Category: Opinion

Democratic President-Elect Joe Biden claims to have had a discussion with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday but according to McCarthy, he has not heard a peep from the former vice president.

Daily Caller Senior White House Correspondent Christian Datoc reported that during a press conference Biden said he had spoken with both leaders of the House. Biden was asked if he and Pelosi would be meeting to discuss how to re-engage Republicans during the lame-duck session. The president-elect assured that he had “spoken to the leader” and he had spoken to “the minority leader in the House” about passing prospective coronavirus relief legislation.

Here's video — possible he meant Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pic.twitter.com/jEIO7z3yZl

— Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) November 10, 2020

NEW: McCarthy's office tells me they have not spoken to President-elect Biden, despite his statement from today's press conference https://t.co/hQEIXUAJj3

— Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) November 10, 2020

Officials at McCarthy’s office confirm the leader has had no such conversation with Joe Biden however it has been widely reported that Pelosi called Biden over the weekend to congratulate him on his election victory.

Some are giving Biden the benefit of the doubt by suggesting he may have misspoken and possibly meant Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

If the United States were to successfully develop a coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Zeke Emanuel would rather send it to other countries before making sure that every American has been treated and is safe from the virus.

Emanuel had a major role in building the Affordable Care Act while serving under the Obama administration and has now been appointed to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force as one of ten advisory board members.

In September he co-authored a paper in which he pushes the “Fair Priority Model” which calls for a “fair international distribution of vaccine,” instead of what he and his colleagues call “vaccine nationalism.”

After the vaccine is produced the model would allow the U.S. to hold on to a limited supply that would go to a predetermined number of Americans and the rest would be distributed internationally. That means selling doses of the vaccine for a profit before it is available to everyone in our country.

The Science magazine paper titled “An ethical framework for global vaccine allocation,” says, “Reasonable national partiality does not permit retaining more vaccine than the amount needed to keep the rate of transmission (Rt) below 1, when that vaccine could instead mitigate substantial COVID-19–related harms in other countries that have been unable to keep Rt below 1 through ongoing public-health efforts.”

Emanuel wrote, “Associative ties only justify a government’s giving some priority to its citizens, not absolute priority.”

The Trump administration promised to share the coronavirus vaccine with the rest of the world but only after American needs are met and the U.S. will not negotiate with the World Health Organization on distribution.

President Trump announced in May that Congress had approved nearly $10 billion for Operation Warp Speed, which works with private companies to facilitate and accelerate the production and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler is raging over Attorney General William Barr’s decision to allow an investigation into claims of alleged election fraud to move forward.

“Attorney General Barr’s memo is both flawed and deeply disturbing,” Nadler argued in a statement. “It is unlikely to open new legal avenues for the Trump campaign, but speaks to Barr’s dangerous and irresponsible impulse to pander to the President’s worst instincts.”

Days after the polls closed President Trump filed lawsuits in Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona alleging that poll watchers were not allowed to observe vote counts. However, no evidence has been put forth to support these claims.

Each state has been given a deadline of December 8 to resolve any election issues, recounts, or court contests over the results. The Electoral College is scheduled to finalize the outcome on December 14.

Barr’s decision has raised some concerns within the Justice Department causing some to be worried that his loyalty to Trump has caused him to take the unprecedented step to intervene in these disputes. Typically the Justice Department would “not conduct overt investigations, including interviews with individual voters, until after the outcome of the election allegedly affected by the fraud is certified.”

In response to the attorney general’s memo, Richard Pilger, the Justice Department’s top prosecutor for election crimes, announced that he would be stepping down from his post but is expected to remain as an attorney within the department’s criminal division.

Nadler accused Barr of threatening harm to the country by conducting the investigation without evidence.

“The Attorney General may think that he is merely humoring a President who will eventually concede the race and transfer power to his successor,” said Nadler.

“This approach is as short-sighted as it is cynical and destructive. One way or the other, Donald Trump will be out of office in a matter of weeks,” he added. “History will remember their conduct between now and then.”

Even though there has been no substantial evidence of fraud federal officers were given the go-ahead on Monday to investigate “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities before this year’s presidential election is certified next month.

Attorney General William Barr insisted that the allegations “should be handled with great care” and that “specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries.”

Barr’s actions allow prosecutors to work around the longstanding Department of Justice policy that normally prohibits these actions before the election is formally certified.

He stressed that giving his content to federal prosecutors to pursue “substantial allegations” should in no way indicate that the DOJ has “concluded that voting irregularities have impacted the outcome of any election.” Barr pointed out that an investigation could be conducted if there are legitimate allegations of irregularities that could change the outcome of a federal election in an individual state.

The Attorney General wrote, “Any investigation of claims of irregularities that, if true, would clearly not impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State should normally be deferred until after the election certification process is completed.”

An official from the Department of Justice said that President Trump, lawmakers, or anyone from the White House asked Barr for this authorization.

Barr’s decision came just days after Fox News declared Democrat Joe Biden the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election by gaining the necessary number of required electoral votes. Trump is refusing to give up and is accusing the Democrats of staging a country-wide conspiracy to boost the number of votes for Biden enough for him to claim the victory.

Days after the night of the election Biden took the lead in multiple battleground states but there has yet to be any indication of enough illegally casts votes that would affect the outcome.

Election officials from both parties report that the election went relatively well, with just a few minor issues that are typical for any election.

Each state has until December 8 to resolve any election disputes such as recounts or court contests. The Electoral College will meet on December 14 to finalize the outcome as scheduled.

Following the death of a six-year-old boy, a city in Texas declared a disaster when a brain-eating amoeba was found in its water supply. 

The Brazosport Water Authority in Lake Jackson, about 50 miles south of Houston, received a warning from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that its water supply could be contaminated with a brain-eating amoeba known as Naegleria Fowleri.

 A “do not use” water advisory for eight communities in the greater Houston area was initially issued.  The advisory warned against using any type of water except to flush toilets.  on Saturday the advisory was lifted for all communities except Lake Jackson

Later Saturday night Lake Jackson had the “do-not-use” advisory lifted and replaced with a boil water notice that remains in effect along with “additional precautionary measures.”

The agency stated in a news release, “ TCEQ and City officials are actively working on a plan to flush and disinfect a water system. Until the flushing and disinfecting process is complete, the Savior remains under the boil notice. during this period of disinfection and flushing, boiling the tap water makes it safe for drinking and cooking.”

The Brazosport Water Authority’s water source is the Brazos River which runs through the city located south of Houston.  More than 27,000 residents are being affected by this plan.

Until the authority’s water systems can be thoroughly flushed, tested, and cleared for use the boil water notice will remain in place.  No word has been given on how long it will be before the tap water is safe again.

Just six months earlier six-year-old Josiah McIntyre died after contracting the microbe. The boy’s mother said that her son suffered from a headache which turned into a fever, vomiting, and trouble speaking.

The mother said, “ It was weird because he had never complained of a headache before.”

The child died on September 8th from what doctors discovered was Naegleria Fowleri.

It was the investigation into the boy’s death that led to the detection of the brain-eating amoeba after health officials conducted water sample tests.

To ensure the area has clean drinking water  grocery store chain Kroger will be helping to supply the city and has already deployed 250 pallets of water to stores in the area.

Naomi Wolf, a former White House advisor to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, said in a tweet that she would not have cast her vote for Joe Biden if she had known about his stance on coronavirus-related economic shutdowns.

Wolf argues that lockdowns are “historically unprecedented” and a “terrifying practice.” In her tweet, she says President-elect Biden’s candor for more lockdowns in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 makes her regret her decision to vote for him.

If I’d known Biden was open to ‘lockdowns’ as he now states, which is something historically unprecedented in any pandemic, and a terrifying practice, one that won’t ever end because elites love it, I would never have voted for him.

— Dr. Naomi Wolf. 8 NYT Bestsellers. DPhil, Poetry. (@naomirwolf) November 9, 2020

Anyone who listened to any of Biden’s rally speeches would know that he was very vocal about implementing additional lockdowns and there should be guidelines for governing potential closures.

Biden even said during a debate with President Trump, “If you have a reproduction rate in a community that’s above a certain level, everybody says ‘slow up,’ more social distancing, do not open bars and do not open gymnasiums. Do not open until you get this under control.”

Trump opposed any more lockdowns and would regularly use this narrative to attack Biden all throughout the campaign cycle. Just before Election Day Trump made a stop at a rally and said a vote for Biden is “a vote for lockdowns, layoffs,” and “misery.”

Biden says that he would take the advice of scientists into consideration and would only implement more shutdowns if advised to do so by experts.

The number of coronavirus cases across the U.S. continues to go up but pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has seen promising results from its recent trials which showed 90% effectiveness in preventing the virus.

If you have been at work in the office and find that your colleagues have tried to pressure you into flipping political parties ahead of the 2020 presidential election then you’re not alone.

According to a Glassdoor 2020 “Politics at Work” survey, more than 25% of employees in the United States have reported co-workers have tried to persuade them into changing their political preference in the past year.

The Harris Poll, which conducted the survey online, indicated that although most employees prefer to keep politics out of the office, some still engage in political discussions in the workplace.

The survey also showed that tensions among opposing parties in the workplace are high leading up to Election Day, with 21% of employees saying they would not want to work with someone who plans on voting for someone they don’t like.

About 24% of Republican and 23% of Democrat employees are in agreement even though a majority of employees still believe that political conversations in the workplace is not only inappropriate but can impede career opportunities. About 60% of employees believe political discussions at work is unacceptable and could impact their careers in a negative way. Younger employees between the ages of 18 and 34 also believe discussing politics in the workplace could negatively impact their career opportunities.

This still hasn’t stopped more than half of workers, about 57%, from participating in political conversations.

The survey results were gathered from 1,204 U.S. employees over the age of 17 from January 13-15, 2020.

Hollywood B-lister John Leguizamo bashed Florida residents after the state was called for Donald Trump in the 2020 race to the White House.

The actor is an outspoken critic of President Trump and his administration and spent most of election night and Wednesday morning watching the election results pour in on news outlets and social media platforms along with the rest of the country.

Ultimately, the Sunshine State and its 29 critical electoral college votes were declared to be in favor of the incumbent despite Democrats pushing hard for the state and raising all expectations that the state could go blue..

Leguizamo took to Twitter on Wednesday after Florida was solidly called for President Trump.

“Florida is dead to me!” he wrote. “Let the lemmings drive their golf carts into the ocean!”

A voter analysis of the states’ residents shows that it was senior citizens and Cuban Americans that made it possible for Trump to secure the win in Florida.

Senior citizen voters in the Sunshine State gave Trump a 9% margin over Democratic nominee Joe Biden despite critics’ expectations that the president would not win over that demographic because of how they say he handled the coronavirus pandemic.

And while 59% of Hispanic voters supported Joe Biden, more Cuban American voters favored President Trump’s reelection.

Although Leguizamo seems to have written Florida off completely, he spent most of the night of the election praising Arizona and encouraging its citizens to keep voting in hopes of flipping the state to blue for Biden.

First Lady Melania Trump was dressed to impress when she showed up in Palm Beach, Florida, to vote in person on Election Day. She was dressed to the nines in an equestrian-print white dress paired with other high-fashion accessories.

Mrs. Trump cast her ballot at a voting center near Mar-a-Lago Tuesday morning. She spoke to reporters who asked her why she didn’t vote alongside her husband last week while the couple was in the Sunshine State, the first lady responded, “It’s Election Day so I wanted to come here to vote today for the election.”

According to Daily Express Melania was wearing a Gucci dress with a stirrup link print, paired with a Hermes Kelly bag and Christian Louboutin heels. The entire outfit is estimated to cost over $20,000 from head to toe.

She did receive some criticism for not wearing a face mask with the elaborate outfit but Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s spokesperson, said the first lady was the only person inside the polling site at that time, besides some of her own staff workers who have all tested negative for the coronavirus.

Grisham said that while Melania cast her vote no one was within 6 feet of her “because of social distancing and the privacy” all voters receive.

Melania Trump, 50, fully recovered from a bout with COVID-19 last month that also hospitalized her husband. They both have since tested negative for the viral disease.

Even though we still don’t know if the incumbent President Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has won the White House one thing that is clear is Trump outperformed many public polls by a huge margin.

This leaves the polling industry wondering how they could have been so wrong for a second time.

Veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz said it was “unforgivable” that public opinion surveys underestimated Trump’s support.

An average of the national surveys on the night before the election showed Biden leading by a whopping 7.2 points but on Wednesday morning after the election, President Trump was only behind by a slim 1.6 points in the national popular vote.

In the 2016 election, public polls showed Clinton in the lead over Trump in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, all states that Trump had won over. Trump also blew public surveys out of the water in Ohio and Iowa.

Fast forward to 2020 and President Trump has once again put public pollsters to shame.

Real Clear Politics predicted the former vice president would hold a .9 edge over Trump in Florida but at last check, his margin of victory stands at 3.4 points.

An average of the public opinion surveys showed a 6.7 lead for Biden on the eve of Election Day but we now know that he came out with just a fraction of a point above Trump.

The president won battleground Ohio by 8 points which is 7 points more than the final public poll results. The same thing happened in Iowa with Trump projected to hold a 2-point advantage over Biden but ended up with 8 points on Tuesday.

So why do public polls continue to underestimate Trump’s support?

Luntz explained that Trump voters are more likely to refuse to be interviewed so “measuring the breadth of support for Donald Trump is tricky.”

“But to get it wrong twice in a row by huge margins is unforgivable,” he added.