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‘Laughable’: Trump’s TV ad complaint swatted away by NYT opinion editor

A New York Times opinion editor wrote Tuesday that while Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have run about the same number of ads in swing states, they're "worlds apart" in tone — and any notion from Trump that the Harris campaign has been too negative is "laughable."
Gus Wezerek published an analysis Tuesday after watching every presidential campaign ad that aired on broadcast stations from Aug. 1 to Oct. 25. After labeling them "positive," "contrast" or "negative," he found a "stark difference.
While Harris' ads varied in tone, Trump's ads, he found, were "mostly negative."
"Republicans have been much more consistent in their messaging," Wezerek said. "When Harris went high, they went low, over and over again."
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The analysis comes after Trump told "Fox & Friends" earlier this month that he thinks networks shouldn't be allowed to run "negative ads" about him until after the election.
"In the old days, you never played negative ads. In other words, when I leave here, I’ll then be hit by five or six ads, and in the old days…” he said.
Trump's complaint about Harris’s "relatively few negative ads particularly laughable," wrote Wezerek.
"If the network applied the same standards to Trump, his campaign wouldn’t have many ads left to run," he concluded.
‘More chaos’: First excerpts released of Kamala Harris’ closing arguments speech in D.C.

Vice President Kamala Harris will try to once again set herself apart from Donald Trump when she delivers her closing argument speech Tuesday night at the Ellipse in Washington D.C. – the site of the former president’s Jan. 6, 2021, remarks that followed the Capitol riot and insurrection attempt.
“America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind. More chaos. More division. And policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else. I offer a different path. And I ask for your vote,” Harris will say, according to early excerpts released of the speech.
In her address to the country, which comes a week before Election Day, Harris will offer a promise to the American people.
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“I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your lives better. I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress. I pledge to listen to experts. To those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. And to people who disagree with me,” according to the first excerpts.
She will also seek to distinguish herself from Trump, whose campaign is on the offensive amid fallout from disturbing and racist remarks that emerged from his controversial New York City rally.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my table. And I pledge to be a president for all Americans. To always put country above party and above self.”
‘Train has left the station’: Radio host says Trump rally ended chances with these voters

Former President Donald Trump is planning an event in Pennsylvania with prominent Puerto Rican supporters amid fallout from Puerto Rico being called a "floating island of garbage" at his weekend rally in Madison Square Garden.
But Victor Martinez, owner of the La Mega radio station, told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that it's too late for Trump — he has done irreparable damage.
"He never backs down. He never apologizes," said Wallace. "Are you expecting him to apologize tonight for his political purpose? And do you think people will buy it?"
"Well, No. 1: No. I don't expect him to apologize," said Martinez. "And I'm glad you asked that question because I specifically asked my audience this morning that. I told my audience, 'Ok, so if all of a sudden Trump finds God and decides that he wants to apologize or take back or distance himself from those comments, would it be okay? Would you take it?' Audience overwhelmingly said, 'No, too late.' Some of them even said the train has left the station. He could have done it Sunday. He could have done it Monday. He could have done it this morning. And yet, he didn't."
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One listener in particular intrigued Martinez.
"She called and she said, I follow Trump on Truth Social. And he found time yesterday at 2:00 — she was very specific, at 2:00 to go to Truth Social and criticize Fox News for having Michelle Obama on the air, but yet he hasn't found time to go to Truth Social and distance himself or apologize for what happened in his rally. So, those are the types of comments that I'm getting from the audience who obviously are now very engaged."
And it's not just his listeners, Martinez added — Puerto Rican celebrities and influencers are running with it at this point.
"Major Puerto Rican superstar Don Omar, who has been part of the 'Fast and Furious' movies and very well-known artist, just posted on his social media, 'Puerto Rico is my homeland and my identity. Today, more than ever, I raise my island's flag in pride. It's time to turn the page. We are not going back.' Supporting Kamala Harris. And another piece of breaking news. Jenniffer Gonzalez, the Puerto Rico representative in Washington and now also candidate for governor in Puerto Rico, a strong Trump supporter, just now in Puerto Rico television, said that these comments will cost Donald Trump in the states where Puerto Ricans live."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The View host heavily bleeped as she unleashes profane tirade against Trump rally joke

"The View's" co-host Ana Navarro was incensed after a comedian at Donald Trump's rally in New York's Madison Square Garden called Puerto Rico a "floating pile of garbage" — and on Monday she unleashed.
Navarro, an immigrant from Nicaragua and longtime Republican strategist, joined with her Puerto Rican colleague Sunny Hostin in bashing Trump and his campaign for what they said was embracing racism.
"This Puerto Rican has something to say about the island that I love, where my family is from," Hostin began. "Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump. Americans. We voluntarily serve disproportionately highly in the military while you have bone spurs, and we vote."
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She rattled off the high number of Puerto Ricans who live in swing states around the country and highlighted their possible impact.
"We don't like what was said about Puerto Rico, and we know how to take the trash out, Donald Trump," Hostin continued. "Trash that has been collecting since 2016, and that's you, Donald Trump. And fellow Puerto Ricans, trash collection day is November 5, 2024. Don't forget it."
But it was a fuming Navarro who unleashed her full force. She noted that the same comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, didn't just focus on Latinos but attacked Black Americans, too.
She brought up some of Trump's racist behavior, such as asking for the death penalty for the now exonerated men who were accused of a Central Park sexual assault.
"If Trump getting investigated for refusing to rent to Black people wasn't enough for you, if Trump promoting a racist trope against the first Black president with a birtherist ... enough for you," Navarro continued, her comments partially muted by censors.
She continued with her list of the greatest hits of Trump's racism, such as "calling immigrants vermin and people poisoning the blood of this country."
"If Trump saying immigrants have made this country into the trash can of the world wasn't enough for you, then maybe, just maybe, this comedian hand-picked, chosen, vetted by the Trump campaign because he reflects what Trump has said his entire lifetime," Navarro said.
Trump lawyers use hurricane in request to delay Jack Smith response

Donald Trump's lawyers have asked for an extension of their filing deadlines to respond to special counsel Jack Smith's latest motion due to a hurricane in Florida.
The former president's attorneys argued that they were displaced and disrupted when Hurricane Milton made landfall earlier this month near Sarasota, so they asked the court to extend their deadlines to respond to the special counsel's 165-page immunity motion until December.
"Needless to say, questions of Presidential immunity, and immunity-related discovery, are complex and require substantial resources to consider and brief, as the Special Counsel’s own enormous submission demonstrates," defense attorneys wrote.
"Despite difficulties, defense counsel have made multiple filings this month in good faith, including a lengthy proposed motion to dismiss concerning a complex and evolving area of the law, Doc. 270, all while continuing to draft the Response and Motion to Compel as quickly as able."
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"The requested extensions will ensure counsel have sufficient and reasonable time to finish this important work, while not causing any significant delay to the overall progress of this case," they added.
Trump's attorneys asked for a Nov. 7 deadline for their response to be extended until Dec. 5 and a Nov. 21 deadline for another filing to be reset to Dec. 19.
The former president's trial for election subversion in the District of Columbia has been delayed by his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted him broad presidential immunity in a July ruling. The special counsel filed an amended indictment that removed some charges that could be considered official acts that would be covered by the immunity.
Mowed down by cars, European hedgehog numbers shrinking

The Western European hedgehog -- the prickly, nocturnal critter people love to encounter in the garden -- is in decline, mowed down by cars as its shrinking habitat forces it to move ever closer to humans.
An updated Red List of Threatened Species published Monday at the UN's COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, downgraded the hedgehog's status from "least concern" to "near threatened."
The next level on the list kept by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is "vulnerable," then "endangered."
The European hedgehog, expert Sophie Rasmussen told AFP, "is very close to being 'vulnerable,' and it will likely go into that category the next time we evaluate it."
Numbers of the tiny mammal have plunged by more than half its host countries including Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.
The estimated decline was between 35 and 40 percent of populations measured in Britain, Sweden and Norway in the last decade or so, said Rasmussen, a researcher with the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit.
In the Netherlands, it is already considered endangered.
The main killer of hedgehogs is cars -- which the animals encounter more and more as they lose their natural habitat to human expansion.
"Humans are the worst enemies of hedgehogs," said Rasmussen.
- 'Hedgehog highways' -
To protect itself from predators such as badgers, foxes and owls at night, the hedgehog uses the strategy of standing completely still as it assesses the threat.
If the menace approaches, it runs as far as its little legs can carry it. But if there is no time, it rolls up into a ball -- protected by as many as 8,000 spines, sharp to the touch.
"In front of a car, it is not a really good strategy," Rasmussen, who calls herself Dr Hedgehog and speaks with great passion about the spiky mammals, told AFP in a video interview from Lejre in Denmark.
Other threats include pesticides used by farmers and gardeners, and a decline in the insects that make up a large part of the hedgehog's diet.
Hedgehogs generally live for about two years, though some as old as nine or 12 have been documented.
They can start breeding from around 12 months of age, usually giving birth to three or five hoglets at a time.
"This means that many hedgehogs get to breed once, or twice perhaps if they're lucky, on average before they die," said Rasmussen -- just enough "to keep the population going at some level."
Soon, this may not be enough.
Rasmussen, whose research went into the Red List update, said the fight to save hedgehogs "is actually going to take place in people's gardens" as forests and other wild areas are torn down.
She suggested people build "hedgehog highways" -- basically a CD-sized hole in the outer fence to allow the animals to get in off the road, with bowls of water and nesting materials such as garden waste placed inside.
"The best thing you can do is to let your garden grow wild to attract... all the natural food items of the hedgehog" such as insects, worms, snails and slugs," said Rasmussen.
She concedes "it's not like the world is going to end tomorrow if the hedgehogs are not there."
However, "for a species so popular and so loved, can we really accept the fact that we are causing their extinction?
"And if we let it get so bad with a species we actually really care about, what about all the species we don't care about?"
The new, updated Red List has evaluated 166,061 species of plants and animals in all, of which 46,337 -- more than a quarter -- are threatened with extinction.

