Trump Stacks Rallies, Biden Back in Basement, Ahead of Final Debate

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Trump Stacks Rallies, Biden Back in Basement, Ahead of Final Debate

(Headline USA) President Donald Trump shunned formal debate practice Tuesday and was heading instead for another of his big rallies, two days ahead of the final presidential debate.

Democrat Joe Biden took the opposite approach, holing up for “debate prep,” according to his campaign.

Trump is increasingly relying on his signature campaign rallies to deliver a closing message to voters and maximize turnout among his GOP base.

Trump’s team is calling for a more in-depth focus on foreign policy in the debate, believing it to be a strong suit for the incumbent, but there is not expected to be any shift away from the announced topics, which include a segment devoted to national security.

Trump was to hold a rally Tuesday evening in Erie, Pennsylvania, a part of the state instrumental in his victory four years ago, when he was the first GOP candidate since Ronald Reagan to carry the county.

Erie County, which includes the aging industrial city in the state’s northwest corner, went for President Barack Obama by five points in 2012 but broke for Trump by two in 2016. That swing, fueled by Trump’s success with white, working class voters, was replicated in small cities and towns and rural areas and helped him overcome Hillary Clinton’s victories in the state’s big cities.

Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, was holding tele-rallies meant to boost vulnerable Republican Senate and House candidates, and he was leading a meeting of the White House coronavirus task force.

Before leaving the White House, Trump was taping an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” and a town hall with local news conglomerate Sinclair that will air on Wednesday.

Before the debate, the president grumbled that he’d be at a disadvantage to his challenger.

“I just think it’s very unfair,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from Arizona on Monday evening. “I will participate, but it’s very unfair that they changed the topics and it’s very unfair that, again, we have an anchor who’s totally biased.”

As Trump was on the road, Biden huddled at his lakeside home in Wilmington, Delaware, with senior adviser Ron Klain, who is in charge of debate preparation, and a group of aides.

Biden, who taped his own interview with “60 Minutes” on Monday at a theater near his home, has no public events on Tuesday or Wednesday and wasn’t scheduled to travel except to the debate itself on Thursday. His running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris was out campaigning, and he was expected to receive a late boost from former President Obama, who was to host an event Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Biden is now tested about every two days for the coronavirus and has never been found to be positive. He suggested before last week’s planned second debate in Miami that the proceedings shouldn’t happen if Trump was still testing positive for COVID-19 after contracting the virus earlier in the month.

Biden has been tightlipped about his preparation for the Nashville debate, saying only that he has focused on watching Trump’s past statements on key issues. Biden’s advisers see the final debate as a chance to discuss foreign policy, which they, too, see as one of their candidate’s strengths. Biden has praised the Trump administration for helping to broker deals that the Gulf states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed recognizing Israel, but otherwise has accused the president of shunning allies and making foreign relations more volatile at most points around the globe.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Hollywood Pummels Actress Kirstie Alley For Endorsing Trump

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Hollywood Pummels Actress Kirstie Alley For Endorsing Trump

Actress Kirstie Alley, known for her roles in “Star Trek” and “Cheers,” endorsed President Donald Trump on Saturday, citing his job performance and outsider status.

Alley has become increasingly outspoken about politics in recent months, but this is the first time she has revealed that she voted for Trump in 2016.

She initially endorsed him during the Republican primary, but dropped her endorsement after the Hollywood Reporter tape in which Trump made disparaging comments about women surfaced.

As predicted, Alley immediately faced an outpouring of criticism from her fellow Hollywood-ites.

Director Judd Apatow said:

Actress Patricia Arquette:

Actress Marina Sirtis:

Comedian Natasha Rothwell:

Screenwriter Bruno Amato:

Alley hit back and slammed the “nasty” critics.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen so much name-calling in my life. Definitely not on my site here anyway I guess I’m not allowed to have a viewpoint without being called a really nasty names by what I’m going to suppose are really nasty people,” she said.

Debate Commission Shifts Topics Away from Trump’s Foreign Policy Strength

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Debate Commission Shifts Topics Away from Trump’s Foreign Policy Strength

President Donald Trump’s campaign is demanding that the Commission on Presidential Debates restore the original topics for the final presidential debate, arguing that the current topics are too biased in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said in a letter to the committee that foreign policy should be the primary focus of the next debate, since that has been the “long-standing custom.”

The commission allegedly promised both candidates that foreign policy would be the main topic, but then released a line-up that includes climate change (again), race, and the coronavirus pandemic, with no sign of foreign policy.

All the topics were covered extensively in the previous debate between the nominees, as well as their respective town halls last week.

Climate change consistently ranks at the bottom of lists of issues voters care most about in surveys.

It is clear that Biden is “desperate to avoid conversations about his own foreign policy record,” Stepien said, and the commission is helping him do it.

Given the commission’s recent rule changes, and the debate moderator’s deep ties to the Democratic Party, the Trump campaign has a fair point.

“The Commission’s pro-Biden antics have turned the entire debate season into a fiasco and it is little wonder why the public has lost faith in its objectivity,” Stepien added.

Biden’s campaign, however, accused Trump’s team of lying and said the president is just trying to sidestep questions about his administration’s “disastrous” response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s campaign made it clear the president will participate in the debate even though the “biased” debate commission has stacked the cards against him.

Trump is “committed” to debating Biden, said Stepien, but will not refrain from calling out the commission’s attempts “to provide advantage to their favorite candidate.”

Judge Orders Speedy Release of Ghislaine Maxwell Transcripts

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Judge Orders Speedy Release of Ghislaine Maxwell Transcripts

(Associated Press) Transcripts of interviews lawyers conducted with the ex-girlfriend of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be released as soon as possible, a judge ordered on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska said the transcripts of two days of depositions in 2016 of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and related documents along with the deposition transcript of an anonymous accuser should be released publicly as soon as is practicable.

She gave lawyers an unspecified amount of time to make “minimal redactions” to block personally identifiable information that would reveal the names of nonparties or their families.

A day earlier, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that Preska properly decided that the public had a right to access documents from legal proceedings and that transcripts should be unsealed because arguments by Maxwell’s lawyers were meritless.

The depositions were taken as part of a civil lawsuit brought against Maxwell by one of Epstein’s accusers.

The lawsuit was eventually settled.

Lawyers for Maxwell, 58, had argued that the documents reflecting seven hours of interviews over two days should remain sealed in part to protect her right to a fair trial in July on charges that she helped Epstein traffic and sexually abuse teenage girls in the 1990s.

They noted that portions of the transcripts relate to perjury charges in the indictment she faces.

She has pleaded not guilty.

Maxwell has been incarcerated since her arrest in early July.

If convicted, she could face up to 35 years in prison.

The arrest came a year after 66-year-old Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking.

He allegedly killed himself in August 2019 at a federal jail in Manhattan where he was awaiting trial without bail.

In 2008 in Florida, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.

He spent 13 months in jail, paid settlements to victims and remained a registered sex offender.

NC Gov. Tells Biden Dems Will Drag Disgraced Senate Nominee ‘Across the Line’

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NC Gov. Tells Biden Dems Will Drag Disgraced Senate Nominee ‘Across the Line’

Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper was caught on a hot microphone telling presidential candidate Joe Biden that they would drag disgraced Senate candidate Cal Cunningham across the line to win the Senate seat.

Cooper met with Biden during a campaign stop on Monday when reporters captured video footage of Cooper assuring Biden that Cunningham — who has had at least two affairs, according to conservative news site National File, citing multiple sources — would unseat incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis despite the “frustrating” scandal.

“Thanks for coming out, you didn’t have to do this,” Biden told Cooper.

“No I wanted to, I wanted to express my strong support for you, and I think we’re all going to get across the line,” Cooper responded. “I think Cal’s going to get across the line, too.”

Biden’s reply is unintelligible, but Cooper can be heard saying: “I know that’s frustrating but we’ll get it across.”

Cunningham lost the endorsements of North Carolina’s two largest circulation newspapers, the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News and Observer, as a result of the scandal.

He is the first Democrat not to be endorsed by the Charlotte Observer in 22 years.

But despite the criticism he has faced over recent weeks, Cunningham’s poll numbers continue to remain above Tillis’s, although recent polls show the gap closing.

North Carolina Republicans believe these numbers will change closer to the election.

“I don’t think it’s been baked in yet,” Michael Whatley, the state GOP chairman, told Politico. “It’s going to be much more prevalent in voters minds shortly, and I think that will definitely move it.”

Trump, House Republicans Want Special Counsel to Investigate Biden Scandals

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Trump, House Republicans Want Special Counsel to Investigate Biden Scandals

House Republicans and President Donald Trump want the Justice Department this week to appoint a special counsel to investigate evidence that shows former Vice President Joe Biden played a role in his son Hunter’s overseas business dealings.

The New York Post published a bombshell report last week revealing email evidence that indicates Joe Biden met with a Ukrainian natural gas company executive at the behest of Hunter, who was on the company’s board at the time.

“These alleged revelations raise serious questions about former Vice President Joe Biden’s reported participation with his son’s business, dealings, specifically whether the former vice president (1) received foreign monies during his tenure in the Obama administration and (2) if former Vice President Biden allowed his son to peddle access to his father with foreign business entities,” House Republicans wrote in a letter to Attorney General William Barr.

The letter is signed by 11 Republicans, including Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Ted Yoho, R-Fla., and Andy Harris, R-Md.

The congressmen argued that an independent investigation into the emails is necessary in order to determine whether the elder Biden “misused his office for personal gain.”

“If these reports about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, are true, the former vice president fell far short of his responsibility to uphold his constitutional oath and betrayed the sacred trust of the American people,” the letter says.

Biden and his presidential campaign have denied the allegations, but neither have they denied the legitimacy of the emails.

President Trump is also urging Barr to investigate the matter, and suggested the appointment of a special counsel as well.

“This is the laptop from hell,” Trump said. “Even if he didn’t get all of this money, you can’t go to China and have the son walk out with $1.5 billion. … You can’t go to Ukraine with $83,000 a month. … You can’t get $3.5 million from the mayor of Moscow’s wife.”

“And you didn’t have a job before your father was vice president,” Trump continued. “You can’t go and go with your father and every stop you make, you pick up $1 billion.”

This report reveals “major corruption,” Trump added, and the American public deserves to know the full extent of this corruption “before the election.”

“We’ve got to get the attorney general to act,” Trump said. “He’s gotta act, and he’s gotta act fast, and he’s gotta appoint somebody.”

Democrats have tried to dismiss the recent reports about Joe Biden by claiming that they are the result of “Russian misinformation.”

Over the weekend, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., argued that the emails the New York Post obtained were “from the Kremlin.”

But Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe made it clear this week that there is no evidence to support such claims.

“Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” Ratcliffe said. “This is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.”

Biden Corruption Story Got TWICE as Much Attention Due to Twitter, Facebook Censorship

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Biden Corruption Story Got TWICE as Much Attention Due to Twitter, Facebook Censorship

By banning circulation of the New York Post’s bombshell report about the role former Vice President Joe Biden played in his son’s overseas business dealings, Twitter “nearly doubled” the amount of times the story was shared, according to a media intelligence firm.

Zignal Labs reported that shares of the Post’s report skyrocketed after Twitter prevented users from sharing the article in their tweets or direct messages.

Before the ban, the story was shared about 5.5 thousand times every 15 minutes.

After the ban, the story was shared 10 thousand times every 15 minutes, the firm found, according to MIT Technology Review.

Facebook also began censoring the report, but did not prevent users from sharing it.

Rather, the social media platform slapped a “warning” label on it and announced that it would be treated as misinformation until a third-party fact checker had reviewed it.

Twitter, on the other hand, suppressed the story entirely, claiming it violated a 2018 policy prohibiting the sharing of “content obtained without authorization.”

Another Twitter spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the story was removed because of its “lack of authoritative reporting.”

The company also suspended the Post’s account — it has not been able to tweet its own stories since October 14th.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that the decision to block the story “with zero context” was a bad decision.

But the platform still has not allowed the Post to regain access to its account.

Several of the publication’s employees confirmed that Twitter is trying to force the Post to delete its tweet about the Biden story.

Twitter confirmed that the Post “has been informed what is necessary to unlock their account.”

ONLY TRUMP: Late-Night Comics’ Jokes Avoid Target-Rich Biden

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ONLY TRUMP: Late-Night Comics’ Jokes Avoid Target-Rich Biden

(Headline USA) From the perspective of late-night joke writers, there’s really only one person running for president.

A staggering 97% of the jokes Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon told about the candidates in September targeted President Donald Trump, a study released Monday found.

That’s 455 jokes about Trump and 14 about Democrat Joe Biden, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University.

That doesn’t even count 64 jokes made about Trump’s family or administration, the study said.

That’s despite the target-rich opportunities presented by the gaffe-prone, scandal-plagued Biden and his family.

“When Trump’s onstage, everyone else is blacked out,” said Robert Lichter, communication professor at George Mason.

He’s been studying late-night humor and politics since 1992.

Republicans are usually targeted more than Democrats by the comedy writers, but the difference has never been this stark.

The closest was the 2016 campaign, when Trump was the punchline for 78% of the jokes to Hillary Clinton’s 22%, the center said.

That’s good news if, like Biden, your goal is to essentially make Trump the central issue in the campaign.

It may present a real challenge for the comics if Biden defeats Trump in next month’s election, however.

What will they have to poke fun at?

“I think they will find a way to keep making jokes about Trump, even after he leaves office,” Lichter said.

There’s precedent for that.

In 2001, late-night comedians made former President Bill Clinton the subject of more jokes than his successor, George W. Bush, Lichter said.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

VOTING BOOTH: BLM Shirts Acceptable, MAGA Hats are NOT

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VOTING BOOTH: BLM Shirts Acceptable, MAGA Hats are NOT

(Headline USA) A poll worker in Memphis, Tennessee, has been fired after turning away early voters who were wearing “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe” shirts, an elections official said Monday.

The worker was fired Friday after officials received a call from a witness at the Dave Wells Community Center in Memphis, Shelby County Election Commission spokeswoman Suzanne Thompson said.

Tennessee law does not allow voters to wear items bearing the name of a candidate or a political party in a polling place.

But state law does not prohibit statements such as “Black Lives Matter,” Thompson said.

The number of voters who were told to leave was not immediately known, but Thompson said it was only a few.

The poll worker thought the statements were tied to the Democratic Party, Thompson said.

“That was pretty bad,” she said. “They were not supposed to be turned away.”

While BLM seems to be welcome at polling places, voters bearing apparel with the insignia “MAGA” (for pro-Trump motto “Make America Great Again”) have been prohibited or frowned upon in many locations.

Last month a Georgia voter was sent a “letter of instruction” by the State Election Board for wearing a MAGA hat to his polling place in 2016.

Election officials in Texas have instituted a similar double-standard.

Laws are different in each state, but generally MAGA is considered tethered to a specific candidate — President Trump — while BLM is a broader political statement, which is what election officials cite as justification for their decisions.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Dopey Twitter Mob Demands Boycott of Company That is Unrelated to Their Senate Target

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Dopey Twitter Mob Demands Boycott of Company That is Unrelated to Their Senate Target

Liberals began demanding a boycott of Perdue Chicken after Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga. — who is not connected to the company in any way — mispronounced the name of vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

Perdue faced backlash over the weekend after he purposefully mispronounced Harris’s name during a rally for President Donald Trump on Friday.

“The most insidious thing that Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden are trying to perpetuate, and Bernie [Sanders] and Elizabeth [Warren] and Kamala — Kah-ma-la, or Kah-mah-la, or Kamala-mala-mala — I don’t know, whatever,” Perdue said.

The senator’s comments were not intentional, according to his office, but that didn’t stop liberals from immediately condemning Perdue as “racist” and “sexist.”

Then, in a strange turn of events, activists dragged Perdue Chicken, believing the company was somehow connected to the senator.

The controversy did help Sen. Perdue’s opponent, Jon Ossoff, who said his campaign raised nearly $2 million after the rally.

Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, also took a shot at the senator during a campaign event on Sunday, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Let me help what’s-his-face pronounce this: M-V-P. If he can’t remember her name, how about Madam Vice President?” Emhoff said.

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