(from https://www.christianpost.com/voices/fri-2nd-embargo-for-noon-we-are-pro-life-evangelicals-for-biden.html?fbclid=IwAR1-4EYKrAIJttzUOnqG6gQmHQvM4abHfOMxZpaZM96_2Ci0vO83YxNLSJ0)". . . Prominent evangelical leaders have just released a statement urging pro-life evangelicals to vote for Joe Biden. . . The signers are diverse: a Trump voter in 2016; a lifelong Republican who refused to vote for Trump or Clinton in 2016; people who never before in their life publicly endorsed a presidential candidate until this year. . . Their statement acknowledges that “as pro-life evangelicals, we disagree with Vice President Biden and the Democratic platform on the issue of abortion.” “But we believe,” the statement continues, “that a biblically shaped commitment to the sanctity of human life compels us to a consistent ethic of life that affirms the sanctity of human life from beginning to end. . . “The statement points out that many problems that better politics could correct violate the sanctity of human life. Poverty, lack of health care, racism and climate change all kill persons created in the image of God. They are all pro-life issues. . . Poverty and diseases we know how to prevent kill millions every year. . . Lack of health care kills people. Studies have shown that people without health insurance are less likely to visit a doctor, are more likely to have poor health, and die younger than persons with health insurance. . . Racism kills. We know that racism killed African-Americans in slavery and then later in thousands of lynchings. But even today, African-Americans are several times more likely than white Americans to be killed by the police. . . Climate change already kills untold thousands and will soon kill tens of millions unless we change. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that unless we quickly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases causing global warming that we send into the atmosphere, many millions will die. . ."
Vice President Mike Pence claimed President Trump "suspended all travel from China" in response to the coronavirus pandemic. . . This is false. While Trump did restrict travel from China, his policy was not an actual "ban": It made exemptions for travel by US citizens, permanent residents, many of the family members of both groups and some others. . . The New York Times reported in April that nearly 40,000 people had flown to the US from China since the restrictions went into effect in early February.
“Joe Biden has been a cheerleader for Communist China through over the last several decades.” (according to Mike Pence). . . For weeks in the early stages of the crisis, Trump repeated assurances that China had the virus under control — at a time when he was most concerned about keeping intact a trade deal with Beijing. (Former national security adviser John Bolton has alleged that Trump pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping to buy enough products to ensure his reelection.)
“When Joe Biden was vice president, we lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs.” (Mike Pence) . . . Pence’s statistic depends on some sleight of hand. Obama took office in the midst of the Great Recession, and thus so many jobs were being lost every month that it makes a difference on whether you start counting the start of the term in January or February. . . At The Fact Checker, we are dubious about the practice of measuring job growth by presidential term. Presidents do not create jobs; companies and consumers do. This huge difference because of a one-month shift simply shows how mindless and arbitrary this game can be.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris consistently talk about mandates, not just mandates with the coronavirus, but a government takeover of health. ... Green New Deal, all government control.” (Mike Pence). . . The Trump campaign for months has claimed falsely that Biden’s campaign platform is a mirror image of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s. That’s simply false. Keep in mind: Biden prevailed in the Democratic primary by running as a moderate alternative to Sanders’s far-reaching liberal platform. . . Biden has never supported the Green New Deal, which is a nonbinding resolution from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats that calls for cutting carbon emissions to net-zero over 10 years while making steep investments in green infrastructure. . . Harris was an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution in the Senate, as Pence said later in the debate, and has since introduced more climate legislation with Ocasio-Cortez.
Harris looked into the camera, addressing Americans directly: “If you have a preexisting condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you if you love someone who has a preexisting condition.”. . . “Senator Harris, you’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts,” Pence said before changing topics. . . The Trump administration is currently defending a lawsuit to dismantle the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, which would mean all of its components, including protections for preexisting conditions, without releasing a plan to keep that piece in place.
“[We] secured 4 trillion dollars in the Congress of the United States to give direct payments to families, saved 50 million jobs through the Paycheck Protection Program.” (Mike Pence) . . . This is a dubious number cooked up by the Trump administration. In fact, officials told Reuters that the number referred not to jobs saved, but the total number of workers reported by businesses approved for a loan under the program. . . “The PPP likely did not save 51 million jobs, or anywhere close to it,” Reuters concluded after interviews with economists and an analysis of the program’s data. “Half a dozen economists put the number of jobs saved by the initiative at only a fraction of 51 million — ranging between one million and 14 million.”
". . . Former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman said in an interview that . . . Trump hired former communications director Hope Hicks for her looks. . . "Donald Trump hired her because she's pretty," Manigault Newman told Hill.TV's Jamal Simmons on Monday. . . "She didn't know what some of the most basic acronyms in politics meant. I said to her once, 'you know, we should look at GOTV operations, and come up with some talkers from it,' and she looked at me because she didn't know what 'get out the vote' meant," she added. . . Manigault Newman also said that Hicks declines to give interviews because she is not politically knowledgeable. . . "She doesn't give interviews because she's private. She doesn't give interviews because she doesn't know what's going on. She understands Trump, and she can schedule an interview ... or write some notes, but that's the extent of her political career," she said. . ."
. . . OHO (duo- Jay Graboski & Ray Jozwiak) at Bourbon Street on the Beach
21st Century OHO continues as a trio consisting of keyboardist/vocalist, Ray Jozwiak, drummer/percussionist/vocalist, David Reeve, and guitarist/vocalist, Jay Graboski. OHO's latest release GAZEBO, which includes brand-new material and re-imagined OHO classics, is now available at https://music.apple.com/us/artist/oho/4399843. . . AND . . . Where Words Do Not Reach - a comprehensive collection of OHO instrumental music from the early 1970s through the present is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho5.
