January 1, Biden Slams Trump for Knowledge of Russian Bounties on US Troops

This Day in History | 2007

The United States removes the bald eagle from its List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The bald eagle, which had been close to vanishing from North America around the middle of the 20th century, was one of the most notable wildlife rehabilitation efforts in American history.

Good morning Middle Americans, 

The White House has issued a strong denial after the release of a New York Times story that claims President Trump knew about Russia offering Taliban elements bounties to kill US soldiers. Still this is not a good look for the commander-in-chief.

Here’s something else that isn’t looking good, COVID-19 cases are spiking in Trump country. Following weeks of violent protests in major cities, we are still seeing more cases of the virus in places where those protests didn’t happen. So no one can blame the surge on these mass gatherings, some of them have been violent.

Finally today, the only person having a worse weekend than President Trump might be Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is hemorrhaging advertisers and has lost more money over the past week than Donald Trump has in his nest egg. 

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-Fraser Dixon 

Biden: Trump’s Knowledge Of Bounties On US Troops A ‘Betrayal Of The Most Sacred Duty’

(AP) – Joe Biden attacked President Donald Trump on Saturday over a report that he said, if true, contains a “truly shocking revelation” about the commander in chief and his failure to protect U.S. troops in Afghanistan and stand up to Russia. 

The New York Times reported Friday that American intelligence officials concluded months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The report said the Russians offered rewards for successful attacks last year, at a time when the U.S. and Taliban were holding talks to end the long-running war. 

“The truly shocking revelation that if the Times report is true, and I emphasize that again, is that President Trump, the commander in chief of American troops serving in a dangerous theater of war, has known about this for months, according to the Times, and done worse than nothing,” Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said during a virtual town hall.

The White House said neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence was briefed on such intelligence. “This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

Russia called the report “nonsense.”

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COVID Surges in U.S. South, West; Pence Cancels Campaign Events

(Reuters) – Five states hit record daily highs for coronavirus cases on Saturday, and Vice President Mike Pence canceled planned campaign events in hard-hit areas as the virus surged in the U.S. South and West, halting economic reopening plans. 

The number of confirmed U.S. cases of the virus rose to more than 2.5 million on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally. Over 125,000 Americans have died of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, the highest known death toll of any country in the world. 

Florida on Saturday morning reported 9,585 new infections in the last 24 hours, a record for a second day, while Arizona recorded 3,591 new cases of COVID-19, matching its prior record on Tuesday. 

Pence canceled planned events to campaign for President Donald Trump’s re-election next week in Florida and Arizona out of “an abundance of caution,” campaign officials told Reuters.

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Mark Zuckerberg Loses $7.2B Over Major Advertising Boycotts on Facebook

(New York Post) – Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg took a $7.2 billion hit after several companies pulled their advertising from Facebook, citing the company’s failure to police hate speech and disinformation on its site.

The company’s shares fell 8.3 percent Friday, the most in three months after Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers said it would stop selling its products on Facebook, Bloomberg reported. The company joined other large firms such as Verizon Communications, Hershey Co. and Honda in pulling their ads from the social media giant. Coca Cola said it would suspend its advertising on all social media platforms for at least a month.

The share-price drop eliminated $56 billion from Facebook’s market value and pushed Zuckerberg’s own net worth down to $82.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The move left Facebook’s chief executive in fourth place on the list, overtaken by LVMH Moet Hennessy boss Bernard Arnault, who is now in third place behind billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

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