More than 200 retired generals, admirals endorse Biden, including some who served under Trump

 WASHINGTON — More than 200 retired generals and admirals endorsed Joe Biden for president in a letter published Thursday, saying he had the character and judgment to serve as commander-in-chief instead of President Donald Trump, who has failed "to meet challenges large or small."

Some of the officers who signed the letter supporting Biden had retired only in the past few years, including Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump before he retired in August 2019; Vice Adm. Gardner Howe, a Navy SEAL leader who also retired last year; and retired Adm. Paul Zukunft, who oversaw the Coast Guard until 2018.

Click here to read the letter

The list of signatories featured 22 retired four-star military officers, among them Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear, who oversaw all U.S. forces in the Pacific from 2012 to 2015, and Adm. Harry Ulrich, who commanded U.S. naval forces in Europe during President George W. Bush's administration.

IMAGE: Adm. Samuel Locklear at the Pentagon in 2014 (Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images file)

The retired top brass signed the letter backing Biden along with nearly 300 other former national security officials and diplomats. William Webster, the former director of the CIA and the FBI, was among the signatories, along with five former defense secretaries: William Perry, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta and Ash Carter.

"My own personal view is that I have a duty to be involved in civic matters of the nation that I'm a citizen" of, retired Adm. Steve Abbot said of his decision to sign the letter.

Abbot served as commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet and commander of Naval Striking and Support Forces in Southern Europe, and he later became Bush's acting homeland security adviser. He said that he believed he had a duty to speak out as a citizen and that he was troubled initially by Trump's comments about the late Sen. John McCain in 2016.

"To hear someone say that John McCain was a loser and they don't like people who become prisoners, I just knew I was going to have trouble going forward with somebody who held those views," he said.

IMAGE: Gardner Howe (Stan Badz / Stan Badz / Getty Images file)

"Over the past four years, I've seen what is a clear manipulation of our military to serve his personal needs," Abbot said. "The military has been a loyal, reliable constant in this country because of its apolitical nature. And here we had a president working to undermine it."

In August, more than 70 former senior national security officials — most of them Republicans who worked in previous GOP administrations — issued a similar letter throwing their support behind Biden, arguing that Trump had undermined America's role in the world. In the 2016 election, dozens of former Republican senior national security officials came out against Trump and became known as "Never Trump" Republicans. Many were blacklisted for jobs in the Trump administration for having signed the letters.

By law, military service members must remain apolitical while in uniform, but most senior officers stay out of the political arena even after they hang up their uniforms. Although the number of retired senior officers wading into politics has steadily increased over the past two decades, Thursday's letter was notable for the sheer number of top brass from every branch of the military who chose to endorse Biden.

"We are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. We love our country. Unfortunately, we also fear for it," they wrote.

The retired officers and officials said the country needs a principled, honest leader who shows empathy for fellow citizens, values alliances, makes informed decisions and takes personal responsibility.

"While some of us may have different opinions on particular policy matters, we trust Joe Biden's positions are rooted in sound judgment, thorough understanding, and fundamental values," they wrote.

"The current President has demonstrated he is not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small. Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us," the letter says.

"Climate change continues unabated, as does North Korea's nuclear program. The president has ceded influence to a Russian adversary who puts bounties on the heads of American military personnel, and his trade war against China has only harmed America's farmers and manufacturers," it says.

Several retired African American military leaders signed the letter, including retired Lt. Gen. Walt Gaskin, who commanded Marines in western Iraq; retired Lt. Gen. Willie Williams, who served as the No. 3 in the Marine Corps; and retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Coleman, who became the second African American in the Marine Corps to reach three-star rank.

A number of retired ambassadors also signed on, including Robert Blackwill, who was Bush's deputy national security adviser; James Cunningham, who was ambassador to Israel and Afghanistan under both Republican and Democratic administrations; and Robert Ford, a former ambassador to Algeria and Syria.

Breonna Taylor's Murder: What the Pigs Really Did

 The killing of unarmed black woman Breonna Taylor - who was shot in her Louisville home by US police in March - has resonated around the world, with protesters demanding that the public "say her name" so she is not forgotten.

Her family sued the Kentucky city for the death in May and reached a $12m (£9.4m) settlement. But they, alongside activists, have demanded criminal charges for the three officers who fired the shots.

On Wednesday, one officer - Brett Hankison - was charged, not with Ms Taylor's death but with "wanton endangerment" for firing into a neighbour's apartment. Two other officers who were involved have not been charged.

Ben Crump, lawyer from the Taylor family, said the fact that no charges had been brought in direct relation to the killing was "outrageous and offensive".

Breonna Taylor, 26, was a decorated emergency medical technician

What happened to Breonna Taylor?

Ms Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was at home in bed in Louisville on 13 March, when police officers entered her apartment shortly after midnight, her family says.

The Louisville Metro Police Department narcotics officers raided her home, using a battering ram to take her front door off its hinges. No drugs were found on her property and Ms Taylor had no criminal record.

Police were acting on a controversial type of search warrant - known as a "no-knock" warrant - that allows police to enter the home without warning. Police claim they knocked and announced themselves before entering, but Ms Taylor's family and a neighbour have disputed this.

At the time, Ms Taylor was in bed with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, a licensed gun owner, according to her family. Hearing the commotion, Mr Walker believed people were trying to break into the apartment, he later told police, and fired one shot of his pistol.

Officials say Mr Walker's bullet struck a police officer, Jonathan Mattingly, in the leg - an injury for which he later required surgery.

• Seven solutions to US police problems

• Timeline of US police killings

• Black Lives Matter in the UK: 'We're still not being heard'

Mr Mattingly and two other officers, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, returned fire and shot more than 20 rounds. Mr Walker wasn't wounded but Ms Taylor was hit multiple times and died in the hallway of her apartment, lawyers for her family said.

The subsequent police report contained numerous errors, including listing Ms Taylor's injuries as "none" and saying no force was used to enter, when a battering ram had been used.

Mr Walker was initially charged with attempted murder and assault of a police officer, but the case against him was dropped in May amid national scrutiny of the case.

Why were police there?

The search warrant obtained by police included Ms Taylor's name and address. Authorities believed her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, was involved in a drug ring and had used her apartment to hide narcotics.

Neither she nor her current boyfriend, Mr Walker, had a history of drug offences, and no narcotics were found at the scene. Mr Walker was not named on the arrest warrant.

An attorney for Ms Taylor's family said she had dated Mr Glover two years earlier, and the pair had maintained a "passive friendship".

Billboards around Louisville call for the three officers to be arrested

Mr Glover was arrested for drug possession on the same night of Breonna Taylor's death. He has said that prosecutors pressed him to name Ms Taylor as a "co-defendant" in the case against him.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper, in obtaining the search warrant, police had said that Mr Glover had listed Ms Taylor's address as his own on certain documents and also been seen collecting a package from the property.

In May, Louisville postal inspector Tony Gooden said that another government agency had been asked in January to investigate whether Ms Taylor's home had been receiving suspicious mail. Mr Gooden did not name the agency but said it had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr Glover also told the Courier Journal that he had sent packages of clothes and shoes to Ms Taylor's apartment because he feared they would be stolen from his own home.

What are 'no-knock' search warrants?

No-knock warrants allow police to enter a residence unannounced. They are often used in drug raids to prevent suspects from flushing evidence down the toilet. But they have long been controversial, with critics saying they can have a traumatic effect on unsuspecting suspects or innocent bystanders.

Only Florida and Oregon ban no-knock warrants state-wide, but after Ms Taylor's death other states and cities have begun working on similar legislation.

Louisville's city council banned them as a direct result of the case, calling the action "Breonna's law".

In June, the Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives voted to ban no-knock warrants for federal police nationwide, but the Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to take up the bill.

What has changed since her death?

Police officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of "wanton endangerment" for firing into a neighbour's apartment.

Under Kentucky law, someone is guilty of wanton endangerment if they commit an act that shows "an extreme indifference to the value of human life".

The other two officers who fired their weapons that night, Mr Mattingly and Mr Cosgrove, have been re-assigned to administrative duties.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said on Wednesday that the two officers had been "justified to protect themselves and the justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges".

As part of the financial settlement won by Ms Taylor's family, a series of police reforms has been rolled out in Louisville. One change is that all search warrants must now be approved by a senior officer.

It is a felony that can come with a five-year sentence for each count.

• City to pay Breonna Taylor family $12m settlement

• Officer to be fired over Breonna Taylor shooting

The officers who entered Ms Taylor's apartment were not wearing body cameras, and the Louisville Metro Police Department has now made it compulsory for all officers to wear them.

The city's police chief was also fired in June after it was discovered that officers had failed to turn on their cameras before the fatal shooting of an African-American restaurant owner, David McAtee.

The subsequent interim police chief is retiring. Yvette Gentry, who takes over on 1 October, will be the department's first black female police chief.

How big has the campaign become?

Ms Taylor's name circulated widely during the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, which erupted in May after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Many felt her death had been overlooked and deserved more attention.

Since then, more and more Americans have called for justice in her memory.

At the Democratic National Convention in August, both former First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris mentioned her. Presidential candidate Joe Biden has said the officers should be criminally charged.

• Oprah Magazine honours Breonna Taylor on cover

Major league sports athletes have worn her name on their helmets, jerseys and shoes, and chat show host Oprah Winfrey commissioned billboards in Louisville to call for the police who killed her to be arrested.

After declining for months, U.S. coronavirus cases are rising again. Has the 'fall wave' begun?

 Summer just ended. The weather is cooling. School is back in session — or trying to be. People are spending more time indoors. 

And now, after nearly two months of slow but steady decline, new daily U.S. coronavirus cases are rising again, with the seven-day average increasing by 21 percent — from 34,588 to 41,868 — since Sept. 12.  

Is this the start of the pandemic’s dreaded “fall wave”?

The short answer is… it’s complicated. Much of the current uptick in coronavirus cases is tied to geography. In some previously hard-hit places — California, for instance — it’s almost certainly a by-product of increased testing. In others, such as Texas, college outbreaks are a driving force. Meanwhile, a state like Wisconsin — where the average positive testing rate has soared from about 6 percent in early August to more than 17 percent today — seems to have a more widespread problem.

And so even though it’s too soon to say whether a fall wave has begun, it’s not too soon to see the recent rise in U.S. cases for what it is: a warning. 

Regardless of whether President Trump thinks we’re “rounding the final turn” of the pandemic, the truth is, we’re barreling into the riskiest months of the year averaging more than 40,000 new cases per day (and possibly rising). That level of spread in turn sets the stage for precisely the sort of fall wave that experts are worried about — and that they’re already starting to see in foreign countries where the virus appeared to be, until recently, under far better control than it has ever been in the U.S. 

“The concern I’ve had and continue to have [is] this baseline of cases that we have every day,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN earlier this week. “We’re looking straight at the fall coming upon us. We’re looking at the winter coming upon us. If we don’t get that baseline down sharply to a very low level … when you have a lot of cases floating around, it’s much more difficult to contain.”

Wisconsin might be the most worrisome state in America right now. Last week, it cleared 2,000 daily cases for the first time — then hovered above that mark for three straight days. Health officials are currently detecting a “high level” of coronavirus activity in 71 of the state’s 72 counties. And while much of that spread appears to have originated with returning college students — the University of Wisconsin system has campuses in six of the eight cities with the fastest rise in cases — it has since blanketed the state. 

According to a report Wednesday from Wisconsin Public Radio, K-12 school districts statewide have been forced to revert to remote learning amid growing community outbreaks. Wisconsin’s COVID-19 hospitalizations hit an all-time high on Tuesday, rising nearly 40 percent over the last week to surpass the previous record set on April 9. In response, Gov. Tony Evers just declared a new public health emergency.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during a news conference in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 27. (Morry Gash/AP)

“We continue to learn more about this virus, but what we do know is that we are facing a new and dangerous phase of the COVID-19 pandemic here in Wisconsin,” Evers said. “We are seeing an alarming increase in cases across our state.”

Wisconsin’s worsening situation reflects a broader trend across the Midwest, which, unlike the Northeast, South and West, never experienced much of a peak — but which now, belatedly, is setting new daily records with more cases per capita than any other region. Over the last week, the 11 states with the most cases per capita were, in order, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska and Kansas. 

But surges in states that haven’t suffered yet are one thing. A resurgence in a state that was already pummeled by the pandemic is what would, in theory, distinguish the tail end of the first wave from the start of the second — which is why Texas’s inclusion on that list is troublesome. 

As the New York Times recently reported, “inconsistencies and problems with COVID-19 data collection in Texas have clouded the picture of the pandemic’s trajectory in the state.” In fact, Texas suddenly reported 22,276 cases on Tuesday — 7,000 more than it had ever reported before. The vast majority of them weren’t new; instead, they were backlogged or overlooked infections from some previous date. 

Yet the Times database, which adjusts for such anomalies, still shows the average number of new daily cases in Texas rising 16 percent over the last two weeks. The South as a whole is still registering nearly as many new cases per capita as the surging Midwest — another disturbing sign. 

To be sure, Texas’s current seven-day average (about 4,200 cases) is less than half its July peak (about 10,400). But it’s still moving in the wrong direction. As in Wisconsin, much of the spread seems to be starting on college campuses. According to the Texas Tribune, cases have grown 34 percent since Aug. 19 in counties where four-year college students make up at least one-tenth of the population; that’s compared with 23 percent in counties with a smaller proportion of students.

While FaceTiming her siblings, Angelica Mendez, 48, says goodbye to her mother, Catalina Salazar, 86, who had COVID-19 and died later in the day, at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on Sept. 8. (Callaghan O'Hare/Reuters)

The problem, as Harvard infectious-disease researcher Stephen Kissler told the Texas Tribune, is that “diseases don’t stay isolated in the populations where they start.”

That trend is already clear in Lubbock, which houses Texas Tech and other colleges. Local health authority Dr. Ron Cook told the Texas Tribune that a “mild uptick” in rates of hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions there has accompanied rapid growth in cases since students returned to campus. 

If that pattern replicates itself statewide, it will test whether the virus infected much of Texas’s vulnerable population during the first wave or whether there’s still enough susceptibility left for an even bigger second wave — a frightening possibility with fall and winter ahead.

For now, California seems to be in better shape than either Texas or Wisconsin. As recently as Aug. 15, the state was averaging 9,400 new cases per day; now it’s averaging 3,600. Even a slight recent rise in new daily cases — the seven-day average appears to have bottomed out at 3,300 on Sept. 13 before inching upward again — may be misleading. Over the same period of time, the average number of daily tests conducted increased from 92,000 to more than 125,000, and the state’s positive testing rate actually fell from 3.54 percent to 2.79 percent, a new low. In other words, increased testing more than accounts for California’s recent rise in cases. 

Yet California could also be the state to watch to see how complacency factors into the fall equation. With the positivity rate now below 3 percent for the first time and hospitalizations down to their lowest level since April, California’s reopening took a significant leap forward on Tuesday as officials granted five more counties — Riverside, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Alameda and Solano — the freedom to resume indoor dining, moviegoing and other activities. Even nail salons were given the go-ahead to reopen statewide, pending county approval. In-person schooling could resume within weeks. 

The state’s four-tier reopening plan is relatively conservative, with benchmarks for the percentage of positive tests and new cases per capita that each of its 58 counties must meet for two consecutive weeks before advancing.

But Europe offers a sobering preview of what might lie ahead for states such as California if they simply assume the worst is behind them. After lockdowns this spring helped to smother the pandemic there — positive testing rates were lower than 2 percent — the virus once again is tearing across the continent as people proceed with their lives. Driven by soaring case counts in France, Spain and the U.K., Europe as a whole is now averaging 52,000 cases per day — nearly 20,000 more than it was detecting during its spring peak. 

At the same time, Israel, which has seen its average daily case count more than double since the start of September, imposed a second countrywide lockdown last week — which it furthered tightened Thursday, ordering all nonessential businesses to close and requiring residents to stay within 1,000 meters of their homes. 

None of this is to say that America’s fall wave is already underway. For now, new infections are skewing young. Deaths are trending downward. Therapeutics are improving. The U.S. can still avoid the worst if it collectively continues to take the kind of precautions that eventually stalled California’s summer spike — masking up, staying distant, avoiding indoor gatherings. 

Or not. The U.S. is unlikely to have enough vaccine doses for every American until next spring, according to Fauci. The most perilous months of the pandemic fall between now and then. It’s largely up to us what happens next. 

OpEd: Most of the deaths from here on out will be MAGAts. Help them die.

Filthy Lies Spread by a Asshole Eric Trump, That Biden Used a Teleprompter

 A video of Joe Biden answering live questions during a television interview is being edited to claim, incorrectly, that the Democratic presidential nominee was using a teleprompter.

In the full interview with Telemundo, conducted Sept. 15, Biden can clearly be seen looking to his left, where the television studio set up a screen with live incoming questions from voters. An edited version of the video shows just one moment where Biden was unable to view a question and says, “I lost that line.”

The 26-second clip from the video has been shared by people close to President Donald Trump, including his son Eric Trump, who tweeted Wednesday that Biden had been “caught red-handed using a teleprompter.” Trump’s campaign also ran an ad amplifying the false claim against Biden.

A Telemundo spokesperson said Wednesday that recent social media posts claiming that Biden used a teleprompter during an interview with Noticias Telemundo and anchor Jose Diaz-Balart were false.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2020 The New York Times Company

OpEd: Every lie Eric Trump tells puts his life in danger. People are fed up. He'd be smart to move to Russia and live in a bunker.

Shocking Video Shows Seattle Cop Rolling Bike Over Fallen Breonna Taylor Protester’s Head and Neck

 

Jamie Ross

Thu, September 24, 2020, 8:03 AM EDT

CJ Halliburton/Facebook

The Seattle Police Department is investigating after a video showed one of its cops rolling a bike over the head and neck of a fallen protester at Wednesday night’s Breonna Taylor demonstrations.

Protests erupted in the city in response to officers in Louisville, Kentucky, not being charged for fatally shooting the 26-year-old Black woman. The SPD confirmed in a statement that 13 people were arrested at the Seattle demonstrations and complained that multiple officers had been injured, including one who was struck in the head with a baseball bat.

However, the shocking video, which appears to show an SPD officer rolling his bicycle over the head of an already-injured man, has been widely condemned on social media. The anger led the department to comment: “The Seattle Police Department is aware of a video circulating on the internet that apparently shows an SPD bike officer’s bike rolling over the head of an individual laying in the street. This matter will be referred to the Office of Police Accountability for further investigation.”

The clip originated from a Facebook Live broadcast from CJ Halliburton, who describes himself as an independent journalist; he recorded the unrest in Seattle throughout the night.

The key part of the video shows a line of cops advancing on protesters. One, who is not cycling but pushing his bike by its handlebars, appears to slowly walk toward the man who is flat on the ground. The cop rolls the bicycle over the man’s head, with the back wheel appearing to go over his neck.

The same officer then appears to bash a second protester with his bike. Two other officers then kneel down next to the fallen man before the scene becomes obscured by the line of advancing cops.

A second clip posted on Facebook by Joey Weiser shows the same scene from a different angle, with Weiser shouting: “This person is on the ground—he just ran over his head! He just ran over his head! Oh my God!”

The SPD statement didn’t identify the officer or the fallen man, or make any statement about his condition after the incident.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

OpEd: When have peaceful protests ever worked? NEVER! Protests happen because good people protest the actions of bad people. Don't over think it or try to equivocate. It is what it is. Bad people will keep doing bad things until somebody stops them. IMO if that pig is located and his house is burned down it will send a message to other bad cops. If protesters had concealed snipers protecting them pigs would think twice before brutalizing them. While good people hope it doesn't come to that, good smart people know it's already come to that. There are more of civilians than there are errand boys for the criminal elite.

What happened to Breonna Taylor is commonplace. Gestapo style no knock raids and wrong house raids are used to send a message such has the Houston police gang raid and slaying of the Tuttles 

Former Houston cop charged with murder in botched drug raid ...

abcnews.go.com › story

Feb 27, 2020 - Houston police officers on Jan. 19, 2019, hold the photos Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, a couple killed in a botched drug raid ...

Houston police raid: Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas ...

www.washingtonpost.com › nation › 2019/07/26 › two...

Jul 26, 2019 - Two people were killed in a botched drug raid. Investigators say the official story was a lie. Dennis Tuttle, left, and Rhogena Nicholas. (Houston ...

Trump's Surgeon general: Tells Fox News Masks Are Worthless.

 From Fox News Masks Are Worthless

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday that “the data doesn't show” that wearing masks in public will help people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Adams, a member of the Trump administration's Coronavirus Task Force, made the comment one day after President Trump said he sees a scenario where all Americans could be expected to wear masks in public "for a short period of time after we get back into gear."

Trump acknowledged on Monday that he did not yet discuss the idea with his task force and said it is "certainly something we could discuss."

“It's important to understand that we are looking at the data every single day and we make the best recommendations to the American people we can based on what we know,” Adams said on Tuesday.

“What the World Health Organization [WHO] and the CDC [The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have reaffirmed in the last few days is that they do not recommend the general public wear masks.”

He then explained the reasons why.

“On an individual level, there was a study in 2015 looking at medical students and medical students wearing surgical masks touch their face on average 23 times,” Adams explained. “We know a major way that you can get respiratory diseases like coronavirus is by touching a surface and then touching your face so wearing a mask improperly can actually increase your risk of getting disease.”

Adams went on to say that wearing a face mask “can also give you a false sense of security." He added that "you see many of these pictures with people out and about closer than six feet to each other, but still wearing a mask.”

He noted that there are also consequences to wearing masks.

“We still have PPE [Personal protective equipment] shortages across the country,” Adams noted. “The WHO mentioned this in their statement so we want to make sure we are reserving PPE for the people who most need it. That's how you are going to get the largest effect because if healthcare workers get sick, they can't take care of you when you get sick.”

Last month, Adams said Americans worried about the coronavirus outbreak shouldn’t buy face masks to protect themselves against it because the masks are ineffective for those without symptoms -- and the purchases deplete the supplies available for medical professionals.

“Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!” Adams wrote on Twitter, addressing fears over the spread of the virus in the U.S.

“They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” 

On Tuesday Adams stressed that people who are sick should wear a mask.

He added, “If you have a mask and it makes you feel better, then by all means wear it, but know that the more you touch your face the more you put yourself at risk and know that right now the data isn't there to say that there is a net benefit to the individual of wearing a mask.”

Adams also said that N95 respirator masks aren’t as effective for the general public as one might think, saying N95 masks “have to get fit-tested.”

“As a medical professional, I can't just go out and wear an N95. I have to make sure it's properly fitted and I have the right size in order for it to work properly,” he explained.