Analytics

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Post #6851 M: 76% of Income Tax for Debt Interest; Will the Supreme Court Finally Curb Civil Forfeiture? Maybe; Kamala’s Palace Coup

 Quote of the Day

You've got to do your own growing, 
no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Irish Proverb

76% of Income Tax for Debt Interest

Will the Supreme Court Finally Curb Civil Forfeiture? Maybe

Kamala’s Palace Coup

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Tom Stiglich via Townhall


Musical Interlude: Duos

Roxette. "It Must Have Been Love"

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Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Post #6850 M: Why did Biden drop out? ; A Tale of Two Candidates; Cato Institute/Heritage Interns Debate: Conservatism vs. Libertarianism

 Quote of the Day

The key to successful leadership today is 
influence, not authority.
Kenneth Blanchard  

Why did Biden drop out?

Cato Institute/Heritage Interns Debate: Conservatism vs. Libertarianism

A Tale of Two Candidates

Choose Life

Musical Interlude:  Duos

Roxette, "Dangerous"

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Monday, July 29, 2024

Post #6849 M: McClanahan on The RNC and DJT; Canada “Worst Decline in 40 Years”; Ron Paul on Republican Platform Ignores Real Causes of Inflation

 Quote of the Day

The shell must break before the bird can fly.
Tennyson  

Happy 16th Blogiversary!

McClanahan on The RNC and DJT

Canada “Worst Decline in 40 Years”

Ron Paul on Republican Platform Ignores Real Causes of Inflation

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Roxette, "Listen To Your Heart"

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Sunday, July 28, 2024

Post #6848 Social Media Digest

 Twitter/X

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Post #6847 M: McClanahan on J.D. Vance and the "Proposition Nation"; Does the Fed Push Interest Rates Down? History Says Yes; Evictions are Soaring

 Quote of the Day

Not a day passes over this earth 
but men and women of note 
do great deeds, 
speak great words 
and suffer noble sorrows.
Charles Reed  

McClanahan on J.D. Vance and the "Proposition Nation"

Does the Fed Push Interest Rates Down? History Says Yes

Evictions are Soaring

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne via Townhall 

Musical Interlude: Duos

Roxette, "Dressed For Success"

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Saturday, July 27, 2024

Post #6846 J

Pandemic Report

The latest weekly stats from CDC:


Courtesy of Today

Well, the summer surge continues although I think we may be at or near an inflection point. (I need more data to make that call.) Celebrity infections continue, now including imprisoned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein (convicted of sex abuse charges)  has been hospitalized with COVID and double pneumonia. And sports continue to be affected like 5 women on the Olympic Australian water polo team.

Other news items of interest:

  • The Navy settled a lawsuit over vaccine mandate related discharges and agreed to scrub related adversarial elements from their service records .
  • A recent JAMA study suggests more rigorous policy enforcement of things like masking and vaccines may have saved up to a quarter million more lives
  • Researchers are looking at long-term immune changes in unvaccinated people who had COVID to better understand long COVID
  • "New research from NWEA, a nonprofit research organization, shows students [affected by pandemic school shutdowns] going into high school are a full year behind academically,"
  • "Exercise May Ease COVID-19 and Long COVID Symptoms"
  • Prosecutors continue to pursue COVID relief fraud:
    • One of a group of suspects in Minnesota who tried to steal from a federal program intended to provide food assistance for children  during  the pandemic tried to bribe a juror in his trial 
    • An Alabama woman who sought a PPP loan for a nonexistent business pled guilty

More Notes 

The blog, which will be 16 years old Monday, continues to attract about twice the long-term pageview trend. Most posts are now reaching double-digit readership. My Twitter/X followers are at tle low 40's, maybe half the number of the old account.

Well I am one final car payment away. Familiar readers know I didn't intend to buy a new car about 5 years back. But Maryland demanded I think a biannual exhaust check. I had routinely passed it since moving to MD in the early 2000s and when I moved back to MD in 2017. But in 2019 it failed, and I couldn't a mechanic to fix the purported problem. So I bought a new car for the third time, this one a hybrid which most recently shows about 58 mpg. I'll be relieved when it's finished because I'm at a stage of my career where I need to save more for retirement. Ironically not much mileage on the car: for much of the interim I worked remotely.

Hallmark is finishing up its Christmas in July promotion and already promoting its Countdown to Christmas starting in about 3 months. But the Olympics are underway.. The swimming freestyle relays were great with the men easily winning gold and the women barely nudging past China for the silver. The latter was exciting because for a while it looked like they were looking at a bronze showing. It's hard to tell but it's looking like the US swimming team isn't quite as dominant. Katie Ledecky, a 3-Olympics swimming champion, barely won a bronze in her first event, and I saw a final where the only male American was seeded 7th. The women's water polo and beach volleyball teams excelled in their first events.

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Post #6845 M: Stossel Interview: Chase Oliver; Kamala’s Economics “Left of Bernie”; Wanna End Homelessness? Try Building More Homes!

 

Stossel Interview: Chase Oliver

Kamala’s Economics “Left of Bernie”

Wanna End Homelessness? Try Building More Homes!

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

Roxette, "The Look"

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Friday, July 26, 2024

Post #6844 M: Kamala Harris knew damn well that Biden was too old; The Fourteenth Amendment and Centralization; McClanahan on Biden's Out Like It's 1968

 Quote of the Day

To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, 
to be led by permanent ideals - 
that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, 
and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him.
Honore De Balzac 

Kamala Harris knew damn well that Biden was too old

The Fourteenth Amendment and Centralization

McClanahan on Biden's Out Like It's 1968

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Chip Bok via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Air Supply, "Lonely Is The Night". This concludes the series on this act.

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Thursday, July 25, 2024

Post #6843 M: Major Banks Warn of Disaster; No Longer Biden His Time; 6 FREE MARKET Climate Solutions

 Quote of the Day

There are two possible outcomes: 
If the result confirms the hypothesis, 
then you've made a measurement. 
If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, 
then you've made a discovery.
Enrico Fermi  

Major Banks Warn of Disaster

No Longer Biden His Time

6 FREE MARKET Climate Solutions

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Duos

Air Supply, "The Power Of Love (You Are My Lady)"

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Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Post #6842 M: Dumb BLEEP of the Week; Assassination Revisionism; The Real State of The Economy

 Quote of the Day

Be the change that you want to see in the world.
Gandhi  

Dumb BLEEP of the Week

Assassination Revisionism

 The Real State of The Economy

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall


Musical Interlude: Duos

Air Supply, "Just As I Am"

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Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Post #6841 M: McClanahan on A Fake Wall of Separation; Why TRANS WOMEN are BETTER! ; Half a Million Tech Layoffs

 Quote of the Day

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, 
while others judge us by what we have already done.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  

McClanahan on A Fake Wall of Separation

Why TRANS WOMEN are BETTER!

Half a Million Tech Layoffs

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

Air Supply, "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" . A personal favorite....

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Monday, July 22, 2024

Post #6840 Commentary: Biden/Trump 2024 Debate 1: Annotated Part 3

  (continued via CNN transcript here) For the first post in the series, see here; for the second, here.

NOTE TO READERS:

This essay was in the middle of development when news broke of Biden's withdrawal from this fall's election. I'm still publishing this essay because it touches on abortion and immigration, 2 key election issues. I haven't  made a decision yet of whether to finish the series, but the eventual nominee will inherit Biden's record. 

BASH (moderator):

This is the first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This morning, the court ruled on yet another abortion case, temporarily allowing emergency abortions to continue in Idaho despite that state’s restrictive ban. 
Former President Trump, you take credit for the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which returned the issue of abortion to the states.

TRUMP:  Correct.

BASH:  

However, the federal government still plays a role in whether or not women have access to abortion pills. They’re used in about two-thirds of all abortions. 
As president, would you block abortion medication 

COMMENT:

To me, it's not clear to me what Bash was asking Trump. Dobbs basically took the federal government out of the loop on abortion policy. The POTUS is constrained by the Constitution and federal law. It's not like Trump can roll back abortion pill authorization.  

TRUMP:  
First of all, the Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill. And I agree with their decision to have done that, and I will not block it.

And if you look at this whole question that you’re asking, a complex, but not really complex – 51 years ago, you had Roe v. Wade, and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody, without exception. Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, everybody wanted it back. Religious leaders.

And what I did is I put three great Supreme Court justices on the court, and they happened to vote in favor of killing Roe v. Wade and moving it back to the states. This is something that everybody wanted.

Now, 10 years ago or so, they started talking about how many weeks and how many of this – getting into other things, But every legal scholar, throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. I did that.

Now the states are working it out. If you look at Ohio, it was a decision that was – that was an end result that was a little bit more liberal than you would have thought. Kansas I would say the same thing. Texas is different. Florida is different. But they’re all making their own decisions right now. And right now, the states control it. That’s the vote of the people.

Like Ronald Reagan, I believe in the exceptions. I am a person that believes. And frankly, I think it’s important to believe in the exceptions. Some people – you have to follow your heart. Some people don’t believe in that. But I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. I think it’s very important. Some people don’t. Follow your heart.

But you have to get elected also and – because that has to do with other things. You got to get elected.

The problem they have is they’re radical, because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth – after birth.

If you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do this. He said, we’ll put the baby aside and we’ll determine what we do with the baby. Meaning, we’ll kill the baby.

What happened is we brought it back to the states and the country is now coming together on this issue. It’s been a great thing.

COMMENT:

As s pro-lifer. I don't really like writing about abortion. I'm the oldest of 7 and know a genetically distinct human life begins at conception; although my religion has always opposed abortion, I didn't hear about it first in church or from my folks. I just understood in context it was wrong to take a life not one's own. I understand nearly one of every 2 people I meet don't share my opinion. Further discussion is beyond the scope of this essay, other than to note CNN has been obsessed with abortion since the Dobbs decision (overturning Roe) and to my dismay CNN frequently runs commercials for Planned Parenthood, which has been the nation's largest abortion provider.

I have discussed Trump's questionable pro-life bona fides in past posts. During his 1999-2000 Reform Party POTUS primary campaign, Trump argued he was very pro-choice. I suspect like immigration, Donald used abortion to attract Republicans to his candidacy. But he took positions which estranged him from real pro-lifers like me: for example, like wanting to charge women who had an abortion. [He mentioned that at a 2016 townhall, but his campaign quickly walked that back.] (Generally we empathize with any woman who has recently lost her child.)

First, Trump takes credit for the Dobbs decision. Let's be clear: Trump had no vote on Dobbs. Yes, Trump nominated 3 justices who voted in the majority, but justices are independent and can and have surprised their POTUS sponsors. For example, FDR nominated conservative Frankfurter, Eisenhower chose liberal Warren and Brennan, JFK picked conservative White, Nixon's Blackmun wrote the deciding opinion in Roe v Wade, Ford selected liberal icon Stevens, Reagan nominated moderates O'Connor and Kennedy, and GHW Bush selected Souter. Let's not forget that GW Bush's Chief Justice Roberts "saved" ObamaCare and dissented from Dobbs. 

Note that Trump's nominees didn't support his 2020 election challenges:

A much-hyped case seeking to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying Biden’s victory ended in a one-sentence order telling Trump’s allies to go pound sand. A similar case brought by the state of Texas was denied because “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.”

Note that Alito and Thomas dissented from not hearing the Texas case, not Trump's nominees. 

There's no doubt Trump's 3 nominated/confirmed justices made the difference in the 5-4 Dobbs decision, but Alito, a GWB nominated justice, wrote the majority decision, and there's no evidence of a quid pro quo on the abortion issue. To a certain extent, a possible overturn had been anticipated over the previous few years, as 13 states had passed "trigger laws" if Roe was overturned, But I want to point out jurists are independent from those who nominate them

The moderator is discussing 2 cases involving federal policies that touch on abortion. In Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States,  the (federal) Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires facilities accepting Medicare funding to provide emergency care. The Biden Administration has sought to include emergency abortions in EMTALA as a workaround to Idaho's restrictive abortion law. SCOTUS temporarily allowed procedures to resume. Note that applicable casas are relatively rare:  . "During the study period, 0.11% of all abortions in the U.S. resulted in major incidents as seen in EDs"

The other case is FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION ET AL. v.ALLIANCE FOR HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE ET AL. The case involves a commonly used abortifacient, mifepristone, which the FDA initially approved in 2000 and expanded distribution in 2016 and 2021: "which included allowing the drug to be used through the 10th week of pregnancy, allowing health-care providers who are not physicians to prescribe the drug, and permitting it to be prescribed without an in-person visit." The pro-life physicians group basically argued that .mifepristone was unsafe and hence the drug violated FDA criteria and should be withdrawn. The safety concerns were largely based on a couple of studies subsequently withdrawn by publishers. "Ushma Upadhyay, a professor of public health at the University of California, San Francisco, said medication abortions are extremely safe, with less than a third of 1% being followed by a serious adverse event. She pointed out that mifepristone has been used for more than two decades. The FDA says it has been used by about 6 million people for abortions." Basically, SCOTUS ruled that the pro-life physicians lacked standing, among other things, because their right not to prescribe mifepristone was covered by conscience provisions in federal law.

Now let me analyze Trump's response. First, he was dead wrong that SCOTUS "approved" mifepristone. The FDA approved it. The more relevant question is whether relevant FDA safety authorization violated federal regulations in drug approval. Whether Trump personally approves of abortion pills is irrelevant. 

Trump's claim that "everybody wanted to get it [abortion] back to the states" is absurdly wrong. The fact that 4 justices dissented on Dobbs alone makes that obvious. According to CNN, at least two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Dobbs. I do think at least some pro-abort judges like RBG had criticized the process of Roe (e.g., equality vs privacy): "For Ginsburg, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion was too far-reaching and too sweeping, and it gave anti-abortion rights activists a very tangible target to rally against in the four decades since."

No, Trump didn't do Dobbs. He didn't have a vote on Dobbs. And Trump is more of a nationalist than a federalist. I don't think  he likes the power of the people when it comes to policies like sanctuary cities. And while he goes on discussing his personally-approved exceptions to restricted abortion, he has no say in any state's list of exceptions.

At this point point, Trump abruptly changes his attention from red states to blue states (like he wants to turn the tables on the issue on when can the state can the state start to protect the preborn child), arguing that they embrace late-stage abortion, even to the point of infanticide. Trump is specifically calling out former VA Gov, Ralph Northam. Note: less than 1% of abortions are late-term and then usually under grave circumstances of the life/health of the mother and/or the preborn child. Trump is desperately trying to shift attention to the left by making up stuff like on infanticide. The fact is, in VA: "Abortion remains legal until the third trimester, though not expressly protected by state law."

I'm not sure Dobbs is the blessing Trump paints. It probably hurt the GOP from the stand of weaker midterm results, remains a potent focus of the current campaign and there has been  a series of losses in ballot initiatives in multiple red states on the issue.

BASH:  Thank you. President Biden?

BIDEN:  

It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done.

The fact is that the vast majority of constitutional scholars supported Roe when it was decided, supported Roe. And I was – that’s – this idea that they were all against it is just ridiculous.

And this is the guy who says the states should be able to have it. We’re in a state where in six weeks you don’t even know whether you’re pregnant or not, but you cannot see a doctor, have your – and have him decide on what your circumstances are, whether you need help.

The idea that states are able to do this is a little like saying, we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states, let each state have a different rule.

Look, there’s so many young women who have been – including a young woman who just was murdered and he went to the funeral. The idea that she was murdered by – by – by an immigrant coming in and (inaudible) talk about that.

But here’s the deal, there’s a lot of young women who are being raped by their – by their in-laws, by their – by their spouses, brothers and sisters, by – just – it’s just – it’s just ridiculous. And they can do nothing about it. And they try to arrest them when they cross state lines.

COMMENT:

I don/t like like how Catholic-in-Name-Only Biden  has made abortion probably his biggest issue for reelection. No, Trump didn't have a say in Dobbs. As for Florida restricting abortion to 6 weeks, guess how old a preborn child is when he has beating cardiac tissue? 

I don't doubt that progressive academia during the 5 decades of Roe and ideological feminism that many have come to accept a "constitutional right to abort". The fact remains that abortion had been restricted under English common law and under codified state laws using the police power under the 10th Amendment. in our federal system of government. SCOTUS intervention in state affairs is not historical but gradually accelerated under the heresy of Lincolnian nationalism and the pernicious incorporation doctrine

 Biden is pathetically trying to fearmonger based on inconsistent nuanced exceptions in state policies, like exceptions for incest and rape--even to the point of shamefully using Trump's talking point of violent aliens in the process. Arguing differences in state policies is certainly not limited to abortion policy. He seems to argue that states cannot be trusted on their own  to guarantee abortion rights any more than civil rights, rather presumptuous.

I have to say Biden seemed to become erratic in finishing off his thoughts near the end of his segment like the earlier brain fart on beating Medicare.   

BASH:  Thank you.

TRUMP:  

There have been many young women murdered by the same people he allows to come across our border. We have a border that’s the most dangerous place anywhere in the world – considered the most dangerous place anywhere in the world. And he opened it up, and these killers are coming into our country, and they are raping and killing women. And it’s a terrible thing.

As far as the abortion’s concerned, it is now back with the states. The states are voting and in many cases, they – it’s, frankly, a very liberal decision. In many cases, it’s the opposite.

But they’re voting and it’s bringing it back to the vote of the people, which is what everybody wanted, including the founders, if they knew about this issue, which frankly they didn’t, but they would have – everybody want it brought back.

Ronald Reagan wanted it brought back. He wasn’t able to get it.

Everybody wanted it brought back and many presidents had tried to get it back. I was the one to do it.

And again, this gives it the vote of the people. And that’s where they wanted it. Every legal scholar wanted it that way.

COMMENT:

Nothing new here. Trump is running another victory lap on Dobbs which he is trying to paint as a victory for democracy. And of course he is ecstatic that Biden blundered his way into giving Trump a way to bash him on immigration. He's lying about about the support for Dobbs among citizens and legal experts, but I've already discussed that.

I also think Trump confuses the rights of the people (ninth amendment) and the state (tenth amendment). The police power rests with the state. You can change policy by the legislature and/or modifyong the state constitution.

BASH:  

Staying on the topic of abortion, President Biden, seven states – I’ll let you do that. This is the same topic.

Seven states have no legal restrictions on how far into a pregnancy a woman can obtain an abortion. Do you support any legal limits on how late a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy?

COMMENT:

States without gestational limits include: Alaska, Colorado, DC, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont  

BIDEN:  

I supported Roe v. Wade, which had three trimesters.

First time is between a woman and a doctor. Second time is between a doctor and an extreme situation. A third time is between the doctor – I mean, it’d be between the woman and the state.

The idea that the politicians – that the founders wanted the politicians to be the ones making decisions about a woman’s health is ridiculous. That’s the last – no politician should be making that decision. A doctor should be making those decisions. That’s how it should be run. That’s what you’re going to do.

And if I’m elected, I’m going to restore Roe v. Wade.

COMMENT: 

No. Short of SCOTUS improbably reversing itself on Dobbs, Biden would need a constitutional amendment to reinstate Roe. The Congress or POTUS has no constitutional authority to hijack policy from the states. Biden's arguments about the Founders is patently absurd. Abortion was understood at the time of the Founding. There is a limited mandate for the general government, and healthcare is not among them. The Constitution explicitly reserves remaining powers to the states and to the people. Finally, note that Biden refused to answer when during the third trimester is the preborn child worthy of  state protection, even past the point of viability outside the womb.

Biden's word salad in the second and third paragraphs is incoherent. Roe basically held the women could terminate during the first trimester procedures could be regulated but not banned in the second trimester, and the state could restrict, except for life or health of the mother in the third.

But more tellingly, Biden is misleading  people on simply codifying Roe (which is still unconstitutional.):

But the Women's Health Protection Act, legislation supported by Biden following the leak of the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in May 2022, would have liberalized abortion beyond Roe.

The bill would have created a statutory right to the procedure up until the point of viability and beyond that point, if the doctor, using “good-faith medical judgment,” determined that the procedure is necessary “for the preservation of the life or health of the person who is pregnant.”

The bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said of the bill that there was a blurry line between the physical and mental health of the mother in the context of abortion.

TRUMP:  

So that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth, because some states, Democrat-run, take it after birth. Again, the governor – former governor of Virginia:  put the baby down, then we decide what to do with it.

So he’s in – he’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby.

Nobody wants that to happen. Democrat or Republican, nobody wants it to happen.

COMMENT:

Trump is basically repeating Bash's point in some blue states a woman can choose to abort up to delivery date, e.g., preemies at a similar point of development  are protected. We've earlier refuted discussion of infanticide or late-term abortion not involving serious health issues Most of the 44 other states restrict the procedure after 2 trimesters except for life and health of the mother. I have no idea why Trump is fixated on a former governor who did not win an expansion of abortion rights in the final trimester. Why isn't he pointing at excesses in the relevant 7 states? 

. BIDEN:  

He’s lying. That is simply not true.

That – Roe v. Wade does not provide for that. That’s not the circumstance. Only when the woman’s life is in danger, she’s going to die, that’s the only circumstance in which that can happen.

But we are not for late-term abortion, period, period, period.

 COMMENT:

Again, Biden is sidestepping the whole issue of the 7 states Bash references. Roe didn't argue the state police power must protect preborn life in the third trimester. That isn't necessarily a federal issue--but he's proposing dubious federal legislation and that legislation blurred the line between physical and mental health 

TRUMP:  

Under Roe v. Wade, you have late-term abortion. You can do whatever you want. Depending on the state, you can do whatever you want.

We don’t think that’s a good thing. We think it’s a radical thing. We think the Democrats are the radicals, not the Republicans.

COMMENT:

This is getting to be  repetitive. Yes, some states can opt not to regulate late-term abortions. But what's his point? He claims credit for returning control to the states and opposes federal legislation. Why isn't he attacking Biden's proposed codification of Roe? Does he understand the basics of a debate?

BIDEN:  

For 51 years, that was the law. 51 years, constitutional scholarship said it was the right way to go. 51 years. And it was taken away because this guy put very conservative members on the Supreme Court. Takes credit for taking it away.

What’s he going to do? What’s he going to do, in fact, if – if the MAGA Republicans – he gets elected, and the MAGA Republicans control the Congress and they pass a universal ban on abortion, period, across the board at six weeks or seven or eight or 10 weeks, something very, very conservative? Is he going to sign that bill? I’ll veto it. He’ll sign it.

COMMENT:

Biden is simply lying here and doing it with erratic thinking. He's accused Trump of returning abortion to the states  and then of likely signing a ban overruling state policies  Trump ia already on the record opposing federal legislation on the issue. I think the proposed GOP ban was mostlty a response to Dem proposals codifying Roe, which Biden supports. Barring a Senate blowout election this fall, it's unlikely a dubiously constitutional codification or "ban" would survive a filibuster.

I think the reason Trump and Biden have been going bck and forth on this is because Biden sees the issue as his best going into the election  even though it's now more of a state issue.

TAPPER (moderator:):  

Let’s turn now to the issue of immigration and border security.

President Biden, a record number of migrants have illegally crossed the southern border on your watch, overwhelming border states and overburdening cities such as New York and Chicago, and in some cases causing real safety and security concerns. Given that, why should voters trust you to solve this crisis?

BIDEN:  

Because we worked very hard to get a bipartisan agreement that not only changed all of that, it made sure that we are in a situation where you had no circumstance where they could come across the border with the number of border police there are now. We significantly increased the number of asylum officers. Significantly – by the way, the Border Patrol endorsed me, endorsed my position.

In addition to that, we found ourselves in a situation where, when he was president, he was taking – separating babies from their mothers, putting them in cages, making sure the families were separated. That’s not the right way to go.

What I’ve done – since I’ve changed the law, what’s happened? I’ve changed it in a way that now you’re in a situation where there are 40 percent fewer people coming across the border illegally. It’s better than when he left office. And I’m going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the – the total initiative relative to what we’re going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers.

COMMENT:

First, government entities cannot endorse politicians. Second, the Border Patrol Union: "we never have and never will endorse Biden." 

A lot of this is a rehash of his 2020 debate rhetoric. The chain link fencing "cages" were actually built and/or used by the Obama Administration also, which also did some family separations, although not as systematically as during Trump's family separation policy which was discontinued in 2018 (although some separations continued for other reasons). Biden's executive action was constitutionally dubious, and he seems to be suggesting the 40% drop was comparable to Trump's numbers, versus his own record entry data. In fact, unauthorized entry had been largely suppressed under COVID-related Title 42, which expired over a year  back on Biden's watch,

Border crossings, particular on the U.S. border with Mexico, have risen sharply since Biden took office in 2021...In 2023, 3.2 million encounters were recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, compared to the highest year of Trump's presidency, 2019, at 1.4 million.

 The fact is Biden had done virtually nothing over 3 years to engage Congress over immigration or pursue executive action. The House had passed a border bill in May 2023 before expiration of Title 42, but Biden threatened  a veto and Schumer effectively shelved it . But the Senate compromise Biden references had resistance from both sides, including progressives and Latino leaders, and unlikely to pass the House, with or without Trump's support.

Once again, Biden finished his segment in a conceptually muddled mess.

TAPPER:  President Trump?

TRUMP:  

I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.

Look, we had the safest border in the history of our country. The border – all he had to do was leave it. All he had to do was leave it.

He decided to open up our border, open up our country to people that are from prisons, people that are from mental institutions, insane asylum, terrorists. We have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now. All terrorists, all over the world – not just in South America, all over the world. They come from the Middle East, everywhere. All over the world, they’re pouring in. And this guy just left it open.

And he didn’t need legislation because I didn’t have legislation. I said, close the border. We had the safest border in history. In that final couple of months of my presidency, we had, according to Border Patrol – who is great, and, by the way, who endorsed me for president. But I won’t say that. But they endorsed me for president.

Brandon, just speak to him.

But, look, we had the safest border in history. Now we have the worst border in history. There’s never been anything like it. And people are dying all over the place, including the people that are coming up in caravans.

COMMENT:

Listening to Trump hype his misleading "accomplishments" is like watching a snake oil sales pitch infomercial in late night TV. No, Trump did not have the highest border apprehensions in US history. In fact George W. Bush's numbers were better. No, Trump did not inherit a sinking ship; in fact, the total number of unauthorized aliens had gone down since 2007, and Obama had earned a reputation as Deporter in Chief. Trump's smear of migrants as violent criminals, mentally ill, terrorist, etc. are simply disproven by the facts. In fact, migrants, unauthorized or legal, have a much lower conviction rates than born citizens, and border communities are actually safer than many urban centers in the interior, And Trump is flat-out wrong that POTUS can act independently of Congress, The Congress has the power of the purse.

TAPPER:  Thank you, President Trump. President Biden?

BIDEN:  

The only terrorist who has done anything crossing the border is one who came along and killed three in his administration, killed – an al-Qaida person in his administration killed three American soldiers, killed three American soldiers. That’s the only terrorist that’s there.

I’m not saying no terrorist ever got through. But the idea they’re emptying their prisons, we’re welcoming these people, that’s simply not true. There’s no data to support what he said.

Once again, he’s exaggerating. He’s lying.

COMMENT:

 I'm not sure what Biden was alleging by some Al-Qaeda person in Trump's administration. I had to do some Internet searching, and the closest thing I can find is some some visiting member of the Saudi Arabia military killed 3 US soldiers in 2019 at a Florida military base. How Biden confused the context is beyond me. Maybe Biden is accusing the administration of not sufficiently vetting foreign visitors?

Yes, Trump is smearing migrants with zero evidence. 

TAPPER:  

President Trump, staying on the topic of immigration, you’ve said that you’re going to carry out, quote, “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” unquote. Does that mean that you will deport every undocumented immigrant in America, including those who have jobs, including those whose spouses are citizens, and including those who have lived here for decades? And if so, how will you do it?

TRUMP:  

Can I get one second?

He said we killed three people. The people we killed are al-Baghdadi and Salamani (sic), the two greatest terrorists, biggest terrorists anywhere in the world. And it had a huge impact on everything; not just border, on everything.

He’s the one that killed people with the bad border, including hundreds of thousands of people dying, and also killing our citizens when they come in. We – we are living right now in a rat’s nest. They’re killing our people in New York, in California, in every state in the union, because we don’t have borders anymore. Every state is now a border.

And because of his ridiculous, insane and very stupid policies, people are coming in and they’re killing our citizens at a level that we’ve never seen. We call it migrant crime. I call it Biden migrant crime.

They’re killing our citizens at a level that we’ve never seen before. And you’re reading it like these three incredible young girls over the last few days. One of them, I just spoke to the mother, and we just had the funeral for this girl, 12 years old.

This is horrible what’s taken place. What’s taken place in our country, we’re literally an uncivilized country now.

He doesn’t want it to be. He just doesn’t know. He opened the borders nobody’s ever seen anything like. And we have to get a lot of these people out and we have to get them out fast, because they’re going to destroy our country.

Just take a look at where they’re living. They’re living in luxury hotels in New York City and other places. Our veterans are on the street, they’re dying, because he doesn’t care about our veterans. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t like the military at all. And he doesn’t care about our veterans.

Nobody’s been worse. I had the highest approval rating for veterans, taking care of the V.A. He has the worst. He’s gotten rid of all the things that I approved, choice, that I got through Congress. All of the different things I approved, they abandoned.

We had, by far, the highest, and now it’s down in less than half because he’s done – all these great things that we did – and I think he did it just because I approved it, which is crazy. But he has killed so many people at our border by allowing…

COMMENT:

No, I don't blame Trump for being confused by Biden's brain fart, which I think I've resolved above. But it launched a xenophobic rant with zero basis in reality. I do think Biden was caught unprepared  for the flood of migrants/asylum seekers once Title 42 expired; I think part of the problem was that he didn't do much to set realistic expectations among prospective aliens. Trump's fearmongering about aliens is completely without merit and morally contemptible. He is disregarding the fact that apprehensions and repatriations have considerably picked up since Title 42 expired.

Finally, a note of personal annoyance about Hypocrite Trump crying tears over the alleged zero-sum game between migrants and veterans at the latter's expense. Trump had notoriously complained over veteran vendors trying to sell things near Trump's business properties. Cry me a river, Trump

TAPPER:  Thank you, President Trump.. President Biden, you have the mic.

BIDEN:  

Every single thing he said is a lie, every single one.

For example, veterans are a hell of a lot better off since I passed the PACT Act. One million of them now have insurance, and their families have it – and their families have it. Because what happened, whether was Agent Orange or burn pits, they’re all being covered now. And he opposed – his group opposed that.

We’re also in a situation where we have great respect for veterans. My – my son spent a year in Iraq living next to one of those burn pits. Came back with stage four glioblastoma.

I was recently in – in – in France for D-Day, and I spoke to all – about those heroes that died. I went to the World War II cemetery – World War I cemetery he refused to go to. He was standing with his four-star general, and he told him – he said, I don’t want to go in there because they’re a bunch of losers and suckers.

My son was not a loser. He was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.

COMMENT:

So Trump's use of veterans vs migrants touches off an exchange over who cares more about veterans. Biden spotlights PACT which provides resources to veterans whose health was impaired by exposure to toxins on the job. .A few Republicans had wanted a more stripped down version . Biden then resorts to a disputed  John Kelly quotation. Biden reminds everyone his late son served

TAPPER:  President Trump?

TRUMP: 

First of all, that was a made-up quote, suckers and losers. They made it up. It was in a third-rate magazine that’s failing, like many of these magazines. He made that up. He put it in commercials. We’ve notified them. We had 19 people that said I didn’t say it.

And think of this, who would say – I’m at a cemetery, or I’m talking about our veterans – because nobody’s taken better care – I’m so glad this came up, and he brought it up. There’s nobody that’s taken better care of our soldiers than I have.

To think that I would, in front of generals and others, say suckers and losers – we have 19 people that said it was never said by me. It was made up by him, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was made up, just like the 51 intelligence agents are made up, just like the new thing with the 16 economists are talking.

It’s the same thing. Fifty-one intelligence agents said that the laptop was Russia disinformation. It wasn’t. That came from his son Hunter. It wasn’t Russia disinformation. He made up the suckers and losers, so he should apologize to me right now.

COMMENT:

Remember, we were talking immigration, Trump's core issue when Trump took us on this tangent. So now we get the expected denial of what Trump's longest serving Chief of Staff said he said. Now Trump is snapping back over RussiaGate and Biden's other, indicted son.

BIDEN:  

You had a four-star general stand at your side, who was on your staff, who said you said it, period. That’s number one.

And, number two, the idea – the idea that I have to apologize to you for anything along the lines. We’ve done more for veterans than any president has in American history – American history. And they now – and their family. The only sacred obligation we have as a country is to care for our veterans when they come home, and their families, and equip them when they go to war.

That’s what we’re doing. That’s what the V.A. is doing now. They’re doing more for veterans than ever before in our history.

COMMENT:

We end this part of the debate with Biden refusing to apologize over repeating the alleged quote why he didn't want in rainy weather to visit an American soldier cemetery in France or maybe RussiaGate. Biden does his own sales hype over how he's made a difference to veterans.

TAPPER:  All right. Thank you so much.

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