Friday, July 31, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | Aug. 1, 2020


Trump says mail voting is bad, but absentee voting is good. His lawyers admit they’re the same thing
"The terms ‘mail-in’ and ‘absentee’ are used interchangeably" to describe the same thing, his lawyers said in court

Aug 1 - President Donald Trump on Thursday tried to draw a distinction between "mail voting" and "absentee voting," but his own lawyers acknowledged in court documents the two are the same thing.

Trump suggested delaying the election on Thursday amid plummeting poll numbers and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 150,000 people and caused the largest GDP drop in U.S. history. Trump has no power to postpone the election, and the idea was roundly rejected by Republican lawmakers. At the same time, many members of the GOP have expressed similar concerns about mail-in voting as the president.

"With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history," Trump claimed without evidence.

Some states have long used all-mail elections. There have been more than 250 million ballots cast by mail in the last 20 years, and only 143 prosecutions related to mail ballot fraud, or a rate of about 0.00006%.

Trump later reiterated that he opposed "mail-in-voting" but "totally" supports "absentee voting," even though they are the same thing. Trump and many of his aides have repeatedly voted by mail themselves....   more

Trump Renews Attacks On Mail-In Voting Despite No Evidence It Leads To Fraud | NBC Nightly News
Aug 1, 2020

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 31, 2020



Donald Trump Slammed For Election Delay Tweet, Federalist Society Co-Founder Calls It ‘Fascistic’

July 31 - President Donald Trump faced harsh criticism for his tweet today, suggesting that the November 3 presidential election be postponed due to his concerns over ballots cast by mail. Both Democrats and Republicans have called him out for his words. Steven Calabresi, the founder of the Federalist Society, even called Trump’s suggestion grounds for immediate re-impeachment unless he relents.

Trump Suggests Election Be Postponed, Congress Disagrees | NBC Nightly News
Jul 31, 2020
Donald Trump Defends Calling For Election Delay: You May ‘Never Even Know’ Who Won With Mail-In Voting

July 31 - President Donald Trump held a press conference on Thursday where he was asked if he stood by his early-morning tweet calling for a delay in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. While he initially said that he didn’t want to push back the election, he suggested that it may be necessary given that so many states are hoping to move to mail-in ballots as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage through the country.

“I don’t want to delay, I want to have the election,” video posted by Aaron Rupar on Twitter shows Trump saying. “But I also don’t want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn’t mean anything.     more

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 30, 2020

'We have a word for that - MONOPOLY!' Mark Zuckerberg is slammed as his emails boasting about 'neutralizing' competition and buying Instagram because it 'can hurt us' are revealed at tech CEO showdown - as conservatives tear into CEOs over 'bias'
Congressman Joe Neguse revealed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's emails at Wednesday's Judiciary Committee on antitrust laws where he details the company's goal to 'neutralize potential competitors'.
'We have a word for that – that word is monopoly,' The Democratic representative said.

July 30 - The CEOs of the four biggest tech firms faced Congress as one Wednesday - and came under fire from both sides, accused of running monopolies, trampling small businesses and would-be competitors and censoring conservatives.


JULY 29, 2020
Heads of Facebook, Amazon, Apple & Google Testify on Antitrust Law
The heads of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook testified on antitrust law before a House Judiciary subcommittee.

Mark Zuckerberg questioned on Facebook's decision to "censor" Donald Trump Jr...on Twitter
Jul 30, 2020
Mark Zuckerberg was grilled over whether Facebook copied and threatened rivals, but the CEO says the social media giant just 'adapted features'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company has "adapted features" from competitors during Wednesday's big tech antitrust hearing....Zuckerberg said Facebook had "certainly adapted features" from others in response to a question from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, whether the company had copied features from competitors. During her questioning, Jayapal cited emails between Facebook executives about pursuing "aggressive and nimble" tactics to maintain a lead over competing services.

She also pressed Zuckerberg about whether the company has ever threatened to clone products from other companies while trying to acquire them...     more
https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-grilled-on-facebook-copying-instagram-snapchat-2020-7

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 29, 2020


In combative exchange, Jayapal accuses Barr of double standard in handling of protesters

July 29 - ...“When white men with swastikas storm a government building with guns, there is no need for the president to ‘activate’ you, because they’re getting the president’s personal agenda done,” Jayapal said.
“But when black people and people of color protest police brutality, systemic racism and the president’s very own lack of response to those critical issues, then you forcibly remove them with armed federal officers [and] pepper bombs because they are considered terrorists by the president.”

Barr said he was not aware that threats had been made against Whitmer, to which Jayapal replied, “You are aware of certain kinds of protesters,” noting the “real discrepancy” in the federal response.
“You take an aggressive approach to Black Lives Matter protests, but not to right-wing extremists threatening to lynch a governor if it’s for … the president’s benefit,” she said...    more
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Monday, July 27, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 28, 2020

Huawei urges carriers to stick with its 5G gear after UK ban
Rotating chairman vows more R&D spending as US crackdown continues


July 27 - TAIPEI -- China's Huawei Technologies on Monday urged global carriers to stick with it and continue buying its networking gear if they want to stay ahead in the 5G race. It is the company's first public comment since the British government made a dramatic U-turn and banned the world's biggest telecom equipment maker from its next-generation network...     more



《今日关注》强行进入中国总领馆 美外交挑衅不断升级 20200725 | CCTV中文国际
Jul 27, 2020

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 27, 2020


Edmund Pettus Bridge
The Edmund Pettus Bridge carries U.S. Route 80 Business (US 80 Bus.) across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Winston Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator, and leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. The bridge is a steel through arch bridge with a central span of 250 feet (76 m). Nine large concrete arches support the bridge and roadway on the east side.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge was the site of the conflict of Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965, when police attacked and brutally beat Civil Rights Movement demonstrators with horses, billy clubs, and tear gas[2] as they were attempting to march to the state capital, Montgomery. The marchers crossed the bridge again on March 21 and successfully walked to the Capitol building.     source
Rep John Lewis Crosses Edmund Pettus Bridge One Final Time | NBC Nightly News
July 27, 2020
Congressman John Lewis made one final journey through Selma, Alabama, where he and other civil rights activists marched for voting rights 55 years ago and were met with violence on “Bloody Sunday.”
In Selma, A 'Final Crossing' For John Lewis Across The Edmund Pettus Bridge
The casket of Rep. John Lewis crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse-drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis on July 26 in Selma, Ala.


(July 27 updated)

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 26, 2020


Steele dossier source outed: Researcher Igor Danchenko

July 25 - Among the claims: Mr. Trump funded Russian hacking, his lawyer secretly visited Prague to meet with Vladimir Putin operatives, and there was a well-developed conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

The Prague trip claim came from a lifelong female friend of Mr. Danchenko. The conspiracy claim came in an anonymous 15-minute phone call.

Mr. Graham said the FBI document showed the primary source relied on second and third-hand information and that Mr. Steele embellished some narratives before delivering report memos to Fusion GPS, his handler in Washington.
A Justice Department Inspector General report said intelligence agencies warned the FBI that the dosser contained Kremlin disinformation.

The dossier’s importance to the Russia probe cannot be overstated. It was the critical piece of information the FBI needed to gain wiretaps on Trump volunteer Carter Page. It supplied the foundation for allegations against Mr. Page and other Trump associations. And it fed the mainstream news media and Democrats a basket full of Trump allegations to repeat until government reports ultimately disproved Mr. Danchenko’s and
Mr. Steele’s work....      source
James Comey on His Infamous Dinner with Trump and the Steele Dossier | The New Yorker
•Apr 24, 2018



Friday, July 24, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 25, 2020



Michael Cohen to be released from prison after judge sides with claims of retaliation
July 25 - NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday ordered President Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen released from prison to home confinement, saying the Justice Department's move to take him back into custody earlier this month was retaliation for writing a book about his former boss.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Cohen must be released by 2 p.m. Friday, after he is tested for the novel coronavirus. He has been held in a solitary setting at the federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., since being rearrested July 9....   more

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Michael Cohen is FREE and returns home to finish his tell-all book on Donald Trump AG Bill Barr tried to stop by jailing him - and which the fixer says will reveal president's race slurs against Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 24, 2020

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he was cancelling the Jacksonville, Florida portion of the Republican National Convention due to the state becoming a COVID-19 hotspot. 'So I told my team it's time to cancel the Jacksonville, Florida component of the GOP convention, we'll be starting in North Carolina for the Monday as has always been planned,' Trump said at the top of his Thursday press briefing.

BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump CANCELS his Jacksonville convention and puts his own coronation as candidate ONLINE with 'tele-rallies' for supporters - admitting Florida's virus spike means 'it's not the time'

President Trump announced Thursday he was calling off the Jacksonville, Florida component of the Republican National Convention

July 24 - President Donald Trump announced Thursday he was cancelling the Jacksonville, Florida portion of the Republican National Convention due to the state becoming a COVID-19 hotspot.
 
'So I told my team it's time to cancel the Jacksonville, Florida component of the GOP convention,' Trump said at the top of his Thursday press briefing.

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 23, 2020

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Trump Invading Chicago | NowThis
Jul 23, 2020
Lightfoot Reacts To Trump's "Surge" Of Federal Agents
Lightfoot: Chicago doesn't need "secret federal agents roaming around the streets. ... I'm glad to see that the president got the message."


July 23 - CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said President Trump "got the message": Secret federal police his administration deployed to Portland don't belong in Chicago.
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President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that more federal agents are being sent to Chicago and Albuquerque, NM, to tackle violence in cities. He said FBI, ATF, DEA, and other agents were involved - as are Homeland Security agents. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted she won't let federal troops 'terrorize' the city, but welcomed anti-crime help. 'What cities are doing is absolute insanity,' Trump said, blasting calls to defund police departments,' Trump said, connecting the efforts to his political pitches.

Donald Trump orders 'immediate surge' of hundreds of feds into Chicago calling it a violence-scarred 'disaster' - then threatens to order them into other Democratic-controlled cities including Detroit and Philadelphia over mayors' objections

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Charlie Brown (查理布朗) | July 22, 2020


Cruz on GOP proposal: I'm not only a no, I'm a hell no
In an interview with CNN, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticized his colleagues for the outlines of the $1 trillion stimulus proposal currently under consideration.

Source: CNN
Republicans and White House divided on stimulus proposal: 'I'm not a no, I'm a hell no

July 21 - (CNN)Senate Republicans and the White House remain at odds over several central components of their next stimulus proposal after a full day of negotiations on Capitol Hill.

With fewer than three weeks to go until the August recess -- and with the virus still ravaging many corners of the country -- Tuesday's negotiations marked little progress, and instead evolved into a day of venting sessions for rank-and-file members, each with his or her own idea of how to tackle the next chapter of spending. It all comes just days before a $600 federal enhancement to unemployment insurance is set to expire.

The splits come on key issues, from President Donald Trump's insistence on a payroll tax cut to the administration's push to tie education money to the reopening of schools. There are also several Republicans deeply opposed to moving forward on a proposal pegged to start around $1 trillion."Everyone has their own idea," Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, as he emerged from a closed-door conference meeting.


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, is pressing for Republicans to coalesce around a proposal that would serve as a starting point for negotiations with congressional Democrats, who already passed a $3 trillion measure in May. He told reporters Tuesday the proposal that he is pushing "enjoys fairly significant support among Republican senators." But he acknowledged, "not everyone."

McConnell, in a floor speech earlier in the day, outlined key components expected to be in the GOP plan, including $105 billion for schools, a second round of targeted funding for the forgivable small business loan program, another round of direct payments and liability protections for businesses, hospitals, health care workers and schools. It's a proposal a large portion of the Republican conference is eager to get behind, but several key components remain under discussion with the White House...    more

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