Day: August 19, 2020

Trump Campaign Details Counter-Programming Plans to Respond to Democratic National Convention

Sam Medley

Election season is in full swing, and with the Democratic National Convention (DNC) underway, the Trump campaign and Republican National Convention (RNC) are busy with counterprogramming this week.

Samantha Cotten, the Regional Communications Director for the Trump campaign, said that Republicans are focusing on 17 battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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Commentary: Pelosi’s Claim That Trump’s 2018 Postal Service Reforms Were Intended to ‘Sabotage the Election’ in 2020 Amid COVID Is a Conspiracy Theory

Michigan Star Staff

To hear House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tell it, President Donald Trump’s efforts to reform the Postal Service — which began with an April 2018 executive order appointing a task force to bring USPS into solvency almost two years before there was any COVID-19 pandemic — were intended to undermine increased requests for mail-in and absentee ballots in 2020 in response to the pandemic.

In an Aug. 16 dear colleague letter, Pelosi alleged, “Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters.  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of the top Trump mega-donors, has proven a complicit crony as he continues to push forward sweeping new operational changes that degrade postal service, delay the mail, and… threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion.”

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Victims Call Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo ‘Sick Monster,’ ‘Subhuman’ in Sentencing Hearing

The Associated Press

Victim after victim lined up on Tuesday to describe Joseph DeAngelo as a “sick monster,” “horrible man” and “subhuman” who stole their innocence and changed their lives during a more than decade-long reign of rape and murder that earned him the nickname Golden State Killer.

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Fired for Accidentally Calling a Transgender Student ‘She,’ Teacher Takes Case to Court

Michigan Star Staff

Peter Vlaming has two great passions—teaching and French. 

But a Virginia school district stripped the French teacher of the ability to impart these passions in high school classrooms when it fired him for not using pronouns preferred by a transgender student.

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Television Viewership Down for Democrats’ Unconventional Convention

The Associated Press

Preliminary estimates show that viewership for the first night of the Democrats’ virtual convention was down compared with the opening of Hillary Clinton’s nominating party four years ago.

An estimated 18.7 million people watched coverage between 10 and 11 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the Nielsen company said. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers.

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No Immediate Ruling on Motion to Dismiss Lee Statue Lawsuit

The Associated Press

A judge heard arguments Tuesday but did not immediately rule on whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue.

An injunction issued in the lawsuit currently prevents Northam’s administration from moving forward with plans announced after the death of George Floyd to take down the bronze equestrian statue of Lee. The figure erected in 1890 is now one of the country’s most prominent tributes to the Confederacy.

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Judge Blocks Idaho Law That Prevents Transgender Women from Participating in Female Athletics

Michigan Star Staff

U.S. District Judge David Nye of Idaho ordered a preliminary injunction on Monday temporarily halting a state law that prohibits transgender girls and women from competing in female athletics, The Idaho Statesman reported.

Nye’s ruling will allow transgender girls and women to participate in women’s sports this upcoming fall at colleges and in secondary schools as the lawsuit proceeds, the Statesman reported.

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Amazon to Add Thousands of Tech, Corporate Jobs in Six American Cities

The Associated Press

Amazon plans to create 3,500 new tech and corporate jobs in six cities nationwide, the company announced Tuesday.

Most of the company’s new hires will be located in Amazon’s New York office with the rest being added in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, according to a press release. Amazon also announced plans to expand the six offices to accommodate the new hires.

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Commentary: The Biden-Harris Levitation

Michigan Star Staff

Each week in the inexorable march to Election Day, it becomes more challenging to believe how the campaign is unfolding and to rationalize it as a serious process for choosing the leader of the world’s greatest nation. After some reflection, it becomes clear that the extreme improbability of this process is the result of it not really being a race between two pairs of candidates for national office. It is surely the last round in the great battle between Donald Trump and the national political media.

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Former Ohio Governor and 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate John Kasich Delivers Speech at Democratic National Convention

Sam Medley

Republican John Kasich, who served as Ohio’s governor from 2011-2019 and ran in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, delivered a speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Monday.

Kasich, who refused to support Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, spoke to the current political division in America, saying that “America is at a crossroads.”

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Whitmer Calls for Unity, Bashes Trump’s COVID-19 Response in DNC Speech

Jordyn Pair

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called for unity and for Americans to “rally together” to fight the coronavirus during a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night.

Before her speech even began, however, Whitmer was caught mouthing an expletive on a live feed.

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