Why it has to be Biden
Donald Trump has desecrated the values that make America a beacon to the world



Joe Biden is not a miracle cure for what ails America. But he is a good man who would restore steadiness and civility to the White House. He is equipped to begin the long, difficult task of putting a fractured country back together again. That is why, if we had a vote, it would go to Joe.

.........

Wavering Republicans worry that Mr Biden, old and weak, would be a Trojan horse for the hard left. It is true that his party’s radical wing is stirring, but he and Kamala Harris, his vice-presidential pick, have both shown in the campaign that they can keep it in check. Ordinarily, voters might be advised to constrain the left by ensuring that the Senate remained in Republican hands. Not this time. A big win for the Democrats there would add to the preponderance of moderate centrists over radicals in Congress by bringing in senators like Steve Bullock in Montana or Barbara Bollier in Kansas. You would not see a lurch to the left from either of them.

A resounding Democratic victory would also benefit the Republicans. That is because a close contest would tempt them into divisive, racially polarising tactics, a dead end in a country that is growing more diverse. As anti-Trump Republicans argue, Trumpism is morally bankrupt (see Lexington). Their party needs a renaissance. Mr Trump must be soundly rejected.

In this election America faces a fateful choice. At stake is the nature of its democracy. One path leads to a fractious, personalised rule, dominated by a head of state who scorns decency and truth. The other leads to something better—something truer to what this newspaper sees as the values that originally made America an inspiration around the world.

https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/1322615648594395137?s=20
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/29/why-it-has-to-be-biden

We'd been hearing this, but were unable to confirm. Here it is.

US border authorities have dumped 200+ Central American children unaccompanied into Mexico.

Again: US border authorities have dumped 200+ Central American children unaccompanied into Mexico.

https://twitter.com/adam_wola/status/1322296761671700481?s=20

:large

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1322569017412997122?s=20

“Let’s take you back to October 22, 2016,” said Blackwell. “Candidate Trump released his Contract with the American Voter, outlined 100-day action plan to, quote, ‘restore honesty, accountability and bring change to Washington,’ closed quote. 28 promises. Of those 28, nine have been fulfilled. And we’re talking renegotiating NAFTA agreement, withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, selecting a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.”

“Eight were not fulfilled,” said Blackwell. “Repealing and replacing Obamacare, ending illegal immigration, and cleaning up corruption in Washington. Now on that final part, he said that he wanted to ‘drain the swamp’ and bring in new ethics reforms. Now, since President Trump took office, nine of his former advisers or associates who either worked on the campaign or served in the White House have been criminally charged, arrested or indicted. There were also former members of the administration involved in political scandals. You remember Tom Price and that private jet, and Scott Pruitt, the EPA ethics violations.”

“The rest of the campaign promises are somewhere in the complicated middle,” said Blackwell. “For example, the vow to cancel every executive action and memorandum and order issued by President Obama, that hasn’t happened fully and he hasn’t replaced the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court blocked the administration’s attempt to end DACA. And the tax cuts for the middle class has not happened, but the biggest tax relief went to corporations and people making more than a million dollars a year … [he] pledged to cancel billions of payments to the UN climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure. Now he cut the payments to the program, but there is no evidence to suggest that the money was used for environmental projects. In fact, he’s reducing funding for environmental initiatives.”

“Overall the president’s record is mixed at best,” concluded Blackwell. “And as we look ahead to Tuesday, there is still no clear contract for what the president wants to do in a potential second term.”


VIDEO:
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/trumps-2016-contract-for-america-demolished-by-cnn-host-as-a-collection-of-failed-promises/

Treatment of Migrant Children on the US Southern Border is Torture.

...........

What Constitutes Torture
The prohibition of torture, in-particular against children, was codified through the Geneva
Conventions (1949) and the Additional Protocols (1977). In addition, it is prohibited by the UN
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(CAT, 1984).ii Articles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), which the
US has signed but not ratified, define the rights of migrant and refugee children to remain with
their families, be free from violence and exploitation, and enjoy optimal health and
development.iii

According to the CAT and Rome Statute, treatment of children at the border fulfills the three
criteria for torture.

1. Severe pain and suffering: Intentional infliction of severe physical and/or psychological
pain or suffering.

• Children have been separated from their families, housed in hotels—some as young
as 1 year of age—and cared for by personnel with limited to no training in the care of
children.

• Children have been detained in unsanitary and dangerous conditions and exposed to
harsh overcrowded surroundings, including being caged in holding cells with no
beds—referred to as hieleras (iceboxes) by detainees, given their frigid conditions.
Sleeping mats and blankets are inconsistently provided—with children forced to sleep
in freezing rooms, concrete floors, with constant illumination, and with only
aluminum covers for warmth, resulting in sleep deprivation.

• Access to physical and mental health care, medications, and vaccines have been
denied resulting in preventable illnesses, hospitalizations, and death. Since 2018, at
least seven children have died in US custody or immediately after release.

As a result of this treatment, children have exhibited traumatic internalized and regressive
behavior, such as crying, fear, language regression, thumb sucking, enuresis, and encopresis.
Psychological trauma has resulted in general anxiety disorder, depression, posttraumatic stress
disorder, and suicide attempts.

Mitigation of this trauma will require years of intense treatment
and interventions.

2. Purposeful: The physical or psychological trauma is intentional, and serves a specific
purpose, such as coercion, intimidation, punishment, and/or as a deterrence.

• The current administration has specifically stated the purpose of the Zero Tolerance
policy, which includes separation of children from their families, is meant to serve as
a strong deterrent to migration.ix

3. State Consent: The trauma happens with the consent and/or acquiescence of State
authorities.

• The treatment of children at the border is state-sponsored and directed by the US
President through executive orders and policies implemented through governmental
agencies. The separation of children from their families is part of an anti-immigration
strategy that includes repeated attempts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program, implementing the “public charge” policy, construction of a border
wall, and deportation of unaccompanied minors due to a purported risk for spreading
SARS-CoV-2.


This administration’s treatment of children at the border meets the criteria for torture as
outlined above. Targeted physical and psychological abuse is inflicted on children. Their
suffering can be painful and severe, especially given their stage of development and
vulnerability. It is a purposeful US strategy to use children to reduce border crossings by their
parents.

MORE:
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/10/23/peds.2020-012930
https://twitter.com/AmyRLRule/status/1322284854327844868?s=20

?1604143030

We investigate the effects of large group meetings on the spread of COVID-19 by studying the impact of eighteen Trump campaign rallies.

The Effects of Large Group Meetings on the Spread of
COVID-19: The Case of Trump Rallies
B. Douglas Bernheim Nina Buchmann Zach Freitas-Groff
Sebasti´an Otero*
October 30, 2020

To capture the effects of subsequent contagion within the pertinent communities, our analysis encompasses up to ten post-rally weeks for each event. Our method is based on a collection of regression models, one for each event, that
capture the relationships between post-event outcomes and pre-event characteristics, including demographics and the trajectory of COVID-19 cases, in similar counties. We explore a total of 24 procedures for identifying sets of matched counties. For the vast majority of these variants, our estimate of the average treatment effect across the eighteen events implies that they increased subsequent confirmed cases of COVID-19 by more than 250 per 100,000 residents. Extrapolating this figure to the entire sample, we conclude that these eighteen rallies ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 incremental confirmed cases of COVID-19. Applying countyspecific post-event death rates, we conclude that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths (not necessarily among attendees).

MORE:
https://sebotero.github.io/papers/COVIDrallies_10_30_2000.pdf