Category Archives: Democrats

Biden to speak on Russia and Ukraine amid pressure from Congress on sanctions – live

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Joe Biden will deliver a speech this afternoon on Russia’s latest maneuvers in eastern Ukraine and America’s potential responses to Vladimir Putin’s actions.

The White House has just announced that Biden will provide an update on Russia and Ukraine at 2pm ET in the East Room.

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Joke’s on them: how Democrats gave up on rural America

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It is a diverse and complicated place poorly served by stereotypes and simplistic solutions

• This essay originally appeared in the Drift

One evening a few summers ago, I walked from my house to the county fairgrounds. It was a long July day, and the sun still hung above the hills that surround the small western Colorado town where I live. People packed the bleachers of an outdoor arena to watch a rodeo.

Shortly before the bullriding began, a rodeo clown strolled to the center of the dirt field and began his night with a joke. It went something like this:

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AOC calls Tucker Carlson ‘trash’ for saying she is not a woman of colour

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‘You’re a creep, bro,’ says New York congresswoman after Carlson attacked Ocasio-Cortez in Fox News segment

The Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday night, claiming the US congresswoman was not a woman of colour.

“She’s a rich entitled white lady,” he said.

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Trump interior secretary Zinke broke ethics rules and lied, watchdog finds – live

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While lawmakers were unable to come to a consensus on a sanctions bill for Russia this week, it looks like we may have some movement on the issue here:

The interior department’s inspector general said in a report made public today that Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary under Donald Trump, misused his position to advance a development project in his Montana hometown and lied to an agency ethics official about his involvement.

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Jury finds New York Times did not defame Sarah Palin – live

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Robert Califf’s appointment as the new head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was confirmed today, but the process was not as straightforward as the Biden administration first thought.

Senator Joe Manchin, a Virginia Democrat, urged senators to oppose Califf’s appointment earlier this week, saying he bears “a great deal of responsibility” for many of the US opioid overdose deaths in the years since Califf’s first stint as FDA commissioner under the Obama administration.

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Embrace or avoid? Midterms dilemma for Democrats as Biden’s ratings plunge

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For Democrats in tight re-election races, being photographed with a president whose approval rating hovers at 40% is a risk

With a handshake and brief embrace, congresswoman Abigail Spanberger welcomed Joe Biden to her Virginia district last Thursday. The event was an opportunity to highlight the administration’s plans to lower the cost of prescription drugs, but it also provided an opportunity for the US president to promote the members of his party ahead of the midterm elections in November.

“In every chapter in her career, in every chapter, she’s always been about one thing: service,” the president said of Spanberger, a Democrat whose competitive re-election race is on the front line of the battle for control of the House.

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Louisiana candidate burns Confederate flag in his latest controversial ad

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‘It’s time to burn the Confederacy down’, says Senate hopeful Gary Chambers, who smoked marijuana in his previous ad

A Louisiana candidate for the US Senate has burned a Confederate flag in a powerful campaign ad about racial injustice in Louisiana and America.

Democrat Gary Chambers is also known for a viral ad where he smokes marijuana to “destigmatize” its use and discusses the unfair policing of drug laws.

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Fears for Democrats’ midterm hopes as US inflation hits 40-year high – live

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Joe Biden acknowledged that rising prices in the US are having a significant impact on families’ budgets, even as the American economy more broadly continues to recover from the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

“On higher prices, we have been using every tool at our disposal, and while today is a reminder that Americans’ budgets are being stretched in ways that create real stress at the kitchen table, there are also signs that we will make it through this challenge,” Biden said in a new statement.

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Democratic governors lift indoor mask mandates despite CDC guidance – live

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Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just said that the agency continues to recommend masking in “areas of high and substantial transmission”.

According to the CDC’s own data, 99.5% of all US counties currently qualify as areas of high and substantial transmission, even as the number of new coronavirus cases across the US has decreased in the past few weeks.

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Scholz and Biden warn Russia would pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine invasion – as it happened

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Joe Biden issues stark advice to Americans in Ukraine: ‘Leave’

Secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, speaking alongside the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, said the US and its allies in Europe are acting “in unity” in response to Russian aggression and a potential conflict with Ukraine.

Blinken vowed “real and profound consequences should Russia choose to continue aggression”.

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Joe Biden on crime: ‘The answer is not to defund the police’ – as it happened

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House speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded Joe Biden for overseeing the US military operation that resulted in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.

“Last night, America delivered justice to the leader of ISIS and struck a serious blow to this terrorist group,” Pelosi said in a statement.

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Biden says ‘ending cancer as we know it a White House priority. Period’ – as it happened

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki is briefing right now. She’s talking further about planned US troop deployments to NATO’s eastern flank to bolster Ukraine’s preparedness in facing massed Russian military might at its border.

“They are not going to Ukraine to fight,” Psaki said, attempting to clarify the mission, in response to questions from reporters about what they’ll be doing.

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Trump and his enablers unwittingly offer Democrats the best hope in the midterms | Robert Reich

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The former president and his allies may doom the Republicans by reminding the public of their attempted coup

The midterm elections are just over nine months away. What will Democrats run on? What will Republicans run on?

One hint came at a Houston-area Trump rally Saturday night. “If I run and if I win,” the former guy said, referring to 2024, “we will treat those people from January 6th fairly.” He then added, “and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.”

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Russia is the ‘aggressor’, says White House, but Biden open to more talks with Putin – live

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Today’s call between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, lasted about 30 minutes, per the Washington Post.

In the call, Lavrov said the Kremlin is working on a full written response to the US proposal regarding Russia demands on Ukraine, which the White House delivered last week.

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Biden says US is ‘ready no matter what happens’ as Russia escalates threat on Ukraine – as it happened

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Donald Trump is being widely accused of “saying the quiet part loud”, when protesting that Mike Pence could have “overturned” his boss’s election defeat by Joe Biden.

Though he has appeared to admit Biden won before, Trump usually insists he won and his opponent stole the election through voter fraud – the “big lie” which animates rallies like one in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday.

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Trump tours the country endorsing candidates to reinforce the ‘big lie’

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As thousands turn out to hear the former president, midterm candidates vie for his backing by pushing ‘stolen’ election myth

On a chilly open field in Texas, Dan Patrick was delivering prepared remarks about the spectre of socialism when the crowd broke into a chant about the 2020 presidential election.

“Well, we all know who won in 2020, don’t we?” the state’s lieutenant governor ad-libbed. “Who won?” There was apparently not a soul who believes the answer is Joe Biden.

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Battered Biden gets opportunity to change political narrative as Breyer retires

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Analysis: president faces high expectations as he prepares make one of his most consequential decisions

In his spare time, Justice Stephen Breyer enjoyed taking the bench at humorous “mock trials” of characters such as Macbeth and Richard III for Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. The case usually turned on epic battles over succession.

Now Washington is about to be consumed by the question of who will inherit Breyer’s crown following his reported decision to retire from the US supreme court. At 83, he is its oldest member, one of three liberals outnumbered by six conservatives.

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Democrats seek to revive parts of Biden’s Build Back Better program – live

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Senator Joe Manchin, who doomed the legislation last month, says negotiations will be ‘starting from scratch’

Joe Biden initially indicated he would not take any questions from reporters, out of concern that it would shift focus away from Intel’s announcement about its new semiconductor facility in Ohio.

“You guys will ask me all about Russia and not about anything having to do with chips,” Biden said.

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After Democrats’ historic defeat on voting rights, what happens next?

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In an extremely bruising loss for Biden, Republicans used the filibuster to block the sweeping bill from passing

For a little over a year, America has faced a democratic crisis unlike any it has seen in recent history.

As Republicans have spread lies about the 2020 presidential election, confidence in it remains staggeringly low and about 1 in 3 Americans now believe Joe Biden was not legitimately elected. Republicans who claim the election was stolen are trying to grab key election administration roles, prompting unprecedented alarm that a future election could be overturned.

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Biden warns Russia will ‘pay a heavy price’ if Putin launches Ukraine invasion – as it happened

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Here’s where the day stands so far:

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