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Arizona remains a state where the Republican and Democratic parties are very close. As Senator Krysten Sinema a Democrat, supported the Republican filibuster that required 60 votes for major legislation and thwarted some of president Biden's legislation to help workers and families in the US. Having alienated some Democrats she is now running for the Senate as an Independent. Her likely opponent from the Republican party is Kari Lake. Arizona is split three ways evenly for Republicans, Independents and Democrats. The question for Sinema says a Republican strategist is whether there are enough independents and soft Republicans who will vote for Sinema. Rep. Ruben Gallego is running for Democrats, Kari Lake for Republicans. Another question is whether Kari Lake's association with Mr. Trump could hurt Republicans in Arizona. Synema faces a difficult three way race as Democrats see her flagging support on key initiatives of the president as a serious problem.

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Efforts by French president Macron to end the alienation of Russia from the Western Alliance by bringing together Ukraine's Zelensky and president Putin of Russia for talks in Paris. The effort is for the negotiations to take place in a new environment that accepts the need to recognize Russian concerns for NATO too close to its borders. President Macron has stated that Russia is not the threat for NATO to focus on as the world has changed with the emergence of China, the changes with the Trump administration policy. By ending the Ukraine conflict and Russian perception of a threat on its borders, Macron is making a constructive effort to bring Europe together and put the Ukraine conflict behind it. His comments about NATO being brain dead have received too much media attention, less attention to the effort to mediate and solve conflicts based on perceived threats Russia thinks it faces.

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The coronavirus is making implementation of the U.S. China trade deal less likely as Chinese imports from the U.S. decrease and China's exports continue to grow. China's exports to U.S. decreased by $60 billion but increased to other countries by $70 billion in 2019.

As a result the Trump administration is shifting its focus to another approach. The new multilateral approach is to combine the effort with allies Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and France. This would take the shape of a Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to replace the old Obama period Trans Pacific Partnership which becomes defunct. The goal would be to build new supply chains with allies in Asia outside of China with the help of France and other countries that are wary of excessive dependence on China and have deep reservations of China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

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This report in WSJ shows how the situation in Syria changed since 2011. The Kurds are spread out over several states formed as the British and French empires in the Middle East collapsed, leaving an ethnic group of 30 million people spread out over Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

A Kurdish zone was set up in northern Syria after the collapse of ISIS in operations by the U.S. and the Kurds in 2016-2018. A border area was taken by Turkey in the recent push by Turkish forces into border areas bordering Turkey, with the withdrawal of U.S. forces and Mr. Trump placing sanctions on Turkey. The incursion ended in a week after Russia agreed to broker a deal and the Kurdish forces left the border with Turkey. Turkey has Kurdish people in the southeast of the country who participate in elections and are Turkish citizens, and Iraq has an autonomous region run by the Kurds.

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The Greens party will not be represented in the Saarland parliament as its performance declined in last weeks election. The Greens Party polls less than 8 percent in Germany, and less than 6 percent in North Rhine Westphalia elections for May 2017. The improving prospects of Martin Schulz the SPD candidate for chancellor have hurt the Greens. Even as the climate change issue becomes prominent the Greens are seeing the focus shift to the SPD and the CDU in 2017. The issues after the election of Trump following Brexit vote have shifted attention to what happens to the European Union, and the need for strong leadership in Germany and for the European Union. This does not help the Greens Party or other smaller parties. The AfD also has suffered as Germans take a second look at the parties, and think long and hard about what kind of future they want to see and the best way forward. 

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Mexico replaces China as the U.S. top trading partner in the first half of 2019. U.S. imports from China fell by 12% and exports fell by 19% in first half 2019, according to Commerce Department. The total value of trade with China of $271 billion was less than the trade with either Canada or Mexico.

Mr. Trump said yesterday to China- "If they don't want to trade with us anymore, that would be fine with me. Until such time as there is a deal we will be taxing them." He went on to say he would place 25% tariff on additional $300 billion of Chinese goods on Sept. 1, 2019.

Meanwhile in first half 2019 the U.S. imports increased to 34% from Vietnam. Some of this could be Chinese goods transhipment through Vietnam. Japan, South Korea, India, Europe, all increased exports to the U.S.

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The U.S. orders the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas. The State Department in a statement said China was conducting "massive illegal spying and influence operations throughout the U.S. against U.S. government officials and American citizens," saying such activities have increased. Footage on local television stations purportedly showed people burning documents on consulate premises, and firefighters were called, says this report in the WSJ. In Copenhagen, Secretary of State Pompeo citing two hacking indictments and U.S. jobs stolen by China's policies, said  "President Trump has said, 'Enough, we're not going to allow this to continue to happen." The two hacking indictments relate to two hackers in China working for China's civilian intelligence agency, targeting American firms involved in coronavirus research and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of sensitive information from companies around the world, says this report in the WSJ. ...

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The Space Shuttle with astronauts Behnken and Hurley makes a sea landing in the Gulf of Mexico after a 64 day trip to the Space Station orbiting the earth. 

After the retirement of the Space Shuttles in 2011 NASA relied mainly on Russia to send astronauts up into orbit to connect with Space Stations. Under the Obama administration two private companies were hired by NASA to operate Space Shuttles SpaceX and Boeing to take astronauts up to the space station in orbit. Much of the work to build the spacecraft is financed by NASA. 

Space exploration was not a priority for the Obama administration after the financial crisis resulting from banking behaviour in 2009.The U.S. under the Trump administration is renewing America's efforts for space exploration for science and out of a curiosity for what lies outside our planet.

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Peggy Noonan describes the Trump candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. She points out that this is a result of the public discontent and dissatisfaction with politicians, and government, which is seen as not able to get things done. She talks to one Tennessee woman in her 60's who describes in detail why she supports Trump. Trump has touched a chord with many voters because of how little they trust politicians in general, Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian, or some other type. As with the UK Independence Party this type of leader taps into resentment of illegal immigrants. In France, Spain, UK and other parts of Europe fringe parties are drawing increasing support because voters have lost faith in existing mainstream parties. In the U.S. this takes the form of discontent expressed through a fringe candidate within a mainstream party itself. Voters put up with inconsistent positions, extravagant claims and charges, just to have an alternative. And Noonan points out that this is not going away anytime soon. As 2016 comes closer the UK election offers some insights- it was thought initially that UKIP would split the Conservative vote, but the elections showed UKIP splitting the Labor vote in the north of England. Voters distrusted mainstream politicians, in the final result they distrusted Labor politicians more. ...

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Paul Krugman says in this column in the NYT that Biden's policies for trade reflect a stronger conviction for protecting American technologies and building its manufacturing base than previous administrations including the Trump administration. With less rhetoric and with quiet determination Biden has placed American domestic manufacturing as a requirement for renewable subsidies for new electric vehicles manufacturing and sale in the Inflation Reduction Act. In the Chips and Science Act Biden has placed US semiconductor technology promotion and manufacturing at the core of the Act. Krugman says this was the right thing for Biden to do. The renewable subsidy comes from ordinary Americans paying taxes who would benefit most from new jobs created in the electric vehicle industry. China has gained such a big lead in semiconductor chips manufacturing and materials by supporting its industry, that it is the right thing to do to give American manufacturers the same kind of support. Trade rules were about creating a level playing field, yet previous administrations failed to create that level playing field, and the Biden administration has boldly made its point clear. ...

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This group of 26 leading scientists from Australia, France, Britain and the US are calling for a new international full, open and unrestricted forensic investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in its original location of Wuhan. This happens as scientists on the WHO investigation team in Wuhan say they did not have unrestricted access to conduct their investigation. The Biden administration has restored ties to the World Health Organization after the Trump administration cut ties on this issue of transparency. The Biden administration says transparency is an essential condition for the US as it seeks to continue US participation in WHO. The US, India, France, Britain and other European nations have a long history of participation in WHO and were original founders. Recent flawed election processes at WHO and the lack of effective leadership from western foundations have led to the lack of effective leadership of WHO that prevailed in post war world for the first five decades of the organization. Much of that leadership was from western nations, India and Japan, during a period in which the pandemics were managed limiting their spread from the areas of origin. ...

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India's lunar probe released from the orbiter circling the moon is diverted from its expected path in the last 20 minutes before a landing on the lunar surface. As it reached 2.1 kilometers from the moon's surface communication with the ISRO satellite center in Bengaluru was lost. Landing on the moon is a difficult task because it lacks atmosphere, the distance preventing landing control in real time, and landers depending on thrusters to set down at the lowest speed in the right place away from craters and rocks. As a result a lander module is programmed to scan the surface and make the landing on its own. A similar Israeli mission recently failed for the same reasons. China landed a rover on the far side of the moon in January, and plans a Mars mission in 2020. The plans to build a space station orbiting the moon in 2023, and make a moon landing that year, land a person on Mars in 2033. President Trump has accelerated the space program after it was stalled under the administrations of Bush and Obama. ...

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Much as the average American does not like too many numbers that confuse and sources that may be incorrect. It does not have to be that way and it is important to know what can mean ease of living for all. Trump 2017 tax cuts have been studied in detail at Princeton, U of Chicago, Harvard, and Treasury Department. The effects are that it is adding $100 billion each year to the national debt of $34 trillion. And gains to individual workers are only about $750 a year not the $4000 promised per worker. The corporate tax rate was reduced from top rate of 35% to 21%, and investment spending was given accelerated deduction for income taxes. The studies show investment growth in years after 2017 was the same as the years before. To test if the rate of investment was slowing and the law pushed it up studies show this not to be the case. It was also shown that accelerated deduction of investment was more effective in increasing investment for individual companies based on 12000 corporate returns studied. ...

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Peggy Noonan says that Trump's group has broken from the Republican Party. She also describes the Republican party as broken, that it cannot look to the past or 1980. She says two unwon wars, with one a catastrophe, and a great recession are enough to break any party. Worse the top of the party believes in things such as immigration, trade, entitlements, that the bottom doesn't, says Noonan. You have a situation where the base has left the party leadership. She describes Hillary Clinton as having a web of relationships and arrangements from the past, and with the idea that is popular among Republicans that she is only interested in acquiring power. Sanders is respected by Conservatives for his sincerity. Noonan sees God's role as chastising in this election, reminding people about what can go wrong and what needs to be done as the damage is surveyed for democracy and the country. The only reason for hope Noonan sees is in the way the 2016 U.S. presidential election is turning the decision over to the young people of America, who can decide who shapes the future. ...

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Woman and better educated suburban people supported Nikki Haley. By contrast rural less educated went to the former president. What happens to these Haley supporters is important in 2024. Many are conservatives yet they are not finding a home in the new Republican party that has shifted from what it was before to look very different from before the 2009 financial crisis. The gradual disappearance of manufacturing in America as it was shipped overseas and the damage to communities built around it, the neglect of rural areas, the spiralling cost of healthcare, were already ripping apart the social fabric, only to be hit with the 2009 financial crisis from banking mismanagement and greed. The social and economic fabric which was next hit by the pandemic is only now recovering under president Biden. The Trump one term with all its good intentions failed to deliver on infrastructure and rebuilding manufacturing. The Biden work is a work in progress yet of a scale that America did in the 1950's to become the dominant nation after World War II through Truman, Ike and JFK. ...

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Different versions of renewal America for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania, one from head of investment firm Bridgewater Associates Dave McCormick, with assets over $100 million, and Bob Casey Jr. representing working class voters and rural voters left behind in three decades of Reagan trickle down economics and lack of government support to industry, workers and farmers under prior administrations of Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. Both president Joe Biden and Bob Casey are from Scranton, Pennsylvania, a iron and steel town from the 19th century, and Casey lives in Scranton, close to working class families of northeastern Pennsylvania, many of them of Irish descent from earlier immigration waves in American history. Bob Casey Jr is unique as he sees America coming back in steel. Harris thinks so as she said in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon, steel is back, not just Chips and Science. Instead of outsourcing investment as the large hedge funds have done in China, and outsourcing jobs overseas, making right here in America and delivering as Biden is doing with one trillion dollars of investment.  ...

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Jimmy Carter dies peacefully at his home in Plains, Georgia, at age 100 in Christmas week 2024. He was president following Nixon-Gerald Ford and a crisis of confidence in the US after Watergate scandal and as a southern peanut farmer from Georgia brought a period of renewal to political life in the country. He became a one term president with the election of Ronald Reagan during a period of high inflation and a challenge from Edward Kennedy during the primaries. His greatest success was after leaving office when he tackled health epidemics in Africa and helped stabilize democratic governments by acting as observer in elections around the world. His legacy is a lasting one and shows the power of good works as shown in the spiritual heritage of the Nation. Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr, Obama either started the wars or failed to end the wars that dragged on after Jimmy Carter left office sapping the vital energies of the Nation. Only now under Biden and Trump are these wars coming to an end. And new effort is going into reviving America as an economic powerhouse improving the lives of its people. ...

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About half of all Democrats are unhappy with the news media's focus on Biden's age, while not covering the former president Trump's age in the same way. This shows a gap is opening up in how the voters perceive Biden and how the media is presenting Biden. This increases the probability of errors in the polling, and the questions worded in a way that distorts the results. 

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Among women 18-29 less than 30 percent say their career or education has been hurt by sexism or child-care needs. The figures move higher with age. This is one of the reasons that Hillary Clinton draws more votes from older women than younger women. This is one of the insights from analysis of polling questions in a University of Massachusetts poll before the Massachusetts primary in Feb. 2016. Another insight from this article in the WP is that it also shows younger women think deeply about the issues. In a general election with Trump as the nomnee these women supporting Sanders are likely to vote for Clinton because of being alienated by the sexist comments of Trump. It helps that younger women are thinking deeply about the issues when so much is at stake in this election.

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US president Biden feels the tax system is not fair for most Americans and the Trump tax cuts favored the wealthiest Americans. Detailed studies from universities Chicago, Harvard, Princeton and Treasury Department on 2017 Trump tax cuts lowering taxes for corporations from 35% to 21% for top corporate tax rate, and accelerated investment spending deductions, show much of the investment that took place after tax cuts in 2017 would have taken place anyway. And that the tax cut did not pay for itself, adding $100 billion to the national debt of $34 trillion each year. Striking was the point in the studies that said that instead of $4000 the average American only benefitted by $750 per year, most of the benefits going to the wealthiest and corporations. Many of the largest corporations tech and oil companies pay less in taxes than any notion of fairness would call for sometimes much less than ordinary workers.  Biden now proposes the tax increases for corporations to go up to 28%, higher taxes on foreign profits, and the corporate minimum tax increased from 15% to 21%. And for employees paid more than $1 million corporations not to be able to take deductions. ...

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Harris tells a rally in Atlanta that abortion bans pay no attention to maternal health. "One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This includes Georgia and every state in the south except Virginia. Think about that, when you also combine that with what we know has been longstanding neglect around an issue like maternal mortality. Think about that, when you compound that with what has been longstanding neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for healthcare, prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. Think about that, and these hypocrites want to start talking about this is in the best interest of women and children?" Harris points out that some states have prison for life or ten year sentences for doctors and nurses, under their abortion bans. “We all know how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States supreme court, the court of Thurgood and RBG, with the intention that they would overturn the protections of Roe v Wade."                   ...

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Trump rally for 100 Days in Warren, Michigan, at a community college gymnasium, April 29, 2025. DJT also visits Selfridge Air Force Base and says it will get 15 new F-16 jets to replace old jets.  DJT says we're "getting woke lunacy and transgender ideology the hell out of our government." Border crossings of 8400 in February 2025 and 7200 in March 2025 are the lowest since the 1960's, one of the lowest ever, compared to 140,000 in March 2024 under Biden. DJT says he is protecting the middle class and Main Street. The millions of jobs lost to China, DJT says he is bringing them back. He talks about creating manufacturing jobs and restoring the industrial base of America that was lost in the last 30 years.  Trump lists the cost of everything from eggs to gasoline at the pump. He says there are three states where gas at the pump is below $2.00 a gallon. He cites the 345,000 jobs created in 100 days and the lowering of inflation.   ...