Monthly Archives: August 2020

Appeal Court Refuses To Dismiss Flynn’s Criminal Case

CNBC reports: A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a bid by former national security advisor Michael Flynn to force the prompt dismissal of the criminal case in which he had been convicted of lying to FBI agents. The decision sends the case back for consideration by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington. Flynn had asked the U.S. …

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Trump Lawyer Screams “Harassment” After LA County Moves To Seize Parking Lot Of Church Defying Lockdown

From the far-right Washington Times: Los Angeles County has canceled a lease on a large portion of the Grace Community Church parking lot amid a legal fight over the megachurch’s refusal to abide by a public-health ban on indoor worship. The Department of Public Works informed the Sun Valley church in a Friday notice that the lease on the property, …

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Trump Advisor Hired After Fox Appearances Pushes White House To Adopt “Herd Immunity” COVID Plan

The Washington Post reports: One of President Trump’s top medical advisers is urging the White House to embrace a controversial “herd immunity” strategy to combat the pandemic, which would entail allowing the coronavirus to spread through most of the population to quickly build resistance to the virus, while taking steps to protect those in nursing homes and other vulnerable populations, …

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DOJ: Fake Pastors Scammed Christians Out Of $28M

Via press release from the Justice Department: A federal grand jury has indicted Dennis Jali, age 35, formerly of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; John Erasmus, age 40, of Upper Marlboro; and Arley Johnson, age 61, of Bowie, Maryland on federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. The indictment was returned on July 27, 2020, and was unsealed …

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Herman Cain’s Twitter Account Mocks COVID’s Lethality

The Independent reports: The twitter account of Herman Cain posted that Covid-19 was “not as deadly” as made out, just weeks after the one-time Republican presidential candidate died from the virus. Cain’s twitter account has continued to post several times a day after his death, most commonly to share articles from the dubious Western Journal, one of which provided the …

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Trump: Without Me There Would Be No Kenosha Now

Politico reports: President Donald Trump declared Monday that he would move ahead with a planned trip to Kenosha, Wis., in defiance of Gov. Tony Evers’ request that he stay away from the state amid raw tensions surrounding protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Trump and his allies have sought to highlight incidents of rioting and looting that have accompanied …

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Scalise Deletes Doctored Video Of Disabled Activist

Fox News reports: Rep. Steve Scalise on Sunday removed a video he had posted on Twitter of an edited interview between Joe Biden and a disabled liberal activist after backlash that the clip was “doctored” to portray the Democratic presidential nominee as supporting the defunding of police. Scalise’s video was initially marked as doctored by Twitter before it was removed. …

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White House: Trump Will Go To Kenosha Over Gov’s Objections To “Demonstrate His Respect” For Wisconsin

The Washington Post reports: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that Trump will travel to Kenosha, Wis., on Tuesday despite a plea from the state’s governor for him to stay away. She also said the White House has been unable to make contact with the family of Jacob Blake, whose shooting by police sparked unrest in the city. …

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UPenn Faculty Members Renew Call For Investigation Into Trump’s Admission After Release Of Sister’s Tapes

Forbes reports: Professor Eric Orts, along with six faculty members, first requested the University investigate Trump’s academic records earlier this summer, but provost Wendell Pritchett said it was too far into the past to look into it, unless new evidence came to light. Orts now claims that the tape recordings—made by niece Mary Trump as part of the research for …

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Trump Thought He Could “Settle” Mueller’s Probe

Axios reports: One of the crazy nuggets in a deeply reported book by the N.Y. Times’ Michael Schmidt — “Donald Trump v. the United States,” out tomorrow — is that President Trump mulled the idea of “settling” with special counsel Robert Mueller. What he’s saying: “At one point, as the investigation seemed to be intensifying,” Schmidt writes, Trump told White …

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POLL: Biden +6 Over Trump Among Active Duty Troops

The Military Times reports: The latest Military Times poll shows a continued decline in active-duty service members’ views of President Donald Trump and a slight but significant preference for former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming November election among troops surveyed. The results, collected before the political conventions earlier this month, appear to undercut claims from the president that …

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New York City Gyms To Reopen On Wednesday [VIDEO]

The New York Daily News reports: The city is giving a tech-y touch to its efforts to keep gyms safe as they begin to reopen this Wednesday. The Health Department will conduct “virtual inspections” of gyms to ensure they are following new rules to keep customers and staff safe. A virtual inspection will consist of a video call between a …

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United Permanently Drops $200 Ticket Change Fee

CNBC reports: It’s time to say goodbye to the $200 ticket-change fee. United Airlines on Sunday said that it will permanently scrap fees to change domestic flights, a big bet that more flexible policies will win over much-needed customers as the pain from the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on air travel continue to mount. It’s a page from the playbook of …

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Christian Crowdfunding Site Crows “Jesus Is Life” After Raising $261K In Donations For Accused Kenosha Killer

Religion News Service reports: A Christian fundraising site, Give Send Go, has earned more than $250,000 for the alleged Kenosha shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse as of Sunday evening. Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested on Wednesday, August 26, and is being charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree homicide and one count of attempted homicide. He also faces charges of …

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Kelly Rejected FBI Job Over Trump’s Loyalty Demand

Axios reports: The day after President Trump fired FBI boss James Comey, the president phoned John Kelly, who was then secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, and offered him Comey’s job, the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Schmidt reports in his forthcoming book, “Donald Trump v. The United States.” Driving the news: “But the president added something …

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Twitter Zaps False QAnon Claim Boosted By Trump

CNN reports: Twitter on Sunday took down a tweet containing a false claim about coronavirus death statistics that was made by a supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory — a post that President Donald Trump had retweeted earlier in the day. The tweet — which has been replaced with a message saying, “This Tweet is no longer available because …

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FDA Commissioner Willing To Fast-Track COVID Vaccine

The New York Post reports: The head of the US Food and Drug Administration is willing to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine as quickly as possible – even before Phase Three clinical trials end — as long as officials are convinced the benefits outweigh the risks, according to a report. Commissioner Stephen Hahn told the Financial Times that the move would …

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WI Gov To Trump: Please Don’t Come To Kenosha

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is urging President Donald Trump not to visit Kenosha this week. In a Sunday letter to Trump, Evers wrote, “I write today to respectfully ask you to reconsider” plans to visit the Wisconsin city, which has been shaken by unrest since a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake one week ago. …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports: With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging on, almost every event – including the MTV Video Music Awards – has had to go virtual since March. But, the lack of live performances has birthed a new music industry obsession in the form of live stream concerts. Therefore, it’s only fitting that the VMAs came up with a brand new …

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US COVID Cases Pass Six Million Amid Midwest Surge

Reuters reports: U.S. cases of the novel coronavirus surpassed six million on Sunday as many states in the Midwest reported increasing infections, according to a Reuters tally. Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have recently reported record one-day increases in new cases while Montana and Idaho are seeing record numbers of currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Nationally, metrics on new …

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