Oh Yeah, There’s an Election: Presidential Campaign Overshadowed as World Explodes

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By Washington Examiner. For those outside the Washington, D.C., Beltway and not consumed with political news, it’s easy to forget that there’s a presidential election this year. While society-changing, earth-shattering events such as the coronavirus pandemic, mass unemployment, and violent protests have taken center stage, the 2020 election itself is a bit of a snooze.

President Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden certainly respond to the catastrophic events as they try to sustain their campaigns. But the election itself is not driving the news, a dramatic change from previous years.

An April Pew Research Center survey found that 52% of people in the United States were paying close or fairly close attention to news about presidential candidates, significantly down from the same point in the 2016 cycle when 69% said they were paying close or very close attention to the presidential candidates. Meanwhile, 87% in the April survey said that they are paying close or very close attention to the coronavirus pandemic.

A former D.C. political digital operative now based on the Pacific Northwest put it bluntly: “Truly, who can really be thinking about the election when the pandemic is happening and it feels like society is ripping apart at the seams?”. . .

Even seasoned political operatives and activists confess that the Trump-Biden contest slipped their minds. (Read more from “Oh Yeah, There’s an Election: Presidential Campaign Overshadowed as World Explodes” HERE)

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Trump Declines to Say Whether He’ll Accept 2020 Election Results in Fox News Interview

By Newsweek. President Donald Trump declined to say whether or not he will accept the results of the presidential election in November during an interview broadcast by Fox News Sunday.

“I have to see. Look … I have to see,” Trump told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace when he asked if the president would accept election results if he lost. “No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.”

During the interview, the president dismissed polls that show him trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by significant margins – with many showing him down by double digits nationally.

“First of all, I’m not losing, because those are fake polls. They were fake in 2016 and now they’re even more fake. The polls were much worse in 2016,” the president said. (Read more from “Trump Declines to Say Whether He’ll Accept 2020 Election Results in Fox News Interview” HERE)

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Trump Chief of Staff: ‘I Expect Indictments’ From John Durham Investigation

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President Trump’s chief of staff said that he expects criminal indictments to result from U.S. Attorney John Durham’s wide-ranging inquiry into the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Mark Meadows, who took over as chief of staff in late March after serving as a North Carolina congressman since 2013, told Maria Bartiromo of Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News that, based on what he’d seen, he believes people involved in the investigation into Russian interference and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign will end up with charges being leveled against them by Durham, the federal prosecutor handpicked by Attorney General William Barr to lead the investigation of the investigators.

The Trump chief of staff also predicted that new, damning details would be made public soon, just a couple days after Republic Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina released newly-declassified documents, which cast doubt on the veracity of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier and undercut the Russian collusion narrative pushed by some in the media.

“I think the American people expect indictments — I know I expect indictments based on the evidence I’ve seen. Lindsey Graham did a good job in getting that out. We know that they not only knew that there wasn’t a case, but they continued to investigate and spy, and yes, I use the word ‘spy,’ on Trump campaign officials and actually even doing things when this president was sworn in and after that and doing it in an inappropriate manner,” Meadows said. (Read more from “Trump Chief of Staff: ‘I Expect Indictments’ From John Durham Investigation” HERE)

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People Are Hosting Parties to Spread COVID

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Florida sheriff said “unsavory” people are hosting parties to spread the novel coronavirus.

“They are being referred to, from what I am being told, as ‘COVID-19 Parties’ where they are actually getting together and they are trying to mingle to potentially spread the virus amongst each other,” Russ Gibson, the sheriff for Osceola County said in an interview with WKMG News.

“A lot of times, we’ve been finding out that there are people here that are unsavory people that you wouldn’t want in your neighborhoods. There are some gangs, that are renting these houses, and they’re coming here to Osceola County,” Gibson said. . .

The sheriff said some of the people organizing these parties are renting multiple homes for their gatherings, which can range anywhere from 50 to 400 people. While party goers are at times dispersed without much pushback, Gibson said that last week deputies had fireworks set off against them. (Read more from “People Are Hosting Parties to Spread COVID” HERE)

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AG Barr Says Hollywood ‘Kowtowing’ to China, Warns U.S. Executives Against Acting as Chinese Foreign Agents (VIDEO)

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Attorney General William Barr said Thursday the Chinese government has achieved a “massive propaganda coup” by shaping the content coming out of Hollywood, while warning U.S. business executives against acting as agents of the communist regime in possible violation of foreign lobbying laws.

Speaking at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Barr offered a sober assessment of China’s efforts to “raid” U.S. companies and institutions with a goal of becoming the world’s lone superpower. . .

Barr pointed to the movie “World War Z,” which originally included a scene showing that the origins of a zombie apocalypse originated in China. Paramount Pictures ordered the scene removed from the movie at the request of Chinese authorities.

“This is a massive propaganda coup for the Chinese Communist Party,” Barr said.

“Hollywood is far from alone in kowtowing to the PRC. America’s big tech companies have also allowed themselves to become pawns of Chinese influence.” (Read more from “AG Barr Says Hollywood ‘Kowtowing’ to China, Warns U.S. Executives Against Acting as Chinese Foreign Agents” HERE)

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It Turns Out CDC Employees Are Bankrolling Dems

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Reports from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that employees from the Center for Disease Control prefer Democratic and even progressive-leaning candidates. Since 2005, more than 550 employees for the agency donated more than $285,000 to the Democratic Party and their candidates, the Daily Caller reported.

The number one recipient for the donations was ActBlue, the online fundraising platform the Democratic Party utilizes. Other popular candidates and committees included Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Out of all the contributions made from CDC employees, only five were sent to a Republican Political Action Committee (PAC) or candidate. Three of the five contributions were made to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The total of the donations made to the Trump campaign totaled a little more than $1,000.

According to the Daily Caller, campaign contributions flooded into progressive candidates in March when the World Health Organization declared the Wuhan coronavirus as a pandemic.

“…the total amount of money employees contributed to left-leaning causes by the end of the [March] was nearly three times higher than the previous five-year average,” the Caller reported. “In addition, the total amount of contributions more than doubled compared to the previous five-year monthly average.” (Read more from “It Turns Out CDC Employees Are Bankrolling Dems” HERE)

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Governor Will Likely Pardon Armed St. Louis Couple If They Are Charged

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The governor of Missouri does not expect the armed St. Louis couple who defended their home to go to jail, and he would be willing to pardon them if it came down to it. . .

While there have yet to be charges filed against the couple, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) said he would pardon the McCloskeys if they are charged for brandishing firearms at a group of protesters outside their home.

Parson made the revelation on Friday during an appearance on “The Marc Cox Morning Show” on 97.1 FM in St. Louis. Parson said the McCloskeys “did what they legally should do” in protecting their property. . .

When asked if he would pardon the St. Louis couple if charges were filled, Parsons replied, “I think that’s exactly what would happen,” according to The Hill.

“Right now, that’s what I feel,” he added. “You don’t know until you hear all the facts. But right now, if this is all about going after them for doing a lawful act, then yeah, if that scenario ever happened, I don’t think they’re going to spend any time in jail.” (Read more from “Governor Will Likely Pardon Armed St. Louis Couple If They Are Charged” HERE)

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GOP Win: Ballot Harvesting Ban Stays in Place

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The Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the Florida GOP won a federal court victory upholding Florida’s ban on ballot harvesting.

Priorities USA, a progressive advocacy group, and other Democrat plaintiffs dismissed their claims in Nielsen v. DeSantis, a lawsuit challenging Florida’s ban on ballot harvesting which also aimed to force the state to count ballots that arrived after Election Day. The plaintiffs also dropped their claim that Florida needed to provide pre-paid postage on vote-by-mail ballots.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement on Sunday:

Today’s victory is a win for Florida voters and a win for election integrity. Democrats’ assault on our elections process is not based on fact or reason, which is why they are dismissing every claim in their radical suit. The RNC will continue to step in and fight back against Democrat attempts to circumvent existing law and weaken our elections process.

The RNC highlighted a deposition, which they say weakened the suit, in which a Yale University student claimed that he was disenfranchised by having to travel to a post office to mail his ballot, “even though there was a mailbox in front of his house or a post office six blocks from his house.” (Read more from “GOP Win: Ballot Harvesting Ban Stays in Place” HERE)

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Couple Put Under House Arrest for Refusing to Sign Quarantine Papers

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A Kentucky couple says they were placed under house arrest and fitted with ankle bracelets after they refused to sign a self-quarantine order over a positive coronavirus test.

Elizabeth Linscott of Radcliff said she got tested for COVID-19 as a precaution because she was planning to visit her family in Michigan, news station WAVE reported. . .

But on Thursday, Linscott’s husband, Isaiah, was greeted by local authorities at the front door of their home. . .

“This guy’s in a suit with a mask, it’s the health department guy and he has three different papers for us. For me, her and my daughter.”

The couple was placed under house arrest for two weeks and ordered to wear ankle monitors that will notify law enforcement if they travel more than 200 feet from the property, the reports said. (Read more from “Couple Put Under House Arrest for Refusing to Sign Quarantine Papers” HERE)

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Uh-Oh: Claims of NYT Ties to Slavery Surface

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Michael Goodwin of the New York Post published an extensive investigative article on Sunday claiming that ancestral members of the family that owns the New York Times likely included slaveowners.

Moreover, Goodwin recounted, the extended family also included members who fought for the Confederacy; contributed to Confederate memorials after the Civil War; and perhaps even engaged in the slave trade. . .

Goodwin explained:

Last Sunday, I recounted that Bertha Levy Ochs, the mother of Times patriarch Adolph S. Ochs, supported the South and slavery. She was caught smuggling medicine to Confederates in a baby carriage and her brother Oscar joined the rebel army.

I have since learned that, according to a family history, Oscar Levy fought alongside two Mississippi cousins, meaning at least three members of Bertha’s family fought for secession.

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Pentagon Effectively Bans Confederate Flags on All Military Property

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The Pentagon on Friday unveiled a new policy that effectively bans the display of the Confederate flag — without actually naming it.

The policy … reflects an effort to find a compromise on the divisive issue, as Defense Secretary Mark Esper strives to satisfy military leaders without irking President Donald Trump, who has criticized NASCAR for banning the flag.

A draft version of the policy reportedly explicitly banned the Confederate flag on Defense Department property. Yet the official language simply lists the types of flags that are allowed to be displayed, including the American flag; the flags of the U.S. states, territories and the District of Columbia; military flags and those of allies.

“The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols,” Esper wrote in the memo. The guidance applies to the public displays of flags by service members or DoD civilians “in all DoD work places, common access areas, and public areas.” (Read more from “Pentagon Effectively Bans Confederate Flags on All Military Property” HERE)

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