Monthly Archives: February 2020

REPORT: Bloomberg Camp Pitched Yang For VP Slot

The Wall Street Journal reports: Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign has made overtures to Democrat Andrew Yang, courting the former candidate’s endorsement and floating the possibility of Mr. Yang becoming his running mate, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Bloomberg, a latecomer to the race, hasn’t been on any of the ballots in the first three primaries and won’t …

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JetBlue First To Drop Change Fees Over Coronavirus

The Hill reports: JetBlue will void change and cancellation fees for flights as the coronavirus continues to spread globally. On Wednesday, JetBlue announced that customers can change or cancel for free all bookings made from Thursday through March 11 for travel through June 1, according to a statement. “The policy is designed to give customers confidence that they will not …

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Scottish Lawmakers Seek “Unexplained Wealth Order,” Suspect Trump Organization Of Money Laundering

The Scotsman reports: Patrick Harvie MSP, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that the US president, or people he is connected with, “have been involved in serious crime.” He has called on ministers to apply to the Court of Session to seek answers as to how Mr Trump’s bankrolled his multimillion acquisitions of land …

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Cuban Media Hails Sanders’ Praise, Omits His Criticisms

The Miami Herald reports: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders views on the Cuban revolution have earned him a storm of criticism in the U.S. But there’s one place where his comments have received glowing, front-page reviews: Cuba. Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, prominently displayed a report about Sanders and his praise of “some of the social programs implemented by the historic …

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Bloomberg Discloses Heart Info, Asks Sanders For Same

CNN reports: Michael Bloomberg’s campaign disclosed new information on Thursday about the health of the presidential candidate’s heart, and called on Bernie Sanders, who suffered a heart attack last year, to release the same data — a clear attempt to bring the issue of the Democratic frontrunner’s health to the forefront in the 2020 race for the White House. Bloomberg’s …

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Trump Impersonator Disrupts Pence Speech At CPAC

From the right wing Daily Caller: Mike Pence took the stage at CPAC 2020 around noon (eastern time) Thursday, opening his speech with a message of optimism about America’s odds of defeating the coronavirus, and Trump’s odds of reelection. However, less than 10 minutes into the vice president’s remarks, a protestor dressed like the president stood up near the front …

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SOUTH KOREA: Secretive Christian Sect At Center Of Coronavirus Outbreak, Hundreds Of Thousands Tested

Reuters reports: An So-young had a gut feeling that the 31st person in South Korea to test positive for the coronavirus might be a member of the controversial religious sect she quit four years ago. What caught An’s attention was how health authorities were struggling to track the woman’s movements before she was tested. “That’s their culture, they have to …

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Warren Bill Would Move Wall Money To Virus Battle

Via press release from the Warren campaign: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, today unveiled legislation, the Prioritizing Pandemic Prevention Act, requiring all funds that have been appropriated to build a border wall-including funds directly appropriated by Congress and funds diverted by the executive …

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Cellphone Charger Fire Prompts Emergency Landing

USA Today reports: An United Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing after a “thermal runaway event.” Flight 1456 from Newark, New Jersey, to Nassau, Bahamas, diverted to Daytona Beach Airport Wednesday after a phone battery charger caught fire mid-flight, the airport confirmed on Twitter. The fire was contained to a passenger’s bag and placed inside a fire retardant …

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Pence Names Top AIDS Official To Virus Response Team

Bloomberg News reports: Vice President Mike Pence has selected the State Department’s top AIDS official, Deborah Birx, to join his coronavirus response team, his office announced on Thursday. Birx is a career government official who was nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2014 as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator responsible for overseeing humanitarian aid programs combating the epidemic. She …

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IRAN: 1979 Hostage Crisis Spox Contracts Coronavirus

The New York Post reports: Masoumeh Ebtekar, an Iranian vice president who is better known as the infamous “Screaming Mary” during the 1979 US hostage crisis, has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to reports. Reports about her illness come two days after Iraj Harirchi, the official who was tasked with tackling the outbreak in Iran, also tested positive. He …

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Maine’s Bangor Daily News Endorses Amy Klobuchar

From the editorial board of the Bangor Daily News: Bernie Sanders handily won the Maine Democratic caucuses in 2016, and it seems likely that he will win again. But there are better, real Democratic choices in the party’s March 3 presidential primary. We believe the best choice is Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar is a centrist who earns praise from …

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Charlie Kirk At CPAC: Always Boo Mitt Romney’s Name

Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) today, where he praised the audience for booing when he mentioned the name of Sen. Mitt Romney, who was publicly “uninvited” to the event after he voted to call for witnesses during President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. When Kirk …

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Major Labor Union To Spend $150M To Defeat Trump

The Associated Press reports: One of the nation’s largest labor unions is unveiling plans to invest $150 million in a nationwide campaign to help defeat President Donald Trump, a sweeping effort focused on eight battleground states and voters of color who typically don’t vote. The investment marks the largest voter engagement and turnout operation in the history of the Service …

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Next Week: Florida’s Winter Party LGBT Fundraiser

Let’s take a break from election infighting and virus doomsday scenarios for a thirsty look at next week’s Winter Party Festival, Florida’s longest-running and largest LGBT charity event, which has raised millions for local HIV/AIDS and LGBT rights campaigns. From the organizers at the National LGBTQ Task Force: Our work to lift barriers related to HIV/AIDS reaches across a number …

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New California Virus Patient Wasn’t Tested For Days

The New York Times reports: A California coronavirus patient had to wait days to be tested because of restrictive federal criteria, despite doctors’ requests. The patient, who has tested positive, may be the first person to be infected through community spread in the United States, the CDC said Wednesday. Officials said it was possible the patient was exposed to a …

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Bloomberg Falsely Claims He “Cut Back” Stop-And-Frisk

NBC News reports: Bloomberg again claimed that he reined in the use of stop-and-frisk after it got “out of control” when he was mayor of New York. “We let it get out of control, and when I realized that, I cut it back by 95 percent, and I’ve apologized and asked for forgiveness,” he said. This is still a false …

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Fox Analyst: Trump’s Libel Suit Against NYT Is Doomed

Fox News reports: The Trump campaign’s filing of a libel lawsuit against the so-called “extremely biased” New York Times was a “clever” move but the case will likely be “dismissed,” according to Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. “They did a bad thing,” Trump said at a coronavirus press conference later Wednesday, before hinting at more litigation. “There …

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WHO Official Rips Trump’s “Incoherent” Virus Presser

Axios reports: Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, special advisor to the director general of the World Health Organization, told MSNBC Wednesday he found “most” of what President Trump said at his briefing on the novel coronavirus “incoherent.” As the number of confirmed cases reaches 60 in the U.S., the top health professional — who was a health policy adviser in the Obama …

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Sanders Blasts Pence: He Tried To “Pray Away” HIV

The Hill reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday slammed President Trump’s appointment of Vice President Pence as point man on the coronavirus outbreak. Sanders noted the HIV outbreak that occurred during Pence’s tenure as governor of Indiana, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s refusal to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable to all. …

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