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President @realDonaldTrump on Joe Biden's very bad day: He forgot Mitt Romney's name, forgot what state he was in, and said he's "running as a proud Democrat for the Senate" pic.twitter.com/pTnL4KRKWS
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) October 12, 2020
Reporter: “56% of Americans said that they are better off today than they were 4 years ago under the Obama-Biden administration. Why should they vote for you?”
Biden: “Well if they think that, they probably shouldn’t”https://t.co/Oi63IYmXPI
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) October 13, 2020
The hearing is a lot better today. Reasonable questions from Senators Graham and Feinstein. Feinstein is off in the emotional weeds, but so far questions have been appropriate and reasonable. Amy Barrett is obviously outstanding. She has a comprehensive knowledge of the law and factors affecting judges.
I think the senate confirmation hearings have become theater. Politicians use the hearings for their own purposes and distort what should be a straight forward and short process.
Amy Barrett should be confirmed by 90 plus votes. If not, the system is overly politicized and broken.
“…Insiders expect the Justice Department to charge Google with violating antitrust laws this week, in what would be the biggest such action against a U.S. tech company in two decades. But questions still swirl around how broad and tight Justice’s case will be.
Why it matters: The suit against Google will focus on monopolistic behavior, but it’s also likely to be the last chance for the Trump Administration to act against the tech giants it blames for anti-conservative bias before an election that could oust it.
Where it stands: The case is expected to focus on allegations of competitive abuses related to search.
Between the lines: Proving today’s tech giants are monopolists who cause consumer harm is challenging since companies like Google give most of their ad-supported services away for free.
The intrigue: In a sprawling report released last week, House Democrats made the case that Google does in fact hold a harmful monopoly in search.
.@tedcruz deconstructs the Democrats’ false claims on the history and precedent of judicial nominationshttps://t.co/9Mjo3cHRlZ pic.twitter.com/fuv7q2Dgjj
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/YellowCube7/status/1315083285383401472
You can’t make this up
FLORIDA – SEE YOU TONIGHT! 🇺🇸#PeacefulProtest pic.twitter.com/3U2QQbWWKW
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) October 12, 2020
.@ChuckGrassley warns against applying a religious test for the the Supreme Court.
"Some of my colleagues may once again try to misrepresent and outright disparage Judge Barrett's religious beliefs and affiliations." pic.twitter.com/XLjyTooo6w
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/SunshineSt8Sam/status/1315120044192468996
https://twitter.com/SunshineSt8Sam/status/1315120053478739968
https://twitter.com/SunshineSt8Sam/status/1315120062219653120
Hat tip to Kane
This is an amazing chart. Gallup. pic.twitter.com/GI8DpHOKgU
— 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘑. 𝘋𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 (@StevenJDuffield) October 10, 2020
I have to work this morning, but I have watched a few minutes of the confirmation hearing. Amy Barrett sits with a black mask covering her face. Her hands are not visible below a desk. It is almost as if she is handcuffed or otherwise restrained. She is still, no movement. Her bright maroon dress serves as an orange jump suit.
Senators berate her about the latest Democrat talking points. Each Democrat senator becomes more and more strident, emotional and unreal. The discussion is about Trump and what a monster he is. Covid! What a monster of a disease it is. Trump policies will kill people. Senators give examples of individuals who will be killed by Republican policies. Americans are portrayed as victims of unfair and abusive health care designed to either kill them, force them into bankruptcy, or deny them of their rights.
Barrett sits in silence. Her face unseen because of the mask. She blinks occasionally. She is alone. No person sits within 10 feet of her, yet she is still masked.
Is this a confirmation hearing or some insane third world kangaroo court? It is a weird media driven horror movie with psychological instead of physical torture. Intermittent Republican political statements serve to enhance the torture aspect of it. What has happened to us?
The government has become a disgrace.
Democrats are so confident Biden will win they are looking to import foreign help to cheat at the polls and in the counting. If left to their own devices, Democrats will count and count and count the votes until they get the result they want.
Don’t trust them.
Vote at the polling booth.
They were supported by house and senate Democrats and the liberal media. There is a Democrat cabal in bureaucratic Washington that also helped. It is the biggest political scandal in American history.
I reject totally the cockamamie nonsense the woke left has invented about Columbus.
This is an interesting interview with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a senior member of the Saudi government. Prince Bandar explains the Saudi response to recent historical events relating to Israel and the Palestinians, and tells young Saudis that they should be proud of their government and their country. At the same time he clearly distances the Saudis from the Palestinians and blames the Palestinians for botching multiple opportunities for peace in the region and with Israel. In light of recent events, this could be viewed as an early indicator of Saudi acceptance of the Abraham Accords, and a testing of waters with the Saudi people.
The link above is to a BBC article. American news and media will not seriously report on the Trump Administration success in the region for what I consider obvious reasons of political bias and an upcoming election. Peace could break out across the globe and American media would blame Trump for unfairly disadvantaging war.
Michael Barone:
“…The COVID-19 death rate per million is about one-fifth that of the 1957-58 Asian flu and one-third of the 1968-70 Hong Kong flu. Yet these earlier pandemics had only “evanescent economic consequences” and did not “leave any deep traumatic traces in memories” of the 350 million people who, like Smil (and me), were 10 or older during both. “Countries did not resort to any mass-scale economic lockdowns, enforce any long-lasting school closures, ban sports events or cut flight schedules deeply.”
Why not? “Was it because we had no fear-reinforcing 24/7 cable news, no Twitter and no incessant and instant case-and-death tickers on all our electronic screens?” asks the non-cellphone-owner Smil. “Or is it we ourselves who have changed, by valuing recurrent but infrequent risks differently?”
Some of both is my tentative answer. As I’ve written about previously, Americans’ child-rearing practices are increasingly risk-averse. But this is not entirely consistent. Kids are kept in car seats till age 9, then encouraged to ride bicycles in heavy traffic a few years later. And some Americans are more risk-averse than others. Polls show that political liberals are more likely than political conservatives to wear masks and support extended lockdowns (except for “mostly peaceful” demonstrations against police).
Partisan politics and personal distaste for Donald Trump plays a role. As ProPublica’s Alec MacGillis documented in a searing New Yorker article, teacher union members didn’t adamantly oppose reopening schools until Donald Trump called for it. A Trump tweet that the sun rises in the east would, it seems, move many Americans to head out to the Pacific coast and wait for it to rise there.
But one-dimensional risk-aversion has produced extended lockdowns with significant public health costs: reduced cancer and cardiac screening, fewer childhood vaccinations, undue skepticism toward any COVID vaccine. And it’s plainly damaging liberals’ own causes.
Thus Democrats, unlike Republicans, have been refraining from door-to-door campaigning — until Oct. 1, when Democrats decided they needed the personal touch. Similarly, Democratic pols encouraged their voters’ aversion to voting in person, until they realized that there would be many spoiled or undelivered ballots in states with voters and officials unfamiliar with postal voting.
Lockdowns, more stringent in Democratic than Republican states, have produced higher unemployment and greater drops in state revenues. Keeping unionized public schools closed is driving parents to private schools, homeschooling, and improvised pods.
As New York Times columnist Ross Douthat notes, public schools are now open for half of white pupils but only one-quarter of blacks and Hispanics. For many minority children, he writes, “a key legacy of 2020 may be a well-intentioned liberal betrayal of their interests, a hollowing-out of the institutions that protect and serve them, and the deepening of America’s racial inequalities.” But extreme risk aversion imposes few costs for affluent liberals who can work comfortably and at full pay on home computers…”
