Lessons of History and Trying To Avoid the Same Mistakes

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[ When in doubt, turn it into a campaign rally ]

 

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Sen. Chuck Grassley released an FBI FD-1023 form related to the Hunter Biden investigation. These forms are not intended to be public documents and it is highly unusual to release them publicly. These are the forms that the FBI uses to “record raw, unverified reporting from confidential human sources.” They do not represent the results of investigations, and “recording this information does not validate it or establish its credibility.”

These forms are not classified, but they are kept in confidence for a number of reasons that are mostly connected with protecting sources. The FBI has made it clear to Grassley repeatedly that releasing the form would have a negative impact not just on this case, but on every case that depends on confidential human sources.

Grassley released it anyway because he has placed what he sees as a momentary opportunity to hurt President Joe Biden over the needs of the FBI and the good of the nation. More than that, Grassley is doing this to forward a story that he knows is a lie.


(full article online)

Sen. Chuck Grassley put American lives at risk to spread a document he knew was a lie

� Sen. Chuck Grassley released an FBI FD-1023 form related to the Hunter Biden investigation. These forms are not intended to be public documents and it is highly unusual to release them publicly. ...

www.dailykos.com

 

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Trump drags son Barron into new Biden attack

While it's long been established that politicians' young kids are unacceptable political fodder, there have been times that the unwritten rule has been broken — most notably in 1990's Republican bullying of Chelsea Clinton — but we've never seen a politician drag their own kids into the fray. Until now. In his latest desperate and futile attempt to attack President Biden's mental fitness, the disgraced ex-president suggested it would level the playing field to have the Commander-in-Chief debate Barron, his 17-year-old son. Sometime we make the mistake of only thinking of Trump as a terrible president, but this is an important reminder that he is also wretched person and father too.
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On Friday evening, former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to repost an image a supporter made of his own youngest son in a political attack on President Joe Biden.

"In an effort to level the playing field, Barron Trump will debate Joe Biden," the post said, showing a picture of Barron at a podium surrounded by American flags.

"No Contest!!!" Trump replied when re-sharing the image to his supporters.

Barron, who is now 17 years old, has not been involved in his father's politics in the same way as his elder sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

His daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner were also actively engaged in the administration, with Kushner deputized for a number of foreign policy projects, but the two of them have since largely bowed out of public life.

Trump shares image of his minor son being used in political attack

On Friday evening, former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to repost an image a supporter made of his own youngest son in a political attack on President Joe Biden."In an effort to level the playing field, Barron Trump will debate Joe Biden," the post said, showing a...

www.rawstory.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Republicans are hammering “Joe Biden’s America” as a land of rising violent crime, surging immigration and out of control inflation, but there’s just one problem: the numbers are starting to move in the opposite direction.

The big picture: With 2024 around the corner, the U.S. is making measurable progress in the areas where Biden has been most vulnerable to GOP attacks.

Violent crime surged in U.S. cities during the pandemic and ranked as a top concern for voters in the 2022 midterms.

• Republicans slammed Biden and Democratic leaders for rising crime rates, and many Democrats started embracing a more centrist approach to policing.
• Homicides were down 9% in the first half of this year over the same period last year, according to a study of 37 major cities from the Council on Criminal Justice.
• State of play: Violent crime rates are generally down across the board, thought they're still higher than 2019 levels.

Meanwhile, illegal border crossings dropped to the lowest level in over two years in June, the first full month under Biden’s new, restrictive asylum rule, which makes it much harder to attain asylum.

• That policy replaced a pandemic-era policy enabling rapid expulsion of migrants, and was sharply criticized by immigration advocates and some Democrats as something out of former President Trump's playbook.
• For now, though, it seems to have helped stave off an expected summer spike in migrants crossing the southern border.
• What to watch: A pending court ruling may threaten the relative calm at the border. And even with border numbers plummeting, House Republicans have pushed forward with their effort to impeach Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas over the "illegal immigration crisis."

Arguably the biggest factor driving voter discontent has been inflation, which made consumers feel lousy about the Biden economy, despite otherwise favorable economic and job market conditions.

• Now, as inflation retreats, there are signs of a shift.
• Consumer sentiment, as measured by a long-running surveyconducted by the University of Michigan, is the highest in two years — a jump “largely attributed to the continued slowdown inflation along with stability in labor markets.”

Behind the scenes: The Biden team has long been frustrated, and at times confounded, that these positive data points are not reflected in his approval rating, which is stuck in the low 40s, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

• The White House has recently done a flurry of events touting "Bidenomics" as they try to make voters more aware of what they believe is a stronger economic record than Biden often gets credit for.

https://www.axios.com/2023/07/22/biden-us-immigration-inflation-crime?link_id=8&can_id=6e84143cce349aec0c9a0b4e4a28c9c6&source=email-trump-shot-down-by-own-judge-in-stolen-docs-case-2&email_referrer=email_1997844&email_subject=trump-publicly-exploits-son-barron-in-biden-attack

 

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“The Biden administration is asserting its authority over the border, and rightly so,” immigration attorney David Leopold told me. “Texas has no business taking over federal immigration law, which is what they’re doing.”

In its letter, the Justice Department flatly states that the barrier obscures navigation of the Rio Grande in violation of federal law and that the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t authorize the move. “Texas does not have authorization from the Corps to install the floating barrier and did not seek such authorization before doing so,” the letter states.


(full article online)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/21/texas-abbott-rio-grande-justice-department-migrants/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjE1MjUzNDgiLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjkwMDg0ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjkxMzgwNzk5LCJpYXQiOjE2OTAwODQ4MDAsImp0aSI6ImE0NDk2YTYyLTZmMDctNGMwYi04NmQ5LTRmYjNlMzg0NWQzZSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDIzLzA3LzIxL3RleGFzLWFiYm90dC1yaW8tZ3JhbmRlLWp1c3RpY2UtZGVwYXJ0bWVudC1taWdyYW50cy8ifQ.T7P4XLFBzc5KCj0z00AVutWaU23gnuQWWFxxarwV2BQ&link_id=9&can_id=6e84143cce349aec0c9a0b4e4a28c9c6&source=email-the-steep-cost-of-ron-desantiss-vaccine-turnabout&email_referrer=email_1998316&email_subject=trumps-made-for-maga-arguments-keep-losing-in-court

 

[Sixties Fan]

Once a vaccine advocate, the Florida governor lost his enthusiasm for the shot before the Delta wave sent Covid hospitalizations and deaths soaring. It’s a grim chapter he now leaves out of his rosy retelling of his pandemic response.

Mr. DeSantis was going his own way on Covid.

Nearly three years later, the governor now presents his Covid strategy not only as his biggest accomplishment, but as the foundation for his presidential campaign. Mr. DeSantis argues that “Florida got it right” because he was willing to stand up for the rights of individuals despite pressure from health “bureaucrats.” On the campaign trail, he says liberal bastions like New York and California needlessly traded away freedoms while Florida preserved jobs, in-person schooling and quality of life.

But a close review by The New York Times of Florida’s pandemic response, including a new analysis of the data on deaths, hospitalizations and vaccination rates in the state, suggests that Mr. DeSantis’s account of his record leaves much out.



(full article online)

The Steep Cost of Ron DeSantis’s Vaccine Turnabout

Once a vaccine advocate, the Florida governor lost his enthusiasm for the shot before the Delta wave sent Covid hospitalizations and deaths soaring. It’s a grim chapter he now leaves out of his rosy retelling of his pandemic response.

www.nytimes.com

 

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Republicans Want People Focused On Hunter Biden

(If they look up, they might notice their leader is about to be indicted. Again.)

joycevance.substack.com

 

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GOP's Hunter Biden hysteria makes even less sense after plea deal gets put on hold

There are two version of what happened to Hunter Biden in federal court Wednesday. One is grounded in reality, the other requires a tinfoil hat.

www.usatoday.com