Breaking News Events

[homoe]

March on Washington updates: Thousands gather at Lincoln Memorial to march for racial equality. March on Washington organizers expect about 50,000 people to gather in Washington on Friday to call for criminal justice reform and racial equality and to honor the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address from the same spot.

Organizers began planning in June after the funeral of George Floyd, but they recently lowered their crowd estimates, citing fewer buses arriving in the city because of the coronavirus pandemic. They plan to highlight the civil rights issues of today and bring well-known speakers to address the crowd while also mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus with strict safety protocols.

The march — dubbed the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington — will begin with speeches from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, followed by a choreographed march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park. The event is expected to end about 3 p.m.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md...on-protest-dc/

[C0LLETTE]

Trump Hotel in Vancouver Declares Bankruptcy.


The Vancouver hotel that bears the name of Donald Trump has closed and its hotel-management company has filed for bankruptcy after years of complaints from residents and politicians about the Trump presence in the city.

The website for the city’s Trump International Hotel now links only to the global site for Trump hotels, where the Vancouver property is no longer listed. No one answered the phone at the hotel’s main line.

Documents filed with the federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy say that TA Hotel Management Limited Partnership filed for bankruptcy Aug. 26, stating it had total liabilities of $4.8-million and assets of only $1.1-million. A creditors’ meeting has been set for Sept. 16.

Owner Joo Kim Tiah, who announced the Trump deal in 2013, did not return a request for comment.

The disappearance of the hotel designed by prominent Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson was not lamented by some city residents.

“I think it’s cathartic for the city to see it gone. It’s always been inconsistent with our values,” said Brent Toderian, a former chief of planning for Vancouver. He has been vocal since the hotel opened in 2017 about how the Trump brand was an affront to a city known for its diversity and inclusion.

[homoe]

[homoe]

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Donald Trump says he wants the Big Ten and other conferences to start playing football 'now'. Plus his last two days of Super-Spreader Events just goes to show you, he's not concerned about other's safety!

[homoe]

Thousands of workers are poised to join the ranks of the unemployed, as ongoing turmoil from the coronavirus pandemic prompted Corporate America to unleash a wave of pink slips this week —adding to an already staggering number of people without jobs.

As Congress and the White House locked in a stalemate over a fresh round of economic stimulus — which includes a highly coveted $600 unemployment bonus that’s helped to prop up consumer spending — a range of big companies are moving to shave headcount.

The timing could hardly be worse, given that the fate of a fiscal boost is uncertain, and the ranks of the jobless remain swelled with tens of millions of people.

“We’re in a situation where unemployment is remarkably elevated,” Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com’s senior economic analyst, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/b...141401529.html

[homoe]

Bill Maher Calls For #FreeUpTheMail Campaign Against Donald Trump USPS Voting “Scheme”.

[homoe]

United Airlines says it listened to customers and is dropping an unpopular $200 fee for most people who change a ticket for travel within the United States. “When we hear from customers about where we can improve, getting rid of fees is often the top request,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a video posted Sunday.

United's move will put pressure on American Airlines and Delta Air Lines to drop their change fees, also $200 on domestic travel. Delta and American said they are waiving change fees for travel affected by the virus through the year's end. Southwest Airlines does not charge change fees, a policy which its CEO says has helped it gain more business.

United said that it eliminated change fees for people who buy a standard or premium economy ticket for U.S. travel. United also said that it will extend a broad waiver of change fees — including for international travel — through Dec. 31. Customers who pay the lowest fares, called “basic economy,” can also change tickets free because of the extended waiver announced Sunday.
And starting in January, it will let customers fly standby for free on other flights the same day as their booked flight.

The moves come as United and other airlines try desperately to lure people back to flying despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. U.S. air travel has recovered modestly since April, but passenger traffic remains down about 70% from a year ago.

The four largest U.S. airlines lost a combined $10 billion from April through June. Airlines shared $25 billion in federal payroll aid under pandemic relief legislation and are lobbying for $25 billion more.

Sidebar: For years airlines have been nickle and dimming passengers for outlandish fees! It does my heart good to see them having to pull in their horns and grovel a bit to lure back customers!

[homoe]

An uncle of Jacob Blake, a Black man reported to be partially paralyzed from the waist down after being shot at close range in the back by police in Kenosha, Wis., accused President Trump of “drumming” up violence in the country and said the Blake family doesn’t want “anything to do with him.”

Jacob Blake's uncle, Justin Blake, made the comments in an interview with local ABC affiliate WISN on Sunday. He was asked about unrest in Kenosha and other parts of the country following the police shooting of his nephew and the violence seen at some demonstrations.

“How could they not be feeding on violence when the man in the White House is steady drumming it up? Did you not think it would not trickle down to the streets? It has,” he said in an interview with the station. “So, we have the opportunity to control the narrative as the Blake family, and we're gonna do that.”

His comments come as a number of Democrats have sought to blame Trump for inciting violence in the country following clashes, some deadly, at recent protests.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...p-incited-this

[homoe]

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan asks Supreme Court to stop recall, says none of her decisions were unreasonable. The push to recall Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is based on a policy disagreement, not a violation of any law or standard, and the petitioners leading the recall haven’t identified what steps Durkan should have taken in the wake of June’s widespread protests, Durkan argued in appealing her case to the state Supreme Court.


Sidebar: No doubt her flippant ‘summer of love’ comment hasn't helped!


https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ampaign=655139

[PlatinumPearl]

Vineyard Workers Race Overnight To Save Grapes From Approaching Fires | California Wildfires.

As the second largest wildfire in California’s history ravages the state, vineyards in Sonoma County rush to harvest grapes before the smoke can ruin their crop. Since August 15, 1.6 million acres in California have burned - an area the size of Delaware. There are also fears that the coronavirus pandemic could spread among agricultural workers as the fires burn.

Source: Insider News
Date: August 29. 2020

[C0LLETTE]

AND YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON


Largest ever celestial collision reveals a new kind of black hole

IVAN SEMENIUK
SCIENCE REPORTER Globe and Mail

"Scientists combing the cosmos for signs of heavy things bumping in the night have recorded their biggest bang yet.


In this case, two black holes, one 85 times the mass of our sun and the other 66 times the mass, merged in an instant to form one much larger black hole totaling 142 suns, researchers involved in the detection revealed on Wednesday."

However, Donald Trump is still the biggest hole in any universe.

[C0LLETTE]

Nancy got her hair done?????

OMG how did I miss that?

Well, all you cable bull-shitters, don't ever let me forget it.

In the midst of all the threats to the survival of a viable human race, just keep blasting out images of Nancy in a plastic gown having the "sides trimmed".

CNN...every time you post Nancy in her gown entering that "salon" I try to spit at my tv...my aim is terrible and I'm sure I'll regret it but wtf, how could that mess be any worse than the swilling mess that cable news is blasting out 10 times a day as legit news to help people make their voting choice.

It's NOT news that Nancy got a haircut without a mask on. That's a mistake she won't repeat.

What is news is that cable channels like CNN think it's ok to repeat stuff like that and ignore the fact that they are burning that crap into voters' minds.

Every f..king word these "channels " broadcast goes somewhere.

[homoe]

Nancy Pelosi says her visit to a hair salon was a 'setup.' Stylist backs her up!

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she was set up by a San Francisco salon where she was videotaped not wearing a face mask after getting her hair washed, in violation of the city’s coronavirus restrictions. “This salon owes me an apology,” Pelosi said in response to questions from reporters at the end of a news conference on the Democrats' proposed coronavirus relief act that is stalled in the Senate. "It was clearly a setup," she said. "I take responsibility for falling for a setup by a neighborhood salon I’ve gone to for many years.”

The eSalon's owner, Erica Kious, denied Pelosi's claim. She said that her salon has been closed for months because of the pandemic and that she found Pelosi's remarks "hurtful." "I just thought about, you know, my staff and people not being able to work and make money and provide for their families. And if she's in there comfortably, without a mask and feeling safe, then why are we shut down?" Kious told Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Wednesday evening.

Less than two hours later, Jonathan DeNardo, the stylist who blew out Pelosi's hair, released a statement through an attorney contradicting Kious. The statement says the law firm is in possession of photographs and videotape that show that Kious has been operating her salon in violation of state and local restrictions since April. The statement also says that Kious authorized Pelosi coming to the salon for her blow out, and that she was critical of the House speaker because she erroneously believed Pelosi was behind the restrictions that shut down her salon. (The rules were put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.)

"Ms. Kious has also been actively encouraging and almost forcing stylists who operate at eSalon to violate such orders for her own financial benefit in the form of receiving lease payments," the statement says. "The fact that Ms. Kious is now objecting to Speaker Pelosi’s presence at eSalon, and from a simple surface-level review of Ms. Kious’ political leanings, it appears Ms. Kious is furthering a set-up of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations."

The brouhaha began on Monday, when security camera footage at the eSalon showed Pelosi inside, passing by with wet hair and a mask wrapped around her neck and being trailed by a hair stylist who was wearing a mask. Kious gave the footage to Fox News, which first reported the story Tuesday.

The images prompted a torrent of criticism Wednesday that Pelosi and other Democrats were hypocritical for placing restrictions on Americans that they themselves are unwilling to follow.

President Trump was among the Republicans who weighed in.

“Crazy Nancy Pelosi is being decimated for having a beauty parlor opened, when all others are closed, and for not wearing a Mask — despite constantly lecturing everyone else,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “We will almost certainly take back the House, and send Nancy packing!”

Businesses such as hair salons are subject to a patchwork of regulations in California, based in part on how severe the coronavirus crisis is in the counties and cities where they are based. In San Francisco, hair salons were not allowed to do any business on Monday, but as of Tuesday they are allowed to offer services outdoors. The state requires Californians to wear face masks outside the home when social distancing isn't possible.

Sidebar: Forgive me I'm a butch, but how would one get a shampoo and blow-out outside? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose?

[homoe]

Airlines for America, the lobbying group representing major U.S. carriers, has warned that the U.S. airline industry is unlikely to bounce back from the COVID-19 drop for at least four years.

“We don’t see any significant increase in demand,” Nicholas Calio, the CEO of Airlines for America, told reporters during a media call on Thursday. “We don’t see it fully rebounding until 2024. We are doing everything we can to keep our companies afloat. People talk about the situation being dire. It is dire. Right now, we’re fighting for survival. No bones about it.”

Sidebar: The way airlines stuck it to their passengers for years, with "add-on" fees from seat selections to checked bagged it's hard for me to feel sorry for this industry!

[homoe]

Trump Reportedly Referred To American War Dead As ‘Losers’ And ‘Suckers’


President Donald Trump, who has been criticized in the past for making disparaging remarks about veterans and military families, reportedly referred to American service members who’d died in World War I as “losers” and “suckers” in conversations with his staff.

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, citing multiple anonymous sources who had firsthand knowledge of the conversations, reported Thursday on the president’s comments.

Associated Press reporter James LaPorta later corroborated Goldberg’s article, saying a senior Defense Department official had confirmed the information.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump...b62b3add3e1e45

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Methodist Church Breaks from UMC Over One Church Plan

A Georgia former United Methodist Church has left the UMC over the issues of same sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. In a statement, the Asbury Memorial Church in Savannah says it is the first church to break from the UMC over "unequal treatment of LGBTQ people". The UMC was supposed to meet earlier this year to revisit the internal battle of the One Church Plan vs. The Traditional Plan, but the COVID-19 crisis interfered.


https://www.gpb.org/news/2020/09/03/georgia-church-leaves-united-methodist-over-lgbtq-clergy-same-sex-marriage

[homoe]

Trump Campaign Official Mocked Joe Biden For Visiting Graves Of Late Family Members.


In the immortal words of Joseph Welch.... ''Have you no sense of decency, sir?'' "Have you no sense of decency?"

[homoe]

A Fox News reporter staunchly defended her work Saturday after President Donald Trump demanded she be fired for confirming parts of The Atlantic’s bombshell story revealing the president’s insults about military service members.

“I can tell you that my sources are unimpeachable,” Fox News’ national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin said on-air. “I feel very confident with what we have reported at Fox.” She didn’t confirm “every line” of the report, but did confirm “most of the descriptions and the quotes in that Atlantic article ... so I feel very confident in my reporting,” Griffin said. She also discovered as part of her reporting that Trump had once said that including “wounded guys” would not be a “good look” at a Fourth of July parade honoring the military, according to a source. Griffin said she wasn’t able to confirm the “suckers” and “losers” portion of the Atlantic report about dead military heroes. But a source did confirm that Trump once said that anyone who served in the Vietnam War was a “sucker.”

While reporters at other news operations confirmed the Atlantic report, Trump singled out Griffin because a hit from Fox News, which is usually supportive of the president, is particularly damaging for him.

[homoe]

A five-year-old tweet from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is getting renewed attention amid reports that President Donald Trump once disparaged dead American soldiers as "losers" and "suckers."

The tweet in question came shortly after Trump attacked the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for getting captured and tortured by enemy forces during the Vietnam War, and it slammed the future president for showing no appreciation for the sacrifices made by service members.

"At the heart of [Trump's] statement is a lack of respect for those who have served," he wrote. "A disqualifying characteristic to be president."

In the years since the tweet, however, Graham has evolved to become one of Trump's most loyal defenders, despite the fact that the president has continued attacking McCain even after his passing in 2018.

https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/...57428676886528

[homoe]

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy allegedly pressured former employees to donate to Republican candidates he supported and then reimbursed them with large bonuses, according to multiple media reports.

Both The Washington Post and The New York Times said Sunday that DeJoy, a top Republican fundraiser and Trump megadonor, urged workers at his former business, New Breed Logistics, to write checks to lawmakers for more than a decade between 2003 and 2014.

The Post spoke with five former employees who corroborated the accounts and analyzed campaign finance records which showed more than $1 million in donations during that period to federal and state GOP candidates. Only $700 was donated to Democratic candidates during the same period by company employees.

“He asked employees for money. We gave him the money, and then he reciprocated by giving us big bonuses,” David Young, a former director of human resources at DeJoy’s company, told the Post. “When we got our bonuses, let’s just say they were bigger, they exceeded expectations — and that covered the tax and everything else.”

Other employees told the Times they were never approached to make political donations, and it’s unclear how they may have been solicited. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the allegations were serious enough that the North Carolina attorney general should open an investigation into the matter.

Sidebar: I saw Trump throw DeJoy under the bus today at his press conference! Perhaps the ballots will get delivered and counted in time after all!