Blog Archive

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How to Make Trump’s Coronavirus Briefings Actually Good

(Bloomberg Opinion) — One of the greatest outrages in the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic has been the way the government has failed to offer the people useful, trustworthy information. That’s still true, even as President Donald Trump has restarted his daily Covid-19 briefings.

While some outlets have praised his more somber tone, the problem with the previous briefings was not a lack of pessimism and gloom.

The problem was that the president offered almost no usable information about the risks Americans faced, what was being done with our tax dollars to fight back, or an honest evaluation of the various efforts on the part of the pharmaceutical industry.

He has another chance now. But first, he should stop hogging the microphone. The new briefings have featured the president standing alone. What we need is not just more of Anthony Fauci, a bright spot from the earlier briefings, but

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Technology
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President Trump’s campaign to paint Joe Biden as mentally unfit becomes a gamble

WASHINGTON – Less than four months from the November election, President Donald Trump’s attacks on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s mental fitness are an integral part of the president’s reelection message: the focus of television advertisements, talking points and open challenges from the president.

But analysts have raised questions over whether Trump’s strategy of focusing on the former vice president’s age is backfiring with a key demographic: seniors.

Making it an even riskier play, the attacks have heightened expectations for Trump’s debate performances this fall and invited skepticism about his own fitness. The strategy itself has proven difficult to execute as Biden campaigns from his home in Delaware, limiting the gaffe-prone candidate’s opportunities for flubs.

For months, Biden, 77, has dismissed the name-calling and innuendo, but more recently he’s hitting back more forcefully and trying to turn the argument about mental fitness back on the 74-year-old Trump.

“This president talks

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Computer
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Trump’s campaign to paint Biden as mentally unfit becomes a gamble

WASHINGTON – Less than four months from the November election, President Donald Trump’s attacks on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s mental fitness are an integral part of the president’s re-election message: the focus of television advertisements, talking points and open challenges from the president.

But analysts have raised questions over whether Trump’s strategy of focusing on the former vice president’s age is backfiring with a key demographic – seniors.

Making it an even riskier play, the attacks have heightened expectations for Trump’s debate performances this fall and invited skepticism about his own fitness. The strategy itself has proven difficult to execute as Biden campaigns from his home in Delaware, limiting the gaffe-prone candidate’s opportunities for flubs.

For months, Biden, 77, has dismissed the name calling and innuendo but more recently he’s hitting back more forcefully and trying to turn the argument about mental fitness back on the 74-year-old Trump.

“This

… Read More
Computer
0

Donald Trump’s campaign to paint Joe Biden as mentally unfit becomes a gamble

WASHINGTON – Less than four months from the November election, President Donald Trump’s attacks on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s mental fitness are an integral part of the president’s re-election message: the focus of television advertisements, talking points and open challenges from the president.

But analysts have raised questions over whether Trump’s strategy of focusing on the former vice president’s age is backfiring with a key demographic – seniors.

Making it an even riskier play, the attacks have heightened expectations for Trump’s debate performances this fall and invited skepticism about his own fitness. The strategy itself has proven difficult to execute as Biden campaigns from his home in Delaware, limiting the gaffe-prone candidate’s opportunities for flubs.

For months, Biden, 77, has dismissed the name calling and innuendo but more recently he’s hitting back more forcefully and trying to turn the argument about mental fitness back on the 74-year-old Trump.

“This

… Read More
Computer
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Trump’s Republican convention plans shrink as coronavirus cases surge

US President Donald Trump’s plans for a grand Republican Party convention keep shrinking.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has announced it is sharply restricting attendance on three of the four nights of its convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month.

As the Republicans looks for ways to move forward while coronavirus cases are spiking in the state, party leader Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to RNC members that only the roughly 2,500 regular delegates to the convention would be permitted to attend the first three nights.

Delegates, their guests and alternate delegates would be allowed for the final night, on August 27, when Mr Trump is set to deliver his acceptance speech.

The Republicans were already forced to move most of the convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, after local officials ruled out a full-capacity crowd during the pandemic.

“When we made these changes, we had hoped to be able to

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Programming
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Trump’s grand GOP convention plans shrink as virus surges

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plans for a grand convention keep shrinking.

The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that it is sharply restricting attendance on three of the four nights of its convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month.

As the GOP looks for ways to move forward while coronavirus cases are spiking in the state, party leader Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to RNC members that only the roughly 2,500 regular delegates to the convention would be permitted to attend the first three nights. Delegates, their guests and alternate delegates would be allowed for the final night, Aug. 27, when Trump is set to deliver his acceptance speech.

The GOP already was forced to move most of the convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, after local officials ruled out a full-capacity crowd during the pandemic.

“When we made these changes, we had hoped to be able to plan a

… Read More
Programming
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Trump’s plan to expel foreign students was an attack on U.S. science leadership

The Trump administration told international students at U.S. colleges and universities that they couldn't stay in this country if they did not attend classes this fall in person. Shown are students at UCLA. <span class="copyright">(Los Angeles Times)</span>
The Trump administration told international students at U.S. colleges and universities that they couldn’t stay in this country if they did not attend classes this fall in person. Shown are students at UCLA. (Los Angeles Times)

From the Trump administration perspective, suddenly forcing international students out of the country must have looked like three wins in one. It would have ejected mostly non-European immigrants, advanced the administration’s new demand that schools reopen their campuses despite the threat posed by COVID-19, and financially and academically harmed universities, which Trump views as bastions of liberal indoctrination.

Not to mention striking a blow against science, and especially against the nation’s leadership in scientific research, which has come about largely because of its globally admired university programs in engineering and laboratory science.

At least the odious preliminary directive was withdrawn Tuesday, though we don’t know how new students and those whose visas are ending

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Computer
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Trump’s campaign to open schools provokes mounting backlash even from GOP

President Donald Trump has been on a rampage against public schools and colleges all week, threatening to use the power of the federal government to strong-arm officials into reopening classrooms.

But his effort is now creating a backlash: An overwhelming alignment of state and even Republican-aligned organizations oppose the rush to reopen schools. The nation’s leading pediatricians, Republican state school chiefs, Christian colleges and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all challenged parts of Trump’s pressure campaign.

“Threats are not helpful,” Joy Hofmeister, the Republican state superintendent of public instruction in Oklahoma, told POLITICO on Friday. “We do not need to be schooled on why it’s important to reopen.”

Both Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have issued federal funding threats to schools that don’t fully reopen. On Friday, Trump went a step further in blasting online learning — which many school districts and colleges are planning to use

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Internet
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Trump’s awful new policy on foreign college students

It’s hardly breaking news that Donald Trump’s immigration policies are laced with bigotry. From putting children in cages to justifying it by saying their families “infest our country,” it’s no secret the president considers immigrants as something lesser.

But new guidelines announced Monday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement illustrate just how short-sighted the administration has become in trying to make America as Caucasian as possible. In a much-anticipated update on foreign students attending U.S. colleges and universities, ICE said such students won’t be allowed to enter the country if they are attending one of the growing number of schools with no in-person classes this upcoming academic year. If students are already in the U.S. and classes at their school are taught completely online, they must transfer to another school with face-to-face instruction or leave the country.

The guidelines are not only cruel, but nonsensical. They hurt just about everyone –

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Technology
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TikTokers are attempting to shut down Trump’s online merch store, but their tactic may not work

Trump.
Trump.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

  • In a viral meme, TikTok users are encouraging others to engage in a practice known as “Denial of Inventory,” hoping to wreak havoc on Trump’s online stores.

  • Users are encouraged to hold items in their online cart with no intent to purchase, making it impossible for others to buy those items.

  • Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, suggested on Twitter that the attack didn’t work, and a Shopify consultant told Insider that the strategy being employed won’t work on most Shopify websites. 

  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Emboldened by their success in seemingly inflating attendance expectations for President Donald Trump’s Tulsa Rally, TikTokers are devising new strategies to irritate the presidential incumbent. 

Younger critics of President Trump are utilizing the sometimes harmful effects of shopping cart abandonment as the tool in their latest crusade, loading up their online carts with millions of dollars of Trump products from

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Software