| | | | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen ·Sep 30, 2020 | | ☕ Good Wednesday morning. Today's Smart Brevity™ count: 1,481 words ... 5½ minutes. 💻 Join Margaret Talev and me tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. ET for an Axios virtual event, with post-debate reaction from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and more. Register here. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Trump's two chilling warnings | | Photo: Morry Gash/Pool via Getty Images One of the few groups in America with anything to celebrate after last night's loud, ugly, rowdy presidential "debate" was the violent, far-right Proud Boys, after President Trump pointedly refused to condemn white supremacist groups. - Why it matters: This was a for-the-history-books moment in a debate that was mostly headache-inducing noise. Trump failed to condemn racist groups after four months when millions marched for racial justice in the country's largest wave of activism in half a century.
Trump also telegraphed with clarity that there's unlikely to be a clean outcome to the Nov. 3 election: "We might not know for months, because these ballots are going to be all over. ... It's a fraud and it's a shame. ... It's a rigged election." - On the Supreme Court, Trump said: "I think I'm counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely. I hope we don't need them, in terms of the election itself. But for the ballots, I think so, because what's happening is incredible."
- That could mean weeks or months of delay, even in a blowout.
Here's what happened: Toward the end of the opening presidential debate, Trump was asked: "Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence ... we saw in Kenosha and as we've seen in Portland?" - "Sure. I'm willing to do that," Trump told the moderator, Fox News' Chris Wallace, who was so frustrated by the president's disregard for the rules that at one point he offered to switch places.
- But then Trump never did. "I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing — not from the right wing," Trump said. "I'm willing to do anything — I want to see peace."
- "Then do it, sir," Wallace repeated.
"What do you want to call them?" Trump said. "Give me a name. Who would you like me to condemn?" - Joe Biden, who called Trump a "clown" during the debate, stepped in and prompted "Proud Boys," one of the country's best known hate groups. The Anti-Defamation League describes the group as: "Misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration."
- Then, the line that will echo. "The Proud Boys — stand back and stand by," Trump said. "But I'll tell you what ... somebody's gotta do something about Antifa and the left. This is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem."
The Proud Boys account on the secure messaging platform Telegram turned "Stand back … stand by" into a logo right after the debate, Axios' Ina Fried reports. - "President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA ... well sir! we're ready!!" Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs wrote on Parler, a conservative social-media platform. "Trump basically said to go [eff] them up! this makes me so happy."
- "STAND BACK ... STAND BY" was also emblazoned on a Proud Boys T-shirt.
- The N.Y. Times reported that when asked what the president meant by "stand by," Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said it was "very clear he wants them to knock it off."
As Trump tried to run away with the debate, Biden rarely looked at him and mostly addressed Wallace or spoke directly tot he camera. Biden's strategy, Axios' Hans Nichols reports: Ignore Trump and speak straight to the American public. - By contrast, Trump spent most of the night speaking directly at Biden, who either looked down or looked perplexed at Trump's charges and claims.
- Trump was Trump: indomitable, indiscriminate, incandescent.
The bottom line: Neither Democrats nor Republicans were convinced that their guy won. And it's hard to believe many Americans are eager to tune in to the next two debates. - Biden's campaign told Axios' Alexi McCammond that he'll show up for the remaining debates — on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22, after next week's vice presidential debate — so he can continue to spotlight contrasts with Trump.
Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. The debate WAS social media | | Photo: Olivier Douliery/Pool via AP Last night's debate in Cleveland was like a 90-minute spin through the hellhole of modern social media, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes: - You can't help but log in — or turn on. You laugh, yell, cringe — then comment and share.
- It instantly teases out the worst of us — in this case, Trump's wild, childish taunts and Biden calling him a liar, a clown and telling him to shut up.
Ninety minutes later, your anxiety is through the roof — and you realize you are exponentially dumber than when you turned the damned TV on. | | | | | | | | 3. Coronavirus' alarming impact on the body |  | | | Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios | | | | Scientists are racing to learn more about the damage that coronavirus can do to the heart, lungs and brain, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes. - Why it matters: It's becoming increasingly clear that some patients struggle with its health consequences — and costs — far longer than a few weeks.
The virus can have a severe impact on the lungs, as you might expect. Pneumonia associated with the disease can damage air sacs in the lungs, and the resulting scar tissue can cause long-term breathing problems. - But researchers conducting autopsies have also found evidence of the virus in parts of the brain, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract and in the cells that line blood vessels, the Washington Post has reported. They've also found clotting in many organs.
- And problems with the vascular system — the body's network of blood vessels — "could unleash a global surge in vascular diseases, from stroke and atherosclerosis to myocarditis and heart attack," experts wrote in a recent WashPost op-ed.
The bottom line: Even if we manage to get the coronavirus under control, whether that's through a vaccine or behavior modification, we're going to be dealing with its effects for a long time. | | | | | | | | 4. Jerome Powell, Trump's re-election MVP |  | | | Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photos: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP and Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket, both via Getty Images | | | | If President Trump wins, it will largely be because Americans see him as the force rallying the economy. But the man behind booming U.S. asset prices is really Fed chair Jerome Powell, Axios Markets editor Dion Rabouin writes. Reality check: It is Powell, not Trump, that Wall Street credits for the stock market's return to all-time highs, even in the face of the worst economic collapse in U.S. history last quarter. - That's got many voters feeling the "wealth effect" — a greater belief in economic strength and confidence when the value of homes and investment portfolios rise — despite the fact that only half of Americans own stocks and more than 80% of equities are held by the top 10% of households.
The intrigue: Powell has gone above and beyond the actions of previous Fed chairs to boost markets. His course correction in 2019 to lower U.S. interest rates and restart the Fed's massive bond-buying program in the midst of a strong U.S. economy was controversial, but helped power the S&P 500 higher by 30%. - This year, Powell's decision to roll interest rates back to zero and provide markets with $3 trillion in liquidity has kept stock indexes hitting record highs even as close to 30 million Americans collect unemployment benefits.
- And the promise of unlimited asset purchases, including buying bonds from trillion-dollar companies like Apple and even companies with "junk" credit ratings in March, has been described as "unprecedented."
- The Fed and other central banks effectively "nationalized" the market for government and corporate bonds, strategists at Bank of America said in a note to clients in mid-July, helping lead to "irrationally" high stock prices.
The big picture: The Fed's impact has helped keep eyes trained on record-high equity indexes and away from spiking job losses, rising food insecurity, a growing trade deficit with China, a national debt nearing $27 trillion and a debt-to-GDP ratio on pace to be the worst in history. | | | | | | | | 5. We're drinking more |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | Americans reported drinking alcohol more frequently and in higher quantities in the first half of this year compared to 2019, Axios' Marisa Fernandez writes from a study published in JAMA. - Why it matters: Experts have warned the stress of the pandemic has fomented alcohol and drug abuse.
The greatest changes were among women and people ages 30 to 59. - On average, alcohol was consumed one day more per month by three of four adults.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | 6. Amazon's Palm ID | | Photo: Amazon via AP Amazon has introduced palm-recognition technology in a pair of cashier-free Amazon Go stores in Seattle, and sees a broader potential audience in stadiums, offices and other gated or secured locations, AP reports. - The company chose palm recognition, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail & Technology, because it's more private than other biometric technology.
- "And it's contactless, which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times," Kumar wrote in a blog post.
The company expects to roll it out as an option in other Amazon stores in the coming months, which could mean Whole Foods grocery stores. | | | | | | 📱 Thanks for starting the day with AM! Invite your friends to sign up for Axios AM/PM. | |
اللباس التقليدي الحضرمي للرجال مرحبا بكم في سلسلة اللباس التقليدي الحضرمي .. لنتعرف معا على تراثنا ...وربما أن بعض هذه الملابس لم تعد مس...
شغل الشاعر سعيد فرج باحريز رحمه الله الناس في المكلا وحضرموت عموماً باشعاره التي كانت لها مدلولات عميقة وثاقبة ومعانٍ بليغة وحكيم...
