News Roundup 11/08/19
Judge fines Trump $2 million for misusing charity foundation
Last year the New York attorney general’s office issued a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. Trump was fined $2 million by Judge Saliann Scarpulla for using his charities to advance his business and political career. In a statement made Thursday, Trump suggested he was not in the wrong or sorry for giving his presidential campaign staff permission to coordinate with the Trump Foundation in order to help his political campaign. Trump has admitted to arranging the charity to pay for a $10,000 6 foot portrait of him. Trump’s foundation will be dissolved and remaining funds will be given to other nonprofit organizations.
Source: Associated Press
Michael Bloomberg opens door to 2020 presidential campaign
Former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg is considering beginning a campaign as a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. He has filed to get on the ballot in Alabama's presidential primary. Although he has taken some steps to secure his position in the race for the 2020 presidential election, it is still not a concrete idea. Adviser Howard Wolfso said Bloomberg is worried about the top Democratic presidential candidates not being well positioned to defeat Donald Trump. Bloomberg is a former Republican who registered as a Democrat last year. He supported Hilary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaigns, while damaging Trump's image.
Source: USA Today
Got a weird text? A telecom vendor says it’s to blame
On Friday morning masses of people received confusing messages from family, friends and the incidental ex. The one to blame is Syniverse, a telecom vendor who said that on Feb. 14 a server failed and messages from multiple carriers did not go through. The server was reactivated Thursday, which proceeded to send out all of the messages. Initially Syniverse estimated that about 170,000 messages were sent out. They now claim that the number was higher, but did not state a specific number. The sudden release of the messages had dramatic effects for some people. The company is now reviewing their internal procedures so this mistake will not occur again.
Source: Associated Press
US officials identify ‘strong culprit’ in vaping illnesses
On Friday, U.S. health officials announced a breakthrough into the cause of the mysterious outbreak of vaping illnesses. Vitamin E acetate was the chemical compound that was found in the fluid taken from the lungs of 29 patients across the country. Officials have claimed that this is the first time they’ve found a common suspect in the damaged lungs of patients. Agency officials have warned that they cannot rule out other toxic substances and will have to conduct animal studies to clearly show what causes the lung damages. Over 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick since March, and at least 40 people have died.
Source: Associated Press
Trump launches black outreach effort for 2020
In the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump reached out to African American voters by saying they had nothing to lose. On Friday, Trump gave the same message as he launched a black voters coalition in Atlanta, Georgia called Black Voices for Trump. Trump has spent most of his time demonizing Democrats and appears to be aiming to pit minority voters against immigrants. He has predicted to winning the 2020 reelection with the support of "hard working African American patriots" even though he has spent his presidential term engaging in racially charged attacks. Polls continue to show that African Americans have negative assessments of him, yet Trump's campaign has dismissed the numbers and insist they have seen favorable movements.
Source: Associated Press