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Rank-and-file union members snub Biden for Trump

trump supporters
© Carolyn Kaster/AP
1 Trump supporters at a union training center in Hermantown, Minnesota Sept. 18, 2020.
In some unions, especially the building trades, support for the president remains solid despite the efforts of labor leaders to convince members otherwise.

Joe Biden has pitched himself to voters as a "union man," a son of Scranton, Pa., who respects the dignity of work and will defend organized labor if he wins the White House. To rank-and-file members in some unions, especially the building trades, it doesn't matter. They're still firmly in Donald Trump's camp.

Labor leaders have worked for months to sell their members on Biden, hoping to avoid a repeat of 2016 when Donald Trump outperformed among union members and won the White House. But despite a bevy of national union endorsements for Biden and years of what leaders call attacks on organized labor from the Trump administration, local officials in critical battleground states said support for Trump remains solid.

"We haven't moved the needle here," said Mike Knisley, executive secretary-treasurer with the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, who estimated that about half of his members voted for Trump in 2016 and will do so again.
"Even if given all the information that's been put out there, all the facts — just pick an issue that the president has had his hands in — it doesn't make a difference."
Among members of North America's Building Trades Unions, there is a dead heat in six swing states, with Biden receiving 48 percent of the vote and Trump 47 percent, according to an internal poll shared with POLITICO.

Comment: In this political season who is up and who is down can change in an instant. The vote churners are out there working overtime spouting what they want you to hear and believe. It is up to the voter to decipher the truth and vote (or not) accordingly.


Briefcase

Barr, AGs to meet on fragmenting case against Google

AG Barr
© Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters
US Attorney General William Barr
DOJ is preparing an expected antitrust suit targeting the company's dominance in search, but Democratic-led states may decline to sign on.

Attorney General William Barr will meet with Republican attorneys general Wednesday to kick off three days of discussions between his Justice Department and dozens of states about their looming antitrust lawsuits against Google, three people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO on Tuesday.

But the talks also come amid new signs that the case against Google is splintering along partisan lines.

DOJ is preparing to file a suit as soon as next week centered on the company's dominance of online search while putting off a decision on Google's command of advertising technology, the area where state AGs are most inclined to sue. That divide could undermine hopes for a rare bipartisan fight in which attorneys general from heavily Democratic states like New York would line up with President Donald Trump's attorney general against one of the United States' largest companies.

The individuals, who asked for anonymity to candidly discuss the probes, said Barr and the states have made no final decisions on either suit. They said crucial debates also remain ongoing about what remedies to seek — which could include requiring Google to sell off parts of its business, such as the Android operating system or YouTube.

Target

Hoping to force an outcome, US sanctions opposition parties in Venezuela ahead of elections

mural
© ariana Cubillos/AP
Maduro
Elections for Venezuela's National Assembly are fast approaching. But the United States does not want them to go ahead at all. Sanctions on Venezuela are nothing new. But yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the unusual step of sanctioning leaders of local opposition parties in an attempt to pressure them to pull out of the contest in December.

Remarkably, considering the well-documented flaws with the same problems in the U.S., Pompeo's statement dubiously claimed that Venezuelan voting machines are unreliable, that millions of voters remain unregistered, and that the country's supreme electoral council is politicized and hand-picked by the executive branch.

That many parties are contesting the upcoming December elections to the National Assembly (that the opposition already controls) seems to undermine Pompeo's claim that Nicolas Maduro is a "desperate and illegitimate dictator." The 56-year-old former CIA Director, however, explained that they are merely "puppet parties" participating in an "electoral charade." The National Assembly is roughly akin to the French Assemblée Nationale or the U.S. House of Representatives.

Arrow Up

Alexander Lukashenko sworn in as Belarusian president

Lukashenko
© Press service of the President of the Republic Belarus
Lukashenko begins his 6th term as President of Belarus P
Lukashenko garnered the support of 80 percent of voters in the 9 August election, according to the official results, which were widely rejected by the opposition as falsified. The controversial outcome of the vote has caused nationwide protests.

Alexander Lukashenko has been inaugurated as the president of Belarus, Belta News Agency reported Wednesday. The official ceremony at the Independence Palace was attended by several hundred people, including senior lawmakers, top executives of state organisations as well as scientists, artists and athletes.

The media outlet said that Lukashenko put his hand on the constitution and took an oath in the Belarusian language. He then received the certificate of the President of Belarus from the chair of the Central Electoral Commission. The president, who entered his sixth term, said that he was assuming the office with pride for Belarusians
"who had the courage of their convictions. I cannot, have no right to leave behind the Belarusians who linked their political sympathies, their fate, the future of their children to the government's course."

Comment: See also:


Light Sabers

Fauci clashes with Rand Paul again at coronavirus hearing: 'You are not listening'

PaulFauci
© GOPUSA/Joshua Roberts/Getty Images/KJN
Senator Rand Paul • Dr. Anthony Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House coronavirus task force, showed frustration with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., while disputing the lawmaker's assertion that lockdowns are not effective in combating COVID-19.

Paul said that while people claim that lockdowns helped in New York and New Jersey, those states were hit quite hard, with New York having the highest death rate in the world. He then said that Sweden, which did not lock down, has a lower death rate, and asked Fauci if he now regrets any of his recommendations for combatting the pandemic.


Comment: There have been many studies, many viewpoints, many revisions. The outcome is pointing to a non-plus virus and over-reaction to its implications. Fauci has a bias forged in selective beliefs. Paul shapes and revises his by looking at the facts.


Attention

Belarus faces imminent sanctions as pressure mounts on Lukashenko

Lukashenko
© Bigstock
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
The United States, Britain and Canada may impose sanctions on Belarus as early as Friday, four sources told Reuters, and the European Union told President Alexander Lukashenko it did not recognise him as the country's legitimate leader.

Diplomatic pressure on Lukashenko mounted a day after he had himself sworn in for a sixth term at an inauguration ceremony that was kept secret until after it was completed.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that following the "fraudulent" inauguration, British, U.S. and Canadian officials were working on sanctions against those responsible for "serious human rights violations".

The four sources said the measures could come on Friday, though that might slip given the challenge of coordinating between the three countries.

TV

What's the difference between 'villain' Assange and 'intrepid' Woodward

CNN Blitzer/Woodward
© Twitter/CNN
Wolf Blitszer • Bob Woodward
The next time you see a mainstream-media talking-head fawn over Woodward, just remember that if they had any backbone, any moral core, they would be fawning over Assange instead.

The completely fair super awesome trial of Julian Assange continues in the U.K. as I write this. It's a beautiful blend of the works of Kafka, Stalin and Joseph Heller.

Seeing as Julian is kept in a glass container in the courtroom, like a captured cockroach, maybe Kafka wins the day.

The court clearly must keep Julian in that giant Tic-Tac container because he's undoubtedly as dangerous as Hannibal Lecter. If he weren't in there, no one would know when he might lurch forward and PUBLISH SOMETHING THAT'S TOTALLY TRUE!


Treasure Chest

Queen to receive government 'bailout' after Crown Estate hit by lockdown's economic destruction

queen gold uk
© Getty
Queen Elizabeth II views stacks of gold as she visits the Bank of England with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (not pictured), December 13, 2012 in London, England.
Boris Johnson's government has confirmed it will top up the Queen's income following a significant slump in the Crown Estate's revenue during the coronavirus crisis.

The royal family takes in rental receipts from shops in London's Regent Street, alongside malls and retail parks around the country - but the value of its portfolio has fallen by more than £500m since the pandemic hit.

The Treasury said it would provide the estate with extra money to meet any shortfall in profits and make sure the Queen's sovereign grant remains at its current level.

"In the event of a reduction in the Crown Estate's profits, the sovereign grant is set at the same level as the previous year," a spokesperson said told The Independent.

Comment: Meanwhile the government has this to offer the average citizen suffering the tyrannical lockdown:


Russian Flag

Russia: OPCW should release data on Navalny 'poisoning' to all member states; says Germany failing to provide answers

OPCW building
© AFP/ANP/Koen van Weel
Russia's mission to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has asked Germany to make public all the data, at its disposal, related to the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

After Berlin refused to share information related to the Navalny affair with Moscow, sending it to the OPCW instead, Russian representatives reached out to Germany through the organization, Aleksandr Shulgin, envoy to the chemical weapons watchdog, told RT.

"We've sent a letter to the permanent representation of Germany," Shulgin explained.
"We requested the Germans to provide us with exhaustive information about results of analyses, blood samples, biological samples, in one word - all the materials in relation with this."

Comment:


Cult

Puppetmaster George Soros is indeed an enabler of US street violence

George Soros
© AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta
George Soros
Fox News saw a bit of a dust-up this week when Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, referred on air to the influences of billionaire George Soros on the violence that's gone forth in the streets of mostly Democrat-controlled communities — only to have his comments shut down. Censored, some might even say.

Apologies and clarifications soon after came. But let's be clear and let's stay clear on this: Soros is indeed diddling in America's political and legal systems. And his diddling is indeed having a "have at it" effect on those who would take to the streets, with bricks, to express their frustrations with President Donald Trump.

This is no conspiracy theory.

This is no tin foil hat moment.

This is a fact — a traceable, verifiable fact. What's more, it's not too hard to trace and verify.

Comment: From Robby Starbuck of the The Federalist:
Since 2015, George Soros has been executing a plan to reshape the country through local district attorney elections by pumping unprecedented amounts of money into races that typically only see candidates spend in the low five figures.

Here's why he has an interest in these local races. Soros is exploiting the reality that all politics are local in some way. To transform America, you have to transform the way towns and cities operate

Buying Prosecutors Who Are Soft on Crime

Since 2015, Soros has pumped tens of millions of dollars into local races in Texas, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Florida, and New York, as well as swing states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Arizona. In 2016, Soros spent $2,000,000 on a single sheriff race in Maricopa County, Arizona, helping the leftist candidate, Paul Penzone, win.

In Philadelphia, Soros spent an insane $1,700,000 to elect Larry Krasner DA. Soros has also given millions of dollars in grants to candidates in other states. These enormous contributions have a correspondingly enormous impact.

Although his efforts haven't been universally successful, the vast majority of Soros-backed candidates have won with Soros donations pushing them across the finish line. Here are just a few examples:
  • $2,000,000 to fund Kim Foxx in her Cook County (Chicago, Ill.) re-election bid.
  • $1,400,000 to fund Aramis Ayala's campaign to become state's attorney of Orlando, Fla.
  • $1,150,000 to fund Jake Lilly's run to become DA of Jefferson and Gilpin County (Denver) in Colorado.
  • $958,000 to fund Joe Gonzales's run to become DA of Bexar County (San Antonio, Texas).
  • $650,000 to fund Jose Garza in his Travis County (Austin, Texas) re-election bid.
  • $750,000 to fund Joe Kimok in his Broward County, Fla. state's attorney race.
  • $583,000 to fund Kim Ogg's run to become Harris County (Houston, Texas) DA.
  • $583,000 to fund Parisa Dehghani-Tafti in her race to be Arlington County (Va.) commonwealth's attorney.
  • $500,000 to fund Jody Owen's run to become Hinds County, Miss. (Jackson) DA.
  • $406,000 to fund James E. Stewart's run to become Caddo Parish, La. (Shreveport) DA.
  • $392,000 to fund Steve T. Descano's bid to become Fairfax County (Va.) commonwealth's attorney.
  • $275,000 to fund Diana Becton's bid to remain as Contra Costa County, Calif. DA.
  • $147,000 to fund Darius Pattillo in his run to become Harris County, Ga. DA.
  • $116,000 to fund Kim Gardner's re-election bid as St. Louis circuit attorney.
  • $107,000 to fund Raul Torrez bid to become Benalillo County (Albuquerque, N.M.) DA.
  • $89,000 to fund Scott Colom's bid to become DA of Lowndes County, Miss.
That's just a partial list, but it surely corroborates Gingrich's point that Soros "paid for" the outcomes of those elections, notwithstanding Harf's unsubstantiated denial. In 2018 The Los Angeles Times reported that Soros spent $2,700,000 on California DA races alone, and another $16 million on 17 DA races in other states.

What Soros's DAs Have Done In Office

Now let's talk about what happens after Election Day, when the Soros-backed candidates start wielding their newfound power. Many of the following names will likely be familiar.

[Kim] Foxx is well known as the DA who let actor Jussie Smollett escape prosecution after he hoaxed the nation by pretending he was beaten up by two men who allegedly shouted "This is MAGA country" in deep-blue Chicago, Illinois. A special prosecutor assigned to examine Foxx's conduct in the case said there was "substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures" and determined she was guilty of "making false and/or misleading statements to the public."

A recent report from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, moreover, found a 13 percent decline in guilty pleas or verdicts in felony cases and a 39 percent increase in dropped or lost cases after Foxx took office.

If you've had the misfortune of hearing Kim Gardner's name, it's probably because she's trying to throw Mark and Patricia McCloskey in jail for defending their home by exercising their right to bear arms when they were threatened by rioters. Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, along with Baltimore DA Maryln Mosby, threatened in an op-ed to have federal officers arrested if these prosecutors feel they overstep their authority in his district.

[Chesa] Boudin is one of the DAs on this list who refuses to prosecute what he calls "quality-of-life crimes" such as camping in the streets, offering or soliciting sex, public urination, and more. He also recently questioned whether spending money on law enforcement is "the most effective" use of tax dollars. He has also said that policing and incarceration "are tremendously expensive and are failed responses to what we are trying to deal with."

Diane Becton of Contra Costa County, Calif. filed hate crime charges against David Nelson and Nichole Anderson for painting over a Black Lives Matter mural. Suffolk County, Mass. DA Rachael Rollins, along with Krasner and Boudin, is part of the also-Soros-backed "Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commissions" that team up with far-left activist Shaun King's "Grassroots Law Project" to advocate for defunding the police. Yes, that's the same Shaun King who recently called for people to destroy statues and stained glass windows that depict Jesus as white.

Before going on his spending spree in DA races, Soros also made a $50 million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union's "Campaign to End Mass Incarceration" through his Open Society Foundation in 2014. Much of this money trickled down to local progressive groups who back these types of radical candidates as well.

Without Law and Order, You Don't Have a Country

After watching the Fox News exchange involving Gingrich, Francis, Harf, and Faulkner, I wondered how anyone who works in the news business could be so uninformed about what Soros has been up to. The left-wing billionaire's plan clearly operates on the understanding that all politics are local and takes advantage of small-ball local DA races to remake the American justice system — and, by extension, remake all of America into the far-left world of his dreams.

That leap from remaking our justice system to remaking America may seem like a long jump to some, but law and order is the core of America's existence. Without law and order, you don't have a country.

If you want to know what the next step is for Soros, it's a continued expansion of funding for DA races, but also so much more. His recent pledge of $1 billion to endow a network of universities across the nation is part and parcel with his broader effort to promote his far-left ideology among impressionable young people.

Soros calls this initiative "the most important project of my life." That should deeply concern ordinary Americans everywhere, and perhaps even inspire a backlash of small-dollar donations to fight Soros's pernicious influence.

I believe that maintaining our freedoms and preserving the Constitution are two pillars of keeping America great, along with upholding the rule of law and properly educating our youth. Soros has a plan to systematically tear down those pillars, and we're not supposed to talk about it. But we must, and we will.