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Mark Twain Would Have Hated Donald Trump – Yahoo News

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Thanks to the criticisms theyve leveled in articles, interviews, tweets and letters to the editor, we know that many contemporary authors, from Philip Roth to J.K. Rowling, have a dim view of Donald J. Trump.

But what would leading writers of the past have made of him?

We can only speculate (well, until someone invents a Rowling-like potion capable of bringing long dead writers back to life). But if I could ask one dead writer what he thinks of Trump, it would be Mark Twain, my favorite American author and someone whose travel articles Ive written about in the past. While Twain is best-known for his novels, he was also an opinionated, prolific commentator on the personalities and political issues of his day.

I suspect Twain would have found Trump the showman the pre-2016 version a fascinating figure. He would have been appalled, however, by much about Trump the president.

A champion of irreverence

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Mark Twain Would Have Hated Donald Trump - Yahoo News

Donald Trump Goes Off On Comcast At Cabinet Room Meeting: Theyre The Racists – Deadline

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

President Donald Trump went after Comcast during a White House meeting on empowering African Americans.

During a meeting in the Cabinet Room with prominent African American media and sports figures, Trump noted that an NBC News reporter had left the room.

She just left from NBC because its owned by Comcast, and theyre the racists, Trump said, as participants in the meeting clapped.

According to the White House, the meeting guest list included Candace Owens, actor Isaiah Washington, Alveda King, Diamond and Silk, David Harris Jr. and Deneen Borelli, among others.

A source said the reporter was Hallie Jackson, who is pregnant and had been standing for 90 minutes. She had told White House officials that she would need to leave to do NBC Nightly News if Trumps remarks ran long, which they did.

Comcast had no comment. Trump did not say why he was criticizing Comcast. He has lately attacked MSNBC as MSDNC, in addition to his frequent criticisms of the media. At a rally in Las Vegas last week, he called Comcast a terrible company, terrible people running that company, before noting that he hosted Celebrity Apprentice for 14 season and they used to come to my office and kiss my ass.

Comcast has long defended its record on diversity, with Lester Holt as the only African American anchor of a broadcast nightly newscast and Kristen Welker among its White House correspondents.

A Supreme Court decision is expected soon in Byron Allens racial discrimination lawsuit against Comcast over the carriage of his companys cable networks. The justices are deciding whether the lawsuit should survive beyond the pleading stage. The Justice Department weighed in on the case siding with Comcast.

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Donald Trump Goes Off On Comcast At Cabinet Room Meeting: Theyre The Racists - Deadline

What Did Donald Trump Eat in India, and When Did He Eat It? – Vanity Fair

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Here on this website, we ask a lot of questions. Usually theyre questions about people of means and fame and power and the situations they get into. We try to glean from these peoples business some sort of lesson that us non-stars can use. So we ask questions like, why? Also, what for? And how?

But sometimes, we dont have to because others do that work for us. So here now from the Daily Mail, a question: Did he try the goat? Donald Trump ate NOTHING from a vegetarian menu at first stop in Indian visit and was presented with challenging choices at beef-free state dinner.

Yes, did the president try the raan ali-shan on his 36-hour trip to India, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strict vegetarian, several times, usually over a banquet of food? Trump didnt eat the vegetables, according to the Washington Post. But did he eat the meat? What did he eat and when did he eat it?

Whats the big deal? you, a person who understands boundaries and never logs on except for right now for some reason, asks. The big deal is that this guy has a pretty exclusive relationship with beef. He loves steak and he loves it rock hard, baby. Hamburgers line his guts. Sometimes, he orders the meatloaf. A source close to Trump told CNN prior to this trip, I have never seen him eat a vegetable.

Folks like the presidents son Eric calls the general outcry over whats in daddys mouth a sign of liberal overreach into personal lives. Who cares what the guy eats? Mind your own arteries! To others, Trumps lack of curiosity speaks to a larger lack of curiosity for the world and the people in it. Both arguments are fairly compelling, but there is something undeniably disconcerting about a grown man who wont eat his vegetables no matter how many airplane noises you make on the forks way to his sloppy, wet maw. Plus, one hopes a president would take care of his mind and body, since he works for the people. One hopes, too, that he wouldnt offend by, say, yucking New Delhis yum.

Curiously, for one luncheon, per the menu posted online, the chef changed the traditional samosa to one filled with broccoli. As Jaya Saxena of Eater said, Given that one of the most traditional fillings for samosas is potato, its not like the hotel needed to find a new vegetarian option, especially considering that fried potatoes are in fact a favorite of nonadventurous eaters in the White House and beyond. Clearly, this is a move to ensure the president spends his entire time in the country suffering from cruciferous farts. I suppose the president routed them on this one, though. He did not try it, reportedly.

So the next issue is goat, which is a meat. Trump likes meat but does he like goat? Unfortunately, we dont know. Journalists werent allowed in the state dinner, so there are no well-observed accounts about what he ate like hes some ingenue on the occasion of her first big profile.

So I guess were left with a big blackout. The lights went out at the opportune moment. No one else was in the room where it happened (it being whether or not the president ate a dish). So what now? Whats the lesson we can take from nothing? Maybe in the dearth of the knowable, theres hope for the best. We can dream a dream that he tried every dish and remarked kindly on it with a little self-deprecation, and asked a question or two about it. Then they moved on to discussing, I dont know, arms deals or whatever those two were up to. Also, maybe, the lesson is that it doesnt matter what the president did or didnt do. You can try the goat. Youll probably like it.

History repeats itself: Donald Trump tweets that John Ratcliffe will be director of national intelligence, again – Roll Call

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

A week later, Trump said Ratcliffe had withdrawn his name from consideration, with the president citing the congressman being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media as cause for the nomination to be pulled back.

Concerns had been raised about exaggerations and amplifications in Ratcliffes record at the time, which were clarified by staff.

Following Coats departure in August, Joseph Maguire succeeded him as acting director. Grenell replaced Maguire earlier this month, but like Macguire, he would not be able to serve in the position past March 11, unless the White House sends a nomination to the Senate for consideration before then. A formal nomination of Ratcliffe would, in effect, stop the clock.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer urged his colleagues to reject Ratcliffes nomination, saying Trump has shown once again his lack of respect for the rule of law and the intelligence community.

Replacing one highly partisan operative with another does nothing to keep our country safe, the New York Democrat said in a statement. At a time when the Russians are interfering in our elections, we need a nonpartisan leader at the helm of the Intelligence Community who sees the world objectively and speaks truth to power, and unfortunately neither Acting Director Grenell nor Rep. Ratcliffe comes even close to that.

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History repeats itself: Donald Trump tweets that John Ratcliffe will be director of national intelligence, again - Roll Call

Donald Trump’s Climate Policy: ‘Get Your Mops and Buckets Ready’ – The Nation

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd as he hands out supplies at Calvary Chapel, October 3, 2017, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. (Evan Vucci / AP Photo)

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This article is adapted from The Climate Beat, the weekly newsletter of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism initiative committed to more and better climate coverage.Ad Policy

On October 30, 1975, the New York Daily News published one of the great headlines of all time: ford to city: drop dead. President Gerald Ford had just announced that the federal government would refuse to bail out New York if the city government went bankrupt. Ford later said that the headline and ensuing popular outrage helped cost him the 1976 presidential election.

Today, Donald Trump is inviting similarly damning headlines for his willingness to let New York flood from climate-driven disasters. Sorry, youll just have to get your mops and buckets ready! the president tweeted on January 18. He was responding to a New York Times article describing a possible plan to build a sea wall to protect the city from floodwaters during fierce storms like Sandy, the 2012 hurricane that killed at least 285 people and displaced thousands more.

The proposed six-mile-long barrier, extending from Queens to New Jersey, was to cost an estimated $119 billion. Now, as Gothamist reported on February 25, the Trump administration has abruptly halted the Army Corps of Engineers study of storm defense options for New York. The administrations elimination of funding for the study is dangerous and unprecedented, Robert Freudenberg of the Regional Plan Association, an urban research and advocacy group, told Gothamist.

The move is only the latest in a series of harsh environmental policy rollbacks from the Trump team. Grist reports that the rollbacks are deeply unpopular among swing voters, but theres a problem: Many dont know anything about them. As we argued in the Climate Beat last week, with the stakes for our planet so high, the climate crisis must be a central focus of 2020 campaign coverage.

As the incumbent president campaigns for another four years in office, his cavalier attitude toward the crisis deserves much more attention and scrutiny by the press. So do the climate platforms of Democratic candidates. (Sadly, the moderators of CBS Newss February 25 debate in South Carolina asked not a single question about climate change, a noticeable contrast to the 16 minutes of climate discussion during NBCs debate in Nevada on February 19.)

With Election Day eight months away, there is still time for national and local news outlets to give the climate crisis the visibility that science demands and opinion polls say voters want. And with the president tweeting about mops and buckets, killer headlines should come easy.

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Donald Trump's Climate Policy: 'Get Your Mops and Buckets Ready' - The Nation

The Ties That Bind Deutsche Bank and Donald Trump – The New York Times

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

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In the best-selling Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction, David Enrich, the finance editor of The New York Times, shows how greed and unchecked ambition toppled Deutsche Bank from its position as a paragon of European institutional lending.

While its true that just about every bank under the sun has been attached to one or more financial scandals over the years, Deutsche Bank really has been involved in a disproportionate number, Enrich says on this weeks podcast. But to me, the better measure of its destructive capacity is the havoc its wreaked around the world. You can really look in probably almost every continent of the world and see some major and pretty bad scandal that the bank was involved with that caused real harm.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave visits the podcast this week to discuss her first novel for adults, The Mercies, which was inspired by a witch hunt in 17th-century Norway.

There wasnt that much concrete research that I could go to, to fall back on and really give it a solid grounding, Hargrave says. The trials were staggering in their scale, and yet even in Norway, theyre not talked about, theyre not taught in schools. The Salem witch trials are ubiquitous, even here in the U.K., and in Norway their equivalent just isnt discussed. The silence around these trials was very interesting to me.

Also on this weeks episode, Dwight Garner, Jennifer Szalai and John Williams talk about recent reviews. Pamela Paul is the host.

Here are the books discussed by The Timess critics this week:

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Reviews podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

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The Ties That Bind Deutsche Bank and Donald Trump - The New York Times

Who is the best Dem candidate to face Donald Trump? Heres a thought | Opinion – nj.com

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

By Rev. Alexander Santora

My first presidential election vote went to Democrat George McGovern in 1972. In fact, I was his co-chair, along with Joyce Calefati Booth, a prominent lawyer today, of the McGovern campaign at then-St. Peters College. I was impressed with McGoverns Midwest populism coupled with his deep religiosity. I was too young, ideal and inexperienced to realize that McGovern not only did not represent the majority of the Democratic Party, he did not represent that of the country. In the election he suffered a 61 percent to 37 percent defeat to Richard Nixon at the time, the second biggest landslide in American history, with an Electoral College total of 520 to 17.

He ran at a time of enormous systemic change in the country marked by protests over the Vietnam War, which he opposed, civil rights and womens rights. He tried to harness this rage but most voters did not buy it. What he did achieve was to alienate many blue-collar voters from the Democratic Party for nearly half a century. This allowed Ronald Reagan to venture into Hoboken for the St. Anns Feast campaigning for re-election in 1984. It was monumental that he would show up in the middle of staunchly Democratic Hudson County.

Why am I getting the feeling that the national Democratic Party is ready to make the same mistake by nominating Bernie Sanders to be its standard bearer? For one, I do not see how an Independent who claims to be a Socialist can debate on the same stage as dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, pointed out by Pete Buttigieg in the Nevada debate. Even plutocrat Michael Bloomberg is technically a Republican so ditto.

I think Tom Perez should resign as head of the Democratic National Committee. This nominating process, so old by now, has been going on way too long and mirrors a vanity contest. What chops does Rep. Eric Swalwell have to even stand on the debate stage let alone Tulsi Gabbard. The Democrats allow anyone to run, draining needed campaign funds for the eventual standard bearer. Now the knives come out and instead of savaging Trump, who not only lowered but eliminated any bar for a president, they give Trump ammunition for the general campaign.

Trumps election was a fluke allowed by 77,744 voters in three states. And his ratings show he still does not have the support of most of the American people. Yet, the Democrats will hand him re-election because they fail to read the need for a moderate candidate who can beat Trump. My choice is Joe Biden, who can go toe-to-toe with him. He has vast experience and can hit the ground running. I do not think a Socialist, a gay man or a woman can win this time round. I would vote for the latter two when the time is right as I did for Hillary in 2016. Trumps re-election would precipitate a second Civil War in this country and may permanently fracture our international alliances.

There is still hope if Buttigieg and Klobuchar drop out soon and their followers move to Biden. Warren is passionate but she has fallen too far. Sanders is too arrogant and, like Trump, narcissistic enough to hurt the partys chances by fighting to the bitter end and giving his supporters reason to sit on their hands and stay home Nov. 3.

I predict a brokered convention and the Democrats have one other trick to pull out of the hat. I think the best person to lead the party to victory and put Trump in his place is someone who has not run in primaries or debated but showed her mettle over time and given Trump a dishonor he takes to eternity. She earned the respect of the American people. I think the Dem convention delegates could vote by acclamation for Nancy Pelosi.

Rev. Alexander Santora is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church in Hoboken. He writes a weekly column on faith for The Jersey Journal.

Submit letters to the editor and guest columns for The Jersey Journal to jjletters@jjournal.com

Originally posted here:

Who is the best Dem candidate to face Donald Trump? Heres a thought | Opinion - nj.com

Speaking for Trump: How Don Jr. and other family members target different voters with different messages – USA TODAY

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Donald Trump, Jr. appeared on 'The View' to promote his new book 'Triggered,' but argued with hosts including Joy Behar and Meghan McCain. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON On the day President Donald Trumpwas acquitted of high crimes and misdemeanors in the Senate impeachment trial, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted more than 80 times, taunting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and calling on the party to expel Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the sole Republican who voted to convict his father.

Lara Trump, the presidents daughter-in-law and another ubiquitous campaign surrogate,posted three tweets. She barely mentioned impeachment.

As Trump's children take on an expanded role in his reelection campaign, they embracedifferent styles and speakto different constituencies.From Trump Jr.s bombastic rally warmups and social media posts to Laras focus on women's issues and Ivanka Trumps composed policy perch inside the White House, Trumps family tailors its messageto different voters.

What would you do if you woke up on Nov. 4 and Bernie Sanders was your president? Trump Jr. asked as he revved up a Phoenix crowd last week before a rally. Guess what, guys: There are no do-overs. You get one chance to get this right.

Trump's stories: Cop to a crying businessman, what Trumps anecdotes reveal

Polling: Poll shows Trump defeatingall 2020 Democratic candidates in Wisconsin

Trump Jr.'s bomb-throwing is especially noticeable in his social media feed. The president's eldest sonis far more likely than his siblings to use Twitter to attack Democrats, according to a USA TODAY analysis of nearly 4,500 tweets from the Trump family. He has referenced Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, for instance,in 8% of the tweets to his 4.4 million followers since Oct. 1. That'sa higher share than all of his siblings combined.

He is more likely to use the word media on Twitter, virtually always in an attack.

Republican observers said Trump Jr.'s red-meat style has made him a rising star among conservative voters within the presidents base.

By contrast, Lara Trump who married Eric Trump in 2014 and who has taken on an increasingly high-profile role in the presidents election is more likely than other family members to use the word woman on social media, according to the analysis. That syncs with her appearances at Women for Trump events in Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. A senior adviser on the campaign, Lara has been more likely to mention the words employment and job than other surrogates.

"The media tells us women dont support Trump!WRONG!" Lara posted Jan. 17 to her 761,000-plus followers.

The approach has allowed herto reach out to women voters, particularly suburban women. Donald Trump narrowly won white women in 2016, exit polls showed, but that support has slipped.A new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll found that 54% of suburban womenare more likely to say a Democratwould be better for the country.

From left, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump applaud as President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address from the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 4.(Photo: Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY)

Ivanka Trump, who has been a more sporadic presence on the campaign trail in 2020, has focused heavily on her efforts inside the White House on workforce development, rarely wading into politics on social media. While Trump Jr. shares memes of Romney with a Mom Jeans caption, Ivanka Trump is more likely to post images of her official trips overseas on behalf of the administration, or of her children.

Since 2017, rural areas have had similar or better economic performance than urban areas as measured by GDP growth, housing value appreciation and labor market participation, Ivanka Trump tweeted this month in a message that was similar to others she has posted.

Her husband, Jared Kushner, whose vast portfolio includes building the wall along the U.S.-Mexicanborder and Middle East peace, has never posted a tweet. Both have long been viewed as moderating forces, relatable to centrist Republicans andsome swing voters who crossed from backing President Barack Obama to Trump in 2016.

President Donald Trump's family (from left, Melania, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.) helps promote the administration's themes in various ways. Trump campaign spokeswomanErin Perrine calls them "valued advisers and an integral part of this campaign."(Photo: Tasos Katopodis/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump campaign officials declined to discuss the strategy behind the use of family surrogates,but spokeswomanErin Perrine described their involvement in the campaign as "key to victory in 2016" and predicted the same would hold true for 2020.

"Who better to speak to voters about President Trump and his record of success than those who know him best?" Perrine said. "Members of the Trump family are valued advisers and an integral part of this campaign."

Lara Trump said her work on behalf of the campaign has brought the Trump family together.

"Nothing can really prepare you for this," Lara Trump told USA TODAY in an interview. "We all became a lot closer because it almost feels like you go through a war with people. And I would say for all of us including my father-in-law were all a lot closer because of it."

Dianne Bystrom, a former director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said some of the presidents adult children fulfill a campaign role more typically handled by a first lady. In the 2020 cycle, Melania Trump has been less active on the campaign trail than many of her predecessors, including Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.

It is not unusual for presidential candidates to employ surrogates, including family members, to strategically target the campaign's message with a variety of groups, Bystrom said. I think we see so much more of the Trump children because Melania Trump has not been an effective spousal surrogate.

Few presidential candidates have been able to draw so heavily on their progeny as proxies, and few have been able to put their children so front and center. President George H.W. Bush brought in his family, including George W. Bush, in the 1988 election. Romneys children often appeared on stage during his 2012 campaign.

The difference in Trumps case is that many of his children were well known before he ran for president.

If you want star power, add the Trump name, and you automatically have it, said Jason Miller, who was a senior aide on the presidents 2016 campaign.

In addition to the last name, they bring a sense of passion, a sense of insight into the policies, Miller said. It says something when the people who know President Trump the best are willing to get out there and work so hard for him.

President Trump and President George W. Bush won the electoral vote during the election, but not the popular vote. How does the electoral college work? USA TODAY

The ubiquity of Trumps children on the trail has had another impact: It has raised speculation about their own political ambitions.

Trump Jr., who published a New York Times bestseller last year, is among Republican voters top picks for the nomination in 2024, according to a poll for the news site Axios last month. Ivanka Trump also made the list, along with Vice President Mike Pence.

That interest hasnt been lost on Trumps childrenor the crowds turning out to hear the president speak.

When the president recognized Trump Jr. during a rally in New Hampshire this month, his supporters chanted, 46 as in the 46th president.

WhenTrump Jr. addressed an audience in San Antonio last fall, someone in the audience shouted out 2024. As many in the crowd laughed,Trump Jr.held a dramatic pause before his response.

Lets worry about 2020 first! he said.

Contributing: The Associated Press, Courtney Subramanian

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Did Henry Kissinger Say These Things About Donald Trump? – Snopes.com

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Former National Security Adviser and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger served under the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford from 1969 to 1977, and he (controversially) shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his part in helping to negotiate a ceasefire and a withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.

In the years since then, Kissinger has continued to offer his viewpoints on global affairs through published opinion pieces and interviews, including an appearance on the CBS News program Face the Nation on Dec. 18, 2016.

During that interview, Kissinger ventured some opinions about the recently concluded U.S. presidential election and President-elect Donald Trump:

A few of Kissingers comments about Trump were subsequently replicated in more recent Facebook posts bearing titles such as Henry Kissingers take on Trump and 94 yr old Kissinger takes on Trump, which opened as follows:

Kissinger is now 94 years old.

Recently, Henry Kissinger did an interview and said very amazing things regarding President Trump. He starts with:

Donald Trump is a phenomenon that foreign countries havent seen before!

The former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gives us a new understanding of President Donald Trumps foreign policy and predicts its success:

Liberals and all those who favor (Hillary) Clinton will never admit it. They will never admit that he is the one true leader. The man is doing changes like never before and does all of it for the sake of this nations people. After eight years of tyranny, we finally see a difference.

Kissinger knows it and he continues with:

Every country now has to consider two things:

One, their perception that the previous president, or the outgoing president, basically withdrew America from international politics, so that they had to make their own assessments of their necessities.

And secondly, that there is a new president whos asking a lot of unfamiliar questions. And because of the combination of the partial vacuum and the new questions, one could imagine that something remarkable and new emerges out of it.

As the transcript shows, Kissinger did say Donald Trump is a phenomenon that foreign countries havent seen. He also described what foreign countries would have to consider under a Trump presidency:

KISSINGER: Donald Trump is a phenomenon that foreign countries havent seen.

So it is a shocking experience to them that he came into office, at the same time, extraordinary opportunity. And I believe he has the possibility of going down in history as a very considerable president, because every country now has two things to consider, one, their perception that the previous president or the outgoing president basically withdrew America from international politics, so that they had to make their own assessment of their necessities, and, secondly, that here is a new president who is asking a lot of unfamiliar questions.

And because of the combination of the partial vacuum and the new questions, one could imagine that something remarkable and new emerges out of it. Im not saying it will. Im saying its an extraordinary opportunity.

However, all the rest of the text of those Facebook posts was a mixture of various political opinions and quotations scraped from other sources and falsely attributed to Kissinger. The former secretary of state didnt call Trump the one true leader or say he puts America and its people first, nor did he maintain that Trump was talking about 13 issues that most Americans are concerned about.

This was a variation of a similar claim we rated False in 2018.

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Did Henry Kissinger Say These Things About Donald Trump? - Snopes.com

Mike Huckabee Invites You to Envision Donald Trump Literally Sucking the Coronavirus Right Out of People – Vanity Fair

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Presidential administrations famously chafe under media scrutiny. Bush the Second? Hated it. Obama? Not a fan! Too itchy! The media, all of it, is always asking questions and poking around, and these guys dont love it. But what happens when a man whos suffered from a persecution complex since birth takes a job that only ever exists under a microscope? Its fine! Good even. It goes well. Take this latest business with the coronavirus. Trump has been very okay about the medias take on his response to the viruss spread. Bet he hasnt been watching television in days.

Instead its his volunteer P.R. team thats up in arms. Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, for example wrote an op-ed lauding the presidents appointment of Vice President Mike Pence over the outbreak in the U.S. (There are currently 60 confirmed cases here, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that about 82,000 cases of the coronavirus have been clocked worldwide, with about 2,800 deaths.) He said in a follow-up on Fox News that the president could personally suck the virus out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, and suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean if he did that.

And you know what? Huckabees absolutely right. If he did that, the media would very much say, That was pretty weird, huh? A little too Dementor-y for my tastes. And the media wouldnt stop there. If Trump used Tweezerman tweezers to pluck up each little bacteria one by one and then placed them in Elon Musks spaceship and shot the disease to Mars, wed probably say, Why did you spend so much money on that billionaires big blastoff, huh? If Trump kissed every person in America with lips covered in antibacterial ointment, wed say, Please, please stop kissing everyone, Mr. President. My God!

If Trump created a bigger and badder disease in a lab and put it in a cup and then pretended to spill it on, like, Jim Acostas head, but then stopped at the last minute and said, Oop! Ha ha. Gotcha!, wed say, This isnt helping to distract us! Its honestly making things a lot worse!

None of these are great plans even though they sound really good and smart because its all secondary to a pretty plain one. Reiterate that Americans shouldnt panic, but they should wash their hands, and perhaps prepare to stay indoors for awhile. Then the media would say, Wow, that guy is acting curiously presidential. Or something!

Letter to the editor: Donald Trump & his adversaries – TribLIVE

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

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We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sentvia e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

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Letter to the editor: Donald Trump & his adversaries - TribLIVE

Donald Trump Will Rescue the Stock Market Just in Time for His Re-Election Campaign – CCN.com

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Eight months away from the presidential elections, Donald Trump issued a dire warning that the stock market will crash like nobody has seen before should voters choose to kick him out of the White House.

It appears that voters dont have to wait for the presidential elections to witness the stock market cratering. The Dow Jones just printed its worst two-day percentage plunge in two years while the S&P 500 is down 7.8% from its all-time high. The stock market is tanking so it can serve Trumps reelection campaign in November.

One of Trumps greatest achievements as president is the record-setting stock market. Under Trumps presidency, equities have consistently printed fresh all-time highs. The S&P 500 climbed by as much 62.9% since Trump took office in November 2016. The Dow skyrocketed more than 65% over the same time period.

According to Bespoke Investment Group, the gains of the S&P 500 since Trump was elected are more than double the returns of his predecessors three years into their term dating back to 1928.

Theres no doubt that Trump will leverage this achievement to get reelected, but not in a way that most people think. Trump can take advantage of the current stock market selloff to get further rate reductions from the Federal Reserve. The rate cuts can resuscitate a crashing stock market before the presidential elections.

Will Meade, a billion-dollar hedge fund manager, echoes this sentiment. He believes that the rate cut will boost the economy and the stock market right in time for the election.

While Im not sure that Trump is really behind the selloff, he can definitely use the stock market crash as an opportunity to boost his candidacy.

In October 2019, the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep rates stable unless the economy faltered. In other words, the Fed is not ruling out further rate reductions in the future.

This gives Trump and his team the window to strong-arm the Fed to get a big rate cut in March. With the stock market cratering, Trump can weaponize Twitter to achieve his goal. A study has shown that the Fed is likely to succumb to Trumps tweets. It appears that the stars are aligning for a massive rate cut in March.

The question now is whether rate cuts can actually drive the stock market higher. Historical data show that the S&P 500 rose by an average 11% after six months when the Fed cut rates during an economic expansion.

JM Vala of LayupTrades.com thinks that rate cuts will help stabilize the stock market. He told CCN.com,

I think that yes, the Fed rate cut will help stabilize the market. Also, we were expecting zero rate cuts and we are now looking at up to three this year.

Other analysts are not so optimistic about the impact of more rate reductions.

Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics said,

At this point a rate cut would be a waste of a policy tool and I think the Fed knows that.

Jason Harris of StockHunterTrading.com shares Greenspans view. When asked if rate cuts would help prop up the stock market, he answered,

Not really. I think low interest rates are going to be the new norm for a few years if not decades.

For now, Trump can blame the coronavirus for the cratering stock market. I imagine it would do his campaign wonders if he becomes the hero that resuscitates stocks in the coming months. Given this context, it appears that Trump will once again come out on top of this situation.

The above should not be considered trading advice from CCN.com. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.

This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.

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Donald Trump Will Rescue the Stock Market Just in Time for His Re-Election Campaign - CCN.com

Donald Trump has launched a 2020 campaign disinformation juggernaut and its gaining speed – Raw Story

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

You may be forgiven if you are under the impression that the Trump administrations response to the coronavirus outbreak is just one more example of his incompetence, aggressive ignorance, contempt for science and outright abuse of government. But its worse than that. For the White House, and especially for Donald Trumps re-election campaign, its an opportunity to put into play the massive disinformation apparatus they have built for the 2020 presidential race.

This article first appeared in Salon.

Just look at what theyve done so far. They unleashed their platoon of poodles in the right- wing media to pound the drum for the proposition that the Democrats have weaponized the coronavirus outbreak to bring down Donald Trump, a line of outright horseshit pushed aggressively by Trumpazoid spokesbots Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity on their shows. Their evidence? Well, that terrible, nasty, mean Chuck Schumer has been critical of the Trump administrations initial request for only $2.5 billion to fight the virus, proposing instead that more than $8 billion will be needed. Trump himself doubled down against Democrats at his press conference on Thursday, unleashing a new attack on Nancy Pelosi. I think Speaker Pelosis incompetent. Shes trying to create a panic. I think shes not thinking about the country, he added. She should be saying we have to work together. As if thats not what Pelosi has been saying.But perhaps the most egregious thing theyve done was to announce a rule that all statements coming from administration officials must be cleared through the office of Vice President Mike Pence. For the White House and the Trump campaign, saddled with an out-of-control narrative about a disaster they are singularly unequipped to handle, disinformation is no information at all.

The Trump campaigns disinformation Death Star, as one campaign operative described it to McKay Coppins of the Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/ is located in an office building in Roslyn, Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington. Heavily funded, technologically sophisticated, and staffed with dozens of experienced operatives, the Trump campaign plans to spend more than $1 billion on the most extensive disinformation campaign in U.S. history, according to Coppins article.

The Trump disinformation juggernaut is overseen by campaign manager Brad Parscale, who was digital director of the Trump 2016 campaign. The Trump campaign ran 5.9 million ads on Facebook in that campaign, according to Bloomberg News,while the Democrats ran only 66,000 Facebook ads. This years campaign will make even more sophisticated use of the kind of micro-targeting they used in 2016. A political analyst on MSNBC recently pointed out that micro-targeting has become so effective that as few as 800 women in a mid-size city in Wisconsin could be sent a single anti-abortion ad on Facebook, thus eliminating the cost of broadcasting political content more widely.

Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has already spent hundreds of millions on conventional TV advertising in his campaign for the Democratic nomination, and has promised to keep spending to defeat Trump even if he doesnt win. But Democrats who still think that politics is a game that can be won by pouring vast sums of money into 15- and 30-second ads on television should recall that the Trump campaign spent very little on conventional TV advertising in 2016, and doesnt show signs of changing that strategy this year.

Perhaps the biggest target of the Trump disinformation effort will be the media itself cable news, newspapers and local TV news operations especially. Trumps disinformation effort used the impeachment battle as a practice round to test out tactics for the election. Using Republicans on the House impeachment committee followed by defense lawyers during the Senate trial, they put forth a blizzard of conspiracy theories, rumors and outright fabrications to distract everyones attention from Trumps crimes in the Ukraine scandal. By the end of that Senate trial, it seemed that the truth about what Trump did or didnt do had ceased to matter.

The issue for many people isnt exactly a denial of truth as such, explained a recent story by Sean Illing of Vox (a former Salon reporter).Its more a growing weariness over the process of finding the truth at all. And that weariness leads more and more people to abandon the idea that the truth is knowable. Illing quoted Trumps 2016 campaign manager Steve Bannon on the campaigns strategy for 2020. The Democrats dont matter, Bannon explained in an interview in 2018. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.

Were getting a taste of the shit they plan to shovel during the presidential campaign in the way the Trump administration is handling the coronavirus story. Trumps blame-the-media strategy was perfectly illustrated in a Wednesday tweet: Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus [sic] look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!

If youre like me, youve given up on keeping track of the Washington Posts running count of Trumps lies. The last time I looked, the number was somewhere north of 15,000. That the total has ceased to matter is an illustration of the effectiveness of the campaigns disinformation strategy.

Trumps disinformation strategy depends on a central paradox. Even as Trump tells so many lies we cant keep up with him about everything from the weather to the size of the crowds at his rallies - his campaign counts on the media to keep emphasizing the lies he tells about his opponents. You want an example? Look how successful he was in tarring Joe Biden with the brush of corruption in Ukraine. There wasnt a scintilla of truth in anything Trump or any of his minions said about the Bidens and Ukraine, yet thats all we heard about for six fucking months.

The man who held a Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and lied through his teeth about his attempts to build a Moscow Trump Tower is running a campaign thats been all over Bernie Sanders for honeymooning in Moscow. The man with the most garbled syntax in American political history is campaigning against Joe Biden for his occasional verbal miscues, unfinished sentences and gaffes. And the man who has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by more than 20 women, and sued by several of them, is never going to let you forget that Bloomberg has had several non-disclosure agreements with women he employed. And all this has been regularly reported by mainstream media, and will continue to be.

Trump had Hillary Clintons emails to bellow about in 2016, and this year hes already leading chants of lock her up at his rallies. Im not a betting man, but if I was, Id lay money on Trump ordering his attack dog William Barr to find someone, preferably a female someone, and perp-walk her into jail by the fall.

On Friday night at a rally in South Carolina, Trump called the coronavirus the Democrats latest hoax, proving that every day, in every way, you just cant make this shit up.

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Donald Trump has launched a 2020 campaign disinformation juggernaut and its gaining speed - Raw Story

Donald Trump ally Boris Johnson says the president is ‘failing to lead’ – Business Insider – Business Insider

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Donald Trump's previously close relationship with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks close to collapse, with the president reportedly accusing him "betrayal" after a furious phone call between the two leaders.

Trump's behaviour during the call was described by officials as "apoplectic," with the president reportedly slamming the phone down to end the call.

Johnson has now cancelled his plans for a visit to the White House next month.

The prime minister had been one of Trump's few close international allies, with the president labelling Johnson "fantastic," a "good man" and "Britain Trump."

However, relations broke down following a series of high-profile threats from Trump and a series of pointed interventions against Trump by Johnson and senior members of his government.

Here's how Trump is losing the support of the leader of the United States' closest international ally.

Getty President Donald Trump reportedly slammed the phone down on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month after what officials described as an "apoplectic" call.

The call was ended by Trump "slamming the phone down" on Johnson.

The call, which one source described to the Financial Times as "very difficult," came after Johnson defied Trump and allowed Chinese telecoms company Huawei the rights to develop the UK's 5G network.

Trump's fury was triggered by Johnson backing Huawei despite multiple threats by Trump and his allies that the United States would withdraw security co-operation with the UK if the deal went ahead.

Trump's threats reportedly "irritated" the UK government, with Johnson frustrated at the president's failure to suggest any alternatives to the deal.

Following the call, US Vice President Mike Pence said that the Trump administration had made its disappointment at the UK "very clear to them".

The official UK account of the call gives a hint of the disagreement, stating that "the Prime Minister underlined the importance of like-minded countries working together to diversify the market and break the dominance of a small number of companies."

Johnson has cancelled his planned trip to Washington, which was due to take place next month.

Getty Trump has threatened a new trade war with European countries over their continued support for the Iran nuclear deal.

The threats were met with a stark response from Johnson earlier this month.

The prime minister used his first major speech on Brexit since the general election to hit back at the president's threats, launching a barely coded attack on President Trump and his "protectionist" economic strategy.

"Free trade is being choked," Johnson told an event in London on Monday, referencing ongoing trade battles between Washington and China.

"And that is no fault of the people, that's no fault of individual consumers. I am afraid it is the politicians who are failing to lead."

In a clear barb at Trump and his threats to launch a new trade war with Europe, Johnson added that "from Brussels to China to Washington, tariffs are being waved around like cudgels, even in debates on foreign policy where frankly they have no place."

Boris Johnson and Donald Trump Getty Trump's decision to assassinate Qassem Soleimani last month was quickly criticised by Johnson's administration, with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warning that further conflict with Iran is "in none of our interests."

Raab subsequently warned that terrorists "would be the only winners" of any conflict with the West.

Trump's threats to target Iranian cultural sites were also criticised by Johnson, with his spokesperson telling reporters in London that any attempt to do so would be a war crime.

Getty Johnson's administration's most outspoken criticism of Trump came last month from the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

Wallace said that Trump's isolationist foreign policy meant that the UK would have to consider ending its continued support for US-led interventions.

"I worry if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world," hetold The Sunday Times.

He added: "The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be."

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Donald Trump ally Boris Johnson says the president is 'failing to lead' - Business Insider - Business Insider

Donald Trump Wants Billions for Missile Defense. Is That a Bad Idea? – The National Interest Online

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

TheWhite Houses fiscal year 2021 budget requestreleased earlier this month asks Congress for $20.3 billion for missile defense and defeat programs. Nearly half of the request($9.2 billion) is for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The rest of the money will go toward amix of missile defense programs outside of MDA ($7.9 billion) and left of launch activities that attempt to disrupt or destroy enemy missiles before they can be fired ($3.2 billion). These request figures are more or less in line with requests from the past two years and should not be regarded as amajor increase.

What makes the FY 21 missile defense budget request noteworthy isnt the amount of money being asked for but the priorities it reveals. Namely, the MDA is focused on erasing the distinction between regional and homeland missile defense systems.

This is not anew line of effort. Greater integration among various missile defense systems is alongstanding policy goal that can now be realized thanks to technical improvements. However, if the MDA is successful the United States will have to wrestle with thorny questions about nuclear stability and the future of arms control.

Missile defense systems can be categorized according to which operational role they play. Regional or theater missile defense systems protect military units, installations, and civil infrastructure. The capabilities that the United States has traditionally used for this mission tend to be mobile and very reliable in testing. Homeland missile defense systems protect the continental United States from intercontinentalrange ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Currently there is only one option for homeland defense, the Groundbased Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, which is bothvery expensiveandnotoriously unreliable.

Improvements in interceptor and sensor technology allow for new mission types that have started to blur the lines between this regional vs. homeland distinction. New interceptors can engage awider range of threats than their predecessors. The most notable example of this is the SM3 IIA,the latest generation of the Standard Missile family, that MDA plans to test against an ICBMrange target in 2020.

Advances in sensors (e.g. radars) and the ability to rapidly share data across different systems further erase the regional/homeland distinction by giving interceptors abigger engagement window.

Without the ability to share data, interceptors are limited by the range of their associated sensors. Alongrange interceptor might be able to outfly its associated radar, essentially reducing the effective range of the interceptor to less than the associated sensor. But if adifferent, remote sensor can share its data then an interceptor could make more use of its maximum range. This allows an interceptor to be launched on data provide from aremote source, also known aslaunchonremote or LOR.

Another benefit of improved sensors and data fusion isengageonremote or EOR, which is essentially an improved version of LOR. In EOR, remote sensors provide all necessary data to an interceptor, detecting launch, and tracking the target. The interceptors associated radar does not have to track the threat in an EOR scenario.

Taken together, new interceptors and sensors will allow capabilities previously used only for regional defense to contribute to homeland defense. The MDAs FY 21 budget request calls for the SM3 IIA and THAAD systems to serve as an additional layer for homeland defense in case the GMD misses its mark. If these efforts are successful, the United States would be able to deploy many more interceptors capable of destroying ICBMrange warheads than it currently fields.

This natural evolution of missile defense technology will create some longterm strategic headaches. China and Russia wont view alayered homeland missile shield that has amuch larger inventory of interceptors in avacuum. Taken alongside recent U.S. investments inlowyield nuclear weaponsand conventional hypersonic strike systems that can destroy time sensitive targets (e.g.mobile, second strike nuclear missiles), the FY 21 missile defense budget seems like America rejecting mutual nuclear vulnerability.

This could prompt offensive nuclear buildups to overwhelm athicker U.S. homeland defense or early attacks against U.S. missile defense sensors that also provideearly warning of nuclear strikesagainst the homeland. China and Russia already have astrong incentive to blind U.S. missile defense sensors in aconventional conflict. Stronger integration of regional and homeland missile defense capabilities will reinforce this incentive.Neither nuclear buildups nor blinding strikes are beneficial for Americas longterm interests.

Greater integration of regional and homeland missile defense capabilities will also make it harder for the United States touse missile defense limitations as abargaining chipin arms control negotiations. Any future U.S.-Russia arms control agreement that reduces offensive weapons, regardless of whether New START is extended, is unlikely to succeed unless the United States is willing to put missile defense on the table. Yet deeper integration of capabilities makes it harder to limit any one system without negatively affecting others.

An expansion of defensive capabilities could make it easier for the United States to reduce its offensive nuclear forces in future arms control agreements. Stronger defenses would allow for U.S. offensive reductions without increasing vulnerability or risk. Alower requirement for offensive capabilities would also take some pressure off the U.S. nuclear enterprise, which is being stretched thin by the demands of the modernization program. However, such an outcome seems highly unlikely.

This article by Eric Gomez first appeared at CATO.

Image:Israel's U.S.-backed Arrow-3 ballisticmissileshield is seen during a series of live interception tests over Alaska, U.S., in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on July 28, 2019. Courtesy Israel Ministry ofDefensevia REUTERS

NASA – Robotics Alliance Project

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

The 2020 FIRST Robotics Regional Competitions are finally upon us! Are you ready? Check out our compilation of webcasts in the link below! Webcasts will be linked as they become available.

+ Regional Webcast List+ NASA FRC Awards List

The 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition kickoff marks the beginning of the design and build season for the FIRST Robotics Competition. Teams have the opportunity to meet at "local" Kickoffs to compare notes, get ideas, make friends, find mentoring teams, learn the game, pick up the Kit of Parts, and get geared up for the exciting competition season. The 2020 Kickoff took place on Saturday January 4th, 2020.

+Watch the Kickoff Archive+Watch the Field Tour Video

NASA is proud to announce the return of the "NASA RAP FRC Field Viewer" application. This Android application allows users to explore current and previous FIRST Robotics Competition Fields utilizing their Android devices. You can explore the field in VR using Google Cardboard or just the handset's screen and a virtual gamepad. Users can "fly" around the FRC field to view any angles of the field they want in VR to gain a better understanding of the FRC Field.

Scan the QR Code to access the Android App's Google Play Store Link!

Engineers attached NASA's Mars Helicopter, which will be the first aircraft to fly on another planet, to the belly of the Mars 2020 rover today in the High Bay 1 clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The twin-rotor, solar-powered helicopter was connected, along with the Mars Helicopter Delivery System, to a plate on the rover's belly that includes a cover to shield the helicopter from debris during entry, descent and landing. The helicopter will remain encapsulated after landing, deploying to the surface once a suitable area to conduct test flights is found at Jezero Crater, the rover's destination.

The Mars Helicopter is considered a high-risk, high-reward technology demonstration. If the small craft encounters difficulties, the science-gathering of the Mars 2020 mission won't be impacted. If the helicopter does take flight as designed, future Mars missions could enlist second-generation helicopters to add an aerial dimension to their explorations.

The highly anticipated moment that all the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams that submitted an application for a NASA FRC grant, has finally arrived! NASA's award selection is listed in the following link. If your FRC team submitted an application for a NASA FRC registration grant, please review the awards list to verify your award status.

+ NASA FRC Awards List

Watch NASA's Mars 2020 Rover being built at the Spacecraft Assembly Facility (SAF) cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Engineers are building and testing NASA's next Mars Rover, Mars 2020, before it is shipped to its launch site, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. Engineers are currently working on putting the rover together. There are live webchats Mon.-Thur. at 11:00am and 4:00pm PDT with additional moderated chats when special activities occur.

Follow the Robotics Alliance Project on Twitter! We use twitter to post about announcements, new features, and much more!

Follow @NASA_RAP on Twitter!

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NASA - Robotics Alliance Project

Where top VCs are investing in medical and surgical robotics – TechCrunch

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

The medical and healthcare categories have been leading robotic innovation for decades. Look no further than Intuitive Surgical, whose da Vinci robot has been performing surgery since it received FDA clearance in the early 2000s. These days, the SRI spinoff is currently valued at more than $60 billion.

Theres a lot of money to be made for established companies and still areas to be explored for young startups, both on and off the operating table. The venture community has been betting big on companies developing everything from new surgical robots, assistive robots for medical facilities, robotic medical aid devices or otherwise.

Medical device and robotics startups raised roughly 600-700 rounds of venture capital in 2019, according to data from Pitchbook and Crunchbase, with most deals occurring at the early stage (over 25% of rounds occurred at the seed stage). With our 2020 Robotics+AI sessions event now just one week away, were diving back into another robotics sub-sector to see where robotics VCs are actually writing checks.

Just as we did with warehouse robotics last week and construction robotics the week before, we asked four leading VCs who are actively investing in medical and surgical robotics to share whats exciting them most and where they see opportunity in the sector:

Which trends are you most excited about in surgical/medical robotics from an investing perspective?

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Where top VCs are investing in medical and surgical robotics - TechCrunch

18 Michigan high school robotics teams headed to world championship – MLive.com

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

LANSING, MI -- Students from across Michigan will be heading to a robotics world championship.

A total of 18 high school teams from Michigan qualified for the 2020 VEX Robotics World Games in Louisville, Kentucky on April 22. The teams earned spots based on their performances at the state championships this week.

Those who qualified include teams from Grandville High School, Hudsonville High School, Caledonia High School, Carman-Ainsworth High School in Flint, Grand Traverse Academy, Harbor Beach High School and Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills.

The 2020 Michigan VEX Robotics State Championship featured 80 teams. About 1,500 teams are expected to compete in the world games.

A two-team alliance of Grandville High Schools Cataclyst Team and Hudsonville High Schools Q Team took home the top prize of Tournament Champions at the state competition.

That was a great moment," said Grandville High School senior Owen Green, a team captain for the Cataclyst team. "That was something since May I had the goal that I wanted to go and win the state championship.

"And weve been getting so close to winning other tournaments but havent been able to follow through. So finally when we got to states everything just kind of went the way we needed it to and our hard work and perseverance paid off.

Nine of the 18 teams from Michigan that qualified for the world competition come from Grandville. Doug Hepfer, a coach at Grandvilles robotics program, the RoboDawgs, said nine teams is the largest amount of teams going to the competition from a single school district.

Hepfer said there is a bunch of stuff going on in Grandville around this, and our teams tend to be fairly successful." The 22-year-old program recently got a bond to build an addition to the Robotics & Engineering Center to accommodate the increasing amount of students involved.

The state competition was held at Michigan State Universitys Jenison Field House.

Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment, scholarship and K-12 outreach in the MSU College of Engineering, said the university is happy to promote STEM education for high school students.

VEX introduces students to basic robot innovation, working together, troubleshooting and team fun," he said. "MSU is very proud to nurture these young engineers and designers for Michigans technology future.

Towers are placed around the playing field, where players get points by using their robots to pile the cubes onto the towers or by placing them in a goal. The opposing team can try to block the other teams movement of the cubes.

Luckily, we played with a really good Hudsonville tray bot as well and that allowed us to complement each other well, said Green, the Grandville student. And when it came down to the heavy defense we had in the finals we were able to cope with it a lot better than the other team could.

It will be Greens third time at the world championship.

I enjoy the challenge of trying to make something better out of something that already works well, and trying to kind of keep improving and then that drive just to do well, Green said.

Here is a full list of the winners of the 2020 MSU VEX High School State Championship:

Excellence Award: Cataclyst (Team 288A), Grandville High School

Tournament Champions: A two-team alliance of Cataclyst (Team 288A), Grandville High School and Q (Team 8031E) of Hudsonville High School

Innovate Award: VIRUS: Murphys Law (Team 3547Y), Technology First of Monroe

Create Award: Semi-Good (Team 98271B), Caledonia High School

Amaze Award: The A Team (Team 244D), Grandville Community Education

Build Award: Light Switch (Team 248A), Grandville Robotics

Design Award: MO Peeps (Team 1375D), Carman-Ainsworth High School, Flint

Think Award: Pi IS 3 (Team 7567C), Grand Traverse Academy

Judges Award: Pirates (Team 15017D), Harbor Beach High School

Robot Skills Champion: Just Act Natural (Team 244C), Grandville Community Education

Tournament Finalists: Just Act Natural (Team 244C), Grandville Community Education, and The A Team (Team 244D), Grandville Community Education

Tournament Semifinalists: Bring Back D.D. (Team 244B), Grandville Community Education; Light Switch (Team 248A), Grandville Robotics; Falcon (Team 98725B), Rochester Hills Christian School; and (Team 39A), Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills

Lego robotics team to take on the world – WXOW.com

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

La Crescent, MN - (WXOW) - A Lego robotics team from La Crescent has earned top honors at the Minnesota state competition, earning a place at the World Festival event in April.

Students at Crucifixion Elementary finished among the top three state competitors after facing off with 66 other Minnesota teams. Their Lego robot performed at the highest levels, earning outstanding marks in strategy, innovation and core values.

They capped off their state accolades with winning a Champions award from the judges, based on their team dynamic and cooperation.

"Lego League competition may be really stressful at times," said Diana Van Atta, an eighth-grader on the team. "But in the end, it's worth it. You get to spend months with a team that you're really familiar with as well as good friends with," she added.

Now it's back to the practice table where the team works out problems and solutions, brainstorming until the next big event. It's coming up in April as the team gets ready for the trip to Detroit, host of the Lego League 2020 World Championship. The team for Crucifixion will be one of only 108 teams in attendance.

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Lego robotics team to take on the world - WXOW.com

FIRST Robotics, building robots and breaking world records – Midland Daily News

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Danzig

Bullock Creek Team 3770, BlitzCreek is pictured during the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff at Bullock Creek High School with their World Record Pyramid. (Photo provided)

FIRST Robotics, building robots and breaking world records

Hundreds of local high school students and mentors recently gathered at Bullock Creek High School and at the Carpenter Robotics Center for the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition FRC international Kickoff broadcast event.

For this season, more than 100,000 high school students are participating in 35 countries worldwide.

After watching the broadcast, teams picked up their game manual and kit of parts and began strategizing and designing their robots. FRC Kickoff marks the beginning of the eight-week 'build season,' during which high school teams brainstorm, prototype, design, fabricate, and program their 140-pound robot for competition. Teams must build a unique, made-from-scratch robot each season.

As part of their 10-year team celebration, Bullock Creek's Team 3770 (Blitz Creek) also worked on breaking the Guinness World Record for tallest toilet paper pyramid, which was on display at Kickoff.

"We had an official height which is 16 feet, 3 and 5/8ths inches," said Maxton Herst, a senior on BlitzCreek. "That's almost two feet over what the current world record is."

Over 27,000 toilet paper rolls made up the pyramid, which took the team 16 hours to build.

BlitzCreek mentor Jamie Forbes said: "Robotics is a really cool program in the sense that it gives students not only the engineering background, but also the ability to put their hands and ideas into action. The team is very excited for the season. We have spent our build time tackling the game, which focuses on shooting and climbing in a Star Wars themed field."

The 2020 competition is called INFINITE RECHARGESM and is in alignment with the 'FIRST Rise' Star Wars theme for all FIRST programs. The challenge requires two alliances of three robots each to collect and score enough power cells into targets to be able to spin the color-coded control panel, which activates the Shield Generator. Near the end of the 2.5-minute match, robots climb on the Shield Generator Switch in the center of the field.

Students from Dow High's Team 2619 (The Charge) are among the teams designing and building their robots at the Carpenter Robotics Center.

"I like this year's game and am looking forward to see how much defense people play, along with seeing the different hanging designs for the Shield Generator Switch," said Robert Roe, a freshman on The Charge.

"Any game with climbing is going to be difficult," added David Watkins, a junior and assistant mechanical lead on The Charge. "The Switch swings around so it will definitely make it more interesting."

Many other local high school teams are also actively working on finishing their new robots, including Midland High's Team 5509 (Like a Boss), Midland Home School Team 5424 (Rogue Robots), Calvary Baptist Academy's Team 6753 (RoboKings), Freeland's Team 5166 (Fabricators), Hemlock's Team 5712 (Gray Matter) and Meridian's Team 5203 (Volatile Chaos Inhibitors).

FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" and seeks to inspire the next generation of science and technology leaders. Students have the opportunity to discover, explore, and innovate in a competitive and exciting environment.

H.H. Dow High School will once again host a FIRST Robotics District Competition for high school teams on March 20-21. The event is free to the public and all are welcome. More information can be found online at http://www.first-glbr.org/ and https://www.firstinspires.org/

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FIRST Robotics, building robots and breaking world records - Midland Daily News

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