Thursday, 27 August 2020

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Mets, Marlins players walk off Citi Field in protest

08/27/20 5:02 PM

GOP Tunes Out Hurricane, Cop Violence, and 180,000 Dead Americans

GOP Tunes Out Hurricane, Cop Violence, and 180,000 Dead AmericansThe president who prizes himself as a master showman put on, objectively, one of the most staid, boring convention nights in recent memory on Wednesday. Forced to downsize because of a pandemic, and hoping to sand down the rougher edges of his public image, the president’s team chose rote, recorded speeches in front of a line of American flags that may very well work politically but seemed utterly at odds with President Donald Trump’s reputation.It also stood in stark contrast to the state of the country where an American city was on lockdown due to unrest after the shooting of a Black man by police followed by the murder of two protesters by an armed teenager—not to mention a raging pandemic and a Category 4, nearing Category 5, hurricane closing in on the Gulf Coast. Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention featured barely any of that. COVID-19, once more, was hardly discussed.  The chaos and protests in Kenosha were briefly mentioned by Vice President Mike Pence. He spent an estimated 42 seconds of a nearly 40-minute speech addressing the hurricane, promising a boilerplate of relief, thoughts and prayers. And no one could quite predict how the storm would impact Thursday’s speeches, of which Trump will be the headliner. Earlier in the day, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway appeared to leave the door open to Trump postponing his address. But late Wednesday night, as Pence spoke, multiple Trump campaign aides and other officials insisted to The Daily Beast that, no matter the hurricane threat, President Trump would deliver his convention speech on Thursday evening as currently scheduled.According to three individuals with knowledge of convention details, the comparatively few mentions of the virus and its ongoing horrors had long been the plan. “Our convention is forward-looking. People want to know what the country will look like after COVID,” said a source familiar with convention planning. “The president has shown he can build an economy up and he’ll do it again.”Instead, the first portion of the evening felt almost like a breezy afternoon at a conference at the American Enterprise Institute. A good chunk of the night was devoted to female speakers insisting—against most available evidence—that Trump was a champion of expanded health care and an advocate for women’s rights. All of it was heavily doused in subtle and overt warnings that the issues of crime and violence that Trump himself had pledged to solve would now be made even worse if Trump was not re-elected. “Joe Biden says America is systemically racist and that law enforcement in America has a and I quote, ‘an implicit bias’ against minorities,” Pence said during his speech Wednesday night. “When asked whether he’d support cutting funding to law enforcement, he replied, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ Joe Biden would double down on the very policies that are leading to violence in America’s cities. The hard truth is you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”The GOP Didn’t Always Gaslight Away Pandemics at Their ConventionsThe attack on Biden that he wants to defund the police has been tried before by Republicans, but a fact check by Politifact of an ad with the comment found the video was incorrect and “edits Biden’s comment and takes it out of context.” But the larger framework also raised questions that Trump may have to address as well. Mainly, why he is not to blame for the social unrest that his team is decrying. Four years ago, Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president with a promise that violence in America’s cities—having fallen for years by that point—would be stamped out with him in office. “I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order our country,” Trump declared.On Wednesday, the chaos that had erupted in the aftermath of yet another police shooting had led to the halt of the NBA playoff games that night. And it threatened to reverberate throughout the remainder of the convention as well.  A graphic video on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, showed Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, walking away from police officers and trying to get into a car before a law enforcement officer fired shots into his back. As protests rocked the city, a white 17-year-old was arrested and charged with murder for allegedly shooting two people to death on Tuesday nightJust outside of the White House, security personnel were already preparing for what is expected to be a significant presence of protesters demonstrating President Trump’s Thursday night acceptance speech delivered on the grounds of The People’s House.But on Wednesday, ensconced at Fort McHenry, Pence, Trump and their guests seemed content to live in the America they created in that moment, smiling as maskless guests—reportedly untested for COVID—shook hands and hugged all around them. After it was all over, Trump and Pence worked the rope line, the latter offering an occasional fistbump to attendees. —With additional reporting from Pilar Melendez, William Bredderman, and Grace Del VecchioRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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Rusten Sheskey, the officer who shot Jacob Blake, is a former campus officer who investigated a hate crime, and said he liked being a cop because 'people trust us'

Rusten Sheskey, the officer who shot Jacob Blake, is a former campus officer who investigated a hate crime, and said he liked being a cop because 'people trust us'Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back on Sunday evening, prompting huge protests and a renewed national movement.




The not-so-hidden racism behind mispronouncing Kamala Harris’s name

The not-so-hidden racism behind mispronouncing Kamala Harris’s nameWhy is it that Republicans and conservatives in the GOP bubble can’t seem to properly pronounce Kamala Harris’ name, or don’t seem to care what they call her? Just like they did to Obama, the Republicans are turning the senator and Democratic vice-presidential nominee into the “other,” the “foreigner” with the funny-sounding name.




RNC speaker Abby Johnson shows how not to appeal to women voters

RNC speaker Abby Johnson shows how not to appeal to women votersDonald Trump is far behind with female voters. Given that fact, one would expect the Trump campaign to make some moves to appeal to women. Yet on Tuesday night, anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson addressed the RNC and its audience of millions, despite her holding views that go far beyond garden-variety opposition to abortion.Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Johnson faced a firestorm of criticism for saying in a YouTube video earlier this year that her "brown son is more likely to commit a violent offense over my white sons." Then, shortly before the RNC began, a White House reporter for CBS News drew attention to two of Johnson’s tweets from May in which she expressed support for "bringing back household voting," which would give each household a single vote — and give husbands "the final say." (Johnson doubled down on this outlandishly retrograde position on Tuesday evening just a few hours before her speech.)No wonder, then, that when she stood at the podium at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C., Johnson unleashed an unmodulated attack on her former employer Planned Parenthood, denouncing its "racist roots," deploring its "barbarity," and even pausing to evoke "what abortion smells like." The assault naturally culminated in gushing praise for the anti-abortion efforts of President Trump.There are ways for Republicans to appeal to women. There are even ways to do so in pro-life terms — by talking about the tragic, wrenching struggles and anguish experienced by so many women when they contemplate and make the decision to terminate a pregnancy. But Johnson said nothing about any of that, and really expressed no empathy for women at all. Which is exactly what one would expect of someone who would prefer a Handmaid's Tale world in which women lose their bodily and political autonomy and are forced to submit their minds and civic convictions to the absolute rule of their husbands.More stories from theweek.com Trump's RNC role is a much bigger mistake than Republicans realize Trump calls for drug tests before presidential debates Trump's D.C. hotel hosting at least 15 events for donors amid RNC, including bourbon tasting with Rand Paul




USAF sergeant pleads not guilty in 2nd killing of an officer



Trevor Noah asks why police shot Jacob Blake but not Kyle Rittenhouse

Trevor Noah asks why police shot Jacob Blake but not Kyle Rittenhouse'I feel like we know the answer,' says 'The Daily Show' host after white teen Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with killing protesters in Kenosha, Wis.