XOV News: October 2020

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Celebrities lend Biden a hand in turning out the vote in Philadelphia.

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jPB3US

US Election 2020: Biden and Trump in last weekend dash round swing states

Joe Biden is in Michigan while Donald Trump arrives in Pennsylvania, both key to the White House race.

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US election: Don Jr told Trump supporters to ‘have some fun’ before Biden vehicles ‘rammed by armed group’

Trump’s eldest son called on supporters ‘get out there, have some fun’

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'They give me the willies': scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight

Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he’s preparing for the next stepThe eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as “murder hornets”, was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection.“It was cold so they were docile, so between their slowness and the protective gear no one was hurt,” said Chris Looney, a WSDA entomologist who was tasked with vacuuming up the hornets.Wielding a lengthy, toxic stinger, the hornets can cause renal failure and death in people, as dozens of people in Japan have found out to their cost. One entomologist in Canada described the feeling of being stung as like “having hot tacks pushed into my flesh”.They can also squirt venom, as Looney saw first-hand when his lab workbench was sprayed by hornets as they roused themselves following capture. “I was more worried about getting permanent nerve damage in the eye from the squirted venom than being stung,” said Looney, who wore goggles for the capture. “They are pretty intimidating, even for an inch-and-a-half insect. They are big and loud and I know it would hurt very badly if I get stung. They give me the willies.”Murder hornets do not earn their moniker from killing people, however, with honeybees far more likely to be targeted. A honeybee colony can be decimated within a few hours, with the hornets decapitating their victims and feeding severed body parts to their young. This poses a gnawing concern for hobbyist beekeepers and even farmers in the US north-west, where managed honeybees are crucial for the pollination of crops such as blueberries and raspberries.Asian giant hornets were first discovered in North America last year, popping up in British Columbia, Canada, before a handful of specimens made it south of the border to Washington state. The hornets, native to east Asia, most likely arrived on the continent clinging to imported goods sent via sea or air. A close relative of the hornet has already made separate inroads into France and the UK.A key, and unnerving, question is how far they will manage to spread across America. Looney said the removal of the first nest found in the US was just a “small victory” in a battle likely to rage for several years to contain the insects. Thousands of sightings have been reported in Washington, and while many are false or mistaken, Looney said it was likely the hornets had spread, potentially establishing dozens more nests.“It’s hard to say how they will behave here compared to their native range, but the fear is that there are large apiaries of bees that could be sitting ducks, while as the hornets move south to warmer weather their colonies could grow larger,” he said. “The object of our work is to avoid finding this out.”Scientists who have modeled the potential spread of the hornets predict they will be able to extend down the west coast into California. The Rocky Mountains and drier interior of the US pose major barriers to an eastward push but environs on the east coast such as New York would be ideal homes for the murder hornets should they inadvertently be transported there.Looney said he was “troubled” by evidence that overwintering hornet queens like to bury themselves in straw and hay, commodities that are regularly shifted around the US by train or truck. A hornet queen that hitched a ride would still face challenges establishing a nest even if moved to the east coast – it could immediately be crushed underfoot, after all – but the potential pathway is there.“I’m more worried about human transportation of these hornets than I initially was,” Looney conceded.The Asian giant hornet is just the latest invasive species to make its mark on North America. Burmese pythons are now legion in southern Florida, while Asian carp are common in the Mississippi river system. In the insect world, the spotted lanternfly is a growing agricultural pest and emerald ash borers have arrived to lay waste to stands of trees.These arrivals are symptoms of the growth in international trade and tourism, while climate change is making many parts of the US more hospitable for certain invasive species. The Asian giant hornet, for example, is thought to favor the sort of elevated temperatures that the US is experiencing as the planet heats up. This could help it spread at the rate of its cousin species in France, which has been able to advance up to 78km a year. If it is not controlled, the murder hornet could fundamentally change ecosystems across the US.Still, even in a fraught year racked by a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster, Looney said any fears of being assailed by a murder hornet should be “low on the anxiety meter”.He added: “We should be concerned about it but we will do our best until the money runs out or the battle is won or lost. If we fail, it will be unpleasant. But there are other things to be much more worried about right now.”

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Body-camera footage released of Wallace killing; family says officers were improperly trained

The footage from body-worn cameras that was taken as police responded to a call about Walter Wallace Jr. shows him emerging from a house with a knife as relatives shout at officers about his mental health condition, a lawyer for the man's family said Thursday.

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2020 election results: Why Americans probably won’t find out who won on 3 November

'There is no chance that we will know on election night the full vote total in Michigan'

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Polling averages show Trump gaining on Biden in most swing states. Will it be enough?

Trump gained on Biden in polling average in 9 of 12 swing states since Monday, continuing last week's trend. But of those, he is only ahead in Texas.

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Zeta's toll on a Louisiana island: 'Like a bomb was dropped'

Mark Andollina remembers stinging rain and a howling wind that peeled the roof off part of his Cajun Tide Beach Resort on Grand Isle, the Louisiana barrier island town where residents were among the first to feel the ferocity of Hurricane Zeta. “Because we got the most damage on the island right here, basically in the middle of the island.” “The middle of the island looks like a bomb was dropped,” said Dodie Vegas, who with her husband owns Bridge Side Marina on the west side of the island.

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China destroys domes of famous mosques as cultural whitewash continues

China’s campaign to suppress Islam is accelerating as authorities remove Arab-style onion domes and decorative elements from mosques across the country. Stark changes have been observed at the main mosque in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia province, where most of China’s Hui ethnic Muslim minority live. The bright green onion-shaped domes and golden minarets that used to soar into the sky atop Nanguan Mosque have all been pulled down. Golden Islamic-style filigree, decorative arches, and Arabic script that before adorned the mosque have also been stripped away. What remains is unrecognisable – a drab, gray, rectangular facility with “Nanguan Mosque” written in Chinese, as shown in photos posted online by Christina Scott, the UK’s deputy head of mission in China, on a recent trip. “TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan well worth a visit,” Ms Scott wrote on Twitter, along with ‘before and after’ photos. “Only this is what it looks now, after ‘renovations.’ Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing.”

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A high school newspaper has exposed how state police quoted Adolf Hitler and advocated violence in a training manual

The training manual quotes from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, calling for the "perpetually constant and regular employment of violence."

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Air Force Moves Forward with Plan to Turn Giant Cargo Planes into Bomb Trucks

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A new tropical depression formed in the Caribbean. It could become Tropical Storm Eta

A new tropical depression has formed in the Caribbean, putting the 2020 hurricane season within reach of breaking a slew of meteorological records.

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Indonesia condemns France attacks, but warns against Macron's remarks

Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Saturday condemned what he called "terrorist" attacks in France, but also warned that remarks by President Emmanuel Macron had "insulted Islam" and "hurt the unity of Muslims everywhere." Conservative Islamic organizations in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, have called for protests and boycotts against France, sharing an image of Macron as a red-eyed devilish snail. "Freedom of speech that injures the noble purity and sacred values and symbol of religion is so wrong, it shouldn’t be justified and it needs to stop," the Indonesian leader, who is known by his popular name Jokowi, said in a televised address.

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Teen charged with killing 2 Kenosha protesters extradited to Wisconsin

Lawyers for the Illinois teen have said he was acting in self-defense during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

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Stanford Study Seeks to Quantify Infections Stemming From Trump Rallies

By BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35Pg9QV

Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, facing opponents from both parties, embraces Trumpism.

By BY RICHARD FAUSSET from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jH3O61

Police in North Carolina use a chemical spray to disperse a get-out-the-vote rally.

By BY MICHAEL LEVENSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/323ZGY2

Christians Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Millions of Christians worldwide will unite on Sunday, Nov. 1 to join the global Body of Christ for the 2020 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP).

from CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2TFVbhN Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Christians Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

US election: The big issue that could hurt Trump

Just ahead of the election, the US is seeing what could be the largest outbreak of the pandemic so far.

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US election 2020: 'It just makes me feel like a nobody'

Former prisoner Davion Hampton from Florida wants to vote in this US election. But he can't.

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US election: 'All Republicans should marry Democrats'

Chenren and Cathy Shao haven't let political differences get in the way of their eight-year marriage.

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US election 2020: The great dividing line of this campaign

For some Americans, civil unrest after police shootings is driving their support for Donald Trump.

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Friday, October 30, 2020

Covid: Belgium announces return to national lockdown

Non-essential shops will close until mid-December to help curb the highest infection rate in Europe.

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Berlin airport opens... 10 years late

Berlin's new airport is finally opening to the public, 10 years behind schedule and billions over budget.

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Official: Rifle shell casings found at Breonna Taylor scene

Two long-rifle shell casings were found in and near Breonna Taylor's Louisville apartment after a botched police drug raid that ended in Taylor's death, Kentucky's attorney general said. It's the first time these specific shell casings have been mentioned by authorities investigating Taylor's death. One of the casings was found by Taylor's sister in her bedroom and the other was found in the parking lot outside the apartment, according to a court filing this week in a criminal case against the sole Louisville police officer charged in connection with the raid.

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Facebook admits it 'improperly' blocked some political ads due to 'technical issues' as Joe Biden's campaign slams it for being 'wholly unprepared'

Facebook said no ads were blocked "because of any partisan consideration," as Biden's camp accused the company of offering "no clarity" on the issue.

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Las Vegas police charge driver after man pushed a cyclist to her death, fell out a minivan window, hit his head on a lamppost, and died at the scene

Rodrigo Cruz, 22, was the driver of the minivan involved in the two deaths, the Las Vegas police said.

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Mnuchin Says He First Saw Pelosi’s Letter on Coronavirus Stimulus Negotiations ‘In the Press’

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said that he first learned about a letter House speaker Nancy Pelosi sent to him regarding coronavirus stimulus talks "in the press."“I woke up this morning and read @SpeakerPelosi ’s letter to me in the press,” Mnuchin said on Twitter. “Enclosed is my response. Her ALL OR NONE approach is hurting hard-working Americans who need help NOW!”> I woke up this morning and read @SpeakerPelosi’s letter to me in the press. Enclosed is my response. Her ALL OR NONE approach is hurting hard-working Americans who need help NOW! pic.twitter.com/tarhPwYmkv> > -- Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) October 29, 2020Pelosi aides said they had sent the letter to Mnuchin shortly after midnight, though the treasury secretary said he first saw the letter when Politico’s morning newsletter Playbook published it just after 6 a.m., according to the Washington Post.The letter outlined a number of outstanding issues in the negotiations including state and local aid, school funding, child-care money, tax credits for working families, unemployment insurance aid and liability protections for businesses. Mnuchin’s letter said that because Pelosi had sent the letter “to my office at midnight and simultaneously released it to the press, I can unfortunately only conclude it is a political stunt.”He tweeted his letter one minute after sending it to Pelosi’s office. In the letter he mentioned that the pair had negotiated nearly every day over the past 45 days “in an attempt to reach a serious bipartisan compromise,” as coronavirus cases surged and the economy struggled.Pelosi's office pushed back against Mnuchin's response.“It is disappointing that the White House wasted time on this letter instead of meaningful responses to meet the needs of the American people,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.Democrats and Republicans have since remained in political gridlock for months over the size and contents of a second round of stimulus relief. While the White House has offered $1.9 trillion, Democrats have pushed for a more expansive bill at $2.2 trillion.The California Democrat's letter outlined the outstanding issues and said she was waiting for an answer from the administration regarding the Democrats’ language on a national coronavirus testing strategy after Mnuchin had said on October 15 that he was ready to accept after some small edits. Mnuchin, however, said that the administration had accepted Pelosi’s proposal on dollars and language for coronavirus testing, and had also provided notes on the section on contact tracing. He added that he has worked alongside other agencies and committee chairs on responses on several areas of coronavirus relief, including rental assistance, small businesses and funding for the Postal Service. “While you accuse the Administration of holding up negotiations, you refuse to bring to the floor of the House stand-alone legislation to support Airline workers, additional Paycheck Protection Program payments to small businesses, and additional Direct Payments that we can fund using already approved money that we have not spent,” Mnuchin wrote.In her letter Pelosi called on Mnuchin, President Trump, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to create a path forward for negotiations after the November 3 election. “Your responses are critical for our negotiations to continue,” Pelosi wrote in her letter. “The President’s words that ‘after the election, we will get the best stimulus package you have ever seen’ only have meaning if he can get Mitch McConnell to take his hand off the pause button and get Senate Republican Chairmen moving toward agreement with their House counterparts.”Pelosi and Trump on Thursday both expressed hope that a stimulus bill could be passed after the election. In a news conference on Thursday, Pelosi said she was optimistic that Joe Biden would win the presidency, but said that she would not pass a small bill with the intent of adding more relief once Biden takes office.“We’re not talking size, we’re talking quality. We’re not going to take a small bill” that has provisions Democrats have found to be unacceptable, Pelosi said.“I want a bill for two reasons. First and foremost the American people need help. They need real help. And second of all, we have plenty of work to do in a Joe Biden administration … So we want to have as clean a slate as possible going into January,” Pelosi said.

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Philadelphia police say they rescued a lost child. His family says they actually ripped him from his mother's car.

During recent protests over the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia, the U.S.'s largest police union posted what looked like a sympathetic photo. A Philadelphia police office held a Black toddler, with a caption purporting he was found "walking around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness," the National Fraternal Order of Police's Facebook post said.But lawyer's for the boy's family say that's not what happened. Rickia Young was driving with her toddler son to pick up her 16-year-old nephew when she accidentally drove into an area where police and protesters were facing off. She tried to turn around, but police surrounded the car, smashed its windows, and threw Young and her nephew onto the street, her lawyers tell The Washington Post. The officers then pulled the toddler from the seat, video of the incident shows.> The attacked on this boy and his mother were caught on video. @ryanjreilly has done a good job of pointing out this lie by @GLFOP https://t.co/kJ4QcrXegc> > — Riley H. Ross III (@AttorneyRoss) October 30, 2020Police soon detained Young, but she had to be taken to the hospital before she could be processed because she was bleeding from her head after police threw her to the ground. Young's nephew was also injured, and the toddler was hit in the head. Young was split from her son for hours before she was released without charges. Her family found the boy in his car seat in the back of a police car, broken glass from the car's windows still in the seat, the Post describes.The whole scene was caught on video by AApril Rice, who told the Philadelphia Inquirer watching what happened was "surreal" and "traumatic." The National Fraternal Order of Police has since deleted the post. Philadelphia police still haven't told the Young family where to find the car, along with her son's hearing aids and other belongings inside.More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement

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Malaysian ex-PM tweets that Muslims have 'right' to kill French people after deadly Nice attack

Malaysia's former leader Mahathir Mohamad tweeted Thursday Muslims had a right "to kill millions of French people" after a deadly attack in Nice, sparking widespread anger and prompting Twitter to delete his post. Three people were killed at a church in the southern French city, with the attacker slitting the throat of at least one of them, in what authorities were treating as the latest jihadist assault to rock the country. Shortly afterwards, Mr Mahathir - who was prime minister of Muslim-majority Malaysia until his government collapsed in February - launched an extraordinary outburst in a series of tweets. Referring to the beheading of a French teacher who showed pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, Mr Mahathir said he did not approve of that attack but freedom of expression does not include "insulting other people". "Irrespective of the religion professed, angry people kill," said the outspoken 95-year-old, who has in the past drawn controversy for remarks attacking Jews and the LGBT community.

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Hillary Clinton joins Electoral College 4 years after it cost her the presidency: 'Pretty sure I'll get to vote for Joe'

Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, is one of 29 Democratic electors for New York state in 2020.

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Mitch McConnell’s approval drops nationwide despite political win with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination

Only 16 per cent of respondents say they felt better about Mr McConnell’s job performance

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‘I’m getting my money!’ Florida shopper denied refund returns with a crowbar, cops say

A Florida shopper wouldn’t take no for an answer, and things got a little out of hand.

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Walmart is removing guns and ammo from shelves and display cases in all stores as a precaution amid 'civil unrest'

Guns and ammo will no longer be on display at Walmart but still be available for purchase upon request in stores where they are sold.

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The Electoral College can pick a president who got fewer votes. Here's why and how.

The 2020 presidential election again highlights one of the most confusing and controversial parts of the U.S. elections: The Electoral College.

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“Over 1,000 people died today”: Don Jr. falsely claims that COVID-19 deaths are “almost nothing”

Deaths rose to 1,040 on Thursday as the number of new COVID-19 cases hit the highest number on record

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A judge orders the Postal Service to take ‘extraordinary measures’ to deliver ballots on time in 22 districts.

By BY LUKE BROADWATER AND HAILEY FUCHS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2HQCHbo

N.E.H. Funds Restoration of Statues Toppled During Protests

By Unknown Author from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3eaLEIK

Trump, in Minnesota, lashes out at Democrats for limiting crowd sizes.

By BY ANNIE KARNI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3mEgxIy

Nursing Homes, Racked by the Virus, Face a New Crisis: Isolation

By BY JACK HEALY, DANIELLE IVORY AND SERGE F. KOVALESKI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TCEnIb

Voters suing Minnesota over a mask mandate are asking the Supreme Court to intervene.

By BY JACEY FORTIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2JeAC9Y

Time Running Short, Trump and Biden Return to Northern Battlegrounds

By BY THOMAS KAPLAN AND ANNIE KARNI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3eeng93

Woman Who Mailed Threat to Susan Collins Gets 30 Months in Prison

By BY JOHN ISMAY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31XgW0Z

New top story on Hacker News: How to create minimal music with code in any programming language

How to create minimal music with code in any programming language
5 by pmarin | <0 comments on Hacker News.

US election: What Latino first-time voters want

Every 30 seconds, a Latino in the US turns 18 and becomes eligible to vote.

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Thursday, October 29, 2020

‘White racist cops got my own dad’: Walter Wallace’s young son speaks out

An investigation has been opened into the police shooting of Walter Wallace who died in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon

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Erdogan vows legal response to Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing him lifting skirt of veiled woman

Anger at France deepened in Muslim-majority countries on Wednesday over a Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing Turkey’s president drinking beer while lifting the skirt of a woman wearing a hijab to reveal her naked buttocks. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president, described the cartoonists as “scoundrels” and accused the West of wanting to “relaunch the Crusades”. His office also vowed to take unspecified "legal and diplomatic actions" through the Turkish legal system. His row with France erupted after President Emmanuel Macron ordered a crackdown on Islamists this month, following the beheading of a teacher who showed his class Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Protesters in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu shouted: “Down with France. It insulted our prophet.”

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SCOTUS: N.C. ballots can be counted up to nine days after election

The Supreme Court will allow absentee ballots in North Carolina to be received and counted up to nine days after Election Day.

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A graphic shows how pumpkin pie looks when you mess up the recipe

Our food reporter made pumpkin pie eight ways to figure out what happens when you add ingredients like condensed milk or extra eggs.

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Telescope gives closer look at asteroid worth $10,000 quadrillion

16 Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the solar system's main asteroid belt — and it appears to be made entirely of metal worth approximately $10,000 quadrillion.

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Lindsey Graham Is Being Boosted by a Tea Party Group That Has Always Hated Him

It’s no secret that Sen. Lindsey Graham is in the fight of his political life in the closing days of his campaign to win reelection to the U.S. Senate.“I’m getting overwhelmed,” Graham begged on-air with Fox News’ Sean Hannity last month, as his Democratic rival Jaime Harrison brought in a record-shattering $57 million in donations to unseat him. “Help me—they’re killing me money-wise. Help me.”But with ersatz ally President Donald Trump nowhere to be seen, a group that once despised Graham—and whose most prominent members have spent months propping up bizarre conspiracy theories, posting wildly racist content on social media, and undermining confidence public health guidelines in the midst of the pandemic—are coming to the rescue.The question is, does Graham want their help?“This is not a time for us to be squabbling over differences of opinion,” Pressley Stutts, chair of the Greenville Tea Party, said at an event on Wednesday afternoon, before introducing nearly a dozen grassroots conservative leaders “to stand tall” with Graham.“Sen. Graham is in the race of his life,” said Stutts, introducing conservative activists who lambasted Harrison—or “Harris,” as several of them called him—for being a “Marxist-Leninist” who would impose socialism on South Carolina.Sam Manley, a conservative podcaster, put the stakes of the race directly: “If you ever vote your way into socialism, you’ll have to shoot your way out.”This ringing endorsement for Graham’s re-election—which included Michael LaPierre, who tried to primary Graham this year—amounts to a cease-fire between the Palmetto State’s most well-known elected official and a coterie of some of his most dedicated trolls. During the Tea Party wave in 2010, Graham—once seen as one of the most mainstream members of the Republican Party—became one of the movement’s most loathed “RINOs,” or Republicans In Name Only. Leaders of the state’s Tea Party chapters attempted to recruit then-Gov. Mark Sanford to primary Graham after he voted to confirm Justice Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, and one speaker at a Greenville Tea Party rally that year made accused Graham of “trying to sell out your own countrymen” to avoid being outed.For his part, Graham once relished his battles with the state’s most conservative activists, calling the inter-party skirmishes “more fun than any time I’ve been in politics,” but with polls showing Graham in a statistical dead heat with Harrison, the senator is scrambling to resolve those well-documented problems with voters who have largely moved from the Tea Party to Team MAGA—even though the group’s brand of politics couldn’t be less in sync with Graham’s own.Stutts, the group’s chair, is a longtime critic of vaccinations, and has publicly discouraged people from wearing face masks during the coronavirus pandemic and spread the conspiracy theory that billionaire Bill Gates is working to reduce the human population.Why Hasn’t Trump Come to Lindsey Graham’s Rescue?Stutts has even claimed in an April interview that a potential vaccine for COVID-19 could possibly “contain a microchip” for the government to track its citizens.“Even if it doesn’t contain a microchip, I could foresee the day, because right now you have to show your ID or your passport and here in South Carolina, we have to get that real ID just to fly commercially,” Stutts said on a conservative YouTube vlog at the time. “And I can see the point where they're going to say, okay, show me your vaccination papers next.”At one Greenville Tea Party event in 2018, Stutts even hosted a talk with Jennifer Smith, who described herself as a “naturopath,” who referenced the baseless theory that vaccines cause autism and said that she did not get her newborn son vaccinated for Hepatitus B because he was “not a promiscuous homosexual” or an IV drug user.Among the group’s other featured speakers at recent events include John Guandolo, the leader of a Dallas-based anti-Muslim group who was forced last year to pay $600,000 in a civil lawsuit for assaulting a county sheriff after the man confronted him about passing around hate literature at a meeting of the National Sheriffs’ Association.The group has also held protests against social distancing rules in South Carolina, which Graham has said are critical to stopping the spread of the virus, despite rising rates of infection in the state.“Tired of putting up with an onerous and inept government?” the group posted on Facebook in September. “Join us September 15th and let your voice be heard, too. Our legislators need to know that we've had enough! Show up. Stand up. Speak up! It's your family that has been negatively affected… ThugArmy mount up!!”Greenville Tea Party members and business partners have made even more extreme claims. Dan Harvell, a taxpayer advocate who spoke at Wednesday’s event and said that he was supporting Graham for the sake of “the traditional American values that we will have for our children,” has posted memes claiming that Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, slept her way to becoming San Francisco’s district attorney, and has called former first lady Michelle Obama a “race-baiter.”The Graham campaign did not respond to a request for comment about whether he disavowed the support of the Greenville Tea Party and its members, and neither did the group. But state Democrats called the dynamic of Graham playing along with a group he once despised the latest in a long arc of allowances the senator has made under Trump.“This is yet another demonstration of the extreme lengths Sen. Graham is going to in order to save his flailing campaign,” said Manuel Bonder, coordinated campaign spokesperson for the South Carolina Democratic Party. “Instead of scrambling to consolidate his support amongst fringe conspiracy theorists who know he is a hypocrite, Sen. Graham should focus on leading South Carolina through this crisis and delivering the relief working families and businesses desperately need.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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'Safer than your local grocery store': How the Pentagon kept the virus at bay as the White House struggled

The contrast between the chaos the pandemic has wreaked on the White House and the limited impact it has had on the health of the 25,000-strong Pentagon workforce, which has rigorously followed CDC guidelines, could not be more pronounced.

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Searchers find 59 bodies in Mexico mass graves, dig for more

Search teams dug for more remains Thursday at a site in central Mexico where 59 bodies have already been found in clandestine graves over the past week in an area known as a cartel battleground. It was the largest such burial site found to date in Guanajuato, the state with the largest number of homicides in Mexico, though bigger clandestine burial sites have been excavated in other parts of the country. Especially striking about this discovery, but also a testament to the prevailing level of fear, is that the site is in the town of Salvatierra, not a desolate area out in the countryside.

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Karabakh says Azerbaijan forces closing in on key town of Shusha

The leader of Armenian separatists in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region said Thursday that Azerbaijani forces had advanced to within a few kilometres of the key town of Shusha.

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Mexican president slams European coronavirus lockdown measures

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday blasted European countries for adopting strict lockdowns to stem the spread of coronavirus, suggesting they smacked of authoritarianism. Germany and France were on Wednesday preparing to announce restrictions approaching the level of spring's blanket lockdowns as COVID deaths across Europe surged. National or local authorities have already imposed nighttime curfews in several European countries, including France, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic.

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Trump news: President cancels rally over high winds, as he threatens ‘Anonymous’ whistleblower with ‘bad things’

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Bobulinski Claims Documents Prove Joe Biden ‘Lying’ about Lack of Involvement in Hunter’s Influence Peddling

Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, has accused Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of "lying" about whether he was directly involved in his son's foreign business dealings."When he states that, that is a blatant lie," Bobulinski said in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson that was aired Tuesday.The former U.S. Navy lieutenant and corporate investor added that he almost walked out of the second presidential debate, which he attended as President Trump's guest, when the former vice president claimed again that he had no knowledge of his son's business dealings and was not involved in them."In that debate, he made a specific statement around questions around this from the president," Bobulinski said. "And I'll be honest with you, I almost stood up and screamed 'liar' and walked out because I was shocked that after four days or five days that they prep for this, that the Biden family is taking that position to the world."Bobulinski was the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was a partnership between the CEFC China Energy conglomerate and the Biden family. He was the recipient of a May 13, 2017 email that discussed a plan to have 10 percent in their related joint venture, Oneida Holdings, “held by H for the big guy?” The "big guy" was Joe Biden, and "H" was Hunter, Bobulinski confirmed.Bobulinski also slammed Democratic efforts to discredit his claims about the Bidens' business dealings by dismissing it as Russian disinformation, singling out for particular criticism Democratic congressman Adam Schiff, who said on television that this "smear" of Biden "comes from the Kremlin.""To have a congressman out there speaking about Russian disinformation or Joe Biden at a public debate referencing Russian disinformation when he knows he sat face to face with me, that I was traveled around the world with his son and his brother, to say that and associate that with my name is absolutely disgusting to me," Bobulinski said.Bobulinski told Carlson that Schiff's baseless disinformation claim motivated him to come forward with what he knew of Biden family corruption.The former business associate of the Bidens also said he was warned by former partner Rob Walker that going public with information about the Bidens would "bury all of us."In a recording of a phone call between Bobulinski and Walker, which Carlson aired, he told Walker that if the elder Biden "doesn't come out on record, I am providing the facts.""Don't say this Tony, you're just gonna bury all of us, man," Walker responds in the recording."Throughout 2015 and 2016 while Joe was still the sitting vice president of the United States, these guys had been doing extensive work around the world," Bobulinski said, adding that "the only qualification they had was the Biden name.""They're able to set up meetings and get people to jump through hoops in an interest to garner favor with the sitting vice president, Joe Biden," he said.The American people "can form their own conclusion" about the Biden family's business dealings, Bobulinski added.

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