The "Son In Law" video uses groundbreaking motion-capture animation to portray the US President lionizing his senior advisor and husband of his daughter Ivanka. At one point it shows the spookily real Trump with his hand casually hovering over the nuclear button on his desk in The Oval Office, whilst extolling the virtues of his daughter's curves.

Harry Shearer says, "You can't fire family, but you can sing about them."

Watch "Son In Law": https://youtu.be/ZtptN8bfl3M

COVID-180, out today, is the second song in the series and hasShearer as the Leader of The Free World as he dances to his own tune in a dizzying reality-distanced spin away from the virus that has swept the world.

Written by Shearer, the old-style New Orleans R&B song has The Simpsons star on vocals in an eerily accurate impersonation of the President of The United States. He is joined by a band of top New Orleans musicians who include David Torkanowsky of The Astral Project and Stanton Moore Trio on piano and organ, The Metres star George Porter, Jr. on bass, Raymond Weber of Dumpstaphunk on drums, leading saxophonist Brad Walker, Scott Frock of Delfeayo Marsalis' Uptown Jazz Orchestra, on trumpet, and one of New Orleans' top trombonists Jon Ramm. The track is mixed by long-time Harry Shearer musical collaborator C J Vanston at The Treehouse North Hollywood and produced by David Torkanowsky. It was recorded in New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Harry Shearer has vocally portrayed every US president of his lifetime. Donald Trump is the third he has portrayed physically, having previously played Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan on screen.

The video was conceived and produced by Harry Shearer with Matt Hermans of The Electric Lens Company in Sydney,Australia. The On Set Producer was Harry's long-time collaborator, cinematographer Matthew Mindlin.

SOURCE Harry Shearer

Original post:

The Simpsons and Spinal Tap Star Harry Shearer Brings You Donald Trump As You've Never Seen Him Before - PRNewswire

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters.

Before COVID-19 hit, Donald Trumps business empire was continuing to earn hundreds of millions of dollars. But the presidents recently filed personal financial disclosures show that much of that came from hotels and resorts, two of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic. We wont know the specifics of how COVID-19 has diminished Trumps wealth until next year (and even then, only if he is reelected and has to file another disclosure), but based on last years report, it could get quite ugly for the presidentright before he has hundreds of millions of loans due to private lenders.

Trump annually files a personal financial disclosure form that details the income he earned, the assets he owns, and the debt he owes. It is not as detailed as his tax returns, and it crucially leaves out key information for assessing the presidents financial statusfor example, how much money he spends. According to the most recent copies of the forms, filed Friday night, Trump earned at least $446 million in the 2019 calendar year through his businesses and investmentsa slight uptick from the previous year. But its not clear how much of that the president kept, and even when numbers appeared to be good for individual businesses in the presidents portfolio, all may not be as well in reality.

For instance, according to Trumps disclosure, his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland earned $25.6 million in revenue in 2019, up $5.2 million from 2018. But those figures dont include how much it costs to run the golf courseand it costs a lot. We know from corporate filings in the United Kingdom that in 2018, the golf course actually lost $13.1 millionfar more than even the 2019 increase in revenue. Unless Trump dramatically cut costs at Turnberry (well know later this fall when the British corporate filings are due), it seems unlikely the course was profitable.

At Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort, which he touts as the Winter White House, revenues slid by $3.7 million to $21.4 million for the year. No information is available on how much Trump spends to operate Mar-a-Lago, but its not a good sign for one of his marquee properties. Down the road at the Doral golf course he ownswhich he tried to steer an international summit to last fallrevenues climbed $2.4 million from 2018 to 2019, but profitability at the resort has slipped since Trump was elected.

Trumps other favorite vacation getaway, his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, also had revenues rise by about $2.5 million last year, but across many of his other golf courses, revenues seemed to just inch up, even as the economy as a whole was roaring. Trumps Jupiter golf course, in Palm Beach, Florida, where he frequently golfs while visiting Mar-a-Lago, saw an increase in revenues of just about $429,000.

One of the most prominent properties the president owns is a luxury hotel in downtown Washington, DC, which he opened shortly before Election Day in 2016 and quickly became a hangout for administration members, lobbyists, and foreign delegations hoping to make an impression on the president. Trump rents the building from the federal government and pays rent, partially based on how much profit he makesand has yet to pay above the basic amount, suggesting that even as its revenues inched up to $40.5 million (a $150,000 increase from 2018), the property is still not making much money for the president when all its expenses are added up. The Trump family announced they were planning to sell the property last fall, but the sale seems to have been put on hold.

To the degree that the Trump Organization appears to have been financially healthy in 2019, much of the business is built on Trumps resort and hotel business. Besides his golf clubs and hotels he owns, Trump manages hotels for others around the world. All told, revenues from resorts, hotels, or management fees accounted for $352 million, about 78 percent of all of Trumps revenues. The bad news, for Trump, is that in 2020, just weeks after the period covered in this financial disclosure, the COVID-19 pandemic steamrolled across the global economy, with the hotel and resort industries hit particularly hard. One industry group estimates American hotels have lost $46 billion in revenue since the pandemic started.

At one point, nearly all of Trumps resorts were closed, and he was forced to lay off as many as 1,500 employees. His Scottish golf courses rely heavily on wealthy American golfers, but with international travel out of the United States almost completely curtailedthe UK has maintained a two-week mandatory quarantine for travelers from the United Statesany progress reported by Trumps businesses in 2019 has likely been completely erased in 2020.

In that respect, the Trump Organization is no different than almost every other business around the world, but the presidentwho has retained full ownership of all of the properties, refusing to divest upon taking officehas some unique challenges. For one, he continues to owe a lot of money. The 2019 personal financial disclosure shows no substantive change in his listed debtshe still owes hundreds of millions to lenders on mortgages for some of his favorite properties. While Trumps overall level of debt is not unusually hightheNew York Times estimated his assets are worth about $1.35 billion compared to debt in the neighborhood of at least $470 millionseveral of his largest debts are coming due in the next few years, possibly during a second presidential term. Among others, Trump will need to repay Deutsche Bank about $125 million for mortgages on the Doral resort, and $170 million on the Washington, DC, hotel. If Trump doesnt have the cash to pay these debts, he could try to refinance the loansbut banks will look toward his recent revenues to determine his creditworthiness, numbers that will probably not be pretty after the damage from the pandemic is totaled up.

Read Trumps full personal financial disclosure below:

Go here to read the rest:

Donald Trump's Businesses Did Okay in 2019. But 2020 Might Be Awful for His Personal Wealth. - Mother Jones

The Chinese tech giant Tencent's stock fell by as much as 10% in the hours after it was named in a vaguely worded executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Thursday.

The order, scheduled to take effect September 20, prohibits US citizens and companies from carrying out any "transaction" with the Tencent-owned chat app WeChat, though the order was not precise about what counted as a "transaction."

A second, similar order issued earlier Thursday targeted ByteDance, the Chinese firm that owns the wildly popular short-form video app TikTok.

The Tencent order stipulated that it applied to: "Any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd [...] or any subsidiary of that entity."

The vague wording implied that Tencent's entire business could be affected, which the potential for serious ramifications in the US gaming industry.

As well as owning WeChat, which is used widely in mainland China, Tencent is also the largest gaming company in the world with stakes in Epic Games, Activision/Blizzard, and Ubisoft and outright ownership of the Los Angeles-based games studio Riot Games.

A White House official confirmed to Business Insider late Thursday that the order applied only to transactions relating to WeChat and not to Tencent's wider business.

Nonetheless, it hammered the company's market value. Tencent's stock plummeted as much as 10% after the order was first issued. The stock recovered to about half that at the time of writing.

Tencent's market cap was $687 billion at market close on Thursday. At the time of writing, Tencent's market cap stood at $639 billion.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance has threatened to sue the Trump administration over the order, which it says was issued without due process.

Follow this link:

Trump's vaguely worded executive order targeting Tencent cratered the company's stock - Business Insider - Business Insider

Donald Trumps donors are cautioned against becoming the presidents next con in a new attack ad from the progressive PAC MeidasTouch.

The narrator of the spot released Wednesday notes how Trumps 2020 campaign is repeatedly begging you for money despite times being tough amid the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting cratering economy.

The voice-over then explains where some of the money raised for Trumps reelection bid has allegedly been spent from the $40 million reportedly paid to companies belonging to ousted campaign manager Brad Parscale to thereported payments to the partners of Trumps sons Don Jr. and Eric.

Attorney Ben Meiselas set up the progressive PAC with his two brothers, video editor Brett and marketing supervisor Jordan, earlier this year in a bid to motivate Democrats and influence swing voters ahead of the 2020 election, per Deadline.

Anti-Trump spots released by the siblings and Republican groups such as The Lincoln Project, Republicans for the Rule of Law and Republican Voters Against Trump have in recent months racked up millions of combined views on social media. Some have even prompted a response and drawn ire from Trump.

But its unknown how effective the spots areat convincing people to vote one way or another. Its also unclear if this latest ad will air on television.

Previous MeidasTouch ads have exposed the hypocrisy of the presidents daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, hammered Trumps son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner over his shortcomings, and turned Donald Trump Jr.s attack on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden back on the presidents son.

The groups most viewed video on YouTube to date is this attack on Trump and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. As of Thursday morning, it had been seen more than 2 million times:

Calling all HuffPost superfans!

Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter

More here:

Donald Trumps Donors Receive Ominous Warning About Becoming 'Don's Next Con' - HuffPost

President Donald Trump has made close to $1.5 million in income over the past three years from an online retail store that is owned by the company he founded, according to financial disclosure records reviewed by CNBC.

While dozens of the Trump-branded products sold by the store are listed as having been made in the United States, a sizable chunk are made in foreign countries or are from an unknown origin which would appear to run contrary to the president's "Buy American" agenda.

As of Friday, there are currently over 100 products under the "Made in America" collection on the online Trump Store, where they are marked as either "Made in America" or "Made in the USA," according to a CNBC review. Yet, at least another 180 items that CNBC reviewed are labeled as having been made in Scotland, France or Italy, are labeled as "Decorated in the USA" or have no country of origin listed at all.

That means a little more than a third of the items in the online Trump Store are described as officially made in the United States. There is also an in-person Trump Store located in New York's Trump Tower.

The Trump Organization online subsidiary is titled on the disclosure reports as T Retail LLC. USA Today first spotted the discrepancy and noted that the president made more than $107,000offthat businesswhen itlaunched in 2017.

Trump's latest disclosure report shows that he took in just over $930,000 from the online retail business last year. Reports say that the president's latest financial disclosure shows he made at least$440 million overall in 2019.

Trump has come under scrutiny for his company's business dealings since he became president. More than $17 million in payments have been made to use Trump properties for campaign events by his own reelection team, the Republican National Committee and other GOP-led groups.

The president still owns the Trump Organization, but it is currently being run by the president's older sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not respond to repeated requests for comment, including detailed questions on where the Trump Store's products were made. Representatives for the White House also did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Ethics experts say that while it's not illegal for the president to be making money from this piece of the company he still owns, it certainly is not on par with how past presidents behaved.

"The president profiting personally off of the sale of merchandise bearing his name may not violate the law, but it does defy the norms of behavior we'd expect from our country's most prominent public servant," Brendan Fischer, a director at ethics watchdog group the Campaign Legal Center, said in an email.

Fischer also noted that while the Trump Organization has sold name-branded items in the past, the fact that the company launched this online store the year he became president suggests the business could be profiting off of his presidency.

"It does seem like yet another example of Trump blurring the lines between public service and his personal financial interest, andof Trump successfully profiting off of the presidency," he said. "The Trump Organization may have been selling Trump-branded merchandise before Trump became president, but it only set up this online retail store after Trump took office, and after the name 'Trump' became synonymous with the prestige of the White House."

The president has repeatedly pushed an "America First" and "Buy American" agenda.

Trump recently signed an executive order that called on the U.S. governmentto develop a list of essential medicines and buy them as well as medical supplies from U.S. companies instead of from foreign countries suchas China.

In 2017, Trump signed an executive order that would crack down on the awarding of visas to foreign workersas part his of "Buy American, Hire American" initiative.

Last year, Trump signed another executive order to extend his "Buy American, Hire American" policy initiatives. At the time, White House advisor Peter Navarro said it was meant to "extend the coverage for 'Buy American,' not just to things like iron and steel and aluminum, but also to cement and other manufactured products."

This type of agenda has also turned into a political wedge issue between Trump and his opponent, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

The former vice president released his own "Buy American" proposal, which calls for a $400 billion, four-year increase in government purchasing of U.S.-based goods and services plus $300 billion in new research and development in U.S. technology concerns.

Originally posted here:

Buy American? Trump makes over $1 million from store that sells products with foreign, unknown origins - CNBC

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --A new video depicting Donald Trump performing a song in praise of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is today revealed as being the work of The Simpsons and Spinal Tap star Harry Shearer. Son in Law, which premiered on YouTube, is the first track to be released in a cycle of satirical songs inspired by the last four years of US politics and in particular the often mercurial behaviour of the current occupant of The White House. A new song will be released each week throughout the summer and autumn.

The "Son In Law" video uses groundbreaking motion-capture animation to portray the US President lionizing his senior advisor and husband of his daughter Ivanka. At one point it shows the spookily real Trump with his hand casually hovering over the nuclear button on his desk in The Oval Office, whilst extolling the virtues of his daughter's curves.

Harry Shearer says, "You can't fire family, but you can sing about them."

Watch "Son In Law": https://youtu.be/ZtptN8bfl3M

COVID-180, out today, is the second song in the series and hasShearer as the Leader of The Free World as he dances to his own tune in a dizzying reality-distanced spin away from the virus that has swept the world.

Written by Shearer, the old-style New Orleans R&B song has The Simpsons star on vocals in an eerily accurate impersonation of the President of The United States. He is joined by a band of top New Orleans musicians who include David Torkanowsky of The Astral Project and Stanton Moore Trio on piano and organ, The Metres star George Porter, Jr. on bass, Raymond Weber of Dumpstaphunk on drums, leading saxophonist Brad Walker, Scott Frock of Delfeayo Marsalis' Uptown Jazz Orchestra, on trumpet, and one of New Orleans' top trombonists Jon Ramm. The track is mixed by long-time Harry Shearer musical collaborator C J Vanston at The Treehouse North Hollywood and produced by David Torkanowsky. It was recorded in New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Harry Shearer has vocally portrayed every US president of his lifetime. Donald Trump is the third he has portrayed physically, having previously played Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan on screen.

The video was conceived and produced by Harry Shearer with Matt Hermans of The Electric Lens Company in Sydney,Australia. The On Set Producer was Harry's long-time collaborator, cinematographer Matthew Mindlin.

More:

The Simpsons and Spinal Tap Star Harry Shearer Brings You Donald Trump As You've Never Seen Him Before - WFMZ Allentown

Donald Trump has claimed Joe Biden is against God in an attack on the presumptive Democratic presidential candidates faith.

In provocative remarks during a trip to Ohio, a key election battleground, the US president said Biden was following the radical left agenda.

Trump added: Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment. No religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God.

Hes against God, hes against guns, hes against energy, our kind of energy.

Biden, who is leading in the polls, has frequently spoken about how his Catholic faith helped him cope with the deaths of his first wife and daughter in a 1972 car accident.

In a statement, he said Trumps comments were shameful.

He added: Like so many people, my faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life: its provided me comfort in moments of loss and tragedy, its kept me grounded and humbled in times of triumph and joy.

And in this moment of darkness for our country of pain, of division, and of sickness for so many Americans my faith has been a guiding light for me and a constant reminder of the fundamental dignity and humanity that God has bestowed upon all of us.

For President Trump to attack my faith is shameful. Its beneath the office he holds and its beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders.

Bidens stance on abortion has antagonised many of his fellow Catholics. In 1973, he said the Roe v Wade supreme court decision went too far, but now believes Roe v Wade is the law of the land, a woman has a right to choose.

Biden is dealing with a controversy of his own, after suggesting the African American community was homogenous a comment Trump described as very insulting.

Biden said: What you all know but most people dont know, unlike the African American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.

He later tweeted: Earlier today, I made some comments about diversity in the African American and Latino communities that I want to clarify. In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith not by identity, not on issues, not at all.

My commitment to you is this: I will always listen, I will never stop fighting for the African American community and I will never stop fighting for a more equitable future.

View post:

Joe Biden attacks Donald Trump for 'shameful' claim he is 'against God' - The Guardian

American democracy may or may not have died this week, but you could not tell from the news. Several experts and members of Congress warned that we face nothing less than a coup against the people. Others called for organized protests because it is clear the intent was blood chillingly real as shown by Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpBiden says his faith is 'bedrock foundation of my life' after Trump claim Coronavirus talks on life support as parties dig in, pass blame Ohio governor tests negative in second coronavirus test MORE. One leading academic even called for his impeachment as a fascist out to destroy our political system.

We have not seen such rhetoric since Aaron Burr tried to cut off the entire southwest territory of the United States. The reason today is the question on social media from the president. Returning to the subject of saying that mail ballots will be a disaster, he ended his recent tweet by asking, Delay the election until people can properly, securely, and safely vote?

I have said that the tweet was reckless and repugnant. However, cries of an online coup were equally as disconnected from reality. I have written repeatedly about this wild conspiracy theory that Trump will never allow an election to take place this year. It has raged over liberal websites and cable outlets since soon after his inauguration four years ago.

The president does not have the authority to delay the election. Even if he could persuade Congress to change the date, with implausible assistance from House Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiCoronavirus talks on life support as parties dig in, pass blame On The Money: Pessimism grows as coronavirus talks go down to the wire | Jobs report poised to light fire under COVID-19 talks | Tax preparers warn unemployment recipients could owe IRS Top Democrats say postmaster confirmed changes to mail service amid delays MORE, the Constitution still stipulates that his term ends at noon on January 20. In the interim, not only do citizens have to vote but delegates also have to cast the ballots in the Electoral College, and those votes must be certified and counted by Congress.

So it is not much of a coup when you do not extend your time in office. It does not matter what Trump would like. It is about what the Constitution will allow. A demand to delay the election has the same impact as Trump declaring that he will change his name to Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden says his faith is 'bedrock foundation of my life' after Trump claim Biden clarifies comments comparing African American and Latino communities Kanye West may have missed deadline to get on Wisconsin ballot by minutes: report MORE if needed to claim victory. It is why this election conspiracy theory is so crazed.

Indeed, I criticized Biden when he picked up the conspiracy theory over the president, triggering another round of panic. He added another idea to this baseless fear when he suggested that Trump opposing funding of the Postal Service was part of plans to steal the election. I also criticized Jared Kushner when he raised uncertainty about the election.

While I portrayed Biden as a nut for raising this conspiracy theory earlier this year, many have now proclaimed him a nostradamus after the tweet by Trump. But Biden was not right and neither is Trump. It is no surprise, and no sign of a plot, that Trump might suggest something outrageous, like a delay of the election, on social media. Such behavior is a fact that occupies many of us on a daily basis in this era. The conspiracy theory is to suggest that Trump could really halt or delay the election.

In fairness to Trump, he has not declared that he can unilaterally delay the election but rather asks if the country should do so. He then later denied actually wanting a delay. Yet the tweet still showed terrible judgment and rekindled this conspiracy theory on the internet. Northwestern University professor Steven Calabresi wrote a column in the New York Times calling for the swift impeachment of the president for his question.

I certainly have no delusions of how impeachment is often the magnet for claims of high crimes and misdemeanors. Indeed, over the last few years, various experts and members of Congress have demanded impeachment for everything from tweets to criticism of the football players who do not stand during the national anthem. Yet Calabresi is not an internet lunatic. He is a respected academic who suggested that asking if an election can be delayed because of the pandemic is grounds for removal.

Keep in mind that it is legal for Congress to delay the election, so Trump was asking about something allowed under the Constitution. It would be impossible with Democrats in control of the House, however, it would be entirely legal. So is the president to be considered removable for asking about legal measures? Imagine that as a standard in history.

Trump has objected that a shift to mail voting will cause problems. I have covered elections as a legal analyst for decades. Each contest has had its issues, including the controversy in 2000 resolved by the Supreme Court. While we regularly use absentee ballots, we have not done mail voting on such a massive scale across the country. It will add more challenges. The president is also right that it will likely delay the final count.

There is every reason to be worried. We have a short window before the Electoral College meets on December 14 to certify the results. While the date could also be changed, it would soon collide with January 6, when Congress meets to certify the results. There is the chance for floor fights over the results and the possible failure to certify any states tied up with litigation. It is even possible that such legal challenges could continue to January 20. What is not in doubt, however, is Trump staying in office. He will not be president on that day unless he wins the election.

The only thing scarier for Trump than losing is if no duly elected president is determined. Pelosi could then become the acting president as the next in line. It should be enough incentive for the administration to ensure the Postal Service is fully prepared for Election Day. That is why we should set this conspiracy theory aside. Trump cannot unilaterally delay the election. Our real concern must be what will happen on November 3.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates online @JonathanTurley.

Go here to read the rest:

Why people must stop worrying that Donald Trump will delay the election | TheHill - The Hill

President Donald J. Trump stops to talk to reporters as he walks to board Marine One and depart from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington on July 31, 2020.

Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images)

Shares of Hong Kong-listedTencentplunged 5.04% on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trumpissued executive orders targeting Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok.

WeChatis owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, while short-video-sharing app TikTok's parent company ByteDance is based in Beijing.

Other Chinese technology companies were not spared, and many of them closed the trading day lower.

Shares of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation in Hong Kong plunged 8.7%.Smartphone maker Xiaomi's stock fell 3.02%, while Hong Kong-listed shares of telecommunications firm ZTEdeclined 2.58%. Chinese tech juggernaut Alibaba also saw its shares in Hong Kong declining 3.04%.

The Hang Seng Tech index, whichtracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong that pass the screening criteria, also fell 2.51% to close at 7,386.66. In mainland China, the Nasdaq-style start-up board Chinext slipped 2.065% on the day to about 3,059.87.

Trump on Thursday issued executive orders banning any U.S. transactions with Chinese tech firms Tencent and ByteDance. The ban will take effectin 45 days andcould attract retaliation from Beijing.

The repercussions of Trump's order on Tencent may ring beyond just WeChat,China's most popular messaging app. The Chinese tech juggernaut is also a titan in the video gaming space, with stakes in companies such as Activision Blizzard and Riot Games (the firm behind "League of Legends").

The latest development comes as tensions between Beijing and Washington ratchet up, with both sides imposing retaliatory measures on each other, such as the closure of consulates in Houston stateside and the Chinese city of Chengdu.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this week that theTrump administration wants to see"untrusted" Chinese appslike WeChat and TikTok removed from U.S. app stores.

Pompeo detailed a new five-pronged "Clean Network" effort aimed at curbing potential national security risks and said because those apps have parent companies based in China, there were "significant threats to personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for Chinese Communist Party content censorship."

Meanwhile, Microsoft is in talks with ByteDance to acquire TikTok's business in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand within the next three weeks, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline.

CNBC's Saheli Roy Choudhury contributed to this report.

Go here to read the rest:

Shares of Tencent plunge after Trump's executive order on TikTok and WeChat - CNBC

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump's reelection campaign on Thursday lost its bid to add a fourth debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden in early September.

In rejecting the request, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it remains committed to the current schedule of three 90-minute debates beginning in late September.

It would only add a fourth debate, or move an existing debate to earlier in the month, if both sides in the campaign for the November 3 election agreed to it, it said.

Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had asked for either a fourth debate in the first week of September or for the first debate to be moved up from September 29 because voters in some states would already be able to cast votes before then.

The commission said voters will have a choice whether to watch a debate before casting a ballot, adding voters "are under no compulsion to return their ballots before the debates."

Trump, a Republican, is trailing Biden in most national opinion polls.

The battleground state of North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending out mail-in ballots to registered voters who requested them on September 4, with several other states to follow in September. A massive surge in mail-in voting is expected because of fears the coronavirus may spread at public polling places.

In a response to the commission, Giuliani said the campaign was "disappointed" by the rejection and still believed Americans deserve to see the candidates "compare their records and visions for the United States before actual voting begins.

The Biden campaign said it was pleased Trump had accepted the commission invitation to debate.

"As we have said for months, the commission will determine the dates and times of the debates, and Joe Biden will be there," Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said.

The commission has organized three debates and one vice presidential debate during each presidential campaign since 2000. The presidential debates are set for September 29 in Ohio, October 15 in Florida and October 22 in Tennessee.

Read more here:

Trump Loses Bid to Add Fourth Debate with Biden in Early September - Voice of America

And while Trump has promised a big jobs number on Friday, the unemployment rate is likely to stay above 10 percent, a daunting figure for any incumbent president and higher than the worst level of the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009.

The Covid crisis that slammed the U.S. in March and shuttered much of the economy wiped out tens of millions of jobs, erasing gains from the last decade and digging a hole that may take years to escape. And the pace of hiring slowed in recent weeks amid a rise in Covid cases in many states and deep uncertainty among employers about whether and when to bring back laid off or furloughed workers.

The economy has largely gone sideways since mid-June, as the re-intensification of the virus has forced about half the nations states to either backtrack or pause their business reopenings, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics. It is critical that lawmakers agree to another substantial fiscal rescue package before Congress goes away on its August recess for the fragile economy to avoid backsliding into recession.

Some analysts even suspect that July could show little to no job gains. Others believe the real hit from the latest Covid flareups may not show up until the August employment numbers come out in early September. Either way, economic data suggest hiring is slowing down.

I expect no change in total employment and an increase to 11.5 percent in the unemployment rate, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at financial consulting firm RSM U.S. The array of alternative data that we now have at hand all imply U.S. household consumption, hiring and the economy started to stall in mid to late June.

Brusuelas said another round of fiscal aid is absolutely critical to the economy. If the talks fail, the political sector is creating the conditions for at best a double dip recession or much longer downturn than would occur otherwise.

As of now, prospects for a deal out of Congress seem dim. Members left town this week with no agreement and the White House is now talking about trying to push through executive orders to extend further economic relief measures including a controversial effort to unilaterally expand enhanced jobless benefits that expired at the end of last month.

POLITICO NEWSLETTERS

Political intelligence on Washington and Wall Street weekday mornings, in your inbox.

Democrats want those benefits maintained at an extra $600 per week while Republicans initially offered an additional $200 per week, or 70 percent of a persons previous salary. Despite job gains in recent months, more than 32 million Americans received some type of unemployment insurance in the week ended July 18, a figure that represents about 20 percent of the entire American labor force.

The concern among economists is that if the rate of rehiring really does slow down, the absence of extra relief measures will further erode consumer confidence and spending and then make employers even less likely to hire, given the drop in demand.

Thats the kind of self-reinforcing cycle that could turn the current recovery into a double-dip recession. And a poor jobs report on Friday could finally start to dent a remarkably resilient stock market that has regained most of the ground lost after Covid hit the U.S., partly due to extraordinary interventions by the U.S. Federal Reserve to provide easy credit and the multiple economic aid packages from Congress.

If the number surprises on the downside and the unemployment rate doesnt dip below 11 percent then we could see a market pullback on the news, Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network, said in a note to clients. After economic indicators mostly improved in May and June as states began to reopen, some have begun to slide back down in ways that are likely to give employers pause about adding back significant numbers of workers.

Consumer confidence as measured by the Conference Board sank in July to a reading of 92.6, above the crisis-low of 85.7 but well below the 132.6 hit in February, a near 20-year high.

The out-of-control pandemic has also further spooked consumers, particularly baby boomers in their 50s-70s who are particularly fearful for their health, said Zandi. Businesses are also reluctant to meaningfully expand their operations given the over-the-top uncertainty created by the pandemic. The economy is unlikely to go anywhere fast until the pandemic is over; that is, there is an effective vaccine that is widely distributed and adopted.

See more here:

Trumps economic comeback is becoming a slowdown and likely a stall-out - POLITICO

CLEVELAND, Ohio Republican President Donald Trump in a Thursday interview with a Cleveland radio station shirked responsibility for the current status of the coronavirus pandemic, instead blaming China and the governors across the country.

During a roughly 40-minute interview on Geraldo in Cleveland hosted by Geraldo Rivera on WTAM, Trump assessed the job he was doing as fantastic, saying that if he is re-elected, things will go back to normal quickly. Thats as coronavirus cases and deaths remain elevated in states across the country, including Ohio.

Trump didnt say if he would do anything differently, but said governors run their states, blamed China for letting the virus escape its borders and assessed his performance as fantastic.

We shouldnt have lost one person. This should have been stopped by China, Trump said. They stopped it from going into China and they didnt stop it from going into Europe and the rest of the world. Its one of those things thats just terrible. They should have never let it come out of China. They stopped it going into China but they didnt stop it from going out into the world.

Trump didnt address Ohio specifically throughout the interview except to briefly say Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, was doing a good job as governor. But the disease has surged across the state starting at the beginning of July.

In all likelihood, the state will hit 100,000 cases easily within the next week. More than 3,500 Ohioans have died at a clip of 25 daily over the last three weeks.

The country as a whole is approaching 5 million cases. More than 159,000 people have died from coronavirus complications. The United States accounts for more than 20% of the reported deaths worldwide, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Trump said other countries were lying about their coronavirus figures.

We see whats happening by satellite, Trump said. They dont report.

Trump said he expected things to rapidly get better by the Nov. 3 election, including the possibility of a vaccine. Trump said he wasnt rushing a vaccine to help his re-election prospects.

Trump is visiting Ohio today. The president is flying into Cleveland where he will be greeted by DeWine, who canceled his Thursday coronavirus briefing to make the trip to Cleveland. Trump will then head to Clyde to visit the Whirlpool factory and give remarks. Later this evening, Trump will be in Bratenahl for a fundraiser.

See the article here:

Donald Trump says hes done fantastic job on coronavirus in interview with Cleveland radio show - cleveland.com

For the cover of the Aug. 17, 2020 issue of TIME, longtime collaborator Tim OBrien revisited his award-winning series depicting the mounting troubles facing President Trump. The new cover is the fourth installment and the first to depart the Oval Office, painting Trump at sea surrounded by COVID-19, as the White House recedes from view. It accompanies a cover story by TIME national correspondent Molly Ball on the ways the pandemic is transforming the 2020 election.

For the past year, Ive been pondering one more cover in the series, but there was always a new intervening controversy, scandal, social upheaval, or norm-crushing tweet to change the story, says OBrien, a Brooklyn artist who has been creating TIME covers for more than 30 years.

The first three covers in the series featured Trump inside the Oval Office as rainstorms gathered inside: Nothing to See Here (Feb. 27, 2017), Stormy (April 23, 2018) and In Deep (Sept. 3, 2018). The Stormy cover was named 2018 Cover of the Year by AdWeek and received a Gold medal from the Art Directors Club.

The rising water as a metaphor for chaos in the Trump White House could only end two ways, adds OBrien, who has painted more TIME covers (32 and counting) than any artist in the past 50 years. So he survives only to be in the surging waves surrounded by coronavirus, each one a little bomb.

OBriens work has appeared in publications around the world, as well as on several U.S. postage stamps including the popular Hunger Games trilogy. Two of his TIME magazine covers one with Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and the other with the Grand Old Populists, both published in 1996 reside in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Contact us at editors@time.com.

Read more from the original source:

The Story Behind TIME's 'Plague Election' Donald Trump Cover - TIME

As the White House has continued to push a narrative of a sharp recovery after a history-making recession, the economic data in large part has not been cooperating.

Jobs numbers of late are showing progress but pointing to at best a gradual recovery. The sharp uptick in coronavirus cases appears to be have ebbed but not by enough to generate confidence to get activities anywhere close to normal again.

And perhaps most importantly, a persistent inability of Congress and the White House to agree on more rescue funding threatens to push those still reeling from virus-related impacts further down the ladder.

"Dreams of a V-shaped recovery are long gone," Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global, said in a note. "The economic cycle feels more like we are riding a wave fueled by COVID-19 with only quarantines, federal stimulus, and advances from the medical community keeping our personal health and economic recovery afloat."

Bovino estimated a 30%-35% chance of a "wipeout" that could see "this fragile recovery falling back into recession."

That runs counter to the message from President Donald Trump's economic team.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow has touted the potential of a V-shaped recovery no fewer than four times over the past month, either on CNBC or elsewhere. As recently as last week, he told CNN the "V-shaped recovery is in place."

Economists generally do see a sharp snapback in activity for the third quarter after Q2's stunning 32.9% drop in GDP as measured if the current pace kept up for four quarters.

Still, the ability to keep up a gain that could exceed 20% for the July through September period is being called into question.

"With virus fears on the rise, jobs being lost and incomes squeezed, the second phase of the recovery will be more challenging," wrote James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. "In the absence of a timely and substantial fiscal package we should be braced for the threat of weaker employment and spending numbers, which will provide a major test for financial market optimism on the 'V' shaped recovery."

To be sure, some of the high-frequency data has been looking better.

Jefferies tracks a variety of these markers, such as retail foot traffic, public transportation use and employee hours at small businesses, and found that activity has resumed to 60.5% of the normal pace as measured by 2019 data points, which is the highest level of the pandemic recovery.

Markets also continue to look through the present circumstances and are pricing in a return to strength in the U.S. economy.

"The resurgence in COVID-19 infections and the upturn in unemployment claims raises the question of our call for a V-shaped economic recovery. While the deterioration in progress against the pandemic is saddening, we remain convinced the recovery will not be materially altered," wrote Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

"We never thought the V-shaped recovery would be characterized by straight lines and a lack of hiccups given the vast unknowns and forecasting complexity surrounding the virus. Rather, our outlook is based simply on the realities of math and the direction of travel," Shalett said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell last week said the recovery is largely dependent on the virus.

However, economists also think that the political calculus and how that translates into more rescue funding also will be critical.

"Given our crazy politics, which are particularly crazy given the election, there is a nonzero probability they fall short," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said regarding the relief negotiations. "Depending on how short will determine whether the economy will gain some traction or slide into a depression."

Read this article:

Trump's dream of a 'V' recovery is hanging in the balance of stimulus talks - CNBC

President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed support for a plan to provide another $25 billion in federal aid to U.S. airlines, which have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Bipartisan support is building for the additional aid for one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus. U.S. airlines have warned more than 70,000 of their workers that their jobs are at risk when the current round of aid expires in the fall.

More than a dozen Republican senators earlier Wednesday said theybacked the extension of aid for U.S. carriers to support their payrolls while travel demand remains limited because of the virus, causing mounting financial losses.The new proposal, which comes as Congress wrestles with how to put togetheranother national coronavirus reliefpackage, already has support from the majority of the House.

"I think it's very important that we keep the airlines going," Trump said in a White House press briefing when asked whether he supported the proposal for the extension of the aid. "We don't want to lose our airlines. If they're looking at that, whether they're Republican or Democrat, I'd be certainly in favor. We can't lose our transportation system."

Congress set aside $25 billion to U.S. passenger carriers in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March on the condition that they wouldn't cut jobs through Sept. 30. The new proposal would extend those protections through the end of March 2021.

Airline shares gained in postmarket trading after Trump's comments withAmerican Airlinesup close to 6% while United Airlinesand Delta Air Lineseach trading more than 3% higher.

Read more:

Trump says he's in favor of plan to give $25 billion more to struggling airline industry - CNBC

A technical error caused a number of hashtags to not show related hashtags. We've disabled this feature while we investigate.

Posted on August 5, 2020, at 12:17 p.m. ET

For at least the last two months, a key Instagram feature, which algorithmically pushes users toward supposedly related content, has been treating hashtags associated with President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in very different ways. Searches for Biden also return a variety of pro-Trump messages, while searches for Trump-related topics only returned the specific hashtags, like #MAGA or #Trump which means searches for Biden-related hashtags also return counter-messaging, while those for Trump do not.

Earlier this week, a search on Instagram for #JoeBiden would have surfaced nearly 390,000 posts tagged with the former vice presidents name along with related hashtags selected by the platforms algorithm. Users searching Instagram for #JoeBiden might also see results for #joebiden2020, as well as pro-Trump hashtags like #trump2020landslide and #democratsdestroyamerica.

A similar search for #DonaldTrump on the platform, however, provided a totally different experience. Besides showing 7 million posts tagged with the presidents name, Instagram did not present any related hashtags that would have pushed users toward different content or promoted alternative viewpoints.

The difference between these two results, which an Instagram spokesperson told BuzzFeed News was a bug, prevented hashtags including #Trump and #MAGA from being associated with potentially negative content. Meanwhile, Instagram hashtags associated with the Democratic presidential candidate #JoeBiden and #Biden, for example were presented alongside content that included overtly pro-Trump content and attacks on the former vice president.

The difference in how the presidential candidates are treated by the platform raises more questions about how prepared Instagram and its parent company Facebook are for a pivotal US presidential election this November. After acknowledging it hadnt done enough to prevent election interference during the 2016 presidential race, Facebook has invested heavily in security and get-out-the-vote initiatives for 2020, an election that CEO Mark Zuckerberg said will be unlike any other.

The Instagram bug, which was first noticed by the Tech Transparency Project, a nonpartisan tech watchdog group, suggests that hashtags associated with the two main presidential candidates have been treated differently since at least June. In most cases, algorithmically derived related hashtags are displayed to people who search for or click on a given hashtag, pointing them to more content that Instagram believes they might be interested in.

What weve seen with the related hashtags with Biden is that there is so much vitriol, that it appears to be benefitting President Trump, said Katie Paul, a director with the Tech Transparency Project. The fact that related hashtags didnt surface for many Trump-related phrases also removes any possibility that negative hashtags could be associated with his name or campaign slogans, she added.

Instagram spokesperson Raki Wane described the issue as a bug on Tuesday. She pointed out that thousands of hashtags including #artofdrinks and #menshair had also been prevented from populating with related hashtags. She did not explain why the issue affected Trump hashtags and not those associated with Biden, or how long the problem had persisted.

A technical error caused a number of hashtags to not show related hashtags, Wane said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. We've disabled this feature while we investigate.

Hashtags, which are used regularly on Instagram posts, allow users to group posts into easily searchable categories that can also be followed as one would an account on the platform.

Instagram removed its "Related Hashtags" feature after it said a bug caused related hashtags to appear on some content but not others. These photos show what the feature looked like before and after it was removed.

An examination by BuzzFeed News found that Instagram prevented related hashtags from populating for #Trump, which had been used on 14.6 million posts; #Trump2020, which had 2.5 million posts; and #MAGA, which had 5.6 million posts. Meanwhile, the hashtag #JoeBiden, which has been used on 390,000 posts, appeared alongside negative hashtags including #creepyjoebiden and #neverbiden, as well as seemingly pro-Biden content like #joebidenforpresident.

A spokesperson for the Biden campaign declined to comment.

While Instagram shielded many Trump-focused hashtags from surfacing related content, some lesser-used hashtags, including #MAGA2020, which has been placed on 373,000 posts, did bring up related hashtags, among them #trumpderangementsyndrome. Some Democrat-related hashtags, including #democrats and #pelosi, were also prevented from showing related hashtags, although #NancyPelosi did have related hashtags including #clintonbodycount and #qdrops, two taglines associated with known conspiracy theories.

Reached for comment, a Trump campaign spokesperson used the bug as an opportunity to lambaste social media platforms for alleged anti-conservative bias.

Social media companies biases consistently make the strongest arguments for the Presidents Executive Order on Section 230 reform, said Ken Farnaso, a Trump 2020 deputy national press secretary, referring to the presidents push to end a law that gives internet companies legal immunity for what users post to their platforms. Its preposterous that Silicon Valley, the bastion of diversity and liberalism, is terrified of intellectual diversity and conservative voices.

It can lead to a tipping of scales in terms of equitable discourse.

Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars who studies disinformation, said Instagrams admission of a bug shows the company understands its suggestion algorithm impacts the content people consume. Related hashtags have also been used to spread conspiracy theories on the platform, and has been gamed by bad actors and foreign trolls.

This feature doesnt just benignly increase engagement, she said of related hashtags. It can lead to a tipping of scales in terms of equitable discourse.

Instagram is believed to have been the target of foreign influence campaigns in the past. In 2018, third-party researchers compiled two reports for the Senate outlining the yearslong campaigns used by Russias Internet Research Agency to spread disinformation and sow discord.

Instagram was perhaps the most effective platform for the Internet Research Agency, one of the reports explained, and is likely to be a key battleground on an ongoing basis.

While Facebook and Instagram have ramped up investment to protect against election interference and check for disinformation, researchers like Jankowicz believe theres still more to be done. She advocated for more human review, particularly around political hashtags.

In times of crisis or volatile times ahead of an election, this stuff should be going under constant human review, she said. It shouldnt be left up to a computer code to direct peoples consumption during a time like this.

See original here:

Instagram Displayed Negative Related Hashtags For Biden, But Hid Them For Trump - BuzzFeed News

White House and Democratic negotiators driving toward a deal on a final massive virus relief package by the end of the week still must overcome a raw mix of election-year pressures, internal GOP splits and a profound lack of trust between the parties.

President Donald Trumps sinking poll ratings amid the viruss resurgence have Democrats sensing they have leverage with 90 days to go before the November election and Republicans bickering over additional aid spending on top of the almost $3 trillion Congress previously approved.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have been playing hardball, dismissing out of hand smaller-scale proposals floated last week by Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as well as a $1 trillion plan cobbled together by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Both sides declared they were making progress yesterday as they started to exchange detailed offers and agreed on a goal of reaching a deal by the end of the week, teeing up possible votes next week. They are set to meet again today after Pelosi and Schumer meet with the postmaster general. Aid for the Postal Service and state governments to conduct vote-by-mail operations is a top Democratic priority opposed by Trump, who has blasted mail-in ballots for weeks.

Instead of McConnell or Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has previously cut several deals with Democrats, Trumps lead negotiator for this round is Meadows, the former House Freedom Caucus chairman who has had more experience in government shutdown confrontations than in cutting major bipartisan deals.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) praised Meadows for being engaged with lawmakers but noted his inexperience in such talks. This is his first deal, Shelby said.

Meadows initially proposed a stripped-down plan tying unemployment and school aid while negotiations continued, but Democrats are insisting on a bigger plan that they say meets the moment. In turn, he has floated potential executive actions Trump could take on his own if the talks break down. Read more from Steven T. Dennis.

Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

Mnuchin and Meadows at the Capitol on Tuesday.

Cotton Seeks to Block China-Tied Firms From Aid: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has introduced an amendment to Senate Republican stimulus legislation prohibiting any relief funding from supporting any entity that is under Chinese ownership, control, or influence, according to a statement from Cottons office. My amendment would ensure all coronavirus relief funds stay right here in the United States where theyre needed the most, he said, Victoria Hodge reports.

U.S. Job Losses Set to Mount: One-fifth of small companies are planning to dismiss workers or have already done so after using up their federal Paycheck Protection Program loans, and nearly half of firms said they will need additional aid over the next year, according to a National Federation of Independent Business survey. Another poll led by Cornell University showed about one in four workers hired back thanks to PPP were told by their employer they may be fired again.

The predicament small business are facing is one of several reasons why the July employment report on Friday, projected to show a 1.5 million gain in payrolls, could be followed by losses in coming months. Half of U.S. states have put reopening on hold, slowing foot traffic anew. Data due this morning from ADP Research Institute will shed more light on the state of small-business employment in July. What were getting now is evidence that the recovery is leveling off, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz and a Bloomberg columnist, said on Bloomberg Television last week. If we dont get fiscal action, then we will go backwards. Read more from Katia Dmitrieva and Olga Kharif.

Marshall Defeats Trump Ally Kobach in Kansas: Kansas Republicans backed Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in a pivotal Senate primary yesterday over former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a polarizing figure Washington Republicans worried could cost them the seat. Marshall was declared the winner by the Associated Press leading Kobach 37% to 26% in the 11-candidate contest with just under half of precincts reporting. Establishment Republicans, but not Trump, had rallied around Marshall in recent weeks amid concern Kobach would win the nomination but prove too toxic for a general election.

Marshall will face Barbara Bollier, a former Republican state legislator who switched parties in 2018 after backing Gov. Laura Kelly, the Democrat who beat Kobach two years ago despite Trumps endorsement and the states broad base of Republican voters. Read more from Steven T. Dennis.

Roger loves Kansas and will represent it incredibly well, Trump tweeted this morning. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement.

MORE RESULTS FROM YESTERDAYS PRIMARIES:

Meanwhile, The New York City Board of Elections confirmed results in two outstanding Democratic primary races, the New York Times reports. Incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who leads the House Oversight and Reform Committee, won the 12th district race. Councilman Ritchie Torres won the 15th district race. The primary was on June 23, but had not been finalized due to the number of mail-in ballots.

Washington Governor Waits for Opponent: More ballot-counting today will be needed to determine who will challenge incumbent Jay Inslee for governor of Washington. Inslee (D), seeking a third term, had a commanding lead with about 52% of the vote in the states all-mail primary. The top two candidates will face off in the November general election. After the initial tally, Inslees closest challenger, police chief Loren Culp (R), had 16.7%. In third place, with 7%, was Joshua Freed (R), former mayor of Seattle suburb Bothell. Read more from Paul Shukovsky.

Biden Plans $280 Million Ad Blitz in the Fall: Democratic nominee Joe Bidens presidential campaign will buy $280 million in advertising time in the fall, almost twice as much as the $151 million Trump has slated so far for the final three months before Election Day. The Democrats campaign says the advance reservations of ad time will allow it to expand the battlefield to 15 states from the six its competed in so far.

The spending comes as the Trump campaign is rebooting its own ad strategy, redoubling its negative attacks on Biden, who is leading by more than 7 percentage points in national polls, according to the RealClearPolitics average. Hes also ahead in the six states most crucial to Trumps 2016 victory: Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan. Read more from Gregory Korte.

Climate Hawks Urge Biden to Shun Moderates: Climate-change activists are pressuring Biden to distance himself from former Obama administration advisers they view as either too moderate or too cozy with the fossil fuel industry, a sign of disunity on the eve of the Democratic convention. Groups such as Data for Progress and the Revolving Door Project are building a case against some people advising the Democratic presidential nominee, such as former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Obama environment aide Heather Zichal. Both have served on the boards of companies linked to fossil fuels since leaving government.

The effort reflects simmering tension between the partys moderate nominee and progressives whose votes he needs to win. Polls show a lack of enthusiasm for Biden among young voters, something that could be exacerbated by open divisions within the environmental movement. But if climate activists succeed in pulling him to the left it could cost him mainstream support. Read more from Ari Natter and Jennifer A. Dlouhy.

Conservative Judicial Star Faces a Right-Wing Litmus Test: In less than a year and a half since being appointed to the federal appeals court in Washington, Judge Neomi Rao has consistently sided with the White House in politically charged cases, earning her a reputation as Trumps strongest supporter on the bench and fueling talk that he may name her to the Supreme Court if he gets the chance. If Rao were to get that nod, Democrats would be incensed. But her biggest obstacle may be emerging on the right. David Yaffe-Bellany has more.

Democrats Judicial Screening Panels Draw Ire: Top Democratic senators are facing criticism from the left for using screening commissions to vet judicial picks, in what could be the latest casualty of the partisan judicial confirmation wars. Thirty-seven of the Senates 47 Democrats rely on judicial screening commissions, according to a recent study by liberal think tank Peoples Policy Project. The commissions have long been a first step in vetting picks that senators forward to the White House. Read more from Madison Alder.

High-Level Trip to Taiwan Challenges China: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will lead a delegation to Taiwan in the highest-level visit by a U.S. cabinet official since Washington cut ties with Taipei more than 40 years ago. Azar is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan in the coming days to discuss the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as supplies of medical equipment and technology, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services. Azar said he would underscore our shared belief that free and democratic societies are the best model for protecting and promoting health, according to the statement. Read more from Samson Ellis and Cindy Wang.

U.S., China Plan Trade Deal Review: Senior American and Chinese officials are planning to assess the nations trade agreement this month against a backdrop of rising tensions between the countries, people briefed on the matter said. The discussion on Phase 1 of the deal, led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, would take place around Aug. 15, six months after the agreement took effect, as directed in the text of the accord, the people said. Read more from Jenny Leonard.

Trump Jr. Opposes Mine His Father Backed: Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter yesterday said he opposes a mining project in Alaska that his fathers administration previously supported. Trump Jr. said he 100% agreed with Vice President Mike Pences former chief-of-staff Nick Ayers in opposing Pebble Mine, which has deposits of copper, gold, and other metals, saying the nearby Bristol Bay and surrounding fisheries are too unique and fragile to take any chances with. Read more from Joe Deaux.

Trump Says Bomb May Have Caused Beirut Explosion: Trump said the U.S. military thinks a massive explosion at Lebanons main port that rocked Beirut may have been caused by an attack. U.S. military officials seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind, Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday Well, it would seem like it, based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was, Trump said. This was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event. Read more from Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou.

U.S. Continues Backing Guaido, Envoy Says: The rightful leader of Venezuela is opposition leader Juan Guaido, and hell continue to have the support of the U.S. after Jan. 5, Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams said to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, Daniel Flatley and Jameelah Robinson report.

FBI Raids U.S. Firm With Ties to Ukrainian Oligarch: A U.S. company affiliated with the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky thats been accused of participating in an international fraud scheme was raided yesterday by the FBI in two locations. Read more from Stephanie Baker and Greg Farrell.

To contact the reporters on this story: Zachary Sherwood in Washington at zsherwood@bgov.com; Brandon Lee in Washington at blee@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com; Loren Duggan at lduggan@bgov.com; Michaela Ross at mross@bgov.com

See the original post here:

What to Know in Washington: Stimulus Talks Accelerate, Goal Set - Bloomberg Government

The world of social media has, in recent times, seen a deluge of extreme instances of freedom of expression. This has given rise to the need for fact-checking to distinguish facts from false information. However, if J.S. Mill did not allow even the majority to delimit an individuals freedom of expression to avoid the tyranny of the majority how can facts be called on to delimit it? More importantly, is fact-checking of free expression internal or external to liberalism? I would like to argue that it is indeed intrinsic. If that is so, why was this not factored in earlier but is being considered only now? The answer to this lies in the huge chasm between studying liberalism and living it in our daily lives. Many users of liberalism have not read much on the subject. The lack of knowledge is an orthodox trait that is opposed to modernity. Nevertheless, this trait has somehow crept into liberalism.

Those who practise religion may not know much about it; those who claim to be followers of Marxism may not have actually read Marx; and those who use liberal ideas may not have read Mill. Now ignorance in a religious worshipper may be pardonable; but it cannot be an excuse for the last two segments as they belong to modernity. To understand this conflict between the philosophy and its practical use, we need to revisit liberalism.

Liberalism highlights the importance of the freedom of expression. But this freedom itself can push liberalism towards an extreme form of subjectivism, as is being increasingly seen on social media. Do I, for instance, have the right to express a statement that is not a fact? Let us consider the claim of Donald Trump regarding his conversation with Narendra Modi on Indias military stand-off with China a claim that was proved to be patently false. Do I have a right to express my ideas freely even if they go against objective facts? If the answer is yes, then my unfettered freedom can lead to an extreme form of subjectivism, similar to the instances seen on social media. If the answer is no, then I am being denied my freedom. This leads to the possibility of an eventual breaking apart of freedom and objectivity. The alarming consequences of this should compel us to take help of objective facts and circumvent the negative aspects of the freedom of expression.

Mill, it must be admitted, is a votary of individual freedom and objectivism, as is evident in his book,A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive. These are two important aspects of liberalism. This saved him from lapsing into extreme subjectivism. Not recognizing this has led to recent distortions of liberalism in social media and on television. There is a variance between the modern uses of freedom and dissent and those by Mill. Many modern users of freedom strongly hold their belief to be true; consequently, they learn nothing from the opposite view. In contrast, modernity liberalism in particular rejects the very idea of ultimate truth and highlights the importance of objective inquiry. In fact, it did so even before Mill. Rousseau begins his famous book,The Social Contract, thus; I mean to inquire... Modernity, notably modern science, rejected Greek metaphysics and Christian theology for disregarding the importance of objective inquiry. They placed science at the altar of unverifiable beliefs, privileging universal truths like god, which are not, and cannot be, verified. Blind adherence to authority and beliefs not based on evidence rendered them static.

In contrast, modernity set out methods and procedures to rigorously ascertain objectivity and continuously work to falsify them. The programme of verificationism set by the Vienna Circle and the falsification principle proposed by Karl Popper are two sides of the same coin. They sought to establish facts that are objective and invariant. They institutionalized dissent and established that legitimate dissent is rewarded rather than punished. The burning alive of Giordano Bruno for supporting the Copernicus theory and the persecution of Galileo were behind this liberal initiative. Unlike the unquestioning acceptance of authority that was rewarded in classical times, it is disagreement supported by evidence that is encouraged in modern times. This institutional validity to critique current views upheld by liberalism is the result of the sacrifices of many who fought against traditional authority.

Liberalism advocates individual freedom of expression not because individuals always uphold the truth but because there is a possibility that there may be a grain of truth in what they have to say, which might disprove an existing theory. Proven validity of a dissenters view is not accepted as an eternal truth. The view is accepted only till it is proved to be false or incorrect or is limited by another theory. Meanwhile, the job of the community is to constantly either verify or falsify existing theories. This ensures that no theory is considered universally true. It also ensures the continuous exercising of objectivity. According to this reading of liberalism, the purpose of dissent or freedom of expression is not to aggrandize the individuals view and assign a truth value to it, but to continually improve on the objectivity of tentative truths.

Let us compare this liberal position to the contemporary uses of freedom of expression, particularly in the public domain of politics, television or social media. How many people in these spheres today accept that their views may not be true? Do we find any openness towards others point of view? Is there a willingness to learn by way of inquiry, or merely a desire to reinforce their pre-existing views? More importantly, is there any change in the nature and status of their view before the discussion and after? The presence or absence of change indicates whether there has been any growth of knowledge a core provision of liberalism. The lack of willingness to question and learn will only lead to the abuse of sophisticated technological services like social media, making a mockery of the achievements of the brilliant scientists who made these available to us. In the midst of this rampant misuse, the ghosts of Bruno and Galileo might walk into TV newsrooms like Guru Dutt inPyaasaand lisp the reverberating lines of Sahir Ludhianvi in S.D. Burmans composition Jala do isey phoonk daalo yeh vignan Mere saamne se hata lo yeh vignan yeh vignan agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai.

The author teaches philosophy at the Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati

Read more:

Fact and fiction - Telegraph India

Nothing embodies this spirit of cultural and ethical vandalism more than their embrace of pretentious modern art. They set themselves up as the arbiters of taste, yet they have no standards, no appreciation of beauty, no respect for craft. Their puerile desire to shock is matched by the malignant impulse to celebrate the vulgar and vacuous.

A disturbing example of this attitude lies in the choice of the latest new artistic object to fill the empty fourth plinth in Londons Trafalgar Square.

Given that this is one of the most famous sites in the world, dominated by the majesty of Nelsons column and the classical grandeur of the National Gallery, the chosen sculpture should have been something inspiring.

Instead, it is predictably degrading.

In a move that resembles a sick joke rather than a considered decision, the commissioning body for the plinth opted for a giant representation of a swirl of whipped cream, complete with a cherry on top, a drone on one side and a fly on the other.

If this is the best that British artists can produce, then British art is lost. It is cold, mechanical, conceptual bull****

Labour Minister Kim Howells on the Turner Prize

Unveiled last week, this nine-feet tall frivolous piece of tat could hardly be in greater contrast to the magnificence of either Nelsons statute by Edward Hodges Baily or the four great bronze lions at the column's base, by Sir Edwin Landseer.

Mind you, those sublime works must have grown used to the parade of mediocrity that has filled the fourth plinth in recent years, including a blue cockerel and a human hand with an elongated thumb.

This latest depressing effort is by the artist Heather Phillipson, who, like so many of the avante-garde, is indifferent to the richness of Britain's past.

"I only knew Trafalgar Square from protests," she said in a recent interview, during which, typically, she wore anti-Tory badges.

With equal inevitability, she says the work was driven by a feeling of doom provoked in 2016 by Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

"We've been at a point of some kind of entropy for some time", she claimed portentously.

So much modern art represents a two-fingered salute to the mainstream public by privileged insiders and their cheerleading critics.

Indeed, art is hardly the word for this drivel, which requires no real skill to make and has no aesthetic merit.

Only a movement without integrity would honour works like Tracey Emins unmade bed or Martin Creed's Number 227, which comprises a room where the lights go on and off every five minutes.

Some fashionable offerings are wilfully offensive, like Chris Olifi's "hip-hop" portrait of the Holy Virgin Mary, made with elephant dung and cuttings from pornographic magazines.

In 2002, the brave Labour Minister Kim Howells said of the Turner Prize show, "If this is the best that British artists can produce, then British art is lost. It is cold, mechanical, conceptual bull****."

Those words have even more resonance today, as the arts sink ever deeper into the mire of self-indulgent crassness.

And this is where the western canon has ended up.

Europe once produced Da Vinci and Monet, Britain Turner and Constable.

Now, the British arts establishment revels in whipped cream, vomit and Marxist gyrations.

If a society can be judged by the art it leaves behind, then we are living in a truly decadent age.

That decadence incorporates an obsession with modernity and a determination to re-write the past.

Brimming with misplaced superiority, the elitists treat our heritage, not with any reverence, but as a vehicle for their own virtue-signalling propaganda.

That is why they want to pull down statues, demolish period buildings, "decolonise" the school curriculum and remove works of arts.

The little known Left-wing writer Afua Hirsch even called for Nelson's column to be torn down on the grounds that the great admiral was "a white supremacist."

Similarly, Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy recently demanded that several epic murals be removed from the Foreign Office in Whitehall because of their imperialist imagery.

This sort of nonsense has to be resisted.

The architecture, sculpture and visual art that survive from previous centuries are far better than today's embarrassing, fraudulent output.

The cream on the fourth plinth is an unappetising symbol of decline.

More here:

Liberal elite wouldnt know proper art if it smacked them in the face, says LEO McKINSTRY - Daily Express

THE secret to the six-decade-long success of the Muppet franchise is its ability to update and adapt to each new generation, while still feeling timeless.

The felt friends have done it again with family sketch show Muppets Now, which is coming to Disney Plus very soon.

5

Muppets Now will be available on Disney Plus on Friday, July 31, 2020.

The show will consist of six 30-minute long episodes.

The show is billed as totally unscripted and is an improvised sit-com.

It will feature all the favourite characters including Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.

5

Muppets Now is Generation Z's answer to The Muppet Show.

The plot will follow Scooter as he frantically rounds up all the Muppets and gets them ready to upload their first streaming show.

The official press release for the show stated: "The Muppets will engage in the kind of startling silliness and heartfelt fun that first made them famous."

Miss Piggy has a beauty and wellness segment, Beaker and Professor Honeydew have a science experiment show, while Kermit attempts a Mup Close and Personal interview series.

5

The show will mimic YouTube-style sketches to appeal to younger audiences.

Muppets Now swaps the variety show for a series of skits and improvised demonstrations.

The Muppets' previous 2015 TV show - simply titled The Muppets - mimicked Ricky Gervais's The Office-style mockumentary, with awkward conversation and side looks to the camera.

The ABC and Sky show wasn't received well by fans and was dropped by the networks fairly swiftly.

5

Some of our favourite fuzzy faces will be making a return, with their original puppeteers.

5

Disney and chillDisney+ August releases 2020 new original series, TV and films

Disney BeyHow to watch Beyonce: Black is King? Disney Plus release date, trailer and cast

going soloDonald Glover 'to front new Disney+ Star Wars spin-off' as Lando Calrissian

'signpost for change'First look Marvel's new Disney+ show 616 delves into origin stories

soldier downDisney+ scraps The Falcon and the Winter Soldier August release

The Muppets are known for having big stars make appearances on their shows, often parodying themselves.

Some famous faces making appearances in Muppets Now include:

More here:

When is Muppets Now released on Disney Plus and whos in the cast? - The Sun