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Kamala Harris is profoundly influenced by the Gandhian ideal of public service coming from the influence of her mother Shyamala and her mother's father P. V. Gopalan, who was a leading civil servant in the transition to independence under Gandhi in India in the late 1940's. P.V. Gopalan was 31 years old during the Quit India Movement launched by Mohandas Gandhi in 1942. In this sense what even Martin Luther King Jr experienced about Gandhiji from a distance came to her directly in ways that may be inscrutable even to Kamala herself.  Robert Draper looks at Kamala Harris at different points of her childhood, university education and work as District Attorney for Alameda County, California, and Attorney General of California. He describes her as a daughter of highly educated yet stoic parents and one with a reverence for law and order, methodical and diligent, a caring and compassionate person to the people in the communities she lived in. As one who would experience disrespect as a woman of color many times she chose not to complain but to do something about it in bringing about a better life for all Americans. Not only did she do this, Kamala Harris also was always striving to do better for the people she served, putting all her energies into that task, always keeping in mind "We the People." ...

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Matt Garman, head of AI and Cloud Services at Amazon talks to Emma Tucker of the WSJ. Garman says Amazon was not slow, just being deliberate and thinking it through rather than coming up with something quickly as Microsoft had done with ChatGPT. He sees the need for regulation, only that it not create a situation where others including China go ahead and the US falls behind. This means that the US needs to coordinate AI rules with other countries including China, India, Russia, for comprehensive solutions on how AI is to be managed to work towards good.

On a five day week vs remote work Garman says Amazon takes the view that the creative work can best be done with humans interacting at the office. It sees this as essential for good work. On the 3 day week with 2 for remote work, the only problem he says is that everyone picks different 3 days and this leads to loss of human interaction at work.

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Churches across Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are aided in their mission with savings from solar panels. Churches are taking advantage of the Climate Law that provides refunds for most of the cost of solar installations. The savings are being used for free meals for schoolchildren, aid to homeless shelters, and to mantain church gardens. Pastor Julia Brown of the Solomon's United Church of Christ in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, says it saved $70,000 installing 30 solar panels on the roof of the church that will be used for meals for these purposes.

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As seen in the campaigns of Gretchen Whitmer for Governor western Michigan and Kalamazoo are critical in 2024. Michelle Obama joins Kamala Harris at an event in Kalamazoo in the closing days of the campaign. 

Speaking about women's health and pregnancies Michelle Obama was passionate in her words in Kalamazoo speaking to men and women-

"Consider the harm that is done when a government keeps revoking the basic care from its women."

“I am asking y’all, from the core of my being, to take our lives seriously. If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.”

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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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Walking is great for mental health, for keeping up your spirits and reinvigorating the soul. Its the best way to stay healthy in our sedentary world. Walking inside and walking outdoors, never spending too much time sitting. Useful tips-

Shoes should be comfortable should hug the feet not be tight.

Take gentle steps. Footsteps light rolling from heel to hoe to avoid a hard flat footed landing, says one orthopedic surgeon.

Start with posture stand up straight, relax your shoulders, keep pelvic neutral, engage the core, as these muscles keep your posture erect when walking. Look not down but 10 feet away or further.

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The walkoff grand slam hit by Freddie Freeman in the last minutes of the 1st game in the American baseball World Series between finalists NY Yankees and LA Dodgers, a great sports rivalry since 1941. The great hitter Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees even made it into literary fame in Ernest Hemingway's nostalgic stories of an aging sailor in Cuba remembering Yankee hitter DiMaggio's grit and persistence in Old Man and the Sea.

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China's fishing fleet off the Peruvian coast puts pressure on local fishermen in these waters. On Peru's northern coast fisherman in Paita are now switching to other occupations- working on farms or driving taxi scooters. Overfishing of squid is a major problem for Peruvians on the coast in waters rich in fish nutrients. China says it is fishing in international waters. It is a source of employment for millions of Chinese working in distant waters and also a source of food for a population of 1.4 billion people.

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Some Republicans in the three WOW suburbs around Milwaukee, Wisconsin- Waukesha Ozaukee and Washington counties- are shifting towards Democrats. This swing was clearly seen across the US in votes for Nikki Haley even after the Republican candidate withdrew in the contest with Trump. Abortion, democracy, and the erosion of the "big tent" are issues for women and college educated young people. In the past Democrats were dominant in Milwaukee and Madison and Republicans in the suburbs. This is changing in 2024 as the suburbs are being contested.

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It cost $16.4 billion for the presidential and congressional races in 2020.

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Americans are being pummeled by election ads for 12 months before November 5, 2024, at their doors, on television, on podcasts and on social media. Super PAC's are providing seemingly unending funding for candidates and races. The ground game is being determined by careful planning and the funding to back it up for door to door, print ads, and television ads. There is no end in sight to cost and funding of races.

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What better way to sit back and relax this October fall season with an American pasttime. BBC Sports tells you everything you want to know about New York Yankees LA Dodgers baseball including videos. Did you know that- Not since 1981 have the New York Yankees met the LA Dodgers in the World Series baseball. That the Brooklyn Dodgers played the New York Yankees before 1981 in cross city rivalry 7 times. The Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers when the team moved to the opposite coast in 1957. Gerrit Cole of Yankees is Cy Young Award pitcher of the year and the Dodgers pitching staff including Flaherty who dominated the NY Mets have 33 scoreless post season innings. Yankees all star Aaron Judge has equalled he batting record of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio. Japan's Shohei Ohtani of the LA Dodgers holds the 50-50 record of 50 home runs and 50 runs batted in record in American baseball. Yankke hitters Giancarlo Stanton, Juan Soto and Anthony Rizzo are pitted against LA Dodgers  hitter Mookie Betts, Teoscar Fernandez and Freddie Freeman. In Game 1 Giancarlo and Freddie hit home runs with Freddie hitting a walkoff Grand Slam. Schedules of all games are shown here starting in LA, going to NY and ending in LA. ...

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After a Giancarlo hit into the ballpark the Yankees were ahead in the first 6 innings. A base hit by Ohtani brought one run in before the walkoff grand slam by Freeman with bases loaded put the LA Dodgers ahead in the final innings with all but one out.

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Israeli strikes in response to a Iranian ballistic missile attack were expected. Yet the Israeli attack was done by informing the US and by Israel exercizing restraint that Biden had asked for, says this BBC report.

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The Times looks at the needs of small business and workers in the West Leeds constituency of Rachel Reeves, Britain's finance minister, before the first Labour party budget in decades.

Issues of higher employer contributions for small business, and higher tax from no change in tax brackets, are cited by the owner of 2 gym locations.

Child care is important for working mothers. A business consultant says the local transport system needs investment. Cheaper funding and VAT reduction for a coffeeshop is he started is important for a web designer. A children's shoe shop owner says a tram system for Leeds like the one in Manchester is needed as the decision for a super bus in Leeds made 25 years back clearly has not worked. A rail or Metrorail to Leeds Bradford airport is needed. He also cites cutting importing red tape.

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The blue collar city of Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania in October 2024- Harris makes the pledge to get rid of college degree requirement for jobs. Something Governor Shapiro had learned working in rural and working class parts of the state. All about respect and opportunity.

Governor Shapiro learning from his campaign in 2022 says-

 “I can remember some conversations I had early on in the campaign, about how they felt disrespected by the Democratic Party that only talked about helping people earn a college degree.”

Kamala Harris says in Wilkes-Barre-

For far too long, our nation has encouraged only one path to success.”

 

 

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Literacy in America matters. The American people can think this thing through. White Americans can think this thing through in 2024. What is the best path- what is the Way Forward that will bring America and Americans to a better place in the world?