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The NYT gives maps of UK showing the collapse of Conservatives party, Nigel Farage taking a fifth of conservative voters. The shift of the working class areas back to Labour party. Conservatives losing even more seats with Liberal Democrats picking up votes. And some areas such as Bristol show Greens benefitting from Keir Starmer's backing away from the $28 Green energy plan because of budgetary constraints.

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With 3.4% inflation and higher interest rates it is still attractive option to keep money in Cash savings at higher interest rates.

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Revamping enclosed malls that are no longer needed is not working. Two projects of Brookfield Partners are failing. Needs are different today from what they were in the 1950's and there is a need to build using entirely new designs on the land occupied by the enclosed malls. 

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During Euro Cup soccer 2024 Germany's faltering rail system Deutsche Bahn presents challenges with frequent cancellations and delays. So frequent are the delays that they are announced matter of factly as if it was standard way of operating the trains. One can see this in Frankfurt, which has a vast rail network operating connecting most of Europe from its main rail station. It is a result of failure to invest in upgrading rail systems and signalling, tracks, rolling stock. 

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The US is investing $6 billion in manufacturing of arms for shipment overseas. This is being done so that 100,000 155mm shells can be made instead of 30,000 a month by the end of 2025. Three production lines at a cost of $1 billion at General Dynamics factory in Texas are put in place to reach 50,000 shells a month. This ammunition is needed in Ukraine where thousand of shells are used each day.

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For immigration bipartisan solutions such as the one Senator Lankford and president Biden and Senator Schumer worked out are the answer, intelligent solutions are the answer, as America will need to fill the vacant positions in its factories. As baby boomers retire Minnesota is short of workers as this story in WSJ shows. It is recruiting from Florida and Puerto Rico for people willing to relocate to the north and its severe winters. Marvin, $1.5 billion maker of windows and doors, founded in this town of Warroad near the Canadian border 112 years back can move but is attached to this town and its people. It has resisted trends of outshoring and keeps trying to get new workers replacing the ones retiring of the 700 workers at this factory.  About 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will remain unfilled by 2030 according to the Manufacturing Institute. This shows the other side of the immigration story where immigrants also add to meeting the needs of the Nation as they are absorbed over time. It is not immigration but the sudden surges that need to be handled carefully that is the problem as America will continue to need new workers to replace the workers who retire from its factories. ...

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Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN will host the first debate between Biden and Trump on June 27. The second television debate on September 7 will be done by ABC. 

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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer interview by NYT's Lulu Navarro looks at the swing state of Michigan and its popular governor. Asked about president president Biden's 3 trillion dollar investments in Manufacturing, in Chips and Science, in Infrastructure, Whitmer says the public is still just coming out of the pandemic and has seen only some of the beneficial effects of this program of massive investment in the US economy. She says it is similar to what she heard from Michiganders which amounted to "Governor Fix the Dam Roads." She says the former president Trump lacks any such vision for the US economy, and for the future. Of the present time Whitmer says that the pandemic has taken a toll in people's lives, people are stressed out, and just hanging in there trying to pay the grocery bills, get the kids to school, and show up at work. They have hardly the time to figure out what the CHIPS Act means. Whitmer is in her second term as governor and comes from the western part of the state around Grand Rapids which is traditionally Republican. In her election for governor she was able to win with good margins in this western part of the State even as a Democrat. This interview show Whitmer wanting to be able to work with Republicans in the best interests of the state and the Nation. ...

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Closest to president Biden in 2024 is Ted Kaufman who sat next to Biden on these trips from the US Senate to his home in Delaware over three decades in Amtrak trains. Ted Kaufman 82, was Biden's Senate chief of staff from the early days when the youngest senator at 32 years started his 5 term Senate run in 1970. He is described by Biden's sister as Biden's alter ego. Kaufman was with the president during the 2020 run for president. In 2009 as Biden assumed the role of vice president Kaufman was made junior senator for Delaware in Biden's place. The other two who are in their late sixties are Ron Klain who was Biden's chief of staff at the White House till 2023. And Mike Donilon 69 years, who is the closest to the president today in his day to day work. He decamped from the White House in January 2024 to get a view from the outside so essential as the mood of the country changes and failures are not so clear from the inside, and  which must be addressed.  The younger group includes Jake Sullivan who the president has used with Tony Blinken to get his domestic policy reflected in foreign policy and economic policy. Of the older advisers Donilon must have addressed with Biden in turn migration and the border, the cost of living and the pandemic recovery residual effects that have affected the middle and lower class, the effects of world affairs in domestic politics. Dnilon says many presidents fail to answer the question "why are you running" with a direct answer. For Biden it is about the preservation of democracy and freedom. Donilon is a University of Virgina law graduate who worked in the Carter, Clinton and Obama White House. He even helped Carter phase into civilian life after his presidency. As chief of staff to Warren Christopher Clinton's Secretary of State. He was Obama's NSA adviser till 2013. He has a treasure trove of experience. Tony Blinken worked under him at the State Department showing the close connections Biden has with his extended group of advisers. This includes Anita Dunn communications, Steve Ricchetti Capitol Hill, Bruce Reed policy advice.   ...