LyrArc Article Gist
The foreign lobbying by Pakistan and then India in Washington DC for access to the White House using lobbyist firms in the US. This enabled leaders from Pakistan to visit the White House in the US soon after conflict between Pakistan and India erupted over terrorist incident. Terrorist incidents happened in New Delhi and Islamabad in November 2025. The DJT administration may have gained support from Pakistan/Turkey for the Hamas settlement through this lobbying effort. The DJT administration inadvertently put itself in a position of being influenced by lobbying in this case for access to the White House. Following that event China's president Xi Jinping tightened restrictions on rare earths in trade negotiations with the US for a temporary agreement that gives access to the US market. This leaves the issue of illegal fentanyl flows from China and Mexico to the US, important to the US, and of restructuring world trade, also important to the US, major goals of this Republican administration in abeyance.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Los Angeles Unified School District has voted for a ban on smartphone use in schools starting in January. Governor Newsom is proposing to have a state wide ban in California to support children and parents in school education. Florida and Indiana are Republican led states with state bans on smartphone in schools. New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeks one in 2025. California Governor Newsom says: "When children and teens are in schools they should be focused on studies, not on screens." He has four children in schools. Dr. Murthy says in NYT that children spending more than 3 hours a day on social media were feeling the double the effects of depression and anxiety symptoms. And the actual use is 4.8 hours per day for this age group.

LyrArc Article Gist
The $3 billion proposed by president Biden is the first time in history that money is being allocated to tackle elder homelessness. This WSJ report shows how older boomers holding onto larger homes for retirement and aging in these homes is worsening the supply of housing. Including for younger boomers who are in their 50's and who because housing is less affordable or because of a life event or healthcare costs are facing a high rate of homelessness. WSJ's report says $3 billion is unlikely to get thorough this Republican Congress but it is not enough to tackle the problem -because people should not be destitute in this way such as these younger boomers in America as an advanced developed Nation.

LyrArc Article Gist
Hints left in this report by Catie Edmondson and Luke Broadwater in the NYT that there is another route to passing the raising debt ceiling legislation in Congress. This is by the rather delicate route that brings together the moderates of both parties and leaves a win win for both sides with nothing that president Biden considers burdensome to ordinary Americans Biden seeks to defend. It means progressive Democrats and extreme Republicans would vote against it and it passes Congress. All sides can say they did the right thing as they go into the 2024 elections.

LyrArc Article Gist
NYT reporters look at the details in the Biden $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill passed in the U.S. Senate. For the first time in decades Congress and the president take a serious approach to investing in America's infrastructure. It covers investments in modernizing and improving  rail, broadband, nuclear, roads and bridges, with additional investments in environmental protection, and renewable energy. It does not give president Biden all that he has asked for and was achieved through compromise between Democrats and Republicans in Congress who agree that big infrastructure investment is needed to upgrade old infrastructure.

LyrArc Article Gist
The FDA approves Governor De Santis proposal for importing drugs from Canada. Colorado is one of the other states that have applied. The drugmakers continue their opposition even if this means lower prices for the American people of excessively higher priced American drugs compared to other countries. Both Republicans and Democrats agree prices have to come down and support importing of drugs into the US, then why is it taking so long for the FDA  to approve state proposals? The Biden administration has issued an executive order for the FDA to work with states on this.

LyrArc Article Gist
The alliance to make housing more affordable by building more units in the suburbs after many blue state areas have used zoning laws and other ways to keep new apartments out of their suburbs. It is called YIMBY which stands for Yes In My Backyard. States as varied as Montana, Arizona and Colorado to California, New York and Texas are on abiparitsan basis with Republicans working together with Democrats are looking for ways to make housing accessible and affordable by increasing funding for subsidized housing, building more apartments by loosening zoning laws, and expanding renter protection for tenants.

LyrArc Article Gist
New York Governor Hochul says "judges should have more authority to set bail and detain dangerous defendants." The rise in crime in New York as a result of a law that eliminated bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies passed 4 years ago, may have cost Democrats several seats in the US House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm election, leading to a virtual tie with Republicans in the House.

LyrArc Article Gist
The U.S. House of Representatives votes 420-0 calling for public release of the Mueller report on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The probe by Special Counsel Mueller looked into whether anyone in the Trump circle aided Russian meddling in the election. The unanimous vote is a result of the public support for releasing the report. Mostly all Democrats and 80% of Republicans support its public release.

LyrArc Article Gist
WSJ reporter Monica Langley provides a glimpse behind the scenes of how Donald Trump comes up with his attacks on rivals, and statements on immigration, terrorism, refugees. Trump pays close attention to what is riling voters on any particular week, but other rival politicians are not willing to say. He looks for what resonates with the public, and in today's environment where politicians are cautious, careful and plodding, this strategy works. Donald usually puts down a few points on his private plane, looks at reports from campaign staff, yet makes all the decisions himself on what and how to say it. His memory helps, he says. And he has a flair for words, sounding uncouth at times, but yet choosing words carefully enough to sound reasoanble to his audience. In Jan 2016 this approach has worked for Trump in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, stalling progress by rival Ted Cruz, and holding back other rivals. Yet this approach has its risks as the primary season progresses. One of the changes in the Republican party politics in 2016 is the emergence of two candidates Donald Trump representing the white working class, and Ted Cruz representing evangelicals, who are both strident and willing to take strong positions on issues in striking contrast to leading Democrats. Trump on China, immigration, refugees, and Cruz on taxes, cultural issues for evangelicals, IRS, Affordable Health Care Act, and both candidates on terrorism. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Fareed Zakaria points out that the primary elections of the Republican and Democratic parties can pose a danger to democracy because of demagogic politicians who can appeal to popular passions to bring a fringe group or individual to the presidency. Primaries for both parties became important after 1968. Eisenhower and Lincoln won the nomination after the person nominated on the first ballot failed to win the necessary votes. Another serious problem is that the turnout in the primaries is low, so low that a 15% turnout is considered high turnout. The media attention is so great that it creates the impression that a real election has taken place when in reality about 85% of the people have not voted- as the Economist magazine points out a representative turnout would change the outcome significantly so it is not clear how much this promotes democratic process.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kevin McCarthy, (Republican from California) is likely to win in the election of minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has the support of former Speaker Paul Ryan who resigned in April. House Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 election made it easier for McCarthy to win the election. In election of minority leader he needed only a majority of votes in a closed ballot election.

LyrArc Article Gist
Birthright Citizenship Case at the Supreme Court of the US.- Arguments live from Courtroom at SCOTUS. History shows that much of the 19th and 20th century was spent keeping Asians out of the US, even the Chinese who built the railroads. One of the Chinese whose parents came to the US Wong Kim asked to stay and the Supreme Court ruled in that individual and single isolated case in 1898 that he could stay. Only after JFK and LBJ was immigration gradually opened to Chinese and Indians and Asians in general. By the end of the 20th century this went to the other extreme from no Asians allowed to birthright citizenship for Asian mothers to obtain citizenship in this way just by arriving in New York, clearly with no justification. Even Britain abandoned this idea of birthright citizenship in 1981,  with parentage required uder a new law, one parent citizenship required, 10 years of residence required. Even this relevant fact was not cited by the Solicitor General of the US when he presented the case to the Court in opening summary on April 1, 2026. With Britain removing itself from this practice, it makes no sense to practice birthright citizenship as there is such thing as the Republican view of this- it is the universal view now of all civilized modern nations. With one or two exceptions for unique reasons ( a largely unpopulated country) such as Canada, which may also amend this law. The fact that Asians were not allowed for a century even after some "coolies" built the railroads in the US does not mean it is now time to go to the other extreme to welcome all who come even under the most egregious means. Asians themselves will recognize and support this, now that the "coolie" culture and colonialism is long gone and Asians are part of the fabric of this country. None of this will be mentioned at the Supreme Court just esoteric argument around what a term was accidentally inserted in the case for the one Chinese admitted under that case in 1898 - "Under the jurisdiction thereof." And lawyers will argue around technical points, one more reason for the public disbelief in the SCOTUS. Yet most Asians can be grateful for the process initiated by JFK and LBJ that opened up lawful immigration to the US for Asians, and have the curiosity and eagerness to learn the history of this new Nation and its boundless energies that reshaped our world, to learn about its European heritage and cultures, not ask for more such as birthright citizenship. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
US Naval Blockade Day 10- US stock markets up 4.1% for 4 months, oil price $95 a barrel, prices at pump $4.02 down from $3.94 a month back. If all the US seeks out of an agreement is getting nuclear material out of Iran to keep nuclear weapons out of the Middle East based on 5 decades of war in the Middle East- Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and now Iraq/ Lebanon- this is to protect the people of the world from nuclear weapons, including China, India, Brazil, Russia, EU and other nations. This was the goal of Democratic administrations also, only the Republican approach is to err on the side of safe and take zero chances on future nuclear escalation while the Democratic administrations were based on trust, trust which is not a sure thing in the Middle East political and cultural environment. Some of DJT comments were bluster, but the basic position is the same- against nuclear proliferation for a safer planet. In this light the Naval Blockade only seeks not to block Iran's path to a prosperous economy and a bright future for its people. Iran's economy is affected in the same way that India's and China's, Africa's is affected, for upwards of 4 billion people compared to 100 million for Iran. Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Indonesia, among the poorest in the world, poorer by far than Iran. The economic impact on this part of the world is not part of Iranian perceptions. The economic impact on Gulf kingdoms an adversary of Iran is by comparison only a small fraction of the impact on the poorest countries. In this situation US is working to support the poorest segments of the Chinese people ( the part of China in the hinterland that is the one third not urbanized) and the Indian people through its cooperation and direct or indirect support. In this perspective the US economy stands as a steadfast support for US policy of fairness and respect for all nations since 1900- US is not one of the colonial powers such as Britain and France who created some of the artificial states Syria, Iraq, out of the remains of the collapsed Ottoman Empire in the interest of their Empires by 1921, and setup regimes in Iran for its oil, that are the source of today's problems and wars. No Empire of Britain and France promised Iran $28 billion as this Nation does today if Iran ships nuclear material out of Iran for a 100 percent shift to a peaceful Middle East that works for the modernization and industrial development of its economies in the interests of the people. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian shows pictures in both black and white and in color from the last 50 years of US president Joe Biden. The first picture is a black and white picture from 20 November 1972 showing him cutting his 30th birthday cake with his wife Nelia, sons Beau, and Hunter. He is shown taking the oath of office for the Senate as he turned 30 the youngest senator and now the oldest former senator to be president. On the Metroliner Amtrak in 1988. He spent decades riding Amtrak to Washington D.C. He campaigned with Jill Biden for president in 1988. Not till the extraordinary situation of the pandemic in 2020 did Americans who largely ignored him give him the opportunity to lead- and at what a time when the Nation desperately needed his vision and his leadership through the largest vaccination program in history with the exception of that in India. And following this with his skills in Congress to get the legislation passed with Republicans for trillions of dollars to go into aiding families recover, and the economy to recover, investing in chips and science, and in infrastructure in ways that have happened only three times in American history, first in the early days of rail transforming a largely agricultural country during Lincoln and Grant's years as president in 1860's and 1870's, and again during the TR, Woodrow Wilson years in the 1900, 1910 period, and in the period under FDR, Truman and Ike 1940's, 1950's. No other country recovered better and stronger, and yet because of the lingering effects of the pandemic with 1 million dead from the Covid virus, and increases in the cost of living even as inflation was brought down from 9% to 3% for reasons stemming from unwise decision of American business to concentrate the supply chain in China, from housing and automobile price increases, the Nation did not immediately grasp the sheer magnitude of what had been achieved. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Millenials are moving away from political parties to look at individual candidates in 2014. Attitudes are changing moving away from gender politics. A Pew Research Center survey of March 2014 shows 50% of millenials consider themselves political independents. And 31% believe there is not much difference between Democrats and Republicans.

LyrArc Article Gist
After a long year of frustration with a small faction of 20 Congressmen in the Republican party led by Mr Gaetz Mr. McCarthy is taking on this group as it seeks to oust him from the Speaker's position. He will need Democratic support. This report looks at the changing situation in the US Congress. America needs a bipartisan approach to tackle major problems of infrastructure, climate change, wages and the cost of living, and education. It does not make sense to allow a few members of Congress to thwart the nation's plans to tackle its problems and challenges.

LyrArc Article Gist
Leonhardt of the NYT provides a useful look at several graphs showing how the last 2 decades have seen an accelerated level of inequality as most of the gains in income have gone to less than one person of the population. Income gains of the majority of the American people have dwindled leading to alarming levels of inequality. The nation has not yet come to grips with the problem, says Leonhardt, as the Republican healthcare bills actually hurt the elderly and most vulnerable in the population. The Trump budget used double counting, supporting tax cuts that were based on faulty accounting, raising debt for future generations.

LyrArc Article Gist
This editorial in the WSJ says the Breitbart News site or its founder Steve Bannon is unlikely to influence the State of the Union address, that its influence is overestimated. It also says that it should be kept under a watchful and vigilant eye, that this is in the interests of the Republican party, and says it hopes Vince Preibus, chief of staff, understands this. It basically says that this type of fringe politics, on the right or the left, has no place in American politics. It sees this as one of Mr. Trump's obligations to the American people.

LyrArc Article Gist
David Brooks of the NYT describes the themes taken up at the Democratic National Convention that of humility, justice, patriotism, civility, and hope, that are truly American. Along the way taking up themes that were strongly presented at Republican conventions from Theodore Roosevelt to Eisenhower and Reagan- respecting the military and fallen men and women. He says the Republicans have ceded this ground by nominating someone like Silvio Berlusconi.  Yet he says this is an unusual year and it tells more about the country and people than anything else- has it changed or is it still the same and looking for direction with the middle and working class still thoughtful, looking for sincerity and real programs from their politicians and government about creating a better future. Democrats face the challenge of showing this time its real, no matter the distractions and challenges, as the only thing that matters- to get the middle and working class back on their feet.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post on Republican consultant Castellanos's memo to GOP strategists on how to kil the health care legislation in Congress. She points out the language, words like hasty "experiment" that Castellanos suggested that are figuring prominently and frequently in Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's remarks, like the talk he gave at the National Press Club on July 20, 2009.

LyrArc Article Gist
He is one of the authors of chapters in Project 2025. He is also the deputy OMB director in the first term of DJT 2016-2020, and someone with a great deal of experience in running the Office of Management and the Budget. He is for the Republican line of cuts to the Budget to maintain the deficit within reasonable limits. Yet with the need for investment in the country for growth and to support income growth for workers and families there is no monolithic position in the Republican party. Much of Biden infrastructure investments have supported growth and fill need for restoring aging dilapidated American infrastructure and has gone to southern states and mountain states mostly Republican. MAGA as its Biden counterpart is also about infrastructure investment and rebuilding America through investment. Under DJT it is also about spending these dollars wisely, efficiently and with due oversight which is also an imperative. The difference with the European Union with near zero growth in 2024-2025 and the 2.7% growth in the US is this willingness to take some risks and invest to rebuild the Nation under Biden + MAGA. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Both parties were given poor ratings by respondents for the way they conducted the debt ceiling negotiations- a 72% disapproval rating for Republicans in Congress and a 66% disapproval rating for Democrats in Congress. On the spending cuts the views are ambivalent. On one hand showing Americans 2 to 1 favoring job creation over spending cuts. On the other hand 44% of those polled saying the cuts in the debt ceiling were not enough, 29% that the cuts were about right, only 15% saying they went too far.

LyrArc Article Gist
Michelle Obama warns about complacency in the 2016 presidential election. She says Republicans are saying the election outcome is already predetermined to lower Democratic turnout from black people and millenial Democratic voters. In North Carolina president Obama won by one half of one percent in North Carolina in 2008 largely because of enthusiasm among black and younger voters. This enthusiasm and lack of complacency is critical said Michelle Obama to win this election, who is popular with these two groups, more than Mr. Obama and Mrs Clinton.

LyrArc Article Gist
Even as the national minimum wage remains stuck at $7.25 states are making their own decisions to increase the wage. 21 states will increase the minimum wage including Republican states Missouri and Nebraska in 2025.