Monday, September 9, 2024

September 9, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Trump, Harris gear up for highly anticipated debate . . . The 90-minute affair, hosted by ABC, will give Mr. Trump a chance to force Ms. Harris, who has primarily been avoiding critical media coverage, to face new scrutiny. "He's got one real chance to expose her as a radical liberal, a vapid tosser of word salads, or a continuation of Biden's disastrous administration — or all three," said Republican Party strategist Scott Jennings. "He's got to push her into a different frame, and the debate is the place to do it." Washington Times

Debates don't usually affect the presidential race very much. The contest is now tied, very bad news for Harris coming out of the Democratic National Convention. As long as Trump doesn't look at his watch - the last thing he'd do - he's in pretty good shape no matter what happens.

Politics

Harris falling behind among male voters in key states . . . New polls show Vice President Harris faces a major challenge in winning over male voters and is losing men by a bigger margin than she's winning women in key states such as Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina. The gender gap between Democrats and Republicans isn't new, but it's becoming especially pronounced in the toss-up race for president. Former President Trump's problems with female voters are well known. New polls show that Harris has just as big of a problem with male voters in some states. The Hill

Walz signed legislation to abolish the Electoral College . . . In May 2023, Mr. Walz signed legislation that would award Minnesota's 10 presidential electors to the national popular vote winner, even if that candidate loses the state. The state law won't affect this year's presidential election. The legislation, signed into law with little fanfare as part of an omnibus spending bill, added Minnesota to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The coalition of 17 Democratic-controlled states and the District of Columbia aims to make the Electoral College irrelevant. Washington Times

Largely symbolic since they'd have to change the Constitution, but what it symbolizes matters.

Government shutdown looms as Congress faces funding fight . . . Lawmakers return to Washington on Monday facing a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a government shutdown. And while the coming elections are thought to lessen the chances of a funding lapse, House Republicans are already preparing to square off against the Democratic-led Senate in what could be a messy, weeks-long debate over issues like voting requirements and spending. House GOP leadership Friday rolled out a plan that involves linking a six-month stopgap with legislation that calls for stricter proof-of-citizenship requirements to register to vote. The Hill

RFK Jr.: Republicans have become "the party of the common man" . . . Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lifelong, die-hard Democrat, said on Sunday that the Republican Party had become "the party of the common man," while Democrats had become the party of elites. In a post on X, Kennedy said: "There's been an inversion now where the Republican Party has become the party of the common man, of working people, of the middle class, and the Democratic Party has become the party of Wall Street, the Military Industrial Complex, Big Pharma, BigAg, Big Tech, the Big Banking Systems and all of what @realDonaldTrump calls the Deep State." Breitbart

Michigan's Elissa Slotkin seeks to hide Facebook ads from Jews . . . Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) will need all the help she can get to clinch victory in her competitive race for Michigan's open Senate seat in November. But there's one portion of the electorate she doesn't want many of her Facebook advertisements to reach: anyone interested in "Jewish Studies." Slotkin excluded users interested in "Jewish Studies" from viewing at least 12 Facebook advertisements her campaign has run on the platform in the past 90 days, according to microtargeting data from the Facebook ad library. Washington Free Beacon

George W. Bush has no plans to endorse . . . Former President George W. Bush does not plan to endorse a candidate for president, his office told NBC News on Saturday. When asked whether the former president or his wife, Laura, would endorse a candidate or make public how they will vote, Bush's office said "no." "President Bush retired from presidential politics years ago," the office added. NBC News

Of course not. It's personal with the Bushes. Jeb was already forming his Cabinet before Trump wiped him out in 2016.

Culture

Columbia, Harvard, come in last in free speech test . . . The University of Virginia, Michigan Tech and Florida State lead the largest annual rankings of free speech for colleges and universities. Coming in dead-last with scores of zero and speech climate descriptions of "abysmal" were Ivy Leaguers Harvard and Columbia. Each, along with New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College, had very poor scores for areas measuring "the strength of students' favoritism when it comes to allowing liberal or conservative speakers on campus." The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, based the rankings on 58,000 students at 257 colleges and universities. Just the News

National Security

House GOP releases scathing report on Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan . . . The Republican-led report opens by harkening back to President Joe Biden's urgency to withdraw from the Vietnam War as a senator in the 1970s. That, along with the Afghanistan withdrawal, demonstrates a "pattern of callous foreign policy positions and readiness to abandon strategic partners," according to the report. The report revealed how Department of State officials had no plan for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them. Fox News

Biden admin left Millions of $$, classified information, and biometric data in Afghanistan

Fraud plagues Biden's immigration 'parole' program, says audit . . . Gang members and scammers using dead people's names were applying to be sponsors for President Biden's fraud-riddled immigration "parole" program that has welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The program was also starved of staffing, leaving it unable to track down all the fraud, according to the government's internal audit, which said the program was "well-intentioned" but became a means for fraudsters to "victimize" the migrants and steal Americans' identities. Washington Times

In one case, someone filed an application using the passport number of former first lady Michelle Obama.

Dem rep serves as "honorary chairwoman" of org linked to Chinese intel . . . New York Democratic Rep. Grace Meng has longstanding ties to an organization reportedly linked to a Chinese intelligence agency and alleged Communist Party operatives, the Daily Caller News Foundation found. The Department of Justice on Tuesday indicted Linda Sun, who served in two New York governors' offices as well as Meng's chief of staff while she served in the state assembly, for allegedly acting as an unregistered foreign agent of China and money laundering. Daily Caller

International

Hollywood celebrities claim arm exports to Israel are "Illegal" . . . A group of Hollywood celebrities — including Disney-Marvel star Mark Ruffalo, HBO's Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, and two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali — is claiming that arms exports to Israel are "illegal" as part of their latest push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The stars co-signed a new call to action from the group Artists for Ceasefire that alleges that the shipment of arms to Israel violates U.S. and international law because Israel engages in what it called "grave human rights violations." Breitbart

Who cares what they think? Does Mike Pence try to act in movies?

Venezuelan judge issues arrest warrant for opposition's former presidential candidate . . . A Venezuelan judge on Monday issued an arrest warrant for the opposition's former presidential candidate Edmundo González as part of a criminal investigation into the results of the highly anticipated July election that both the ruling party and its opponents claim to have won. The move is the latest escalation of repression against the opposition in the month after election officials declared President Nicolás Maduro had won a third six-year term in office. Associated Press

Money

Apple introduces new iPhones with AI features . . . For the first time in more than a decade, the tech giant will unveil a suite of iPhones whose signature feature won't be an improved camera or an updated design, but new software capabilities. The system, called Apple Intelligence, will sort messages, offer writing suggestions and create a more capable Siri powered by generative artificial intelligence. The new iPhones represent a big moment for generative A.I., which can answer questions, create images and write software code. Apple is in a position to take the technology mainstream — or sow fresh doubt about its viability if it doesn't live up to expectations. New York Times

Google's lucrative ad tech business goes on trial . . . The US government is taking aim at the engine of Google's immense wealth - its extremely lucrative ad tech business. A trial beginning on Monday will hear the Department of Justice's case that the search engine's parent company Alphabet illegally operates a monopoly in the market. Alphabet has argued its success is due to the "effectiveness" of its services - but prosecutors say it has used its market dominance to stifle rivals. BBC

You should also know

Southern California Line Fire explodes in size . . . The quick-moving Line Fire in Southern California exploded this weekend, consuming more than 20,500 acres as of late Sunday and forcing evacuations amid a searing heat wave in the region. It was zero percent contained as of just after 9 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. The blaze in San Bernardino County, which ignited late last week, quadrupled in size as the weekend began, scorching thousands of acres on Saturday alone. The flames raced up steep terrain, chewing through thick vegetation as they approached Running Springs, a mountain community of about 5,000 people. Washington Post

Rap megastar Kendrick Lamar will headline the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show . . . Kendrick Lamar will pop out on the NFL's biggest stage next year: The Grammy winner will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans. The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Sunday that Lamar would lead the halftime festivities from the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9. The rap megastar, who has won 17 Grammys, said he's looking forward to bringing hip-hop to the NFL's championship game, where he performed as a guest artist with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Eminem in 2022. Associated Press

Guilty Pleasures

'White Fragility' author Robin DiAngelo tricked into paying reparations . . . "White Fragility" author Robin DiAngelo was hoodwinked into dipping into her own pocketbook to pay reparations to a black producer in podcaster Matt Walsh's upcoming documentary "Am I Racist?" An undercover, man-bun-wearing Walsh, 38, goaded DiAngelo into ponying up cash to his producer, Ben, to compensate for the sins of the past by first coughing up the money himself. DiAngelo, 68, said, "On behalf of myself and my fellow white people, I apologize." After getting Ben's blessing, DiAngelo then walked over to her pocketbook, pulled out roughly $30, and told him, "That's all the cash I have." New York Post

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