Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
September 17, 2020
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
US Stock futures fall as Fed outlook rattles investors . . . U.S. stock futures fell Thursday, pointing to a steepening rout in the S&P 500 as investors became unsettled by the Federal Reserve’s dour outlook as well as conflicting signals about when vaccines may become available. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments Wednesday that the economic outlook is “highly uncertain” are weighing on sentiment. Policy makers indicated concern
that easy gains from reopening the economy could mask deeper scars among the most vulnerable businesses, with people likely to face longer spells of joblessness. The central bank also signaled that interest rates would stay near zero until 2023. “The Fed said it would keep rates low for ages. But that’s not enough,” said James Athey, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments. “Not taking away is no longer sufficient for this market. You need to do more, more, more.” Some
investors were hoping for more specificity about the forward guidance: how far above 2% are policy makers willing to let inflation go, and for how long? Fed officials didn’t offer such details on Wednesday. Wall Street Journal
CDC director clarifies on masks after Trump criticism . . . Testifying at a Senate hearing earlier in the day, Robert Redfield raised eyebrows by saying a mask is "more guaranteed to protect me" than a vaccine, arguing that a vaccine is not expected to work in 100 percent of people, while a mask offers everyone at least some level of protection. Trump, at a press conference later in the day, publicly broke with one
of his top health experts, saying, "It’s not more effective by any means than a vaccine, and I called him about that." On Wednesday evening, apparently seeking to clear up the issue, Redfield wrote on Twitter, "A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life." The Hill
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Democrats worry Sleepy Joe needs to wake up . . . In July, as the coronavirus pandemic raged, Joseph R. Biden Jr. made one trip to a battleground state. In August, he again visited just one swing state. And on the second weekend in September, less than eight weeks before Election Day, Mr. Biden’s only activity was going to church near his Delaware home. Mr. Biden’s restraint has spilled over into his campaign
operation, which was late to appoint top leaders in key states and embraced a far more cautious approach to in-person engagement than President Trump, and even some other Democratic candidates. While the Trump campaign claims it is knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors a day, the Biden team is relying heavily on TV ads and contacting voters largely through phone calls, text messaging programs and other digital outreach. New York Times
Video || Joe Biden panders to Hispanics . . . Joe Biden began his remarks during a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Florida Tuesday by pretending to get down to some Latino music. Does he think people are stupid? How condescending. Has he ever even heard the song before? Of course not. Does he like it? I doubt it. Is he going to go see black voters and play rap music he never listens to? Maybe he will sing a Hasidic song and perform some
Israeli dances next time he speaks to a group of Jewish voters. Because voters love it when you pretend you’re like them. White House Dossier
For all the accusations that he lies, President Trump is authentic. You would never catch him faking enjoyment of a Latino song he’d never heard.
"Despacito," song played by Biden, is obscene . . . Pandering to Latinos, Joe Biden stepped to the stage Tuesday during a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Florida and played a tune, Despacito, that I doubt he’d ever heard. But he might
have checked the lyrics of the song he was promoting. “I’ll tell you what, if I had the talent of any one of these people, I’d be elected president by acclamation,” he said. White House Dossier
Video || Joe talks about what a "Harris-Biden" administration will do . . . You know, I guess it’s just gaffes, but after Kamala Harris spoke this week about what the “Harris administration” will do, you have to wonder if there isn’t some talk
behind the scenes about how things might end up if they get elected. I’ve never heard mistakes like these. White House Dossier
Trump wants bigger stimulus than Senate GOP . . . Less than a week after Senate Republicans united behind a slimmed-down fiscal stimulus package, President Donald Trump renewed divisions in the party over how much Covid-19 relief the U.S. economy needs. Trump urged the GOP in a tweet Wednesday to “Go for the much higher numbers” in new coronavirus stimulus. He followed up at a White House news conference by saying he liked “the larger
numbers” in a compromise $1.5 trillion stimulus plan from a bipartisan group of House lawmakers. “I agree with a lot of it,” Trump said of that proposal. Bloomberg
HHS spokesman Caputo to take leave of absence . . . The top communications official at the Department of Health and Human Services will be taking a medical "leave of absence," the agency announced Wednesday. Michael Caputo will be focusing on "his health and the well-being of his family" for the next 60 days, HHS said. A longtime Trump associate, Caputo was installed to manage communications at HHS in April after a series of critical
reports about Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Caputo has been under fire for comments he made attacking career scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for being anti-Trump. The Hill
More than 160 Democrats vote against measure to combat anti-Semitism . . . More than 160 House Democrats voted on Wednesday against a measure to combat anti-Semitism. Republicans offered the anti-Semitism measure as an amendment to a piece of Democrat-backed legislation promoting greater inclusivity in federal programs. The bill would permit the filing of private civil suits for violations of federal regulations that "prohibit
discrimination on the ground of race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance." The Republican amendment, which passed by a vote of 265 to 164, with 162 Democrats in opposition, mandates that anti-Semitism also be considered as discrimination. Washington Free
Beacon
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Twitter suspends Chinese virologist who says China intentionally released Covid . . . Twitter has suspended the account of a Chinese virologist who has publicly claimed that COVID-19 was developed in a Wuhan laboratory. Li-Meng Yan's account was taken down on Tuesday after she accused China of intentionally manufacturing and releasing COVID-19. The Twitter account remained down on
Wednesday and a message on the page now reads: 'Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.' Daily Mail
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Greta Thunberg nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize . . . This year’s Nobel Peace Prize could go to green campaigner Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement to highlight the link between environmental damage and the threat to peace and security, some experts say. The winner of the $1 million prize, arguably the world’s top accolade, will be announced in Oslo on Oct. 9 from a field of 318 candidates. The prize can be
split up to three ways. The Swedish 17-year-old was nominated by three Norwegian lawmakers and two Swedish parliamentarians. Reuters
I think it's because her efforts to combat climate change brought peace to Israel and two of its Arab neighbors.
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A million mortgage borrowers fall through Covid safety net . . . About one million homeowners have fallen through the safety net Congress set up early in the coronavirus pandemic to protect borrowers from losing their homes, according to industry data, potentially leaving them vulnerable to foreclosure and eviction.
Homeowners with federally guaranteed mortgages can skip monthly payments for up to a year without penalty and make them up later. They must call their mortgage company to ask for the relief, known as forbearance, though they aren’t required to prove hardship. Wall Street Journal
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Hurricane Sally kills one amid catastrophic devastation . . . Though downgraded to a tropical storm by Wednesday afternoon, Sally's strong winds battered Alabama and Florida as the center moved over the Panhandle. In Pensacola, Florida, a section of the Pensacola Bay Bridge collapsed, and downtown was largely underwater. The hurricane killed at least one person in Orange Beach, Alabama, located in the state's eastern
Gulf Coast between Mobile and Pensacola. Mayor Tony Kennon told The Associated Press that another person was missing but couldn't release additional details. Flooding as the slow storm dumped intense rains has proven to be Sally's most serious danger: "Historic and catastrophic flooding, including widespread moderate to major river flooding, is unfolding," forecasters say. USA Today
Barr told prosecutors to consider charging violent protestors with sedition . . . Attorney General William Barr told the nation’s federal prosecutors to be aggressive when charging violent demonstrators with crimes, including potentially prosecuting them for plotting to overthrow the U.S. government, people familiar with the conversation said. In a conference call with U.S. attorneys across the country last week, Mr. Barr warned
that sometimes violent demonstrations across the U.S. could worsen as the November presidential election approaches. He encouraged the prosecutors to seek a number federal charges, including under a rarely used sedition law, even when state charges could apply, the people said. Wall
Street Journal
Freedom declines further on campus as students punished for criticizing BLM . . . The number of students being disciplined for exercising free speech on college campuses has skyrocketed in recent months as schools crack down on criticism of Black Lives Matter, according to a legal nonprofit that offers free assistance to students. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which defends free speech on college campuses, says that it
has seen an unprecedented number of First Amendment violations amid the ongoing wave of racial protests. Washington Free Beacon
Military weighed using heat ray, sound cannon against Lafayette Square demonstrators . . . Hours before federal police officers cleared a crowded park near the White House with smoke and tear gas on June 1, the lead military police officer in the Department of Defense for the D.C. region asked if the D.C. National Guard had a kind of military heat ray that might be deployed against demonstrators in the nation's capital, according to one of the most
senior National Guard officers on the scene. The Provost Marshal of Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region was looking for two things: a long range acoustic device, a kind of sound cannon known as an LRAD, and a device called the Active Denial System, or ADS. NPR
Families aim to build black "city of freedom" . . . Nineteen Black families who collectively purchased nearly 100 acres in Georgia they call the "future city of Freedom" want to inspire a sense of ownership and leave a legacy for the next generation, founders Renee Walters and Ashley Scott told Fox News. Walters and Scott call their project the Freedom Georgia Initiative and hosted a "Big Black Campout" over Labor Day weekend to spread
the word. Fox News
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Massive alligator seen swimming outside home during storm surge . . . Hurricane Sally appears to have brought more than just fierce winds, flooding, and a dangerous storm surge. Alabama resident, Tina Bennett, captured video of a giant alligator swimming in the water just outside of her Gulf Shores home on Wednesday. "Oh my god, this is outside of our window!" Bennett
exclaimed in a video posted on Twitter by WKRG-TV meteorologist Thomas Geboy. "It is a 10 or 12-foot alligator!" Fox News
Washington Gov. Inslee gives maggot-infested apples to wildfire victims . . . Washington state is known for its apples -- but Gov. Jay Inslee didn't appear to do the popular fruit any public relations favors last week. The Democrat, in an effort to bring comfort to communities in Eastern Washington devastated by recent wildfires, unknowingly and illegally gifted baskets of apples from his orchard in
Olympia that were later found to be infested with apple maggot larvae, according to reports. Thurston County, where Inslee lives, is an apple maggot quarantine area -- meaning it was illegal for Inslee to bring homegrown apples from that area to a non-quarantine area like Douglas County. Fox
News
I'm with the government, and I'm here to help.
Minneapolis City Council asks where the police are after voting to abolish the department . . . Minneapolis City Council members, who just two months ago moved to eliminate the police department, sounded the alarm during a Wednesday meeting about a surge in crime seen by their constituents. Council members pressed police Chief Medaria Arradondo about the uptick in crimes that included daylight carjackings, robberies, assaults, shootings and
street racing. “Residents are asking, ‘Where are the police?’” said Council Member Jamal Osman, noting that constituents’ calls to the Minneapolis Police Department have gone unanswered. New York Post
Why aren't they calling in the social workers?
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Keith
Keith Koffler
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