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Narendra Modi of India visits Poland and Ukraine after visiting Moscow, the only leader to do so and who can talk to both sides, and who believes resolution of the Ukraine can only come outside of the battlefield. After a once in a century pandemic, and with the poor countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America needing trillions of dollars to rebuild their economies, the idea of war in Ukraine adding additional stress to billions of people all over the world, stressing food supplies, supply chains and cost of living, is unacceptable for Modi. He has made this clear to Putin in Moscow during his visit and is likely to do the same in Kviv, to create the conditions for bringing peace to this region and relieve world tensions, help rebuild after the pandemic.

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As Kamala Harris offers $25,000 to home buyers to make it more affordable and sets up a $40 million Innovation fund to build more homes, sets a target of 3 million homes to be built, housing and cost of renting or owning is front and center of attention in 2024. Dougherty and Davis of NYT look at the US housing shortage and rising rents for apartments and homes. A look at Kalamazoo, Michigan, as a sort of microcosm of the US housing situation. Around the time of the 2009 financial crisis and aftermath when vacant homes on streets in many cities were being bulldozed and when there was more housing than people needed the seeds were being planted for today's shortage of homes. There was less interest from builders, there were restrictions on mortgages and higher down payments, capital was harder to get for builders, adding up to fewer homes being built. US demand was for 1.6 million units of housing, the supply was about 1.1 million over the next decade after 2009 leading to the buildup of a shortage of 5 million home supply. Covid changed some patters of housing behaviour. More people work from home with remote work. Then by 2022 mortgage rates were up making housing less affordable just when owners of apartments raised rents by 20-30 percent. In Kalamazoo up by 40%. ...

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Tim Walz uses a sports metaphor about being one behind, fighting for every inch in this football game to score, as he brings to life this final effort of 75 days to win the election for president Kamala Harris, for president Biden, and for workers and families across the 51 States. Read the full speech at the Convention as Tim Walz accepts the Democratic nomination for Vice President. "Their Project 2025 will make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives. They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this: When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re going to use it. And we know, if these guys get back in the White House, they’ll start jacking up the costs on the middle class. They’ll repeal the Affordable Care Act. They’ll gut Social Security and Medicare. And they will ban abortion across this country, with or without Congress. Here’s the thing. It’s an agenda nobody asked for. It’s an agenda that serves nobody, except the richest and the most extreme amongst us. And it’s an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need. Is it weird? Absolutely. Absolutely. But it’s also wrong, and it’s dangerous. It’s not just me saying so, it’s Trump’s own people. They were with him for four years. They’re warning us that the next four years will be much, much worse." ...

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See Tim Walz's full speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 21, 2024 in his video from CBS News. Lyrarc has selected excerpts from Tim Walz's speech above showing what the Trump Republican party plans to do that will gut Social Security and Medicare, and kill the Affordable Care Act, gut efforts to lower exaggerated cost of medical drugs and healthcare. This excerpt shows what Harris will do to build a better life for workers and families and people across all 51 States, in education, childcare, healthcare, cost of living, and housing costs- "We’ve got something better to offer the American people. It starts with our candidate, Kamala Harris. From her first day — as a prosecutor, as a district attorney, as an attorney general, as a United States senator, and then our vice president — she’s fought on the side of the American people. She’s taken on the predators and fraudsters. She’s taken down the transnational gangs. And she’s stood up to powerful corporate interests. She has never hesitated to reach across that aisle if it meant improving your lives. And she’s always done it with energy, with passion and with joy. Folks, we’ve got a chance to make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States. But I think we owe it to the American people to tell them exactly what she’d do as president before we ask them for their votes. So this is the part — clip and save it, and send it to your undecided relatives so they know: If you’re a middle-class family, or trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes. If you’re getting squeezed by prescription drug prices, Kamala Harris is going to take on Big Pharma. If you’re hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable. And no matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead, because that’s what we want for ourselves, and it’s what we want for our neighbors."       ...

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What Kamala Harris stands for on behalf of the workers and families of America, on behalf of the American people, for in Carl Sandburg's immortal poem "The People, Yes!" and for people struggling to make a living with food and housing costs, in the words of Tim Walz at the Democratic Convention- "So this is the part — clip and save it, and send it to your undecided relatives so they know: If you’re a middle-class family, or trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes. If you’re getting squeezed by prescription drug prices, Kamala Harris is going to take on Big Pharma. If you’re hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable. And no matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead, because that’s what we want for ourselves, and it’s what we want for our neighbors." ...

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813 acres of forest were cutdown near Berlin location for a new gigafactory of Tesla.

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Athens has changed a lot since the economic crisis and it has a lot to offer in history, culture and in Mediterranean sights and food, says Tony Perrottet in WSJ. He looks at facets of the city including new subway connections and Greeks returning to setup cafes and other shops.

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Sun Valley Idaho, Lake Placid NY, Lake Louise Alberta, Aspen Colorado, Lake Tahoe California. Five places that are not as crowded and offer a large number of cross country skiing trails, and miles and miles of pristine forest with views of the mountains, at a budget you and I can afford.

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Aryna Sabalenka describes her experience with the death of her father and going though it by keeping on playing tennis, and then with the loss of aclose friend finding that this no longer worked. An injury gave her time to pause to take care of her mental health. This has helped her regain the confidence in her game. This situation is something we all face keep going through a emotional crisis with the loss of a parent or family member, then thinking that the best way is to continue with whatever we are doing. Then something else happens, a health crisis or more stuff to tackle, and this time it makes sense to pause to give oneself time to recover. This is important to come back with the right frame of mind, the feeling of health and wellbeing essential for the next step. 

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The 65 million Americans called generation X sandwiched between baby boomers and the millenials are one that are also the 401 K experiment generation, and ones that experienced both the 2009 corporate greed and recklessness caused financial crisis and the pandemic. And experience financial anxiety at a different level.  Without the steady pension checks of their parents these Generation X middle aged people with their 401 K's are much worse off. This is the group Biden Harris, and Biden Walz, has to assuage and bring back up. The 2009 financial crisis left many in disarray with loss of jobs or lack of pay increases, or part time work. Many have not recovered after the pandemic delivered another blow to finances and cost of living surprises. Median household wealth of Generation X people 45 years to 54 years old was $250,000 in 2022, 7% lower than that of baby boomers in 2007, the only age group that experienced drop in median wealth. 

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See Ann Telnaes cartoon in the Washington Post on Aug 15, 2025 news conference by Donald Trump from the Bedminster New Jersey golf club and repetition of oldies, oldies and more oldies for a America fatigued from fact checking.

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Pat Oliphant was a celebrated cartoonist for the Washington Post. Ann Telnaes takes up this role in her cartoons about 2024 as America chooses which directions the Nation and the World will take till 2030.

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Robbie Shell has some good advice or ravel in retirement. Travel offseason or in less than peak season. Try to do it on your own for most flexibility so you can improvise to suit your mood and inclination. Stay in fewer places and at least 3 nights to feel at home in a place, less packing and unpacking that can be tiring. Choose secondary destinations not big name crowded places. Do a few things well that you enjoy and stop there, don't stretch yourself thin. And talk to the locals, don't be shy with strangers, you can make the trip come alive with what you can learn from people and places when we talk to the locals and people traveling like us. It can make the whole trip memorable, the stories they tell us and with whom we can share our own.

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Biden makes a change to US nuclear policy that covers coordination by Russia, North Korea and China.

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Read the full speech of president Biden at an important time in the Nation's history, 76 days before a national election to decide the future of the Nation and the World. Excerpts from the speech selected by Lyrarc- "Look. Folks, how can we have the strongest economy in the world without the best infrastructure in the world? Donald Trump promised Infrastructure Week, every week for four years, and he never built a damn thing.  And now because of what Kamala and I have done—remember, we were told we couldn’t get it done? Remember, when we came into office, we couldn’t get anything passed?—but right now, we’re giving America an infrastructure decade not week. We’re modernizing our roads, our bridges, our ports, our airports, our trains, our buses, removing every lead pipe from schools and homes so every child could drink clean water. We’re providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where they live, unlike, not unlike what Roosevelt did with electricity. And so much more. We are uniting the country, we’re growing our economy, we’re improving our quality of life, and we’re building a better America. Because that’s who we are. How can we be the strongest nation in the world without leading the world in science and technology? After years of importing 90% of our semiconductor chips from abroad, which America invented those chips, our CHIPS and Science Act meant that private companies from around the world are now investing literally tens of billions of dollars to build new chip factories right here in America. And over that period, they’ll create tens of thousands of jobs. And many of those jobs in the so-called Fabs, the buildings that make the chips that are being constructed now. And guess what? The average salary in those fabs, size of a football field, will be over $100,000 a year, and you don’t need a college degree.  ...

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Biden gives a rousing call to the Nation, on what he has achieved for America and its workers and families, for the people of 51 states, and what the tasks are for the future to 2035. It surpasses the State of the Union address 2024 in the vigor and importance of his message, 76 days before a national election to decide the future of the Nation and the World. Key parts of the speech selected by Lyrarc, on Infrastructure above and Manufacturing here with 800,000 new Manufacturing jobs created. "Because of you and so many electeds out there, American manufacturing is back. Where the hell does it say we wouldn’t lead the world in manufacturing. Eight-hundred-thousand new manufacturing jobs. Our Republican friends and others made sure they’d go abroad to get the cheapest labor. We used to import products and export jobs. Now we export American products and create American jobs, right here in America, where jobs belong. With every new job, with every new factory, pride and hope is being brought back to communities throughout the country that were left behind. You know you’re from it, many of you. You know what it’s like when that factory closed where your mother, your father, your grandmother, grandfather worked. And now you’re back, providing once again, proving that Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America, and unions—unions—built the middle class.  It’s been my view since I came to the Senate and that’s why I’m proud to have been the first President to walk a picket line and be labeled the most pro-union President in history. And I accept it. That’s a fact. Because when unions do well, we all do well.  ...

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Biden gave a passionate and vigorous speech at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Aug 19, 2024 comparable to what he did in the State of the Union message to the US Congress and people in January 2023 and January 2024. Gone was any semblance of the bad day at the debate that came after covid symptoms. The first night at the Democrat Convention brought before Biden's speech speakers Hillary Clinton, Governor Beshear of Kentucky, touching personal accounts of trauma of women who were denied abortion in rape and incest and mother's health conditions, Steve Kerr, US Coach men's basketball team at the US Olympics, and three members of Congress. Steve Kerr said it was the duty of Americans to protect American democracy and the respect for the dignity of people, workers and families, that is part of the values of the American people for two hundred years, values Biden exemplified and Kamala is shaped by. Ashley Clinton reminded people of her father's love for the country and family- telling the country how her father took the train from Washington D.C. to Wilmington Delaware just to see Ashley, Jill and the family for her birthday when she was just seven years, stayed for a few minutes at the station and after blowing the candles headed right back to D.C. Dignity, decency, values, personal sacrifice, courage, these are the values that Coach Steve Kerr said America expected from its leaders. Thes are the values of Joe Biden of Delaware as he went through 50 years int he US Senate, 8 years as Vice President and his term as president. And above all Biden used this experience to pass legislation  for the Renewal of America that makes him many speakers say the most consequential president since FDR. ...

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How president Biden is listening to new voices such as Chris Murphy on what economic, social and national model America should base its future on . Tech monopolies, Big Phama, Billionaires paying 8.2% tax and resisting fair taxes, Citizens United keeping out people interested in public service who don't want to raise money from corporations asking favors (Pharma, Tech monopolies). How Biden says his model in a folksy Scranton sort of way about his grandfather saying "Joey just remember" yet has the basics right about investing in the Nation, Fair Taxes that cut Deficits yet rebuild the dilapidated Infrastructure and creates Jobs, Renewable Energy target for 2035 to tackle Climate change.  And Harris as AG bringing her approach to tackle big corporate power and specific down to earth cost of living action +child care action, + housing costs action,  and Walz bringing experience from a large upper midwestern state in implementing climate change action, wage and income improvement, student debt and educational opportunity for all. This is a strong beginning and we build from here as the foundations are laid down for the future to create an Opportunity for All Economy. Making the effort bipartisan in the spirit of the legislation that Biden has achieved with Republicans senior leaders Cornyn, McConnell, and With Lankford on immigration legislation that will be a top priority for Harris to sign into law. ...

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Ivan Penn , Tim Gruber of NYT show how Tim Walz's Minnesota is taking Climate Change Action to be 100% Clean Energy by 2040.  Hovering over Becker, Minnesota, along the Missisisippi river is a coal powered electric plant. Next to corn and potato farms are acres of solar panels intended to pass solar energy to the Sherco solar energy plant in the neighboring area for transmission. It will replace 3 coal powered units at Becker's electric plant. Becker is only one of seven such Municipal areas called Coalition of Utility Cities that will make he shift to solar. What happens to 240 workers at the coal plant owned by Xcel Energy? They will not be layed off says Xcel and the state provides funds to retrain workers. Some will be employed at anuclear plant owned by Xcel. The state provides 4.75 million for retraining, and $20 million for a new industrial park that will generate new jobs. Additional jobs created at Form Energy in Massachusetts that makes the battery storage systems for Sherco/Xcel. It is a culture change for workers and for sceptics. A 1.9 million ton coal pile sits outside Becker to last 100 days- coal related pollution will decline and improve health.      ...