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Democracy

Biden knew exactly what to say when asked if Trump put him at risk of catching Covid

Joe Biden covid-19, Trump covid-19 biden debate, mark meadows

Joe Biden at a press conference Wednesday.

A bombshell new report published in The Guardian on Wednesday alleges that former President Donald Trump may have knowingly had COVID-19 in his first debate against then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on September 29, 2020.

The allegation was made by Trump's fourth, and final, chief of staff Mark Meadows in his upcoming book, “The Chief’s Chief.” If what Meadows says is true, it means that Trump put countless lives in danger just to participate in the debate, including Biden who was 77 at the time.

In September 2020, there were no COVID-19 vaccines and treatments for the virus were less effective than they are today.

After Biden responded to a question on supply chain issues on Wednesday, a reporter asked the president about the allegation. His response was curt, to say the least.

“Mark Meadows has written a book revealing that President Trump tested positive for COVID three days before your first debate. Do you think the former president put you at risk?" the reporter asked.

“I don’t think about the former president. Thank you.” Biden said before walking away from the podium.


In his new book, Meadows says that Trump tested positive three days before his scheduled debate with Biden. The positive test came shortly after the administration’s Rose Garden ceremony for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. In the days that followed, the ceremony was discovered to be a super-spreader event, with nearly a dozen people who attended the event later testing positive for the virus.

Trump and his allies learned of the result during a helicopter flight aboard Marine One for a campaign event in Middletown, Pennsylvania.

Shortly after the result came through, Meadows had the former president take another test, this time with the newer, BinaxNOW system.

After a “brief but tense wait,” the test came back negative.

On the day of the debate, the Trump team arrived late so there wasn’t enough time to test the president. The debate operated on the honor system even though each candidate was supposed to test negative for the virus within 72 hours of the start time. “Nothing was going to stop [Trump] from going out there,” Meadows said.

The White House never mentioned the positive test three days before the debate, a completely irresponsible move that mirrors Trump’s cavalier attitude in how he handled the pandemic as a leader.

The first Biden-Trump debate was chaotic, marked by Trump's incessant interruptions of the former vice-president. Biden also stumbled frequently during the exchange and became so frustrated with his opponent’s interjections that he demanded, "Will you shut up, man?"

Three days after the debate, Trump announced by tweet that he and his wife, Melania Trump, were positive for the virus. After a three-day stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Trump was discharged and returned to the White House.

Joe Biden would go on to win the 2020 presidential election that November.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

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A new study seems to reinforce this idea. And much to our surprise, it's centered on headlines used in Upworthy stories.

Using a public archive of Upworthy headlines and traffic data from 2012 to 2015, two separate teams of researchers analyzed whether people's click tendencies changed with negative or positive words in headlines. In those olden days of Upworthy, a handful of headlines for a single story were tested on the website to see which one would receive the most clicks. The research teams analyzed those results and found that negative words in headlines led to more people clicking on a story (2.3% more), and positive words in headlines led to fewer clicks (1.0% fewer). They also found a preference for headlines that express sadness over those that express joy, fear or anger.

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The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

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According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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A doctor specializing in child development shares 5 of her most surprising parenting tips

"How To Discipline Your Child So They Actually Learn" is one of her more popular videos.

via drkristynsommer / TikTok

Parenting is the most important job that most people will ever have in life. Your decisions as a parent will be some of the most important determining factors in whether your child becomes a happy and productive adult or not. It's a huge responsibility.

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Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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