Day: June 9, 2020

Commentary: For Seniors, the Difference Between Florida and New York Is a Matter of Life and Death

Virginia Star Staff

Florida has the largest percentage of seniors 65-years-old and older in its population most vulnerable to the Chinese coronavirus among larger states and second nationwide, at 20.5 percent, or 4.3 million. Yet it has a relatively low mortality rate for a large state for the China-originated COVID-19 pandemic, at just 2,660, according to data from the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Trump Calls on Polling Firm to Show How CNN, NBC Polls Are ‘Fake,’ ‘Under-Polling Republicans’

Anthony Gockowski

President Donald Trump announced on Twitter Monday that he recruited McLaughin & Associates, a “highly respected pollster,” to explain why two recent polls from CNN and NBC are “fake.”

A Monday CNN poll had President Trump trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 14 points, while an NBC poll claimed Trump was down by seven.

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Crews Inspect, But Won’t Yet Remove, Richmond’s Statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee

The Associated Press

Workers for the state of Virginia inspected Richmond’s huge statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monday before its planned removal. While protesters have toppled some other Confederate statues and some cities have moved swiftly to remove what critics see as symbols of white supremacy, this monument won’t be so easy to take down.

Virginia’s Department of General Services said in a statement that it plans to remove the statue of the Confederate general on a date to be determined, as soon as possible. But officials said it must be done safely, given the memorial’s weight and height.

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Wall Street Tilts Higher Again on Economic Recovery Hopes

The Associated Press

Wall Street’s rally is spilling into a new week as most stocks continue to ride the high supplied by Friday’s surprisingly encouraging report on the U.S. jobs market.

The S&P 500 was up 0.5% in midday trading on Monday, bringing it back within 5.3% of its record set in February, as optimism strengthens that the worst of the coronavirus-induced recession may have already passed. Stocks that would benefit most from an economy that’s growing again were rising the most, but pullbacks for a handful of big tech stalwarts were keeping the market’s overall gains in check.

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Cristobal Now a Depression Drenching Mississippi River Basin

The Associated Press

Tropical Storm Cristobal weakened into a depression early Monday after inundating coastal Louisiana and ginning up dangerous weather along most of the U.S. Gulf Coast, sending waves crashing over Mississippi beaches, swamping parts of an Alabama island town and spawning a tornado in Florida.

Heavy rainfall and a storm surge continued posing a threat across a wide area of the coast after Cristobal made landfall Sunday afternoon packing 50-mph (85-kph) winds between the mouth of the Mississippi River and the since-evacuated barrier island resort community of Grand Isle.

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Legendary Treasure Hunter Forrest Fenn Confirms: Trove of Riches Hidden in Rocky Mountains Finally Found

The Associated Press

A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt.

Forrest Fenn, 89, told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a man who did not want his name released — but was from “back East” — located the chest a few days ago and the discovery was confirmed by a photograph the man sent him.

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Steven Carrillo, the Suspect in Santa Cruz County Sheriff Deputy Damon Gutzwiller, Was Member of Elite Military Team

Star News Staff

An active-duty U.S. Air Force sergeant accused of killing a Northern California sheriff’s deputy in an ambush-style attack was a leader for a military base’s elite security force, officials said Monday.

Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo has been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting Santa Cruz County sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and wounding two other officers Saturday. He is expected to be charged with first-degree murder.

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Avenatti Might Have Violated Terms of Release Again, Prosecutors Say

Virginia Star Staff

Attorney Michael Avenatti might have violated terms of his temporary release from jail again, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California said in a filing made Sunday that Avenatti, who represented porn star Stormy Daniels, might have used his friend’s computer to write and file five different documents, according to CNN.

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Democrats Bow to Progressives, Propose Sweeping Police Overhaul Measures

Star News Staff

Democrats proposed a far-reaching overhaul of police procedures and accountability Monday, a sweeping legislative response to the mass protests denouncing the deaths of black Americans in the hands of law enforcement.

The political outlook is deeply uncertain for the legislation in a polarized election year. President Donald Trump is staking out a tough “law and order” approach in the face of the outpouring of demonstrations and demands to re-imagine policing in America.

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Commentary: A Very Real Silent Majority Will Re-Elect Trump

Virginia Star Staff

Recently, President Trump tweeted two words that succinctly describe the winning coalition that will assure his November reelection: “SILENT MAJORITY.” This prompted a considerable amount of fustian mirth from the Twitter mob, a number of ostensibly serious opinion pieces in the corporate media, and contemptuous dismissal by the Democrats. The consensus was that Trump was indulging a Nixonian fantasy whereby white suburbanites frightened by an increasingly diverse electorate would save his presidency. This interpretation betrays profound ignorance about the term “silent majority,” which never had any racial connotation, and disregards what suburban voters really fear — Democratic incompetence in a time of economic uncertainty and social unrest.

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Commentary: The Unelected Parts of Government, Including the Military, Are Revolting Against the Electoral Control by the People

Virginia Star Staff

During the Iraq War, the insurgency spent a lot of its resources attacking infrastructure, particularly the electrical grid. This made life miserable for ordinary Iraqis.

That outcome seems to go against the logic of insurgency, where the center of gravity is the people’s allegiance. But making life uncertain and unbearable means that even if the insurgents cannot win, they ensure the regime cannot win either. The cultivation of chaos exposes the government as ineffective and ultimately removes its legitimacy.

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