Latest News
See the latest news and get GPT analysis of articles
5 reasons the American economy is surging under Biden 2023-08-09 - “It’s the economy, stupid.” The immortal words of Bill Clinton aide James Carville during the 1992 presidential campaign. The idea is that it’s the economy, above all else, that defines election races — and outcomes. We’re less than 16 months out from the next presidential election. So, how is the economy doing right now? The conventional wisdom says, “Not good.” Republicans say, “dangerous,” "horrible" and “the worst economy in 40 years,” … and they all blame “Bidenomics.” The thing is, that Republican description of our economy is not just wrong, it’s a lie. But the numbers don’t lie. And the numbers, the economic data, are on Joe Biden’s side. The economy is in way better shape than just about anyone predicted a year or two ago — and it’s rivaling economies under previous presidents, both Republican and Democratic. Do I sound like a spokesperson for Joe Biden when I say this? Maybe. But you don’t have to take my word for it when it comes to our economic performance. All you need to do is look at five key economic areas: Jobs. Manufacturing. Growth. Inflation. Wages. 1. Jobs The unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in June. It’s now been under 4% for 17 straight months. That hasn’t happened in more than half a century, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers added an average 314,000 jobs a month this year through May. Plus another 200,000 last month. That’s almost 2 million new jobs in the economy this year alone. In Donald Trump’s four years in office, the economy lost nearly 3 million jobs. Of course, you might think that just means Biden is benefiting from a post-pandemic bounce back, but then you’d be wrong. We actually got all the pandemic jobs back by the summer of 2022 and in the 12 months since, we’ve added almost 4 million new jobs on top of that. We have gone way beyond pandemic recovery here. Since taking office, Biden has added more than 13 million jobs to the economy, and he has created more jobs in two years than any other president has done in a full four-year term. In fact, so far he has created more jobs than the last three Republican presidents combined. 2. Manufacturing Those job gains are being felt in heavy industries. Remember, the previous president ran as the guy who was going to bring back manufacturing, But in fact, it’s Joe Biden who’s getting America, to borrow a phrase, to “build back better.” Employment in U.S. manufacturing is at its highest level since George W. Bush was president. 800,000 new jobs and $200 billion in new investments by manufacturers, fueled by Biden’s new spending via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Chips and Science Act. In fact, in a research note last month, the top economist for that well known socialist institution, Morgan Stanley, wrote that Biden’s Infrastructure Act is “driving a boom in large-scale infrastructure,” led by manufacturers and builders. More new roads and new homes are being constructed. In fact, Morgan Stanley says Biden’s economic policies have proven so strong that the bank was forced to revise its own estimates of U.S. growth upward. 3. Growth Let’s talk about that growth. Last week, new growth figures came out showing U.S. GDP grew at a 2.4% annual rate over the second quarter of this year. Way above the 2.0% that economists had expected. The U.S. economy is growing. Don’t forget: For the past two years, we were fed a constant diet of recession predictions. Not just on Fox. but across the entire political spectrum. In fact, last year Bloomberg published this forecast pegging the odds of a recession in 2023 not at 80 percent, not at 90 percent, but at 100 percent! It looked inevitable. Unavoidable. But it hasn’t happened. “Bidenomics” has not just prevented a new recession, it’s produced a rather unique post-crisis recovery. The last time we had a prolonged economic crisis, the Great Recession, President Barack Obama got us out of it, but it took four years for stocks to recover their lost ground and employment more than six years to get back to its pre-recession peak. The Biden recovery is faster and stronger. 4. Inflation I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t that growth fueling higher consumer prices? Record inflation? Not anymore. Inflation dropped to 3% in June, according to government data released last month. That’s the lowest level since March 2021, and just slightly higher than the Fed’s ideal rate of 2%. Thanks to Bidenomics. OECD Don’t believe me? Just look at the rest of the world. Something Republicans probably don’t want you to do, because for the past two years, they have tried to blame Biden alone for inflation, completely ignoring that it was a global phenomenon. When U.S. inflation was high, so was the rest of the world’s. Today, the rest of the world is still enduring high inflation rates, but America is not. The U.S. has the highest GDP growth rate of all the G7 countries over the past three years, by far, but also now, it has the lowest inflation rate. Inflation here is less than half the rate of Germany, Italy and the U.K. In fact, inflation has gone down for 12 straight months. OECD If Republicans want to say Joe Biden is responsible for the high inflation, then they obviously they'll now say he is responsible for the low inflation, right? 5. Wages You know what else is beating inflation now? Worker’s wages. They’re going up faster than the prices of goods; up more than 4%, since last year, higher than that 3% inflation rate. Americans are not just making more money, but saving more of it. A study of 9 million Americans shows they had 10% to 15% more money in the bank now than in 2019. Stronger wages and savings have led to something else: a drop in income inequality. Last year, the incomes of the bottom half of earners actually grew faster than the income of the top 10 percent. That could be a start towards closing the insanely high gap between America’s richest and poorest. Remember: None of this was inevitable or ‘the norm’ after a crisis. Just think about where we stood two and a half years ago, coming out of a pandemic recession. Think about where we were last year with seemingly runaway inflation and predictions of another recession. Then look at where we are now. A recession avoided, so far, inflation falling, and the lowest unemployment rate since Neil Armstrong arrived on the moon. Republicans keep using “Bidenomics” as an insult, but Bidenomics looks like nothing short of a miracle right now. This is an adapted excerpt from the July 27 episode of “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
'Everything in Lahaina has been decimated,’ Maui resident says 2023-08-09 - Two Maui residents detailed what it was like when the flames took over their home. “We had no choice but to get in the car and leave,” said Dustin Kaleiopu.Aug. 9, 2023
FBI fatally shoots man accused of making violent threats against Biden and Alvin Bragg 2023-08-09 - 'To the right of this government, is only a wall' Impact of new judicial law in Israel 05:32
Smith’s probe included search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account 2023-08-09 - Now that special counsel Jack Smith has indicted Donald Trump in both of the prosecutor’s investigations, it’s tempting to think the focus will now shift to a new stage. Instead of learning about incremental developments in the respective probes, we should expect to see defense counsel and federal prosecutors begin preparing for upcoming trials. But in this instance, it’s not quite that simple. For example, as NBC News reported, we learned new information today about Smith’s investigation into Trump’s post-election wrongdoing. Special counsel Jack Smith’s office executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account earlier this year, searching for “evidence of criminal offenses,” according to a court ruling made public on Wednesday. According to the latest reporting, as prosecutors executed a search warrant — a step the former president described today as an “attack“ — Twitter was slow to cooperate, leading to court-imposed sanctions. A Washington Post report added that a newly unsealed appellate court ruling also revealed that District Court Judge Beryl Howell “found reason to believe that should the search warrant be made public, Trump might engage in obstructive conduct or flee prosecution.” It’s an important detail: When the Justice Department sought information from Twitter, investigators reminded the social media company that it could not alert the former president to the search. As a New York Times report summarized, prosecutors feared that if the Republican learned about the warrant, it “would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates.” Trump apparently sees this as a civil rights violation, but a federal judge understandably concluded that if the Republican was made aware of the warrant, he might try to obstruct the process — as he appears to have done before. As for what the special counsel’s office was looking for, there’s plenty of interesting speculation, but we don’t yet know. That’s not, however, the only revelation of note. Indeed, we also learned this week that a grand jury weighing evidence in the Trump election case returned to work yesterday — news that coincided with reports Smith and his team continue to scrutinize the Save America PAC’s finances. Indeed, none other than Bernie Kerik, a highly controversial former New York City police commissioner, spoke with investigators this week, and said soon after that the lines of inquiry related to Team Trump’s fundraising efforts — an angle no doubt familiar to regular readers. In case this weren’t quite enough, the New York Times also reported overnight on an internal campaign memo on the fake electors scheme from a Trump lawyer. The existence of the Dec. 6, 2020, memo came to light in last week’s indictment of Mr. Trump, though its details remained unclear. But a copy obtained by The New York Times shows for the first time that the lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, acknowledged from the start that he was proposing “a bold, controversial strategy” that the Supreme Court “likely” would reject in the end. But even if the plan did not ultimately pass legal muster at the highest level, Mr. Chesebro argued that it would achieve two goals. It would focus attention on claims of voter fraud and “buy the Trump campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s column.” Taken together, it’s a timely reminder: There’s still plenty more to learn about the investigation and the underlying scandal.
The next Covid surge is here. We can't ignore it. 2023-08-09 - “Covid’s back on the board,” a colleague said to me recently as he signed out at the end of his emergency room shift and I signed in at the beginning of mine. This summer, we saw the lowest estimated death rates attributable to Covid since we started regularly celebrating the presumed end of the pandemic. Those numbers fell to 6,300 hospitalizations and 500 deaths a week. But things didn’t stay there long. Throughout the past month, Covid cases have been ticking back up. “Covid’s back on the board,” a colleague said to me recently as he signed out at the end of his emergency room shift and I signed in at the beginning of mine. In the ER, Covid positive shows up on the tracking board: either in the column that lists the reason for a patient’s visit or in the column used to communicate critical information to staff. So far, where I work, it’s just been a few patients here and there, sprinkled between the usual case mix. At the start of one of my shifts, an elderly woman was waiting for an inpatient bed after feeling weak for two days and then collapsing in the shower at home. A wide range of diagnostic tests were benign, but a positive Covid test explained her symptoms. Later that shift, I saw a patient who’d had a positive home test but came in because of symptom severity. He’d considered going back to work for the first time since long Covid sapped his energy capacity about a year ago, and he feared the new infection would knock him back to where he started. Estimates for the surge this fall and winter range from 484,000 to 839,000 hospitalizations and 45,000 to 87,000 deaths. Even if the actual number of hospital admissions and deaths stay on the lower end of those estimates, they will still be hugely significant. First, health system capacity has not returned to normal and, right now, hospitals are already under strain. The staff is stretched to its limits, waiting times are painfully long, and physical spaces are full to bursting. Of course, ER visits and hospitalizations only represent a small fraction of people with Covid. The estimates above translate to many millions of outpatient clinic visits for Covid, which will collide with visits for other respiratory illnesses expected this winter: Australia’s flu season, which is a bellwether for the U.S., has been particularly tough on children this year. Further, due to the end of continuous Medicaid enrollment instituted at the onset of the pandemic, millions of Americans have already lost their Medicaid coverage this year and have less access to their primary care clinics. Add to that, the steady closure of rural hospitals and our underutilization of existing therapies against severe Covid, and you get an acute care system under strain. Again. The quality of care drops when hospitals are under such strain, which means that facilities already at the tipping point of chaos will not be able to deliver the same standard of care if they descend completely into chaos. Second, the inability to function well during strain contributes to what we call the “moral distress” of health care providers — when the right course of action is clear but institutional constraints prevent one from taking it. Moral distress leads to more personnel leaving front-line clinical work, which leads to reduced capacity, which leads to more distress. It’s a vicious cycle. Further, long Covid is no joke. Every time I see a patient with long Covid, like the one I cared for the other day, I am struck by how it stubbornly challenges any comforting notions about the disease itself. We’d like to think, for example, that because acute Covid is often (though not universally) mild, it’s nothing to worry about. But long Covid most often occurs after mild disease. Some people are convinced that Covid “only” matters if the person who gets it is elderly, immune compromised, chronically ill or disabled, and the eagerness of so many people to embrace this line of thinking exposes how quick we are to devalue the lives of people in those categories. But long Covid also appears in young, previously healthy and highly active people, including children. Yes, many people recover from long Covid. And also, some don’t. The waiting list for my health system’s long-Covid clinic remains full, and those who are seen there have severe, debilitating illness, the defining feature of which is a disabling and devastating fatigue. Every time I see a patient with long Covid, I am struck by how it stubbornly challenges any comforting notions about the disease itself. As we publicly cheered the end of the pandemic, there have been few celebratory laps for those affected by long Covid. We still don’t understand the underpinnings of the disease, the timeline of symptoms or improvement for those with severe disease, or the impact of successive waves of acute Covid illness on those with chronic Covid illness. The Office of Long Covid Research and Practice announced a year ago only launched last week. So too did the first trials of therapeutics to treat long Covid. Like post-viral myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) before it, the existence of long Covid is so inconvenient that it is standard to ignore and dismiss it. But our journey with long Covid is just beginning. It remains to be seen what, exactly, Covid has in store for us this winter. But we’re likely to see some degree of health system oversaturation, struggling hospitals and clinics, reduced access to needed care and reduced functionality of the whole system. Some of this may feel wearily familiar. Unfortunately, in terms of long-term fixes for both the health system and long Covid, we are still waiting for meaningful breakthroughs.
Trump’s fight against D.C. Judge Tanya Chutkan mirrors his post-2020 bigotry 2023-08-09 - Thrice-indicted Donald Trump’s attempt to move his latest federal case out of Washington and away from Judge Tanya Chutkan seems to rest on the same sort of bigotry he used to push lies about the 2020 election after he lost. Namely, that some people are inherently suspicious — and unfit to partake in the electoral or judicial process. And as I see it, it’s no coincidence that many of these people are nonwhite. Think back to the end of 2020, when it had become clear Trump had lost the election to Joe Biden. Trump and his associates’ key claims at the time involved purported election fraud in cities with large Black and brown communities, such as Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Courts repeatedly dismissed Trump’s claims of election fraud, but his followers were nonetheless led to believe that these communities were rife with criminals who had stolen the election from him. The implication seemed clear. Courts repeatedly dismissed Trump’s claims of election fraud, but his followers were nonetheless led to believe that these communities were rife with criminals who had stolen the election from him. And when we look at the way conservatives acted on Trump’s lies, it seems clear that race was front of mind for many of them. In some cases, they lobbed racist threats and insults at Black folks targeted by Trump, or they used thinly veiled racism to malign cities with large Black communities as inherently corrupt. Trump didn’t need to use racial slurs for this to be racist. He and his associates simply had to target Black folks and these cities, and the MAGA movement apparently knew what to do. I think we’re seeing a similar strategy at play in Trump’s effort to have his election-related criminal trial moved out of Washington. One of his lawyers laughably suggested that West Virginia would be somewhere that actually “reflects the characteristics of the American people.” (Here, it’s important to note that West Virginia is about 93% white and less than 4% Black, while Washington is around 46% white and 45% Black.) And Trump’s social media attacks on Judge Tanya Chutkan’s credibility — including his claim that she must recuse herself because there’s “no way” he can get a fair trial in her court — mirror remarks he has made about other nonwhite judges and prosecutors who’ve tried to hold him accountable. It hearkens back to Trump’s claim that federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel couldn’t fairly oversee the Trump University fraud case because of his Mexican heritage. When Trump’s in legal or political trouble, he often points a finger at people of color, tries to discredit them, and seeks to deprive them of their power to punish him. And as mentioned, his followers have been known to go on the attack in response. Which makes a new CNN report sound all the more urgent. On Monday, the news organization reported that Chutkan’s security detail has been beefed up. Seems very smart to me.
Inside hip-hop's long, antagonistic relationship with the criminal justice system 2023-08-09 - Hip-hop — more specifically, rap music — has always had an uneasy relationship with the law. As rap music was “the CNN of the ghetto,” as Public Enemy’s Chuck D put it, it also chronicled the Black experience with law enforcement and the courts from myriad angles and called out the inequities within those core institutions. Whether it’s KRS-One’s “Sound of da Police” or Akon’s “Locked Up,” there’s at least one hip-hop song for every step of the criminal justice system, from police interactions and arrest to trial, sentencing and incarceration. Even as rap music has served as a platform to tell the truth about the criminal justice system, there’s been a consistent attempt by that system to criminalize the music. Even as rap music has consistently served as a platform to tell the truth about Black America’s interactions with the criminal justice system, there’s been a consistent attempt by people in that system to criminalize the music, including its narratives about the system. Long before Florida — along with other state governments and multiple local school boards — began its crusade to censor Black authors, officials, including federal officials, tried to silence Black musicians’ narratives about Black people’s lived experience. On the 1988 song “F--- tha Police,” the members of N.W.A likened themselves to prosecutors as they called out the racist brutality of the Los Angeles Police Department, brutality the whole world would see less than three years later when LAPD officers were caught on camera beating Rodney King. But that song put N.W.A in the FBI’s crosshairs. In 1989, a spokesperson for the agency sent the group’s record company a letter that criticized the song for encouraging “violence against and disrespect for the law enforcement officer.” In that letter, the spokesperson, Milt Ahlerich, wrote: “I wanted you to be aware of the F.B.I.’s position relative to the song and its message. I believe my views reflect the opinion of the entire law enforcement community.’’ The common theme between today’s censorship of books and history lessons and past mobilizations against hip-hop is the attempted suppression of Black voices and truth-telling, particularly when those narratives seek to hold America responsible for not living up to its promise to all of its people. Repeated attempts to criminalize rap music stand as, perhaps, the most glaring example of how First Amendment protections don’t apply equally to all. 2 Live Crew’s 1990 release “Banned in the U.S.A.” featured the Recording Industry Association of America’s first Parental Advisory sticker. The sticker was a result of a campaign against certain lyrics that was led by Tipper Gore, the wife of Sen. Al Gore, the future vice president. A federal judge had ruled 2 Live Crew’s previous album, “As Nasty as They Wanna Be,” was too obscene to be sold or performed in some parts of Florida. And the artists were performing songs from that album at a 1990 Florida show when they were arrested and booked for obscenity. While 2 Live Crew ultimately prevailed on appeal in a landmark victory for First Amendment rights, this wasn’t the last time we would see the law attempting to use rappers’ lyrics against them. Repeated attempts to criminalize rap music stand as, perhaps, the most glaring example of how First Amendment protections don’t apply equally to all. Though rap music was born in New York in the 1970s and increased in popularity in the early 1980s, the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s are widely considered to be rap’s golden age. That’s when it was growing out of its status as a subculture within urban America and becoming mainstream pop culture. And with that, its artists were giving some listeners a view of what life was like in the places that few would ever venture to. This is not insignificant when we consider that the 1980s brought us the crack epidemic, which gave rise to significant gang activity, which led to an increase in violent crime across the country. These trends continued into the early 1990s. Then, after they’d witnessed their neighborhoods’ being turned upside down and besieged, many in Black America sought assistance from the federal government. We sought safety, protection and economic opportunity — essentially, the same things Black people have wanted since Reconstruction: an unencumbered path of access to the American dream. What we got, though, was a crime bill that offered mass incarceration as the panacea for our ills. All of this was beautifully chronicled in the music. It may have seemed to some that so-called socially conscious artists such as Arrested Development or those groups that formed the Native Tongues were the polar opposites of so-called gangster rappers like Snoop Doggy Dog, Tupac or UGK, but they all helped tell a cohesive narrative about a system that wasn’t working. For example, A Tribe Called Quest’s “Eight Million Stories” and Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day” both depict an urban landscape, one in New York and the other in Los Angeles, and each narrator’s frustration with crime is paired with at least an equal amount of disdain for the police. The tapestry that was rap music included language and cultures from all of America’s forgotten places and, together, stories of resilience, survival and, yes, fun. However, there was an irony: America was hearing rap music, but it was never really listening. “Eight Million Stories” and “It Was a Good Day” both depict an urban landscape, one in New York and the other in Los Angeles, and each narrator’s frustration with crime is paired with at least an equal amount of disdain for the police. Many people were interested in how rap’s style could be monetized or its lyrics could be weaponized but had little interest in its substance and failed to appreciate the nuance, creativity or imagination in so many of its lyrics. For example, in Main Source’s “Just a Friendly Game of Baseball,” Large Professor draws striking analogies between law enforcement and America’s favorite pastime. His references to sports and violence aren’t intended to focus excessively on either more than the entirety of the song’s being a clever exercise in wordplay. The inability of many in the general public to see rap musicians as creative artists is a main reason the line between fiction and reality became blurred and rap music, its artists and those who enjoyed it were viewed through an anti-Black lens of criminality. Not only was being Black in America barely legal; now people’s expression of their lived experience was also subject to arrest and prosecution. For decades now, prosecutors have used rappers’ lyrics and creative expressions as evidence in cases against them. This controversial practice is built on the assumption that such musicians aren’t real artists and that there is no separation between who artists are in real life and who they or their alter egos say they are when they’re in a recording booth or on a stage. As a former assistant district attorney, I know that the assumptions jurors make about rappers and their lyrics often give prosecutors an enormous advantage at trial. We are seeing this play out in real time in Fulton County, Georgia, in the RICO trial of rapper Young Thug and his YSL record label. Prosecutors say his lyrics amount to a confession to the crimes they’ve charged him with. If you believe that’s reasonable, ask yourself whether you’d have supported a prosecution of Johnny Cash in which his song “Folsom Prison Blues,” with the lyric “I shot a man in Reno,” was treated by prosecutors as a confession. The criminalization of rappers’ creative expression prompted Reps. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., to author legislation last year that seeks to limit the degree to which prosecutors can use rappers’ lyrics as evidence against them. Ask yourself whether you’d have supported a prosecution of Johnny Cash in which his lyric “I shot a man in Reno” was treated by prosecutors as a confession. Not only would that legislation install an important guardrail to protect rappers’ First Amendment rights, but it would also increase their chances of getting fair trials if they’re ever accused of crimes. Hip-hop turns 50 at the same time we’re witnessing an all-out assault on America’s democratic institutions and an all-out assault on rights of historically marginalized group to tell their stories or create art. Just like the 2 Live Crew victory was a win for a country that says it values free speech, the passage of a bill that limits how lyrics could be used as evidence would also be a major win. Because these are protections that should be afforded to us all. This is a critically important inflection point for how we navigate the connection of one of Black America’s most treasured forms of individual expression to the protections that are supposed to be afforded to all of us. But this is a much greater issue than rap, rappers or lyrics. If rap artists can be criminalized for what they say and aren’t allowed to speak freely, then those of us who aren’t rappers don’t have that freedom, either. This post is part of MSNBC’s “Hip-Hop Is Universal” series, which celebrates the genre’s 50th anniversary and examines its future.
Abortion setback in Ohio alarms GOP, as Democrats see a 'roadmap for 2024' 2023-08-09 - A decisive defeat for abortion foes in the red state of Ohio, the seventh such loss since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, has sent alarm bells ringing among some Republicans and prominent conservatives over the clear salience of the issue. "The Ohio result tonight, coming on the heels of the shellacking in Michigan and the unexpected loss in Kentucky, needs to be a five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement," Patrick Brown, a conservative scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, tweeted late Tuesday. But Republican strategists face a no-win conundrum. Retreating on abortion would infuriate the majority of their base that wants to ban abortion, while their current strategy is alienating a formidable slice of swing voters who favor some GOP positions but oppose the party’s stance on reproductive rights. The end of Roe v. Wade drove voters toward Democrats in the 2022 elections and since then, abortion opponents have lost a series of state elections: a ballot measure in Kansas, this year's Wisconsin Supreme Court race and now Ohio’s Issue 1 ballot measure. “There shouldn’t be any sugar-coating over what happened last night. It was a major setback in what became a very public fight between pro-choice and pro-life groups,” Bill Stepien, the campaign manager for former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, said on Fox News. “This happened in Ohio, which is not a pink state anymore. This is a state that is red.” The GOP’s creeping fear is that abortion could propel an unpopular President Joe Biden to re-election. “The bigger concern is what this means for 2024. National pro-choice groups are at the ready — and ready to pounce,” Stepien said. “We know Democrats aren’t excited at all about Joe Biden. … These groups are going to provide rocket fuel to a pretty unenthusiastic candidacy and be on the ground and be knocking on doors. We’re going to be breathing life into a pretty unenthusiastic campaign.” But the Republican Party remains divided. Anti-abortion activists want to lean into the issue and fight harder, while some GOP leaders prefer to downplay it and pivot to other topics friendlier to their party. Others say the Ohio defeat was about a spending advantage by pro-abortion-rights groups that opposed Issue 1. Deidra Reese, statewide program manager for the Ohio Unity Coalition, celebrates the defeat of Issue 1 in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday. Jay LaPrete / AP 'As long as sex is salient' Democrats, meanwhile, sense new opportunities to wield the issue to damage Republicans in the 2024 election, when the White House and control of Congress are up for grabs. “As long as sex is salient, as long as people can get pregnant, this issue is remaining very salient,” said Celinda Lake, a veteran Democratic pollster. “And it’s very motivating.” “This is going to be the roadmap for 2024. Because issues matter,” Lake said. “Democrats should just not underestimate this issue and should continue to utilize it.” Conservatives say the GOP’s challenge is to come up with a coherent position that is palatable to swing voters and sell it. “We haven’t figured out both the messaging and the substance to appeal to the voter in the middle who’s maybe personally conflicted about abortion but doesn’t like the idea of a really rigid ban,” Brown said in an interview with NBC News. “The pro-choice side has been really effective at finding language that resonates with Republicans and independents, and the pro-life side has not done the same thing in reverse. And we’re seeing the results play out, unfortunately.” Brown said the solution is to turn the debate away from the idea of a national abortion ban. “To me, the most frustrating thing has been the sort of circular firing squad that we’ve seen between various presidential candidates and some of the bigger pro-life organizations in D.C. about whether or not to push for a federal 15-week ban,” he said. “Right now, we have to stem the bleeding, and holding to the most purest conception of what it needs to look like, I think, is doing everybody a disservice.” 'It's an intensity issue' Brown isn't alone. When Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a 15-week national abortion ban last fall, GOP skeptics panned it as a "bad idea" and a distraction that wouldn't play well with voters. Still, other abortion foes insist that Republicans can win on the issue by reframing it around restrictions for late-term pregnancies and by portraying Democrats as the real extremists. “It is a sad day for Ohio and a warning for pro-life states across the nation,” said an unsigned statement from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, blaming the defeat on “liberal dark money” that was used to “mislead” Ohioans amid a “silence of the establishment and business community.” “That is why everyone must take this threat seriously and recognize progressives will win if their opponents are scared into submission by the pro-abortion Left,” the SBA statement said. “So long as the Republicans and their supporters take the ostrich strategy and bury their heads in the sand, they will lose again and again.” In the 2022 campaign, some Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sought to downplay the battle, arguing that abortion proponents needn’t fear because his party won’t find the votes to restrict abortion at the federal level. A month after the 2022 election, McConnell attributed the GOP’s disastrous Senate showing to poor candidates, not abortion. In Ohio, which Trump carried twice by a comfortable 8 points, the Issue 1 referendum was pushed by conservatives to raise the threshold to change the state’s constitution from 50% to 60%, in anticipation of progressives eying a ballot measure to protect abortion rights. With most votes counted, Issue 1 lost by 14 points. “It’s an intensity issue. A lot of it has to do with intensity — who’s really fired up to get out there and vote?” former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who signed laws to restrict abortion while in office, said on MSNBC. “It wasn’t just Democrats that voted against this thing. There were a number of Republicans that did as well.” Democrats see an opening with Trump National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said she was “caught off guard” by how outgunned abortion opponents were after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. “Quite frankly, we’re being so outspent that it’s hard to counter the message that is coming out from our opponents,” Tobias said. “The biggest one for me that I was not expecting were the lies that were being told about women not being able to get treatment, that women are going to die.” Electorally, it turns out Roe v. Wade was a gift to Republicans during its nearly half-century run. It turned a losing issue for the party into a winner by enabling the GOP to mobilize a passionate anti-abortion base in election after election for decades, without triggering a backlash among the majority of Americans who support legal abortion but didn't believe it was in danger. That’s over. “Now our voters are more mobilized than theirs,” Lake said. Lake said the Dobbs ruling gives Democrats an opening against Trump that they lacked in 2016. She lamented that voters didn’t believe Trump would actually fight to restrict abortion. But over his four years as president, Trump put three justices on the Supreme Court — all provided decisive votes to end the right to legal abortion. “I was doing focus groups in Michigan with women, and I said: ‘Donald Trump is going to defund Planned Parenthood.’ And the women said, ‘No he’s not, that’s ridiculous.’ And I said I can show you the clip on TV, and I played the news for them,” Lake said. “And they said, ‘Are you kidding me? I don’t care what he says.’” “So in 2016, it was very hard to make him anti-choice. After Dobbs, it’s not,” she said. “And the linkage to his court — the Trump judges and the MAGA judges is very, very clear to voters.”
Gay veterans sue Defense Department over military discharges 2023-08-09 - A group of LGBTQ veterans who were dismissed from the U.S. military because of their sexuality are suing the Department of Defense for denying them honorable discharges and listing their sexual orientations on their service records. In a class action lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the plaintiffs are asking for the department to grant them honorable discharges so they can access all veteran benefits, including health care, college tuition assistance and loan programs. They are also requesting that language be removed from their discharge documents that notes their sexualities, arguing that the documents — which the plaintiffs say must be provided to access some veterans’ benefits — violate their privacy. “Our government and leaders have long acknowledged that the military’s discrimination against LGBTQ+ service members — and what was done to me — was wrong,” one of the named plaintiffs, U.S. Army veteran Steven Egland, said in a statement. “The time has come to rectify it by correcting our records. All of those who served deserve to have documents that reflect the honor in our service.” A spokesperson for the Department of Defense declined to comment on the pending litigation. Some of the plaintiffs were dismissed under the military's 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which permitted gays and lesbians to serve as long as they remained closeted, while others were discharged due to previous laws that barred gays and lesbians from military service, according to a statement from the plaintiffs’ lawyers. More than 13,000 service members were discharged from the U.S. military for violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) police, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, an LGBTQ research organization. Since the policy’s repeal, advocates for LGBTQ veterans have asked the U.S. government to automatically adjust the discharge status of former service members and issue an apology. In 2017, the Trump administration placed a ban on transgender Americans from openly serving and enlisting in the military, which the Biden administration lifted in 2021. Democratic members of the House and the Senate introduced separate measures in 2021, urging the government to apologize for the mistreatment of LGBTQ service members. Tuesday’s lawsuit notes that there is an existing application process by which veterans can request changes to the status of their discharge, but the suit argues the process is “complicated and intimidating.” “The currently available discharge upgrade process is burdensome, opaque, expensive, and, for many veterans, virtually inaccessible,” a statement from the plaintiffs’ lawyers reads. “The process not only takes months or years, but also requires veterans to prove that an error or injustice warrants updating their discharge papers to the very entity that caused the error or injustice, despite the Government’s own acknowledgement that DADT was discriminatory.” Without changes from the Department of Defense, the suit argues, “the Government’s ongoing discrimination” against LGBTQ veterans will continue. “Because of the circumstances and language of my discharge, which served as a painful reminder of the trauma I experienced, I was never able to proudly say that I served my country,” Egland said in his statement
Disney posts mixed results for quarter plagued by streaming woes, restructuring costs 2023-08-09 - Disney posted mixed results for the fiscal third-quarter despite ongoing streaming woes and massive restructuring costs from pulling content from its platforms. Subscriber losses continued over the last three months, with the company reporting 146.1 million Disney+ subscribers during the most recent quarter, a 7.4% decrease from the previous quarter. Wall Street had expected Disney would report a smaller loss of 151.1 million subscribers, according to estimates from StreetAccount. The majority of subscriber losses came from Disney+ Hotstar, where the company saw a 24% drop in users after it lost out on the rights to Indian Premier League matches. The company recorded $2.65 billion in one-time charges and impairments, dragging the company to a rare quarterly loss. The majority of those charges were related to what Disney called “content impairments” related to pulling content of its streaming platforms and ending third-party licensing agreements. Here are the results: EPS: $1.03 per share adjusted, versus 95 cents per share expected, according to a Refinitiv consensus survey Revenue: $22.33 billion, versus $22.5 billion expected, according to Refinitiv Disney+ total subscriptions: 146.1 million, versus 151.1 million expected, according to StreetAccount Disney posted a net loss of $460 million, or a loss of 25 cents per share, during the quarter, down from a net income of $1.41 billion, or 77 cents per share, during the year ago period. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.03 per share. Revenue increased 4% to $22.33 billion, just short of Wall Street estimates of $22.5 billion. One bright spot for the company was its parks, experiences and products division, which saw a 13% increase in revenue to $8.3 billion during the quarter. Disney saw strength at its international parks during the quarter, while domestic parks, particularly Walt Disney World in Florida, saw a slowdown in attendance and hotel room purchases. Similar slowdowns were seen by Comcast’s Universal theme parks in Florida. Ahead of Disney’s earnings call, investors are looking for more clarity on how Iger plans to fix Disney’s TV business and juggle the decline of subscribers at Disney+. Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
Robbie Robertson, leader of The Band, dies at 80 2023-08-09 - Robbie Robertson, a Canadian musician and songwriter who made his mark in the late 1960s and early '70s as the leader of the influential rock group The Band, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 80. His death was announced by his longtime manager, Jared Levine. "Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife, Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine, and Delphine’s partner Kenny," Levine's statement said, in part. "He is also survived by his grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel and Seraphina." Born Jaime Royal Robertson on July 5, 1943, he was one of the last two surviving members of The Band, an influential rock band that mixed folk, gospel and jazz with rhythm and blues and helped forge a distinctly American kind of roots rock sound. The other is keyboardist Garth Hudson. Robertson, Hudson, as well as bassist Rick Danko and pianist Richard Manuel, were all born in Canada. Drummer Levon Helm, the only member of the band who was born in the United States, died in 2012. Danko died in 1999. Manuel died in 1986. From left, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel and Rick Danko of The Band in 1971. Gijsbert Hanekroot / Redferns Robertson played lead guitar and wrote some of The Band’s best-known songs, including “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” But it was Robertson's appearance in "The Last Waltz," a 1978 documentary about the group's farewell concert that was directed by Martin Scorsese, that made him a star. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest concert films ever made. Robertson went on to produce scores and curated songs for Scorsese movies like "Raging Bull," "The Departed," "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "The Irishman." Shortly before he died, Robertson finished his 14th film music project with Scorsese called "Killers of the Flower Moon," Levine said. “Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work," Scorsese said in a statement. "Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life—me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys." Robertson was born on the Six Nations Reserve outside of Toronto. His mother claimed Mohawk and Cayuga heritage. His biological father was Jewish. By age 10, Robertson had started playing guitar. The Band grew out of the Hawks, an ever-changing group of back-up musicians in the early 1960s for a Toronto-based rockabilly singer named Ronnie Hawkins. "The first time I saw Ronnie and the Hawks perform, it was a revelation," Robertson wrote in his 2016 memoir "Testimony." By 1965, Robertson and the nucleus of what would become The Band was touring the world with Bob Dylan. Rick Danko, left, and Robbie Robertson perform with The Band in 1976. Richard E. Aaron / Redferns But it wasn't until 1968, when Roberston and his bandmates released their debut album, "Music from Big Pink," that The Band began calling itself The Band. The Band went on the perform at Woodstock and, in 1994, it was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Robertson made his solo album debut in 1987 with a self-titled album that featured guest artists Peter Gabriel and U2 and the track “Somewhere Down The Crazy River.” He went on to release five more solo albums and was working on a follow-up to "Testimony" when he died, according to his manager. In his memory, Robertson's family has asked that any donations be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, Canada, to support a new cultural center.
'Big Brother' contestant Luke Valentine removed from show after using N-word on camera 2023-08-09 - "Big Brother" contestant Luke Valentine was booted from the CBS reality show on Wednesday for violating the code of conduct after using the N-word. Valentine used the racial slur in a conversation that was captured on a live feed that was streaming on Paramount+ on Tuesday night, Variety reported. The feed has since been removed. CBS confirmed Valentine's departure, saying in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday that he "violated the BIG BROTHER code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur." "He has been removed from the house," producers said. Valentine’s exit will be addressed on Thursday night's episode. The Florida illustrator, 30, dropped the slur during a conversation with three other contestants, a video circulating on social media shows. After saying it, he covers his mouth, laughs and tries to correct himself with the word "dude." "I'm sorry," he says laughing. Many viewers took to social media and called for Valentine's removal. "Production should remove Luke. Set an example. Show current and future players that language like that will not be tolerated. #BB25," former winner Andy Herren tweeted. After the CBS announcement, Herren celebrated the decision, writing, "This is great. It sets a precedent moving forward that has been a long time coming! #BB25." The reality competition show, which follows people living together in a house, is no stranger to controversy. Last season, contestant Kyle Carpenter was evicted after making comments about race, according to Variety.
Iraq bans media from using term ‘homosexuality’, says they must use ‘sexual deviance’ 2023-08-09 - Iraq’s official media regulator on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term “homosexuality” and instead to say “sexual deviance,” a government spokesperson said and a document from the regulator shows. The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) document said that the use of the term “gender” was also banned. It prohibited all phone and internet companies licensed by it from using the terms in any of their mobile applications. A government official later said that the decision still required final approval. The regulator “directs media organizations ... not to use the term ‘homosexuality’ and to use the correct term ‘sexual deviance’,” the Arabic-language statement said. Shiite Muslim devotees self-flagellate over an unfurled banner on the ground depicting the Pride rainbow flag defaced with a boot and the Arabic slogan "no to homosexual society" ahead of the Shiite holy day of Ashoura in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on July 25. Asaad Niazi / AFP - Getty Images A government spokesperson said a penalty for violating the rule had not yet been set but could include a fine. Iraq does not explicitly criminalize gay sex but loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code have been used to target members of the LGBTQ community. Major Iraqi parties have in the past two months stepped up criticism of LGBTQ rights, with rainbow flags frequently being burned in protests by Shi’ite Muslim factions opposed to recent Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark. More than 60 countries criminalize gay sex, while same-sex sexual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data.
Amazon’s second Prime Day is happening this October 2023-08-09 - Amazon just announced its second Prime Day-level event of the year: Prime Big Deal Days. The sales event, which is exclusive to Prime members, is currently scheduled for October 2023, though the retailer has yet to release specific dates. SKIP AHEAD What is Prime Big Deal Days? | What will be on sale during Prime Big Deal Days? | When is Prime Big Deal Days? | Do I need a Prime membership to shop? | Does Amazon always host two Prime Days? | Prime Day 2023 results | Prime Day 2023 bestsellers To help you prepare and learn about what to expect, we answered some frequently asked questions about Prime Big Deal Days below. We’ll continue updating this story as Amazon releases new information over the next few weeks. What is the Prime Big Deal Days sale? Prime Big Deal Days is a Prime Day-level mega sale — there will be discounts on items across various categories — that Prime members have exclusive access to. It’s available to shoppers in 19 countries this October: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the U.S. and the U.K. What will be on sale during Prime Big Deal Days? While sellers tend to slash prices on products across categories during Amazon sales events, we expect to see an emphasis on giftable products, like handheld tech, gaming bundles, beauty sets and kitchen appliances during the event. In recent years other retailers have promoted early Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in October. This gives shoppers extra time to buy gifts and spread their spending out across a few months. Amazon also offers Lightning Deals during its sales events, which are great opportunities to save. These limited-time offers give shoppers a short window to purchase and check out. While you can’t really prepare for Lightning Deals, be sure to browse through them during the event and checkout quickly if something catches your eye — once Lightning Deals are live, items tend to go out-of-stock quickly. When is Prime Big Deal Days? The Prime Big Deal Days event is scheduled for October 2023, but we don’t know the exact dates yet — we’ll keep you updated as the retailer releases more information. Amazon has also not yet announced how long the event will be or what time deals start and end. Do I need a Prime membership to shop Prime Big Deal Days? Yes, you need a Prime membership to shop the sale. If you’re interested in joining Amazon Prime prior to the event, you can register online for a standard membership or for discounted options available for students and those receiving certain types of government assistance. New members get a 30-day free trial. Does Amazon host two Prime Days every year? Last year was the first time Amazon hosted two Prime Day-level events in one year — there was Prime Day in July 2022 and the Prime Early Access Sale in October 2022. The retailer is following the same schedule in 2023 with Prime Day falling on July 11 and July 12, and the Prime Big Deal Days sale set for October. Amazon has not commented on whether it will permanently host two Prime Day-level events every year going forward. How successful was Prime Day 2023? Amazon does not disclose Prime Day sales, but Digital Commerce 360 estimates that the retailer hit $12.90 billion in global sales during July’s Prime Day event. This marks a 6.7% increase in sales compared to Prime Day 2022, which saw $12.09 billion in sales. The moderate increase from 2022 to 2023 is consistent with Amazon’s recent growth trends — Digital Commerce 360 estimates that the last time Amazon saw double-digit growth in Prime Day sales year-over-year was between 2019 and 2020, when Prime Day sales increased 45.1%. Slower sales growth may be due to shoppers cutting back on spending in response to inflation, according to Digital Commerce 360. What were the bestsellers during Prime Day 2023? Amazon sold more than 375 million items worldwide during Prime Day 2023 this summer, and the first day of the 48-hour event was the largest sales day in Amazon history, according to the retailer. Bestselling products included the Amazon Fire TV Stick, Laneige lip balm, Apple AirPods and the Bissell Little Green Portable Deep Cleaner. Alexa-enabled devices were also popular products, according to Amazon. We put together a list of Select readers’ favorite products during this year’s sale, including Crest’s 3D Whitestrips, a Fullstar vegetable chopper and the Amazon smart plug. Why trust Select? Zoe Malin is an associate updates editor at NBC Select who’s been covering Amazon since 2020. She wrote Select’s history of Amazon Prime Day, as well as a variety of Amazon Prime Day sales articles. For this piece, Malin researched Amazon Prime Day and referenced Select’s other Amazon coverage. Catch up on Select’s in-depth coverage of personal finance, tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.
Cadillac's Escalade SUV goes electric: What to know 2023-08-09 - "This is the reimagining of an icon." Cadillac's newest Escalade sport utility vehicle is more brash, commanding and luxurious than the current model. It's also electric. "The first word you get is 'Wow,'" John Roth, vice president of Global Cadillac, told ABC News of the reaction to the Escalade IQ. "People say, 'Boy, that's an Escalade.'" Twelve cubic feet of storage is now available in the vehicle's "eTrunk." A 55-inch curved diagonal LED display stretches across the dashboard. Adaptive air ride suspension softens the ride on 24-inch wheels. The Escalade IQ also posts sports car-like performance -- 750 horses, 785 lb-ft of torque -- and sprints from 0-60 in less than 5 seconds. More than 1 million Escalades have been sold since its launch in 1998 and one-third of all large luxury SUVs bought in the U.S. is an Escalade. Cadillac designers were instructed to deliver an EV that was modern, tech-focused and, above all, looked like a traditional Escalade. "It's such a critical nameplate to the industry," Roth said. "The Escalade IQ has performance, style and tech -- what Escalade has always stood for." The Escalade IQ gets 450 miles of range and has a starting price of $130,000. Cadillac With a starting price of $130,000, the Escalade IQ joins Cadillac's growing battery-powered family: the Celestiq, a $340,000 chic fastback, and the Lyriq, a $58,590 posh crossover. It will be built at General Motors' Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center in Michigan next summer and arrive in showrooms as a 2025 model-year vehicle. Cadillac says the Escalade IQ, which utilizes GM's Ultium propulsion platform, gets an estimated 450 miles of range. When connected to an 800-volt DC fast charger, the vehicle can add 100 miles in less than 10 minutes. The Ultium platform also underpins the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV and the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV. Cadillac, like Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors, has committed to becoming an electric vehicle automaker by 2030. Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, got to see the Escalade IQ before its official unveiling on Wednesday. He called the interior "stunning" and underscored the vehicle's impressive range. "Most consumers will never be able to use the full 450 miles. It's a remarkable distance," he told ABC News. The Escalade IQ has 35-inch wheels and offers generous space for luggage and cargo. Cadillac The only drawback could be the cost, he noted. The Escalade IQ's chief competitors -- the Rivian R1S SUV and Tesla Model X -- are priced much lower. "Cadillac remains the pinnace of GM," Jominy said. "It has defined the brand for decades." Escalade accounted for 30% of Cadillac's sales in 2022, with more than 40,200 units sold, according to Ivan Drury, senior manager of insights at Edmunds. The average transaction price was $109,365 versus $69,990 for the marque. A high MSRP and rising fuel prices have not slowed down demand for the Escalade. "People who buy Escalades don't care about electrification," Drury told ABC News. "You want to be showy: 'I don't care that I have the biggest footprint of a vehicle.' A different consumer will buy the electric version." Drury argued the excitement around EVs may be slipping even with new models making their way to dealers. "Tesla has cut prices in a move to buy back market share," he said. "EVs are sitting on lots longer. These vehicles are not invincible to market dynamics." Robin Krieg, lead exterior designer of the Escalade IQ, said customers will be very pleased with the latest version of the SUV. "It has a grand sense of scale and presence and an ultra-refined interior," he told ABC News. "There's effortless power ... and a sense of arrival. All the designers wanted this to be an Escalade." The Escalade IQ features a curved 55-inch diagonal LED screen inside. Cadillac Craig Sass, interior design manager of the Escalade IQ, noted how the driver and passenger experience has greatly improved: A floating center console to amplify the vehicle's spaciousness. An extended panoramic roof that spans all three rows. The ability of front-row passengers to stream and watch videos on the LED screen. Plus, the vehicle tows up to 8,000 lbs and offers one-pedal driving to conserve range. "You're not giving up anything by going electric," Sass told ABC News. "It has all the things you'd expect in a luxury vehicle." Customers can choose executive-style seating in the second row. There's also a panoramic glass roof with UV-filtering film. Cadillac Jominy said Cadillac has to resolve its production problems, which have hampered the rollout of the Lyriq, to be truly competitive in the luxury EV space. Added Drury: "Cadillac has not had a smooth launch toward electrification." Software challenges in the Lyriq are now corrected and volume has ramped up along with sales, according to Roth. Cadillac will also continue to build the Escalade-V, a beast of an SUV that makes 682 hp from a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine, for the foreseeable future. Right now all eyes are on the Escalade IQ. "We're sending a bold message on how Cadillac thinks about electric vehicles," Roth said.
Biden issues an executive order restricting US investments in Chinese technology 2023-08-09 - President Joe Biden speaks at the Arcosa Wind Towers, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. Biden is making the case that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Joe Biden speaks at the Arcosa Wind Towers, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. Biden is making the case that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Joe Biden speaks at the Arcosa Wind Towers, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. Biden is making the case that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Joe Biden speaks at the Arcosa Wind Towers, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. Biden is making the case that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to block and regulate high-tech U.S.-based investments going toward China WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to block and regulate high-tech U.S.-based investments going toward China — a move the administration said was targeted even though it reflected an intensifying competition between the world's two biggest powers. The order covers advanced computer chips, micro electronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence. Senior administration officials said that the effort stemmed from national security goals rather than economic interests, and that the categories it covered were intentionally narrow in scope. The order seeks to blunt China's ability to use U.S. investments in its technology companies to upgrade its military while also preserving broader levels of trade that are vital for both nations' economies. The United States and China appear to be increasingly locked in a geopolitical competition with a conflicting set of values. Biden administration officials have insisted that they have no interest in “decoupling” from China, yet the U.S. also has limited the export of advanced computer chips and kept the expanded tariffs set up by President Donald Trump. China has engaged in crackdowns on foreign companies. Biden has suggested that China's economy is struggling and its global ambitions have been tempered as the U.S. has reenergized its alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the European Union. The administration consulted with allies and industry in shaping the executive order. “Worry about China, but don’t worry about China,” Biden told donors at a June fundraising event in California. The officials previewing the order said that China has exploited U.S. investments to support the development of weapons and modernize its military. The new limits were tailored not to disrupt China's economy, but they would complement the export controls on advanced computer chips from last year that led to pushback by Chinese officials. The Treasury Department, which would monitor the investments, will announce a proposed rulemaking with definitions that would conform to the presidential order and go through a public comment process. The goals of the order would be to have investors notify the U.S. government about certain types of transactions with China as well as to place prohibitions on some investments. Officials said the order is focused on areas such as private equity, venture capital and joint partnerships in which the investments could possibly give countries of concern such as China additional knowledge and military capabilities. J. Philip Ludvigson, a lawyer and former Treasury official, said the order was an initial framework that could be expanded over time. “The executive order issued today really represents the start of a conversation between the U.S. government and industry regarding the details of the ultimate screening regime," Ludvigson said. “While the executive order is limited initially to semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence, it explicitly provides for a future broadening to other sectors." The issue is also a bipartisan priority. In July by a vote of 91-6, the Senate added as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requirements to monitor and limit investments in countries of concern, including China. Yet reaction to Biden's order on Wednesday showed a desire to push harder on China. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said the order was an “essential step forward," but it “cannot be the final step.” Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Biden should been more aggressive, saying, “we have to stop all U.S. investment in China’s critical technology and military companies — period.” Biden has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” in the aftermath of the U.S. shooting down a spy balloon from China that floated over the United States. Taiwan's status has been a source of tension, with Biden saying that China had become coercive regarding its independence. China has supported Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though Biden has noted that the friendship has not extended to the shipment of weapons. U.S. officials have long signaled the coming executive order on investing in China, but it's unclear whether financial markets will regard it as a tapered step or a continued escalation of tensions at a fragile moment. “The message it sends to the market may be far more decisive,” said Elaine Dezenski, a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "U.S. and multinational companies are already reexamining the risks of investing in China. Beijing’s so-called ‘national security’ and ‘anti-espionage’ laws that curb routine and necessary corporate due diligence and compliance were already having a chilling effect on U.S. foreign direct investment. That chilling now risks turning into a deep freeze.” China's strong economic growth has stumbled coming out of pandemic lockdowns. On Wednesday, its National Bureau of Statistics reported a 0.3% decline in consumer prices in July from a year ago. That level of deflation points to a lack of consumer demand in China that could hamper growth. Separately, foreign direct investment into China fell 89% from a year earlier in the second quarter of this year to $4.9 billion, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Most foreign investment is believed to be brought in by Chinese companies and disguised as foreign money to get tax breaks and other benefits, according to Chinese researchers. However, foreign business groups say global companies also are shifting investment plans to other economies. Foreign companies have lost confidence in China following tighter security controls and a lack of action on reform promises. Calls by Xi and other leaders for more economic self-reliance have left investors uneasy about their future in the state-dominated economy. ___ AP reporter Joe McDonald contributed to this report from Beijing.
Disney streaming service continues to bleed subscribers, but earnings improve in Q3 2023-08-09 - Disney reported narrower losses on its Disney+ streaming platform in the quarter ended July 1 and boosted revenues, but also shed Disney+ subscribers for the second quarter in a row Disney reported narrower losses on its Disney+ streaming platform in the quarter ended July 1 and boosted revenues, but also shed Disney+ subscribers for the second quarter in a row. The company, which is in the middle of a “ strategic reorganization,” has been working on cutting about 7,000 jobs to help save $5.5 billion across the company. Disney reported 146.1 million Disney+ customers in the quarter, a 7.4% decline from the 157.8 million it reported in the prior-year quarter. Much of the drop came from India, where Disney lost broadcast rights to a popular cricket league. The company reported a loss of 4 million streaming subscribers to its Disney+ service in the second quarter. Overall, Disney swung to a net loss of $460 million in the quarter from a $1.4 billion profit a year earlier. The loss largely reflected restructuring and impairment charges. The company reported revenue of $22.3 billion, up 4% from $21.5 billion. Shares, which closed at $87.49, rose 4.4% to $91.40 in after-hours trading. Bob Iger, who returned in November to take over the CEO post from Bob Chapek, has been working over the past several months to turn around Disney’s streaming business while simultaneously making sure that the financial might coming from its theme parks doesn’t waver. Disney’s theme parks are widely viewed by industry experts as a critical component of the Burbank, California-based company’s business. To that end, Iger has prioritized reconnecting with the Disney theme park die-hards and restoring their faith in the brand. Shortly after Iger’s return, changes were rolling out at U.S. parks. He’s also had to contend with trying to protect Disney World’s theme park district from a takeover by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Disney sued DeSantis in late April, alleging the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call “ Don’t Say Gay.” This month a group of mostly Republican former high-level government officials called the Florida governor’s takeover of Disney World’s governing district “severely damaging to the political, social, and economic fabric of the State.” Disney announced last month that Iger will remain as CEO of The Walt Disney Co. through the end of 2026, agreeing to a two-year contract extension that will give the entertainment and theme park company some breathing room to find his successor. On Tuesday it was announced that an existing sports-betting app owned by Penn Entertainment will be rebranded as ESPN Bet. Penn Entertainment is paying $1.5 billion plus other considerations for exclusive rights to the ESPN name.
When will gas prices stop rising? Experts weigh in 2023-08-09 - The average price of a gallon of gas has risen more than 8% over the last month. Drivers have enjoyed relief at the gas pump this summer compared with eye-popping prices a year ago, but an alarming trend has emerged in recent weeks: Prices are rising once again. Over the past month, the average price of a gallon of gas has jumped more than 8%, surpassing $3.80, AAA data showed. In California, the state with the highest gas prices, an average gallon costs more than $5. An output cut imposed by OPEC+ has constrained supply during the summer travel season when demand peaks, sending the price of crude oil soaring and in turn bringing sticker shock to the pump, analysts told ABC News. Meanwhile, a heat wave across the U.S. has limited domestic oil refinery capacity. Gas prices typically fall as travel slows in the autumn months, but analysts differed over the likelihood of such an outcome amid lingering questions about OPEC+ policy and the continuing oil needs of a resilient global economy. Here's what to know about why gas prices are rising and when they'll come back down, according to experts. What is causing the rise in gas prices? The recent spike in gas prices owes primarily to a jump in the price of crude oil, which makes up the key input cost for the gasoline that ends up in U.S. cars, analysts said. The rising price of oil marks the intended outcome of a policy enacted by OPEC+ to limit output and tighten supply. The move has sent the price of Brent crude oil up more than 11% over the past three months. "The single most important factor is what's going on with crude oil," Peter McNally, a global sector leader for industrial materials and energy at Third Bridge, told ABC News. "The market has looked ahead and sees a tighter crude oil environment." U.S. crude oil production, meanwhile, is set to achieve record-high output this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday. But oil prices are set on a global market, where the OPEC+ cuts cannot be offset by a comparable short-term increase in U.S. oil output. Some analysts also pointed to a recent heat wave that has limited the ability of U.S. refineries to operate at full capacity as they turn that crude oil into gasoline. Exacerbating the supply crunch, a spike in demand amid summer travel also has contributed to the price increase, analysts said. "Globally, August is the peak," Richard Joswick, head of global oil at S &P Global Commodity Insights, told ABC News. While defying gloomy forecasts for more than a year, the resilient global economy has kept business humming and demand for oil robust, Joswick added. "All these forecasts of a recession haven't come true," Joswick said. General view of oil tanks and the Bayway Refinery of Phillips 66 in Linden, New Jersey, March 30, 2020. Mike Segar/Reuters When will gas prices start to come down? Gas prices typically drop in the autumn as travel settles down and demand ebbs, analysts said, but they disagreed about whether that easing of prices would come to pass this year. Price movement will depend in large part on two hard-to-predict factors: the performance of the global economy and the policy approach undertaken by OPEC+, McNally said. A reversal of price increases could take hold if economic activity slows and OPEC+ loosens supply restrictions, he added. Otherwise the elevated prices may persist. Voicing pessimism about future prices, Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston, told ABC News that he expects persistent economic growth and oil production cuts. "Everything is pointing to upward pressure on the price of crude oil globally," Krishnamoorti said, adding that he expects prices to remain elevated for the next six to 12 months. In a sign of hope, the average price of a gallon of gas has remained stable for the past eight days, Andrew Gross, a spokesperson at AAA, told ABC News. "Often with big moves either up or down, there will be a period of price stability before the national average begins to head in the opposite direction," Gross said. "In this case, that will likely be lower." Joswick, of S &P Global Commodity Insights, said he expects prices to remain at current levels for the next four weeks but begin to come down in the latter half of September or October. He cited a slowdown in demand and a gradual easing of supply shortages. The eventual decline of prices, however, requires the absence of a disruptive event, such as a major storm that damages infrastructure, he added. "The wild card is a hurricane threat," Joswick said. "If a hurricane comes barreling in and hits the U.S. gulf coast, prices will spike."
Local businesses in northern Nigeria feel the sting of regional sanctions against neighboring Niger 2023-08-09 - Stranded trucks with goods are seen at the border between Nigeria and Niger in Jibia, Nigeria, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. The West Africa regional bloc's decision to shut borders with Niger in sanctioning the country's coup plotters is affecting businesses and locals in Nigerian towns where economic activities with Nigeriens had boomed for years. (AP Photo/Mohammed Babangida) Stranded trucks with goods are seen at the border between Nigeria and Niger in Jibia, Nigeria, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. The West Africa regional bloc's decision to shut borders with Niger in sanctioning the country's coup plotters is affecting businesses and locals in Nigerian towns where economic activities with Nigeriens had boomed for years. (AP Photo/Mohammed Babangida) Stranded trucks with goods are seen at the border between Nigeria and Niger in Jibia, Nigeria, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. The West Africa regional bloc's decision to shut borders with Niger in sanctioning the country's coup plotters is affecting businesses and locals in Nigerian towns where economic activities with Nigeriens had boomed for years. (AP Photo/Mohammed Babangida) Stranded trucks with goods are seen at the border between Nigeria and Niger in Jibia, Nigeria, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. The West Africa regional bloc's decision to shut borders with Niger in sanctioning the country's coup plotters is affecting businesses and locals in Nigerian towns where economic activities with Nigeriens had boomed for years. (AP Photo/Mohammed Babangida) A decision by a bloc of West African nations to shut down their borders with Niger as a way of sanctioning its coup plotters is harming local businesses in northern Nigeria, where a cross-border economy has boomed for years ABUJA, Nigeria -- A decision by a bloc of West African nations to shut down their borders with Niger as a way of sanctioning its coup plotters is harming local businesses in northern Nigeria, where a cross-border economy has boomed for years. The bloc known as ECOWAS restricted financial transactions and shut the borders between Niger and its member nations as part of measures to force the coup plotters to reinstate Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum who was overthrown last month by soldiers in his Presidential Guard. But the sting of the sanctions against the junta is being felt on the other side of the 1,600 kilometers (995 miles) -long border, in Nigeria. Niger accounts for 75% of the total value of exports from Nigeria’s cross-border informal trade, according to a study by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank’s latest report in 2016 valued goods traded across the border with Niger at 828 billion naira ($934 million) a year. In Nigeria's northwestern Katsina state, the border's closure and restricted traffic on nearby roads left dozens of trucks stranded for days, most of them loaded with food items and other perishable goods. Prices of livestock, animal products and some commodities usually supplied from the city of Maradi in Niger have increased, local residents said. Nigeria's authorities are enforcing the restriction of movement across the border but the measure has also impacted traffic in the surrounding area, including truck drivers not heading to Niger but other border towns in Nigeria. Truck driver Usman Kaura said he was ferrying bags of garri, a type of cassava flour, worth about 15 million naira ($17,000) from Nigeria’s Benue state to another part of Katsina, when he got stranded for five days in the heat in the border district of Jibia, alongside other drivers. “The garri can spoil at any moment,” he said. “We are still inside Nigeria but yet we are stopped.” The sanctions by the West African group ECOWAS — with a history of their own coups — have failed to force the coup plotters next door to reinstate Bazoum. Since the July 26 coup, the mutinous soldiers have installed Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as head of state and have also threatened to retaliate against any military intervention by ECOWAS member states. The junta has also rejected a proposed visit by representatives of ECOWAS, the African Union and United Nations. Four coups in West Africa since 2020 do not bode well for the current ECOWAS chairman and Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, at least as far as the bloc's next steps are concerned. Tinubu is seeking to make a good impression on the international scene, said Oluwole Ojewale of the Africa-focused Institute of Security Studies. Niger's “coup is the first test of Tinubu’s leadership," he said. In the border region, local residents say business owners have taken advantage of the border closure to hike the prices of other goods. A sack of 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of corn now costs around $56, a 24% increase from last week, said Muawiya Ibrahim, a Katsina resident. He lamented the divisions created by the border closure for the people on either side of the boundary. “We shared so much, we even married amongst each other," he said. "To say Nigeria and Niger are one is true,” Ibrahim added. ___ Associated Press writer Dan Ikpoyi in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
Zimbabwe's president tells supporters they will go to heaven if they vote for his party this month 2023-08-09 - A woman is seen at campaign rally where Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was the guest speaker in Harare, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Mnangagwa addressed thousands of supporters in a speech laden with calls for peace, days after his supporters were accused of stoning an opposition activist to death ahead of general elections set for Aug. 23. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) A woman is seen at campaign rally where Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was the guest speaker in Harare, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Mnangagwa addressed thousands of supporters in a speech laden with calls for peace, days after his supporters were accused of stoning an opposition activist to death ahead of general elections set for Aug. 23. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) A woman is seen at campaign rally where Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was the guest speaker in Harare, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Mnangagwa addressed thousands of supporters in a speech laden with calls for peace, days after his supporters were accused of stoning an opposition activist to death ahead of general elections set for Aug. 23. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) A woman is seen at campaign rally where Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was the guest speaker in Harare, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Mnangagwa addressed thousands of supporters in a speech laden with calls for peace, days after his supporters were accused of stoning an opposition activist to death ahead of general elections set for Aug. 23. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Zimbabwe's president has urged thousands of his supporters at a rally to deliver a “thunderous victory” in this month’s national election and proclaimed that “no one will stop us from ruling this country.” HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's president urged thousands of his supporters at a rally on Wednesday to deliver a “thunderous victory” in this month's national election and proclaimed that “no one will stop us from ruling this country.” President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that people who vote for his ruling ZANU-PF party — which has been in power for 43 years — would go to heaven. Mnangwagwa, the 80-year-old leader who assumed power in the southern African nation in a coup in 2017, also warned his supporters against engaging in violence in the buildup to the Aug. 23 vote. That plea came days after an opposition party supporter was killed, allegedly at the hands of ruling party activists, in the first deadly violence of the election buildup. “Perpetrators of violence will be brought to book without fear or favor. So, I say to you don’t ever perpetrate violence, we will deal with you,” Mnangagwa said. But while Mnangagwa has often called on his supporters to act peacefully, it hasn't spared the leader and his administration from criticism by international rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. They say that no matter what the president says, there has been a brutal crackdown on any opposition in Zimbabwe, and Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF are using institutions like the police and the courts to arrest critics, ban opposition rallies and stifle any challenge to their rule. Main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa said in an interview with The Associated Press last week that Zimbabweans often face the threat of deadly violence if they don't support the ruling party. ZANU-PF has been Zimbabwe's ruling party ever since independence from white minority rule in 1980. Supporters at Wednesday's rally received gifts of loaves of bread in plastic wrapping with Mnangagwa's face on them. “We will forever march forward," Mnangagwa said at the rally in the capital, Harare. “No one will stop us from ruling this country. We are the only party that brought independence and freedom to a colonized people of this country. We kicked out imperialism.” "So you will be lost if you don’t vote for ZANU-PF — you would have betrayed our freedom fighters. We need a thunderous victory to consolidate our hard-won independence,” he added. Zimbabwe has a history of violent elections and although Mnangagwa told his supporters to act peacefully, he also blamed Zimbabwe's insecurity on “negative forces” outside the country, repeating the kind of rhetoric that former President Robert Mugabe used to blame the country's woes on others, most notably Western nations. Zimbabwe is under U.S. and European Union sanctions and has generally been shunned by the West for 20 years because of human rights abuses under the autocratic Mugabe, who died in 2019. Mnangagwa replaced then ZANU-PF leader Mugabe in a coup in 2017 and won a close and disputed presidential election against Chamisa in 2018. Chamisa will challenge Mnangagwa again for the presidency in this month's election and has already made allegations of election manipulation. Mnangagwa promised a new era of freedom and democracy after replacing Mugabe, yet his critics say that hasn't happened and that he is as repressive as his predecessor. Zimbabwe's economy, which collapsed amid record levels of hyperinflation leading to the country abandoning its currency in 2009, has hardly improved, although there are signs that Zimbabwe's once-strong agricultural sector is rebounding. Mugabe's removal also raised hopes that the country's relationship with the West would be revived. But Mnangagwa has instead strengthened ties with China and Russia, and hosted Iran's president for a state visit last month, when Mnangagwa spoke of solidarity and said both were “victims” of Western sanctions. Zimbabwe's rich mineral resources, which include gold, diamonds, platinum and large newly-found deposits of lithium, have also led to increased Chinese interest. A Chinese company opened a giant lithium processing plant in Zimbabwe last month with Mnangagwa in attendance. Wearing his now trademark scarf with the red, white, green and yellow colors of the Zimbabwean flag, Mnangagwa said he had succeeded in rebuilding parts of the economy with the help of China. Zimbabwe has built roads, dams and agricultural and industrial infrastructure, and used a $1.5 billion loan from China to expand a major electricity plant, Mnangagwa said. He said the money was from “my friend Xi Jinping” — the Chinese leader. Mnangagwa called continuing Western sanctions on his nation unfair. “Zimbabwe is a friend to all and an enemy to none," Mnangagwa said. “We are engaging with those who want to engage with us on the basis of mutual respect. We are a sovereign state and partners are welcome to assist us based on our own priorities.” "We call for the unconditional removal of unjust, illegal sanctions imposed on the people of Zimbabwe.” ___ AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa