Rep. Dan Crenshaw says Obama just wants to spread radical agenda

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, took to Twitter late Monday to try and dispel the lingering belief that Barack Obama, the former president, represents the moderate side of the Democrat Party.
Crenshaw pointed to a list of endorsements that Obama tweeted out earlier in the day and pointed to how Obama is  “meddling” in races all across Texas.  The Lone Star State is a target for Democrats in 2020.
Crenshaw, a rising star in the Republican Party, said that Obama’s only goal is to help his party “spread the most radical agenda in a century.”
“He’s no moderate,” Crenshaw wrote. “Neither are his candidates.”
Republicans have been trying to tie Joe Biden to the left-wing of the Democrat Party. Their theory is the Biden will be elected as a moderate, but, once in office, will relent his power to the extremes of the party.
Obama stayed largely out of public eye during the Democrat Primaries but has recently been more vocal about his opinion on the direction of the country.
“We may no longer have to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar in order to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power, who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision -- even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don't get sick,” he said.
His criticism was seen as a direct shot at President Trump.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News last week his theory on why the state may now be up for grabs. He said that middle-class and suburban women are moving away from Trump, pointing to Georgia and Texas specifically as locations with high concentrations of that demographic.
"If you look at what is happening nationally, there are two broad demographic trends going on nationally, blue-collar workers, union members are moving right, and that is moving midwestern states more Republican, states like Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, every one of which went for Donald Trump in 2016 -- at the same time we are seeing suburban voters, in particular suburban women who are moving left," said Cruz.

Woman stabbed at Portland’s anti-cop protest site

A confrontation in downtown Portland on Monday evening resulted in one woman stabbing another at the site of nightly racial justice demonstrations, according to authorities.
Portland Police said the victim is being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect left the scene before returning and is now being interviewed by authorities.
The female suspect had entered Lownsdale Square Park around 6:20 p.m., which is located across from Portland’s Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse. Police said that after taking photos or videos she got into an argument with other people in the park before stabbing another woman in the chest.

Black Lives Matter protesters march through Portland after rallying at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Sunday. (AP)

Video posted to Twitter purports to show the victim covered in blood while others were seen trying to approach the suspect. A woman recording the video was heard yelling: “Call the police!”
“I told you not to f--- with us,” a man was also heard saying as he and the victim confronted the alleged stabber.
Another video that was taken by an activist named Crystal Kalashnikov allegedly showed the suspect being taken into custody outside police headquarters, The Oregonian reported. Police have yet to confirm if the suspect had been arrested.
Kalashnikov said the encounter began when the woman approached a group of protesters and tried to agitate people at the scene, according to the paper. She said the suspect tried to leave before returning and stabbing the victim.
Police said when they were securing the crime scene, someone picked the up the knife and "ran off with it." Officers would later leave the scene after encountering a “hostile crowd” while trying to investigate the crime, authorities said.
"Officers were unable to safely conduct an investigation due to the hostile crowd, and supervisors made the decision to disengage," police said.
Authorities added that anyone with information about the location of the knife should call police non-emergency at 503-823-3333.

MSNBC producer resigns from network with scathing letter: They block 'diversity of thought' and 'amplify fringe voices'

A former MSNBC producer wrote a scathing open letter explaining why she recently left the cable news network.
"July 24th was my last day at MSNBC. I don’t know what I’m going to do next exactly but I simply couldn’t stay there anymore," Ariana Pekary wrote on her personal website. "My colleagues are very smart people with good intentions. The problem is the job itself. It forces skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis."
Pekary provided a number of examples of why she wanted to leave the cable news network.
"It’s possible that I’m more sensitive to the editorial process due to my background in public radio, where no decision I ever witnessed was predicated on how a topic or guest would 'rate.' The longer I was at MSNBC, the more I saw such choices — it’s practically baked in to the editorial process – and those decisions affect news content every day," Pekary said. "Likewise, it’s taboo to discuss how the ratings scheme distorts content, or it’s simply taken for granted, because everyone in the commercial broadcast news industry is doing the exact same thing. But behind closed doors, industry leaders will admit the damage that’s being done."
She then quoted someone she described a "successful and insightful TV veteran" who said: "We are a cancer and there is no cure... But if you could find a cure, it would change the world.”

Pekary, who described herself as an "integral member" of the MSNBC primetime show "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," used the "cancer" analogy to describe MSNBC's coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and the racial unrest in recent months, writing: "The model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events, at the expense of others… all because it pumps up the ratings."
"This cancer risks human lives, even in the middle of a pandemic. The primary focus quickly became what Donald Trump was doing (poorly) to address the crisis, rather than the science itself. As new details have become available about antibodies, a vaccine, or how COVID actually spreads, producers still want to focus on the politics. Important facts or studies get buried," Pekary explained.  "This cancer risks our democracy, even in the middle of a presidential election. Any discussion about the election usually focuses on Donald Trump, not Joe Biden, a repeat offense from 2016 (Trump smothers out all other coverage). Also important is to ensure citizens can vote by mail this year, but I’ve watched that topic get ignored or 'killed' numerous times."
Pekary claimed that network producers would "occasionally" choose topics or stories regardless of how they would rate, "but that is the exception, not the rule" and that the industry's structure and "the desire to charge more money for commercials" in addition to "ratings bonuses that top-tier decision-makers earn" prevent the network from pursuing stories she believes the audiences should be informed about.
"I’ve even heard producers deny their role as journalists. A very capable senior producer once said: 'Our viewers don’t really consider us the news. They come to us for comfort,'" Pekary wrote. "Now maybe we can’t really change the inherently broken structure of broadcast news, but I know for certain that it won’t change unless we actually face it, in public, and at least try to change it."
She concluded her letter by telling her readers to reach out to her, writing "More than ever, I’m craving a full and civil discourse."
Bari Weiss, the former New York Times op-ed staff editor who recently resigned from the newspaper with her own letter, praised Pekary's "integrity" on social media.
MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
According to her personal site, Pekary joined MSNBC in 2013 as part of launching Alec Baldwin's short-lived show. She previously worked for NPR.

Minneapolis’ Frey accuses Walz of dragging feet during early unrest

Mayor Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis Democrat who faced sharp criticism over his handling of the George Floyd riots in June, on Monday seemed to place much of the blame on Gov. Tim Walz, another Democrat, for failing to act quickly on early requests from the city for state intervention, a report said.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune published a detailed report that shed light on the interaction between the mayor's office and Walz in the early days of the protest. The governor's office made it clear that National Guard Troops were ready within 24 hours of the mayor's informal request, but Frey seems to be unconvinced that the governor's office took the unfolding crisis as serious as the moment demanded.
The report also shows clear fissures in Frey’s relationship with Walz. Frey told the paper that he remembered a press conference that the governor held outside the smoldering Third Precinct when he called the city’s response to the unrest the night before an “abject failure.”
Frey said watching the press conference was “definitely a hit in the gut.”
“Not just for me, but for so many in our city that were doing everything they could…Everyone was pouring themselves into stemming the violence,” he said.
Frey told the paper that the city was clear that the situation on the ground was dire and unfolding quickly. He told the paper that on May 27, he called the governor and told him to send in the National Guard. Frey recalled Walz saying that he would consider it.
The paper reported that the city released documents last week that seem to back up Frey’s claim. The paper pointed to a text message that Frey’s spokesman sent to fellow employees at the mayor’s office that read, “Mayor just came out and said the chief wants him to call in the national guard to help at Third Precinct. Mayor appears intent on doing.”
The situation in Minneapolis at the time of these messages was deteriorating quickly and even got the attention of President Trump who took to Twitter on May 29 to say that he “can’t stand back & watch this happen."
He continued, “A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.
Stores were vandalized and burned but one of the most widely reported topics was Frey's order to abandon the Third Precinct.
The symbolism of the building cannot outweigh the importance of life, our officers or the public,” he said at the time.
The Star-Tribune reported that it obtained emails and text messages that help paint a clearer picture of what happened during the protests from Wednesday, May 27 and the surrounding days. On May 28, the mayor’s office reportedly wrote once more to request additional support from the state and informed the governor’s office of “widespread looting and arson.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News for comment. Teddy Tschann, a spokesman for Walz, told the paper that the governor is a 24-year veteran of the state’s National Guard and “knows how much planning goes into a successful mission." Tschann’s statement made it seem as though the mayor’s office was not specific with its reporting on the events occurring on the ground.
The paper pointed out that there is also a disagreement between city and state leaders over whether a verbal request for troops qualifies as a formal request.
John Harrington,  the public safety commissioner, told the Star-Tribune that the city was not “specific about what they wanted or any details on what the mission would be.”

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SpaceX capsule and NASA crew make 1st splashdown in 45 years

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to close out an unprecedented test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

It was the first splashdown by U.S. astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit. The return clears the way for another SpaceX crew launch as early as next month and possible tourist flights next year.

Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken arrived back on Earth in their SpaceX Dragon capsule named Endeavour, less than a day after departing the International Space Station and two months after blasting off from Florida. The capsule parachuted into the calm gulf waters about 40 miles off the coast of Pensacola, hundreds of miles from Tropical Storm Isaias pounding Florida’s Atlantic coast.

“Welcome back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX,” said Mission Control from SpaceX headquarters.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming to see everybody here considering the things that have gone on the last few months since we’ve been off planet,” Hurley said after arriving back home in Houston Sunday evening where they were greeted by a small masked-gathering of family and officials, including Musk.

Musk had rushed to Houston from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, to welcome them. He was clearly moved — and relieved — while addressing the group.

“I’m not very religious, but I prayed for this one,” he said.

The astronauts’ ride back to Earth was fast, bumpy and hot, at least on the outside.

The spacecraft went from a screaming orbital speed of 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) to 350 mph (560 kph) during atmospheric reentry, and finally to 15 mph (24 kph) at splashdown. Peak heating during descent was 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,900 degrees Celsius). The anticipated top G forces felt by the crew: four to five times the force of Earth’s gravity.

Within a half-hour of splashdown, the scorched and blistered 16-foot capsule was hoisted aboard a SpaceX recovery ship with a staff of more than 40, including doctors and nurses. To keep the returning astronauts safe in the pandemic, the recovery crew quarantined for two weeks and were tested for the coronavirus.

The opening of the hatch was held up briefly by extra checks for toxic rocket fumes outside the capsule. After medical checkups, the astronauts were flown by helicopter to Pensacola and then to Houston.

There was one unexpected problem that could have endangered the operation: Once the capsule was in the water, private boats “just made a beeline for it,” and got too close, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, promising to do better next time at keeping sightseers on pleasure boats safely away. NASA video showed one vessel flying a large campaign flag for President Donald Trump.

The Coast Guard in Pensacola said it had deployed two vessels to keep the public at least 10 miles away from the capsule.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who both attended the launch, congratulated the SpaceX and NASA teams.

“Great to have NASA Astronauts return to Earth after very successful two month mission. Thank you to all!” Trump tweeted.

The last time NASA astronauts returned from space to water was on July 24, 1975, in the Pacific, the scene of most splashdowns, to end a joint U.S.-Soviet mission known as Apollo-Soyuz. The Mercury and Gemini crews in the early to mid-1960s parachuted into the Atlantic, while most of the later Apollo capsules hit the Pacific. The lone Russian “splashdown” was in 1976 on a partially frozen lake amid a blizzard following an aborted mission; the harrowing recovery took hours.

Gemini and Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford — the commander of the last crew to splash down — watched the reentry on TV from his Florida home. While pleased with the crew’s safe return, he wasn’t overly impressed. “It’s what we did over 50 years ago,” he said.

Its throwback splashdown aside, SpaceX made history with the mission, which launched May 30 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It was the first time a private company launched people into orbit and also the first launch of NASA astronauts from home turf in nearly a decade. Hurley was the pilot of NASA’s last space shuttle flight in 2011 and the commander of this SpaceX flight.

NASA turned to SpaceX and also Boeing to build capsules and ferry astronauts to and from the space station, following the retirement of the shuttles. Until Hurley and Behnken rocketed into orbit, NASA astronauts relied on Russian rockets. SpaceX already had experience hauling cargo to the space station, bringing those capsules back to a Pacific splashdown.

“We are entering a new era of human spaceflight where NASA is no longer the purchaser, owner and operator of all the hardware. We’re going to be a customer, one customer of many,” Bridenstine said from Johnson Space Center in Houston. “I would love to see a fleet of crew Dragons servicing not just the International Space Station but also commercial space stations.”

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell called the mission a springboard to “doing even harder things,” like collaborating on astronaut flights to the moon and then Mars.

“There’s no question, it was an enormous relief after months of anxiety making sure we could bring Bob and Doug back home safely,” Shotwell said.

SpaceX needs six weeks to inspect the capsule before launching the next crew around the end of September. This next mission of four astronauts will spend a full six months aboard the space station. Hurley and Behnken’s capsule will be refurbished for another flight next spring. A Houston company run by a former NASA official, meanwhile, has partnered with SpaceX to send three customers to the space station in fall 2021.

“It took years to get here, we brought the capablity back to America, and we came home safely to our families, and it took a lot of people a lot of time to make that happen,” Behnken said back in Houston.

Boeing doesn’t expect to launch its first crew until next year. The company encountered significant software problems in the debut of its Starliner capsule, with no one aboard, last year. Its capsules will touch down in the U.S. Southwest desert.

By beating Boeing, SpaceX laid claim to a small U.S. flag left at the space station by Hurley and the rest of the last shuttle crew. Minutes after splashdown, Musk tweeted a flag emoji followed by “returned.”

Also on board: a toy dinosaur named Tremor, sent into space by the astronauts’ young sons. The two boys recorded a wake-up call for their fathers Sunday morning.

“Don’t worry, you can sleep in tomorrow,” said Behnken’s 6-year-old son Theo, who was promised a puppy after the flight. “Hurry home so we can go get my dog.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Joe Biden should not debate President Trump, Clinton’s ex-WH spokesman says

Joe Lockhart, the former White House press secretary, penned an op-ed last week urging Joe Biden to skip debating President Trump prior to the November election.
“Whatever you do, don’t debate Trump,” he wrote on CNN. “Trump has made more than 20,000 misleading or false statements according to the Washington Post. It’s a fool’s errand to enter the ring with someone who can’t follow the rules. Biden will undoubtedly take heat from Republicans and the media for skipping the debates. But it’s worth the risk as trying to debate someone incapable of telling the truth is an impossible contest to win.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, responded to the op-ed on Sunday, “Basement strategy, part 2.”
Trump supporters have poked fun at the former vice president for conducting many of his interviews from home. Trump’s defenders have also speculated about Biden’s overall health, and Biden’s refusal to debate could provide more cannon fodder.
Trump supporters have also said Democrats and their allies in mainstream media remember how effective Trump was in getting his message across to voters during live press conferences in 2016, and they do not want to give the president that kind of platform again.
Lockhart pointed out that many polls are unfavorable for Trump and “every quantitative signal and historical precedent points to a surefire loss for the President in November.”
But despite the odds, he pointed out that Biden could still lose, but it would largely have to be a self-inflicted injury. He wrote that Biden should ignore the polls and run like he is “10 points behind.”

Cuban business owner in Louisville decries BLM protesters’ demands as ‘mafia tactics’

Fernando Martinez, a business owner in downtown Louisville, took part in a protest Sunday with fellow members of the Cuban community and expressed solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters after he called their recent demands in the city “mafia tactics.”
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that business owners in the area received letters from protesters that included a list of demands to improve diversity in the community and in the workplace. The paper cited a press release that said the letter was delivered by protesters who told Martinez to put it on his front door so “your business is not f***ed with.”
The paper reported that Martinez, who is a partner of the Ole Restaurant Group and came to the U.S. on a raft at 18, was not the only business owner who received the letter and he took to Facebook to write, "There comes a time in life that you have to make a stand and you have to really prove your convictions and what you believe in. All good people need to denounce this. How can you justified (sic) injustice with more injustice?”
The paper reported that some of the demands laid out in the letter included a minimum of 23 percent of the staff being Black and buying at least 23 percent of their goods from Black-owned retailers, to name a few.
The city, like many across the U.S., has seen anti-police protests. The protests in Louisville have largely called for justice for Breonna Taylor.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville apartment using a no-knock warrant in the early morning hours of March 13 during a narcotics investigation. The warrant to search her home was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found inside.
The paper reported that about 100 members of the city’s Cuban community gathered in front of Martinez’s newest restaurants in the area known as NuLu.
The paper said Martinez gave a passionate speech and talked about how his restaurant is open to everybody.  At one point, he said, “How can I be called a bigot and a racist when my family is Black? When my son is gay?  I’m the proud father of a gay son, and I’m gonna fight for him against anybody.”
Sadiqa Reynolds, the president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, took to Facebook to say that she will no longer eat at the restaurant and wonders why “any human, other than a racist, would choose this time to tell us how little our lives matter.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Minneapolis police offer advice on how to stay safe amid crime surge: Give up cellphone

The Minneapolis Police Department—which has seen 40 cops resign or be fired in the past two months—offered city residents some tips last week on how to deal with the city’s recent surge in violent crimes.
The city has been the focal point of the country after George Floyd’s death in police custody in May. The city has been ravaged by early protests and there was early momentum to abolish the city’s police force. But since Floyd’s death, some residents have complained of slower-than-usual police responses and—at times—no response at all, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
“Police murdered a man in our neighborhood and then they just all fell out and left us alone to figure out on our own as far a protecting our neighborhoods,” one resident told the paper. “You feel isolated like you’re in a war zone sometimes, but there’s no one helping us.”
KTSP.com reported that police in the city offered a list to help residents navigate the increase in crimes. Some of the examples on the list include “carry only items you need and carry less cash; be prepared to give up your cellphone and purse or wallet; don’t fight with the criminal; remember your safety is most important.”
The Minneapolis City Council has been one of the most vocal critics of police in the country. Lisa Bender, the president of the council, made eyebrow-raising comments in June during an interview on CNN. She said that calling the police when your home is broken into “comes from a place of privilege.”
The Star-Tribune’s article makes it seem as though there is low morale at the city’s department. Pro-police advocates have said police across the country have been unfairly vilified. The paper, citing an unnamed source, said the department is funded to have 888 officers but could see about one-third of the force leave by the end of the year.

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