Monday, March 2, 2020

Klobuchar rally cancelled as protesters take over stage protesting a murder prosecution

The rally was eventually cancelled by the Klobuchar campaign after both sides failed to reach an agreement, the report said.
Prior to the rally’s start, protesters chanted “Free Myon,” while “Black Lives Matter” chants also filled the room.
Protestors on stage during a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on March 1, 2020 in St Louis Park, Minnesota.  (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Protestors on stage during a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on March 1, 2020 in St Louis Park, Minnesota.  (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Activists have called on Klobuchar to quit the presidential campaign over the past few weeks, FOX 9 reported.
Klobuchar has used the case during the 2020 Democratic primary as evidence she sought justice on behalf of families in the black community. But an Associated Press investigation raised issues with the handling of the case.
The Hennepin County Attorney released a statement calling the case "politicized."
An Associated Press investigation into the 17-year-old case uncovered new evidence and myriad inconsistencies, raising questions about whether Myon Burrell was railroaded by police.
Asked for comment on the case, a Klobuchar campaign spokesperson told the AP at the time that Burrell was tried and convicted of Tyesha’s murder twice, and the second trial occurred when Klobuchar was no longer the Hennepin County Attorney.
If there was new evidence, she said, it should be immediately reviewed by the court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Trump says Buttigieg's exit a sign Dems trying to stop Bernie Sanders


Moments after former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg told supporters he's ending his presidential campaign Sunday, President Trump said it reflected the growing pressure among more moderate Democrats to consolidate in order to blunt the rise of progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Trump tweeted: "Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!"
Buttigieg previously had said Sanders was too liberal to be elected.
Buttigieg's withdrawal came just days before voters in 14 states are set to head to the polls on Super Tuesday, where one-third of all delegates for the nomination will be at stake.
His exit likely will harm frontrunner Sanders by providing a coalescing boost to more moderate candidates, as Buttigieg had gone on the offensive against the Vermont senator and sought to appeal to the centrist base of the party.
Sanders’ delegate lead over Joe Biden has shrunk from 30 to 8 after Biden’s big win in the South Carolina primary.
With 54 delegates at stake in South Carolina, the former vice president picked up 35 to Sanders’ 13, according to The Associated Press' delegate count. Six delegates remained to be allocated pending final vote totals.
Heading into key Super Tuesday contests, Sanders has led the overall race for delegates with 58 while Biden had 50. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., had 8 and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., had 7. It takes 1,991 delegates to win.
Buttigieg, the first openly gay candidate to seriously contend for the presidency, tried to make the case that his party thrived when it embraced candidates who offered generational change.
But, the 38-year-old Afghanistan war veteran ended up being more successful at winning older voters while Sanders, 78, captured the energy of younger voters.
"He's not going anywhere," Trump said in January. "He was a lousy mayor of a place that is not doing well -- [but] Indiana is doing unbelievably well."
He called South Bend, a city of more than 100,000 people a few miles south of the Michigan line, "badly run" under Buttigieg, while the Hoosier State on the whole had "the best year they've ever had" in 2019.
Last year, the president, known for bullying schoolyard nicknames for his political rivals, compared Buttigieg to the longtime mascot for Mad magazine.
“Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States,” the president said, referring to the decades-old Mad character.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Joe Biden Cartoons






Trump, on 1st death from virus in US: ’No reason to panic”


WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to reassure the American public, President Donald Trump said there was “no reason to panic” as the new coronavirus claimed its first victim inside the U.S. The White House also announced new restrictions on international travel to prevent its spread.
Trump, speaking Saturday only moments after the death in Washington state was announced, took a more measured approach a day after he complained that the virus threat was being overblown and that his political enemies were perpetuating a “hoax.”
“This is very serious stuff,” he said, but still insisted the criticism of his administration’s handling of the virus outbreak was a hoax.
Trump appeared at a hastily called news conference in the White House briefing room with Vice President Mike Pence and top public health officials to announce that the U.S. was banning travel to Iran and urging Americans not to travel to regions of Italy and South Korea where the virus has been prevalent.
He said 22 people in the U.S. had been stricken by the new coronavirus, of whom one had died while four were deemed “very ill.” Additional cases were “likely,” he added.
Trump said he was considering additional restrictions, including closing the U.S. border with Mexico in response to the virus’ spread, but later added: “This is not a border that seems to be much of a problem right now.”
“We’re thinking about all borders,” he said.
Travel to Iran is already quite limited, though some families are allowed to travel there on a visa. It is one of the seven initial countries on Trump’s travel ban list, which means travel from Iran also is already severely restricted.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was “no evidence of link to travel” abroad in the case of the man who died. The patient was described as being in his late 50s and having a high health risk before contracting the virus. Redfield said the CDC mistakenly told Trump in an earlier briefing that the victim was a woman.
On Friday, health officials confirmed a third case of coronavirus in the U.S. in a person who hadn’t traveled internationally or had close contact with anyone who was known to have the virus. The U.S. has about 60 confirmed cases. Trump’s tally appeared to exclude cases of Americans repatriated from China or evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The Washington case was the first death in U.S. but not first American to die: A 60-year-old U.S. citizen died in Wuhan in early February.
Trump said healthy Americans should be able to recover if they contract the new virus, as he tried to reassure Americans and global markets spooked by the virus threat.
He encouraged Americans not to alter their daily routines, saying the country is “super prepared” for a wider outbreak, adding “there’s no reason to panic at all.”
He added he wasn’t altering his own routine either. “You’re talking about 22 people right now in this whole very vast country. I think we’ll be in very good shape.”
The president also said he would be meeting with pharmaceutical companies at the White House on Monday to discuss efforts to develop a vaccine to counter the virus.
Trump spoke a day after he had denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a “hoax” cooked up by his political enemies. Speaking at a rally in South Carolina he accused Democrats of “politicizing” the coronavirus threat and boasted about preventive steps he’s ordered in an attempt to keep the virus that originated in China from spreading across the United States. Those steps include barring entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China.
“They tried the impeachment hoax. ... This is their new hoax,” Trump said of Democratic denunciations of his administration’s coronavirus response.
Trump said Saturday he was not trying to minimize the threat of the virus.
“Again, the hoax was used in respect to Democrats and what they were saying,” he said.
Some Democrats have said Trump should have acted sooner to bolster the U.S. response to the virus. Democratic and Republican lawmakers also have said his request for an additional $2.5 billion to defend against the virus isn’t enough. They’ve signaled they will provide substantially more funding.
Trump said Democrats want him to fail and argued that steps he’s taken so far have kept cases to a minimum and prevented virus deaths in the U.S.
But Trump defended his language and emphasized he was not referring to the virus as a hoax, saying that his description referred to “the action that they take to try and pin this on somebody because we’ve done such a good job.”
As global markets plunged this week, Trump predicted they will come back, and encouraged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
“The markets will all come back,” he said. “I think the Fed has a very important role, especially psychological. If you look at it, the Fed has a massive impact.”
___
Miller reported from Mountain Lake, Florida. Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Tom Steyer ends campaign after Biden wins South Carolina primary


Billionaire and environmental activist Tom Steyer ended his presidential bid Saturday, after what appeared to be a third-place finish in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary.
Steyer made the announcement during his post-primary rally in South Carolina and told voters he no longer sees a viable path forward to winning the White House.
"We were disappointed with where we came out. I think we got one or two delegates from congressional districts, which I thank South Carolina for," he said. "But I said if I didn't see a path to winning, that I'd suspend my campaign. And honestly, I can't see a path where I can win the presidency."
Steyer promised to remain involved in political issues across the country and said any one of the Democratic candidates for president would be better than President Trump. He also took a shot at Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.
"Every Democrat is a million times better than Trump," he added. "Trump is a disaster. ... Lindsey Graham's a disaster. He's a disaster for the people here."
President Trump later responded on Twitter, mocking Steyer who, before he announced his candidacy, had spent millions on an effort to have Trump impeached -- only to see the president acquitted Feb. 5.
"Tom Steyer who, other than Mini Mike Bloomberg, spent more dollars for NOTHING than any candidate in history, quit the race today proclaiming how thrilled he was to be a part of the Democrat Clown Show," Trump wrote. "Go away Tom and save whatever little money you have left!"
Steyer's withdrawal came shortly after former Vice President Joe Biden won the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. Fox News projected Sen. Bernie Sanders would finish in second place, with Steyer in third.
Steyer, who reportedly spent over $250 million on his campaign, has put much of his energy into a good performance in the Palmetto State. He had told supporters and volunteers gathered at his South Carolina campaign headquarters Saturday that “there is an old saying when you run a race, which is that you don’t run to the end, you run through the tape. And that is exactly where we are today.”
Steyer had a string of lackluster single-digit finishes in the Iowa caucuses Feb. 3, the New Hampshire primary Feb. 10, and the Nevada caucuses Feb. 22. But he heavily courted black voters and was optimistic things would be different Saturday in South Carolina, where African-Americans were expected to make up roughly 60 percent of the Democratic presidential primary electorate.
"We have a very good team here. I’ve spent a lot of time on the ground and I’m talking straightforwardly about issues," he said. "This is a heavily African-American state. I talk very straightforwardly about race. I’m the only person talking about reparations for slavery. I think I’ve been here the most and looked most people in the eye and talked most straightforwardly and I think that’s why.”
Fox News' Patrick Ward and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Chris Matthews absent from MSNBC's primary coverage after sexism allegations, on-air slip-ups


MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was noticebaly absent from the network’s South Carolina primary coverage Saturday evening, one day after being accused of “sexist” behavior by a former network contributor -- and then later misidentifying a politician while on the air.
Earlier in the week, Matthews had issued an on-air apology after drawing backlash for comparing the Nevada caucus victory of Sen. Bernie Sanders to the 1940 invasion of France by the Nazis.
In an op-ed for GQ on Friday, journalist Laura Bassett claimed Matthews had used sexist language when she would visit the MSNBC studio to appear on his show as a guest.
She recalled Matthews looking at her in an adjacent makeup chair before an appearance in 2016 and asking: 'Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?'" Bassett said she laughed nervously but Matthews kept making comments to the makeup artist. “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her," Matthews allegedly said.
She said he made another comment about her makeup during a separate appearance. "Make sure you wipe this off her face after the show,” she wrote he said to the makeup artist. “We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this.”
Bassett said she decided to write the op-ed because of a “sexist” interview Matthews did with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., after the last debate in which he pressed her about her accusation that former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has once told a woman at his company to “kill” her unborn baby. Bloomberg denies he said it.
A feminist group has called for Matthews' firing over the interview.
Bassett said she wrote a similar op-ed in 2017 without naming Matthews because she was afraid to publicly accuse him at the time, but wrote many women reached out to her saying they knew who she was talking about.
She said while she didn't think Matthews' behavior rose to the level of criminal sexual harassment, it undermined her ability to do her job.
In 2017, it was reported that NBC paid $40,000 to a producer on Matthews’ show who claimed he sexually harassed her.
MSNBC has not confirmed the amount paid to the woman, nor has the network said whether the payment was made to settle a harassment claim.
An MSNBC spokesperson said at the time that executives were told that Matthews made inappropriate jokes and comments about the woman in front of others, that the matter was reviewed and it was determined the comments were inappropriate and made in poor taste but were never meant as propositions.
NBC did not immediately respond to Fox News' after-hours request for comment.

'Mistaken identity'

Then during his "Hardball" broadcast Friday, Matthews mistook Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, chalking it up as a case of "mistaken identity."
Harrison was appearing on "Hardball" to discuss his campaign to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., but the interview went off the rails when Matthews ran a clip of Scott standing beside Graham at that evening's Trump rally in North Charleston and assumed it was Harrison.
Both Scott and Harrison are African-American.
"Jaime, I see you standing next to the guy you're going to beat right there, maybe," he said. "Maybe? Maybe, maybe? Lindsey Graham?"
Soon Matthews realized his error and apologized to Harrison.
"What am I saying? Big mistake. Mistaken identity, sir. Sorry," Matthews said.
Harrison appeared to roll his eyes and looked shocked, but kept a smile on his face and answered Matthews' question.

'I will strive to do a better job'

Matthews also took fire for a comment he made about Sanders’ decisive victory in Nevada last weekend, comparing the candidate to the Nazis' defeat of France during World War II.
“I'm reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940," Matthews said during the network's Nevada coverage. "And the general calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over,’ and Churchill says, ‘How can it be? You got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It's over.’”
But many viewers were outraged by the comments -- and Matthews apologized Monday.
"Senator Sanders, I'm sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electorate result in which you were the well-deserved winner," Matthews said. "This is going to be a hard-fought, heated campaign of ideas. In the days and weeks and months ahead, I will strive to do a better job myself of elevating the political discussion. Congratulations, by the way, to you, Senator Sanders, and to your supporters on a tremendous win down in Nevada."
Fox News' Sam Dorman, Nick Givas and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this story.

Biden touts landslide victory in South Carolina, swipes at Sanders 'revolution'


COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A euphoric Joe Biden thanked South Carolina for a landslide primary victory on Saturday that boosted his flagging presidential campaign.
The former vice president – pointing to next week, when 14 states across the country hold primaries on Super Tuesday.
“This is the moment to choose the path forward for our party,” Biden said.
Biden also took aim at rival Sen. Bernie Sanders’ calls for a political revolution.
"Most Americans don’t want [the] promise of revolution. More than promises, they want results,” he said.
Biden – speaking in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd at his victory celebration in South Carolina’s capital city – took to the podium to celebrate his first victory in the presidential nomination calendar. After poor fourth- and fifth-place finishes in Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s primary, followed by a distant second-place showing last weekend in Nevada’s caucuses behind Sanders, Biden won – and won big in South Carolina.
With most precincts reporting, Biden held a nearly 30-percentage-point lead over Sanders, the populist senator from Vermont who’s making his second straight White House run.
Biden was fighting for his political life in South Carolina, where a loss likely would have meant the end of his third bid for the presidency.
“For all of those of you who’ve been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign,” Biden told the crowd. “Just days ago the press and the pundits declared this candidacy dead. Now, thanks to all of you, the heart of the Democratic Party, we just won and we won big. We are very much alive.”
Biden and his campaign are hoping the strong finish in South Carolina will give him momentum going into Super Tuesday, when a third of all Democratic presidential nomination delegates are up for grabs.
“As we celebrate tonight here in Columbia, I want to talk to Democrats across the country, especially those who will be voting on Super Tuesday. This is the moment to choose the path forward for our party. This is the moment and it’s arrived,” Biden highlighted. “The decisions Democrats make in the next few days will determine what this party stands for, what we believe and what we’ll get done.”
He added, “if Democrats nominate me, I believe we can beat Donald Trump, keep Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives as speaker and take back the United States Senate.”
Taking aim at Sanders – who was the clear front-runner heading into Saturday’s contest, thanks to a virtual tie with former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in Iowa, an outright victory in New Hampshire, and a shellacking of his rivals in Nevada – Biden said: “Democrats want to nominate someone who will build on ObamaCare and not scrap it.”
That was a jab at Sanders, who wants to create a government-run single-payer "Medicare-for-all" health care system.
And knocking Sanders – an independent who calls himself a democratic socialist – the man who served as vice president under President Barack Obama for eight years declared to thunderous applause that “Democrats want a nominee who’s a Democrat, a proud Democrat, a Obama-Biden Democrat.”
Biden had long looked to the Palmetto State – where black voters made up 55 percent of the Democratic presidential primary electorate, according to exit polls – as his firewall. Thanks to his eight years as Obama’s right-hand man, Biden remains very popular with African-American voters.
Biden also thanked the man standing next to him on the podium -- longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina – the most senior black House Democrat, whose endorsement Wednesday gave Biden a big boost. Speaking to Clyburn and to the army of his supporters in the crowd -- many of whom were black -- Biden stressed he and his family “will never forget what you’ve done for us.”
Moses Brown, a black voter and a native of Columbia, was at the Biden South Carolina celebration event.
“I’m kind of surprised they called it at 7 p.m, but I’m not surprised that he won and won big. I thought that he would do well here,” Brown told Fox News. “I’ve been a Joe Biden guy from the beginning. I was a big fan of Barack Obama.”
Columbia resident Patricia McGovern, also in the crowd, said: “I’m surprised by the margin. I was hoping he was going to win. I’m grateful for the margin of victory. It’s great.”
Pointing to Biden’s resounding win, McGovern noted that when it comes to Democratic Party politics, “South Carolina’s traditionally a conservative Democratic state and I don’t think people believe Bernie’s going to win it.”
Biden’s victory in South Carolina was already paying immediate dividends in at least one Super Tuesday state.
Minutes after he was projected the winner, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe -- who was co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential run -- endorsed Biden.
“It’s time to unite behind the candidate who can beat Trump. @joebiden has the experience, character, and broad appeal to win Virginia and the White House in 2020,” McAuliffe tweeted.
McAuliffe’s backing comes a day after Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia -- who was Hillary Clinton's running mate in 2016 -- also endorsed Biden.
Virginia is the fourth-biggest of the Super Tuesday states and the latest live telephone operator poll of likely Democratic primary voters there indicates Biden in the lead, with a 5-percentage-point advantage over Sanders and 9 points ahead of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a fellow moderate candidate.
Fox News' Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.

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