Music: Four80East — ‘Cookie Strut’
Trump’s debate victory raises fears Biden may be replaced by a more formidable opponent
The New York Times reports from a campaign rally in Chesapeake, Virginia: Never one to miss out on a spidery conspiracy theory, Mr. Trump seemed as freaked out as any of his supporters about what is now possibly, perhaps, underway. “Many people are saying that after last night’s performance, Joe Biden is leaving the race,” he said from the stage, followed by scattered, seemingly confused applause. “The fact is, I don’t really believe that,” he continued, “because he does better…
James Carville on Biden: ‘That which can’t continue … won’t.’
Axios reports: The public backing of former presidents and current members of Congress says little about Biden’s future. Most know him too well and for too long to humiliate him in public. Instead, if he decides to go, it’ll follow private conversations with them — then a decision with this oligarchy [Dr. Jill Biden; his younger sister, Valerie Biden; and 85-year-old Ted Kaufman, the president’s longtime friend and constant adviser — plus a small band of White House advisers]. Remember,…
Major Democratic donors ponder how to persuade Biden to stand down
The New York Times reports: Cash is a sudden priority for the Biden campaign. After opening a $100 million advantage over Mr. Trump a couple of months ago, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee entered June with $212 million in the bank, compared with $235 million for the Trump operation and the Republican National Committee. The Biden campaign had hoped to close the gap through a major fund-raising push in the 72 hours after the debate. The scramble…
Israelis envision indefinite confinement for Palestinians who denounce Hamas
Denounce Hamas and you get to live under military guard in a smaller prison camp within a larger prison camp? What an inducement. https://t.co/c8QC1LcASt — Megan K. Stack (@Megankstack) June 29, 2024 The Wall Street Journal reports: A plan that is gaining currency in the government and military envisions creating geographical “islands” or “bubbles” where Palestinians who are unconnected to Hamas can live in temporary shelter while the Israeli military mops up remaining insurgents. Other members of Prime Minister Benjamin…
American environmentalism just got shoved into legal purgatory
Zoë Schlanger writes: In a 6–3 ruling today, the Supreme Court essentially threw a stick of dynamite at a giant, 40-year-old legal levee. The decision overruled what is known as the Chevron doctrine, a precedent that governed how American laws were administered. In doing so, it likely unleashed a river of litigation, much of which could erode away the country’s climate and environmental ambitions. The Chevron doctrine held that when Congress passed ambiguously worded statutes, courts would defer to agencies’ interpretations of how to implement them….
Keir Starmer has lost the British Arab voter. He doesn’t care
Yusef Rabiah writes: As Keir Starmer’s Labour Party readies itself to form a new government on July 5, there are many lingering uncertainties and blurred lines. Are the party’s plans ambitious enough to meet the nation’s needs? Will Starmer make a stand or continue to flip-flop between policies? Is the forthcoming election victory merely a castle made of sand? One element however is crystal clear: Labour has irrevocably lost the support of the 500,000-strong British Arab community, likely for generations…
‘Time cells’ in the brain could be more crucial than we ever realized
Science Alert reports: When it comes to how we experience, interact with, and navigate our world, timing is everything. And new research in mice suggests a specific set of cells is fundamental to the way we learn complex behaviors that rely on timing. The discovery by a team at the University of Utah in the US could eventually help detect onset of neurodegenerative diseases that affect time perception, like Alzheimer’s. To create a memory for your own personal archives, your…
Music: Svaneborg Kardyb — ‘Fragt’
New York Times: To serve his country, President Biden should leave the race
In an editorial, the New York Times says: At Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was equal to the formidable demands of the office he is seeking to hold for another term. Voters, however, cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago. The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant. He struggled to explain…
Joe Biden’s most loyal supporter now is Donald Trump
Trump just released a brutal 95 second ad of Joe Biden's debate lowlights: pic.twitter.com/enusIKHhwN — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 28, 2024 The Hill reports: Former President Trump on Friday dismissed the prospect of President Biden being replaced atop the Democratic ticket after his lackluster debate performance a night earlier. “Yes, I think he will be the nominee,” Trump told Fox News Digital when asked if he thinks Biden will remain atop the Democratic ticket. Asked about chatter from Democrats about…
Tom Friedman: Biden must bow out of the race
Thomas L. Friedman writes: I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election. And Donald Trump, a malicious man and a petty president, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He is the same fire hose of lies…
In sweeping ruling, Supreme Court just made it harder for federal agencies to regulate
NPR reports: In a momentous decision that will affect vast swaths of American life, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday undid decades of regulatory law, making it far more difficult for federal agencies to issue rules and regulations that carry out broad mandates enacted by Congress. The vote, along ideological lines, was 6-to-3. Writing for the court’s conservative supermajority, Chief Justice John Roberts explicitly overturned a 40-year-old precedent that had instructed lower court judges to defer to reasonable agency interpretations…
U.S. has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7
Reuters reports: The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two U.S. officials briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments. Between the war’s start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600…
62 Democrats join 207 Republicans in vote to conceal Gaza death toll
The Intercept reports: The House of Representatives has voted to effectively conceal the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza. On Thursday, lawmakers voted 269-144 on an amendment to prohibit the State Department from citing statistics from the Gaza Health Ministry. The measure is part of the annual State Department appropriations bill. It was led by Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz, Fla., and Josh Gottheimer, N.J., and Republican Reps. Joe Wilson, S.C.; Mike Lawler, N.Y.; and Carol Miller, W.V. In total,…
Pyongyang says it will send troops to Ukraine within a month
Kyiv Post reports: Last week, President Vladimir Putin made an official state visit to the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) – North Korea, his first for almost a quarter of a century. As part of that visit Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a so-called defense pact in the North Korean capital on June 19. The military treaty states: “In the event that any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed…