July 10, 2024

Right now the people to be upset with are Senator Schumer and House Leader Jeffries...

...The continuing drip (yes its continuing) of Democratic House and Senate members and candidates expressing their concerns about Biden continuing as the Presidential candidate is in large part due to their opinion that Leadership won't tell them to stop, Speaker Pelosi would never allow this kind of freewheeling political discussion among the House Caucus members.

July 10, 2024

COOK POLITICAL REPORT moves six States closer to Trump in Electoral College race

https://twitter.com/CookPolitical/status/1810785033226957170

July 10, 2024

MAGA Senator Josh Hawley Advocates for Being a Christian Nationalist

Source: Daily Beast

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) assured the National Conservatism conference on Monday that he is a “Christian Nationalist.”

Hawley has previously written that “America as we know it cannot survive without biblical Christianity,” reiterated his Christian nationalist bona fides for the conservative conference.

“Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian nation. And so I am,” Hawley told the crowd. “And some will say that I am advocating Christian nationalism. And so I do.”

“Christian nationalism founded American democracy. The Christian political tradition is our political tradition.” the Missouri senator added.


Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-senator-josh-hawley-goes-mask-off-on-being-a-christian-nationalist-at-national-conservatism-conference?via=twitter_page

July 9, 2024

Letter from the White House Physician

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Letter7.8.24.pdf

July 9, 2024

Trump Loyalists Turn Project 2025 Into Republican Party Platform

This morning, Donald Trump’s campaign previewed an RNC platform in the style of their candidate’s unhinged, rambling, extreme rants. For once, they delivered, ripping straight from Project 2025 with a few strategic omissions to try and pull the wool over voters’ eyes.

Donald Trump’s policy “platform” reads more like the screed of an unhinged and unwell conspiracy theorist who hates America and is in it for himself. Because, well, it is.

According to the Times’ report, Trump’s top campaign advisers worked to have “policy specifics kept to a bare minimum” to avoid the public learning more about their unpopular agenda, including their plans to ban abortion nationwide with or without Congress.

The glaring omissions from Trump’s so-called “platform” are a reminder of what he’s trying to hide from the American people:
Donald Trump will ban abortion nationwide with or without Congress. He’s said so publicly and privately, as have his allies, who “trust” him to get it done.
Donald Trump will repeal Obamacare, ripping health care away from tens of millions of Americans and throwing young people under 26 off their parents’ insurance, as he tried to do multiple times while in office.
Donald Trump will slash Social Security and Medicare – and proposed doing so every year he was in office.
Donald Trump will raise costs for workers to line the pockets of his billionaire donors, as he has promised to do behind closed doors.
Donald Trump will abandon our NATO allies and encourage Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that Trump’s team barred the press and C-SPAN cameras from RNC platform committee meetings for the first time in years. An RNC spokesperson admitted to the Times that the Trump team “withheld the names of the representatives in order to insulate them” from the scrutiny of the American people.

Unfortunately for Trump and his allies, their platform is already public – a 900-page handbook on extremism known as Project 2025. More and more voters are tuning in to – and horrified by – Donald Trump’s agenda.

A reminder of just how far Donald Trump will go to bring Project 2025 to fruition:
Empower himself to get ‘revenge’ on his enemies and weaponize the DOJ to prosecute them
Conduct the largest deportation operation in American history
Undo all Biden-era environmental progress and replace green energy sources with oil and nuclear energy
Gut the Department of Education
Destroy democracy to ensure elections are only “secure” if he wins
Censor books and American history
Disintegrate the separation between religion and state, forcing students to read the Bible and pray in school

Biden-Harris 2024 Spokesperson James Singer released the following statement:

“Every voter should Google Project 2025 if they want to know Donald Trump's true agenda for America. What was put out today was not a platform, it was a cheap, in all caps admission that Trump and his campaign want to hide from his dangerous Project 2025 agenda to make Trump a dictator on day one, destroy our system of checks and balances, cut Social Security, ban abortion and worse.”
###

Paid for by Biden for President

July 9, 2024

Remarks By Dr. Jill Biden On the Launch of Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris in Tampa, Florida

The following are remarks as prepared for delivery for Dr. Jill Biden on the launch of Veterans and Military families for Biden-Harris in Tampa, Florida:
…
It’s great to be back in Tampa. And I’m so glad to be here at Seminole Post 111.
Let me say a special word of thanks to Commander David Toll for welcoming us.
I really appreciate all the work that the American Legion does to support veterans, military families, and this community.

Four years ago, Joe went from being a military dad to being the Commander-in-Chief.

It’s a responsibility he stepped into with pride.

Because—as Joe reminds everyone any chance he gets—our U.S. Military is the finest fighting force in the history of the world.

Of all the obligations that Joe has shouldered since he took the oath of office, he believes the only truly sacred obligation is to prepare those we send into harm’s way and to care for them and their families when they come home.

Anyone can tell you what they want to do. Joe Biden can tell you what he’s done.

For our military and their families: He signed the first and only Executive Order to make sure that military spouses can build the careers they want for themselves. He’s lowered the cost of child care and mental health services.

He ended the war in Afghanistan, because the sacrifice asked of our military families was too steep for too long.

For our veterans: He expanded access to IVF and maternity care. He signed the PACT Act to give veterans the benefits they’ve earned. And he’s working to end veterans’ suicide by expanding counseling programs and launching 9-8-8.

As Commander-in-Chief, President Biden wakes up every morning, ready to work for you. That’s what this election is all about: you.

For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he’s all in.

That’s the decision he’s made. And just as he has always supported my career,
I am all in too. I know you are too, or you wouldn’t be here today.

And with four more years, Joe will continue to fight for you—the military community that he—that we—are humbled and proud to call our own.

My father served in World War II as a Navy signalman.

And in 2003, our son, Beau, joined the Delaware Army National Guard and served for a year in Iraq. This is personal to us.

We know what it’s like to wait on a lagging phone call from across the world. To smile through another holiday with an empty chair at the table.

Let me ask you this. Does Donald Trump know what it’s like?

He disparages those who sacrificed for this country. His own chief of staff said he called POWs and those who died in war “losers” and “suckers.”

Said he didn’t want to be seen with injured veterans because it didn’t look good for him.

It’s disgraceful. But it’s not surprising.

Donald Trump wakes up every morning thinking about one person and one person only: himself. We know what Donald Trump was like as Commander-in-Chief.

He dismissed the military community… and diminished America’s leadership around the world.

And it would be worse this time. He says he wants to become a dictator on day one. He’s called the January 6th insurrectionists, “great patriots.”

And last week, the Supreme Court ruled that there are virtually no limits on what the President can do. Our democracy cannot withstand a Trump presidency with virtually no limits.

Service members honor their oath to support and defend the Constitution. We can’t trust Donald Trump to do the same. The military community deserves better.

You deserve a Commander-in-Chief who serves with integrity, wisdom, and character. And that’s my husband, Joe Biden.

Let me leave you with this.

I want you to remember what it felt like on the morning after the 2016 election, when we fell short.

Remember that feeling—how you woke up, and you said to yourself, “Oh, my God, what just happened?” We can’t let that happen again.
I don't want to wake up with that feeling, like, “Oh we should have started earlier, given more money, or I should have voted.”

No. We can’t take anything for granted.

We have to meet this moment as if our freedoms are at risk—because they are.

As if our democracy is on the line—because it is.

Today, we are launching Veterans and Military Families for Biden, because we need you in this election. Talk to your friends and families about what’s at stake. Sign up for phone banks and canvassing shifts.

And help us make sure everyone in this community has the ballots they need to vote no matter where they are stationed.

Together, we will win. And we will build an America that can always live up to the service and sacrifice you make.

Thank you.
###

Paid for by Biden for President

July 9, 2024

Business Leaders, Economic Experts Highlight President Biden's "Remarkable Comeback" and Donald Trump's "Enormous Risk"

New York Times: Under Biden, “America’s so-called ‘left behind’ counties — the once-great manufacturing centers and other distressed places that struggled mightily at the start of this century — have staged a remarkable comeback.”
Over the past few days, several business leaders and economic experts have reaffirmed in the New York Times and Business Standard what we’ve known for months: Donald Trump’s “dangerous” economic plan will skyrocket costs for average American families, while Joe Biden’s economic agenda will continue to strengthen the middle class.

In a New York Times op-ed out this morning, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and former American Express Chairman/CEO Kenneth I. Chenault warn that Donald Trump will:
Increase prices for American producers and consumers
Reduce our global competitiveness
Use regulation to reward loyalists and punish perceived enemies
Reward political allies in the oil and gas industry by throttling renewable energy
Damage to our markets and our economy
Embolden our adversaries
Undermine the rule of law

On the flip side, new analysis finds a “Remarkable Comeback” under Joe Biden in “left behind” counties.

“America’s so-called ‘left behind’ counties — the once-great manufacturing centers and other distressed places that struggled mightily at the start of this century — have staged a remarkable comeback. In the last three years, they added jobs and new businesses at their fastest pace since Bill Clinton was president.”

Rounding it out is economist Joseph Stiglitz’s take: there’s no question that Joe Biden “would be better for [the] US economy.”

According to Stiglitz, Trump’s economic response to COVID-19 was “inadequate” while Biden’s economic record has been “impressive,” citing the American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.

As Joe Biden continues to strengthen the American economy, let us not forget what additional recent analysis of Trump’s economic plans have found:
Axios: Trump's inflation bomb: How his second-term plans could make it worse
CNN: Trump’s trade agenda and the ensuing retaliation from trading partners would hurt the US economy by worsening inflation, killing jobs, depressing growth and spooking investors.
Moody’s: Trump’s agenda would trigger a recession by mid-2025, inflation would rise, and the U.S. would lose more than 3 million jobs.
Center for American Progress: Trump’s agenda would raise taxes for middle-income households by $5,100 to $8,300 while cutting taxes for the top 0.1 percent by at least $1.5 million annually.
PIIE: Under Trump’s agenda the top 1% will see a windfall under Trump, while working and middle-class families get a tax hike.

Read more below:

New York Times Opinion: The Enormous Risks a Second Trump Term Poses to Our Economy
[Robert E. Rubin and Kenneth I. Chenault, 7/8/24]
When it comes to economic policy, Mr. Trump is not a remotely normal candidate. A second Trump term would pose enormous risks to our economy.

[Trump’s first-term tax initiatives] added an estimated $3.9 trillion to the national debt … increasing demand in an already full employment economy while having a negligible effect on business investment.

Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda would further harm our fiscal picture. A Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget report said that extending the 2017 tax cuts alone would add another $3.9 trillion to the federal debt and increase our debt-to-G.D.P. ratio by approximately 10 percent. This would likely lead to higher interest rates and greater inflation while undermining business confidence, and could reduce our resilience in the face of future national-security or economic crises.

On trade, raising tariffs across the board — as Mr. Trump has promised repeatedly to do — would increase prices for American producers and consumers, reduce our global competitiveness and likely lead other countries to retaliate against our exporters.

When it comes to managing crises — an essential component of any president’s economic stewardship — Mr. Trump’s first term paints a troubling picture. As the pandemic spread across the United States, Trump bungled the response with indecision, a focus on politics over the public well-being and erratic behavior… There will inevitably be economic, geopolitical or other crises in future years, and Mr. Trump’s reactions to Covid provide a deeply troubling view of how he would deal with them.

Nearly every element of Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda would create great risk of economic harm. In aggregate, there is a high likelihood that his agenda would lead to chaos and unpredictability, including global instability, in that way reducing investment and business activity. Meanwhile, inflation would be increased by tariffs, immigration restrictions and larger fiscal deficits.

New York Times: A Remarkable Comeback
[Jim Tankersley, 7/8/24]
America’s so-called “left behind” counties — the once-great manufacturing centers and other distressed places that struggled mightily at the start of this century — have staged a remarkable comeback. In the last three years, they added jobs and new businesses at their fastest pace since Bill Clinton was president.

They defied recent trends — including a particularly grim stretch under Donald Trump — to rebound so strongly from the pandemic recession.

The new Economic Innovation Group analysis shows that, in terms of job growth, left-behind counties experienced three of their four worst years since the Great Recession on Trump’s watch.

The pandemic recession hit those counties harder than the rest of the country… But their recovery has been much stronger this time. Left-behind counties added jobs five times faster in the first three years of the Biden administration than they did in the first three years of the Trump administration. The flow of residents leaving them for better opportunities slowed.

Perhaps most strikingly, they have shared in a new-business boom that has swept the country since the pandemic. That didn’t happen after the Great Recession. From 2009 to 2016, for example, Bay County, Mich., lost 8 percent of its business establishments. Since 2020, it has gained 12 percent.

Business Standard: There’s no debating who would be better for US economy
[Joseph E. Stiglitz, 7/5/24]
Although Mr Trump cannot be blamed for Covid-19, he certainly bears responsibility for an inadequate response that left the United States with a death toll far above that of other advanced economies. While the virus disproportionately claimed the lives of the elderly, it also cut into the workforce, and those losses contributed to the work shortages and inflation that Mr Biden inherited.

Mr Biden’s own economic record has been impressive. Immediately after taking office, he secured passage of the American Rescue Plan, which made the country’s recovery from the pandemic stronger than that of any other advanced country. Then came the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided funding to start repairing crucial elements of the US economy after a half-century of neglect.

The next year, Mr Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which launched a new era of industrial policy that will ensure the economy’s future resilience and competitiveness. And with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the US finally joined the international community in fighting climate change and investing in the technologies of the future.

There was no excessive aggregate demand from the American Rescue Plan, at least not of a magnitude that could account for the level of inflation. Most of the blame lay with pandemic- and war-induced supply-side interruptions and shifts in demand.

Mr. Trump would raise tariffs, and the costs would mostly be passed on to U.S. consumers. Moreover, Mr. Trump would curtail immigration, which would make the labor market tighter and increase the risk of labor shortages in some sectors. And he would increase the deficit, the effects of which might induce a worried US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, thereby decreasing investment in housing, raising rents and housing costs even further.

Mr. Trump would continue attacking our universities and demanding massive cutbacks in research and development expenditures. The only reason these cuts weren’t made during his previous term is that he did not have his party completely in tow. Now, he does.
###

Paid for by Biden for President

July 8, 2024

Statement by Senator Mark Warner...

July 8, 2024

President Biden sounded a lot clearer and stronger on the donor call than he did in the ABC interview

"i'm staying in the race, period"

14 million votes / 87% in the Primary

"I realize you're taking a lot of heat"

"I'm getting a lot of grassroots support"

"18 events since the debate"

Feel a deep obligation to the faith and trust you placed in me."

"40 days to the convention / 120 days to the election; we can't waste any more time"

"I'm absolutely certain I'm the best person to beat Donald Trump"

"Time to put Trump in the bullseye"

"He's running away from everything he says he's for"

"Project 25 is a disaster for America"

"He can't go another day without explaining what he's doing"

16 Nobel Lauriats lay out what I'd be such a better President than he would be"

Robert Rubin op-ed: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/opinion/economic-risks-second-trump-term.html

Joseph Stiglitz article https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/biden-would-deliver-growth-trump-would-cause-inflation-and-higher-inequality-by-joseph-e-stiglitz-2024-07

"I'm not going anywhere folks"

July 8, 2024

New York Mayor Adams introduces.....the garbage can

https://twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/status/1810316572332089407