September 2020 – Page 19 – GETAWAYTHEBERKSHIRES

'CNN Is Truly a Terrible Influence on This Country': Democratic Debate Moderators Pilloried for Centrist Talking Points and Anti-Sanders Bias

September 9, 2020 | News | No Comments

Critics of the corporate media as well as supporters and staffers of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign blasted the moderators of the CNN/Des Moines Register Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night for employing centrist talking points and demonstrating a bias against Sanders in how they framed questions.

The debate, which ran over two hours, was moderated by the Register‘s Brianne Pfannenstiel and CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip. It featured six of the 12 remaining Democratic candidates: Sanders (I-Vt.), former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

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As Common Dreams reported, the financial burden of deploying American forces was notably absent during first part of the debate—a lengthy discussion on foreign policy and war—but the moderators did ask candidates about the costs of implementing Medicare for All healthcare, as Sanders has proposed. That contrast, and the presentation of the healthcare questions, sparked swift condemnation from progressives.

Overall, a team of Rolling Stone writers called the debate moderators’ questions “mystifyingly inane.” In a piece titled “CNN Completely Botched the Democratic Presidential Debate,” HuffPost‘s Zach Carter called them “awful.” According to him, the debate on the whole was “tedious, interminable, frivolous… a fiasco of irrelevance held three weeks before the Iowa caucuses.”

“Again and again, CNN anchors substituted centrist talking points for questions―and then followed up predictable responses with further centrist talking points, rarely illuminating any substantive disagreements between the candidates or problems with their policy positions,” he wrote.

Carter pointed to examples such as when Phillip noted that Des Moines is an “insurance town” and asked Sanders what will happen to employees of private insurance companies if the country implements Medicare for All. She also asked Sanders, “How would you keep your plans from bankrupting the country?”

Those critiques and examples, along with others, circulated on social media:

The debate led some critics on Twitter to conclude that #CNNisFox or #CNNisTrash:

The debate came just a day after CNN published what critics called a hit piece involving a private conversation between Sanders and Warren in 2018. Citing four unnamed sources—none of whom were in the room for the conversation—CNN reported that Sanders told Warren “he did not believe a woman could win” the presidential race. While Warren issued a statement after the story ran endorsing the findings of the report, Sanders has repeatedly denied it, including during the debate.

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A team of writers at The Intercept detailed how CNN handled the topic Tuesday night:

The New Republic‘s Libby Watson declared that “CNN is truly a terrible influence on this country.”

Jeet Heer, a national affairs correspondent at The Nation, wrote in a piece titled “CNN Has It in for Bernie” early Wednesday that “the big loser of the night was the network that hosted the event. CNN was so consistently aligned against Bernie Sanders that it compromised its claim to journalistic neutrality.”

“CNN‘s treatment of Sanders raises a major problem that he’s going to have to confront going forward: Some major players in the mainstream media are clearly unafraid to cover him in a biased and one-sided manner,” Heer concluded. “But this problem also has an upside: Sanders thrives under adversity, and he can use these examples of bias to fundraise and to mobilize his base. The Sanders campaign is a gamble, and one major uncertainty is whether his base is strong enough to overcome consistently negative media coverage.”

Sanders, a longtime critic of the corporate media whose backers have repeatedly called out the U.S. media for ignoring his campaign during this election cycle as part of a #BernieBlackout, had his “single best fundraising hour of any debate so far” during the first hour of Tuesday night’s debate, according to Robin Curran, his campaign’s digital fundraising director.

“When we fight, we win,” Workers for Bernie SATX tweeted in response to Curran’s announcement. “And Bernie’s gonna win.”

Recent polling suggests that may be true—at least, in Iowa. The latest polling from the debate hosts, published Friday, had Sanders in the lead at 20% ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses. J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll, told the Register, “For real, he could win the caucuses.”

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Boris Johnson Trade Talks With US Raising Fears in UK of 'Shock Doctrine Brexit'

September 9, 2020 | News | No Comments

Social justice advocates in the United Kingdom are raising concerns over a trade deal being negotiated with the United States by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after reports surfaced that American leaders are planning to use leverage provided by Brexit to force a scheme of privavitzation and the stripping of protections from British workers.

“These trade talks are being conducted with excessive levels of secrecy,” Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said in a statement Sunday.

After the U.K. left the European Union on Friday through Brexit, Britons were left wondering how the island nation would renegotiate trade deals with its global partners. Johnson is expected to begin formal talks with both the U.S. and E.U. on Monday.

While the U.K. is now officially out of the E.U., the two sides have eleven months to work out what exactly that separation looks like.

The deal with the U.S. is slightly more straightforward, in theory, though Johnson and his government have kept negotiations a secret from the public and Parliament. Documents from the talks leaked in November show a push to privatize the National Health Service to make the U.K.’s popular universal system more like the U.S. private insurance scheme.

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Beyond the NHS, Global Justice said in a press release, “U.S.demands are to radically alter the sort of food on sale in Britain after Brexit, undermine farmers’ livelihoods, threaten the NHS, make tackling climate change more difficult, and allow big tech companies like Facebook an effective veto over Britain’s tax policy; all things which would be impossible if Britain were to retain closer alignment with Brussels.”

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Labour shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer told the Guardian Friday that Johnson’s approach to Brexit and subsequent trade deals could sink the U.K. economy and cause major damage to the country’s way of life.

“Johnson either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the damage the Brexit deal he is proposing will do to the country,” said Starmer.

Global Justice’s Dearden said that while a deal with the U.S. “would be a bonanza for big business,” it would likely hurt Britons.

“For all of this to happen, Britain would have to move away from our current standards and protections,” said Dearden. “That’s what Donald Trump is pushing, and the U.K.’s current position suggests that he’s succeeded and is pulling the prime minister’s strings in these trade talks, pushing us into a ‘shock doctrine Brexit.'”

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Pompeo Denounced for 'Insulting and Contemptuous' Statement Lashing Out at NPR's Mary Louise Kelly

September 9, 2020 | News | No Comments

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out at NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly in a statement Saturday a day after she pressed Pompeo on issues including former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and he reportedly yelled at her with expletives and demanded she identify Ukraine on a map.

In her Friday interview with Pompeo, Kelly asked about the administration’s Iran policy and pressed Pompeo about when—since he said he has “defended every State Department official”—he had done so for Yovanovitch.

He did not point to any such remarks.

NPR reported,

Pompeo then went on to attempt to berate Kelly.

Pompeo, in his statement, accused Kelly of lying about having the follow-up conversation off the record, asserted her conduct was “shameful,” and called the indent “another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this administration.”

He also suggested, contrary to Kelly’s account, that she did not point to Ukraine on a map. “It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine,” he wrote.

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Pompeo’s remarks drew condemnation from journalists including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who called them “a shameful assault on #PressFreedom. Americans deserve a Secretary of State that is diplomatic, can answer foreign policy questions honestly, upholds our values and respects the press. This one doesn’t.”

Wired also pointed to its reporting from October that “Pompeo seems to particularly bristle under tough questioning from female reporters.”

Pompeo’s Saturday attack on Kelly also sparked five Democratic senators—Robert Menendez (N.J.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), and Cory Booker (N.J.)—to write to Pompeo, denouncing the secretary of state’s comments as “insulting and contemptuous.”

“Instead of calling journalists ‘liars” and insulting their intelligence when they ask you hard questions you would rather not answer,” the senators wrote, “your oath of office places on you a duty and obligation to engage respectfully and transparently.”

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Voice of China’s European ambitions

September 8, 2020 | News | No Comments

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Voiced by Amazon Polly

This article is part of the series Facing China.

Beijing has hit on a new tool to win friends and influence people in the EU capital: a new media headquarters for one of the largest Chinese state-owned media powerhouses.

China Media Group is considering opening a European office in Brussels, a number of people with close knowledge of the company told POLITICO.

The group — also known as “Voice of China” — acts as the umbrella organization for the state-owned TV channel China Global Television News (CGTN) and its sister broadcaster China Radio International. It was formed in March 2018 through a merger of China Central Television (CCTV), CGTN, China Radio International and China National Radio.

The move to unify the state-run outlets was designed to centralize power and resources, according to David Bandurski, co-director of the independent research group China Media Project. It is part of a wider effort by Chinese President Xi Jinping “to ensure that China is able, from the Party’s standpoint, to centralize control over news and public opinion,” he said.

“Having a headquarters in Brussels could be seen as a necessary strategy in trying to influence the discussion about China in Europe,” he added.

It would not be the Chinese group’s first foray in Europe, but one they hope will go more smoothly than the last.

CGTN opened a European hub in London two years ago, only to have it quickly come into the crosshairs of British broadcasting regulator Ofcom, which found it breached broadcasting regulations on several occasions.

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The company faces sanctions over the airing of a forced confession of British journalist Peter Humphries and repeated, biased reporting on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

The leadership at China Media Group believes “the climate in [the] U.K. turned against them” and that “they can better undermine [the] EU in its own backyard,” according to one person at CGTN with knowledge of the group’s motivations.

China Media Group and China Central Television News did not respond to requests for comment.

* * *

The Chinese media group’s push to increase its influence in Brussels comes at a particularly sensitive time for the EU capital, which has stumbled in its efforts to handle a ramping up of Chinese diplomatic pressure in recent months.

In April, the European External Action Service — the EU’s foreign policy arm — came under fire following reports that it had watered down the wording in a report on Chinese disinformation after interference from China’s embassy in Brussels.

EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell was hauled in front of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee where he denied the EEAS had bowed to the will of Beijing.

He insisted that consulting with embassies is a normal way of conducting diplomacy and that “there were two different publications for two different audiences.”

His answer didn’t do much to quell the unease, particularly after China took on a more aggressive tone with Europe in an effort to push back against perceived efforts to blame the global coronavirus pandemic on Beijing.

The EU is also in the midst of an ongoing public consultation on how to regulate non-EU companies that receive state funding and operate within the European Union. The European Commission proposed in a white paper to give itself powers to vet foreign companies with the same rules they vet EU firms.

Until those regulations are in place — a Commission proposal is expected in 2021 — the China Media Group will have more leeway in the capital, with few requirements to be transparent about how much funding it receives from the Chinese government.

The move to Brussels would boost Chinese media presence in the EU capital — the Belgian capital already plays host to the regional headquarters of the state-owned Xinhau news agency — and potentially allow the media company to influence debates.

It is also part of an effort by the China Media Group to clean up its image, as the reputation of its TV branch, CGTN, has taken a hit across the world.

In the U.K., the channel faces the possibility it may lose its broadcasting license over Ofcom’s rulings. A spokesperson for the U.K. regulator also said it is investigating three further “fairness and privacy complaints about programs broadcast on CGTN.”

CGTN responded to the U.K. regulator’s rulings by saying it is “disappointed” and that it has a “responsibility to present Chinese viewpoints and perspectives in our news reporting, which is what our viewers expect.”

Adding to the regulation breaches in the U.K., one of CGTN’s hosts of Australian citizenship, Cheng Lei, was recently detained in China amid escalating tensions between Canberra and Beijing over accusations from Australia about the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

CGTN, which has large studios in Beijing, Washington and Nairobi, isn’t expected to follow China Media Group to Brussels yet, according to someone working at CGTN.

If the television broadcast did eventually follow China Media Group to Brussels and set up a studio here, it would become the only non-Belgian TV news channel to base its European hub in the EU capital. Euronews is based in Lyon, Deutsche Welle is in Bonn and American channels like CNN and NBC base their European operations out of London.

Further moves into Brussels would be part of the Chinese government’s push for the group’s media outlets to “serve the party through its work.”

Not everyone sees the potential arrival in Brussels of a state-owned Chinese media giant as a cause for concern.

“Personally, I’m convinced that the large majority of Chinese journalists are very serious and trying to do their job in the most honest way possible,” said Bernard Dewit, the chairman of the Belgium-China Chamber of Commerce.

The more Chinese media is present in Brussels, “the better Europe will be known in China and by the Chinese public,” he added.

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Buttigieg: 'Frankly, I came out because I wanted to date'

September 8, 2020 | News | No Comments

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete ButtigiegPete ButtigiegScaled-back Pride Month poses challenges for fundraising, outreach Biden hopes to pick VP by Aug. 1 It’s as if a Trump operative infiltrated the Democratic primary process MORE said on Monday that he came out because he wanted to date, and that doing so meant he eventually met his current husband.

“Frankly, I came out because I wanted to date,” Buttigieg said at a CNN town hall when asked by host Anderson Cooper about whether he would have been different had he come out publicly at a younger age.

“If dating had been available to me in my 20s I’m not sure I would have gotten that much done,” Buttigieg then joked. Buttigieg has said he came out publicly at 33.

ADVERTISEMENTBut turning more serious, the 2020 presidential candidate said his decision to date more meant he eventually found husband, Chasten Buttigieg.

“I don’t know how I would do this without him,” he said about the 2020 campaign for president.

Pete Buttigieg has talked openly about being gay in his campaign, discussing his decision to come out and what it has meant in his life and revealing that he met his husband on the app Hinge.

Chasten Buttigieg has also become a key part of the campaign, becoming a celebrity in his own right.

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Warren swipes at Biden for 'swanky private fundraiser'

September 8, 2020 | News | No Comments

Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op | GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op | Senate panel approves 0B defense policy bill Trump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names MORE (D-Mass.) took a swipe at fellow 2020 presidential candidate former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE on Friday over a “swanky private fundraiser” he attended following the announcement of his candidacy.

Warren’s comments came in a fundraising email sent to supporters asking for donations after Biden announced a staggering $6.3 million fundraising haul within the first 24 hours of launching his campaign.

Warren, who has eschewed donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists, highlighted a fundraiser Biden attended that was hosted by Comcast executive David Cohen and health insurance executive Daniel Hilferty.

“In the first 24 hours of his presidential campaign (welcome to the race!), Joe Biden raised $6.3 million,” Warren wrote. “How did Joe Biden raise so much money in one day? Well, it helps that he hosted a swanky private fundraiser for wealthy donors at the home of the guy who runs Comcast’s lobbying shop.”

“Elizabeth is building a grassroots movement without holding any big-money private fundraisers where you can only talk to her if you write a big check first. Without taking a dime from federally registered lobbyists or PACs of any kind. It’s the right thing to do,” she added.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that, of the $6.3 million Biden raised in his first 24 hours as a candidate, about $700,000 came from Thursday’s fundraiser in Philadelphia, according to organizers.

Warren, a progressive, has made a career out of hammering Wall Street and other financial titans. The 2020 contender also hit Biden Thursday over his 2005 vote for the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which critics have said empowered credit card companies to target people seeking protection from bankruptcy.

“At a time when the biggest financial institutions in this country were trying to put the squeeze on millions of hardworking families,” she said Thursday, “Joe Biden was on the side of the credit card companies.”

Warren, who was among the earliest to declare her presidential ambitions, has lagged behind other candidates, including Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) and Biden in fundraising and in polls.

Other candidates have also sworn off donations from lobbyists or PACs, including South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete ButtigiegPete ButtigiegScaled-back Pride Month poses challenges for fundraising, outreach Biden hopes to pick VP by Aug. 1 It’s as if a Trump operative infiltrated the Democratic primary process MORE, Sanders and Sens. Kamala HarrisKamala Devi HarrisRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook McEnany says Juneteenth is a very ‘meaningful’ day to Trump MORE (D-Calif.) and Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants Black lawmakers unveil bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk MORE (D-N.J.)

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Biden faces dilemma over K Street allies

September 8, 2020 | News | No Comments

Former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE’s strong support from K Street poses a tough dilemma for his campaign.

The influence world is stocked with former aides and supporters who have rallied around his previous bids for president. In this cycle, though, those lobbyist ties, past fundraising from corporate interests and perceptions that Biden is more favorable to businesses could hurt his bid for the Democratic nomination.

Biden has quickly solidified his Democratic front-runner status and focused his attention on President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE.

His campaign has said he will not take money from lobbyists and corporate PACs, but that is unlikely to be enough for progressive groups in the primary who have larger concerns about the candidate.

“With Joe Biden, if he wants to say no to corporate lobbyists’ money that’s great and it’s a step in a positive direction that acknowledges the times,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told The Hill.

“But, with Joe Biden, it’s not about course correcting any one little thing, it’s about his big picture brand, which is being cozy with big corporations and cutting back room deals with Republican political insiders.”

Biden’s allies run deep on K Street, where a number of former aides from his time as a senator now hold high-level positions at powerful lobbying firms.

Christopher Putala, who founded the lobbying firm Putala Strategies, was a lawyer on the Senate Judiciary Committee for Biden, as was Jeffrey Peck, now a lobbyist at Peck Madigan Jones.

Biden also has allies in Tony Russo, a lobbyist at T-Mobile, who served as his legislative counsel in the Senate; Larry Rasky, the chair of Rasky Partners, who worked on Biden’s 1988 and 2008 presidential campaigns; and Ankit Desai, a political assistant to Biden in the Senate and now a lobbyist at Tellurian.

And Biden’s more than three decades in the Senate and previous runs for president will give his critics plenty of fodder.

When Biden ran for president in 2008, he raised money from lobbyists. He reversed course when he joined the ticket with President Obama, who made running against K Street and rejecting corporate money a centerpiece of his first presidential campaign.

In the Senate, Biden also represented Delaware, a state that is home to many large corporations, including a number of credit card giants.

This year, Biden also held a fundraiser hosted by David Cohen, telecom giant Comcast’s chief lobbyist. And Biden allies led by Democratic fundraiser Matt Tompkins quickly launched the For the People PAC after he officially jumped into the race, a move first reported by The Hill. The PAC aimed to raise millions to boost Biden’s bid.

His campaign, though, was quick to distance itself from the super PAC, telling The Hill that “Vice President Biden does not welcome assistance from super PACs.”

Republicans, who see Biden as a strong challenger to President Trump, have also called for more scrutiny over the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden and potential conflicts of interest.

As vice president, Biden pressed Ukraine to dismiss a prosecutor, who faced accusations he had ignored corruption among officials in the government. The prosecutor was eventually removed.

The New York Times in a story this week reported that Hunter Biden was on the board of an energy company the dismissed prosecutor was investigating. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiSunday shows preview: Protests against George Floyd’s death, police brutality rock the nation for a second week Piers Morgan, Rudy Giuliani in furious debate over Trump: ‘You sound completely barking mad’ Rudy Giuliani calls on Cuomo to remove Bill de Blasio MORE on Thursday called for an investigation into “Biden conflicts” of interest.

Biden’s campaign told the Times that his son’s business dealings had no connection to policies Biden carried out as vice president.

The issue of corporate ties has taken newfound importance in the Democratic Party, where liberal groups are pressing candidates to reject special interest cash.

“There’s a new benchmark of what Democratic campaigns are now judged by, a new litmus test, and it would be hard for any candidate to not reject [lobbyists’ money],” Zach Friend, a Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for Obama for America, told The Hill.

“It’s how you enter into the race. It would be equivalent to any other Democratic policy — do you support unions? Do you support marriage equality? Do you support choice?”

The scrutiny on Democrats is intense.

Pete ButtigiegPete ButtigiegScaled-back Pride Month poses challenges for fundraising, outreach Biden hopes to pick VP by Aug. 1 It’s as if a Trump operative infiltrated the Democratic primary process MORE, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., who has seen his stock rise in polls of the Democratic primary race, has found strong support on K Street, especially among LGBTQ lobbyists who are rallying behind the openly gay 2020 contender. But that support led Buttigieg last week to say he would no longer accept lobbyist donations and that he would return the $30,000 he received in the first quarter of the year.

Not taking lobbyist money poses its own challenges for Biden, and he will need to show his strength at raising small-donor donations, as Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) has, to stay competitive.

Biden’s allies, though, won’t be on the sidelines.

Those on K Street noted there are other ways for lobbyists to help without writing a check.

“There are plenty of ways to help,” Al Mottur, Democratic lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, told The Hill. Often, Mottur said, lobbyists can help a candidate by introducing them to other big donors.

“But if you can’t give or bundle that is a big prohibition,” he acknowledged.

“How do you get introduced to a bundler in San Francisco when you’ve never considered California a relevant state before? They might not be giving money but they may be introducing it,” Friend added.

Mottur said lobbyists can also “help with strategy” or “provide issue area support in your areas of expertise.”

And they can be influential surrogates, pushing the candidate’s message in the media and among other important political actors.

But Biden will need to walk a fine line. Progressive groups say they will be watching Biden, and the other candidates, closely over their ties to special interests.

Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at Public Citizen, said despite past relationships with lobbyists, candidates should be judged on what they do now.

“The effort to keep corporate money out of politics is now pretty much the expected route for candidates,” Gilbert told The Hill.

“We think that’s a phenomenal thing and something that we aren’t surprised that candidates who hadn’t done that before are choosing to do so.”

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Anita Hill: 'Me Too' could have started long ago if Biden-led panel had 'done its job'

September 8, 2020 | News | No Comments

Anita HillAnita Faye HillTrump sets up for bruising campaign against Biden Clarence Thomas breaks his silence in theaters nationwide Anita Hill to Iowa crowd: ‘Statute of limitations’ for Biden apology is ‘up’ MORE on Thursday went after former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE’s handling of her claims of sexual harassment against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, tying it to the “Me Too” movement.

Hill argued in a New York Times op-ed that the movement seeking to hold high-profile men accountable for sexual misconduct could have started much earlier had the Senate panel led by Biden in the 1990s taken her claims against Thomas more seriously.

“If the government had shown that it would treat survivors with dignity and listen to women, it could have had a ripple effect,” Hill, now a professor at Brandeis University, argued in the op-ed.

“If the Senate Judiciary Committee, led then by Mr. Biden, had done its job and held a hearing that showed that its members understood the seriousness of sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence, the cultural shift we saw in 2017 after #MeToo might have began in 1991 — with the support of the government,” she added.

Biden, who launched his 2020 Democratic presidential bid last month, has received criticism from the left for his treatment of Hill. The professor said last month that Biden had reached out to apologize for his and other lawmakers’ treatment of her during her Senate Judiciary Committee hearings decades earlier.

Biden’s treatment of Hill has been targeted due to his past unwillingness to apologize to Hill, as well as accusations from fellow Democrats who were in Congress at the time who said that the former vice president was not even planning to allow Hill’s testimony before a group of furious Democratic congresswoman marched to his office and demanded he reconsider.

“We were so upset that they weren’t even going to let her testify. And remember, [Biden] was the chairman,” former Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) said last month on CNN.

Hill said last month that she was unsatisfied with Biden’s apology, which she had likened to a late acknowledgement that insufficiently addressed his own actions.

“I cannot be satisfied by simply saying I’m sorry for what happened to you. I will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose,” she told the Times last month.

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Rosberg critical of ‘very difficult’ Ferrari SF1000

September 8, 2020 | News | No Comments

Former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg has said that the current Ferrari is “very difficult to drive”, and that Charles Leclerc should not take all the blame for crashing out of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

Leclerc was running in fourth place after a safety car restart when he lost the back end of the car running at high speed through the Parabolica, planting him into the tyre wall in the final corner.

“I was struggling a lot on the hard tyres,” he reported afterwards. “I tried to push but then I made a mistake, lost the rear and crashed.

“The crash was quite a big one but I am ok. A bit of pain here and there, which is quite normal,” he added. “It was just a mistake by my side.”

‘No excuse, it was my mistake’ says Leclerc after huge crash

Initially it appeared that driver error had cost the team the chance to snatch a podium finish from a race weekend that had been less than promising.

But Rosberg said that was unfair and the car was more to blame – although he was careful ot to dub the SF1000 ‘undriveable’.

“That is exactly the word I have learned not to use anymore because otherwise I will be quoted again and it gets exaggerated,” Rosberg told RTL. “But the Ferrari is very difficult to drive.

“The behaviour of the car scared me,” he admitted. “He accelerated out of the corner, everything was under control and then suddenly he loses the rear of the car, catches it once, and then loses it again.

“But the Ferrari is very difficult to drive,” he reiterated.

Big crash today. A bit sore but okay, impressive how much these cars can take nowadays. Thanks all for your messages. pic.twitter.com/M5phPOILHh

— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) September 6, 2020

Leclerc’s accident followed an early retirement for brake disc failure for his team mate Sebastian Vettel, leading to a double DNF for Ferrati at their home race.

And it followed a particularly poor outing for the team a week earlier at Spa-Francorchamps where neither driver finished in the points and looked off the pace of the midfield runners let along their rivals at the front.

Although he’s leaving the team at the end of the season, Vettel shared in the despondency that has settled over Maranello in recent weeks.

“This is a very difficult moment for the whole team and as part of it, I am suffering along with everyone else,” he said.

“But this is our reality right now and we need to try and do the best we can, to have a worthwhile final part of the season with still plenty of races to go.

“We have a lot of work to do and we have to be focused on that,” he added. “We have to keep our heads up, even if it is difficult.”

Vettel declined to point any fingers as to who he thought should take the blame for the team’s current predicament, but added that Ferrari had not gone in the development direction that he had wanted.

“The team has chosen a different direction than I did,” he told RTL. “It’s over and done.

“It will be difficult for us this year, and next year in this respect it does not concern me anymore.”

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Trump to hold campaign rally in Pennsylvania on May 20

September 7, 2020 | News | No Comments

President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE next week will stage a rally in Pennsylvania, a state crucial to his reelection chances in 2020, his campaign announced on Monday.

The May 20 rally will take place in the town of Montoursville in northeastern Pennsylvania, where Trump’s strong performance in 2016 helped flip the state from blue to red. Trump’s campaign said it will be his 48th visit to the state and his sixth appearance in that region since launching his first run in 2015.

“President Trump will be returning to Pennsylvania to share his long litany of achievements on behalf of the American people,” said Trump campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner said in a statement.

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Trump’s political team is counting on a repeat performance in the Keystone State next year, but several recent polls show him running behind a number of possible Democratic rivals.

Former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE, a native of nearby Scranton, is also making a strong play for Pennsylvania, holding his kickoff rally in the union stronghold of Pittsburgh. Biden is expected to hold a rally 90 miles away in Bethlehem, Pa., two days before Trump’s appearance in Montoursville.

Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to win Pennsylvania since 1988, edging Democratic nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE by just 44,000 votes.

It is one of six battleground states chosen by the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action for a $250 million investment designed to boost Trump’s chances of winning a second term.

The Trump campaign said the president also intends to plug the candidacy of state Rep. Fred Keller (R), who is running in a special election to fill the House seat vacated by former Rep. Tom MarinoThomas (Tom) Anthony MarinoWhy the North Carolina special election has national implications The Hill’s Morning Report – Pelosi remains firm despite new impeachment push Republican wins special House election in Pennsylvania MORE (R).

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Month: September 2020