Current Events Discussions - Temple Illuminatus2024-03-29T05:33:23Zhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/groups/group/forum?groupUrl=current-events&feed=yes&xn_auth=noAmericans are wailing what Dr. Peková revealed to the world about the origin of coronavirustag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2021-02-24:6363372:Topic:35765102021-02-24T21:08:07.432ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Americans are wailing what Dr. Peková revealed to the world about the origin of coronavirus</h1>
<div class="post-hero-image clear-fix" style="text-align: center;">Source:<span> …</span></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Americans are wailing what Dr. Peková revealed to the world about the origin of coronavirus</h1>
<div class="post-hero-image clear-fix" style="text-align: center;">Source:<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://petrabostlova.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/americani-kvili-co-dr-pekova-svetu-odhalila-o-puvodu-koronaviru-a-usiluji-to-zahrat-do-outu-zbytecne-je-to-venku-modleme-se-za-sonu-pekovou-prosim/">https://petrabostlova.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/americani-kvili-co-d...</a></div>
<div class="post-hero-image clear-fix" style="text-align: center;">Translated by google</div>
<div class="post-hero-image clear-fix" style="text-align: center;"></div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;"><font>The Czech molecular biologist explained in detail why she is of the opinion that Coronavirus originated in the laboratory, but in the USA a crack broke out to such an extent that a text appeared on the Nature Medicine server that tries to refute the claim with the reference that it is a natural mutation ! At the beginning of the analysis there is a full refutation, but at the end there is only talk of low plausibility and the need to collect more data about how it really is! MUDr. Soňa Peková revealed too uncomfortable the truth and explained to ordinary people in the video things that were supposed to remain permanently forbidden to the general public!</font></h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>Czech molecular biologist and head of Tilia Laboratories MUDr. Soňa Peková has literally become a Czech national celebrity and star in the last few days, not only because her laboratory was the first in the Czech Republic to test one of the first cases infected with Coronavir and not only because it developed a new and cheap method to test this virus. Her interview for the Slovak news television TA3 aroused the greatest interest, where she openly talked about the origin of the Sars-Cov-2 virus</font><span> </span><strong><font>and explained in detail and in layman's terms why she thinks Coronavirus originated in the laboratory and not by a natural natural mutation somewhere in animals in nature.</font></strong><span> </span><font>It is not often that a top biologist is able to explain to ordinary lay people how to recognize that one virus comes from a laboratory and another does not.</font></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-003837.135.png"><img src="https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-003837.135-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39917"/></a><br/><font>MUDr. Soňa Peková during an interview in the laboratory.</font><br/><br/></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font><font class="">In an interview with Dr. Peková explained that viruses generally consist of RNA strands that tend to mutate, change, merge, and alter, especially in those regions of RNA that take care of protein production. Thus, changes in this region of RNA are so dynamic that the influence of nature is natural and mutations originating from natural cycles are the most common form of mutations. </font></font><span> </span><strong><font><font class="">However, every virus and every RNA in it has something called a "control room," a control site that controls mutations in the rest of the RNA.</font></font></strong><span> </span><font><font class="">This region of RNA at the very beginning of the helix could be compared to some kind of boot sector on a computer disk from which the operating system itself boots. Basically, it can be thought of as a BIOS interface. And when biologists look at this stretch of RNA, something just doesn't play at once.</font></font></p>
<h6 style="text-align: center;"><font>The Coronavir RNA Control Center looks like someone turned it upside down, and it all worked perfectly.</font></h6>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>As MUDr. Soňa Peková, from the biologist's point of view, it looks as if, figuratively speaking, someone broke into the headquarters of this RNA control room, turned it all upside down, threw out all the cabinets and drawers, in such a way that it is very difficult to believe that on the one hand, this process originated by chance in nature, and at the same time, on the other hand, that this chaotic and random process would not be killed by the virus.</font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><font>The RNA control room itself is the main point of control of mutations in the rest of the RNA, and in this case it would mean believing that in nature the loader and control room of the virus were overwritten to complete perfection</font></strong><span> </span><font>without compromising the function of the virus. And that is why Dr. Peková believes that Coronavirus could have originated in the laboratory, because such fundamental changes in the RNA control room of this virus would practically not have occurred naturally in the case without it eliminating the virus.</font></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-010200.999.png"><img src="https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-010200.999-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39916"/></a><br/><font>Dr. Peková shows the RNA regulatory region of Coronavir, where the so-called control room is located.</font><br/><br/></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>MUDr. In the interview, Soňa Peková explained in such a comprehensible way that the RNA virus works that it caused dismay in certain places. Her explanation of what had happened in the RNA control room of the virus crossed that line of separation of incomprehensible information from the general public.</font><span> </span><strong><font>She explained to the audience that the Sars-Cov-2 RNA control room had undergone massive gene changes and transcripts, insertions (deletions of sequences), deletions (deletions of sequences) and other complex changes</font></strong><span> </span><font>in such large quantities that, if done by nature, completely chaotic and random, the virus would simply die because it could not work and be in order.</font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>And when a molecular biologist explains to ordinary people in such a comprehensible way how it works, there is a huge roar, noise and intense "damage control" elsewhere with the sole aim of denying this information and pretending to be a natural, albeit unusual, natural one. mutation without any intervention by humans and their laboratories. And that is exactly what happened, the US government issued an order and ordered US scientists to deny this information, both the information of Dr. Pek as well as similarly tuned statements of Chinese scientists.</font></p>
<h6 style="text-align: center;"><font>US government urges scientists to write counter-analysis refuting Chinese allegations, but also statements by Czech molecular biologist</font></h6>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>Two days ago, the American server Nature published an analysis [</font><span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://href.li/?https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9" target="_blank"><font>1</font></a><span> </span><font>] in the Medicine section , which is more similar to crisis management, the aim of which is to refute all information that Coronavirus originated in the laboratory. The paradox is that Dr. herself In an interview for TA3, Peková refers to a laboratory in Wuhan, that is the well-known National Reference Laboratory in Wuhan, she does not talk about American laboratories anywhere, but paradoxically it is not China that needs to refute something about this theory, it is American scientists who there is in the role of the so-called needy goose.</font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>The analysis itself is full of scientific and biological phrases and information about the genome, which probably won't tell us much, but I will only point out the introduction and end of this text from the document itself.</font><span> </span><strong><font>As it turns out, this is not a comprehensive scientific study, but rather a political proclamation to protect the US that US laboratories are not behind Coronavir's gene manipulation.</font></strong><span> </span><font>The article on Nature Medicine itself is called </font><span> </span><em><strong><font>The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2</font></strong></em><span> </span><font>and in its introduction completely excludes the laboratory origin of Coronavir. At the beginning of the analysis it is written:</font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><font>Since the first reports of new cases of pneumonia (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, there has been considerable discussion about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 (also known as HCoV-19). SARS-CoV-2 infections are now widespread, and since 11 March 2020, 121,564 cases with 4,373 deaths have been confirmed in more than 110 countries.</font></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><font>SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause serious illness, while HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with mild symptoms. Here is an overview of what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from a comparative analysis of genomic data. We offer an insight into the remarkable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss the scenarios under which they might arise.</font><span> </span><strong><font>Our analyzes clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a deliberately manipulated virus.</font></strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>Right at the beginning of this analysis, it is declared at the end of the second paragraph that Coronavirus does not come from a laboratory. The analysis itself is followed by various arguments, there is also a graph, but at the end of this analysis there is a strange change and propositional shift in statements that are much more cautious and not as authoritative as the statement at the beginning of the analysis, judge for yourself. At the end of the analysis, the authors state:</font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><font>The genomic features described herein may partially explain the infectivity and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Although evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a deliberately engineered virus, it is currently impossible to demonstrate or refute other theories of its origin described herein. However, because we have observed all significant features of SARS-CoV-2, including the optimized RBD site and polybasic cleavage in related coronaviruses in nature, we</font><span> </span><strong><font>do not believe that any type of laboratory scenario is plausible.</font></strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><font>More scientific data could change the balance of evidence and favor one hypothesis over another.</font></strong><span> </span><font>Obtaining related viral sequences from animal sources would be the most accurate way to detect viral origins. For example, future observations of an intermediate or fully formed polybasic cleavage site in SARS-CoV-2 virus from animals would further support natural selection hypotheses. It would also be useful to obtain more genetic and functional data on SARS-CoV-2, including animal studies.</font></em></p>
<h6 style="text-align: center;"><font>First a denial of theory and then a statement about mere unreliability. However, the US military is clear that it is fleeing the virus from Europe and there will be no Defender 2020 exercise!</font></h6>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font><font class="">Well that's a surprise. So from the categorical statement in the second paragraph at the beginning of the analysis that the analyzes show that Coronavirus is not a laboratory construct, we came to the conclusion that it is currently impossible to prove or refute the described theories of Coronavirus origin and that the theory is only "Unbelievable". And it's very clear to me why American scientists have done this.</font></font><span> </span><strong><font><font class="">They want to keep the door open for the future, in case it breaks and the truth is open to the public</font></font></strong><font>. Scientists do not want to risk discrediting themselves as part of a political campaign and damage control management by the US government, to which information is beginning to leak and China accuses the US through its ministry spokesperson that US troops dragged Coronavirus into China last October during World Military Games that took place in Wuhan.</font></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-002431.531.png"><img src="https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-002431.531-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39921"/></a><br/><font>Laboratory workplace Dr. Pekové.</font><br/><br/></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>Once again, one crucial thing needs to be mentioned. The US military has de facto canceled and unofficially canceled [</font><span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://href.li/?https://www.rt.com/news/483360-nato-defender-europe-canceled-coronavirus/" target="_blank"><font>2</font></a><span> </span><font>] Europe's largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War, called Defender 2020. The reason for canceling the exercise is the Covid-19 plague, which is rampant in Europe.</font><span> </span><strong><font>However, this is a completely unprecedented step, because in Europe there is already part of the shifted American technology, and even part of the American soldiers. Everything was ready and suddenly over.</font></strong><span> </span><font>While in the past there were epidemics in the world of SARS, MERS, all possible bird and swine flu, the US military did not interrupt any operations and major exercises. So why is Coronavir suddenly stopping the largest NATO exercise in Europe in 30 years?</font></p>
<h6 style="text-align: center;"><font>Question per million: Did the Americans bring a biological weapon to Wuhan last October, which mutated and instead of just Chinese men, it attacks everyone and, as it turns out, especially Europeans?</font></h6>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>The reason is obvious, the American general seems to know very well what Coronavirus is and where it comes from, where this virus was created. If the Pentagon never does anything, it's exposing its own military to the effects of its own biological weapons.</font><span> </span><strong><font>And just Coronavirus, according to all information, not only according to the opinions of MUDr. Soni Pek, and not just according to the Chinese government, really comes from a laboratory program</font></strong><font>, and we can speculate that it may also be a program of biological weapons of the US military, respectively. US Navy. It all fits together logically and perfectly. In October 2019, the World Military Games are held in Wuhan, with the participation of the American military delegation of athletes. An epidemic of Coronavir occurs in Wuhan in December. European allies of the USA are calm, European media claim that the virus was caused due to poor hygiene and insufficient heat treatment of Chinese traditional food sold on the streets in stalls.</font></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-002855.609.png"><img src="https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-002855.609-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39919"/></a><br/><font>Computer virus analysis.</font><br/><br/></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>In just two months, the disease reaches Italy in Europe, and the Czech government, in its naivete, declares that it will not check tourists returning by car from a holiday in Italy at the southern border. Another month later, the whole of Europe is in crisis, emergencies are being declared, quarantines, people have to wear veils that are not available, people sew their own from sheets, old T-shirts, bathrobes, tablecloths.</font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><font>And in the light of this contagion, NATO is canceling the largest military exercise since 1989. If nothing else, NATO has just shown its weakness to Russia, that it is enough to spread the virus in Europe and NATO is completely shut down.</font></strong><span> </span><font>I can imagine that many hawks in NATO did not agree with the abolition of the Defender 2020 exercise, but the Americans clearly know what they are doing. And it also sends a signal that the Russian threat will not be so great when the exercise is destroyed by one virus. But it is also necessary to look at it from another side, and that is also important.</font></p>
<h6 style="text-align: center;"><font>Can the more serious flu ruin NATO's greatest military maneuvers since 1989 in Europe? He can't! And can a virus from laboratory research do that? Obviously yes…</font></h6>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>The cancellation of the Defender 2020 exercise is also probably an attempt to prevent embarrassment if it turns out that some NATO countries refuse to participate in the exercise due to a viral threat. And that would send a signal of NATO disunity, fear of a virus outbreak, etc. The Pentagon's decision was certainly not easy, as according to the latest information, 9,000 US troops are already deployed in Europe out of a total of 20,000 to move to Europe in the near future. and with them is a technology shifted in Europe that is now beginning to return to the United States.</font></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-002647.999.png"><img src="https://aeronet.cz/news/wp-content/uploads/TA3_Pekova_SarsCov2.mp4-002647.999-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39920"/></a><br/><font>Work in a laboratory protective box.</font><br/><br/></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font>Instead of Defender 2020, a smaller routine exercise of artillery, armored vehicles and aircraft will take place in the Baltics, but to a limited extent and format. After the great pan-European maneuvers of all NATO armies, there is suddenly no memory.</font><span> </span><strong><font>And all because of the virus, whose origin is paradoxically, according to American scientists, still unclear and inconclusive from the analysis.</font></strong><span> </span><font>It's a comedy, my goodness. When China openly accuses the US of pulling the virus into Wuhan, it is a matter of course. It's not slapping in the wind. And so does the confession [</font><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://translate.google.com/website?sl=cs&tl=en&u=https://aeronet.cz/news/video-reditel-cdc-priznal-pred-americkym-kongresem-ze-v-usa-umirali-lide-na-coronavirus-dlouho-predtim-nez-virus-propukl-v-cine-ceska-spickova-biolozka-v-rozhovoru-sokovala-kdyz-potvrdila-info/"><font>3</font></a><font>] CDC chief Robert Redfield that people in the United States were dying of Coronavirus at a time when no one in the United States knew about Coronavirus, and that death was originally attributed to the flu and only recently revealed from the dead samples that they died of Coronavirus context.<span> </span><font class="">Czech biologist Dr.</font><span> </span>Peková may have revealed more to the world than she may have guessed. And a big thank you for that.</font></p> Donald Trump owes real estate debts of $1.1bn with $900m due in next four years, report says.tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-28:6363372:Topic:35495172020-10-28T02:52:37.493ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>Donald Trump owes real estate debts of $1.1bn with $900m due in next four years, report says.</strong></span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span><strong><img alt="Seven of Donald Trump's most misleading coronavirus claims | US news | The Guardian" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c9536615172046a8b465764ecc6a5b84ed9b009c/0_170_2337_1403/master/2337.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=cc2ec58b3fa3b1bd2c70e3226ef945d9"></img></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/donald-trump" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Donald Trump</em></a><em> has debts worth $1.1 billion and will owe $900 million of it during his second term as …</em></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>Donald Trump owes real estate debts of $1.1bn with $900m due in next four years, report says.</strong></span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span><strong><img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c9536615172046a8b465764ecc6a5b84ed9b009c/0_170_2337_1403/master/2337.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=cc2ec58b3fa3b1bd2c70e3226ef945d9" alt="Seven of Donald Trump's most misleading coronavirus claims | US news | The Guardian"/></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Donald Trump</em></a><em> has debts worth $1.1 billion and will owe $900 million of it during his second term as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/president-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">president</a> if he wins the election, according to a report.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The huge sums of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/money" target="_blank" rel="noopener">money</a> are linked to his commercial real estate properties and golf courses, says the Financial Times.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Over the next two years the president reportedly has a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/loan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">loan</a> due of $285 for his Avenue of the Americas tower in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York</a>, and $162 million due on his California Street building in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The size of Mr Trump’s debts is almost twice the amount he has suggested during his campaign for the White House, according to Forbes.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>With his assets estimated at $3.66 billion that would put the president’s net wealth at around $2.5 billion, says Forbes.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Mr Trump also has $257 million in loans taken out against Trump properties, which were packaged up and sold to a commerical mortgage-backed securities trust.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Mr Trump also owes $340 million to his biggest bank lender, Deutsche Bank.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>According to the New York Times, which released information about the president’s taxes last month, the National Doral in Miami and the International Hotel in Washington are both losing significant amounts of money.</em></p>
<p><em>The president also has $25 million in loans with four smaller banks and an asset manager.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The loans are mortgages on Trump family properties in a New York suburb and Palm Beach, Florida. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>They are also loans on Trump golf courses in New Jersey and Washington DC, and a residential tower in New York City.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Mr Trump also has a $50 million debt secured against the Trump International Tower and Hotel in Chicago.</em></p> TRUMP'S PSYCHOTIC SUNDAY Tweetstorm Defies All Reason, Decency, and Honestytag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-26:6363372:Topic:35493182020-10-26T22:15:08.984ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h1 style="text-align: center;">TRUMP'S PSYCHOTIC SUNDAY Tweetstorm Defies All Reason, Decency, and Honesty</h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Donald Trump, Twitter" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/567939/story_image/trump-twitter-birds-2.jpg?1532036027"></img></p>
<p align="center">As the coronavirus pandemic<span> </span><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/NewsCorpse/status/1310221907845959686" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">surges throughout the country</a></strong>, Donald Trump is hard at work at what he considers his job: posting lies and incoherent babbling on Twitter. After which…</p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">TRUMP'S PSYCHOTIC SUNDAY Tweetstorm Defies All Reason, Decency, and Honesty</h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/567939/story_image/trump-twitter-birds-2.jpg?1532036027" alt="Donald Trump, Twitter"/></p>
<p align="center">As the coronavirus pandemic<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/NewsCorpse/status/1310221907845959686" target="_blank">surges throughout the country</a></strong>, Donald Trump is hard at work at what he considers his job: posting lies and incoherent babbling on Twitter. After which he promptly assumed his post on the golf course for the remainder of the day. Priorities.</p>
<p align="center">Trump began his rage-tweeting with a demonstration of his cowardice and utter desperation.<span> </span><em>"I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night,"</em><span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1310211120922230784" target="_blank">he twitted</a></strong>. Never mind that he is in no position to make such a demand. It's a hollow appeal for something he knows won't happen and that he would never submit to himself. Trump is simply trying to malign Biden's mental fitness for office, even though polls show that<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=46720" target="_blank">a majority of voters say that Trump is the one who doesn't have the...</a></strong>.</p>
<p align="center">Following that, Trump<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1310213777175048192" target="_blank">took a swipe</a></strong><span> </span>at Sen. Richard Blumenthal for embellishing his military service ten years ago. Trump said that because Blumenthal was untruthful he should be impeached and<span> </span><em>"should not be entitled to a vote on anything of importance!"</em><span> </span>But if that's Trump's standard, then Trump's punishment for<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/13/president-trump-has-made-more-than-20000-false-or-misleading-claims/" target="_blank">telling more than 20,000 lies</a></strong><span> </span>should be 20,000 times worse. At least Blumenthal had the dignity to serve his country in uniform, as opposed to Cadet Bone Spurs who dodged the draft five times and<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=46562" target="_blank">insults America's fallen</a></strong><span> </span>as<span> </span><em>"losers"</em><span> </span>and<span> </span><em>"suckers."</em></p>
<p align="center">Next up was a<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1310217371307606024" target="_blank">frantic twantrum</a></strong><span> </span>over Mike Bloomberg's donation to a Florida group that is<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/bloomberg-clears-debts-restore-voting-rights-former-felons-florida.html" target="_blank">paying the outstanding fees</a></strong><span> </span>of former prisoners so that they can vote. Trump is terrified of losing the state and determined to suppress the vote any way he can. And in this case he also recklessly charges that Bloomberg<span> </span><em>"committed a serious crime"</em><span> </span>without bothering to mention what law was broken.</p>
<p align="center">Then there is Trump's three word, all caps<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1310217730218430465" target="_blank">command</a></strong><span> </span>to<span> </span><em>"WATCH THE BALLOTS!!!"</em><span> </span>It's difficult to tell if Trump is advocating election integrity (yeah, right), or promoting a new show on Fox about the Ballot family. That would make a good vehicle for Scott Baio as the patriarch of a Klan clan that is afraid of the Black Lives Matter movement and a society that has turned against his repulsive brand of bigotry.</p>
<p align="center">Finally, Trump<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1310219962024439808" target="_blank">re-twitterated</a></strong><span> </span>his obsessive commitment to terminate Obamacare, even while the nation is suffering through a deadly pandemic. He grotesquely characterizes it as<span> </span><em>"a big WIN for the USA!"</em><span> </span>And as he frequently does, he lied about it being<span> </span><em>"replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative."</em><span> </span>However, Trump has never had a healthcare plan, despite announcing that one would be unveiled in two weeks numerous times for the past three years. And the GOP has similarly spent ten years promising a replacement, but has never even drafted a proposal.</p>
<p align="center">It's notable that in this Twitter tirade Trump has focused exclusively on his political pet peeves that he littered with lies and infantile nicknames. He didn't once mention the pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 200,000 Americans and is, by all the accounts of every expert, going to get worse this winter.</p>
<p align="center">More than anything, Trump wants to shift the public discourse away from COVID-19 and his wretched mishandling of it. He wants people to forget the loss of their loved ones and the illnesses that have resulted in permanent disabilities for many of those who survived. Unfortunately for Trump, the issues he's using to deflect also have the effect of reminding people of his ignorance, incompetence, and<span> </span><strong><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=46856" target="_blank" title="">his aspirations to authoritarianism and dictatorship</a></strong>. It's a lose-lose proposition for America's Biggest Loser.</p> Obama says Trump couldn't 'protect himself' from COVID, has failed to protect the nationtag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-22:6363372:Topic:35449932020-10-22T18:48:52.407ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Obama says Trump couldn't 'protect himself' from COVID, has failed to protect the nation</h1>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Former President Barack Obama <span>Barack Obama delivered a powerful message August 2020 calling for voters to protect American democracy during the third night…</span></em></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Obama says Trump couldn't 'protect himself' from COVID, has failed to protect the nation</h1>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Former President Barack Obama <span>Barack Obama delivered a powerful message August 2020 calling for voters to protect American democracy during the third night of the Democratic national convention. </span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>The former president argued that Donald Trump’s potential re-election posed an existential threat to the country’s democratic values and institutions, and he implored voters to 'embrace your own responsibility as citizens' before November’s election. 'This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win,' Obama warned. 'So we have to get busy building it up – by pouring all our effort into these 76 days, and by voting like never before'</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Former President Barack Obama gave another fiery speech Wednesday in Philadelphia that attacked President Donald Trump as incompetent and surrounded by "hacks", while promoting his former vice president, Joe Biden, as someone who would better deal with the pandemic and heal the economy.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama, in his first in-person campaign event two weeks before the end of 2020 voting, noted 220,000 Americans died from COVID-19, millions of jobs were lost and said the country’s reputation is in tatters around the world under Trump.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“He hasn’t shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends, or treating the presidency like a reality show that he can use to get attention,” Obama said. “This is not a reality show – this is reality. The rest of us have had to live with the consequences of him proving himself incapable of taking the job seriously.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1agRI6.img?h=534&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f" alt="Former President Barack Obama speaks at Citizens Bank Park as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Philadelphia."/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>But Obama said Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, care about people and know how to build coalitions with officials who don’t always agree with him.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“I am back here tonight to ask you to deliver the White House for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Obama said in the 40-minute speech.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama joked that if things had gone better under Trump, the audience for his speech to people in cars outside Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles play football, would be tailgating before a game rather than listening to him. But Pennsylvania is one of the most hotly contested states because Trump won in 2016 and Biden is trying to wrestle back.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>An average of Pennsylvania polls through Wednesday suggests Biden leads Trump by 6 percentage points, according to tracking site <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/pennsylvania/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FiveThirtyEight.com</a>. Biden leads Trump by 7 percentage points the state, according to a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/21/pennsylvania-poll-joe-biden-leads-donald-trump-usa-today-suffolk-poll/5990219002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday</a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/20/election-2020-updates-trump-rally-pa-biden-up-florida/3679700001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump held a rally Tuesday in Erie</a>. Vice President Mike Pence was in New Cumberland on Monday. Besides visiting Philadelphia repeatedly, Biden traveled to Erie on Oct. 10, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/04/trump-covid-19-updates-biden-test-chris-christie-hospital/3608122001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gettysburg on Oct. 6</a> and a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/30/joe-biden-embarks-train-tour-ohio-pennsylvania/3586229001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whistle-stop tour</a> through New Alexandria, Latrobe and Johnstown.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman, said Biden called on Obama for reinforcement.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“Obama can’t help Biden defend his own record of putting foreign interests ahead of working Americans in bad trade policies, crushing our energy jobs under massive regulations, killing manufacturing jobs, and refusing to enforce our borders," Murtaugh said.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Much of Obama's speech was leavened with humor. Obama said his administration left a pandemic playbook for how to respond to the emergency, but with the number of cases rising again after eight months, Trump “probably used it to prop up a wobbly table somewhere.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“Donald Trump isn’t suddenly going to protect all of us,” Obama said of the president who became infected. “He can’t even take the basic steps to protect himself.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama said the pandemic would have challenged any president. But he said other countries demonstrated how to deal with it better, including South Korea with 1.3% of the per capita U.S. death toll and Canada with 39%.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“If he’d have been working the whole time, it never would have gotten this bad,” Obama said. “But this idea that somehow this White House has done anything but completely screw this up is just not true.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>While Trump promotes the recovering economy, Obama said his administration created 1.5 million more jobs in its final three years than the Trump administration during its first three years before the pandemic.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“Just like everything else he inherited, he messed it up,” Obama said.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama contrasted his administration’s expansion of Medicaid and insurance protection for people with preexisting conditions to Trump’s efforts in the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act during a pandemic.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“It’s shameful,” Obama said as car horns honked and people cheered. “What is the logic of that? There is no logic.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama slammed Trump’s cabinet as hacks and lobbyists. The Environmental Protection Agency that is supposed to protect air and water run by energy lobbyist, the Labor Department is run by corporate lobbyist gutting protections for workers, the Interior Department is run by an oil lobbyist determined to sell to the highest bidder and the Education Department is run by a billionaire who guts rules protecting students from for-profit colleges, Obama said.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“When Joe and Kamala are in charge, they are not going to surround themselves with hacks and lobbyists,” Obama said.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1agOUa.img?h=635&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f" alt="a person talking on a cell phone: Former President Barack Obama campaigns for Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joseph Biden at a community event on Oct. 21, 2020 in Philadelphia."/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/22/obama-joins-biden-criticizing-trumps-response-coronavirus/5485387002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama recorded a video with Biden in July </a>discussing the federal response to coronavirus and racial justice protests. Obama delivered a virtual speech for Biden at the Democratic National Convention in August. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weM6XRPf0wg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama recorded a message this month encouraging voters</a> to make a plan about how to vote. Obama held several virtual fundraisers with Biden or his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>"I trust him to be a great president," <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1318741515649372166" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama said of Biden in a video tweeted Tuesday</a>. "He's different. He's on the right side of the issues. He'll get the job done."</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>But Wednesday's speech was Obama's first in-person campaign event for Biden, in a year when the coronavirus pandemic kept the party conventions online and prevented typical campaigning.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1agOUd.img?h=534&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=2445&y=888" alt="a group of people walking down a street next to a car: People wait for a campaign event with former President Barack Obama at Citizens Bank Park as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, his former vice president, on Oct. 21, 2020, in Philadelphia."/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Before the speech, Obama met with local officials and Black community leaders to discuss the importance of voting as a way to improve their lives.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“The government is us: of, by and for the people,” said Obama, who wore a mask throughout the 40-minute roundtable. “It wasn’t always for all of us. But the way it’s designed, it works based on who is at the table. If you do not vote, you’re not at the table.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The Biden campaign launched “Shop Talk” sessions for its surrogates to encourage voting after the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The shooting led to peaceful protests and violent rioting in the city, as part of a summer of racial justice protests about policing.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama’s event was at the Hank Gathers Youth Access Center in North Philadelphia, a community suffering from discriminatory lending dating to the 1930s and from high rates of poverty, unemployment and gun violence.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://www.urbedadvocates.org/mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tamir Harper, co-counder of UrbEd Inc.</a>, a non-profit that advocates for public schools, asked Obama how to design a curriculum to get young people involved in politics and voting.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama said demonstrating the power of voting – even if just on what flavor pizza to order or which book to read from a class syllabus – is a way to demonstrate results from voting.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“People are more likely to vote if they’ve participated in something like that when they were younger,” Obama said. “Giving kids a sense that they have a voice, that piques their interest.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="http://phlcouncil.com/isaiahthomas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Isaiah Thomas, a Philadelphia City Council member,</a> asked how to inspire voters who see problems magnified during the pandemic without any signs of change.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“All of our problems will not go away with one election,” Thomas said. “But at the same time, we have to recognize that this is a step in a direction of progress and change.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Obama said listening to voters is a way to learn their priorities. Then, he said incremental change is possible – if people vote. He noted African American voter turnout set a record with his election in 2008 at 60%, but that the country hasn’t seen what would happen at 80%.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“What I say to young people is: give it a shot,” Obama said. “We can make things better. Better is good.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta asked Obama is he still believed in “hope,” a slogan from his own campaigns.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“I’ve never lost hope over these last four years,” Obama said. “I’ve been mad. I’ve been frustrated. But I haven’t lost hope, and the reason is because I never expected progress to move in a straight line.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>After the roundtable, Obama stopped briefly at a canvassing event on Carlisle Street. He was greeted by two young children and tried to keep his stance, but gave one an elbow bump.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“At the end of the day, people connect with people,” Obama said. “And obviously this is an extraordinary election, because we’re in the midst of a pandemic, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing it safely, which is the only reason I’m not hugging and squeezing this cutie-pie.”</em></p>
<p></p> How Hatred Came To Dominate American Politicstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-11:6363372:Topic:35445902020-10-11T22:52:19.240ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h1 class="article-title article-title-single entry-title" style="text-align: center;">How Hatred Came To Dominate American Politics</h1>
<p><img alt="NEGATIVE-PARTISANSHIP-4×3" class="align-center" src="https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/NEGATIVE-PARTISANSHIP-4x3-1.png?w=575"></img></p>
<div id="article-main"><div class="entry-content single-post-content"><p style="text-align: center;">To anyone following American politics, it’s not exactly news that Democrats and Republicans don’t like each other. Take what happened in the presidential debate last week. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden did little to…</p>
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<h1 class="article-title article-title-single entry-title" style="text-align: center;">How Hatred Came To Dominate American Politics</h1>
<p><img src="https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/NEGATIVE-PARTISANSHIP-4x3-1.png?w=575" alt="NEGATIVE-PARTISANSHIP-4×3" class="align-center"/></p>
<div id="article-main"><div class="entry-content single-post-content"><p style="text-align: center;">To anyone following American politics, it’s not exactly news that Democrats and Republicans don’t like each other. Take what happened in the presidential debate last week. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden did little to conceal their disdain of one another. And although the debate marked a low point in<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/30/presidential-debate-national-shame-423521">our national discourse</a>, it was a crystallization of a long-developing trend: loathing the opposing party.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This is hardly a new trend; in fact, it’s<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/05/negative-partisanship-explains-everything-215534">increasingly common</a><span> </span>among American voters. However, this level of hatred — which political scientists call “<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2017/6/2/15730524/negative-partisanship-toxic-polarization">negative partisanship</a>” — has<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.dannyhayes.org/uploads/6/9/8/5/69858539/kalmoe___mason_ncapsa_2019_-_lethal_partisanship_-_final_lmedit.pdf">reached levels</a><span> </span>that are not just bad for democracy, but are potentially destructive. And extreme partisan animosity is<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716218818782">a prelude</a><span> </span>to<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/">democratic collapse</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">It wasn’t always this bad, though. Forty years ago, when asked to rate how “favorable and warm” their opinion of each party was, the average Democrat and Republican said they felt OK-ish about the opposite party. But for four decades now, partisans have<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://conferences.wcfia.harvard.edu/piep/publications/demonization">increasingly turned against each other</a><span> </span>in an escalating cycle of dislike and distrust — views of the other party are currently at an all-time low.</p>
<img class="size-full wp-image-286676 align-center" src="https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/drutman.NEGATIVE-PARTISANSHIP.0915.png" alt="" width="575" height="559"/><br/>
<p style="text-align: center;">So how did we get to this point?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Broadly speaking, there are three trends that we can point to. The first is the<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo27596045.html">steady nationalization</a><span> </span>of American politics. The second is the<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Partisan-Sort-Democrats-Conservatives-Republicans-ebook/dp/B003C31OHK">sorting of Democrats and Republicans</a><span> </span>along<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-density-divide-urbanization-polarization-and-populist-backlash/">urban/rural</a><span> </span>and culturally liberal/culturally conservative lines, and the third is the<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-blowout-presidential-elections-a-thing-of-the-past/">increasingly narrow margins in national elections</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The combination of these three trends has turned Washington, D.C., into a high-stakes battle where cross-party compromise is difficult, and both sides are increasingly holding out for complete control.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Sixty years ago, state and local politics loomed larger than they do now, which meant national parties operated more like loose labels whose main function was to come together every four years to argue over who should run for president under that party. As President Eisenhower reportedly quipped as late as 1950, “There is not one Republican Party, there are 48 state Republican parties.” The same was true of the Democratic Party at the time. By the 1970s, in fact, many political observers declared that<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1972/03/the-partys-over/307016/">partisan politics had reached their end</a>, with<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/440412">split-ticket voting hitting</a><span> </span>record-high levels as candidates successfully ran on<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674493285">local issues and pledges to better serve their constituents</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">But beneath the surface, the parties were realigning. The civil rights movement of the 1960s and the culture wars of the 1970s and 1980s not only<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Southern-Republicans-Earl-Black/dp/0674012488">turned conservative Democrats into Republicans</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Patterns-Voting-Northern-United/dp/0271017848/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Changing+Patterns+of+Voting+in+the+Northern+United+States&qid=1601658254&s=books&sr=1-1">liberal northeastern Republicans into Democrats</a>, it also shifted the focus of politics such that Washington became the arbiter of national values. National parties<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/building-a-business-of-politics-9780190217198?cc=us&lang=en&">began building up</a><span> </span>major fundraising and campaign consultant-driven operations, helping to standardize their messaging so that it actually meant something to vote for a Democrat or a Republican.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Coupled with the steady<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2018/about-1300-u-s-communities-have-totally-lost-news-coverage-unc-news-desert-study-finds/">decline of local media,</a><span> </span>this has resulted in a greater emphasis on national politics and less attention paid to local and state politics. Practically speaking, elections are increasingly viewed as referendums on the president and the party that controls the White House, leaving little room for individual members of Congress to<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-gop-senators-are-sticking-with-trump-even-though-it-might-hurt-them-in-november/">distinguish themselves from their national parties</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This brings us to the second trend that has contributed to the rise of negative partisanship: sorting. The ideologies of the party were less hard and fast 40 years ago. The Republican Party had a significant share of moderates and liberals, the inheritors of a tradition of<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Rule-Ruin-Moderation-Destruction-Development-ebook/dp/B005UFCPHG">moderate good-government Yankee republicanism</a><span> </span>that dated back to President Lincoln, and the Democratic Party once had a significant share of<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Democrats-Nicol-C-Rae/dp/0195087097">conservative populists from the South</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1890413">the Great Plains</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In this sense, American politics operated more like a four-party system, with jumbled liberal and conservative coalitions within and across the two parties. Senators and representatives’ distinct geographic outlooks mattered more than their parties, with complex coalitions of urban liberals and rural conservatives in both parties. However, as our politics became increasingly nationalized, the political sorting of the parties accelerated. The civil rights movement is the most obvious example of this:<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691153872/racial-realignment">Many in</a><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Issue-Evolution-Transformation-American-Politics/dp/069102331X">political</a><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3647739">science</a><span> </span>consider it the<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/2131305">most significant issue</a><span> </span>(though far from the only issue)<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Race-Campaign-Politics-Realignment-South/dp/0300077238">driving political sorting</a>, as it changed the center of gravity in both parties.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Today, it’s simply harder for voters to hold a viewpoint that doesn’t align with their party. For instance, there are far<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2111673">fewer anti-abortion Democrats</a><span> </span>or abortion-rights Republicans now than 30 years ago because these kinds of stances are unwelcome in the party. Some voters changed their party to match their beliefs; others changed their beliefs to match their party. But ultimately, both shifts contributed to the parties taking clearer and more distinct stances on a growing number of social issues, which led to more and more voters adjusting their views to match their partisanship.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Political scientists have called this process “<a rel="nofollow" href="http://journals.cambridge.org/article_S000305541000016X">conflict extension</a>.” The basic idea is that as more issues have become nationalized, partisan conflicts have broadened to absorb these issues. And as the parties have taken clearer national stances, particularly around cultural and identity-based issues, voters sort more clearly into parties based on these stances.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Cultural values are much more connected to geography than economic values. Both the rich and poor live in cities, suburbs and exurbs. But those who are socially liberal<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/republicans-democrats-cities/">tend to live in cities</a>, whereas those who are socially conservative<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/purple-america-has-all-but-disappeared/">tend to inhabit small towns</a>. This partisan sorting on cultural issues has thus generated a significant<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-density-divide-urbanization-polarization-and-populist-backlash/">partisan density divide</a>. And because<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://racialdotmap.demographics.coopercenter.org/">geography also corresponds to racial and ethnic diversity</a><span> </span>(basically, cities are multicultural and exurbs are mostly white), this adds another division onto the partisan divide: race.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">With all these identities accumulating on top of each other, partisanship has become a kind of “<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/Uncivil-Agreement-Politics-Became-Identity/dp/022652454X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NOQLIOXSNR2&dchild=1&keywords=uncivil+agreement&qid=1601559555&s=books&sprefix=uncivil+agre%2Cstripbooks%2C135&sr=1-1">mega-identity</a>,” as political scientist Lilliana Mason argues, with party identification standing for much, much more. In fact, it’s reached the point that when you meet somebody, you can immediately size them up as a “Trump voter” or a “Biden voter.” That kind of easy stereotyping<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/democrats-are-wrong-about-republicans-republicans-are-wrong-about-democrats/">leads us to see the other party</a><span> </span>as distant and different. And typically, things that are distant and different are also more threatening.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">But neither side has come to dominate. Instead, America has experienced an extended period of national parity between the two parties. Elections have swung back and forth in an almost predictable pendulum fashion since 1992 — unified control of one party, divided government, unified control of the other party, and so forth, over and over.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This back and forth has defied predictions of permanent Republican and Democratic majorities, but the closeness of elections has kept such elusive predictions of total domination both tantalizingly within reach (for one side) and dangerously close (for the other side). Simultaneously, the swings in power have imparted the lesson that when you’re down, the best thing to do is demonize the other side, refuse to compromise, wait for public opinion to tack against the party in power and ride the pendulum back to a majority.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">These contradictory impulses lead to a few<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressional-course-corrections-create-washington-political-whiplash/2018/11/05/919116c8-e132-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html">big policy swings</a><span> </span>(consider the changes on health care and tax policy under the Trump administration) during periods of unified government, and increasingly, in executive branch activities. They also create gridlock elsewhere and lead to<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo24732099.html">a politics of zero-sum messaging</a>, in which the party trying to win back the White House never has any incentive to compromise because it just blurs the message and helps the party in power seem more successful and legitimate. Thus, frustration — and the stakes of elections — keep rising.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Yet beneath the surface of hyper-partisan politics, the parties themselves actually have a lot of internal division, which means they share a version of the same dilemma: Republicans and Democrats can’t please<span> </span><i>all<span> </span></i>the different voters and groups who fall into their party and want<span> </span><i>their</i><span> </span>issue to be prioritized. But in a polarized two-party system, they can make it clear<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://conferences.wcfia.harvard.edu/piep/publications/demonization">why the<span> </span><i>other</i><span> </span>party is bad</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Coming into their convention, for instance, Democrats had to repair splits between the progressives and the moderates that were<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-six-wings-of-the-democratic-party/">visible during the presidential primary</a>. But the convention focused less on policy and<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/us/politics/dnc-takeaways-biden-obama.html">more on the existential risk</a><span> </span>presented by a second Trump term. The party reminded people that, whatever concerns they have about Biden, a vote for Biden is also a vote against Trump.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Republicans similarly focused on messaging against the Democrats (even if one of the reasons Trump emerged victorious in the 2016 primary was because the party<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://gvpt.umd.edu/sites/gvpt.umd.edu/files/pubs/party-versus-faction-in-the-reformed-presidential-nominating-system.pdf">was so divided that it<span> </span><i>couldn’t<span> </span></i>decide</a>). Trump has<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-there-are-so-few-moderate-republicans-left/">remade the party in his image</a>, but even for the few remaining Trump-skeptic Republicans, nothing unites like a common enemy. And in a two-party system, being anti-anti-Trump counts the same as being pro-Trump.</p>
<p>If all of this seems unsustainable, it should. The current levels of hyper-partisanship are clearly dangerous. It’s bad news for a democracy when<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.dannyhayes.org/uploads/6/9/8/5/69858539/kalmoe___mason_ncapsa_2019_-_lethal_partisanship_-_final_lmedit.pdf">60 to 70 percent of people</a><span> </span>view fellow citizens of the other party as a serious threat. And the more the parties continue to unify their supporters by casting the other party as the enemy, the higher this number will rise.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">There are two possible ways this ends. The first is the one we all fear — the unwinding of our democracy, because one or both sides hate each other so much that they are willing to support anti-democratic and authoritarian leadership in order to maintain power. (This is the threat<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/democrats-donald-trump-alarm-220910">Democrats</a><span> </span>have explicitly<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/512862-obama-casts-trump-as-threat-to-democracy">raised</a><span> </span>in recent months.)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The other scenario is a major realignment and/or a collapse of one (or both) of the two major parties, which could reorient American political coalitions and resurrect some of the overlaps of an earlier era. The growing partisan hatreds and the forces driving them have been a long time in the making. It’s possible<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/22/two-party-collapse-republican-democrat-doom-loop/">they are coming to an end.</a><span> </span>But more than any other time in the last century and a half, they are testing the very foundations of American democracy.</p>
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<div id="article-additional"><div class="mini-bio"><p style="text-align: center;">Lee Drutman is a senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America. He’s the author of the book, “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America.”<span> </span><span class="mail"><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:drutman@newamerica.org"></a></span><span> </span><span class="twitter"><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://twitter.com/leedrutman" target="_blank"><span> </span><span class="twitter-username">@leedrutman</span></a></span></p>
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</div> What to watch for in the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearingstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-11:6363372:Topic:35446882020-10-11T22:49:15.858ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h2 align="center" class="story-headline">What to watch for in the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings</h2>
<p align="center"><img alt="undefined" src="https://www.arcamax.com/newspics/cache/h315/190/19068/1906843.jpg"></img></p>
<p align="center"><span>Although Republicans appear to have the votes and the unity to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court - with the potential to move U.S. law in a conservative direction for decades - her Senate confirmation hearings still provide opportunities for Democrats to influence public sentiment.…</span></p>
<h2 class="story-headline" align="center">What to watch for in the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings</h2>
<p align="center"><img src="https://www.arcamax.com/newspics/cache/h315/190/19068/1906843.jpg" alt="undefined"/></p>
<p align="center"><span>Although Republicans appear to have the votes and the unity to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court - with the potential to move U.S. law in a conservative direction for decades - her Senate confirmation hearings still provide opportunities for Democrats to influence public sentiment.</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>The hearing begins Monday with opening statements by senators. Barrett addresses the committee and starts answering questions on Tuesday. Legal experts and people who know Barrett will also testify as the hearing continues Wednesday and, if needed, Thursday. The committee convenes at 9 a.m. Eastern each day. Live video will be available on the committee's website, <a rel="nofollow" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/">www.judiciary.senate.gov</a>.</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>Here are some lines of inquiry to watch for, and why they might come up:</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>Abortion, a land mine for both parties</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>Barrett has the clearest anti-abortion record of any nominee in decades. She signed a 2006 advertisement opposing abortion and wrote in 1998 that the procedure is "always immoral." As a federal appeals court judge she consistently landed on the side of restricting abortion rights.</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>Like past nominees, Barrett will surely decline to directly answer whether she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion in all 50 states but permitted restrictions in the second and third trimesters. Democratic senators can be expected to press her on whether she considers Roe v. Wade settled law - a ruling that should stand, regardless of the views of current justices.</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>Could challenges to 2020 election results</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>In defending the need to seat a new justice as soon as possible, President Donald Trump has raised the possibility that the Supreme Court will have to decide challenges to the results of the Nov. 3 election. Trump's comments have raised alarms that he might try to overturn a win by his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, and is counting on loyalty from his appointees should cases reach the high court.</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said he asked Barrett during an introductory phone call whether she "would recuse herself from any election-related case" and that the nominee "made no commitment" to do so. Any answer by Barrett on whether she would participate in such a case may be interpreted as a signal about her level of political independence from the president.</span></p>
<p align="center"><br/><span>U.S. law requires judges to refrain from participating in cases in which they have a conflict of interest or might be biased. But Supreme Court justices rarely recuse themselves, except when where there is a direct financial conflict or they were involved in a case at the lower-court level.</span></p> Obama Returns to the DNC With a Chance to Rescue His Legacy From Trump.tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-08-20:6363372:Topic:35330282020-08-20T18:59:19.148ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Barack Obama wearing a suit and tie: Former President Barack Obama’s determination to see President Trump defeated may be as powerful, or even more so, than his desire to elevate Joseph R. Biden Jr." src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB18a0hA.img?h=416&w=799&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=f&l=f&x=856&y=274"></img></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>Obama Returns to the DNC With a Chance to Rescue His Legacy From Trump.</strong></span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Shortly before the 2016 election, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/obama-speech.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">President Barack Obama</a> told supporters that he would consider it “a personal insult” if America chose a bombastic reality television…</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB18a0hA.img?h=416&w=799&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=f&l=f&x=856&y=274" alt="Barack Obama wearing a suit and tie: Former President Barack Obama’s determination to see President Trump defeated may be as powerful, or even more so, than his desire to elevate Joseph R. Biden Jr."/></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>Obama Returns to the DNC With a Chance to Rescue His Legacy From Trump.</strong></span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Shortly before the 2016 election, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/obama-speech.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Barack Obama</a> told supporters that he would consider it “a personal insult” if America chose a bombastic reality television star who trafficked in racist conspiracy theories and stood against everything that he had spent eight years building.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>America did it anyway. “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/28/obama-reckons-with-a-trump-presidency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This stings</a>,” Mr. Obama confessed afterward.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Four years later, Mr. Obama returned to the national stage on Wednesday night seeking vindication with an implicit defense of his own record and an indignant condemnation of President Trump as a corrupt and failing leader who has used his office to enrich himself, pit Americans against each other and threaten American democracy.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t,” he said in a 19-minute Democratic convention speech from the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. “And the consequences of that failure are severe: 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>After watching Mr. Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/sunday-review/donald-trump-barack-obama.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">systematically demolish</a> many of his achievements, Mr. Obama has almost as much at stake in this year’s campaign as his former vice president and his party’s 2020 presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., does — a second chance to redeem his legacy and prove to history that Mr. Trump’s election was an anomaly, not a permanent repudiation.</em></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><em>On the line is not just the opportunity to restore programs and international agreements that Mr. Trump abandoned and bolster those that remain threatened, but also to rewrite the narrative about America and its values according to Mr. Obama. The story line that Mr. Obama and his allies promoted for years was that his election as the first Black president and a leader of a new generation demonstrated a fundamental change in the country. Instead, he left behind a nation that elevated his polar opposite as his successor.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“Each president kind of begets the next guy,” William M. Daley, who served as Mr. Obama’s White House chief of staff, said in an interview before Mr. Obama’s convention speech. “He’s got to clarify what about him didn’t beget this guy. Why did the eight years not change the country when we thought in ’08 things were different?”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>This time around, Mr. Obama’s vehicle for validation happens to be the same man <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/us/politics/barack-obama-biden.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he gently eased aside</a> for the Democratic nomination in 2016 in favor of Hillary Clinton, the woman Mr. Obama himself had defeated in 2008 by telling the country that she was a relic of the past. Many <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/dnc-what-to-watch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Democratic</a> drinking sessions in the interim have been consumed by the what-if guessing game over what would have happened had Mr. Obama anointed Mr. Biden instead. It is an exercise the former president himself finds unproductive, according to advisers, and there are plenty of reasons to suspect that Mr. Biden would not have been able to overtake Mrs. Clinton.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Still, it has left the 44th president addressing a Democratic convention he had never expected — not nominating Mrs. Clinton for a second term, but wrapping his arms around his vice president to present him as the antidote to Mr. Trump’s toxic brand of politics and, even at 77, the rightful heir to the Obama record.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“There is a deep belief by not just Obama, but many people who have worked for him, that we can recover from four years of Trump, but the damage from eight would be irreversible,” said Jen Psaki, who served as Mr. Obama’s White House communications director. “That urgency from Obama is powerful.”</em></p>
<p></p>
<p><em><img src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB18a7d1.img?h=416&w=799&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=f&l=f" alt="a person standing in front of a window: Mr. Obama picked Mr. Biden as his running mate in 2008 as a governing partner, not as a putative successor."/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>In his speech on Wednesday night, Mr. Obama offered validation for Mr. Biden, portraying him as “a brother” to him and “a man who learned early on to treat every person he meets with respect and dignity.” And in praising Mr. Biden’s record, Mr. Obama managed to frame his own legacy as well, describing how his vice president helped him pull the economy out of recession, expand health care and stem H1N1 and ebola outbreaks.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>He also offered a passionate defense of voting rights at a time when Democrats fear that Republicans are trying to make it harder for Americans to cast ballots. “Do not let them take away your power,” Mr. Obama said. “Do not let them take away your democracy.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Mr. Obama’s primary target, though, was Mr. Trump, his voice dripping with scorn as he said that while he never expected Mr. Trump to embrace his vision, he did hope that the next president “might show some interest in taking the job seriously.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“But he never did,” Mr. Obama said. “For close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work, no interest in finding common ground, no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends, no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>While he had a 36-year record in the Senate before becoming vice president, Mr. Biden has focused far more on the eight he spent in the White House, ostentatiously cloaking himself in the former president’s mantle and citing his service to Mr. Obama as a way to appeal to liberals, younger voters and especially African-Americans who helped him win key primaries.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Little wonder. Mr. Obama remains one of the most popular figures in American life. A new <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000173-fe50-d110-af73-ff501e7f0000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll by Politico and Morning Consult</a> found that 58 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the former president, the highest rating of any of the 28 political figures tested other than his wife, Michelle, who topped him with 60 percent. Mr. Biden, by contrast, was seen favorably by 46 percent and Mr. Trump by 39 percent.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Even so, history has shown that presidents cannot always transfer their personal popularity to others, as Mr. Obama was reminded in 2016. And while he has deep affection for Mr. Biden, advisers say the former president harbors his own concerns about his former vice president’s chances this year. He had originally picked Mr. Biden as his running mate in 2008 as a governing partner, not as a putative successor, and he never groomed any younger figure to follow, leaving the party in 2016 with weathered leadership.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>That has left many in his party anxious for him to play the bigger role that until lately he has resisted. Mr. Obama has been reluctant to fully engage with Mr. Trump or the campaign, only occasionally emerging from his Washington home where he is still writing his overdue memoir to take on the current president, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/us/politics/obama-trump-campaign-trail.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he did energetically during the 2018 midterm elections</a> and as he had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/us/politics/barack-obama-joe-biden-video.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">begun to do this year</a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“We have no moral voice today — no Martin Luther King, no Nelson Mandela, no John Lewis, no Eleanor Roosevelt,” said Susan Dunn, a presidential historian at Williams College. “Obama could retake that moral role — and not just reclaim his own legacy and not just denounce Trump for reversing all of Obama’s policies and achievements. He’d have to play a more active role in American life as a voice of moderation and decency.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Mr. Obama’s determination to see Mr. Trump defeated may be as powerful, or even more so, than his desire to elevate Mr. Biden. After all, Mr. Trump spent years <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/politics/donald-trump-obama-birther.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peddling the lie that Mr. Obama might have been born in Africa</a> and has spent much of his presidency <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/sunday-review/donald-trump-barack-obama.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unraveling whatever he could of Mr. Obama’s</a> legacy. In recent months, the president has twisted the facts to accuse the former president of “spying” on his 2016 campaign and even <a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2020/june/exclusive-interview-with-president-trump-they-were-spying-on-my-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested his predecessor had committed “treason</a>,” a crime that carries the death penalty.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“For Obama, I think this moment isn’t about his legacy or specific policy differences,” said Chris Lu, who managed Mr. Obama’s first-term cabinet. “It’s really about Trump’s repudiation of our common values as Americans and the assault on democratic norms and institutions.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>As for Mr. Trump, his fixation on Mr. Obama is as strategic as it is visceral, according to his own advisers, stemming from a need to chip away at his predecessor’s popularity and, in the process, disqualify Mr. Biden.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“I think the president sees Biden’s strongest card is that he worked for Obama,” said Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax and a friend of Mr. Trump. “If Joe’s going to hang his hat on Obama’s record, then this president is going to show that Obama wasn’t as good as you thought.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Mr. Obama and his team have spent some of the last four years asking themselves where things went off track, wondering how a Black president could leave the country more racially polarized, according to polls, than it had been in years and questioning their own understanding of his place in history.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>In private conversations with aides after the 2016 election, Mr. Obama called Mr. Trump a “cartoon” figure, but wondered whether they had misjudged the mood of the country and their own accomplishments. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/us/politics/obama-reaction-trump-election-benjamin-rhodes.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“What if we were wrong?”</a> he asked one aide at the time. “Maybe we pushed too far. Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Others have second-guessed his failure to take more decisive action to counter the intervention in the 2016 election by President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“Obama’s presidency lost a great deal of luster because of Trump’s surprise victory,” said David Greenberg, a presidential historian at Rutgers University. “Obama’s retreat from world leadership, which emboldened Putin, encouraged Russia to meddle in the 2016 election.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/elections/a-republican-led-senate-panel-details-the-2016-trump-campaigns-russian-ties.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A bipartisan Senate report released this week</a> confirmed that Russia intervened in the 2016 election with the goal of helping elect Mr. Trump and that Mr. Trump’s campaign was willing to be helped, even if the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/24/us/politics/mueller-report-summary.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">did not find enough evidence to allege a criminal conspiracy</a>. Mr. Trump has rejected such conclusions, dismissing the Russia episode as a “hoax” drummed up by Democrats and “deep-state” actors to smear him.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>For Mr. Obama, then, Wednesday was a point to move beyond that, to correct what he sees as the mistake of four years ago. The speech, of course, was just a speech. Just one night out of 75 left until Nov. 3. “What could salvage Obama’s legacy isn’t this speech,” said Mr. Greenberg, “but whether Biden wins.”</em></p> Trump finds a new enemy: Twittertag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-05-28:6363372:Topic:35214632020-05-28T21:11:02.956ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h2 class="story-headline" style="text-align: center;">Trump finds a new enemy: Twitter</h2>
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<p style="text-align: center;">WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to strongly regulate or close down social media platforms he deems unfriendly to conservatives, escalating a war with Silicon Valley a day…</p>
<h2 class="story-headline" style="text-align: center;">Trump finds a new enemy: Twitter</h2>
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<p style="text-align: center;">WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to strongly regulate or close down social media platforms he deems unfriendly to conservatives, escalating a war with Silicon Valley a day after Twitter for the first time warned that Trump was posting false claims, about mail-in voting.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Trump's attacks came as Twitter faced competing pressures from liberals, some of whom want Trump banned from his favorite platform for deliberately spreading misinformation, and from Trump supporters who say social media companies discriminate against them.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Trump's threat to muzzle a private company as retaliation for its corporate policy marks another shattering of traditional norms in the White House, especially for Republicans who generally oppose regulation.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Yet like many of Trump's threats on Twitter and elsewhere, this one appears mostly about political posturing. It comes as the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 is likely to pass 100,000, or more than the total number of Americans killed in both the Vietnam and Korean wars.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The First Amendment bars the government from restricting speech, but it does not prohibit private companies from imposing restrictions.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">And unlike television stations and networks that rely on government-issued broadcast licenses, the internet lacks a so-called fairness doctrine, a loosely enforced requirement that promotes ideological balance.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Trump has more than 80 million followers on Twitter and has used his reach to dominate the news cycle and public discourse since he entered politics, making his threat to shutter the platform even more unlikely.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">But Trump enjoys a headline-grabbing fight, even with those most helpful to him. He has lambasted Fox News, former members of his administration and senior Republican lawmakers at times, either out of anger or to keep them in line.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Fittingly, the president's threats against Twitter were delivered on the platform itself, in a series of morning tweets.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!" he wrote.</p> True number of US coronavirus cases is far above official tally, scientists saytag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-03-10:6363372:Topic:35045502020-03-10T22:37:55.704ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h2 class="story-headline" style="text-align: center;">True number of US coronavirus cases is far above official tally, scientists say</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://www.arcamax.com/newspics/cache/h315/180/18046/1804676.jpg"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">An analysis of the novel coronavirus's spread inside the United States suggests that thousands of Americans are already infected, dimming the prospects for stomping out the outbreak in its earliest stages.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Researchers estimate that by March 1, the…</p>
<h2 class="story-headline" style="text-align: center;">True number of US coronavirus cases is far above official tally, scientists say</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://www.arcamax.com/newspics/cache/h315/180/18046/1804676.jpg"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">An analysis of the novel coronavirus's spread inside the United States suggests that thousands of Americans are already infected, dimming the prospects for stomping out the outbreak in its earliest stages.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Researchers estimate that by March 1, the virus had already infected about 1,000 to 10,000 people who have not yet been accounted for. At the start of this month, about 80 U.S. cases had been confirmed and officials were still expressing confidence they could contain the new virus.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Quarantines, contact tracing and other public health measures have likely tamped down the COVID-19 outbreak here, the researchers said. But from the start, a group of infected travelers just big enough to fill an elevator likely has been expanding the virus's reach, largely undetected.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Released into a country of about 330 million, each of these travelers was assumed to have passed the virus to 2 to 2.5 people, each of whom in turn infected another 2 to 2.5 people, and so on. Tote up the nodes on this rapidly branching network of contacts and the number of victims balloons quickly, the researchers wrote.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Their study, released Monday on the medRxiv website to discuss work that has not yet been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, came as U.S. officials reported a total of 704 COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths in the United States. That is likely just the tip of a much larger iceberg, the mathematical modeling suggests.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Under their most optimistic assumptions, as few as 1,043 people in the United States have been infected with the novel coronavirus. Under a more realistic scenario, that number could easily be as high as 9,484.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">That only accounts for U.S. residents whose infections originated with people carrying the virus directly from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in China. In reality, many more people likely have brought the virus here from other hot spots, including Italy, South Korea and the rest of Asia. Each virus carrier who arrived from those places would set off his or her own cascade of infections.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The model also stopped adding up infections as of March 1. But given its firm toehold in the United States by then, the virus could have racked up tens of thousands of new cases since that date.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The mathematical simulation of the U.S. outbreak was run over a thousand times by a team from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Peking University in Beijing. They began with a hypothetical group of undetected carriers -- likely eight to 16 people -- who arrived in the United States on direct flights from Wuhan after the virus now known as SARS-CoV-2 began infecting humans in late November but before those flights were halted on January.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>It's safe to assume that roughly half of these travelers were intercepted by U.S. health officials and saw their movements curtailed. The rest continued on their journeys with their undetected infections, each setting off an unrecognized chain of transmission.</span></p> Donald Trump wants to pay us hush money to keep silent about his abuse of powertag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-02-21:6363372:Topic:34995242020-02-21T23:58:23.829ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<h1 id="article-headline" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Donald Trump wants to pay us hush money to keep silent about his abuse of power</strong></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The president and his defenders in the Republican Party argue he should be given a pass because of all the good things he’s done for the economy and the stock market</span></p>
<p><span><img class="align-center" src="https://ei.marketwatch.com/Multimedia/2020/02/19/Photos/MG/MW-IA541_flag_g_20200219181549_MG.jpg?uuid=c41b2cec-536d-11ea-9e29-9c8e992d421e"></img></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Is it patriotic to keep silent about the president’s abuse of…</span></p>
<h1 id="article-headline" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Donald Trump wants to pay us hush money to keep silent about his abuse of power</strong></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The president and his defenders in the Republican Party argue he should be given a pass because of all the good things he’s done for the economy and the stock market</span></p>
<p><span><img src="https://ei.marketwatch.com/Multimedia/2020/02/19/Photos/MG/MW-IA541_flag_g_20200219181549_MG.jpg?uuid=c41b2cec-536d-11ea-9e29-9c8e992d421e" class="align-center"/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Is it patriotic to keep silent about the president’s abuse of power and obstruction of justice?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">We are all<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-today-president-defends-hush-money-payments-and-says-any-liability-is-cohens-2018-12-10" class="icon none">Stormy Daniels.</a><span> </span>President Donald Trump is offering to pay us hush money in exchange for our silence.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Most Americans believe Trump has done a lot of inappropriate, unwise, bad, unethical, immoral, illegal or unconstitutional things. The only question is what do you do with that knowledge: Deny it? Justify it? Or condemn it?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">For some Republican officials and politicians, Trump’s hush money is literal. If they deny or justify Trump’s abuses, if they hold their tongues (and most of them have), then Trump and the party will spend billions to help them in November’s elections and beyond.<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/politics/ronna-mcdaniel-mitt-romney-impeachment-vote/index.html" target="_new" class="icon">If they don’t keep quiet,</a><span> </span>they will be forced out of their jobs or out of the Republican Party.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Even<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-widely-expected-to-oust-impeachment-witness-vindman-saying-hes-not-happy-with-him-2020-02-07" class="icon none">their family members are vulnerable<span> </span></a>to Trump’s retribution.As long as everybody’s getting rich, why should anyone worry about the words on some old piece of parchment?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">As long as everybody’s getting rich, why should anyone worry about the words on some old piece of parchment?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Trump’s pardons and commutations of<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-pardons-demonstrate-his-belief-that-white-collar-crime-isnt-real-crime-2020-02-19" class="icon none">white-collar criminals</a><span> </span>Tuesday only add to the pressure Trump is putting on his associates not to speak up. His moves to politicize the Justice Department<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/16/21139870/doj-officials-letter-attorney-general-bill-barr-resign-stone" target="_new" class="icon">sends the same message</a>: Trump will take care of you if you take care of him. And God help you if you don’t.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">‘You can’t impeach the Trump economy’</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">To win the silence of the people, Trump takes a gentler approach.<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/GOPChairwoman/status/1202954597079359489" target="_new" class="icon">He and his surrogates argue<span> </span></a>that he’s made America’s economy so great that his attacks against the rule of law and the Constitution should be forgiven as well as forgotten.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The way he figures it, a few thousand more in their 401(k) should buy their silence about the president’s corruption and obstruction of justice.<a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/1206970383645249538" target="_new" class="icon"><span> </span>As long as everybody’s getting rich,</a><span> </span>why should anyone worry about the words on<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://constitutionus.com/images_us_constitution_01.html" target="_new" class="icon">some old piece of parchment?</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Trump and his defenders in the Republican Party have explicitly argued that Trump should not be held accountable for his behavior because of all the good things he’s done.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Meanwhile we have become disgraced by allowing our own lack of freedom, we will become a dictatorship for the benefit of the rich and wealthy.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>It is a real pity that the basis in which this country was created are being done away for the benefit of those that only care for themselves and their economy. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Years of freedom of speech and religious freedoms are going down the drain now for the benefit of the few. </span></p>