₦airaland Forum

The Coons


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqocQwpWCKA

seniors are on code.

feedthenation:
Trump's 'super spreader' rally at the South Lawn of the WH

They are like lambs to the slaughter without face coverings

Some ppl are saying those are paid actors (crowd) like that which is popular in 9ja.
American Republican politicians in too much of a hurry to reopen venues. European countries are also seeing a increase in virus infections.

COVID-19
·

The US is reporting over 50,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day for the first time since mid-August
The US reported 57,420 new positive cases in the US on Friday, the third day in a row with over 50,000 new cases, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. More than 213,000 Americans have died since the start of the pandemic. Experts and fact-checkers confirm that the data contradicts President Trump’s claim on Saturday that the pandemic is “disappearing.”
Photo via @ReutersUS

I checked a couple of pages in this thread but didn't see this article posted.

Politics
Trump got a $21 million tax break for saving the forest outside his N.Y. mansion. Now the deal is under investigation.

By Joshua Partlow, Jonathan O'Connell and David A. Fahrenthold

Oct. 9, 2020 at 8:35 a.m. EDT

Five years ago, Donald Trump promised to preserve more than 150 acres of rolling woodlands in an exclusive swath of New York suburbia prized for its luxury homes and rural tranquility.

In exchange for setting aside this land on his estate known as Seven Springs, Trump received a tax break of $21.1 million, according to court documents.

The size of Trump’s tax windfall was set by a 2016 appraisal that valued Seven Springs at $56.5 million — more than double the value assessed by the three Westchester County towns that each contained a piece of the property.

The valuation has now become a focal point of what could be one of the most consequential investigations facing President Trump as he heads into the election.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of Seven Springs as part of the conservation easement on the property, according to filings in the case in August. The investigation also scrutinizes valuations, tax burdens and conservation easements at Trump’s holdings in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.

Trump’s son Eric, who now helps run the Trump Organization, sat for a deposition in the case Monday.

What do we now know about Trump’s tax returns?
The Washington Post’s David A. Fahrenthold analyzes the latest revelations about President Trump’s tax returns and what it reveals about his finances.
The Seven Springs appraisal, obtained by The Washington Post, appears to have relied on unsupported assertions and misleading conclusions that boosted the value of Trump’s charitable gift — and his tax break, according to two independent appraisers who reviewed the document at The Post’s request.

The appraisal was written by Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate firm that has worked with Trump over many years and whose New York City headquarters are in a building co-owned by Trump.

The firm established the value of the 212-acre estate by assuming a future buyer could build and sell 24 mansions on the land, without providing evidence that such a subdivision would meet local regulations. Over two decades, Trump himself tried to build on Seven Springs — first a golf course and later various housing developments — but the projects were stymied amid local opposition and environmental disputes.

The appraisal also claimed the land preserved under the easement had no economic value of its own, which one independent appraiser described as “crazy.” The tax break is calculated by subtracting the value of the conserved property from the value when it could be developed.

“This is not a good appraisal, and it’s misleading, and it’s thin as all get out,” said the first independent appraiser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve relationships in the industry. “What you get is appraised values for these 24 hypothetical lots that appear to be much higher than they ought to be.”

If the conservation easement transaction were ever litigated, the appraiser said, “they’d tear it apart.”

A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield said: “We do not comment on ongoing litigation.” One expert who reviewed the appraisal at The Post’s request said he thought the firm did a “competent” job.

The Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten, said that he could not comment on the Seven Springs appraisal or respond to specific allegations made by James’s office because the investigation is ongoing but that “the allegations are categorically untrue.”

In a statement last month, Garten accused James of “continued harassment of the company as we approach the election.”

“This investigation is all about politics,” he added.

The president’s taxes and financial dealings are also part of a separate inquiry by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (D). Vance has offered less detail in court documents than James, citing grand-jury secrecy. A three-judge panel in a federal appeals court Wednesday ruled that Vance can enforce a subpoena that seeks financial documents from Trump, including his tax returns.

In addition to the conservation easement tax break, Trump in 2014 also classified Seven Springs as an investment property, rather than a personal residence, and wrote off $2.2 million in property taxes as a business expense, the New York Times recently reported.

Trump’s family members have described the home as a family retreat in the past, and the Trump Organization’s website still characterizes Seven Springs that way.

“Today, Seven Springs is used as a retreat for the Trump family,” the website says.

If it has been used as a rental property, it hasn’t brought much financial return, at least recently. On the public financial disclosures Trump is required to file annually as president, he said Seven Springs has produced only between $5,000 and $10,000 in total income since 2015.

Neither the James nor Vance investigation may make much headway before the election, according to legal experts. But both appear to be issues the president and his family will have to deal with whether he wins in November or not.

Lake manor
Seven Springs, with its 60 rooms and three swimming pools, has become a prime example of how Trump found tax benefits even in projects where he failed to achieve his original vision.

The home was built in 1919 by Eugene Meyer, former owner of The Washington Post. The pink sandstone manor house was designed in the style of a French chateau, and it is perched over Byram Lake, a reservoir for the area. The property was eventually passed on to Yale University and then to Rockefeller University, which used it as a conference center.

Trump bought the property in 1995 for $7.5 million with the intention of transforming it into an exclusive private golf course, with a stately clubhouse and luxury residences nearby, according to Trump’s public statements at the time.

But Trump’s building plans never came to fruition.

His project was met with stiff resistance from neighbors and local officials who worried about traffic problems as well as environmental degradation, according to planning documents obtained through a public records request and news coverage at the time. Many feared that chemicals from the golf course would pollute Byram Lake and taint drinking water for the nearby village of Mount Kisco. Trump also faced a complicated tangle of planning rules, as the property is spread over three neighboring towns: Bedford, North Castle and New Castle.

By 2004, the Trump Organization had given up on the golf course and instead proposed building 15 homes, which Trump described to the New York Times at the time as “super-high-end residential, the likes of which has never been seen on the East Coast.”

But his subdivision plans also bogged down amid local opposition and a multiyear legal battle in which Trump sued to gain access to a closed portion of a local road that ran through an adjacent Nature Conservancy preserve.

Even Trump’s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz, who happened to live directly across the street from Seven Springs, at one point sent a letter to the Bedford planning director to voice concerns that headlights from the construction site would shine into the family home “where they frequently entertain.”

“Please note that their mail box has recently been knocked down on two separate occasions by speeding vehicles on Oregon Road,” an attorney at Kasowitz’s firm wrote on his behalf in the 2008 letter, obtained through a public records request.

Kasowitz did not respond to a request for comment.

In one bizarre episode from 2009, Trump rented out Seven Springs to the Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Gaddafi’s staff pitched a Bedouin-style tent, complete with camel-print drapery, in Trump’s yard.

But even tent-building was doomed at Seven Springs. Bedford officials issued a stop-work order — the tent was deemed a temporary residence, and it had no permits — and Gaddafi didn’t end up moving in.

“We are outraged that this known criminal would attempt to set up camp in our community, and we intend to do everything in our power to deny them temporary residence,” Bedford Town Supervisor Lee Roberts said at the time.

Gaddafi still “paid me a fortune,” Trump told CBS in 2016.

By the time Ralph Mastromonaco was hired by the Trump Organization to develop site plans for Seven Springs in 2010, the difficulties of building on the property were well established. Mastromonaco said he advised the Trump Organization to avoid attempting to build across all three towns but rather to limit the effort to one. The plans he drafted involved nine residential lots, all confined to the Bedford portion of the property.

“If you want to try to build something here, it’s quite a nightmare,” Mastromonaco, a civil engineer who has worked in Westchester since 1977, said in a recent interview.

This was Trump’s last attempt to build houses on the property. By May 2013, the Bedford planning board passed a resolution giving Trump’s company “final plat approval” to develop the residential lots — pending a list of 26 conditions that the Trump Organization would have to meet within 180 days. The Trump Organization did not complete that process, and those conditions were never met, according to Joel Sachs, the town attorney.

In particular, the Trump Organization failed to reimburse the town for the cost of hiring engineers and consultants to evaluate the Seven Springs proposal.

A copy of an invoice dated Nov. 11, 2019, reviewed by The Post shows the Trump Organization owes Bedford $46,976.63.

“They’ve never paid it,” Sachs said. “I don’t expect they’re going to pay it.”

Mastromonaco, who has given a deposition to New York prosecutors, said he did not know why the Trump Organization stopped pursuing the subdivision at Seven Springs.

“It started to look like they were just losing interest in it,” he said. “It just wasn’t a hot item for them to keep going.”

Conservation easement
By the end of 2015, Trump had signed an agreement with the North American Land Trust, a nonprofit based in Pennsylvania, promising not to develop 158 acres of Seven Springs, or about three-quarters of the property.

The mature deciduous forest of oak, maple and hemlock on Trump’s land stood adjacent to another nature preserve and clearly held ecological value, according to one person involved in the conservation easement who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address a matter involving the president.

“That’s not even a question,” the person said. “This totally fits into land that gets preserved for conservation easements.”

But the key question was its monetary value — and how much Trump would get to deduct from his taxes by agreeing not to develop it.

In recent years, conservation easements have come under greater scrutiny from the IRS, tax experts and both parties in the Senate because of abuses by some landowners who artificially inflated the worth of the land they preserved.

Dozens of cases have been litigated in recent years in which the IRS challenged the underlying valuation of conservation easements. Of those, the North American Land Trust has been involved in at least eight high-profile cases, including four involving golf course easements, said Nancy McLaughlin, a University of Utah law professor and expert in conservation easements who tracks these cases.

Shortly after launching his 2016 campaign, Trump sent the group $32,000 from his now-defunct charitable foundation, which was later ruled a misuse of charitable funds.

The North American Land Trust did not respond to a request for comment.

As the Seven Springs deal was being set up, appraisers from Cushman & Wakefield valued the property at $56.5 million, claiming that if it weren’t to be preserved, 24 homes, each worth an average of $2.1 million, could be built on the vacant part of the property, according to the document.

But the two independent appraisers who reviewed the document found significant problems with that report.

For one, they said, the appraisal does not mention Trump’s history of difficulties developing Seven Springs or offer much beyond unsubstantiated assertions that such a subdivision would comply with local planning rules. Several conservation easement experts said the development history is relevant to the value of the property.

“Imagine that we were wealthy developers and we were interested in purchasing that property from him,” said McLaughlin. “We would take into account that history. And we would say, ‘Well, gee, if we buy this property today, how likely is it that we are going to be able to develop it if he had all this problem trying to get the approvals?’ ”

One independent appraiser also flagged concerns about a “sleight of hand” technique that compared nearby sales on a price-per-acre basis, then applied it to much larger lots on Seven Springs. The appraiser also noted the claim that the 158 acres after conservation has “no economic value of its own,” when conserved land is in fact often bought and sold.

“The theme throughout this appraisal is: There is very little actual work done to collect data and analyze specific data,” he said. “It’s a lot of arm-waving and reference to national surveys.”

The second appraiser also flagged the lack of value after conservation — despite the fact that the conservation easement allows Trump many rights on the land, including hunting, driving off-road vehicles, building storage facilities and dividing it into three parcels to sell off. Only two of the eight comparable sales in the appraisal were similar in size to Seven Springs. But the report values Seven Springs at more than $100,000 per acre higher than those other properties, the second appraiser noted.

“There is absolutely no support for all the adjustments,” the second appraiser said. “They don’t even show how much fairy dust it took to make up those adjustments.”

“This is barely a 50-page report, and ours are usually 150 or more sans fairy dust,” the second appraiser added.

A third person who reviewed the appraisal, Timothy Lindstrom, a Virginia attorney and conservation easement expert, cited some areas where the document might be “vulnerable” but found fewer problems with it.

“While there are no appraisals that are immune from IRS quibbling, my overall reaction to this appraisal was that it was competently done and provided realistic values supported by proper analysis and data,” he said.

During the easement process, Eric Trump also relied on Sheri Dillon, a longtime Washington attorney.

According to correspondence disclosed by James’s office, Dillon repeatedly pressured the appraisers at Cushman & Wakefield to increase their valuations.

According to filings by the New York attorney general, Dillon gave sworn testimony in August but declined to answer numerous questions about her role and withheld some documents. Dillon did not respond to requests for comment.

During the appraisal process, one of the Cushman appraisers wrote in an email that Dillon had reported that “the client blew up at her” and that Dillon began “trying to convince us to restore” a $2.1 million valuation for each of the home parcels and “anything else that would push it up,” according to the court filings.

In another message, the Cushman appraisers ask Dillon to back off: “We’ve been over these issues and there is no point in dredging them up again. It’s time to agree to disagree and move on.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-got-a-21-million-tax-break-for-saving-the-forest-outside-his-ny-mansion-now-the-deal-is-under-investigation/2020/10/07/de84c1ba-ff6b-11ea-830c-a160b331ca62_story.html

President Trump’s Seven Springs estate covers 212 acres, including rolling woodlands that spread over three Westchester county towns. (Johnny Milano/for The Washington Post)

Looks like "LITTLE MICHAEL" Bloomberg is delivering Florida.

Polls show that Florida’s seniors, who traditionally vote at higher rates than any other age group, have shifted in significant numbers away from President Donald Trump to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Florida’s seniors, the state’s most reliable voters, are shifting away from Trump
Stephen Staruch is exactly the kind of voter that gave Donald Trump a 17-point advantage over Hillary Clinton in exit polling among older voters in Florida four years ago.
miamiherald.com

Obesity should not be celebrated!

And that's a wrap ... #VPDebate

A new wig depicting the fly that landed in Vice President Mike Pence’s hair during the sit-down has dropped.

The “Debate Fly Wig” — talk about a fly Halloween costume.
‘Debate Fly Wig,’ inspired by Mike Pence’s debate appearance, selling online for $50
In a ripped-from-the-headlines fashion, an online apparel retailer is getting in on the viral action that came out of Wednesday’s Vice Presidential debate. A bug-bedecked wig inspired by the fly that...
nydailynews.com

now back to some serious humour.
koonye is encouraging mumu voters to write in his name on ballots.

Imagine fornicating and having out of wedlock enslaved children with your female slave and being considered a practicing Christian.

Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings

A Brief Account

https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/jefferson-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-a-brief-account/





Thomas Jefferson
Establishing A Federal Republic

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefffed.html#:~:text=Although%20Thomas%20Jefferson%20was%20in,federal%20government%20through%20his%20correspondence.

Although Thomas Jefferson was in France serving as United States minister when the Federal Constitution was written in 1787, he was able to influence the development of the federal government through his correspondence. Later his actions as the first secretary of state, vice president, leader of the first political opposition party, and third president of the United States were crucial in shaping the look of the nation's capital and defining the powers of the Constitution and the nature of the emerging republic.

Jefferson played a major role in the planning, design, and construction of a national capitol and the federal district. In the various public offices he held, Jefferson sought to establish a federal government of limited powers. In the 1800 presidential election, Jefferson and Aaron Burr deadlocked, creating a constitutional crisis. However, once Jefferson received sufficient votes in the electoral college, he and the defeated incumbent, John Adams, established the principle that power would be passed peacefully from losers to victors in presidential elections. Jefferson called his election triumph “the second American Revolution.”

While president, Jefferson's principles were tested in many ways. For example, in order to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France he was willing to expand his narrow interpretation of the Constitution. But Jefferson stood firm in ending the importation of slaves and maintaining his view of the separation of church and state. In the end, Jefferson completed two full and eventful terms as president. He also paved the way for James Madison and James Monroe, his political protégés, to succeed him in the presidency.

this is for my beloved nl coons and cultists that formed mouth this week about the genesis of yankee being a Christian nation. proof loading that they considered our ancestors as sub-human work animals until Benjamin Banneker put slave owning President Thomas Jefferson in check. Many framers of the constitution were slave owners. Slavery continues to this day around the world including Naija.

salford1:
See the masks. You can tell they are voting democrats.

Breaking Voting Records.

Democrats surge past Republicans in early voting

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/520306-democrats-surge-past-republicans-in-early-voting

Experts predict record election turnout as more than 6.6 million ballots cast in early voting tally

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/520313-experts-predict-record-election-turnout-as-more-than-66-million-ballots

Is the covid-19 pandemic finish? I see many ppl's aversion to wearing masks in crowed public.

In Philadelphia, Democrats embrace early voting - Trump's bugbear

AFP
Catherine TRIOMPHE

AFP•October 9, 2020

https://news.yahoo.com/philadelphia-democrats-embrace-early-voting-053117061.html


"bug·bear
/ˈbəɡˌber/
Learn to pronounce
noun
a cause of obsessive fear, irritation, or loathing."

Over a hundred people lined up in front of Philadelphia City Hall on October 7 to cast their "mail-in ballots" ahead of the November 3 presidential election

Covid drug given to Trump developed using cells derived from aborted fetus
Trump touts Regeneron antibody cocktail as a potential ‘cure’ while he has consistently sought to restrict abortion access

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/08/trump-covid-drug-developed-using-cells-derived-from-abortion

One of the drugs taken by Donald Trump that he has touted as a potential “cure” for coronavirus was developed using human cells originally obtained from an elective abortion, a practice repeatedly denounced by the president and many of his supporters.

The drug is a monoclonal antibody cocktail developed by Regeneron. The president received an 8-gram infusion under a “compassionate use” exemption when he was hospitalized over the weekend after testing positive for Covid-19. There is no cure for Covid-19, and the drug is not approved.

The stem cells used to develop the drug are known as HEK-293T cells, a line of cells used in laboratories. The cells were originally derived from an embryonic kidney after an elective abortion performed in the Netherlands in the 1970s.

Trump has consistently sought to restrict abortion access, including most recently, when he nominated the conservative Catholic Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court last month. The anti-abortion movement is one of Trump’s most enthusiastic bases of support.

The 2020 Republican party platform explicitly opposes embryonic stem cell research, and calls for a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Trump has already limited research using embryonic stem cells for ideological reasons. In 2019, his administration paused funding for government scientists to work on studies involving embryonic stem cells, affecting about $31m in research, according to Science Magazine.

“We stopped the federal funding of fetal tissue research, which everybody felt was so important …” the president told supporters in January 2020. “We’re standing up to the pro-abortion lobby like never before.”

The HEK-293T line of cells has been “immortalized”, meaning they divide freely in the lab. Regeneron said the company does not consider the cells “tissue”.

“It’s how you want to parse it,” a Regeneron spokeswoman, Alexandra Bowie, told the MIT Technology Review. “But the 293T cell lines available today are not considered fetal tissue, and we did not otherwise use fetal tissue.”

Development of the Regeneron antibody cocktail is supported by a $450m grant from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda).

The Susan B Anthony List, a leading US anti-abortion group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the anti-abortion movement has weighed in on other Covid-19 drugs in development. At least five Covid-19 vaccine candidates used either HEK-293T cells or a proprietary line of cells developed by Janssen from a 1985 elective abortion.

In April, the influential US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote to the US government to ask that it “incentivize” vaccine candidates developed without use of such cells.

“It is critically important that Americans have access to a vaccine that is produced ethically: no American should be forced to choose between being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus and violating his or her conscience,” the letter said, as reported by Science Magazine.

Regeneron has worked with the US government to develop monoclonal antibody therapies for years. In 2018, researchers from Regeneron and the US government used the same line of stem cells in development of a therapy for the Ebola virus, according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

“Research using such stem cells allows Regeneron to model complex diseases, test new drug candidates and can help unlock new scientific insights that ultimately could lead to the discovery of new treatments for people with serious diseases,” Regeneron said in an April 2020 statement.

Regeneron’s drug is not available to the public and has been tested on only 275 people to date. Therapies in the same class as Regeneron’s antibody cocktail cost on average more than $96,000 per course.

The Trump administration has worked systematically to limit abortion access in the United States and abroad. Vice-President Mike Pence has said: “I long for the day Roe v Wade is sent to the ash heap of history,” referring to the US supreme court decision which has allowed for women to obtain legal abortions since 1973.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/08/trump-covid-drug-developed-using-cells-derived-from-abortion

Pure humour!



Jeffrey Wright
@jfreewright
I dunno but does this all sound desperate...to you?

I dunno but does this all sound desperate...to you? pic.twitter.com/Oy7TGSnB09

— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) October 8, 2020

super dubber congrats

why dem take off masks in public? we know what dey look like. covid-19 can be airborne for 6 to 20 feet. does one of dem not have a young pikin to be concerned about.
irresponsible clout chasing and record promotion na.

News from 'The City' in London.


Market pressure eases as US fiscal policy and a Democratic win appear in focus

Yahoo Finance UK Kumutha Ramanathan Contributor,Yahoo Finance UK•October 8, 2020

Investor confidence grew overnight following renewed hopes for a US stimulus deal and markets now pricing in a Democratic victory during the elections in November.

On the Brexit front, the pound slid on Wednesday after reports emerged that the UK government was threatening to walk out of talks next week if a deal wasn’t clearly in focus by 15 October.

However, as analysts pointed out in a note from Deutsche Bank on Thursday, “this simply echoed what UK prime minister Johnson had said back in early September,” explaining why sterling swiftly clawed back most of its losses. With European Council president Charles Michael tweeting that “the EU prefers a deal but not at any cost” Deutsche analysts added that they still hold out hope that progress can be made to extend talks.

European markets opened in positive territory. The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was up 0.7%. Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was up by 0.8%, and France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) also tilted up by 0.6%. The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was up by 0.3% in London.

In Europe, COVID-19 concerns continue to rage in pockets throughout the continent. Scotland announced restrictions on Thursday, and there may be more coming in northern England.

France and Spain have posted record increases in cases and further restrictions in Italy could come as travellers from the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, and Czech Republic may be subjected to testing before entering the country.

In the US, vice presidential nominees Mike Pence and Kamala Harris clashed over the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in their debate on Wednesday. Climate change, China and the Supreme Court were also major points of contention. Various polls are showing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s lead is widening in crucial battleground states. Before entering the debate, president Trump was down 9.5 points to former vice president Biden in fivethirtyeighty.com’s national polling averages. A Quinnipiac poll also showed the president was behind Biden by 13 and 11 points in Pennsylvania and Florida, respectively.

Traders are gaining confidence that a stimulus deal is likely on its way. Trump said on Wednesday that he will resume talks after the election and further positive news came from house speaker Nancy Pelosi, who signalled that she was open to some form of partial measures, particularly for the airline industry.

US futures are up. The S&P 500 (ES=F) was up by 0.7%, the Dow Jones (YM=F) was up by 0.7%, and the Nasdaq (NQ=F) went higher by 0.8%.

Asian markets were mixed.

Japan’s Nikkei (^N225) was up 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (^HSI) was down 0.4%, China’s Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) tilted down 0.2%. The KOSPI (^KOSPI) in South Korea was also up 0.2%.

In today's super spreader news.

New England Journal of Medicine editorial takes aim at Trump administration: "This election gives us the power to render judgment"

BY KATHRYN WATSON

UPDATED ON: OCTOBER 7, 2020

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-england-journal-of-medicine-editorial-says-election-gives-us-the-power-to-render-judgment/

The New England Journal of Medicine made a rare political move Wednesday, publishing an editorial by dozens of U.S. editors who denounced the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and said this election "gives us the power to render judgment."

The editorial, titled "Dying in a Leadership Vacuum," does not explicitly endorse former Vice President Joe Biden, but the editors' message is clear — the current leadership must change.

"Our current leaders have undercut trust in science and in government, causing damage that will certainly outlast them. Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed 'opinion leaders' and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies," the editorial says.

"Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences," the editorial added. "Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment."

The editorial notes that, while some deaths in the U.S. were inevitable, tens of thousands could have been saved with a better response.

Meanwhile, President Trump is claiming personal victory over the virus, saying he feels great as he presumably continues to still be shedding the virus. The president said it was a "blessing from God" that he contracted COVID-19, so he can encourage greater access for the experimental drugs he used.

"I feel great. I feel like, perfect," the president said in a four-minute video posted to Twitter. "I think this was a blessing from God, that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug, I said let me take it, it was my suggestion. I said, let me take it. And it was incredible the way it worked, incredible. And I think if I didn't catch it, we'd be looking at that like a number of other drugs. But it really did a fantastic job. I want to get for you what I got. I'm going to make it free, you're not going to pay for it."

Meanwhile, "isolation carts" have been set up in the West Wing, where staff can pull personal protective equipment in order to interact with the president.

_____________________________________


Marine general has COVID after Pentagon meeting

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-archive-gary-l-thomas-coast-guard-59e19109d15d6f10eeb0417ec961d80d

Brain fog?

LordReed:
The funny thing is is Trump dies while holding one of his rallies, he'll become a martyr to his supporters.

Very interesting the use of that religious word martyr.

I don't think he has voting demographic conned like back in 2016. He just has the Nazis, Hillbillies, and White Supremacists in his corner. Forget about the middle class suburban vote. They've had enough of this living hell.

I posted a couple of religion theme post last month. Scroll back if interested, if not, still have yourself a very pleasant day.

Re: American Politics Thread - 2020 Election Cycle! by ZooOga: 2:10am On Sep 02
Trump supporter Pastor John Gray apologizes to his wife and church for getting caught up in a cheating/adultery scandal. Birds of the feather flock together.

https://www.nairaland.com/4508641/american-politics-thread-2020-election/908#93478806




Re: American Politics Thread - 2020 Election Cycle! by ZooOga: 12:44am On Sep 01
We are evangelical Christians not voting for Donald Trump this time

https://www.nairaland.com/4508641/american-politics-thread-2020-election/903#93443691

BY RYAN HURLBURT AND KATHARINE HURLBURT, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 08/31/20 12:00 PM EDT

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

It is no secret that most white evangelical Christians in the country voted for Donald Trump in 2016. But one recent survey finds that, if the election were tomorrow, his margin of victory with white evangelical voters would be just 38 points, dramatically down from his advantage of 61 points over Hillary Clinton. Evangelical voters are having second thoughts.

We are a white evangelical married couple living in Georgia. We have both worked on evangelical missions across various cultural contexts, and are absolutely committed to upholding the dignity and value of all human life, including those who are not yet born. But having witnessed the negative effects that the administration has had on vulnerable people, particularly refugees and other immigrants, we are among the significant number of evangelical Christians who will not vote for the president again.

Our critical values have not changed since 2016. We were uncomfortable back then with the credible reports of his marital infidelities, his bullying tone, and disparaging comments on immigrants. But we also were, and certainly still are, deeply committed to protecting the lives of children in the womb and the freedom to practice our faith without interference. We felt that we had chosen the lesser of two evils when we voted.

While the president has delivered on some issues of concern to us, such as economic reforms and trade deals, his immigration policies are cruel, undermining his pledges to life and religious freedom. For instance, while we cherish unborn lives, we also value the lives of thousands of children who were separated from their mothers or fathers by the “zero tolerance” policies of the administration at the Mexican border in 2018.

The remaining White House staff have to wear full hazmat suits.


Trump’s Return Leaves White House in Disarray as Infections Jolt West Wing

The West Wing was mostly empty, cleared of aides who were sick or told to work from home, and staff in the White House residence were in full personal protective equipment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/white-house-coronavirus.html?auth=login-google



By Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni

The White House that President Trump woke up in on Tuesday morning was in full-blown chaos, even by the standards of the havoc of the Trump era.

Aides said the president’s voice was stronger after his return from the hospital Monday night, but at times he still sounded as if he was trying to catch air. The West Wing was mostly empty, cleared of advisers who were out sick with the coronavirus themselves or told to work from home rather than in the capital’s most famous virus hot spot. Staff members in the White House residence were in full personal protective equipment, including yellow gowns, surgical masks and disposable protective eye covers.

Four more White House officials tested positive, including Stephen Miller, a top adviser to Mr. Trump, bringing to 14 the number of people carrying the virus at the White House or in the president’s close circle. Mr. Trump, diagnosed with Covid-19 last week, was still livid at his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose effort on Saturday to tamp down the rosy portrait of Mr. Trump’s condition given to reporters by his chief doctor was caught on camera. Other officials were angry with Mr. Meadows for not even trying to control the president.

Some aides tried to project confidence — “We feel comfortable working here, those of us who are still here,” Alyssa Farah, the White House communications director, said in an interview on Fox News — but many saw the situation as spiraling out of control. The pandemic that Mr. Trump had treated cavalierly for months seemed to have locked its grip on the White House. West Wing aides, shaken by polls showing the president badly trailing Joseph R. Biden Jr., worried that they were living through the final days of the Trump administration.

The disarray was at the same time spreading across Washington. Almost the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, including its chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley, went into quarantine on Tuesday after coming in contact with Adm. Charles W. Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, who tested positive for the coronavirus. Late in the day, the stock market took a dive when Mr. Trump abruptly called off talks for a congressional coronavirus relief bill after the Fed chair, Jerome H. Powell, said such a stimulus was badly needed.

Some White House staff members wondered whether Mr. Trump’s behavior was spurred by a cocktail of drugs he has been taking to treat the coronavirus, including dexamethasone, a steroid that can cause mood swings and can give a false level of energy and a sense of euphoria.

Parts of the White House, including the briefing room, resembled a hazard zone this week as workers dressed in head-to-toe protective suits sanitized common spaces.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

Lordspicy:
For once I have something to commend buhari about. Nice one

Memory jogger. One for the history books. Money talk!

Pmb Begins Payment Of Pensions To Biafra Soldiers, Police Officers - Politics - Nairaland

https://www.nairaland.com/4124814/pmb-begins-payment-pensions-biafra


Nigeria: Biafra police from 1967 war go begin get pension
19 October 2017
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-41676179


Atiku Reacts To Payment Of Pension To Pardoned Biafra Police - Politics - Nairaland
https://www.nairaland.com/4129752/atiku-reacts-payment-pension-pardoned



Buhari approves payment of pension to Biafra war veterans
https://www.thecable.ng/civil-war-fg-begin-payment-pensions-biafra-veterans

pls, all nl'ers experiencing 600 years of poverty pls post ur btw signatures after posting your comment. i'm doing a poverty study/paper for a class. thank you in advance.

minnet:

"On August 16 she failed to secure the New Progressive Party nomination for Governor of Puerto Rico in the 2020 elections, losing to Pedro Pierluisi."

I don't whether to laugh or weep at this low level of American politics.

Timiofak:
I keep saying it, his mentor is Hitler, to be candid.

I remember reading something about his grandfather having immigration paper issues and having to return to Germany. Home of the so-called master race of Aryans. His father's participation in the American Nazi Party has almost been scrubbed from the internet.

amazing. more super spreader news na.

guy is probably steaming right about now.

salford:
In Florida

Now we know why he left his apex medical care to do photo ops at the white house. he got the early voting numbers from his new home state.

Trump, Lifelong New Yorker, Declares Himself a Resident of Florida
The president filed a “declaration of domicile” last month saying that his property in Palm Beach will be his permanent residence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/politics/trump-new-york-florida-primary-residence.html