Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
May 27, 2020
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Trump issues ultimatum to North Carolina on convention . . . President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave North Carolina’s Democratic governor a week to agree to host the Republican National Convention or face the prospect that Trump will take his event elsewhere. Trump set the deadline for Governor Roy Cooper after Republicans in Florida, Georgia and Texas offered to host their party’s four-day nominating convention, which is scheduled to open in
Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 24. “We’re not going to sacrifice the health and safety of North Carolinians,” Cooper said, citing the coronavirus pandemic. He said state officials would work with Republican organizers to ensure everyone’s safety. At the White House, Trump told reporters he wanted assurances that convention attendance would not be limited by social distancing restrictions. Reuters
NY health website deletes Cuomo order linked to nursing home deaths . . . New York officials have scrubbed Gov. Andrew Cuomo's March 25 order requiring nursing homes to take in COVID-19 patients from the state health department website -- even as Cuomo's office insists that the order, which has been linked to thousands of nursing home deaths, remains in effect. The web page that once contained the order now directs to a page indicating that the file is "not found." The archive indicates that the deletion occurred sometime after May 5, around the time that criticism over New York's nursing home fatalities
intensified. Fox News
Another blow for the media-hero governor whose state has had the worst death toll of any
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Twitter labels Trump tweets "misleading" . . . For the first time, Twitter called tweets from Donald Trump"potentially misleading" — a decision that prompted the president to accuse the social media platform of election meddling. On Tuesday, Twitter highlighted two of Trump's tweets that falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud, appending a message the company has introduced to
combat misinformation and disputed or unverified claims. "Get the facts about mail-in ballots," read the message beneath each tweet. It linked to a curated fact-check page the platform had created filled with further links and summaries of news articles debunking the assertion. CNN
Twitter executive in chage of policing site hates Trump and Republicans . . . Twitter's "Head of Site Integrity" Yoel Roth boasts on his LinkedIn that he is in charge of "developing and enforcing Twitter’s rules," like the one that led Twitter to slap a new "misleading" warning label on two of President Trump's tweets concerning mail-in balloting. However, Roth's own barrage of anti-Trump, politically
charged tweets seemingly calls into question whether he should be creating guidelines for the president and other Twitter users. Roth has previously referred to Trump and his team as "ACTUAL NAZIS," mocked Trump supporters by saying that "we fly over those states that voted for a racist tangerine for a reason," and called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a "personality-free bag of farts." Fox News
I'd quarrel with the "bag of farts" part
Biden: Trump killing people by not wearing a mask . . . Joe Biden says President Trump’s refusal to sport a mask in response to the coronavirus is “stoking deaths” and amounts to fake masculinity. Mr. Biden, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, told CNN Tuesday Mr. Trump is a “fool” for mocking him for wearing a mask and jeopardizing lives. “It’s stoking deaths, that’s not going to increase
the likelihood that people are going to be better off,” Mr. Biden said. “Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine,” he said. Washington Times
Biden says interviewer was being a "wise guy" . . . Joe Biden suggested Tuesday that Charlamagne tha God was also being a "wise guy" during their interview Friday when the former vice president made his controversial "you ain't black" remark. During an interview Tuesday on CNN, Biden acknowledged he made a "mistake" last week in making the comment, in which he referred to black voters who have yet to decide whether to support him
or President Trump in the 2020 election. He walked back the comment later in the day, saying he should not have been so "cavalier" and acted like a "wise guy." Fox News
Yes, he was actually asking Biden tough questions. Such a wise guy!
New York Times probes Tara Reade. Did Christine Blasey Ford get the same treatment? . . . The media are so predictable about what gets its blood running hot. A woman accuses a man of sexual assault. The man is a Republican. Believe the woman, investigate the incident. A woman accuses a man of sexual assault. The man is a Democrat. Give the man the presumption of innocence, or at least be agnostic, and investigate the woman. I don’t
remember any of the a mainstream outlets going after Ford in this manner. White House Dossier
Trump considering paying people to get off welfare and go back to work . . . President Donald Trump's administration is considering a $450 weekly bonus in order to entice people back to work, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday. Kudlow told Fox News that the White House is looking carefully at the proposal aimed at encouraging Americans who had been laid off as the coronavirus pandemic spread
to return to work. It is suggested that workers may not want to return as they are better off on the $600 federal unemployment payments brought in with the coronavirus stimulus package. Daily Mail
Democrats fear economy may revive . . . Top Democrats are starting to get concerned. Their hysterical assertions that Republican governors who gradually reopened their economies would have "blood on their hands" proved to be hysterical assertions. And now Democrats worry about the prospect of a strong economic recovery.
Politico reports that Barack Obama's former economic adviser, Jason Furman, has been terrifying Democratic colleagues with predictions that the next few months could bring "the best economic data we've seen in the history of this country." The downside of millions of Americans rejoining
the workforce, Democrats fear, is that President Donald Trump could take credit in the final weeks of his reelection campaign. Washington Free Beacon
DOJ drops insider trading probe of three senators, focuses on Burr . . . The Justice Department is ending its investigation of three senators who sold stocks early in the coronavirus pandemic, but is still investigating Sen. Richard Burr, according to a report.
Defense attorneys for Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) were informed Tuesday of the decision. The trio sold large amounts of stocks before the markets crashed, but denied wrongdoing. New York Post
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NSA "mapping people's lives" with their phone data . . . In an excerpt from his new book, Dark Mirror, Investigative journalist Barton Gellman lays out how the tool at the heart of the program works in unprecedented detail. That tool, dubbed Mainway, secretly scoured billions of phone records a day for years, cultivating a database that was 'preconfigured to map anyone's life at the touch of a button', Gellman writes.
The program was scaled back significantly in the wake of the Snowden leak, but a more restrained version is still in effect today. Though the NSA insists that the database is only used to investigate terrorists, Gellman raises concerns about how easily it could be abused. Daily Mail
Of course, your government would NEVER abuse such a tool. This is excactly what the Founders envisioned, a limited government that can track your every move.
YouTube censoring criticism of China . . . YouTube is deleting comments that contain two terms Chinese dissidents use to criticize the government, raising concerns about the tech industry's willingness to censor content to gain favor with the communist regime. Comments on YouTube videos containing the terms 共匪 (Gòngfěi), meaning "communist bandit," and 五毛党 (wǔmáodǎng), meaning "fifty-cent party," are automatically deleted from the site shortly
after they are posted. The latter is a derogatory term referring to Chinese internet censors who are allegedly paid 50 cents for every internet post that they erase. Washington Free Beacon
US ahead of schedule in cutting Afghanistan troop strength . . . U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is down to nearly 8,600, well ahead of a schedule agreed with Taliban militants in late February, in part because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. and NATO officials said. A key provision of the Feb. 29 agreement between the Taliban and the United States, to which the Afghan government was not a party, involved a U.S. commitment
to reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July and, conditions permitting, to zero by May 2021. Reuters
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Hong Kong police arrest 300 as thousands protest security laws . . . Police in Hong Kong fired pepper pellets and made 300 arrests as thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday to voice anger over national security legislation proposed by China, that has raised international alarm over freedoms in the city.
In the heart of the financial district, riot police fired pepper pellets to disperse a crowd, and elsewhere in the city police rounded up groups of dozens of suspected protesters, making them sit on sidewalks before searching their belongings. A heavy police presence around the Legislative Council deterred protesters planning to
disrupt the debate of a bill that would criminalise disrespect of the Chinese national anthem. The bill is expected to become law next month. Reuters
As coronavirus spreads, India incurs swarm of locusts . . . Locals ran for shelter as 'billions and trillions' of locusts invaded a town, engulfing a staircase and blanketing the sky as they soared over rooftops. A man who filmed the swarm of locusts said the 'uncountable numbers of locusts flying in the sky' were 'something I have never ever seen in my life'. The locusts have already destroyed nearly 125,000 acres of crops, bringing further
misery to farmers during the world's largest coronavirus lockdown. India has seen record numbers of virus cases in recent days, bringing the total past 150,000 in what is now one of the world's largest outbreaks. Daily Mail
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Renters face avalanche of evictions . . . The United States, already wrestling with an economic collapse not seen in a generation, is facing a wave of evictions as government relief payments and legal protections run out for millions of out-of-work Americans who have little financial cushion
and few choices when looking for new housing. The hardest hit are tenants who had low incomes and little savings even before the pandemic, and whose housing costs ate up more of their paychecks. They were also more likely to work in industries where job losses have been particularly severe. New York Times
Companies slash wages in fight to survive . . . Companies across the U.S. are cutting salaries as they fight to survive the coronavirus, upending a key assumption in modern economics and raising another hurdle to rapid recovery. The hard numbers won’t be in for months, but anecdotal evidence is piling up.
On earnings calls, big businesses including The Container Store Group and Lyft have cited what they say are temporary salary reductions. Federal Reserve officials also have found plenty of supporting evidence. The pandemic has triggered unemployment on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. Pay cuts for Americans who’ve managed to hold onto their jobs may hobble the return to normal. Bloomberg
Facebook shelves effort to make platform less divisive . . . A Facebook team had a blunt message for senior executives. The company’s algorithms weren’t bringing people together. They were driving people apart. “Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness,” read a slide from a
2018 presentation. But in the end, Facebook’s interest was fleeting. Mr. Zuckerberg and other senior executives largely shelved the basic research. Facebook policy chief Joel Kaplan, who played a central role in vetting proposed changes, argued at the time that efforts to make conversations on the platform more civil were “paternalistic.” Wall Street Journal
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Four Minneapolis police fired after death of unarmed black man . . . Four Minneapolis police officers were fired Tuesday after the detention and death of 47-year-old George Floyd — a scene that unfolded in a Facebook video showing a white officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he pleaded with police, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd died at Hennepin County Medical Center soon after the encounter, which started when police detained him
Monday evening on suspicion of trying to pass a fake $20 bill at a convenience store.The FBI launched an investigation Tuesday, as the Minneapolis Police Department fired the officer as well as three others who were at the scene. The quick action didn’t prevent a large protest Tuesday evening that included tense confrontations with police, who responded with tear gas. Minneapolis Star Tribune
Woman fired after calling 911 on black man who asked her to leash dog . . . A video of a woman in Central Park calling New York police on a black man who says he asked her to leash her dog has gone
viral, and the woman has been fired from her job with Franklin Templeton. Christian Cooper, who is black, said he was bird-watching in the area when he saw Amy Cooper, who is white, with her dog. He approached the woman and asked that she leash the animal, he said. In the video, Amy Cooper refused and called 911, telling the operator that "there is an African American man. I am in Central Park. He is recording me and threatening myself and my dog." USA Today
Jimmy Fallon apologizes for blackface incident . . . Jimmy Fallon has issued an apology after video surfaced of the late-night host performing in blackface on "Saturday Night Live" two decades ago.
In the clip, which made the rounds Monday on Twitter, Fallon appears in dark face paint
while impersonating comedian Chris Rock. "In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface," the comedian, 45, wrote Tuesday on Twitter. "There is no excuse for this. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable." USA Today
He'll survive. He's a made man with the media.
Former CBS news chief: Journalists may as well admit they have liberal bias . . . When I started in journalism 25 years ago, there was still an ethic about hiding your political views. I took it seriously. Nobody in the business, except a friend who sat next to me in the White
House basement for years and in whom I confided — and argued with — had any idea I was a conservative. I was proud of that. Now, whatever professionalism there is in this supposed “profession” of journalism is gone. The liberal instinct that one doesn’t merely have an opinion but is ipso facto correct in that opinion and has a duty to act on it has taken hold in journalism. White House Dossier
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Bear breaks into Mercedes Benz . . . Video has emerged of a bear attempting to get into a Mercedes as the car’s owner watches on from afar. When the owner begins to scream like a banshee, the bear swiftly aborts mission. The footage begins with the bear approaching the car and a woman asking: ‘Are you sure you locked the door?’ before Jose shouts: ‘Don’t f**k with the Mercedes.’ Apparently the bear was in no mood to co-operate,
until the shrill screams of the terrified owners changed its mind. Metro
If it were a Toyota, would the bear have broken in? I think not.
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Keith
Keith Koffler
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