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The 79 year old Dr Fauci has been through one virus crisis after another since 1980, and has the experience rarely found in so great a crisis. He is a reassuring face and a hero of these times as president Trump relies on his advice and that of Dr Birx, on how to win the war against the coronavirus.

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The full text of the speech made by Chinese president Xi at the 100th anniversary of the CCP. CCP was founded in 1921 on July 23, at the French Concession in Shanghai two years after the May 4, 1919 protests for Science, Modernization and Democracy. It started as a study group in the First United Front with the Nationalist Party. 

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Privatization of the oil sector and corruption is leading to a new policy of president Lopez Obrador to restore the oil sector to government ownership. Obrador sees this as a priority and says it will take time for Mexico to switch to renewable energy, with the priority being self sufficiency in energy using fossil fuels at this time.

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See pictures of the new La Guardia airport, and the work of the team that made the new Terminal B happen. The old airport was called a "third world airport" by president Biden. A reflection of what had happened in America with the defunding of infrastructure leaving subways and airports that were simply breaking down and dilapidated.

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Germany is taking on a larger role in helping Ukraine as the US Congress Republicans negotiate with president Biden on aid to Ukraine tied to action on the Mexican border. The surge in migrants is causing problems. Zelensky visits Germany as the European Union finally decides to sidestep Orban of Hungary and bring Ukraine into the European fold.

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US president Biden announces 100% tariff on China made EV's and 50% on solar panels. This is to prevent China from flooding the US market with highly subsidized products from China, give US manufacturers the opportunity to build a market in the US and develop new technologies. It also protects jobs in these industries for American workers.

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In an excerpt from ABC interview in The Guardian with Biden, the president says he was exhausted, and he was sick that night and he just had a bad night, should have listened to his instincts to rest after long travel and extremely busy schedule. "It was a bad episode, not a serious condition." 

 

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Masoud Pezeshkian is elected president of Iran with 54% of the vote. He leads a reeformist faction which seeks respect for minorities, women in Iranian public life, and is against strict Hijab laws in Iran requiring women using headscarves covering. He is for getting US and EU sanctions lifted on Iran so that life of ordinary Iranians is not miserable.

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Kamala Harris is expected to announce more details about her Economic Plan as she sees the opportunity for Harris-Walz building on the achievements of Biden-Harris to make a stronger statement on the economy. Now that she gains more confidence of voters in her Economic Plan for the Way Forward for America compared to the former president.

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Liberal groups feel president Obama has lost the leverage he had after the McConnell-Biden fiscal cliff deal of Jan. 1, 2013, saying this only sets the stage for talk of spending cuts.

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Reeves says Reagan ever the imaginative politician seized on the idea of "supply side " economics of a not so well known economist Arthur Laffer. Ideas that were simple and appealing- you reduce marginal tax rates and generate higher revenues. This worked for some time with higher economic growth for a number of years, but the arithmetic of higher spending and borrowing and lower taxes would eventually lead to large deficits at the end of Reagan's term, just as price controls worked for awhile and then led to a surge in prices at the end of Nixon's term. When Reagan became President the deficit was 2.5%, when he left office eight years later the deficit was 5% of the economy. Interest payments on debt jumped to $169 billion in 1988, from $69 billion in 1981. Reeves says American politicians know so little about economics, to which it could be added, winning presidential and congressional elections is always a big part of the picture when it comes to economic policy. Which is why Nixon even with Milton Friedman as an advisor shifted to Keynesian policies of higher fiscal spending in 1971, and why Reagan turns to intuitively appealing and effective in the short term policies of having it all- higher spending, growth, and lower taxes. During the years of the two Bush presidencies and the Clinton administration the success of Reagan policies leads to a general sense as Vice President Cheney put it referring to Reagan and Treasury Secretary Baker's belief, that "deficits don't matter." Which leads us to the current situation where 2012 presidential election politics again frame the terms of the debate on deficits and budgets, only now the deficit is much higher and on a unsustainable path. ...

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The transcript of the call between president Trump and Ukraine president is not  word by word account. It comes from notes taken on the call by key aides. No complete recordings or transcripts exist. The practice is for the National Security Advisor, in this case John Bolton, to be present or in the West Wing, and a few key aides.

After the unauthorized release of calls Trump made to the Mexican president early in his administration in which he said it was OK if Mexico did not pay for a wall as long as it looked like Mexico was paying, the circle of people involved is limited to a few aides. Because of this some of the calls were transferred to a separate server which was considered highly confidential. This is now the subject of an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. Congress.

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William Galston points out in this piece in the WSJ that U.S. president Obama's Syria-Iraq policy has lost credibility with the American public. He cites CNN/ORC polls showing rising concern among Americans about terrorism even 1 year before the San Bernardino attacks, at 55% saying that this was likely increasing to 61% in the week before San Bernardino attack, with fears about terrorists being in the U.S. increasing to 81%. As a result only 38% of the American public in a CNN/ORC poll at the beginning of December 2015 approved of president Obama's handling of terrorism, with 68% saying that the U.S. military response is insufficient. A major shift has also taken place on the use of ground troops with Americans favoring use of ground troops by 53% to 45% in the current situation. Here Galston points out the shortcomings of Obama's military response in not conducting an effective use of the military response from the air in setting up safe zones and coordinating efforts with the Kurds and other forces....

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It has happened before- the issues and the tactics. This article is from the Washington Post March 10, 1985. The 2016, 2020, and 2024 US campaign for president most resembles the 1952 campaign between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. In that campaign Senators Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and Senator Jenner of Indiana made unfounded statements and criticism of of candidate Adlai Stevenson, of Gen. George Marshall, of NATO and aid to war ravaged Europe under the Marshall plan, and by 1958 of Eisenhower for "ruining the party," according to the Washington Post. Edward Jenner, Senator from Indiana 1952-1958, conducted Senate hearings in which he made spectacular criticism of public figures and US policy from 1953 to 1955. Eisenhower was elected as president in 1952 and after considering running as an Independent reluctantly accepted when New York Governor Dewey asked him to do on the Republican party ticket. What is similar is that the issues and tactics used now are reminiscent of issues and tactics in those days in the 1950's, that this is not happening for the first time- it is not new. Both Senator Taft who headed the Republican party at the time and president Eisenhower felt uneasy about this type of criticism. Then as today it was about aid to Europe and NATO. Jenner said America could not afford it and it "would bankrupt America." Jenner also called the US Supreme Court "the most powerful instrument of the communist global conquest by paralysis," and introduced a bill to limit the SC jurisdiction. Jenner said in 1951 on the Senate floor, according to the Washington Post-  "the only choice is to impeach Truman," as "this country is in the hands of a secret inner coterie directed by agents of the Soviet Union." Today's differences are not new, the rhetoric familiar, about NATO, Europe funding, about the SC, about this and the former president, and about isolationism and about extended costly foreign wars, all after a pandemic and climate change in an uneasy atmosphere about the threats to American leadership then from the Soviets now from China. ...

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What has happened that makes it so hard for Democrats Biden who stood on a picket line for the UAW autoworkers union, Harris fighting for workers, that they cannot easily convince workers that they are on their side? It is because compared to 1980 not the lowest income groups but the "downwardly mobile" white and other groups without college degrees have taken the brunt of the loss of manufacturing jobs. It is why the "zero-sum" stories of the former president have appeal to some workers who have lost the most from deindustrialization of the US. Even though Biden, and Harris, have fought hard and are putting in place the policies for the fight to reindustrialize America by taking old plants and modernizing them one by one across the country. No one has ever done this before including years in which the former president was in office. In these visual graphs it is easy to see the sharp decline in incomes and status in society of workers without college degrees as the economy changed after 1980 sending steel, auto and other industries to Asia. By 2024 these workers lives had been upended by the loss of these industries and the hope for income and place in society that existed in 1980. Every US president from Reagan through Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump had failed to address this. Biden was the first president to take this up but too much has happened with to reverse this in 4 years, the pandemic, inflation from loss of supply chains to Asia, and wages not keeping up with cost of living.  NYT's Badger, Gebeloff and Bhatia show analysis of the economy, incomes and jobs in 1980 vs the economy, incomes and jobs in 2024 for persons with a college degree and without a college degree.It shows the sharp differences in the eastern Midwestern states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania over 4 decades of job losses, loss of income status and self worth for men without college degrees. With their jobs in manufacturing disappearing also disappearing was the middle class lifestyle- of owning a house, having a cottage or boat in the countryside, and sending kids to college. ...

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A Fox News journalist, Heather Nauert, is selected as the next UN ambassador by president Trump. She succeeds Nikki Haley. Nauert was State Department spokesman, and is one of many Fox News personalities selected by president Trump.

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The steep decline in popularity of French president Emmanuel Macron in the period of one year. With the yellow vest protests on the economic insecurity of struggling families, Macron's efforts to bring in business friendly policies as a change agent are itself out of step with the times and with France in the provinces and small towns, as pointed out in the New York Times and Times of London analysis of the situation in France today.

As pointed out in the analysis Macron's base itself is small and its anti-institutional posture rejecting conventional politics itself has given momentum to the current yellow vest protests about economic insecurity of struggling families. The support for this comes from all parts of society and single political party, without nationalism, race or migration as factors at all, and comes so soon in one year from the time that Macron emerged with his own movement rejecting the institutional structure.  

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This WSJ report sees Angela Merkel as leaving an international legacy of cooling relations with America. It says Angela Merkel turned down US president Biden's first call after his election as president because she was going to her cottage in the country that weekend. This report says after 4 terms Merkel is to be seen as dramatically increasing her country's economic dependence on China, pushing through a energy deal with Russia, joining France in challenging US political influence in Europe, rejecting American requests on economic policy and setting Berlin's openness to Chinese technology.  What happened with her youthful fascination with America during the years growing up in East Germany asks the WSJ? It also says of the Bush years of unregulated banking leading to the 2009 US banking crisis- that left her with a distaste for Anglo-Saxon banks and Wall Street lobbying. Of the Obama years it says Merkel found Obama unsteady, verbose, and sometimes meddling, with the spying on Merkel's phone also giving her a sense of disrespect to Germany. The result was that Merkel increasingly was fascinated by the Chinese experiment in development, visiting China 13 times while in office, studying Chinese history, politics and economics.  Merkel over this period met with the Dalai Lama and had questions about one party rule by CCP. Yet she became more and more resigned to Germany as a country of 80 million, not the EU and Europe as one group united in vision with a population of about 500 million, larger than America that could be a force for good in its own right. She said "we can be as hardworking, awesome,  as super as we like, but as a country of 80 million we won't be able to prevail if China ever decided that it no longer wants to have good relations with Germany." She ignored the experience of Sweden and Scandinavian countries in their relations with China. In saying this she ignored the potential of India and its neighbors in south-east Asia that make up about 2 billion people or about twice the population of China. She also seemed unaware of the role Woodrow Wilson, FDR, have played in realizing the democratic vision of the German revolutionaries of 1948 who failed to bring democratic government to Germany. And she had forgotten of the role Harry Truman, the commoner president of the US, who played a major role in establishing German democracy and its dignity during the Berlin Crisis after the blockade of Berlin by the Soviets in 1948. The mediocrity of presidents from Bush to Trump has bothered Merkel. Yet it may very well be that there is nothing mediocre about Mr. Biden and America's vision about its future as it grapples with the social and economic problems of the last three decades, as it has done before in its history and come through. ...

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South Africa's president Jacob Zuma faces another no-confidence motion in parliament. This time the Speaker of parliament has ruled that the members will vote in a secret ballot, so that members of the ANC do not face reprisals for voting against the government. Corruption scandals in the government and Zuma's association with the Gupta family has led to a loss of confidence in the Zuma government. The economy has suffered since the resignation of the finance minister, and the country's credit rating was changed to junk status.

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This WSJ Editorial Board piece asks -Was it a near miss that the results of the 2022 presidential elections that elected Joe Biden were upheld, as the Jan. 6 Committee says? WSJ says the country was lucky to have vice president Mike Pence to uphold it, but is lucky enough, what about the chaotic nature of such an event? WSJ says even if vice president Mike Pence and attorney general William Barr not upheld the result, majorities in the Electoral College would have done so. If that failed the Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have not convened Congress for a count, and the Supreme Court would have voted 9-0 to uphold the result. "The country was lucky to have had these men in office," says the WSJ Editorial Board. But consider the chaotic nature of such an event, and the chaos for the world of such an event. Did Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR, depend on luck to tackle foreign wars, civil wars, depressions?

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The closest parallel of the campaigns for president in 2016, 2020, 2024 are in the campaign of 1952. The difference is that Eisenhower was widely respected in both parties and had fought the war against Germany and Japan alongside Gen.George Marshall under president Harry Truman. His name was put on the ballot in New Hampshire but he himself preferred not to run or run as an Independent according to JFK. The Eastern Establishment including Governor Dewey of NY pushed for Eisenhower while the Midwestern States more isolationist in their approach supported Robert Taft. Eisenhower also did not choose Senator Nixon and he was chosen to win support in California and as a compromise with the Taft group. Eisenhower did not at any time approve of the reckless criticism tactics of McCarthy, though he remained silent on the issue not wanting to distract from the need to find a new approach to ending the war in Korea and with the Soviets than the one offered by Truman. There was also the weariness of the people with the wars.   ...

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Apple relies on Chinese suppliers for about 90% of its products. So reliant is Apple on China that it is slow to make changes to adapt to president Biden's policies for a new US Asian Economic Framework that builds new supply chains. By contrast Samsung has largely stayed out of China using supply chain manufacturing in Vietnam and other countries. India and Vietnam are major alternatives and only India can offer the well trained workforce and supplies of land, labour, incentives and facilities that China offers. This makes Apple a laggard in the changes that are happening today to supply chains bringing manufacturing closer to home and making products in countries allied to the US in Asia. This includes South Korea, Japan, India and Vietnam as production hubs for parts and assembly of advanced technology products. Apple is only now beginning the task of building supply chains outside China and returning manufacturing to the US which will bring back US technological leadership by 2030, American policy set by president Biden. ...

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US president Biden renews the US commitment to Asia on the second day of Quad meetings in Tokyo. Lessons from Ukraine were uppermost in the thinking of the Quad leaders from the US, Japan, India and Australia as a new framework is envisioned for Asia. That framework is envisioned through an economic framework the IPEF including South East Asia, the Quad as a core nation setup similar to the G-7, and direct ties such as US-India, US-Japan. Latin America is part of the US direct ties to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Europe is included through the Europe Trade and Technology Council and direct US ties with the European Union, Germany, France and Italy. President Biden is giving the kind of leadership of the Free World that Harry Truman gave following the Berlin Soviet Blockade and the US Airlift of 1948-1949 and the Korean War between 1950-1953 with Soviet and Chinese forces supporting the attack of North Korea against South Kporea similar to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  ...

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At the New Year's eve service on National Day of Prayer January 1, 1942 president Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill worshipped together at Christchurch Episcopal in Alexandria, Virginia. The Reverend Wells said on this day 82 years ago. The idea that we could not prevail with military strength alone but with deep humility depend on God's help was one of the great strengths of Franklin Roosevelt. That it says much to the present, to the divisions of the present and lack of humility cannot be overstated.

"Our president has appointed this first day of 1942 as a Day of Prayer, for asking forgiveness for our shortcomings of the past, power for the present task of achieving victory... but spiritually we are in bad shape. We must have a deep spiritual unity that will make us ready to sacrifice our material possessions and even life itself for the moral principles for which this war is being fought." 

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To president Joe Biden the Democrats instincts of FDR and Truman, with the focus on building better lives for workers and families, comes naturally. Biden takes the Democratic Party back to what it was in the 1930's to the 1960's. Just today the Labor Department showed 336,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate steady at 3.8% for 2 years, 32 months of jobs growth. Brooks offers a clue on how this is happening- president Biden has aggressively directed American capital and resources to where it is needed most, in counties red or blue where economic growth has suffered in the past. Yet 57% of people polled cited by Brooks say the economy is in poor shape. There are another 14 months to go and the economy will get even stronger with the capital allocation and Biden economic policies of Build Better and America First. Workers and families will see real and tangible improvements in their lives in 2024.