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Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Trump heckled, bullied and lied through the debate. It won't help him beat Biden

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Trump heckled, bullied and lied through the debate. It won't help him beat BidenThe president is behind in key states. Fighting on TV won’t turn things around or win over the sliver of undecided voters left In a bar-room brawl, who wins the fight? The guy swinging his fists or the guy clutching his drink?From the very first minute of the first presidential debate, the 45th president behaved as he has for the last four years: as unpresidential as possible.He heckled. He bullied. He blustered and he lied. He came out swinging and didn’t mind where his fists landed: his opponent, the moderator, the Biden family, the microphones. It didn’t much matter.“Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential,” gasped Joe Biden at the end of a chaotic discussion about the supreme court. “That was a really productive session. Keep yappin’, man.”Biden sounded unsettled by the first round of the Trump onslaught. He lost his train of thought as Trump never ceased to talk over him.If Democrats were hoping that Biden would box Trump in, they were surely disappointed. Biden’s most effective response was to laugh at the brawling around him.But something funny happened on the way to Trump’s next swing of the fists: a pandemic. Covid-19 stopped the presidential yapping, briefly. Then Biden made a statement of the obvious, by questioning whether Trump was smart enough to handle the coronavirus.“Did you use the word smart,” the un-president barked. “Don’t ever use the word smart with me.”So easily offended, yet so quick to offend. Donald Trump is a heavyweight slugger with a fondant center.Soon it was Biden’s turn to interrupt. “You’re the worst president America’s ever had,” Biden heckled. “Come on.”As a debating tactic, Trump’s choice of endless chatter succeeded in dominating the conversation. As a pitch for the sliver of undecided voters left in America, it was a charmless barrage of hostility and hubris.“Mr President, please stop,” said Chris Wallace of Fox News, the moderator who often resembled an armadillo in the middle of a Texas highway.It is traditional, and yet almost entirely forgotten every four years, that sitting presidents whiff in their first debate.Barack Obama stank in his first head-to-head with Mitt Romney. One of Obama’s closest friends emailed this columnist in 2012 with a simple question: “Is this as much of a disaster as it looks?”> So easily offended, yet so quick to offend. Donald Trump is a heavyweight slugger with a fondant centerEight years earlier, George W Bush tanked in his first debate against John Kerry, struggling to defend – of all the unexpected topics – his own war in Iraq. That was how memes got made back in 2004, forgetting Poland and all.There is a reason for this serial debate failure of sitting presidents: they really don’t want to be on stage with some stupid upstart of a challenger.After almost four years of being the world’s biggest boss, they are entirely comfortable with their comfort zone. Prepping for a nationally televised venture outside the zone is impossibly tricky for presidential aides.This is not, in fact, Donald Trump’s challenge. Since he never preps for anything, his aides can hardly complain about his reluctance to prep for the first debate. He won’t prep for the second or third ones either.And no, Mr President: watching even more Fox News does not count as debate prep.Instead, Trump’s prep for the debate was to shout down the middle of a microphone every time he talks to reporters. Trump didn’t disdain his challenger; he just drowned him out. Because for Donald Trump, the first presidential debate was not a debate; it was a descent into din.Knowing they would fail at presidential prep, Trump’s debate coaches took to – where else? – Fox News to turn up the volume on the expectations game.Rudy Giuliani, a Trump lawyer known to Russian agents peddling disinformation across the world, decided against the traditional pre-game tactics of raising the bar for the other side.Normally you would argue that your own candidate is a hapless amateur who can barely string a coherent sentence together, facing a battle-hardened Demosthenes who could slay with a single word.In Trump’s case, this may be too close to the truth to be said out loud. So Giuliani took to Fox & Friends to lower the bar for Joe Biden. In Rudy’s retelling, Joe Biden can barely get dressed.“The man has dementia. There’s no doubt about it,” he said chuckling. “I’ve talked to doctors. I’ve had them look at a hundred, a hundred different tapes of his. Five years ago and today.”Even the Fox News hosts interjected to challenge Dr Giuliani’s diagnosis.“Oh. Wuhuhuhah,” said Rudy, sounding remarkably like a man with dementia. “He can’t, he can’t recite the pledge of allegiance and he’s fine? He’s been, er. He’s been. He was in the Senate for 160 years. I mean, he can’t do the prologue to the, to the, to the, er, constitution of the United States or the declaration of independence. Any of them. He can’t do numbers. Wow.”This wasn’t some random Wuhuhuhah moment for Trump’s kooky inner circle. Our fearless commander-in-chief has been laying the foundations of this dementia and drugs “attack” on Biden for weeks.Most recently, in a chess move worthy of Mr Potato Head, Trump challenged Biden by insisting he take a drug test. Quite brilliant from the president who can’t produce enough Covid tests.For the last four years, Democrats have mostly followed Michelle Obama’s advice to go high when they go low. But quite frankly, my dear, after a year like 2020, the Biden campaign doesn’t give a damn.> If Trump loses his re-election in little more than a month, it won’t be because of his donnybrook of a first debate“If the president thinks his best case is made in urine, he can have at it,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager. “We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200,000 Americans when he didn’t make a plan to stop Covid-19.”A little harsh, perhaps. But fair.If Donald Trump loses his re-election in little more than a month, it won’t be because of his donnybrook of a first debate.Four years ago, Trump squeaked a victory through the electoral college despite losing every single debate to Hillary Clinton, and despite losing the national vote by a larger margin than John Kerry.He won Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes, but is now losing there by nine points among likely voters. He won Wisconsin by 22,000 votes, but is losing there by 10 points. He won Michigan by 10,000 votes, but is losing there by eight points.He truly, badly, deeply needed something to turn those states around in his first debate against Joe Biden. He didn’t get it by fighting on TV on Tuesday night.He has five more weeks to sow chaos and disinformation through the land as he brawls his way across the country. Hold on to your beer.




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Rep. Katie Porter eviscerates pharma CEO with a brutal math lesson about his $13 million salary

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Rep. Katie Porter eviscerates pharma CEO with a brutal math lesson about his $13 million salaryRep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) never wastes an opportunity to roast a CEO.On Wednesday, three pharmaceutical executives, including former Celgene CEO Mark Alles, testified on drug pricing for the House Oversight Committee. While at the company, Alles saw a massive increase in the price of the cancer drug Revlimid -- and Porter broke down just what it got Alles in return.Porter started her takedown by asking Alles if he knew what a Revlimid pill cost in 2005: $215, she reminded him with the help of a whiteboard. And by the time Alles left the company late last year, after its sale to Bristol-Myers Squibb, a single Revlimid pill cost $763. "Did the drug get substantially more effective in that time? Did cancer patients need fewer pills?" Porter questioned, trying to figure out why Celgene upped the price. Alles answered by saying Revlimid proved effective in more patients. "So you discovered more patients who might benefit from paying $763 a pill?" Porter rhetorically responded, outlining how the average senior in her district couldn't even afford one pill.Porter then moved on to tear apart the $13 million Alles made in 2017 as Celgene's CEO. "It's 200 times the average American's income and 360 times what the average senior makes on Social Security," Porter noted. She then reminded Alles just how he made "half a million dollars, personally, just by tripling the price of Revlimid." "The drug didn't get any better, the cancer patients didn't get any better, you just got better at making money," Porter concluded. Watch her questioning below. > Half a million dollars.> > That's the bonus a Big Pharma CEO got for hiking the price of ONE cancer treatment drug.> > How many patients lost their lives because they couldn't afford this medicine? Here's our conversation: pic.twitter.com/mkke6y9tnw> > -- Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) September 30, 2020More stories from theweek.com 3 reasons the stakes for the NBA Finals are extra high GOP Sen. Tim Scott calls for Trump to correct his Proud Boys comments: 'If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak' Trump pummels Biden — and America




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4th person killed in devastating California wildfire

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4th person killed in devastating California wildfireFlames devoured swaths of brush and trees in Northern California on Wednesday amid unseasonably hot and dry weather. Officials said wind-whipped flames led two firefighters to deploy the emergency fire shelters they carry. The firefighters were assigned to the Glass fire burning in wine country north of San Francisco Sunday when gusty off-shore winds fanned the fire, prompting them to deploy their fire shelters after flames overwhelmed them.




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Despite hopeful speculation, Biden campaign says remaining debates are still on

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Despite hopeful speculation, Biden campaign says remaining debates are still onAt the end of Tuesday night's raucous presidential debate, cable news hosts and pundits immediately began speculating on whether it would be the only one held this year, but Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign quickly dashed that dream.Many thought Tuesday's debate was an unmitigated disaster, as Trump routinely interrupted Biden and moderator Chris Wallace. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, for example, called it an "embarrassment for the United States" and wondered whether the next two debates would be canceled.During a phone call with reporters, Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager, said he is "going to show up" at the next debate, scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami. Biden wants to "continue speaking directly to the American people," Bedingfield said, and is looking forward to the debate's town hall format, with the nominees taking questions from undecided voters."There is an open question here based on what we saw from Donald Trump tonight," Bedingfield said. "Is he going to try to bully actual voters? Is he going to insult his way through the next debate? Joe Biden's going to show up. ... We'll see if [Trump] decides to show up in Miami next month." Biden is also planning on attending the third debate set for Oct. 22 in Nashville, Bedingfield confirmed. "We are going to the debates, guys," she said. "We don't know how many different ways we can say it. Yes, we are going to the debates."More stories from theweek.com 3 reasons the stakes for the NBA Finals are extra high GOP Sen. Tim Scott calls for Trump to correct his Proud Boys comments: 'If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak' Trump pummels Biden — and America




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She escaped N.Korea, but 'raped' by South's spies

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She escaped N.Korea, but 'raped' by South's spies

She ran away from her home in North Korea six years ago to find a safe haven in the South.

But it was after meeting a South Korean spy, she says, that another nightmare began.

Lee, who we're only identifying by her last name to protect her identity, was raped by the man -- according to the defector and prosecutors.

"I was mad at myself, I should have defended or fought with a knife, but I was just unable to fight back when they did that to me."

She may not be alone.

More than 72% of North Koreans resettled in the South are women and at least a quarter of them encountered sexual violence in the South, but less than 10% sought help, the gender equality ministry found in a 2017 survey.

In Lee's case, the suspected abuser called himself Dr Seong. She says he was a mysterious man, and like a father figure to help her start a new life.

Seong paid her for info. She had previously worked at a military institute in the north.

He also helped her reconnect with her brother, who was detained by secret police in North Korea.

But eventually Seong and a colleague, identified by the name Kim, began to sexually abuse her.

She says it lasted a year and a half and she was pressed to get two abortions and suffered severe distress.

"After all, they were the first people that I trusted, respected and relied upon here in the South."

Military prosecutors this month indicted the two men, a lieutenant colonel and a master sergeant with charges of sexual assault and rape.

But both men have denied rape, according to the chief military prosecutor. They are said to say it was consensual.

Lee's lawyer, Jeon Su-mi, blames the system for enabling agents to take advantage of vulnerable defectors.

"The women can't say no, they have to obey and have to go out at midnight if they are requested to. The South Korean surveillance system on North Korean defectors has absolute power like God, even if they are just government employees here."

Defectors have complained recently that the government of President Moon Jae-in, who has made improving ties with North Korea a priority, is failing to provide refuge by ignoring rights, stifling political activity and deporting some escapees.




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Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Hezbollah leaders tell French president to change approach

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Hezbollah leaders tell French president to change approachThe leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Tuesday they still welcome the French initiative to help Lebanon out of its crisis, but said Paris has to change its approach in dealing with local factions and not blame everyone for the failure of forming a new Cabinet. French President Emmanuel Macron has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a Cabinet made up of non-partisan specialists that can work on enacting urgent reforms to extract Lebanon from a devastating economic and financial crisis. Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib resigned Saturday during a political impasse that came amid Lebanon’s worst economic and financial crisis in decades — made worse by a massive explosion in Beirut in early August that killed and wounded many and caused widespread damage.




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Lindsey Graham on Spreading Potential Russian Disinformation: It Doesn’t Matter If It’s True

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Lindsey Graham on Spreading Potential Russian Disinformation: It Doesn’t Matter If It’s TrueFormer Hillary Clinton aides, ex-intelligence officials and Senate Democrats are accusing Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe of laundering Russian disinformation before an election after Ratcliffe suggested Clinton attempted to manufacture a scandal about Russian interference in the 2016 election on behalf of President Trump.On Tuesday, Ratcliffe, a loyalist whom Trump placed atop U.S. intelligence in the spring, sent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) a letter claiming that in late July 2016, U.S. intelligence acquired “insight” into a Russian intelligence analysis. That analysis, Ratcliffe summarized in his letter, claimed that Clinton had a plan to attack Trump by tying him to the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee. Trump, in late July 2016, had publicly called for Russia to purloin Clinton’s emails. And both U.S. intelligence and former special counsel Robert Mueller have since attributed that hack to Russia.None of the subsequent Trump-Russia investigations have verified the claims Ratcliffe published, although top House intelligence-committee Republican Devin Nunes of California has insisted baselessly that Clinton and not Trump colluded with Russia.Ratcliffe stated that the intelligence community “does not know the accuracy of this allegation or to the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.” Though he subsequently insisted that his letter was not itself a disinformation campaign by Russian officials, his move to send the letter, and Graham’s decision to release it, was roundly criticized.“DNI Ratcliffe should be ashamed of his blatant politicization of his position,” said Nick Shapiro, the former CIA deputy chief of staff to John Brennan, who was CIA director in 2016 and whose notes are cited in Ratcliffe’s summary.Trump’s Pick for Intelligence Chief Follows a Slew of QAnon AccountsGraham, who spoke to The Daily Beast on the phone Tuesday evening, said he did not know whether the information presented by Ratcliffe was true and said he was not concerned with releasing the uncorroborated allegations to the public even with the presidential election just 35 days away."There are allegations from the CIA that the Clinton campaign was involved in Russia. I don't know if that is true,” Graham said. “It's not about whether it is true. It's about whether the FBI took [the allegations] seriously. That's the question. I supported the Mueller investigation. I don’t get why you wouldn’t look with the same suspicion with both campaigns. The point is what did they [the FBI] do with the information?"Graham’s post-facto rationalization was just the latest illustration of how uniformly invested Trump allies have become in the narrative that Russian involvement in U.S. politics is either overstated or deliberately fabricated as a means of delegitimizing the president. Now that belief has been adopted at the senior most level of U.S. intelligence, something Democrats and former intelligence officials greeted with alarm.“It's all straight-up Russian disinfo,” said Jesse Lehrich, the foreign-policy spokesperson for the 2016 Clinton campaign.Since the 2016 presidential election, U.S. intelligence officials have paid particularly close attention to the ways in which Russia uses disinformation to sow chaos among Americans. As early as March of 2019, officials in the intelligence apparatus and within the national security community have tracked how Moscow uses proxies, including journalists and Russia-friendly politicians, to propagate conspiracy theories about Biden, his son Hunter, and their dealings in Ukraine.Several internal reports warned of the efforts of Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian parliamentarian, to dig up dirt on the Bidens. Derkach worked closely with Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to do so, and his talking points showed up in Giuliani’s cable appearances on Fox News and One America News throughout 2019 and 2020. Last month, the Treasury Department listed Derkach as a “Russian agent” and for his attempts to meddle in the 2020 election.Despite several warnings from the intelligence communities that Russia is actively trying to denigrate the Biden campaign and interfere in the 2020 election, Democrats now say that Graham and Ratcliffe have themselves engaged in proliferating Russian propaganda. Indeed, both the substance and the timing of the Ratcliffe summary, coming hours before the first presidential debate, drew the ire of former Clinton aides, intelligence veterans and the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee for politicizing intelligence.“It’s very disturbing to me that 35 days before an election, the director of national intelligence would release unverified Russian rumint,” or rumors-intelligence, said Sen. Mark Warner, the panel’s top Democrat. Politico reported that the Senate intelligence committee, on a bipartisan basis, rejected the allegation Ratcliffe published as false. “I’m very, very proud of the bipartisan work of the intelligence committee [over] three and a half years and five volumes, and that work speaks for itself,” Warner told reporters on Tuesday.Mueller Defends Russia Investigation After Top Aide’s Criticism in Tell-All BookWarner’s Democratic colleague on the panel, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, said Ratcliffe was abusing his power “exactly as I feared he would” shortly before November’s election.“His politicization of intelligence, including through selective releases to political allies, damages the country and undermines the intelligence community he purports to lead,” Wyden said in a Tuesday statement. “Ratcliffe is even willing to rely on unverified Russian information to try to concoct a political scandal, a shocking abdication of his responsibilities to the country.”Ratcliffe’s summary comes two days after Maria Bartiromo reported for Fox News that it was unlikely a Justice Department prosecutor scrutinizing the intelligence agencies’ origins of the Trump-Russia probe was unlikely to bring charges before the election. Attorney General William Barr claimed earlier this month that bringing charges prior to the election was a possibility, despite the long-standing policy of the Department to not announce charges so close to Election Day. Ratcliffe’s statement suggested that Barr concurred with the decision to release the summary, saying Barr “has advised that the disclosure of this information will not interfere with ongoing Department of Justice investigations.”The office of the Director of National Intelligence did not clarify Barr’s role in the Tuesday release of the summary.A former senior intelligence official stopped short of claiming Ratcliffe was laundering Russian disinformation, claiming a lack of familiarity with the underlying intelligence.“This should be taken with an entire shaker of salt unless the actual documents are released,” the ex-intelligence official said. “The selective release of information is getting rather obvious. Fits right in the pattern in the Flynn case, where they are releasing every document that suggests that an individual agent had a concern.”Representatives for the director of national intelligence did not respond when asked if they would release the material undergirding Ratcliffe’s summary.Ratcliffe’s summary alleged that then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed President Obama and others on both the alleged Russian intelligence and a claim that Clinton had approved a plan to “vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference from Russian security forces.” That interference remains the assessment of U.S. intelligence.Ratcliffe cited Brennan’s “handwritten notes” as the basis for that heretofore unknown assessment. Clinton’s alleged approval came, per Ratcliffe, on July 26, 2016, the day she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination—an assertion her former campaign staffers found preposterous.“Hillary would never sign-off on manufacturing a scandal the way the alleged Russian intel, as summarized in Brennan's notes, indicate,” said Lehrich, the former Clinton campaign spokesperson. “For one thing, she would've been incensed that anyone would think she needed to cheat to beat Donald Trump.”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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