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Michael Gove resigns from the Tory government of Rishi Sunak days after the announcement of UK elections on July 4, 2024. Here he says a greater implosion than gaining about 150 seats  for the Tories party could even blow away his chances in a solid Tory seat. Much has changed in Britain since the days of Brexit which is highly unpopular today with the British public. The Times Tim Shipman looks at the controversial decisions of Gove and how he added credibility to the Leave campaign when he had previously advised Cameron against holding a referendum. Today 58% of British people support joining the European Union. Gove's actions and that of others including Johnson, Cummings and Sunak show Conservatives in a poor light leaving Britain in a precarious position with low growth and little room in finances for the kind of investment Britain needs for its infrastructure, public services and its economy. It is a lesson that sudden ill thought out moves for political advantage by politicians and poor decisions can create chaos and diminish a nation's prospects. ...

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Obama Affordable Care Act ACA and its downfall are covered by two experienced authors over 2 book written over 2 decades. The authors are James Morone and David Blumenthal followed the healthcare issue over 25-30 years through the Clinton, Edward Kennedy and Obama efforts and wrote two books. The first was "The Heart of Power" on the healthcare situation from FDR to 2008. The last titled "Whiplash" in 2026, for which the authors are interviewed in Harvard Medicine magazine. C-SPAN has a book program on this book at a Washington DC bookstore. From the discussion on C-SPAN between Senator Michael Blumenthal, borther of one of the authors, James Morone and David Blumenthal physician, couple of conclusions are seen that may be new to readers. Q. What was the one single factor that doomed the Affordable Care Act? A. The deep antipathy towards the Obama administration influenced the response to the Obama handling of healthcare. The likelihood of Republicans accepting healthcare from a black person was simply not there say the book's authors in the discussion and Q&A on C-SPAN. Yet there were other reasons for the ACA failing. Obama had not gauged the mood of the nation well. UK Labour's Starmer won by a big majority in 2024 yet that does not reflect the mood of the British nation just 2 years later- by election year 2012 Obama's campaign was faltering and had to be rescued with Hispanic votes and a weak candidate in Utah's Mitt Romney. Obama lacked maturity and came in the way Bush came in when the list of candidates were mediocre in the US, similar to the period in the UK with David Cameron and Boris Johnson. To take on the health care issue required someone with the experience and caliber of LBJ, which Obama clearly lacked, coming from the minority community was not going to help in credibility. Obama's presidency was thus premature and to gain experience he would have done better in a key cabinet position such as at Department of State where an intellectual could have influenced world opinion in favor of emerging countries, a doable and necessary. Obama's lack of experience showed when he told Republicans two words in the first months in 2008- "We Won," perceiving arrogance it would set Republicans against him. The years 2008-2016 cost the US dearly in that the US needed a withdrawal from all of the Middle East which would require a strong president  with deep roots of support in all parts of the country including the south, to avoid recriminations. In the end by continuing the wars Obama weakened the US and let China move ahead. Q. Did Obama consider Medicare for All? A. Obama told Congressmen of his party according to Morone- if you can get 60 votes in the Senate for Medicare for All we can try.  Q. Would it take a major upheaval for Medicare for All to be accepted now that the health system is failing all Americans in 2026? A. It will take a world war or a economic depression- some major disaster for Medicare for All to be accepted in the US, say the authors. A pandemic happened in 1918 and again in 2019 the results were not positive, as the authors believe it unleashed the war on science after the vaccination for and against camps, leading to the culture wars in America seen today. Q  Obama's analytical mind thought he learned from the Clinton efforts in healthcare that failed. But he did not see things from the heart. There is good reason to think that the lessons learned of moving fast, letting Congress write the legislation, settling for what can be done not what needs to be done, were exactly the wrong lessons to be learned as opposed to writing off the Clinton experience entirely as Clinton's, and starting from scratch without preconceptions. In the end Obama if he was older, had more experience, and listened to the mood of the country would have realized that healthcare was for another day, and got right down to the most difficult challenge, to end the wars in the Middle East. Even small steps in the right direction would still have earned appreciation him today. Instead Bush and Obama, the most inexperienced of presidents will be remembered for wars they continued that weakened America.       ...

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Some of the basic promises of the Tory administration of Boris Johnson - HS2 rail infrastructure, social care support, investment zones, are now coming up for spending review.

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Michael Conan who gave the names for Amazon's Kindle e-reader and TiVo.

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Tories White Paper on "leveling up" by Michael Gove is out and gets a scathing review from Karl Holbrook of the Northern Echo. 

Holbrook says you can't spend 15 million pounds in one of the wealthiest areas of the country, Javid's constituency Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, and nothing in Knowsley, one of the poorest in the North of England , and call it "leveling up." He says he has little hope that the Tories will get much done without the funding to back it up. And he says one cannot plaster this up with 12 new slogans masquerading as missions in a White Paper as Michael Gove has done and expect people in England to buy it. Labor under Tony Blair and his "Middle Way" - let the huge inequalities between the north of England and the south develop under its watch- more muddled than middle in any way one looks at it today. He says this northerner has had enough of waiting.  

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Boris Johnson has set up a unit in !0 Downing Street to coordinate a response  in the event of a "nightmare scenario" of spike in Coronavirus and a no deal Brexit added together with extreme flooding during the winter. Michael Gove, Cabinet Office minister is overseeing this effort.

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Michael Gove heads the XO (exit operations) group for no deal planning on Brexit. This group met twice in one week and the planning is being done by ministers for no deal.  There is growing sentiment in the government that with the EU not budging, trading on World Trade Organization terms after January 1, 2021 is the only or best option for Britain. Britain would simply walk away from the unproductive talks.

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There is a sense from Remainers and Brexiters in the Conservatives and in Labour that Brexit is "acting as a drag on UK growth and limiting its potential" after the pandemic and inflation. Senior members of both parties are meeting in Oxfordshire including David Lamy of Labour and Michael Gove of the Conservatives, and the heads of banks and large business. Gove and Boris Johnson led the campaign for Brexit, and Gove is now interested in ensuring Brexit is not viewed as a failure in the long term. The Office of Budget. Responsibility says Brexit will reduce Britain's per capita GDP  by 4%, over the 15 years from 2016. Labour sees it as a threat to any future Labour government to leave unaddressed the relations with the European Union. In a bipartisan effort what sort of conversation to have with the EU so that Britain's economy benefits? President Biden's effort in working with like minded Republicans for America's renewal may be seen by Labour and the Conservatives as reason for doing the same in Britain to ensure European recovery.   ...

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Michael Dell donation of $6.25 billion for Trump $1000 child investment accounts. The Trump accounts were passed by Congress for giving tax deferred investment accounts to children born from Jan.1 2025 to Dec 31 2028, as a way to give 25 million lower income children a good start in education and opportunities in life. The Dell money $250 per account will go to 25 million children, go to 10 years old born before Jan. 1 2025 as away to address the gap for children not in the age group Congress targeted. Dell's money goes to US zip codes with average incomes below $150,000. This is a recognition by the Republican DJT administration that many lower income children are being left out in the economic growth US has experienced in the last decade, approaching the problem from a different angle than the Democrats.

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Hard Brexiters include Boris Johnson who insist on this at any price. Soft Brexiters include Treasury Secretary Hammond, who want to minimize disruption to the economy. Liam Fox and Michael Gove just want to make it work, that is all. A list of ministers on either side is shown here as prime minister Theresa May faces a split in her Conservative party in June 2018.

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This report in The Times shows 2 charts. One with how much of the population has been vaccinated with Israel and the UAE at about 33%, UK at 12% US at 7%, and EU countries far behind. The second chart shows how much of the western world's vaccine supplies have been purchased by US, UK, and EU. 

European Union appears to be lagging behind in arranging purchases of vaccine supplies, with UK and US ahead. The shortages in Europe of vaccine, and limited supplies of the Astra Zeneca vaccine to the EU, is resulting in a nasty argument with the UK. At one point the EU planned to limit vaccine exports from the Pfizer Belgian plant to the UK, including closing off the Northern Ireland border.  That move came under criticism from EU's Michael Barnier.

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Theresa May, the new British prime minister, announces her choice for cabinet positions- Liam Fox is new minister for International Trade, David Hammond is the new Chancellor of the Exchequer replacing Osborne. Hammond was Foreign Secretary under Cameron and helped negotiate the Iran nuclear accords. David Davis, a former minister for Europe, is in charge of a new ministry created to arrange Britain's exit from the EU. Boris Johnson replaces Hammond as Foreign Secretary. Johnson was Mayor of London and was a key figure in the Leave campaign. Michael Gove is out. David Davis and Johnson were in the Leave campaign and are now given responsibility for working on Brexit, a move that puts to rest any doubts about steps to be taken for Brexit, and is an effort to reunite the Conservative Party. With Osborne out, a principal architect of the austerity budgets of the 6 years of Cameron's government is now replaced by Hammond, who will now reflect the desire of Theresa May to come up with policies that "benefit everyone" and fight "burning injustice" to use May's first words as she assumed office at 10 Downing Street.  ...

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It shows the need for government and the need for regulation if we are to have safety in food. Just look at China's experience with inadequate regulation and the dangers to the health safety of the Chinese people with so many chemicals in the air and water that contaminate food supplies. The chemical DCPA or dacthal regulated here is described in this report as used on broccoli, cabbage and onions.

 “DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately.”  

“In this case, pregnant women who may never even know they were exposed could give birth to babies that experience irreversible lifelong health problems.” -Michal Freedhoff, the E.P.A. assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety

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Brexit negotiation guidelines from the EU rule out parallel talks on both Britian's future relationship with the EU and the separation agreement negotiations, preferring a phased approach. Only when the first phase of separation is complete or at an advanced stage would the second phase of future relationship with the EU be negotiated. The EU Council president, Donald Tusk, says the process would be long, complex and at times confrontational. Der Spiegel online writing on the negotiation describes the approach in a meeting with the lead German negotiator Mr. Oettinger, on the team of Michael Barnier who leads the negotiations for the EU- Oettinger focussed on what Britain owes the EU, estimated at over 60 billion euros. So far apart are the British and EU positions that Michael Barnier has no idea on the pathway for these negotiations, only awareness of the priorities such as the rights of EU and British citizens in each others region, says Der Spiegel. Looking at Theresa May speaking in parliament about her decision to move forward with Brexit in a letter to the EU invoking Article 50, one senses a mixture of confidence and nationalist appeal, far different from reality on the ground. The Leader of the Opposition cited government figures for a sharp decline in GDP as a result of Brexit, and the Scottish leader in parliament went so far as to say the government attitude in negotiations made "Scottish independence inevitable"- all headwinds Theresa May appears to be ignoring or treating with disdain. At this time the EU and the British prime minister appear to be talking over rather than to each other.   ...

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Sophie Egan has put together this wonderful clarification of what works well in foods and what one should eat by taking apart some myths. Myth No.10 is that stuff on nutrition is always changing. It isn't and she gives Michael Pollan's seven words as an example- "Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants." A recent book has title Ikigai, on people with healthy bodies and minds well into their nineties. It pulls together information from persons in Okinawa, Japan, who passed one hundred years and they say not eating too much, eating plant foods, and community spirit, a passion for doing something worthwhile that you enjoy doing and do well referred to in Japanese as Ikigai, is a way to keep healthy. Other myth clarification- Sophie Egan offers is that soy based foods are good for us, and that plant protein when consumed in different forms can give complete nutrition. Not all fats are bad olive oil and seeds nuts are good for us, and white potatoes are also healthy eaten with the skin. All this adds up to good common sense without getting tied up into knots by too much attention to studies. ...

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How a small Kansas town of Grinnell in America finds a way to deal with the rural-urban divide and covid anxiety generated in the tumultuous years of 2020-2021, is the subject with pictures of this report in the WSJ. Grinnell is heartland America and its residents find a way to set Kansas and America in the right direction. One one side some resident worried they would end up like Minneapolis or Portland with protesters. An incident of drivers along Highway 70 emptying shelves of toilet paper in neighborhood stores is seen negatively by some  Grinnell residents and leads to forming an Emergency Preparedness Group to prevent outside agitators from creating problems. Others like the Enlightened Ladies Group try to calm things down. Gene Tilton, 84, and his son 63 years, whose family arrived in Kansas in 1880's did'nt see the need for forming some sort of vigilante group. He raises cattle and crops on a 10,000 acre farm. Michael Machen who practiced medicine in Gove County for 35 years also felt the same way and believed law enforcement could tackle the problem if there was one. Sheriff Mesch attended the Gove County emergency Preparedness Group public meeting by invitation in January 2021. This about the time when the Capitol in Washington DC was stormed by protesters and the country was divided after the election. At that time after 19 months of coronavirus deaths, racial unrest and political violence America was on edge, communities all over America were struggling with the idea that the immediate threat they faced was from other Americans not foreign adversaries. The sheriff told everyone at the Emergency Preparedness Group's public meeting where he stood- law enforcement could handle any threat and he didn't anticpate anything his deputies could not handle. He told the Emergency Preparedness Group that he appreciated their sentiment though, if he needed help he would ask, yet concluded that is the only way. From that rebuff by the sheriff the Group paused its activity and shifted its message to offering to help anyone deal with the deep cold spell in February, to cope with snow, tornadoes, fires, rattlesnake bites and similar hazards. They sponsored first aid classes, and a "Homesteader Gardening Class." Soon their idea was "we're here to help people, the last thing we want is for people to be uncomfortable." "Gove County" says Don Tilton, "has moved on." So must America today. ...

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This report in The Times gives an extraordinary look at the man who is prime minister Boris Johnson's key adviser, as chief executive, to get Brexit done or take Britain into a general election. Dominic Cummings, 47 years, was the key strategist for Leave in the first Brexit referendum. He is somewhat of an individual who breaks all conventions and relishes the prospect of doing so. The Times says he has thrown bombs at the establishment including Blair and Cameron for 20 years. He has contempt for the Cabinet Office, Downing Street, the Treasury, and in his view the officials have a misplaced confidence and are not competent. Mr. Cummings is played by Cumberbatch in British Television Channel 4's Brexit: The Uncivil War, which is how Britons know him. In his view one needs to dismantle the existing physical infrastructure of government as a reform priority, says The Times. He has his own reasons having had his confrontations with British ministry officials who repeatedly and often incorrectly cited EU regulations as obstruction for much of what Dominic Cummings wanted to do as Adviser to Michael Gove in the Education ministry. His early beginnings at University mentored by a professor who was a serious opponent of Britain joining the European Union also influenced Cummings.  ...

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The top 1% of Americans owns more wealth than the 90% at the bottom, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The Economic Mobility Project points out that the U.S. provides less intergenerational mobility than most other industrialized countries. A key factor is less educational investments to give better educational opportunities to the less advantaged. Michael Spence, a nobel prize winning economist, says we have in America gone from one propertied man, one vote; to providing voting rights to all regardless of color or gender or property, and back to where it is now one vote for so many dollars. The financing of political campaigns has made good policy decisions for the financial sector based on merits and wise judgement impossible, as Congress and the White House are beholden to interests that finance political campaigns, says a former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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The advice to reduce cancer risk is not surprisingly the same from D. Michael Sekeres of the University of Miami- stay away from sugar, alcohol and tobacco products and take in more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, ancient grains and exercise regularly. The magnitude of what this would achieve on a a national scale when food habits have gone downhill for decades is what is also at stake. It would do what nothing else could do for the nation's health on a massive scale which is why it is the right thing to put much of our focus on, to create a culture that put much importance on the quality and kinds of food, on artificial vs natural, on food grown in good environments, on local vs shipped long distances, on processing vs not processing, all the time thinking of one's own health and what it will do for the quality of life we live. Just a fraction of the savings in medical care would pay for education and parks, green areas in neighborhoods, public health services, high levels of sanitation, leading to better well being that leads to more productive and intelligent citizens. It would lower the levels of multiple diseases and create a healthy society. ...

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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.

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On my bookshelf is NY financier Felix Rohatyn's 2009 book, Bold Endeavors, citing the bold investments America has made in the past from Louisiana Purchase, Erie Canal, Transcontinental Railroad, Land Grant Colleges, Homestead Act, Panama Canal, Rural Electrification, Interstate Highway System, and how this needs to happen once again. NYT lacks this vision. In this Op-Ed it  leaves the field open after comparing Mamdani to De Blasio's failure to run NYC. NYT Editorial Board says Mayor Bloomberg was an effective manager and ran the city better than other mayors, it describes the accomplishments of Andrew Cuomo but does not give Cuomo second chances to use his experience to serve New York City, after Michael Bloomberg comes out in favor of Cuomo. This is  NYT and NYC dysfunction. It says there is so much to do in NYC to improve life in the city but refuses to make the tough decisions needed to make things happen, turning into someone who decides who gets second chances to serve the city and the country.  The Washington Post was clear in warning about the danger of a "free everything" Mayor as this has never worked and fiscal chaos happened in NYC in the 1970's, a NYC near bankruptcy in 1975 which Rohatyn tackled as head of NY's Municipal Assistance Corporation and $10 billon in bonds backed by New York state. NYT and NYC residents have short memories. Most have forgotten Rohatyn and his vision in Bold Endeavors, or were not part of the American fabric of the 20th century, which again points to the importance of history, civics and education. ...

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The CEO of the New York Times and the former director general of the BBC, takes a look at the public discourse in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and in the Brexit campaign, and finds some troubling changes. The use of words that can eaily be picked up by Twitter and social media to attack opponents, the complete disregard for facts, and outright attempts to denigrate and destroy using rhetorical tactics, and a section of the public that has turned away from the facts or is disinterested in facts, is deeply troubling for Mark Thompson. When the public discourse fails, then the politics as a whole starts to collapse, says Thompson. We are children of the enlightenment, says Thompson, and were taught to look underneath statements to discern the truth. This is a crisis in public discourse. Worse it is one in which truth telling by people who say they are outsiders and tell it like it is, is not about telling the truth. Which is what makes it so dangerous. Thompson cites the statement by Michael Gove that "people in this country have had enough of experts," as another dangerous sign. He says it is time that experts make themselves understandable and talk in a way the public can understand. The media needs to explain issues in clear ways, and professional policymakers language of discourse needs to be conveyed in better ways that the public can grasp, in which the Brexit Remain campaign failed, says Thompson. Its important to acknowledge the problem, as the health of our democracies depends on finding solutions to what has happened in 2015-2016 to change the public discourse and let it deteriorate to unimaginable levels.  ...

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About the collapse of two banks- Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank Fed vice chairman for financial and banking supervision, Michael Barr, had this to say at a Congressional hearing last week- "I think anytime you have a bank failure like this, bank management clearly failed, supervisors failed, and our regulatory system failed."  The rest of this report looks at changes the Fed can on its own make stricter supervision of banks over $100 billion, action the Biden administration is thinking of taking, and action by the FDIC. The Biden administration does not want to be seen supporting wealthy depositors at Silicon Valley Bank by guaranteeing uninsured deposits as it did. It took this action solely to protect the financial system so that it would not hurt working families. For this reason alone the Biden administration will seek tighter controls of mid sized banks now that the illusion that banks below $250 billion do not pose a risk to the financial system is gone. It will also seek to recover all funds used to support these failed banks from the banks and financial sector that has lobbied for so long for less regulation leading to failure of banks not once in 2009, but again in 2023. This time under the Biden administration the damage is carefully controlled so that it does not affect the American economy and working families. ...

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The experience of Pintung county in Taiwan with a coronvirus outbreak is shown in The Guardian. Home quarantining of a couple from Peru leads to an outbreak. Community cooperation, a speedy response from local health authorities, testing and quarantining help to limit and control the outbreak. When it started this county on the coast, one of the poorest in the country, had limited health resources and no one was vaccinated. Most of the control response was through testing and quarantine, with vaccination assistance from the Taiwan government. Local people say strict quarantine is essential as the source of infections was from a couple who visited Peru and were allowed to home isolate. Taiwan government is now enforcing quarantine at hotels for all persons returning from overseas. WHO Emergencies program head, Dr Michael Ryan, says it is important to act quickly. He says "Be fast, have no regrets. You must be the first mover. The virus will always get you if you don't move quickly."  This happened in this Taiwan county as the local health authorites setup a soft lockdown of the two affected villages within 3 days of detecting the first case of Delta variant. This was announced over loudspeaker and food plus daily necessities were delivered to each household. A command centre was setup to take and coordinate the action daily. Taiwan authorites have enforced repeat testing and extended testing. ...