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President Biden says "I don't think anybody can deny the effects of climate change anymore," as the US goes through a heat wave in the south and the west of the country. Biden says it is outrageous that construction workers in some places were not given the right to a water break. Biden says the US Forests Service will use $1 billion to help cities and towns plant trees. This can help lower temperatures in cities and towns. San Antonio and Phoenix are some of the cities on the front lines of climate change, much of the south and western US is affected with abnormally high temperatures sometimes exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the hottest July on record in the whole world.

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Bret Stephens of NYT shows a lack of knowledge of European history and remains oblivious of the disastrous consequences of Reagan's policies that he lauds. He cites Reagan as saying to his own audience - "My idea of policy towards the Soviet Union is simple, some would say simplistic. It is "We win, you lose."  The US did not win through Reagan policies, it began three decades of US involvement in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, with Iran, that have wasted trillions of dollars and many lives, a period in which it created space for the emergence of China as a world power with newer infrastructure built in a period in which China could quietly rebuild and modernize while the US frittered away its vital resources to the point that funding was missing for vital infrastructure rebuilding and education was not financed by the government as it had done in the early postwar years. The classic European History book by Cambridge historian Brendan Simms, "Europe- The Struggle for Supremacy 1453 to the Present" shows that every time any country became too powerful, the others regardless of religion, old ties or other affiliation joined together to counterbalance and restore the balance- Britain, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary were never allowed to become too dominant. The idea that the Soviet Union collapsed because of Reagan's policies is incorrect- it would have collapsed a decade later without Reagan as by the 1980's the people running the government and the ordinary people had realized the system was not meeting the aspirations of Russians. By buying into this myth Americans were embroiled in useless wars and in so doing probably destroyed more wealth in a short time than any period in world history- the trillions of dollars of oil wealth transferred not to countries such as China or India that had to pull themselves by the bootstraps but to Arab desert regions that were itself not benefitted because they went to fight wars and destruction. ...

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Senator Manchin wants other countries or regions such as the European Union to go first with the global minimum tax of 15%. Holdouts Poland and Hungary have not agreed to the 15% tax in the EU. After that the US could follow. Mr. Manchin is a Democrat whose vote is needed for Congress to pass the legislation. Currently the tax is set at 10.5% after legislation passed by president Trump.

Much of the funding for HEIRS - for Health, Education, Infrastructure, Retirees and Society- has to come from better collection of taxes, so that everyone pays their fair portion of taxes which tech companies are not doing in the last decade. 

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US president Biden is on his way to Rome, Italy, for the G-20 summit and then on to Glasgow for the climate change COP26 meeting. Climate change, democracy, redesigning the supply chain, and tackling the coronavirus will be major topics for discussions with world leaders.

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Biden says at a press conference in Tokyo that US commitment to defend Taiwan is even "stronger" after the invasion of Ukraine. 

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Biden's hard work and going into details and seeing that projects are delivered on time and in quality for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law will make him an enduring president in the 21st century. Tyler Pager gives this report on the Biden style of making decisions and of getting things done on time that are making a big difference for the ease of living for all Americans.  Of Biden using his 36 years of negotiating in the Senate more than any Congressman including LBJ who only had 12 years, and the hard work from someone who commuted by Amtrak for all those years and attended to every detail. For the president who started out as county councilman in Delaware details matter, he looks into the details of rebuilding infrastructure by delivering projects on time and on scale. In late 2022 Tyler says Biden checked into the details of delays and wanted specifics which projects were not delivered on time for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law passed a year earlier. Seeing this only one leader comes to mind prime minister Modi of India who is faced with a huge task of infrastructure projects and investments that are intended to make India the third largest economy in the world. Modi like Biden uses his experience of getting into details and checking that work is delivered on time, putting in the hard work in earnest, from Modi's work with state projects in Gujarat when he led the state for 15 years as chief minister. ...

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President Biden tells USA Today in an interview that "based on polling" he could have won when running for president, yet cannot say about being president at 85 years or 86 years, saying "who the hell knows."

"When Trump was running again for re-election, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also wasn't looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old," Biden said. "But I don't know. Who the hell knows?"

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Joe Biden says in the Wash. Post Jan 6, that what happened on this day Jan 6 2021- that "we cannot allow the truth to be lost."

"Four years later, leaving office, I am determined to do everything I can to respect the peaceful transfer of power and restore the traditions we have long respected in America. The election will be certified peacefully. I have invited the incoming president to the White House on the morning of Jan. 20, and I will be present for his inauguration that afternoon.But on this day, we cannot forget. This is what we owe those who founded this nation, those who have fought for it and died for it.And we should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year. To remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed. To remember that democracy — even in America — is never guaranteed."

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US president Biden makes the decision not to run for reelection. He endorses Kama Harris to run as nominee of the Democratic party.

My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this. 

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This title is what Post readers have in mind about the Post itself turning into social media. Only 28 Democrats in Congress out of 264 and most in districts that are not safe or borderline which is not unusual are the issue. Taking out the Independents 91% of congressional Democrats support the president for 2024, and of the swing states maybe just 5 Democrats with none from Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia.

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David Brooks who has covered Joe Biden for decades from his time in the U.S. Senate to Vice President under president Obama, says he comes not from an elite tradition of Democrats such as Adlai Stevenson, but that of Harry Truman, for and of the common man- the "average Joe" in American slang.  Strengths Brooks finds in Joe Biden are his emotional transparency, knowing at any time in interactions what Biden is thinking and feeling. The candour in his conversations. Biden is also like Truman in how spirited he is in defending the common man and his interests in the true Democratic tradition of being for the working class and ordinary people, something lost in recent years. Having lost his wife and daughter in a traffic accident when he was first elected to the Senate, also gives Joe Biden a sense of how it feels to go through this experience. He later lost a son to cancer.  Biden is now the front runner for president. Like Truman Biden has faced criticism for speaking his mind, sometimes awkwardly. Yet as David Brooks points out Biden brings some of the qualities of a Harry Truman, at a time when the mood of the nation has changed and the Democratic Party is returning to its roots fighting for the common man. Harry Truman is thought of highly as American president because of the qualities of simplicity, courage, tenacity, and hard work that he brought to the presidency during the war and during the recovery after 1945. Few people are aware of the fact that Harry Truman returned to the small town of Independence, Missouri, after retiring, at a time when there was no presidential pension, and lived a simple life accepting no favors, without any of the trappings of a former president. ...

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The Guardian Interview with Chris Whipple, author of The Fight of His Life, on the Biden presidency. It says the inner circle is bullish about Biden's mental acuity and ability to govern. It looks at the changing relationship of Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris and cites Biden's view of Harris as "a work in progress." During the first year they were close. After the assignment for the southern border Harris came under severe Republican scrutiny and she is shown as not keen on that assignment.