January 1, Biden Offering First Direct Response To Sexual Assault Allegation

This Day in History | 1898

At Manila Bay in the Philippines, the U.S. Asiatic Squadron destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the Spanish-American War.

Good morning Middle Americans, 

And it’s never a good morning when you have to go on national television to talk about Sexual assault allegations. That’s what former V.P Joe Biden’s morning has been like. 

The heat is finally getting turned up on his sexual assault allegations.  The unintended results so far – a debasement of the Me Too movement, an exposed hypocritical media, an even deeper divided democratic party. 

Happy Friday Democrats.  

There have been even more damning FBI documents released from the U.S. government’s case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. 

President Trump is talking about bringing Flynn back into the White House, which of course, completely freaked out most of the big media. We have links to two competing perspectives on the situation. 

Do you think the FBI tried to set up Michael Flynn?

Or were they justified to take these non-conventional methods to get him to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s Russia probe?

It was quite a scene yesterday in Lansing Michigan, where armed protestors shouted at law makers demanding they open the state back up.

According to some reports, protestors signs read “tyrants get the rope”, others shouted down police who were keeping them at bay. Virtually no one was observing social distancing guidelines. 

New York might be the epicenter of the virus, but Michigan is the epicenter of the reopen America movement. 

Speaking of New York City, some who’ve left the Big Apple say they are never returning. We have a link to an interesting story about what the consequences may be for the real estate industry in New York, and elsewhere as a result of a possible de-urbanization of American.  

Read all about it!

-Fraser Dixon

Biden Offering First Direct Response To Sexual Assault Allegation

(NPR) – More than a month after being publicly accused of sexual assault by a former Senate staffer, former Vice President Joe Biden will personally respond to the allegation for the first time on Friday morning in a live television interview on MSNBC.

Biden’s campaign has repeatedly denied the allegation from Tara Reade of an assault 27 years ago, saying the incident she describes “absolutely did not happen.” But so far the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has not addressed the claim himself. He has not acknowledged the issue in any of his online campaign events, and he has not been asked about it in numerous local TV and cable news interviews.

That silence has frustrated many of Biden’s allies, and Republicans, still stung by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, have accused the Democrats of applying a double standard regarding which women are to be believed when they accuse prominent men of sexual assault.

Watch Biden here

Read more about the allegations here

Armed protesters storm Michigan Capitol

(NBC Detroit) – Hundreds of people protested outside the Michigan Capitol building in Lansing on Thursday, with some pushing inside while the Legislature was debating an extension of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Protesters held signs, waved American flags and even carried firearms, while some chanted “Let us in!” and “This is the people’s house, you cannot lock us out.” Others tried to get onto the House floor but were blocked by state police and sergeants-at-arms, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit.

See the protests here

Protesters’ Placards Read: “Tyrants get the rope.”

(CBS Detroit) – Dozens of protesters gathered outside of the Michigan Capitol Building waving signs and caring firearms demanding to end the state ordered: “Stay At Home” Order.

Protesters’ placards read, “Shut down the lockdown,” “No work no freedom,” and “Tyrants get the rope.”

Some people wore the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag as a cape. Others chanted, “Lock her up,” about the governor. Some wore President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats or carried signs supporting him.

Joni George of Flushing said, “The virus is here. It’s going to be here… it’s time to let people go back to work. That’s all there is to it.”

Whitmer said that Republicans “are acting as though we’re in the midst of a political problem. This is a public health crisis.” Commercial and residential construction will resume next week.

Read more here

The U.S. vs. Gen. Michael Flynn 

Point | The FBI Didn’t Frame Michael Flynn. That’s Just Trump’s Excuse for a Prospective Pardon

(The Daily Beast) – Lawyers for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn claim they have found a smoking gun to clear their client, but the newly disclosed documents the’re pointing to amount to nothing more than a stage prop. 

So why the outcry from Flynn’s supporters? Because the documents may provide the dummy rounds Donald Trump needs to fire to justify a pardon of his friend and former national security adviser.  

The fact remains that in January 2017, Flynn lied to the FBI about contacts with Russia—a crime he later admitted to in open court. Flynn now wants to withdraw his guilty plea, but his statements to the FBI were false when he made them, and they remain false today. 

Find out more here

Counter Point | Strzok Stopped FBI from Ending Flynn Probe Despite lack of Evidence

(Fox News) – Internal FBI documents unsealed Thursday indicate that Peter Strzok — the now-disgraced anti-Trump former head of FBI counterintelligence — ordered the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn to remain open even after it was slated to be closed due to a lack of so-called “derogatory” information.

The materials surfaced just a day after explosive FBI communications revealed that top bureau officials discussed their motivations for interviewing Flynn in the White House on January 24, 2017 — and openly questioned if their “goal” was “to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired.”

Learn more here

New Yorkers Fleeing Coronavirus Vow They’ll Never Return

(NY Post) – Wendy Silverstein never thought she’d leave New York City for good. The 58-year-old design publicist has called her beloved East Village apartment home for 30 years.

But then COVID-19 threatened her husband, John Crellin, a 71-year-old retired architect with a chronic health condition. So on March 18, as the specter of the coronavirus loomed, she scoured their East Fourth Street apartment for enough clothes and supplies to last roughly a year. A few days later, they drove 2½ hours north to Canaan, NY, a tiny town in Columbia County where her stepdaughter works as a veterinarian.

For now, Silverstein and Crellin have been able to stay rent-free in a red-sided house owned by a friend’s friend. But they plan to stay longer — because one thing that’s become clear as they settle into life outside the city is that they’re probably not coming back. Even if it’s deemed safe to return, they’ve become disillusioned.

Read more here