= new reply since forum marked as read
Event was a DNC fundraiser (I'm a member of their National Finance Committee). There was a photo line with the President, where I had a chance to chat about our awkward first meeting...forty years ago (I blocked him from entering a DNC midterm conference in 1982 because I didn't know who he was).
Biden spoke extemporaneously for about an hour. The big message was about the upcoming elections and the implications for our future ("the next two years will decide the next twenty"
and the world implications therein ("when I met world leaders, I said 'the US is back', and the response was "for how long?" . If Republicans win, "'I'll be spending all my time with a veto pen." but there won't be a lot of initiatives moving forward.
He went through a litany of issues, including guns ("I'm gonna ban assault rifles" , the DISCLOSE act (requiring dark money groups to disclose donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle), climate change ("an existential issue" , abortion and contraceptive access (he's instructed DOJ to protect rights -- such as the ability to cross state lines for Plan B and procedures) LGBTQ rights, etc.
He also got into a extended discussion with someone in the crowd with a cancer research foundation. He's endeavoring to provide money through the moonshot program, but raised the concern that the separate foundations are unwilling to share information with each other ("everyone looks in the mirror and sees a Nobel Prize..." .
Here's the write-up from the press pool: https://news.yahoo.com/biden-joins-deniro-eric-adams-010412672.html
