U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Moms Demand Action @MomsDemand 

You emailed, called, tweeted, voted, and organized to pass the first major federal gun safety law in almost 3 decades! This bipartisan victory shows what’s possible when we roll up our red sleeves, keep going, and follow survivors’ lead. #GunLawsSaveLives



https://twitter.com/MomsDemand/status/1546541618064400391

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 hearings to focus on Trump's messages to supporters

Tuesday's hearing is expected to focus on the rise of radical extremism and the possible impact the former president’s tweets had on supporters

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/jan-hearings-focus-trumps-messages-supporters-86654354

[Rick Plant]

Another huge deal for President Biden as he continues to clean up the multiple Trump disasters that was given to him.

Donnie made "immigration" his number one issue during his 4 failed years in office. He made an absolute mess at the border for Biden to deal with, and the bogus right wing media calls it the "Biden Border Crisis" when it was Trump who handed Biden the crisis to begin with. 

Donnie also lied claiming that he was going to "build a beautiful border wall" and make Mexico pay for it. That was nothing but a sham and a total lie because U.S. tax payers had to pay for it. 

President Biden promised he would clean up the Trump border disaster and he made good on another campaign promise. Biden was able to get Mexico to invest $1.5 Billion in new border technology. Mexico should be paying to curb illegal immigration and Biden got them to pay for it when Trump never could.

President Biden is respected by world leaders and so is Vice President Harris, as Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador had nothing but praise for her.

This is a huge deal between the United States and Mexico to help curb illegal immigration. This major story should have been top headline news yesterday but it was barely covered.   

The media made a big deal about illegal immigration for months, and now when a deal was struck to curb illegal immigration, it goes unnoticed in the media. That's how awful the mainstream media has been by not reporting on Biden's achievements and only trying to manufacture controversy for ratings. The news isn't supposed to be a reality show but they turned it into that. 

Once again, President Biden comes through with another major achievement that no other president could get done.

Yes, that is called Building Back Better.


Mexico agrees to invest $1.5B in ‘smart’ border technology



WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador agreed to spend $1.5 billion over the next two years to improve “smart” border technology during meetings Tuesday with President Joe Biden — a move the White House says shows neighborly cooperation succeeding where Trump administration vows to wall off the border and have Mexico pay for it could not.

A series of agreements the two countries hammered out as their leaders spoke called for several other concrete moves, including expanding the number of work visas the U.S. issues, creating a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections and welcoming more refugees. Both also pledged to continue joint patrols for Mexico and Guatemala to hunt human smugglers along their shared border.

But the Biden administration hailed securing border funding from Mexico after years of failed attempts by former President Donald Trump.

“Borders that are more resilient, more efficient, and safer, will enhance our shared commerce,” Biden and López Obrador said in a joint official statement. “We are committed like never before to completing a multi-year joint U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the 2,000-mile border.”

The agreements came after López Obrador began the discussions by talking for more than half an hour as reporters looked on. His far-ranging discourse touched on everything from American drivers heading south for cheaper prices at the pump at Mexican gas stations to the New Deal politics of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also chiding conservatives and said the U.S. and Mexico should reject the “status quo” on the border.

López Obrador said both countries “should close ranks to help each other” amid spiking inflation and border challenges brutally underscored by 53 migrants who died last month after being abandoned in a sweltering tractor-trailer on a remote back road in San Antonio.

“Increasing inflation impacts the well-being of families in both our countries, and requires strong, immediate, and concerted action,” the joint statement said. “That is why we have committed to jointly combat inflation by accelerating the facilitation of bilateral trade and reducing trade costs.”

López Obrador struck a positive tone with Biden while while heaping praise on Vice President Kamala Harris.

“So happy to be here at the White House once more,” López Obrador said.

Biden was equally conciliatory, saying, “I see, we see Mexico as an equal partner” and shrugging off differences of opinion on policy with López Obrador: “You and I have a strong and productive relationship and I would argue a partnership.”

Biden said “we know we have to meet these challenges together.” He said the U.S. and Mexico agree on the need to increase opportunities for legal migration, especially since more workers can help alleviate U.S. labor shortages and potentially help calm rising prices.

Tuesday’s was the second in-person meeting between Biden and López Obrador at the White House. First lady Jill Biden hosted Mexican first lady Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller during this spring’s White House celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

In the agreed upon announcements released Tuesday night, both Mexico and the U.S. pledged joint actions to modernize and improve infrastructure along key parts of their border, enhance law enforcement cooperation against fentanyl smuggling and promote clean energy.

Biden also said that a “major anti smuggling operation” against fentanyl traffickers has been underway since April and had led to more than 3,000 arrests, and that both countries would continue to cooperate. In addition to the pilot program exploring more avenues for legal migration, Biden noted that the U.S. has already worked to expand visa programs for workers from Mexico and Central America.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been tasked with exploring the root causes of immigration across Latin America, also hosted López Obrador for a Tuesday breakfast. Speaking with Mexico’s president outside the Naval Observatory, which is the vice president’s residence, Harris referenced visiting his country previously.

"The time that I spent with you in Mexico was so special to me,” she said, noting the “friendship that has been so important to both nations.”

“She is our friend,” López Obrador said. “But also a woman with principles. An intelligent woman. Honest. She is a partisan of equality. So I congratulate the American people because they have a first order vice president.”

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

U.S. gun regulation agency fills empty director post after seven years



The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the federal agency overseeing gun regulations, which had lacked a permanent director for over seven years.

Steve Dettelbach, 56, will now become the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), following a series of deadly mass shootings that have shaken the country.

The former federal prosecutor was narrowly confirmed with the support of 48 senators, including two Republicans, against 46 opposed.

He will oversee the ATF's 5,000 employees, half of whom are ballistics specialists who investigate gun crimes. The agency is also tasked with regulating the nation's firearms industry, making it a perennial enemy of the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA).

"After years of obstruction by the gun lobby, the Senate has finally confirmed a permanent director to lead the ATF," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

"While certainly not a panacea to the gun violence epidemic plaguing our nation, having Mr Dettelbach at the helm of the ATF will ensure the feds have all hands on deck in the fight to stop gun trafficking, prevent illegal possession of firearms, and make sure our kids can’t get their hands on dangerous weapons," he added.

According to the Gun Violence Archive website, more than 23,300 people have been killed by firearms in the United States so far this year, including nearly 12,800 who died by suicide.

Agence France-Presse

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

My team and I have been monitoring the BA.5 variant of COVID-19 for months. We're prepared, and we know how to manage this moment with the vaccines, treatments, and other tools we have made widely available.



https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1546869482278342660

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

Today’s report is a reminder that inflation is too high – fighting inflation is my top economic priority. And while the numbers today are not acceptable, they are also outdated.
 
In the past 30 days, the average price of gas has dropped by 40 cents a gallon.

That's breathing room for American families, but oil prices have come down $20/barrel while gas at the pump has only come down 40 cents. Oil and gas companies must pass these lower costs on to consumers.

Lastly, annual core inflation is down for the third month in a row. To lower inflation more, without giving up the economic gains we’ve achieved, Congress must act – now. They must work to reduce the cost of everyday expenses for working families.

Send legislation to my desk.

Energy alone comprises nearly half of today's inflation numbers. So, here's what's important:

- The price of gas has decreased for 30 days straight, the price at the pump has dropped by 40 cents since mid-June.
- Gas should continue to come down in the days and weeks ahead.

It's time for gas retailers to pass the cost declines they’re feeling in the market onto American families at the pump.



https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1547289291155558401

[Rick Plant]

Biden greeted as old friend in Israel at start of Middle East tour



TEL AVIV (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden arrived on Wednesday in Israel, which embraced him as an old friend on the first leg of a high-stakes trip dominated by efforts to bring it closer to Saudi Arabia and to persuade Washington's Gulf allies to pump more oil.

Landing at Ben Gurion Airport, whose tarmac he first trod in 1973 as a senator, Biden bumped fists with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog and, in a speech, described the connection between the two nations as "bone-deep".

"You do not need to be a Jew to be a Zionist," Biden added, voicing support for the ideology behind Israel's foundation on lands with ancient Jewish roots, and which is deeply resented by many Palestinians.



Biden also reiterated U.S. desire for negotiations, stalled since 2014, to create a Palestinian state on Israeli-occupied territory, calling this two state solution "the best hope" for both peoples.

Biden's first visit to Israel as president is his tenth of a long political career. Israel has stepped carefully around disputes with Washington over Iranian nuclear diplomacy and long-stalled Palestinian statehood negotiations.

"Your relationship with Israel has always been personal," Lapid said in a speech, calling Biden "one of the best friends Israel has ever known".

Biden will spend two days in Jerusalem before meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in the occupied West Bank.

He will then fly directly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi officials and to attend a summit of Gulf allies.

U.S. officials say the trip could produce more steps toward normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, historic foes but also two of America's strongest allies in the turbulent region.

That would build on the establishing or upgrading of Israeli relations with United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco under a U.S. initiative in 2020 dubbed the Abraham Accords, after the biblical patriarch revered by both Jews and Muslims.

In a similar vein, Herzog played on Biden's first name, deeming him "both a visionary and a leader" like the biblical Joseph. Biden was "truly amongst family" in Israel, Herzog said.

Biden's trip aims to promote regional stability, deepen Israel's integration in the region and counter Iranian influence and aggression by Russia and China.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated Washington's desire for the reopening of a Jerusalem consulate shut down by the former U.S. administration of President Donald Trump. The consulate had served the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as capital of a future state.

"Obviously that requires engagement with the Israeli government," Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force 1. Israel deems all of Jerusalem its capital - a status not recognised abroad - and does not consent to the consulate reopening.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said he saw nothing new from Biden on Palestinian issues.

“Biden’s visit aims to integrate the occupation state in the Arab region and build a new alliance against Iran. When it comes to the promises President Biden made during his electoral campaign and early in office, we don’t see any practical formula to reflect that on the ground,” he added.



OUTREACH TO PALESTINIANS

Biden's talks with Abbas will be the first between a U.S. president and a Palestinian leader since the Obama administration. The Palestinians boycotted the Trump administration over a peace plan they saw as biased against them.

Tensions are high between Israel and the Palestinians over the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank.

Palestinians say she was killed by Israeli troops deliberately; Israel denies this. Washington has concluded she was killed by a bullet from the direction of an Israeli position but it has no evidence it was intentional.

The Palestinians, while appreciating the resumption of ties under Biden, want him to make good on pledges to reopen the Jerusalem consulate.

They also want the United States to remove the PLO from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, block changes to rules for worship at Jerusalem sites revered by Muslims and Jews, and curb Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Israeli officials said Biden's visit would work towards what they called a Jerusalem Declaration on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership.

One official said the joint declaration "takes a very clear and united stand against Iran, its nuclear program and its aggression across the region and commits both countries to using all elements of their national power against the Iranian nuclear threat."

Biden is likely to face questions from Israel and from Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about the wisdom of his attempts to revive a nuclear deal with Iran that was abandoned by his predecessor Trump.

At Ben Gurion Airport, Biden received a briefing on Israel's U.S.-supported Iron Dome defense system and a new laser-enabled system called Iron Beam. He will also pay his respects at Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to Holocaust victims in World War Two.

Israel has been jolted by internal political strife with previous prime minister Naftali Bennett's coalition collapsing in June.

This has left Lapid as caretaker prime minister until a new election in November, the fifth in less than four years. He and Biden will give a joint news conference on Thursday.

Biden will also meet past prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now the opposition leader. Netanyahu was a close ally of Trump and a critic of the Obama administration when Biden served as vice president.

AFP

[Rick Plant]

The Roe backlash is real. And, as they say, it is spectacular

People are enraged about the Supreme Court unceremoniously overturning Roe. Now we’re seeing just how angry they are.

Organizers behind Michigan’s Reproductive Freedom for All proposal report that they’ve already collected over 800,000 signatures, nearly double the 425,059 needed by July 15 to get the measure on the ballot – a Michigan record for a ballot initiative.

If approved, this proposal would amend that state’s Constitution to sup1931 law that banned abortion until Roe came along.

And more importantly, it would send a message to the enemies of reproductive rights everywhere – be afraid. Right now, you’re looking upon your works. You should despair.

A ten-year-old rape victim forced to flee her home. Doctors fearing prison if they decide to save a patient from an ectopic pregnancy. Red state politicians salivating at being able to hunt anyone seeking an abortion by preventing them from crossing state lines.

For now, you’re getting exactly what you wanted.

But voters won’t rest until the rights Roe guaranteed are restored.

The popularity of this measure also confirms something that should be obvious to anyone who pays attention to politics – Michigan is the model for resisting autocracy.

You may say that I’m a little too proud of my adopted home state. You might also say I’m overcompensating for the shame of my state of having helped elect Donald Trump in 2016.

You would be right. But so am I.

Like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Michigan responded to the realization that they’d put a Putinist in the White House by electing Democrats to key statewide offices, including governor, in 2018.

But the Mitten took the extra step of passing two ballot measures that helped undo some of the damage done to voting rights.

Proposal 2 gave the state one of the best approaches to ending gerrymandering in the nation. Proposal 3 expanded ballot access dramatically by, among many other things, giving every Michigander the option to vote by mail.

Both proposals passed with more than 61 percent support. Both were more popular than the measure legalizing weed, which also passed.

Making it easier to vote helped Michigan reject Trump in 2020 by 146,000 votes, more than 10-times his margin of victory in 2016.

Thanks to our new fair maps, Democrats have a chance to win back the state Senate for the first time since 1984 along with the state House, which has been in GOP hands most of the last decade.

This would not only give Governor Gretchen Whitmer a chance to actually govern in 2023, it would prevent what is shaping up as the GOP’s plan to steal key swing states in 2024 by using gerrymandered legislatures to overrule voters.

Increased voting rights and fair maps are the simplest way to fight back at the attrition of democracy that made Trump possible. And to be fair, I have to note that Michigan has a huge advantage in achieving these goals over many states, including our fellow bricks in the Blue Wall – Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Pennsylvanians need the state legislature to approve a measure before it can go on their ballot. And the GOP-controlled, gerrymandered-for-their-pleasure state House in the Keystone State will never do anything like that to risk their power or ability to help elect Trump or a Trump impersonator.

In Wisconsin, you need the measure to pass two consecutive legislatures to pass a ballot measure that would modify the state Constitution. Something that will never happen because the state is, at this point, barely a democracy.

But Michigan’s unique ability to fight for democracy makes it more important to the rest of the nation, not less.

If Michigan’s Reproductive Freedom for All passes in the nation’s third most important swing state with nearly two-thirds of voters supporting it, as I imagine it will, this will send a message to the rest of the nation.

That message will be loud and it will resonate much in the same way that Mallory McMorrow’s righteous speech calling out Republican BS did. And hopefully it will embolden weak-kneed Democrats to stand up on an issue where voters overwhelmingly and clearly oppose Republican BS.

It will say, we’re sick of your garbage and we’re not going to take it anymore. Yes, this isn’t enough, given the depths and depravity of the threats to our rights and democracy we face.

But it’s definitely a start.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/roe-backlash-real-and-spectacular/