October 17, 2020 - The Minnesota Sun

FCC to ‘Clarify’ Meaning of Section 230 Following Twitter Suppression of NY Post Story

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Federal Communication Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced Thursday that he intends to move forward with a rulemaking to “clarify” the meaning of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act.

Pai’s announcement comes one day after Twitter prohibited users from posting links to a New York Post story about alleged emails involving Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Twitter’s suppression of the story led President Donald Trump to call for the repeal of Section 230, which indemnifies internet companies from liability over content posted by their users.

Commentary: Is Twitter, Facebook Censorship of New York Post Biden-Ukraine Story the Beginning of Social Tyranny?

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Twitter and Facebook have both limited distribution of an Oct. 14 report from the New York Post’s Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge entitled, “Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad” detailing an alleged meeting between former Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma executive Vadym who Biden’s son, Hunter, used to work for, in April 2015.

Battleground State Polling Shows Tighter Trump-Biden Race Than National Polls

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

While national polls may reliably forecast the national popular vote in a presidential election, given the electoral college map, battleground state polling is more meaningful — and in 2020 battleground polls show a much tighter race between President Trump and challenger Joe Biden.

In the RealClearPolitics polling averages on Thursday, Biden led Trump by 9.4% nationally but just 4.9% in key battleground states. In the battleground states, moreover, Trump on Thursday was running 0.5% ahead of where he was at this stage of the 2016 campaign, according to the RCP average — the 12th consecutive day on which the president outperformed his corresponding 2016 numbers.

WHO Study Finds Remdesivir Didn’t Help COVID-19 Patients

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 The Associated Press

A large study led by the World Health Organization suggests that the antiviral drug remdesivir did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in contrast to an earlier study that made the medicine a standard of care in the United States and many other countries.

The results announced Friday do not negate the previous ones, and the WHO study was not as rigorous as the earlier one led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. But they add to concerns about how much value the pricey drug gives because none of the studies have found it can improve survival.

Steve Bannon Presents: The CCP’s Ownership of Joe Biden

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

An all new LIVE STREAM of War Room: Pandemic starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday.

Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon began the daily War Room: Pandemic radio show and podcast on January 25, when news of the virus was just beginning to leak out of China around the Lunar New Year. Bannon and co-hosts bring listeners exclusive analysis and breaking updates from top medical, public health, economic, national security, supply chain and geopolitical experts weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon ET.

Awash in Red Ink: U.S. Posts Record $3.1T 2020 Budget Deficit

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 The Associated Press

The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, more than double the previous record, as the coronavirus pandemic shrank revenues and sent spending soaring.

The Trump administration reported Friday that the deficit for the budget year that ended on Sept. 30 was three times the size of last year’s deficit of $984 billion. It was also $2 trillion higher than the administration had estimated in February, before the pandemic hit.

Judge Finds Cases Against Five in Whitmer Plot Can Move Forward

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 The Associated Press

Prosecutors provided enough evidence to move toward trial for five Michigan men accused of plotting to kidnap the state’s governor, a federal judge ruled Friday in Grand Rapids.

A two-day preliminary hearing this week featured testimony by one of the FBI agents who ran the investigation, relying on confidential informants and undercover agents to thwart the purported scheme to abduct Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Tennessee Republican Party Leaders Plan Road to Victory Bus Tour to Get Out the Vote

October 17, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

Tennessee legislative leaders, as well as Gov. Bill Lee, plan to stage a number of bus stops around the state for much of the rest of October to get out the vote.

The statewide Road to Victory bus tour is meant to encourage citizens to vote and to elect Republican candidates, according to a press release from the Tennessee Republican Party.

Former Mexican Defense Minister Arrested at U.S. Airport on Suspicion of Drug-Related Corruption

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

A former Mexican defense minister was arrested in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday for drug-related corruption in Mexico, according to the Mexican government.

Former Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda faces drug and money-laundering charges, a federal law enforcement official in New York said, the New York Times reported.

UK Must Prepare for a No-Deal Brexit, Boris Johnson Says

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a potential no-deal break from the European Union is likely unless the bloc had a “fundamental” change in position.

The European Union and the United Kingdom have struggled to strike a trade deal amid their negotiations, leading each side to blame the other as the end-of-year deadline approaches, the Associated Press reported.

Commentary: Let Them Call You Racist

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

All’s fair in love and war, unless what one has to say threatens war on the beloved pieties of progressivism. Stephanie Martinez and Lauren Witzke learned this lesson recently.

Martinez is a pro-Trump student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In early April, she joined the LMU student government as a “senator for diversity and inclusion.” But Martinez turned out to be a little too diverse in her views for her peers.

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Tennessee’s Challenge to Federal Refugee Resettlement Program

October 17, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

The U.S. Supreme Court said this week it will not hear Tennessee’s challenge of the federal refugee resettlement program, which claimed it violated the 10th Amendment.

Tennessee’s Republican-led government had asked for the review, The Associated Press reported. The court filed its denial earlier, letting a lower court ruling stand.

Minnesota GOP Chair Claims Attorney General Ellison ‘Threatened’ Family That Hosted Trump Event

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Minnesota GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan has accused Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of abusing his power and threatened to file “a cease-and-desist order” against his office.

On Tuesday night, Felton Farms in Northfield, Minnesota, held a private MAGA rally with Eric Trump, where congressional candidate Tyler Kistner and Carnahan also made appearances. Carnahan, who accused Ellison of “using his office to play politics” and “threatening” the farm venue, announced that the Republican Party of Minnesota would be filing a cease-and-desist order against Ellison’s office.