Last Viewed News Blogs (3,096)

In response to:
Category: News
Published: Wednesday, 17 June 2020 12:54
Written by Zogby

Bidendementia061720

A majority (55%) of likely voters surveyed thought it was more likely (much more and somewhat more likely combined) that Vice President Biden is in the early stages of dementia, while 45% thought it was less likely (much less and somewhat less likely combined). Overall, subgroups who normally approve of Trump's job as president, were the most likely to believe Biden could be suffering from dementia. Thus, majorities of Republicans (77% more likely/23% less likely) and Independents (56% more likely/44% less likely) thought Joe Biden had early-onset dementia; while nearly a third of Democrats (32% more likely/68% less likely) thought this was the case. ...

There was also an inverse relationship in the data between age and the likelihood of voters believing Biden had early-onset dementia, for example; as the age of voters increased the likelihood of voters believing Biden was exhibiting early-onset dementia decreased. Younger voters aged 18-24 (60% more likely/40% less likely) and 18-29 (59% more likely/41% less likely) were more likely to believe Biden had dementia than older voters aged 65+ (50% more likely/50% less likely).
More @ -

In response to:
A New York Times/Siena College poll finds that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is ahead of the President by 14 points, leading among women and nonwhite voters and cutting into his support with white voters.

In response to:

Sheriff: Baldwin fired shot on movie set that killed woman

By MORGAN LEE and WALTER BERRY

Thu, October 21, 2021, 8:45 PM

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities are investigating after confirming that a prop firearm discharged by actor Alec Baldwin, while producing and starring in a Western movie, killed the cinematographer and wounded the director.

Santa Fe County Sheriff’s officials said Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer on the movie “Rust,” and director Joel Souza were shot Thursday on the rustic film set in the desert on the southern outskirts of Santa Fe.

Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel, the sheriff's department said.

Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he is undergoing treatment for his injuries.

Production was halted on the film.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said there was an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks, though a charge without a metal projectile is unlikely to kill at a moderate distance.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported the 63-year-old Baldwin was seen Thursday outside the sheriff’s office in tears, but attempts to get comment from him were unsuccessful.

The International Cinematographers Guild confirmed that the woman fatally shot was Hutchins, a cinematographer.

“The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event,” guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine said in a statement.

Hutchins, a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute, worked as director of photography on the 2020 action film “Archenemy,” starring Joe Manganiello. She was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019.

“I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set,” said “Archenemy” director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. “She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.”

Film colleague Manganiello called her “an incredible talent” and “a great person” on his Instagram account. He said he was lucky to have worked with Hutchins.

Baldwin teamed up as a producer previously with Souza on the 2019 film, “Crown Vic,” which starred Thomas Jane as a veteran Los Angeles police officer on a manhunt for two violent bank robbers. His first credited film, 2010’s “Hanna’s Gold,” was a treasure hunt adventure featuring Luke Perry.

Deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls described a person being shot on set, sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said. The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western “News of the World.”

Rios said detectives were investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.

“This investigation remains open and active,” Rios said in a statement. “No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

Filming for “Rust” was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office.

The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s' Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie “The Crow.” The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine...

In response to:
Jan. 28, 2020, 2:22 PM EST
By Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan

President Donald Trump’s lawyers began their impeachment arguments on Saturday with what football fans might call a “prevent” defense. Under that strategy, a team with a lead late in the game plays cautiously to avoid giving up a big play.

And now we know why.

Trump’s defense team is now offering its closing arguments. Over the course of the past few days, the group has offered six predictable defenses, each of which can be rebutted. It now appears that their goal was to simply provide Republican Senators with sufficient talking points and avoid changing anyone’s mind.

President Donald Trump’s lawyers began their impeachment arguments on Saturday with what football fans might call a “prevent” defense.

But on Sunday, that strategy appeared to backfire when it was reported that former national security adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book contradicts at least one of Trump’s defenses. By avoiding witness testimony that could have been high risk or high reward rather than addressing those facts head-on at his trial, Trump is now seeing the facts trickle out in other forums where it is difficult to control.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that the president never admitted to any quid pro quo. On Saturday, defense attorney Michael Purpura stated, “Not a single witness testified that the president himself said that there was any connection between any investigations and security assistance, a presidential meeting, or anything else.” Purpura’s careful wording is technically true, but only because Trump himself blocked Bolton and other witnesses from testifying. If Bolton were to testify truthfully, he would presumably say exactly that. In a real trial, a lawyer would be sanctioned for so deliberately misleading the finder of fact.

Bolton’s book reportedly states that in August, Trump said that he wanted to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless it helped with investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. This revelation highlights the need for witness testimony from those with first-hand knowledge, such as Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Bolton’s testimony would support not only the abuse of power allegation against Trump in the first article of impeachment, but would also prove the second article alleging obstruction of Congress. Bolton’s allegation suggests that the real reason that Trump decided to “fight all the subpoenas” was not to protect the office of the presidency, but to conceal the truth from the American people.

Trump’s other five defenses are no more persuasive. First, White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that the “transcript” from Trump’s July 25 call with the Ukrainian president shows that Trump did “nothing wrong.” Asking fact-finders to focus narrowly on one piece of evidence is a common defense tactic, intended to draw attention away from other facts that are damaging to the defense. Here, of course, the transcript is not a transcript at all, but a summary of Trump’s call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified that the summary omitted certain key words, including the word “Burisma,” the Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden served.

Even more important, focusing solely on the call summary ignores the monthslong negotiations between Ukraine and U.S. diplomats, as well between Ukraine and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, over investigations into the Bidens. The call alone does not tell the whole story.

In addition, even the summary shows that when Zelenskiy inquired about military aid, Trump responded by asking for a “favor” in the form of investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election.