean absolutely nothing and who care about one thing and one thing only, their own jaundiced and myopic interests. The Democrats must not obfuscate the messaging for this run-off election by playing into the Republican canned message of labelling those they disagree with as socialists and anarchists. McConnell and Graham should, and must be the poster boys for why America cannot afford another 4 years of obstructionism and chicanery. We have had 12 years of it and the only ones that have benefited from it have been, yes you guessed it, Mitch McConnell and his adjacent lackey, Lindsey Graham. If the worst label the Republicans can put on Democrats is one that essentially differs from capitalism only in the extent of governmental intervention (we all know the Republicans don't mind the latter when it comes to Wall Street bailouts), then I would personally wear that as a badge of honor over the avaricious greed, fascism, racism, misogyny and chronic nepotism that have typified the last four years of the Trump-Graham-McConnell triumvirate. David Perdue and Kelly "Karen" Loeffler, who both engaged in insider trading while Americans were dying in their thousands from the COVID-19 pandemic should not be the ones to lecture anyone on virtues and equitable policy formulation. Another massive turn-out (especially by Black voters), just one last time, will put a much welcome end to 12 years of incendiary and self-aggrandizing obstructionism.

If the Democrats lose the two seats in Georgia to those two crooks (as Ossoff himself called Perdue to his face), and make no mistake about it, both Loeffler and Perdue would be in jail if they were regular citizens and not Senators (talk about a travesty), then it will be down to messaging on the part of Democrats. 

My Prediction: The Democrats win both seats and end the stranglehold of McConnell and Graham over the American people, thus allowing the Biden administration to do its job, including re-engaging China, as opposed to abdicating the global arena for the Communist country to exert its economic, political and military influence. The latter is what Donald Trump has done for the last four years and the American consumer and farmers have been the worse off for it. 

Finally, I will touch on two noteworthy points regarding former President Barack Obama's new book and the call by the wacky White House point-person on the Coronavirus, Dr. Scott W. Atlas for an "uprising" against Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. First, on the assertion by President Obama that race played a major role in the virulent resistance against his administration, I will agree with him to a large degree (it is always that way when you are the first to break an entrenched barrier), but the fact that Obama strayed way to the left fringes of his party probably had more to do with it. Obama campaigned as a centrist and then rather than demonstrate a vision for the future by solidifying the party as a center-left party, while also replicating himself in the process, his ego (never mind his feigned humility), much like Trump's also took over. It was an opportunity lost for the Democrats and it gave rise to Trumpism. Even Trump acknowledged as much when he said, "I am here because of Obama and Biden". President Joe Biden must see to it that his administration does not become Obama's third term. As for Dr. Scott W. Atlas' call for an uprising by the citizens of Michigan against what he perceives as draconian new COVID-19 restrictions, Governor Whitmer would be best served to ignore the lunatic and I frankly believe that the Medical Board of ethics should seriously consider taking away his license. It is that important and that serious. 

There will be better days ahead and this nation will become the beacon of hope once again. Our institutions are built to stand and endure the test of time. 

Mitch McConnell   Donald Trump   Kelly Loeffler   David Perdue   2020 Congressional Insider Trading Scandal

'The Lord says it is done': White House so-called spiritual adviser Paula White prays for "Angels from Africa" to cement Trump's re-election

CC™ News Dispatch

Guess the "Angels from Africa" (the same continent Trump referred to as being filled with "shithole countries") did not get the memo and the 45th President of the United States has been fired by the American people.

But perhaps the most extraordinary effort to turn the tide back in Mr Trump’s favour has come in Orlando, Florida, where the president’s spiritual adviser, Paula White, led a marathon prayer service at the New Christian Destiny Centre, calling on the almighty for divine intervention in the presidential race.

In a video widely circulated on social media by Right Wing Watch, the “prosperity gospel” pastor can be seen denouncing the “demonic confederacies” working against Mr. Trump and declaring that “Angels from Africa, from South America” are coming to his aid.

“For every enemy that is aligned against you, let there be, that we would strike the ground,” Ms. White seemingly declared from the megachurch pulpit.

“You will give us victory. I hear a sound of abundance of rain. I hear a sound of victory. I hear a sound of shouting and singing. I hear a sound of victory. I hear a sound of abundance of rain. I hear a sound of victory. I hear a sound of abundance of rain. I hear a sound of victory.”

She continues: “The Lord says it is done. The Lord says it is done. The Lord says it is done. For I hear victory, victory, victory, victory. In the corners of heaven. In the corners of heaven. Victory, victory, victory, victory, victory, victory.”

Breaking off and apparently speaking in tongues, the evangelist then resumed her prayer in English: “For angels have even dispatched from Africa right now, Africa right now, Africa right now. From Africa right now.

“They’re coming here. They’re coming here. In the name of Jesus. From South America, they’re coming here, they’re coming here, they’re coming here, they’re coming here, they’re coming here.

“From Africa. From South America. Angelic forces. Angelic reinforcement. Angelic reinforcement. Angelic reinforcement. Angelic reinforcement.”

Ms. White has been associated with Mr. Trump since at least 2002 when he reportedly saw her preaching on television and phoned to congratulate her on her performance.

She served on his Evangelical Advisory Board during the 2016 campaign and has continued to advise him on matters of faith in the White House.

The pastor has form in making extraordinary proclamations on the president’s behalf.

She said during last November’s impeachment hearings that Mr. Trump’s political enemies “operate in sorcery and witchcraft” and that “Any persons [or] entities that are aligned against the president will be exposed and dealt with and overturned by the superior blood of Jesus”.

While President Trump has embraced Ms. White and other controversial evangelical preachers like Robert Jeffress, notorious for his anti-Semitic and Islamophobic pronouncements, in a bid to shore up support from conservatve Christians in America’s Bible belt, the sincerity of his own religious convictions is open to question.

He has routinely been unwilling or unable to name his favorite passage from scripture when pressed in interviews and even once declined to state whether he preferred the Old or New Testament, joking instead that he regarded his own, ghost-written business manual The Art of the Deal (1987) as the greatest book ever written.

McKay Coppins of The Atlantic recently reported an anecdote from Mr. Trump’s estranged former attorney Michael Cohen, who remembered him speaking admiringly of Atlanta pastor Creflo Dollar in 2015 after learning that he had just bought a new Gulfstream G650 with his congregants’ donations.

“They’re all hustlers,” the president is alleged to have said, speaking admiringly of the “scam”.

In his recent memoir Disloyal, Mr. Cohen also records Mr. Trump saying to him privately after a meeting with southern evangelists in 2011, in which they prayed for him: “Can you believe that bulls***?”

INDEPENDENT

The Monday Brew and other matters arising.....

CC™ Monday Rehash

By Boyejo A. Coker - Chief Editor

Here is a rundown of a few things of note as America and indeed the world moves on from the tumultuous last four years of the Trump presidency.

Joseph Biden will be the next President of the United States 

Yes indeed, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala D. Harris will be the next President and Vice-President of the United States as the American people have spoken, regardless of whether or not Donald J. Trump concedes. The nail in the proverbial coffin for Trump came with the acknowledgement of Biden's victory by none other than the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush on Sunday. For those waiting for Trump to concede, they will be essentially wasting their time as he will never do such. Trump is not wired that way as he does not have an ounce of humility or magnanimity in his make-up and you just don't suddenly develop those qualities in your mid-seventies. 

Georgia Senate run-off elections is a must-win for Democrats to neutralize Graham and McConnell

Do not be fooled America, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. is an eternal obstructionist, while if Lindsey Graham tells you good morning, you had better make sure you look outside first to make sure it is actually morning. In the Senate Majority leader and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee respectively, you have two men whose words mean absolutely nothing and who care about one thing and one thing only, their own jaundiced and myopic interests. This could not have been more evident than the show of shame masquerading as a confirmation hearing for Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court Justice, essentially before the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg had even been laid to rest. Rather than focus on the passing of a comprehensive COVID-19 stimulus package to alleviate the suffering of millions of Americans, Lindsey Graham decided it was the perfect time to put on a show for the great people of South Carolina at the expense of the American people, with the not-so-subtle acquiescence of the cold, calculating and soulless McConnell. The Democrats must not obfuscate the messaging for this run-off election by playing into the Republican canned message of labelling those they disagree with as socialists and anarchists. McConnell and Graham should, and must be the poster boys for why America cannot afford another 4 years of obstructionism and chicanery. We have had 12 years of it and the only ones that have benefited from it have been, yes you guessed it, Mitch McConnell and his adjacent lackey, Lindsey Graham. Another massive turn-out (especially by Black voters), just one last time, will put a much welcome end to 12 years of incendiary and self-aggrandizing obstructionism. 

The Seahawks need to fire Ken Norton Jr. and the Seahawks should not have extended Carroll

The Seattle Seahawks scored 34 points on Sunday and still lost by ten points to the Buffalo Bills. For a franchise that was once known for its vaunted defense (the Legion of Boom), these are indeed challenging times and Pete Carroll needs to fire Ken Norton Jr, the defensive coordinator as he has proven both in Oakland and now Seattle that he (Norton) is just not cut-out for that job. Furthermore, the Seahawks ownership should not have extended Carroll's contract (essentially keeping him in Seattle for the foreseeable future) as I believe he has reached his maximum output with the Seahawks. There are young and innovative up and coming coaches and the Seahawks should have at least waited till the end of the season before extending Carroll, if that was the plan in the first place.

Jurgen Klopp's naïve sense of loyalty may sabotage Liverpool's quest for dynastic resurgence

Liverpool and Manchester City played out a 1-1 draw at the Etihad in their much anticipated Premier League clash on Sunday. There had been anticipation that Diogo Jota would start ahead of the struggling Roberto Firmino, but instead, Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp decided to adopt a 4-man strike force playing Salah, Mane, Jota and Firmino together. This of course meant that there would inevitably be a hole in the midfield for Manchester City to exploit and this they did, as Liverpool's defense was put under constant pressure with the absence of a key midfield presence. If Klopp wants to build a dynasty like the legendary Liverpool coaches before him, he will need to develop a ruthless streak and fast. He needs to consistently hold his players accountable for their performance, regardless of their status or risk losing the dressing room altogether. He may also want to learn from Sir Alex Ferguson who never grew emotionally attached to any player during his trophy-laden 27 years in charge of Manchester United. 

The club is always bigger than any player. That is the way it is with "Big Clubs" and the World Champions have a decorated history that is bigger than Roberto Firmino or any other player for that matter. Even the legendary Steven Gerrard was eventually phased out as a player by the club. 

Mitch McConnell   Lindsey Graham   Seattle Seahawks   Ken Norton Jr.   Pete Carroll   Liverpool   Jurgen Klopp

YOU'RE FIRED!! Biden to become 46th U.S. President

You're Fired!

CC™ Politico News

By Dylan Stableford -- Senior Writer

Joe Biden has won the 2020 presidential election, the Associated Press projected Saturday, sending President Trump to a bitter defeat four years after he shocked the world by winning the White House with a victory over Hillary Clinton.

Biden crossed the 270-vote threshold in the Electoral College on Saturday after the AP called Pennsylvania for him. He was also able to capture Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, states that Trump carried in 2016.

Other states remain too close to call, and the Trump campaign has filed multiple lawsuits to contest the legitimacy of certain ballots. The fate of those challenges was obscured Thursday after Biden was projected to have won the Electoral College.

Biden now holds the record for the most number of votes cast for any presidential candidate in history — more than 73 million — shattering the previous mark (69,500,000) set by Barack Obama in 2008. He leads Trump by nearly 4 million votes nationwide.

The former vice president, who turns 78 this month, won his bid for the White House on his third attempt, becoming the oldest person ever elected president in the U.S. His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is the first Black woman and first Asian American elected vice president in U.S. history.

Trump, however, has signaled that he is not likely to concede defeat quickly. In a Wednesday tweet, the president declared without evidence that he had won in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.

“We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead,” Trump wrote in tweets that were quickly flagged on Twitter as containing disputed or misleading election information. “Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact, there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!”

Hours earlier, the Trump campaign announced it would seek a recount in Wisconsin, another state the AP said Biden had won.

On Thursday, as it became clear that his early lead in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia was eroding as more ballots were tabulated, Trump posted a dramatic tweet that read, “STOP THE COUNT!”

Then in a White House speech without precedent in American history, Trump flailed at the media, pollsters, election officials, mail-in voting, judges and Democrat-led U.S. cities Thursday evening, as his rival Joe Biden continued to inch toward a win in the 2020 election.

“If you count the legal votes, I easily win,” Trump said, though no state allows the counting of illegally cast votes. “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”

Ahe president portrayed the counting of legally cast mail-in ballots as improper — an assault on American democracy by the president himself.

“Our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away, in secret,” Trump said, again without evidence. “This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election. They’re trying to rig an election. And we can’t let that happen.”

Biden’s election was as much about rallying support among Democrats, independents and even some Republicans with a message of unity as it was a repudiation of Trump, whose approval rating, according to Gallup, never hit 50 percent.

In poll after poll leading up to Election Day, large majorities of voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 234,000 Americans and infected more than 9.5 million in the U.S., including him.

Throughout the pandemic, Trump sought to downplay the virus, mocking Biden for wearing a mask and falsely claiming that the United States is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic at a time when cases and deaths from COVID-19 continue to rise. As the race for the White House pushed into October and November, the country set a string of new daily records for coronavirus cases and saw a dramatic spike in states that Trump needed to win to secure his reelection.

After recovering from his own bout with the disease caused by exposure to the coronavirus — which led to a three-day hospitalization and forced the cancellation of one presidential debate — the president returned to the campaign trail in mid-October, holding rallies where he and many of his supporters eschewed the recommendations from public health officials to wear face masks and follow social distancing guidelines.

The Biden campaign offered a sharp contrast, adhering to guidelines from Trump’s own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, avoiding large rallies and making attendees at campaign events wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.

Biden overcame numerous attacks from Trump on the campaign trail, including claims of cognitive lapses (Trump branded him “Sleepy Joe”) and questions about his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine and China. Trump even called on Attorney General William Barr to launch an investigation into the Bidens just two weeks before Election Day. (Barr did not.)

Trump, who sought to paint his opponent as a closet socialist being manipulated by the progressive wing of his party, falsely claimed that Biden wanted to “defund” the police and argued that a Biden presidency would “destroy” the suburbs and embrace Antifa.

He also floated wild conspiracy theories and disinformation about Biden and other Democratic figures that had been promoted by right-wing activists on social media.

But none of the punches managed to land, infuriating the president and the GOP.

“If I lose, I will have lost to the worst candidate, the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics,” Trump said at an Oct. 17 campaign rally.

The president also accused Democrats of trying to “steal” the election, falsely claiming that mail-in voting would lead to widespread fraud.

The pandemic caused many states to expand early-voting options, and a record 101 million ballots were cast either in person or by mail before Election Day.

In 2016, Trump won office by riding a populist message against a deeply unpopular establishment candidate in Clinton. But polls showed Biden as far more popular with the electorate than the former secretary of estate, giving him more ways to win the election.

Biden, a Scranton, Pa., native, began his presidential campaign in April 2019, joining an already crowded field of Democrats with a video denouncing Trump for his response to the violent white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. While speaking out against the violent clashes that erupted among white supremacists and counter-protesters, Trump infamously said there were “some very fine people on both sides.”

“With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden said in the video. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.”

He carried that message into the general election campaign, promising that his election would “restore the soul of the nation.”

Biden shrugged off disappointing performances in early primary and caucus states like Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, gaining his footing after a crucial win in South Carolina, where he was buoyed by the support of African American voters wary of the candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had emerged as the frontrunner. Biden went on to control of the race, winning 10 of 14 states on Super Tuesday in March. Sanders dropped out of the race and quickly endorsed Biden, paving the way for his nomination.

In August, Biden, who had promised to pick a woman as his running mate, announced his choice of Harris shortly before the Democratic convention. The senator from California, who lost her own bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination, had clashed with Biden during the first primary debate by attacking his record on race. But after ending her campaign, she endorsed the former vice president and stumped for him in Michigan ahead of Super Tuesday.

While Biden enjoyed a wave of support among Democrats, he was also backed by “Never Trump” Republicans who opposed the president from the start of his term or became disillusioned by what they considered to be his chaotic and divisive style of governing.

During the campaign, Biden was endorsed by dozens of Republican former national security officials, U.S. attorneys and governors, including former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich, former Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, former Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the widow of the 2008 Republican nominee for president, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Biden now faces the enormous challenge of attempting to unify a country deeply divided by partisan politics. While that reality predated Trump’s time in office, it also crystallized over the last four years.

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born in Scranton, Pa., on Nov. 20, 1942, to Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Biden (née Finnegan) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. He was raised in Scranton and New Castle County, Del.

Biden studied at the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968.

He married his first wife, Neilia Hunter, in 1966. They had three children: Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III (born 1969), Robert “Hunter” Biden (1970) and Naomi Christina Biden (1971). A month after he won his first race for the U.S. Senate in 1972, Neilia and Naomi died in a car accident that also injured his sons.

During his six terms in the Senate, Biden commuted by train between his Delaware home and Washington, D.C. — 90 minutes each way.

He met his second wife, Jill, in 1975, and they married in 1977, having a daughter, Ashley, in 1981.

Biden mounted two unsuccessful presidential bids, in 1988 (which was marred by a plagiarism scandal) and 2008 (which he lost to Barack Obama, who ultimately picked him as his running mate).

He flirted with the idea of running again in 2016 but was too grief-stricken over the loss of his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.

“Beau should be the one running for president, not me,” he told MSNBC host Joe Scarborough in January. “Every morning I get up, Joe, not a joke, and I think to myself, ‘Is he proud of me?’”

PM NEWS

I lived through coups in Nigeria. A similarly dangerous path could be developing here in the US

CC™ Editorial - By Emmanuel Olawale 

Until I came to the United States 23 years ago, I grew up mostly under a series of authoritarian regimes in Nigeria. Of the first 20 years of my life, only four involved a democratic government, from 1979 to 1983, when I was too young to understand political systems. 

I witnessed my first coup d’etat at the age of 6. We woke up to the sound of martial music on the radio, then a military leader came on the radio and the television screen to announce that the democratic government had been suspended along with the constitution. He announced that they would instead rule by decrees and he delineated a set of new decrees which became effective immediately, including a national curfew. 

The whole country was paralyzed with fear and uncertainty. There were speculations about counter coups, battles raging between military factions, rumors and gloomy surmises about the plight of the civilians the military just ousted. 

Before I emigrated from Nigeria to the United States in 1997, I witnessed two more unsuccessful coup plots and two successful coups; numerous election postponements; and two election annulments after the voters had cast their votes.

The most notable of the annulled elections was the 1993 presidential election in which a philanthropist, Moshood Abiola, was a presidential candidate. According to international observers, it was the fairest and freest election in Nigerian history. Mr. Abiola won the election, only for Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the military dictator, to annul the election after making promises for eight years to hand over to a democratic government. Mr. Abiola died in prison five years later under a military dictatorship. He was imprisoned without a trial because he refused to renounce his claim to the presidency. 

The average American reading this prologue might wonder what this has to do with their lives or with the United States. It has everything to do with you and this nation if you cherish the democratic ideal and respect for the rule of law -- the virtues of America’s brand of global leadership. You are at the cusp of losing the freedom and democracy you enjoy, if not totally, then to a great degree. The American democratic tradition of honor is being daily desecrated with a concentric cycle of chaos and with reckless disregard for truth. 

People like me fled dictatorial regimes in search of democratic freedom in the United States. However, every symptom of dictatorship and authoritarianism we fled from has now become manifest in the current administration: 

* The lack of respect for the rule of law.

* The politicization of the Justice Department, where the president’s foes are investigated and punished, while friends are rewarded with pardons after convictions and a conviction is quashed arbitrarily. 

* The administration’s arbitrary and capricious manner of churning out executive orders targeting particular groups of people, without any rational governmental basis, and their fiendish enforcement, are synonymous with military dictatorships’ rollout of decrees. This frontal assault on the rule of law, the lack of respect for congressional oversight and contempt for the courts when they rule against the administration are precursors of what is to come in the event President Donald Trump loses in the November elections. 

If Trump loses, he is likely to use every power within his arsenal to reject the results and prolong his presidency without regard for the constitutional authority of the other arms of government. This nation could be plunged into a constitutional crisis of unimaginable proportions, a first in the history of the republic, one that could upend a peaceful transition of government for the first time since 1776. 

Hence, the U.S. House and Senate need to draw up a bipartisan contingency plan for such a situation, to ensure the preservation of the integrity of the upcoming presidential election and a smooth transition of power if the incumbent loses. 

Emmanuel Olawale is an attorney based in Columbus and the author of “Flavor of Favor: Quest for the American Dream.”

Source: cleveland.com

Quick facts about Dr. Dre’s estranged wife Nicole Young who filed for divorce

CC™ Entertainment News

Dr. Dre attends the Tom Ford AW20 Show at Milk Studios on February 07, 2020 | Photo: Getty Images

By Lois Oladejo

Fans of famous rapper Dr. Dre were shocked recently following the news that his wife of 24 years, Nicole Young, had filed for divorce. Here some quick facts about the 50-year-old Nicole. 

The summer looks to have started roughly for Dr. Dre after his wife, Nicole Young, filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The 50-year-old Nicole filed the paperwork for the divorce on Monday. 

The couple will not have to bother with any child support case in their divorce proceedings, given that their two children, Truice, and Truly, are adults, while sources also say that there is no prenuptial agreement between them. Here are some things to know about Nicole Young.

The fact that the couple did not sign any prenuptial agreement may lead them to have difficulties when it comes to settling on their finances during the divorce. 

It is still unclear how much Nicole is demanding as spousal support, though Dr. Dre is estimated to be worth about $800 million. Nicole has, however, solicited the help of Samantha Spector, a celebrity attorney, to handle her case.

This is Nicole's second divorce. In 1992, Nicole married NBA player Sedale Threatt, remaining with him for three years before calling it quits. While with Threatt, she met Dr. Dre, who wrote her a letter. 

In the letter's contents, the rapper asked if she was doing well and had realized that she needed to quit her relationship with Threatt and come home to her doctor, adding that he would take care of her. The following year, they got married. 

Dr. Dre had older children from his previous relationships; hence, when he married Nicole, she became their stepmother. The rapper's older children include son Curtis, and daughter Tyra, birthed by Cassandra Greene. 

Dre also has a daughter, La Tanya, birthed by Lisa Johnson. The rapper has a son, Marcel, whose mom is Miche'le, as well as a daughter named Latoya. The rapper lost his son, Andre Young Jr., to drug overdose, in 2008. 

There have been reports from several news outlets claiming that Nicole Young had a career as an attorney, but there is no proof that she did so. 

Nicole has no record of practicing law in the state of California, while her name is not listed on the website of the State Bar of California. There are also no details of the 50-year-old receiving a law degree. 

The news of the divorce is much more surprising to many because Dr. Dre and Nicole did not seem to be having any issues and looked to be at ease with one another in the last photo the rapper shared of them, on Instagram. 

In that particular picture, which he shared in September 2018, the couple was all smiles and looked very much happy and in love, with Dr. Dre captioning it, "Was just an average Tuesday. This is what the [expletive] we do!!!"

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Despite questions about the 'laptop from hell,' most Americans think the Trumps are more 'corrupt' than the Bidens

CC™ Politico News

By Andrew Romano

In the waning days of the 2020 campaign, President Trump has intensified his accusations of (mostly unspecified) wrongdoing by his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, based on emails supposedly found on a laptop formerly owned by Biden’s son Hunter.

But a plurality of voters aren’t buying it — and a majority believe Trump and his family are more “corrupt” than the Bidens, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.

“They had the laptop, I call it the laptop from hell, and based on that laptop they should have never impeached,” Trump said during a rally Monday in Allentown, Pa., implying without evidence that Democrats, presumably the ones on the House Judiciary Committee, had possession of Hunter’s laptop and covered it up during last year’s impeachment proceedings because it would implicate Joe Biden and exculpate Trump. “But they didn’t want to reveal a little thing like that.” 

The existence of the laptop was disclosed only earlier this month by Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who claimed it had been abandoned in a computer repair shop last year and that the shop’s owner had given the hard drive, or copies of the contents of it, to Giuliani and the FBI. That narrative doesn’t explain how congressional Democrats might have known about it during last fall’s impeachment hearings, which were based on Trump’s attempt to persuade Ukrainian government officials to announce an investigation of the Bidens. 

Overall, from what they’ve heard of the laptop, 44 percent of registered voters say Joe Biden didn’t do anything wrong, 37 percent think he did and another 19 percent aren’t sure. 

A former business partner of Hunter Biden has claimed that he traded on his father’s name and position to solicit business deals in China, and that the senior Biden, during or after his tenure as vice president, was supposed to receive a cut of the profits. Joe Biden has denied receiving, soliciting or expecting any income from his son’s overseas business dealings, and there is no evidence that he did, including on his income-tax returns, which he has made public.

The survey, which was conducted from Oct. 23 to 25, found that views on Hunter Biden’s laptop have hardened along predictably partisan lines and appear unlikely to affect the outcome of the election. For instance, 77 percent of Trump voters say there’s been too little media coverage of the controversy; three-quarters of Biden voters say there’s been either too much (56 percent) or about the right amount (19 percent). As for Joe Biden’s involvement, 82 percent of Trump voters are convinced the former vice president did something wrong — while 79 percent of Biden voters are sure he didn’t.

In between, independents are evenly divided (41 percent yes vs. 40 percent no) on the question of whether Joe Biden committed any wrongdoing, and they’re even more likely to believe his son was involved in some sort of misbehavior (46 percent yes vs. 27 percent no). Such numbers suggest that Trump’s message is at least reaching less partisan voters, more than three-quarters of whom say they have heard either a lot (39 percent) or a little (38 percent) about the laptop.

The problem for the president is that by an 11-point margin, independents also say Trump and his family are more “corrupt” (50 percent) than Biden and his family (39 percent) — a view shared by the majority of registered voters (53 percent to 39 percent).

Although Trump denied having business interests in Russia during the 2016 campaign, he was in fact pursuing a major real-estate deal in Moscow, according to his lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, who was personally involved in the negotiations. Trump’s sons manage his hotel and resort business, which charges the U.S. government for rooms rented by officials and security personnel during the president’s frequent visits to his properties. Senate Democrats brought a lawsuit charging that Trump was violating the Constitution by receiving profits from foreign governments who put up diplomats at his hotel in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling dismissing the case on technical legal grounds. 

Asked directly whether they think Joe Biden and his family are corrupt, 47 percent of registered voters say no. Just 40 percent say yes.  

Asked the same question about Trump and his family, 55 percent of registered voters say yes. Just 35 percent say no.

To capitalize on his “laptop from hell” attacks, Trump would need to convince any remaining persuadable and undecided voters to break his way at the last minute, much as they did after he spent the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign harping on Hillary Clinton’s emails. Instead, the Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows, Biden’s lead among likely voters grew from 11 to 12 points over the last week; the number of undecideds, meanwhile, shrank to 3 percent, and just 3 percent of Biden’s voters still say there is “a chance” they will change their minds. Nearly half of registered voters (48 percent) say Trump talks about Hunter Biden’s laptop “too much”; far fewer say he talks about it “too little” (12 percent) or “about the right amount” (28 percent). 

So unless some shocking new information emerges before Election Day, the laptop is unlikely to be a winning issue for Trump. In fact, a majority of registered voters (55 percent) say it’s inappropriate for Trump to call for Biden to be “locked up,” and only 28 percent think Biden has “committed crimes for which he should be imprisoned.” 

In contrast, a narrow plurality of Americans (43 percent vs. 42 percent) say that if Biden wins on Nov. 3, he should “launch investigations into whether Trump committed crimes” during his presidency.

The Yahoo News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. registered voters interviewed online from Oct. 23 to 25. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 presidential vote, registration status, geographic region and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S registered voters. The margin of error is approximately 3.0 percent.

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