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Wednesday, November 11, 2020

The AM Rundown: Biden Calls Out Trump

NY Times Website Screenshot 11/11/20

➤BIDEN SAYS REFUSAL TO CONCEDE ELECTION NOT STOPPING TRANSITION, CALLS IT 'EMBARRASSMENT' FOR TRUMP: President-elect Joe Biden dismissed concerns about President Trump's refusal to concede that he'd lost the election and congressional Republicans supporting his legal challenges to the vote in several states, none of which have as yet been successful, saying that it's not stopping his team from moving forward with the transition. Some Democrats and former Republican officials have warned about possible serious consequences of Trump blocking Biden from getting federal funds earmarked to help aid in the transfer, as well as from getting intelligence briefings. But in his first press briefing as president-elect, Biden said it, quote, "does not change the dynamic at all and what we're able to do," and said specifically of Trump's refusal to accept the election result, "I just think it’s an embarrassment." When asked about the congressional Republicans' also refusing to do so, Biden said simply, "They will." 


Meanwhile, the New York Times contacted the offices of top election officials in every state, representing both political parties, and the officials said there was no evidence that fraud or other irregularities played a role in the outcome of the presidential race. The Times said they spoke to officials in 45 states. In four of the remaining five states, it spoke to other statewide officials or found public comments from secretaries of state, and none reported any major voting issues. The remaining state, Texas, didn't respond. But the Times said a spokesperson for the top elections official in the state's largest county, Harris County, said there were only a few minor issues.

In an election development, Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded to incumbent Republican Senator Thom Tillis in their North Carolina race Tuesday. With his concession, the Senate balance stands at 49-48 in the Republican's favor. The three Senate races still uncalled are one in Alaska, where Democrat Al Gross challenged Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and votes are still being counted, and the two races in Georgia going to a January runoff. 

Veterans Day 11/11/20

WSJ Graphic 11/11
➤U.S. AT RECORD NUMBER OF CORONAVIRUS HOSPITALIZATIONS: The U.S. reached a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations on Tuesday, at just under 62,000, according to the COVID Tracking Project, and passed one million new cases in the just the first 10 days of this month as a nationwide surge of infections continues to grow. Deaths are continuing to climb, and are now at an average of more than 930 a day. Unlike previous surges, this one isn't confined to one or two regions of the country, with AP citing Vanderbilt University infectious disease specialist Dr. William Schaffner as saying, "The virus is spreading in a largely uncontrolled fashion across the vast majority of the country."

➤ARGUMENTS INDICATE SUPREME COURT LIKELY WON'T STRIKE DOWN OBAMACARE: The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in another case over the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and comments from some of the conservative justices indicated the high court likely won't strike down the decade-old health care law. Remarks from both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested they didn't buy the argument from Republican states and the Trump administration that because Congress in 2017 zero-ed out the penalty people had to pay for not having health insurance that the entire law should be struck down. Roberts said, "I think it’s hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate were struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act. I think, frankly, that they wanted the court to do that, but that’s not our job."

➤ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $23 BILLION ARMS DEAL WITH UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: The Trump administration formally notified Congress yesterday that it plans to sell 50 stealth F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as part of a $23 billion arms deal it says was aimed at deterring potential threats from Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had authorized the sale, unusual during a post-election transition period, in line with the administration’s Middle East peace efforts. Notification of the sale comes after the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE, under which the two Arab states agreed to normalize relations with Israel.

➤WARNERMEDIA STARTS NEW WAVE OF LAYOFFS: WarnerMedia’s CEO Jason Kilar warned staffers that there would be a “painful” wave of layoffs, which he sees as a “critical” step in their evolution. During the last wave of layoffs in August, 600 jobs were cut. Here’s what he wrote in part: “Many of you have patiently waited to hear how the reorganization would affect you personally, which is both uncomfortable and stressful. Reducing this period of uncertainty was one of the many reasons we pushed so hard to get through this work as quickly and as thoughtfully as possible, although it probably didn’t feel fast enough. I want to thank you all for continuing to contribute your best, despite this challenging period and the additional pressure of everything else that has been going on in the world.”

➤NIELSEN SHAKES UP RATINGS: Nielsen is changing the way it measures a show’s reach, by adding data from DirecTV and Dish set-top boxes and Vizio smart TV’s into its national currency. 

“I would say our Holy Grail for what we are working toward is creating a currency that’s more reliable across TV, connected TV and digital devices,” says Scott N. Brown, general manager for audience measurement at Nielsen, in an interview with Variety. “This is a real important first step in that direction.”


➤BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MAY MEAN MORE REGULATION FOR FACEBOOK: A Biden administration could mean more regulation for Facebook, with a tweet thread by a top adviser to President-elect Joe Biden signaling that might be ahead. Biden campaign deputy communications director Bill Russo tweeted late Monday, "If you thought disinformation on Facebook was a problem during our election, just wait until you see how it is shredding the fabric of our democracy in the days after." He then went on over several tweets to write about Facebook allowing violent and misleading political content to spread on its platform in the week after Election Day. 

A day earlier, Russo had retweeted a tweet by Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen that showed a picture of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shaking President Trump's hand, captioned "one down, one to go," and added "Hell yeah" to his retweet, but it was quickly deleted. Biden himself told the New York Times in January that he wants to revoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives sweeping liability protections to tech companies for content posted on their platforms. Referring to Facebook and the spread of misinformation on it, Biden said, "It should be revoked because it is not merely an internet company. It is propagating falsehoods they know to be false." Many Republicans have also said they want Section 230 revoked, and that bipartisan support could be bad news for Facebook.


🏈QB ROETHLISBERGER, THREE OTHER STEELERS PUT ON COVID LIST: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and three of his teammates -- linebacker Vince Williams, running back Jaylen Samuels and offensive lineman Jerald Hawkins -- were put on the reserve/Covid-19 list Tuesday. It came one day after tight end Vance McDonald was put on the list following a positive test, and the four were put on as close contacts. It's uncertain if Roethlisberger and the other three will be available for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Under the NFL's protocols, they must quarantine for five days and must pass Covid tests throughout the week in order to be able to play. The 8-0 Steelers are the NFL team that's still undefeated.

🏈ALABAMA-LSU, TEXAS A&M-TENNESSEE GAMES POSTPONED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS: Saturday's scheduled football games between Number 1 Alabama and LSU and between Number 5 Texas A&M and Tennessee have been postponed because of coronavirus issues. There have now been three SEC games postponed this week due to the virus. On Monday, Auburn’s game against Mississippi State was postponed.

⚾RAYS' CASH, MARLINS' MATTINGLY WIN MLB'S MANAGER OF THE YEAR: The Tampa Bay Rays' Kevin Cash and Don Mattingly of the Miami Marlins were named Manager of the Year on Tuesday in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, Cash in the American League and Mattingly in the National League. Cash managed the Rays to a 40-20 record and the World Series in the pandemic shortened-season, but lost in six games to the L.A. Dodgers. Mattingly led the Marlins to their first winning record since 2009 and first playoff appearance since 2003, despite dealing with a coronavirus outbreak that paused their season.



⚾CORA INTRODUCED AS RED SOX MANAGER 10 DAYS AFTER END OF SIGN-STEALING SUSPENSION: Alex Cora was introduced as the new manager of the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, 10 days after the end of his one-season suspension for his role in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal during their 2017 championship season when he was the team's bench coach. After that season, he was first hired as manager by Boston and led the team to a World Series title in 2018. But he was fired by Boston in January over the scandal after MLB's investigation. Cora accepted responsibility yesterday and apologized for orchestrating the sign-stealing scheme, saying, "I deserved what happened this year. It’s something that I’m not proud of. We went through the whole process...and at the end I got my penalty and I served it. I put this organization in a tough spot. And for that, I’m sorry."



🏀NBA HALL OF FAMER TOMMY HEINSOHN OF THE CELTICS DEAD AT 86: NBA Hall of Famer Tommy Heinsohn, who was with the Boston Celtics as a player, coach and broadcaster for more than 60 years, died on Tuesday. He was 86. Heinsohn won the Rookie of the Year in 1956, and was a player on eight of the Celtics' championship teams, including as the leading scorer in four of them. After retiring in 1965, he stayed with the Celtics as a broadcaster, and then was head coach from 1969 to 1978, winning two more championships and being named NBA coach of the year in 1973. He then returned to broadcasting for the team. Heinsohn was just the fourth person elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.


➤TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR TAMPA: The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning for all four Tampa Bay counties on Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Eta’s projected path continued to move east. The warning means the region is expected to experience tropical storm conditions in the next 48 hours.

Tropical Storm Eta, which devastated Central America last week as a major hurricane, isn’t expected to make landfall in Tampa Bay — but is expected to just north of the region. It is, however, expected to get close enough to the Tampa Bay coast on Thursday morning to dump rain, cause flooding and bring winds of at least 39 mph.
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