While the world’s attention is on Donald Trump’s attempt to win re-election as president over challenger Joe Biden, the battle for the US Senate that will culminate on 3 November is equally dramatic.

Even if Biden defeats Trump, he will be unable to pass legislation on key issues such as healthcare, immigration and climate change unless the Democrats simultaneously seize the Senate, where the Republicans now have a 47-53 majority.

A map of Senate seats up for election

The Democrats could pull it off. Democratic challengers in two states, Arizona and Colorado, appear to have a good chance in defeating Republican incumbents, while only one Democratic incumbent, in Alabama, looks especially vulnerable, according to the latest forecast from the Cook Political Report.

The number of additional seats the Democrats need to win for a voting majority depends on who wins the White House, since any Senate tie of 50-50 is broken by the sitting vice-president. If Trump wins re-election, the Democrats probably need three states, in addition to Arizona and Colorado, for the majority; if Biden wins, the Democrats probably need only two more.

“Probably” because there is enough time for races not mentioned here to shift and change the calculus.

A forecast of the balance of power in the Senate

Where will those seats come from? There are seven races currently judged as tossups by the Cook Political Report’s Senate forecasts.

Top Democratic targets: the seven tossups

The Democrats’ top targets are Maine, North Carolina and Iowa.

In all three races, incumbent Republicans appear to be weighed down by the unpopularity of Trump, while their Democratic opponents could benefit from high turnout among voters who wish to see Trump defeated.

A history of Senate tossups

Broad demographic trends are also making trouble for Republicans nationally, with fewer women saying they will support Trump in 2020, suburban voters likewise abandoning him, according to the polls, and support for Trump falling off even among whites without a college degree.

In Maine, the longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins appears at last to have fallen out with the electorate, a majority of whom say they disapprove of Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s second pick to join the supreme court.

In North Carolina, the Republican incumbent, Thom Tillis, has defended Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, while a majority of voters say they supported the state’s Democratic governor in his clash with Trump over public health rules for hosting the Republican national convention.

While the Republican Joni Ernst had looked difficult to beat earlier this election cycle, she also appears to have suffered from defending Trump’s pandemic policies, and challenger Theresa Greenfield has shown unexpected strength.

But with the campaign still ongoing, these and other races still have time to change.

Republicans are hoping that the political fight over the supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will galvanize conservative voters, just as the fight over Kavanaugh did in the 2018 midterm elections. And last-minute political fallout from the debates, the Covid crisis, the economy or some unforeseen twist could change the races yet again.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/24/us-senate-elections-key-races-power-washington

  • A T-6B Texas II aircraft, which was being used for training purposes, crashed in a residential neighborhood in Foley, Alabama, on Friday afternoon.
  • Both crew members on board died, and no civilian casualties have been reported, the US Navy said. The Navy is not yet releasing the crew members’ names.
  • The plane had flown from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, a Navy spokeswoman told the Associated Press.
  • The chief of Foley’s fire department told Business Insider that debris and fuel from the aircraft after the crash “appeared to have ignited” a family home and two passenger vehicles, and that the fire has since been extinguished.
  • The US Navy and Department of Defense are investigating the crash.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A US Navy training plane crashed in a residential neighborhood in Alabama on Friday afternoon, killing both crew members on board.

The crash of the T-6B Texan II aircraft took place in the city of Foley around 5 p.m. local time, the US Navy said in a statement, adding that no civilian casualties have been reported.

The Navy did not name the crew members who were on board, saying it would do so until 24 hours after their next of kin are notified.

The plane had flown from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, a Navy spokeswoman told the Associated Press. Foley is located about 40 miles from Foley.

The US Navy and the Department of Defense are investigating the crash, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office tweeted. Business Insider has contacted the US Navy, Department of Defense, and the sheriff’s office for further comment.

Map showing the locations of NAS Whiting Field, Florida, and Foley, Alabama.

Google Maps/Business Insider


Foley Fire Department chief Joey Darby told Business Insider in a Saturday morning statement: “The remains of the aircraft along with one single family home and two passenger vehicles were all heavily involved with fire.”

“The aircraft did not make direct contact with any homes, but debris and fuel from the aircraft appeared to have ignited the home and vehicles. We extinguished the fire and secured the scene. There were no injuries to residents.”

The Naval Air Training Command tweeted on Friday: “It is with a heavy heart that we mourn two of our pilots who lost their lives during an aircraft crash in Alabama today.”

“Our deepest sympathy goes to their family and friends at this difficult time. Rest in peace, Shipmates. We have the watch.”

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-training-plane-crash-alabama-both-crew-members-dead-2020-10

President Trump did what his advisers wanted him to do at the debate on Thursday night, despite his lack of prep sessions: He didn’t interrupt former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and he toned himself down. But with less than two weeks left in the race, and nearly 50 million votes already cast in the election, the time for a reset that changes the dynamics of a race whose dynamics have not changed much since March is dwindling. The bulk of the conversation on the debate stage was still about the president’s handling of the coronavirus, where he offered little new.

He accepted responsibility for the 220,000 lives lost, while deflecting any blame, all in the same breath. “I take full responsibility, but China brought it here,” he said. “It’s not my fault.” He asserted that “2.2 million people modeled out were expected to die,” a claim he often repeats but for which there is no clear backing. Mr. Trump’s attempts to paint Mr. Biden as both corrupt and a Trojan Horse of the left fell flat (“he thinks he’s running against someone else,” Mr. Biden pushed back at one point). And the issue of law and order that the president wanted to elevate has dwindled in most parts of the country since a summer of protests.


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Nearing the end of the race, Mr. Trump has not succeeded in making the election anything but a referendum on himself: his coronavirus response, his tone and his tweets.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/politics/trump-biden-campaign.html

Tarrant County health leaders say large gatherings are behind the spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Pandemic fatigue is also coming into play at a very key time of year: flu season.

“It’s not just one indicator that’s bad, all of them are bad,” Tarrant County Public Health Director Dr. Vinny Taneja said.

The top health official in Tarrant County continues to reiterate that COVID-19 cases are up, and so are hospitalizations and visits to the ER among people with symptoms of the virus. 

“All of that combined tells us we are in a true surge picture for COVID,” Dr. Taneja added.

Taneja points out that the positivity rate for COVID-19 in Tarrant County hovers near 12.8%, well above the 10% mark he said is considered a so-called line in the sand. 

A culprit remains: large gatherings.

An indicator of that this week was that the Fort Worth bar Ampersand had its alcohol permit suspended by TABC for 30 days after an inspection revealed unsafe crowding and people, including employees, without face coverings.

TABC spokesman Chris Porter, in Austin, said the agency encourages citizens who observe such violations to report them.

“In a very small number of cases we’ve seen so far, there might be instances where we have to take stronger actions, and hopefully that will serve as a wakeup call to businesses affected as well as those near them,” he said.

Dr. Taneja said it’s clear there is still some resistance to wearing masks.

“Please ban this business mask mandate, again, it’s redundant,” one person said at this week’s Tarrant County commissioners meeting.

But he added that another factor is that many Tarrant County residents have simply become complacent, and with the onset of cooler weather and flu season, the looming price to pay with COVID-19 is too high.

“It’s not just bars, it’s any large gathering. The setting doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a smaller, college, sports bar, restaurant, workplace. I mean, everywhere we look, if there are more people together, the likelihood of transmission goes up,” Dr. Taneja explained.

Source Article from https://www.fox4news.com/news/tarrant-county-health-leaders-point-to-large-gatherings-pandemic-fatigue-as-cause-of-covid-19-spike

FOLEY, Ala. (AP) — A U.S. Navy training plane that took off from Florida crashed Friday in an Alabama residential neighborhood near the Gulf Coast, killing both people in the plane, authorities said.

Zach Harrell, a spokesperson for Commander, Naval Air Forces, said both people in the T-6B Texan II training plane died, but they weren’t immediately releasing their names. No injuries were reported on the ground.

Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby said responders encountered a “large volume of fire” with a home and several cars engulfed in flames. Firefighters were able to make “a quick stop on the fire,” the chief told local news outlets.

The crash occurred southeast of Mobile, near the city of Foley and the town of Magnolia Springs. Darby called the neighborhood a “heavily populated” residential area. No firefighters were injured, he added.

The plane had flown out of Naval Air Station Whiting Field, about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) northeast of Pensacola, Florida, Navy spokeswoman Julie Ziegenhorn said.

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Navy were set to handle the investigation, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office tweeted.

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/alabama-mobile-us-news-plane-crashes-54571afe46a490a220832fd002b90005

The U.S. Department of Justice will assist the state of Illinois in the investigation of a police officer who shot an unarmed Black couple this week, according to The Associated Press.

The Oct. 20 shooting resulted in the death of 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette and the wounding of his girlfriend, Tafara Williams.

The State of Illinois had previously opened an investigation into wrongdoing by the officer in question, a five-year veteran of the suburban Chicago police force, who fired at the couple after they fled a traffic stop. Now, the FBI is joining the efforts after County State Attorney Michael Nerheim requested that the bureau review the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“I am confident in the work being done by the Illinois State Police and welcome the assistance of the FBI,” Nerheim said. ”As I have said before, once the investigation is concluded, all the evidence will be reviewed and a final decision will be made with respect to any potential charges.”

More than 100 people took to the streets of Waukegan, Ill., on Thursday to protest the fatal shooting. An estimated 200 to 300 people are expected to attend a second demonstration Saturday, as demand for the release of the officer’s body camera and squad car footage grow.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/522555-fbi-joins-illinois-state-investigation-into-shooting-of-black-couple

GRAND COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) – The East Troublesome Fire is burning more than 100 miles away from Colorado Springs. However, the images of the mountains on fire and a line of cars trying to get out of town are all too familiar for many living in Olympic City, USA.

The Waldo Canyon Fire devastated Colorado Springs nearly a decade ago in 2012 and the Black Forest Fire the following year was both deadly and detrimental to El Paso County. The two fires left a trail of destruction behind and communities have been rebuilding since. But with each wildfire in Colorado, people come together from across the Centennial State to help each other. There’s a reason 11 News wants to show the people of southern Colorado first-hand what firefighters and the mountain communities impacted by the East Troublesome Fire are up against.

The East Troublesome Fire was reported on Oct. 14 near Granby, but it wasn’t until Wednesday of this week when it exploded in size. As of Friday night, it is the second-largest wildfire in Colorado history at an estimated 188,000 acres, threatening business buildings and forcing hundreds from their homes. The blaze even prompted evacuations from a Colorado gem, Rocky Mountain National Park. While video of the fire is both tragic and even sometimes as the sun sets eerily beautiful, telling the stories of the people impacted is why 11 News decided to send reporters to cover the fire that is now gaining national attention.

A PIG NAMED KEVIN BACON

11 News Reporter Spencer Wilson spent the first four hours of his work shift in the car on Thursday. The drive to Grand County from Colorado Springs gave him plenty of time to plan how he was going to present a story for 11 News at 10. But with all of Spencer’s stories, his plan doesn’t matter as much as the people he’s putting in his stories. The Colorado native is experienced in the field of TV News, having covered shootings, protests, horrific crashes, blizzards and speaking exclusively on camera with a woman accused of killing her own stepson. The talented journalist is an even more amazing storyteller.

As Spencer was driving through the streets of a town that was being evacuated, he saw dozens of people who were forced to pack up and leave everything else behind. One of the hardest parts of being a journalist is you’re typically trying to approach someone for an interview on what is likely one of the hardest days of their life. Surprisingly, with our experience in covering wildfires, many people are willing to talk. People want to share what they are going through, they want to thank the firefighters and community members working to protect homes and the beautiful Colorado landscape. Often times it is easy to strike up a conversation and get someone to talk about their evacuation efforts. However, the interviews usually end in a somber or emotional tone when people get away from the camera and reality sets in again. We choose to speak to these people because we want others to know what they’re going through and how their lives are being turned upside down.

As Spencer was keeping an eye on the smoke pillar in the distance, he spotted Kevin Bacon. Not the actor. A pig. For a second, Spencer’s mind was taken off the story and he knew he just had to meet this pig and his family. That’s when he started talking with Christy Helming.

“Yeah that was the scariest thing,” Helming explained as she was evacuating. “Calling my kids, calling my sisters and making sure everyone got out calling my neighbors. They’re crying, trying to make sure that your friends and family are all headed out and it was overwhelming.”

Christy agreed to an on-camera interview with Spencer, explaining what mattered to her most.

” My family and my pig,” Christy stated. “Those were my main things.”

Spencer started a conversation with a complete stranger. A person he picked out of hundreds because of her animal companion. A pig was the reason Spencer worked to share Christy’s story. A woman who was trying her hardest to stay positive as her home town was in danger.

“We’re just going to pretend we’re on vacation for a while,” Christy added.

Christy is just one of so many people who are playing the waiting game as the fire continues to burn. Spencer used what she had to say to show the thousands of people who watch 11 News what it’s like right now in a community so far away. A community that is still part of Colorado. Our viewers had a chance to meet a pig named Kevin Bacon, and his owner Christy. We all had a chance to meet a fellow Coloradan going through one of the hardest days of her life. It is stories like this that put what so many people in our state are going through into perspective.

Spencer’s day didn’t end there. It isn’t as simple as getting an interview and calling it quits. He was working on a strict deadline, by himself, in a town more than a hundred miles away from his co-workers. He had to be aware of his surroundings, and ready to leave himself if the danger got too close. He had to compile the hours of video he shot and edit together a story that was less than two minutes. He had to share the story of hundreds through the voice of one woman with a pig. He had to do it on live TV, with a fire burning in the background. He had to drive another two or three hours just to sleep, wake up, and tell a new story the next day. An even harder story to share. On Friday, Spencer met a man who believed his grandparents were killed by that same fire. On Friday, Spencer once again shared a story that was hard to tell with thousands of people.

You can watch the story Spencer put together on Christy and Kevin Bacon at the top of this article.

If you want to help those impacted by wildfires across the state, not just the East Troublesome Fire, you can click here.

Copyright 2020 KKTV. All rights reserved.

Source Article from https://www.kktv.com/2020/10/24/pig-named-kevin-bacon-and-his-family-among-hundreds-evacuated-because-of-a-colorado-wildfire/

So with only 11 days to go until the election, Biden and other Democrats are doing clean-up duty at precisely the wrong time.

“We’re not getting rid of fossil fuels,” Biden told reporters after the debate. “We’re getting rid of the subsidies for fossil fuels, but we’re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.”

President Donald Trump’s campaign has spent the day rejoicing at Biden’s remarks, crowing on a call with media outlets on Friday it “put the nail in the coffin” for him in Pennsylvania. But in a sign of their confidence here in the presidential race, many Democrats in the critical battleground state, including those in fracking country, are largely shrugging it off.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an issue,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who hails from the western side of the state, where there’s been a fracking boom. “I think if you are fundamentally committed to or work in that industry, you’ve already made up your mind.”

Both 2020 candidates have lavished attention to the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania, the likely tipping-point state in the Electoral College. Trump has painted his opponent as hostile to fossil fuels, seeing an opportunity to pick up more votes in his strongholds in the western and northeastern parts of the state where there are numerous gas wells. In hopes of limiting his losses in those areas, or even flipping some, Biden has typically sought to be extra careful while talking about fracking and energy.

Biden’s campaign has simultaneously embraced a liberal green jobs plan that is large enough to please progressive activists — and taken pains to express opposition to a fracking ban, including at debates and a campaign stop in Pittsburgh earlier this year. His team has said the country can achieve net zero-emissions by 2050 without eliminating fossil fuels by utilizing tools such as carbon-capture technology.

Biden, however, has struggled at times to explain the particulars of his climate plan. He has garbled his position on fracking, which Trump’s campaign has seized on to make false claims. Asked at a 2019 debate whether there would be a role for coal and fracking in a Biden administration, he said, “No, we would — we would work it out,” before his campaign later clarified he didn’t support a ban.

“It absolutely helps Trump, not only in Pennsylvania, but also in Texas, Ohio and several other key states,” said Charlie Gerow, a GOP strategist in Pennsylvania who has worked on presidential campaigns. “I think even Biden realized that he stepped in it last night. You could see him trying to back-walk it.”

Democratic Reps. Kendra Horn of Oklahoma and Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico, who represent areas dependent on fossil fuel extraction, quickly distanced themselves from Biden’s comments.

“I disagree with VP Biden’s statement tonight,” Torres Small said in a tweet. “Energy is part of the backbone of New Mexico’s economy. We need to work together to promote responsible energy production and stop climate change, not demonize a single industry.”

State Sen. John Yudichak, a former Democrat who registered as an independent last year in the wake of big GOP victories around his northeastern Pennsylvania district, urged Biden to further clarify his comments when he campaigns in the state’s Luzerne County on Saturday. Yudichak has endorsed Biden but also repeatedly pushed him to embrace the gas industry.

“The vice president’s comment about ending oil and gas development in the very near future certainly hurts his chance to lock down working-class voters in northeastern Pennsylvania and throughout Pennsylvania,” Yudichak said. “We can’t dismiss building-trade, construction trade workers. We need to make sure that they don’t feel forgotten.”

Democrats in Pennsylvania expressed confidence that Biden’s prompt walk-back means the fundamental dynamics in the race won’t change. Biden is leading Trump in the state by 5 to 6 percentage points and few voters report they are undecided. Democrats believe Biden has already won over some fracking supporters at the margins, as they had hoped. They also said fracking is not a top issue for the suburban women Trump needs to win over.

“It may have an impact in some of the more rural counties out here in southwestern Pennsylvania where Donald Trump was already going to win. Maybe it peels some votes off there,” said Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic strategist. “But based on all the polling I’ve seen statewide, it’s not enough to close the gap because it’s a pretty big gap.”

Still, Mikus said Biden “was not clear last night when he answered it, which is why he had to address it right before getting on the plane.”

It’s unclear whether the Trump campaign can make Biden pay for his oil slip. Throughout the year, Trump has jumped from one line of attack on Biden to another, but nothing has really stuck.

Bobby “Mac” McAuliffe, director of Pennsylvania’s United Steelworkers District 10, also said many oil and gas workers in the union have already seen their prospects hurt because of the dive in fuel demand caused by the pandemic.

“USW members in Pennsylvania are deeply concerned about the economy and whether it will rebound after the loss of thousands of Pennsylvania jobs that resulted from the sustained lack of federal leadership,” he said. “Our members also indicated that their top concern is affordable health care, which between the still raging pandemic and the push to kill the Affordable Care Act remains front and center in this election.”

Markets have begun frowning on oil and gas. Major companies like BP are planning to deepen a transition to renewable energy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average delisted Exxon Mobil in August, and even before the pandemic-induced recession, banks were shying away from debt-laden shale drillers that consistently failed to deliver promised returns. The energy sector, which is largely composed of oil and gas companies, also has been the worst-performing on the S&P 500.

If Biden does emerge unscathed by his remarks Thursday, it may partly be due to his centrist brand. In 2016, Trump was seen as more moderate than Hillary Clinton, who was slammed after she said “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” This year, polls show Biden is viewed by voters as more down-the-middle than Trump.

After the debate, Robert Heenan, a Pennsylvania-based second vice president at the International Union of Operating Engineers, said of Biden’s comments, “What the hell was that about?”

But Heenan said he is sticking with Biden — and doesn’t think he’ll lose rank-and-file members over his remarks — because “I know he’s not going to hurt the workers.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/23/biden-oil-pennsylvania-texas-432043

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/23/fauci-trump-hasnt-attended-covid-task-force-meeting-months/6009403002/

With less than two weeks until the 2020 presidential election, over 4.7 million Floridians have already cast their votes during the early voting period, surpassing the total number of votes for President Donald Trump in Florida in 2016.

The Florida Division of Elections reported Friday that 4,771,956 people have voted either by mail or in-person early voting, more than the 4.61 million total votes cast for Trump in 2016. The votes cast just under two weeks from Election Day is roughly 33 percent of all registered voters in the state.

According to the report, 2.1 million Democrats have voted in-person or by mail in the Florida general election so far, compared to 1.6 million Republicans.

There are currently 14.4 million registered voters in Florida. In 2016, 9.5 million of the then 12.8 million registered voters cast their ballots in the general election, according to the Division of Elections.

Since mail-in voting began earlier this month, more than 3.38 million vote-by-mail ballots were submitted so far for the upcoming election, far greater than the 2.75 million total for mail-in ballots cast in 2016, a likely result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Democrats have largely favored voting by mail in the state, with over 500,000 more ballots cast than Republicans. More than 680,000 independent voters have already voted by mail, and over 900,000 of these registered voters have cast their ballots, data from the Division of Elections shows.

On Monday, Florida saw a record number opening day turnout for in-person early voting in 52 of its 67 counties, raking up more than 355,000 voters. This largely surpasses the 291,000 people who voted on the first day of early voting in 2016. Early voting for all Florida counties begins on Saturday.

Miami-Dade County and Broward County currently lead in the state for pre-election votes, with more than 300,000 ballots cast in each county. Hillsborough and Palm Beach Counties trail just behind, with over 200,000 ballots cast either in-person or by mail.

In the past few months, both Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden—as well as their respective running mates—have held numerous rallies in Florida, a key battleground state. Tonight, Trump heads to The Villages in Central Florida for a MAGA rally, while former President Barack Obama is set to campaign in Miami on Saturday.

Biden holds a narrow lead against Trump in Florida. According to FiveThirtyEight, the former vice president leads by an average of just 3 percentage points. A recent University of North Florida poll, which surveyed 863 registered likely voters in the state, shows Trump trailing behind Biden by just one point, 47 percent to 48 percent.

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/number-early-votes-florida-has-already-surpassed-total-number-ballots-cast-trump-2016-1541754

A C-SPAN caller strongly suggested Friday that he is “leaning” toward voting for President Trump due to the lack of mainstream media coverage of the growing Hunter Biden controversy.

“Washington Journal” host Pedro Echevarria accepted a call from an “undecided” voter named Jimmy in Maine, who began by saying he liked Joe Biden on “medical” issues, but preferred Trump on “the economy and foreign policy.”

Jimmy then pivoted to the issues surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop, which he said was “dividing” his own family. He noted that the lack of mainstream media coverage of the pre-debate news conference given by former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski.

“I watched all the stations. I did MSNBC, watch you guys, I watch Fox, I watch everybody, just trying to get a little piece of everything,” Jimmy said. “Nobody but Fox was carrying this guy … that was his [Hunter Biden’s] partner.

CNN, MSNBC SKIP EX-HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS PARTNER BOBULINSKI STATEMENT IMPLICATING JOE BIDEN IN FOREIGN DEALS

“And I thought to myself, ‘Well, they’ll cover it the next day …’ You know what Americans don’t like, Pedro? They don’t like a rigged deck. This might be the Achilles’ Heel of Joe Biden.”

When Echevarria acknowledged that outlets like Fox News and The Wall Street Journal have “picked up the story” ever since the New York Post ran its first reports on the emails that allegedly came from Hunter Biden’s laptop, Jimmy pushed back, saying “Yeah, but that’s it!”

“I mean, you’ve got ABC, NBC, CBS, these are the major networks and I’ve watched them this morning and I’m looking for it and I’m looking for it, and nobody is paying attention to this!” Jimmy exclaimed. “I went in leaning toward Joe Biden, I’m really leaning toward Donald Trump right now.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Jimmy went on to mock Biden’s “Joe from Pennsylvania” persona and knocked the former vice president for his flip-flops on fracking. 

“He said by, like 2025, we’re going to be independent of oil?” he asked rhetorically. “That’s impossible!”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/c-span-caller-leaning-trump-biden-hunter-biden-story

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/10/23/biden-trump-debate-ratings-down-thursdays-final-matchup/3744702001/

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden walks to board his campaign plane in New Castle, Del., earlier this month.

Carolyn Kaster/AP


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Carolyn Kaster/AP

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden walks to board his campaign plane in New Castle, Del., earlier this month.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

In late May, employees at a bank in Kannapolis, N.C., called the local police to report an abandoned white Ford van in the bank’s parking lot.

When officers arrived, they looked into the van’s windows and saw an array of items: an AR-15 rifle, the box for a handgun, a canister of explosive material, and a box of ammunition, according to a court document. Police say they towed and searched the van, finding more than $500,000 in cash, drawings of swastikas and planes crashing into buildings, books on survival and bomb-making, and a half-dozen firearms.

Later that day, Alexander Hillel Treisman, 19, reportedly walked into the bank and asked after the towed van – and was promptly arrested.

Authorities say Alexander Hillel Treisman, 19, had a fascination with mass shootings and terrorist attacks.

Kannapolis Police Department


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Kannapolis Police Department

Authorities say Alexander Hillel Treisman, 19, had a fascination with mass shootings and terrorist attacks.

Kannapolis Police Department

Officers booked him for carrying a concealed weapon and turned him over to federal authorities pending further investigation, according to Kannapolis Chief of Police Terry Spry.

Now the man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography charges. And federal agents presented evidence indicating Treisman had a fascination with mass shootings and terrorist attacks — and had plotted to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

According to government testimony, between March and May of this year, Treisman searched online for Biden’s home address and looked up state gun laws, rifle parts and night vision goggles. In April, he is said to have posted a meme online with the caption “should I kill joe biden?”

Treisman bought the AR-15 rifle in New Hampshire and then traveled to a Wendy’s restaurant within 4 miles of Biden’s home in Delaware, federal agents say. He allegedly wrote out a checklist that had as its last task: “execute.”

After his arrest, Treisman was interviewed by Kannapolis police and investigators from the Joint Terrorism Task Forces. He allegedly told them that he has an interest in terrorist incidents and mass shootings and that he had lost friends over jokes he had made about mass shootings and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Investigators found video on Treisman’s cell phone that apparently was taken while driving by Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas — the site of a deadly 2017 mass shooting — as a male voice is heard saying, “There it is. That’s it. That’s the one, that’s where they did it. Allah Akbar! Ah hah, nice.” Another video on the phone, taken at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, includes a male voice suggesting it would be “awesome” to hijack a plane and fly it into a building.

The evidence also suggests Treisman may have taken steps to disguise his identity and flee the country.

Treisman told investigators that he had traveled across the country and purchased guns in Washington, Kansas, New Hampshire and West Virginia, according to the court document. His wallet contained three different state IDs, including a counterfeit Florida driver’s license with the name Alexander Theiss. An image on one of his hard drives showed a Polish passport edited to show his face. And he had apparently rented an apartment in Quebec.

There was also, according to the legal document, a recording of a May 29 call from Treisman in jail to his mother, in which she suggests he “jump bail.”

On Sept. 28, Treisman was indicted on three counts of child pornography — investigators say they found such images on his phone and on eight devices seized from his vehicles.

It’s not clear whether he will face additional charges.

But so far the U.S. government has argued successfully that the evidence is sufficient to keep Treisman in detention as his case proceeds.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe L. Webster wrote that the evidence had established “that no combination of available release conditions would reasonably assure the safety of the community, and that a preponderance of evidence establishes that no conditions would ensure Defendant’s presence in court.”

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/10/23/927181809/man-arrested-in-n-c-had-plan-to-kill-joe-biden-feds-say

“Well, Mr. President,” Netanyahu began as Trump raised his gaze, “one thing I can tell you is that we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America, and we appreciate what you’ve done enormously.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/10/23/trump-biden-netanyahu-call-sudan-israel/

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Friday marked the highest one-day coronavirus case count in Pennsylvania.

The state health department reported 2,219 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total to 190,579.

There were 33 more virus-related deaths reported, so the death toll stands at 8,625.

Friday’s increase is the highest daily jump seen in Pennsylvania since the pandemic started in March. It beats the record set Thursday of 2,063, which even included some delayed cases from Wednesday.

Pennsylvania health officials say the daily increases are now comparable to what they saw back in April.

The Lehigh Valley (Lehigh and Northampton counties) saw 85 more cases from Thursday to Friday, and Berks County increased by 66 cases.

Over the last seven days, there were 257,737 COVID-19 tests administered, of which 10,840 were positive.

Of the positive cases to date, about 36% of them are people ages 25-49. About 14% are 19-24, 21% are 50-64, and nearly 21% are 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized and most of the deaths are people ages 65 and older, officials said.



Source Article from https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/pennsylvania/pa-reports-2-219-new-virus-cases-33-more-deaths/article_52238664-1548-11eb-88be-b3a5e50aac60.html

In addition to those three suburban counties, these 48 counties are currently considered to be at warning level by the state: Adams, Bond, Boone, Carroll, Cass, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, DeKalb, Douglas, Edwards, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Gallatin, Greene, Hamilton, Henderson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Lee, Macon, Macoupin, McDonough, Mercer, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Perry, Pike, Pulaski, Rock Island, Saline, Shelby, Stephenson, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Warren, Wayne, Whiteside, Williamson and Winnebago.

Source Article from https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-illinois-warning-20201023-6omhpetjqvcj7mfc2wuiivmsl4-story.html