tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post823195228161111505..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Donald Trump's Only ChanceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-80531361448659139412020-08-13T12:06:48.665-04:002020-08-13T12:06:48.665-04:00Israel and United Arab Emirates Strike Major Diplo...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/us/politics/trump-israel-united-arab-emirates-uae.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">Israel and United Arab Emirates Strike Major Diplomatic Agreement</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 13<br /><br /><b>President Trump announced that Israel and the United Arab Emirates will establish “full normalization of relations” and that in exchange Israel will forgo for now “declaring sovereignty” over disputed West Bank territory.</b><br /><br />... and forgo for now plans to annex occupied West Bank territory in order to focus on improving its ties with the rest of the Arab world.<br /><br />In a surprise statement issued by the White House, Mr. Trump said that Israel and the U.A.E. will sign a string of bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, security, technology, energy and other areas while moving to allow direct flights between their countries and set up reciprocal embassies in each other’s nation.<br /><br />“As a result of this diplomatic breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty over areas outlined in the President’s Vision for Peace and focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world,” according to a statement released by the White House and described as a joint declaration of Israel, the U.A.E. and the United States.<br /><br />Mr. Trump summoned reporters to the Oval Office and said that he had spoken with leaders of the two countries. “Things are happening that I can’t talk about” but they are amazing, he told the reporters. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-45291301328763666832020-08-12T16:50:04.307-04:002020-08-12T16:50:04.307-04:00What Is QAnon?
At least 14 Republican candidates ...<a href="https://wbur.fm/30Db64N" rel="nofollow">What Is QAnon?</a><br /><br />At least 14 Republican candidates with links to QAnon have made their way into runoffs or onto the ballot this November.<br /><br />QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory and loosely organized network centered around the belief that the U.S. is controlled by a cabal of child sex trafficking, Democratic elites hell-bent on bringing down President Trump.<br /><br />Followers believe these elites, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, have gone so far as to manufacture the coronavirus to bring Trump down. They heed cryptic online dispatches of someone named Q who's anonymous — hence QAnon — who claims the highest government security clearance.<br /><br />QAnon adherence includes people young and old of many backgrounds who try to push their “deep state” narrative into the mainstream. They show up at Trump rallies in Q merchandise, shirts and hats. President Trump has retweeted Q-supporting accounts many times — including at least 90 times since the pandemic began, says Alex Kaplan of Media Matters. ...<br /><br />---<br /><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/us/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-georgia-primary.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon Supporter, Wins House Primary in Georgia</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 11<br /><br />Conspiracy theorists won a major victory on Tuesday as a Republican supporter of the convoluted pro-Trump movement QAnon triumphed in her House primary runoff election in Georgia, all but ensuring that she will represent a deep-red district in Congress.<br /><br />The ascension of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who embraces a conspiracy theory that the F.B.I. has labeled a potential domestic terrorism threat, came as six states held primary and runoff elections on Tuesday.<br /><br />Those races included a well-funded Democratic primary challenge to Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who emerged victorious to secure a clean sweep of re-election fights for the group of first-term Democratic congresswomen of color known as the Squad. ...<br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-85475861930712930412020-08-12T16:36:47.463-04:002020-08-12T16:36:47.463-04:00A president ignored: Trump’s outlandish claims inc...<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-ignored/2020/08/08/01aacfa6-d76f-11ea-9c3b-dfc394c03988_story.html" rel="nofollow">A president ignored: Trump’s outlandish claims increasingly met with a collective shrug</a><br /><br />Washington Post - August 9<br /><br />Shortly after a deadly explosion in Beirut this week, President Trump offered a theory — backed by no apparent evidence — that the devastating incident was “a terrible attack,” claiming “some of our great generals” thought it was likely the result of “a bomb of some kind.”<br /><br />Such a bold proclamation from a U.S. president would usually set off worldwide alarms. Yet aside from some initial concern among Lebanese officials, Trump’s assertions were largely met with a collective global shrug.<br /><br />More than 3½ years into his presidency, Trump increasingly finds himself minimized and ignored — as many of his more outlandish or false statements are briefly considered and then, just as quickly, dismissed. The slide into partial irrelevance could make it even more difficult for Trump as he seeks reelection as the nation’s leader amid a pandemic and economic collapse.<br /><br />In battling the coronavirus crisis, which has left more than 158,000 Americans dead, many of the nation’s governors have disregarded the president’s nebulous recommendations, instead opting for what they believe is best for their residents. So have the nation’s schools, with many of the country’s largest districts preparing for distance learning when they reopen this fall, despite Trump’s repeated calls for kids to return to classrooms in person. And the president’s own top public health officials are routinely contradicting him in public — offering grim, fact-based assessments of the raging virus in contrast to his own frequently rosy proclamations.<br /><br />Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, never seriously entertained Trump’s desire for a payroll tax cut in the latest coronavirus stimulus bill, and the president has been more of a spectator than a key player in negotiations. Even former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, often seems to ignore the president he is running against, focusing his messaging elsewhere. ...<br /><br />Biden, meanwhile, has made a core theme of his campaign the argument that Trump’s lack of credibility is eroding the presidency, as well as the relevancy of the United States on the world stage. He has called the president a “charlatan” and “a serial liar,” and criticized his response to the coronavirus, saying he should not be listened to.<br /><br />“He’s like a child who just can’t believe this has happened to him,” Biden said during a speech earlier this summer.<br /><br />At times, Biden has tried ignoring Trump altogether — or, when he does engage, doing so with a tone of exasperated mockery.<br /><br />“I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t drink bleach,” Biden wrote on Twitter in April, after Trump suggested injecting disinfectant as a means of combating the coronavirus, in a missive that became the platform’s most-liked tweet that week.<br /><br />John Anzalone, Biden’s pollster, said the strategy against Trump works because “a supermajority of people believe he’s a liar, so he can come into the Situation Room or he can come into people’s living rooms and they don’t believe him.”<br /><br />That represents an electoral weakness for Trump, Anzalone said, making it harder for the president to effectively diminish Biden. Part of that, he said, is how the public views Biden — as a generally decent man — but part of that is the president’s own credibility deficit.<br /><br />“His problem is that there’s also a collective shrug when he attacks Joe Biden,” Anzalone said. “He attacks, attacks, attacks, but people don’t believe his attacks. They kind of eye-roll and they shrug.” ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-25553462088890780432020-08-12T12:20:31.121-04:002020-08-12T12:20:31.121-04:00So many opinions far more complaints. Outright att...So many opinions far more complaints. Outright attacks on everything. But almost NO offering solutions They are so eager to tell you their "Opinion" of everything they think is wrong. Mostly they just rant and rave from frustration. They Government they complain about hasn't solved their problem. It's so ironic. There was a time things were different, People actually solved their own problems. Or if necessary formed a group to solve the problem. Point being Problems got solved, life went on. Not now, it's always someone else at fault. Personal responsibility, no longer exists. Cowards and weaklings replaced leaders who bravely took on the challenge of the unknown.And solved the problem. The too liberal left has morphed into a Cult religion, that practices Human sacrifice, creates guilt so it can control it as a political weapon. While it rewrites history. And installs a new vocabulary. Winston warned this was coming. Ben told us we were given a Republic, if we could keep it. There is only a sliver left and a sliver of time to rescue it. Where are the Brave when you need them? Will they rise in time and sweep the enemy out with the rest of the garbage? I have to believe they will. And that is the reason Capt. Bob is digging that miles deep hole in the middle of the swamp, it's a burial pit, the back fill will create a new mountain tall enough to tickle the clouds. Lead on McDuff millions are waiting to follow you into battle.The Emperor of the Northern provenceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11609961865628534899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-73129684391795608412020-08-11T09:38:00.154-04:002020-08-11T09:38:00.154-04:00Trump’s false push on preexisting conditions
WASH...<a href="https://apnews.com/5707eb98847a3c69632a2eea2e03a475" rel="nofollow">Trump’s false push on preexisting conditions</a><br /><br />WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is teasing the possibility of executive action to require health insurance companies to cover preexisting medical conditions, something that he says “has never been done before.”<br /><br /><b>It’s been done before.</b><br /><br />People with such medical problems have health insurance protections because of President Barack Obama’s health care law, which Trump is trying to dismantle. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-31061501046635884622020-08-11T09:05:25.528-04:002020-08-11T09:05:25.528-04:00States grapple with how to pay
...for their part ...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/world/coronavirus-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-415d81e2" rel="nofollow">States grapple with how to pay</a><br /><br />...for their part of the unemployment benefits that Trump promised.<br /><br />Even as President Trump promised relief for tens of millions of unemployed Americans who saw critical $600-a-week benefits lapse at the end of July, it was unclear how quickly states would be able to set up the new system required to distribute aid under Mr. Trump’s executive action.<br /><br />Experts warn that because the administration can only divert existing aid without the congressional approval of new funds, the combination of aid siphoned from a disaster relief fund with state aid may only last for a few weeks.<br /><br />Mr. Trump said on Monday that “a lot of money will be going to a lot of people very quickly.” He said he had instructed Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, to move as quickly as possible to make it happen. It was unclear whether the aid would materialize if lawsuits were filed challenging the legality of the president’s actions.<br /><br />Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said Mr. Trump’s directive would cost his state about $4 billion by the end of the year, making it little more than a fantasy. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said that no New Yorker would see enhanced unemployment benefits because of the president.<br /><br />Even some Republican governors said the order could strain their budgets and worried it would take weeks for tens of millions of unemployed Americans to begin seeing the benefit. ...<br /><br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-44215543672260637262020-08-11T09:02:09.186-04:002020-08-11T09:02:09.186-04:00Trump considers a rule that would block Americans ...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/world/coronavirus-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-5fac6d96" rel="nofollow">Trump considers a rule that would block Americans thought to have the virus from returning home</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 11<br /><br />President Trump is considering new immigration regulations that would allow border officials to temporarily block American citizens and legal permanent residents from returning to the United States from abroad if authorities believe they may be infected with the coronavirus.<br /><br />In recent months, Mr. Trump has imposed sweeping rules that ban entry by foreigners into the United States, citing the risk of allowing the virus to spread from hot spots abroad. But those rules have exempted two categories of people attempting to return: American citizens and noncitizens who have already established legal residence.<br /><br />Now, a draft regulation would expand the government’s power to prevent entry by citizens and legal residents in individual, limited circumstances. Federal agencies have been asked to submit feedback on the proposal to the White House by Tuesday, though it is unclear when it might be approved or announced. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-62133402494035407782020-08-11T08:57:49.693-04:002020-08-11T08:57:49.693-04:00Virus cases have surpassed 20 million worldwide
N...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/world/coronavirus-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-778d1173" rel="nofollow">Virus cases have surpassed 20 million worldwide</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 11<br /><br />The coronavirus has now sickened more than 20 million people worldwide, a number that has doubled in about six weeks, according to a New York Times database. The global death toll has reached nearly 735,000.<br /><br />More than 200,000 cases are being reported each day on average, according to the database.<br /><br />The United States leads all countries in cases, with 5.1 million. More than 47,000 cases and more than 530 deaths were announced across the nation Monday. The next highest caseloads are Brazil, with three million confirmed cases, and India, with 2.3 million.<br /><br />After lockdowns went into effect across the world in March, cases leveled off in April. But as countries began to reopen again, cases started to rise. The virus is resurgent in Europe at the moment, with Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain among the countries seeing cases rise. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-32928981475950825712020-08-11T08:53:59.332-04:002020-08-11T08:53:59.332-04:00Russian vaccine works ‘effectively enough,’ Presid...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/world/coronavirus-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-b092b4d" rel="nofollow">Russian vaccine works ‘effectively enough,’ President Putin said.</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 11<br /><br />A Russian health care regulator has become the first in the world to approve a vaccine for the coronavirus, President Vladimir V. Putin announced on Tuesday, though the vaccine has yet to complete clinical trials.<br /><br />The Russian dash for a vaccine has already raised international concerns that Moscow is cutting corners on testing to score political and propaganda points.<br /><br />Mr. Putin’s announcement came despite a caution last week from the World Health Organization that Russia should not stray from the usual methods of testing a vaccine for safety and effectiveness.<br /><br />Mr. Putin’s announcement became essentially a claim of victory in the global race for a vaccine, something Russian officials have been telegraphing for several weeks now despite the absence of published information about any late-phase testing.<br /><br />“It works effectively enough, forms a stable immunity and, I repeat, it has gone through all necessary tests,” Mr. Putin told a cabinet meeting Tuesday morning. He thanked the scientists who developed the vaccine for “this first, very important step for our country, and generally for the whole world.”<br /><br />Mr. Putin also said that one of his daughters had taken the vaccine.<br /><br />The Russian vaccine, along with many others under development in a number of countries in the effort to alleviate a worldwide health crisis that has killed at least 734,900 people, sped through early monkey and human trials with apparent success.<br /><br />But the Russian scientific body that developed the vaccine, the Gamaleya Institute, has yet to conduct Phase III tests on tens of thousands of volunteers in highly controlled trials, a process seen as the only method of ensuring a vaccine is actually safe and effective. ...<br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-62950054878967357872020-08-11T08:48:04.857-04:002020-08-11T08:48:04.857-04:00Biden’s VP Pick Is Said to Be Imminent
NY Times -...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/politics/biden-vp-pick.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">Biden’s VP Pick Is Said to Be Imminent</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 10<br /><br />WILMINGTON, Del. — Joseph R. Biden Jr. has told allies that he has interviewed every finalist in his vice-presidential search, and his advisers are planning an announcement for the middle of the week, people briefed on the selection process said on Monday.<br /><br />In a sign that the choice is now in Mr. Biden’s hands alone, the four-member committee that screened his potential running mates is said to have effectively disbanded — its work is complete, Biden allies said, and there is little left to do except for Mr. Biden to make up his mind.<br /><br />Mr. Biden’s political team has prepared rollout plans for several of the finalists, and he is expected to announce his decision as soon as Tuesday, though more Democrats expect it to come on Wednesday. The former vice president, however, has not been known for his punctuality so far in the presidential race and the timeline could well slip again.<br /><br />Mr. Biden has spoken with the vice-presidential candidates through a combination of in-person sessions and remote meetings over the last few weeks, but the exact timing and circumstances of all of the meetings are not clear. Close advisers to Mr. Biden said he had been directly in touch with all of the leading candidates. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-11240627761293989422020-08-10T08:52:28.766-04:002020-08-10T08:52:28.766-04:00(The tension in the land is palpable, but mostly f...(The tension in the land is palpable, but mostly for other reasons.)<br /><br /><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/09/2020-election-bidens-vp-announcement-comes-week/3317476001/" rel="nofollow">It's decision time for Joe Biden</a><br /><br />AP via @usatoday - August 9<br /><br />WASHINGTON – The week Joe Biden will announce his running mate has finally arrived.<br /><br />Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Susan Rice, former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, have emerged as the top contenders. Either one would make history as the first Black woman to be a running mate.<br /><br />Biden, who has made it clear earlier he'll choose a woman as his running mate, is also considering Rep. Karen Bass of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-9462144567283525072020-08-10T08:22:28.355-04:002020-08-10T08:22:28.355-04:00If Trump loses, expect him to exact revenge on his...<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/10/opinion/if-trump-loses-expect-him-exact-revenge-his-way-out/?event=event25" rel="nofollow">If Trump loses, expect him to exact revenge on his way out</a><br /><br />Boston Globe - Ralph Nader - August 10<br /><br />During a July 21 speech, Trump asserted that Article II <br />of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever <br />I want as president.”<br /><br />Beware of the perils of President Trump’s infernal interregnum between Nov. 4 and Jan. 20, 2021, should he lose the election. During a speech in July, Trump asserted that Article II of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want as president.” In an interview with Fox’s Chris Wallace last month, he suggested he may not accept the results of the November election should he lose, saying “I have to see.” Some have walked out the possibility of Trump creating a post-election constitutional crisis.<br /><br />If he is defeated, he may demonstrate his vengeance in the 77 days between the election and inauguration. Here are some actions that he could unleash:<br /><br />(Do various Trumpy things, and...)<br /><br />▪ Intensify the use of the Justice Department and his personal lawyers to challenge in every frivolous, obstructive way the results of the election in selected states, no matter what the margin of his defeat.<br /><br />▪ Make a living obstructive hell for the Joe Biden transition team to impair the work of the new administration, while Trump allies engage in coverups and petty harassments.<br /><br />▪ Pave the way abroad for his family’s business deals.<br /><br />Of course, some of these destructive eruptions would be short-term and revocable by the incoming administration — but not all. Still, it won’t deter Trump, who relishes the chaos, confusion, and disarray he inflicts on each day’s news cycle. He’s honed that skill right up to his impulsive, disastrous bungling of the coronavirus pandemic.<br /><br />That’s why the widespread demand for his resignation is important. With his disastrous, daily mishandling of the pandemic as well as his drop in his polls, he may find an excuse to leave because he can’t stand losing. But if he doesn’t, prepare for his revenge on his way out of office.<br /><br />(Ralph Nader is best remembered as the spoiler in <br />the 2000 election where confused Florida voters chose him,<br />maybe, over Al Gore & obtained the presidency for George Bush Jr.)<br /><br /><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/05/31/nader_elected_bush_why_we_shouldnt_forget_130715.html" rel="nofollow">Nader Elected Bush: Why We Shouldn't Forget</a><br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-54282603461779288442020-08-09T14:51:29.825-04:002020-08-09T14:51:29.825-04:00(The progressives' main problem with Kamala Ha...(The progressives' main problem with Kamala Harris:)<br /><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/09/us/politics/kamala-harris-policing.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow"> ‘Top Cop’ Kamala Harris’s Record of Policing the Police</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 9<br /><br />... As a leading contender to be Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s running mate, Ms. Harris has emerged as a strong voice on issues of police misconduct that seem certain to be central to the campaign. Yet in her own, unsuccessful presidential run, she struggled to reconcile her calls for reform with her record on these same issues during a long career in law enforcement.<br /><br />Indeed, an examination of that record shows how Ms. Harris was far more reticent in another time of ferment a half-decade ago.<br /><br />Since becoming California’s attorney general in 2011, she had largely avoided intervening in cases involving killings by the police. Protesters in Oakland distributed fliers saying: “Tell California Attorney General Kamala Harris to prosecute killer cops! It’s her job!”<br /><br />Then, amid the national outrage stoked by the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., came pleas for her to investigate a series of police shootings in San Francisco, where she had previously been district attorney. She did not step in. Except in extraordinary circumstances, she said, it was not her job.<br /><br />Still, her approach was subtly shifting. During the inaugural address for her second term as attorney general, Ms. Harris said the nation’s police forces faced a “crisis of confidence.” And by the end of her tenure in 2016, she had proposed a modest expansion of her office’s powers to investigate police misconduct, begun reviews of two municipal police departments and backed a Justice Department investigation in San Francisco. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-41281232903931547262020-08-09T10:25:55.436-04:002020-08-09T10:25:55.436-04:00It is what it is.
President Trump signs four exec...<b>It is what it is.</b><br /><br /><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/08/business/president-trump-signs-four-executive-orders-after-economic-relief-talks-with-democrats-collapsed/?event=event25" rel="nofollow">President Trump signs four executive orders after economic relief talks with Democrats collapsed</a><br /><br />Washington Post via @BostonGlobe - August 8<br /><br />Trump claims his orders will provide a supplement to <br />Americans' unemployment checks and defer payroll tax payments.<br /><br />WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday bypassed the nation's lawmakers as he claimed the authority to defer payroll taxes and replace an expired unemployment benefit with a lower amount after negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus rescue package collapsed.<br /><br />Trump's orders encroached on Congress' control of federal spending and seemed likely to be met with legal challenges. The president cast his actions as necessary given that lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement to plunge more money into the stumbling economy, which has imperiled his November reelection.<br /><br />Trump moved to continue paying a supplemental federal unemployment benefit for millions of Americans out of work during the outbreak. However, his order called for up to $400 payments each week, one-third less than the $600 people had been receiving. How many people would receive the benefit and how long it might take to arrive were open questions.<br /><br />The previous unemployment benefit, which expired on Aug. 1, was fully funded by Washington, but Trump is asking states to now cover 25%. He is seeking to set aside $44 billion in previously approved disaster aid to help states, but said it would be up to states to determine how much, if any of it, to fund, so the benefits could be smaller still. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-54255596662418022652020-08-09T10:14:58.963-04:002020-08-09T10:14:58.963-04:00Congrats, Joe Biden’s running mate!
via @BostonGl...<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/08/metro/congrats-joe-bidens-running-mate/?event=event25" rel="nofollow">Congrats, Joe Biden’s running mate!</a><br /><br />via @BostonGlobe - August 8<br /><br />Congratulations [insert name here]!<br /><br />After much deliberation, and frenzied speculation, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has chosen you as his running mate!<br /><br />Of the eleventy spectacular, accomplished women whose names have been floating about for months, you have emerged as the most valuable, electorally. You are clearly a superstar!<br /><br />You’ve run plenty of gauntlets in your career, but this one was the tippety topper. You made it through the grueling vetting process, the polls and focus groups to gauge your appeal, the trial balloons and dredgings-up of your imperfections and long-ago missteps.<br /><br />And you are intact, more or less. Thanks to that nice thick skin you’ve grown over a lifetime of being held to standards that magically evaporated when it came to the men around you. Your whole life has been a quest for that elusive sweet spot, which you’d swear does not exist, but for the fact that many voters know it when they see it and wonder why you and every other woman can’t seem to find it. It’s right there, between too old and too young; dumpy and too attractive; smart and lecture-y; pushy and pushover; passionate and angry. At that same spot also lies likability, authenticity, a nice laugh, and a standable voice.<br /><br />There, too, you will find that divine balance between healthy and unhealthy ambition. That last one appears from some reports to have been especially important to Biden advisors, who let it be known that they didn’t want the veep nominee to be eyeing the top job, lest she try to outshine him in the White House.<br /><br />It’s odd that this doesn’t seem to have been a problem when Biden was selected as Barack Obama’s running mate: Biden clearly wanted to be president, having twice run unsuccessfully for the nomination before ascending to the number two spot. Yet that didn’t stop him from being a fiercely loyal second fiddle.<br /><br />But in the lead-up to Biden’s announcement, it seemed like his advisers didn’t trust some veep candidates to do the same. It seems an odd standard, but you’ve met it: You’re ready to step into the top job — to succeed, if need be, a 77-year-old nominee who has called himself a transitional figure — but you don’t really, really want to do it. Well done!<br /><br />Of course, no matter what you’ve told the codgers, you will overshadow Biden. How could you not? Like every other woman considered for this job, you’re younger, more vibrant and more eloquent than he is, more fluent on policy, and definitely less gaffe-prone. You’re a trailblazer whose ascension would be historic. You could not fade into the background if you wanted to.<br /><br />But let’s not dwell on all of that. Now is the time to celebrate!<br /><br />Quickly, though, because you have, oh, about five minutes before the garbage starts raining down upon you. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-24377474990129462822020-08-08T22:13:49.464-04:002020-08-08T22:13:49.464-04:00Presidential Actions
Aug 8, 2020
PRESIDENTIAL ME...<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions" rel="nofollow">Presidential Actions</a><br /><br /><b>Aug 8, 2020</b><br /><br />PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDA<br />Memorandum on Authorizing the Other Needs Assistance Program for Major Disaster Declarations Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019<br /><br />PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDA<br />Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster<br /><br />EXECUTIVE ORDERS<br />Executive Order on Fighting the Spread of COVID-19 by Providing Assistance to Renters and Homeowners<br /><br />PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDA<br />Memorandum on Continued Student Loan Payment Relief During the COVID-19 Pandemic<br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-9942297845155754552020-08-08T22:07:06.986-04:002020-08-08T22:07:06.986-04:00... Shortly after the event on Saturday, the White...... Shortly after the event on Saturday, the White House released texts of the measures — one executive order and three memorandums — which included several flourishes that read like political documents in accusing Democrats of playing games. One invoked the Stafford Act, a federal disaster relief statute, to divert money from a homeland security fund and allow states to use money already allocated by Congress to help people who have been laid off amid the coronavirus pandemic, effectively allowing them to apply for disaster relief to cover lost wages. The mechanism would pull from the same fund that covers natural disasters in the middle of what is expected to be a highly active hurricane season.<br /><br />Mr. Trump claimed that the action would provide $400 weekly in enhanced unemployment benefits, $200 less than laid-off workers had been receiving under benefits that lapsed at the end of July. But with states being directed to pick up $100 of that aid, the federal amount would be no more than $300 a week.<br /><br />And there is another catch — the text of the memorandum says that the $300 can only be paid to people who first qualify for $100 in aid paid by their state.<br /><br />It was unclear how quickly states, whose unemployment systems had already been overburdened by the record numbers of new jobless claims, would be able to adjust to a new system, or whether they will have the resources to supplement an additional benefit.<br /><br />“If they don’t, they don’t — that’s going to be their problem,” Mr. Trump said.<br /><br />He also retroactively signed a memorandum suspending the payroll tax from Aug. 1 through the end of 2020, though the order would just defer the payment of the taxes. (Mr. Trump vowed that if re-elected in November, he would extend the deferral and the payments.)<br /><br />If Mr. Trump tried to make a payroll tax cut permanent, it would have a drastic effect on the funding of Social Security, which he has previously vowed not to cut.<br /><br />The memorandum that Mr. Trump called a moratorium on evictions did not revive the expired moratorium that was part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law passed in March. Instead, it said that federal policy was to minimize evictions during the pandemic and that officials should identify statutory ways to help homeowners and renters.<br /><br />Long before taking office, Mr. Trump criticized Barack Obama for what he described as an overreliance on executive orders to accomplish policy goals that had been blocked by Congress, but in acting unilaterally, Mr. Trump was vastly expanding the use of such measures. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-85173738161107029662020-08-08T22:04:09.981-04:002020-08-08T22:04:09.981-04:00Sidestepping Congress, Trump Signs Executive Measu...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/us/politics/trump-stimulus-bill-coronavirus.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">Sidestepping Congress, Trump Signs Executive Measures for Pandemic Relief</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 8<br /><br />President Trump took executive action on Saturday to circumvent Congress and try to extend an array of federal pandemic relief, resorting to a legally dubious set of edicts whose impact was unclear, as negotiations over an economic recovery package appeared on the brink of collapse.<br /><br />It was not clear what authority Mr. Trump had to act on his own on the measures or what immediate effect, if any, they would have, given that Congress controls federal spending. But his decision to sign the measures — billed as a federal eviction ban, a payroll tax suspension, and relief for student borrowers and $400 a week for the unemployed — reflected the failure of two weeks of talks between White House officials and top congressional Democrats to strike a deal on a broad relief plan as crucial benefits have expired with no resolution in sight.<br /><br />Mr. Trump’s move also illustrated the heightened concern of a president staring down re-election in the middle of a historic recession and a pandemic, and determined to show voters that he was doing something to address the crises. But despite Mr. Trump’s assertions on Saturday that his actions “will take care of this entire situation,” the orders also leave a number of critical bipartisan funding proposals unaddressed, including providing assistance to small businesses, billions of dollars to schools ahead of the new school year, aid to states and cities and a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks to Americans.<br /><br />“Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have chosen to hold this vital assistance hostage,” Mr. Trump said, savaging the two top Democrats and their $3.4 trillion opening offer during a news conference at his private golf club in New Jersey, his second in two days. A few dozen club guests were in attendance, and the president appeared to revel in their laughter at his jokes denouncing his political rivals.<br /><br />“We’ve had it,” he added, repeatedly referring to his directives as “bills,” a term reserved for legislation passed by Congress. He accused the Democrats of holding up negotiations with demands for provisions that appeared to have little to do with the pandemic, though he made little mention of comparable items in the $1 trillion proposal Republicans unveiled last month.<br /><br />Democrats have refused to agree to that plan, pressing instead for a far more expansive economic relief package, at least twice as large, that would provide billions more for states and cities and food aid, and revive the lapsed $600-per-week enhanced federal jobless aid payments. (Republicans are proposing to revive the payments, but at a rate of $400 a week.)<br /><br />It was unclear whether the effort to bypass Congress would kill the already-stalled negotiations altogether, though Mr. Trump told reporters he would be open to continuing the discussions and Democratic leaders responded by demanding that the talks resume. ...<br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-35788589184659362812020-08-08T12:22:46.778-04:002020-08-08T12:22:46.778-04:00What’s Ahead For U.S. Renters And Landlords
via @...<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dimawilliams/2020/07/05/rent-payment-assistance-vs-eviction-bans-what-is-ahead-for-us-renters-and-landlords/" rel="nofollow"><br />What’s Ahead For U.S. Renters And Landlords</a><br /><br />via @forbes - July 5<br /><br />... many of the roughly 43 million renter households in the country have made at least incremental rent payments in the four months of the Covid-19 outbreak. The National Multifamily Housing Council’s rent payment tracker shows that 94.2% of households in market-rate apartments covered their rent either in full or in part last month ...<br /><br />Industry experts argue that despite the precipitous drop in employment, many renters have continued to make payments thanks to generous unemployment benefits. Beyond the conventional state unemployment benefits, which can amount to as much as a half of lost income, the supplemental $600 a week in federal support has been credited with keeping renters afloat. <br /><br />“The enhanced unemployment benefits are very important to people, especially those that are in lower paying jobs,” Pinnegar told me a month ago. “They're really helping them to make ends meet and to be able to put food on the table, to pay their utilities and to pay their rent. The challenge is going to be going forward.”Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-47419112547842621002020-08-08T11:22:08.104-04:002020-08-08T11:22:08.104-04:00Millions of evictions a sharper threat as governme...<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/08/business/millions-evictions-sharper-threat-government-support-ends/?event=event25" rel="nofollow">Millions of evictions a sharper threat as government support ends</a> <br /><br />NY Times via @BostonGlobe - August 8<br /><br />(Not to mention the impact on landlords,<br />like Trumps and Kushners.)<br /><br />For the 108 million people who live in a rental home or apartment, Aug. 1 was a grim milestone. It marked the first time rent was due after much of the nation’s economic response to the coronavirus had expired.<br /><br />The lapse of expanded unemployment benefits and federal, state and local eviction moratoriums is forcing lawmakers to figure out how to extend those protections. It has also left experts resorting to natural disaster metaphors (“avalanche,” “tsunami”) to describe the scale of potential evictions.<br /><br />Unlike the U.S. economy, which was enjoying the longest expansion on record, housing — specifically rental housing — was troubled before the virus hit, with problems going back decades. A little under 4 million evictions are filed each year, 1 in 4 tenant households spends about half its pretax income on rent, and each night some 200,000 people sleep in their cars, on streets or under bridges. ...<br /><br />On Friday, after talks between the Trump administration and Democrats effectively stalled, advisers to President Donald Trump said they would recommend that he extend the moratorium through an executive order.<br /><br />The moratoriums were supposed to be emergency measures to give tenants some relief until the virus subsided and the economy returned to health.<br /><br />Except that didn’t happen. The virus continues to surge around the country, and parents are unsure when schools will reopen. Each week more than 1 million laid-off employees continue to file for unemployment insurance, while temporary layoffs are becoming permanent job losses.<br /><br />Landlords hold that the most extreme predictions of evictions are overblown. For starters, the limited data available suggests that most tenants have stayed current on their bills. Also, property owners, facing rising vacancies and falling rents, are increasingly working out rent cuts and extended payment plans. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-84900308153828819062020-08-08T11:06:20.379-04:002020-08-08T11:06:20.379-04:00Virus aid talks collapse; no help expected for job...<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/08/business/virus-aid-talks-collapse-no-help-expected-jobless-now/?event=event25" rel="nofollow">Virus aid talks collapse; no help expected for jobless now</a><br /><br />AP via @BostonGlobe - August 8<br /><br />WASHINGTON — A last-ditch effort by Democrats to revive Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money collapsed in disappointment at week’s end, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock will mean more hardship for millions of people who are losing enhanced jobless benefits and further damage for an economy pummeled by the still-raging coronavirus.<br /><br />President Donald Trump said Friday night he was likely to issue more limited executive orders related to COVID, perhaps in the next day or so, if he can't reach a broad agreement with Congress.<br /><br />The day's negotiations at the Capitol added up to only "a disappointing meeting,” declared top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, saying the White House had rejected an offer by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to curb Democratic demands by about $1 trillion. He urged the White House to “negotiate with Democrats and meet us in the middle. Don’t say it’s your way or no way.”<br /><br />Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, "Unfortunately we did not make any progress today.” Republicans said Pelosi was relying on budget maneuvers to curb costs and contended she has overplayed her hand.<br /><br />Often an impasse in Washington is of little consequence for the public — not so this time. It means longer and perhaps permanent expiration of a $600 per-week bonus pandemic jobless benefit that’s kept millions of people from falling into poverty. It denies more than $100 billion to help schools reopen this fall. It blocks additional funding for virus testing as cases are surging this summer. And it denies billions of dollars to state and local governments considering furloughs as their revenue craters.<br /><br />Ahead is uncertainty. Both the House and Senate have left Washington, with members sent home on instructions to be ready to return for a vote on an agreement. With no deal in sight, their absence raises the possibility of a prolonged stalemate that stretches well into August and even September. <br /><br />Speaking from his New Jersey golf club Friday evening, Trump said “if Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage I will act under my authority as president to get Americans the relief they need.”<br /><br />Trump said he may issue executive orders on home evictions, student loan debt and allowing states to repurpose COVID relief funding into their unemployment insurance programs. He also said he'll likely issue an executive order to defer collection of Social Security payroll taxes, an idea that has less support among his Republican allies. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-14126488839632258612020-08-08T10:41:24.035-04:002020-08-08T10:41:24.035-04:00Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump’s Battles With US In...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/magazine/us-russia-intelligence.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump’s Battles With US Intelligence Agencies</a><br /><br />NY Times magazine - Robert Draper - August 8<br /><br />Last year, intelligence officials gathered to write a classified <br />report on Russia’s interest in the 2020 election. An investigation <br />from the magazine uncovered what happened next.<br /><br />... The president’s displeasure with any suggestion that he was Putin’s favorite factored into the discussion over the N.I.E. that summer, in particular the “back and forth,” as Dan Coats, then the director of national intelligence, put it, over the assessment that Russia favored Trump in 2020. Eventually, this debate made it to Coats’s desk. “I can affirm that one of my staffers who was aware of the controversy requested that I modify that assessment,” Coats told me recently. “But I said, ‘No, we need to stick to what the analysts have said.’”<br /><br />Coats had been director of national intelligence since early in Trump’s presidency, but his tenure had been rocky at times, and earlier that year, he and Trump agreed to part ways; Coats expected to resign near the end of September. So it surprised him when on July 28, not long after he was approached about the change to the N.I.E., Trump announced via Twitter that Coats’s last day in office would be Aug. 15. ...<br /><br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-69225013663296895822020-08-08T00:06:02.527-04:002020-08-08T00:06:02.527-04:00Russia Continues Interfering in Election to Try to...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/us/politics/russia-china-trump-biden-election-interference.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">Russia Continues Interfering in Election to Try to Help Trump, US Intelligence Says</a><br /><br />NY Times - August 7<br /> <br />WASHINGTON — Russia is using a range of techniques to denigrate Joseph R. Biden Jr., American intelligence officials said Friday in their first public assessment that Moscow continues to try to interfere in the 2020 campaign to help President Trump.<br /><br />At the same time, the officials said China preferred that Mr. Trump be defeated in November and was weighing whether to take more aggressive action in the election.<br /><br />But officials briefed on the intelligence said that Russia was the far graver, and more immediate, threat. While China seeks to gain influence in American politics, its leaders have not yet decided to wade directly into the presidential contest, however much they may dislike Mr. Trump, the officials said.<br /><br />The assessment, included in a <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2139-statement-by-ncsc-director-william-evanina-election-threat-update-for-the-american-public" rel="nofollow">statement released by William R. Evanina</a>, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, suggested the intelligence community was treading carefully, reflecting the political heat generated by previous findings.<br /><br />The White House has objected in the past to conclusions that Moscow is working to help Mr. Trump, and Democrats on Capitol Hill have expressed growing concern that the intelligence agencies are not being forthright enough about Russia’s preference for him and that the agencies are introducing China’s anti-Trump stance to balance the scales.<br /><br />The assessment appeared to draw a distinction between what it called the “range of measures” being deployed by Moscow to influence the election and its conclusion that China prefers that Mr. Trump be defeated. ...<br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-74186705980528055612020-08-05T10:15:21.917-04:002020-08-05T10:15:21.917-04:00Spoiler alert: "Professor Lichtman just made ...Spoiler alert: "Professor Lichtman just made my day! I do feel <br />hopeful we can be rid of the worst president in U.S. history. <br />Waiting to exhale...."<br /><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/opinion/2020-election-prediction-allan-lichtman.html?smid=tw-share" rel="nofollow">He Predicted Trump’s Win in 2016. Now He’s Ready to Call 2020</a><br /><br />NYH Times - August 5<br /><br />Most historians just study the past. But <br />Allan Lichtman has successfully predicted the future.<br /><br />Right now, polls say Joe Biden has a healthy lead over President Trump. But we’ve been here before (cue 2016), and the polls were, frankly, wrong. One man, however, was not. The historian Allan Lichtman was the lonely forecaster who predicted Mr. Trump’s victory in 2016 — and also prophesied the president would be impeached. That’s two for two. But Professor Lichtman’s record goes much deeper. In 1980, he developed a presidential prediction model that retrospectively accounted for 120 years of U.S. election history. Over the past four decades, his system has accurately called presidential victors, from Ronald Reagan in ’84 to, well, Mr. Trump in 2016.<br /><br />In the video Op-Ed above, Professor Lichtman walks us through his system, which identifies 13 “keys” to winning the White House. Each key is a binary statement: true or false. And if six or more keys are false, the party in the White House is on its way out.<br /><br />So what do the keys predict for 2020? To learn that, you’ll have to watch the video.<br />Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-64345457309423803912020-08-03T19:32:10.182-04:002020-08-03T19:32:10.182-04:00Trump derides Democrats
as lawmakers and administ...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/world/coronavirus-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-15e7f995" rel="nofollow">Trump derides Democrats</a><br /><br /><b>as lawmakers and administration officials try to break stimulus impasse.</b><br /><br />Mr. Trump on Monday hurled insults at Democratic leaders who were huddling with his top advisers in search of a compromise economic recovery package, threatening to act on his own to ban evictions as he again undercut negotiations to reach a broader deal.<br /><br />Mr. Trump floated the possibility of using an executive order to address an expired federal moratorium on evictions, even though a $1 trillion Republican aid proposal did not include such a pause. He said he remained “totally involved” in stimulus talks, even though he wasn’t “over there with Crazy Nancy,” a reference to Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.<br /><br />But the president has been notably absent from the negotiations on a sweeping economic stabilization package, even as tens of millions of Americans have been cut off from enhanced jobless benefits they have depended on for months during the coronavirus pandemic.<br /><br />At the same moment that Mr. Trump was blasting her, Ms. Pelosi met on Capitol Hill with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, in search of a compromise. It was the fifth such meeting in eight days, following a staff policy call on Sunday and a rare Saturday session with the four negotiators.<br /><br />At the White House, Mr. Trump accused Democrats of being single-mindedly focused on getting “bailout money” for states controlled by Democrats, and unconcerned with extending unemployment benefits.<br /><br />“All they’re really interested in is bailout money to bail out radical left governors and radical left mayors like in Portland and places that are so badly run — Chicago, New York City,” Mr. Trump said.<br /><br />Democrats have proposed providing more than $900 billion to cash-strapped states and cities whose budgets have been devastated in the recession, but it is Republicans who have proposed slashing the jobless aid. Democrats have refused to do so, feeding the stalemate. ...Fred C. Dobbsnoreply@blogger.com