Friday, October 23, 2020

The Rundown: Final Debate Contentious, But Not Chaotic

NY Times 10/23/20
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden's second and final debate last night in Nashville was contentious, but didn't have the chaos of their first, in which constant interrupting, mostly by Trump, often made it difficult to follow. Instead, the candidates largely followed the rules and were able to give more informative answers, while still going after each other on issues including the coronavirus, election security, health care, immigration, race, China, and climate change. 



With the country facing a fall surge of the coronavirus, Trump said there were, quote, "some spikes and surges" that "will soon be gone," and repeated a statement he's been making in recent weeks, saying, "We're rounding the corner." Biden instead said the nation is heading for a, quote, "dark winter," stating of the deaths so far, "Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America." 

➤RUSSIAN HACKERS TARGETED U.S. STATE, LOCAL NETWORKS: The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity agency said in an advisory yesterday that Russian hackers have targeted a broad range of networks of dozens of U.S. state and local governments in recent days, and stole data from at least two servers. The warning comes less than two weeks before the election, but officials said they don't have any information that election or government operations have been affected or that the integrity of elections data has been compromised. But it stated, "However, the actor may be seeking access to obtain future disruption options, to influence U.S. policies and actions, or to delegitimize (state and local) government entities."

➤FDA APPROVES REMDESIVIR FOR COVID-19, FIRST DRUG OKAYED: The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved use of remdesivir for Covid-19, the first drug it's approved for treatment of the new coronavirus. The antiviral drug, which had been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring, is given to hospitalized patients via an IV. It cut recovery time by five days on average, from 15 days to 10 days, in a large study led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Last week, a large study led by the World Health Organization found the drug didn't help hospitalized Covid-19 patients, but AP noted that study didn't include a placebo group and was less rigorous than previous ones, including the NIH study, that found a benefit. 

That news comes as coronavirus cases have been surging across the country, with data from Johns Hopkins University showing more than 1,100 deaths reported Wednesday, the highest daily toll in more than a month.



➤JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SENDS BARRETT NOMINATION TO FULL SENATE AS DEMOCRATS BOYCOTT: The 12 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to send Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate for a vote, despite all the Democrats on the committee boycotting the session in protest of the Republican push to install a new justice so close to a presidential election. The Republican-led Senate plans to hold a rare weekend session before an expected final confirmation vote on Monday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer charged the Republicans are, quote, "conducting the most rushed, most partisan and the least legitimate nomination to the Supreme Court in our nation’s history." 

➤NYC, SEATTLE, PORTLAND SUE OVER JUSTICE DEPT.'S 'ANARCHIST JURISDICTION' LABEL, FUNDING THREAT: New York City, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, filed a federal lawsuit yesterday after the Justice Department recently designated them, quote, "anarchist jurisdictions" and threatened federal funding that goes to them because of it. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan called that administration's actions in a news release announcing the suit "unlawful and an abuse of federal power." The lawsuit says the president can’t add conditions to money Congress has appropriated, that the "anarchist jurisdiction" designation was arbitrary and capricious, and that the administration violated due process and the 10th Amendment, which specifies that powers not given to the federal government are reserved for the states.

➤NEW JERSEY IS THE ‘MOST-HATED’ STATE IN AMERICA, ANALYSIS ALLEGEDLY DETERMINES: What is so bad about New Jersey? Lifestyle website Best Life looked at a number of factors to determine that New Jersey is the most-hated state in the U.S. They looked at U.S. Census Bureau statistics on population increases or decreases within each of the 50 states, as well as the results of a poll from 2014 that asked each state’s residents whether they believed theirs was the best place to live, among other things. Best Life then used the data to compile a “Hatred Index” of all 50 states. New Jersey was the most-hated state, followed by Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Florida to round out the most-hated top five. The most-loved state was found to be Idaho.

🎅SANTA CLAUS LAYED-OFF BY MACY’S THIS YEAR: Macy’s says Santa Claus won’t be coming to its flagship New York City store this year to greet kids. The pandemic is responsible for disrupting this holiday tradition, which started nearly 160 years ago. The company says that more than a quarter million people come to see Santa at this location each year, making it hard to create a safe environment during the pandemic. Santa also won’t be making appearances at the brand’s Chicago and San Francisco stores. The issue in all the stores is that visitors have to walk in tight quarters through a maze-like Santaland in order to get to take their photo op with Santa—and the area does not allow for social distancing. Instead, Macy’s will be offering a free online experience on its website at the end of November, where families can play games, get a virtual tour of Santa’s workshop and take a selfie with Santa. 

🏈EAGLES DEFEAT GIANTS 22-21 IN COMEBACK WIN: The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Giants 22-21 last night in a comeback win at home from being 11 points down with less than seven minutes left. After scoring a touchdown, the Eagles two-point conversion attempt failed, but then quarterback Carson Wentz threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Boston Scott with 40 seconds left to go ahead by one point. They tried and again failed with a two-point conversion, but Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was sacked and then fumbled on the next possession. Wentz threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score.

🏈BUCS-RAIDERS GAME MOVED FOR CORONAVIRUS REASONS: The NFL has moved Sunday's (October 25th) game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Las Vegas Raiders from 8:20 p.m. ET to 4:05 p.m. ET in what it called an "abundance of caution" to make sure a game would be available for prime time after Raiders right tackle Trent Brown tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday. The Seattle Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game has been moved into the nighttime slot. In addition to Brown being out, four Raiders offensive lineman and safety Johnathan Abram were put on the reserve/Covid-19 list Thursday because they'd been in close contact with him. If they remain asymptomatic and test negative each day, they'd be able to play on Sunday.

⚾RECORD-LOW RATING FOR FIRST TWO WORLD SERIES GAMES: The first two games of the World Series on Tuesday and Wednesday between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers drew record-low ratings. The low for any game before this year came the only other time the Rays were in the World Series, in Game 3 of the championship series they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008.

🏒NHL CANCELS WINTER CLASSIC, ALL-STAR WEEKEND: The NHL on Thursday canceled the outdoor Winter Classic, played annually on January 1st, which this year was to be played in Minneapolis with the Wild hosting the St. Louis Blues, and also canceled All-Star Weekend, which had been set for late January to be hosted by the Florida Panthers. They were called off because there was no guarantee fans would be able to attend amid the pandemic. However, the league still is planning to start a new season on or around January 1st, in hopes of each team being able to play a full season. Last season ended in late September after having been suspended for months due to the pandemic.

➤NO. 23 CHOSEN FOR CAR FOR JORDAN'S NASCAR TEAM: The car number for Michael Jordan's new NASCAR team will be -- of course -- 23, the NBA legend's retired uniform number. Jordan also named his team 23XI Racing [pronounced twenty-three eleven], in honor of his number and the car number of his partner, Denny Hamlin. The two announced last month that they'd formed a NASCAR team that will debut next season with driver Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver at NASCAR's top level. Jordan will be the first Black principal owner of a full-time Cup team since 1973.
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