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Rightwing commentators have lambasted the Alabama senator who Republicans chose to deliver the rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
Katie Britt delivered the Republican response from what appeared to be her kitchen.
Continue reading...The president brought the fight, jousting with Republican hecklers as he attacked Trump without mentioning his name
Would it be a withered old man or a human dynamo? Would it be a rambling, gaffe-prone politician or an inspiring leader touched with fire? Would it be Geriatric Joe or Dark Brandon?
Within the first few minutes of Thursday’s State of the Union address in Washington, millions of Americans had their answer. Joe Biden, 81, had brought the fight.
Continue reading...The president needed to appeal to voters as he and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the presidential contest
Joe Biden confirmed a new US mission to deliver aid to Gaza and repeatedly took aim at Donald Trump in his State of the Union address on Thursday, offering a pointed preview of the general election in November.
Biden’s most significant announcement came toward the end of his roughly hour-long speech, when he confirmed that the US military would establish a “temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza” capable of receiving large shipments of water, food and medicine. Biden pledged the mission will not involve deploying American troops on the ground and would facilitate a significant infusion of supplies into Gaza.
Continue reading...US president makes last State of the Union address of this presidential term, with much at stake as he heads into re-election fight against Trump
For some reason, expelled former Republican congressman George Santos has returned to watch the State of the Union from the House floor:
Axios reports he wanted to hang out with the lawmakers who voted to remove him from office last year for being a big-time liar:
Continue reading...Britt, 42, third youngest serving senator, spoke on the heels of her state’s supreme court ruling that frozen embryos are ‘children’
Republicans chose first-term Alabama senator Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman ever to serve in the Senate, to deliver the rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
The 42-year-old presented a counterpoint to the oldest sitting president at her kitchen table in Alabama after his speech.
Continue reading...Disgraced ex-congressman chummed about with Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz, and then tweeted his candidacy for New York seat
Disgraced ex-congressman and noted fabulist George Santos announced yet another run for Congress during a surprise appearance at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
Despite currently facing federal criminal charges, Santos wrote on X during the speech that he’s looking to face off against his former colleague Representative Nick LaLota: “Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1. I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”
Continue reading...Guests at Biden address to include Alabama woman whose IVF was cancelled, and Texas women who went through abortion ordeals
More than a quarter of Black female voters describe abortion has their top issue in this year’s presidential election, according to a new poll.
The findings by health policy research firm KFF reveal a significant shift from previous election years, when white, conservative evangelicals were more likely to put abortion as their biggest priority when voting, AP reported. Those voters were highly motivated in recent presidential elections to cast ballots for Donald Trump.
Abortion voters are young, Black women – and not white evangelicals.
Continue reading...President lays out plans in State of the Union speech while senior US official says ‘we are not waiting on the Israelis’
US forces will build a temporary dock on the Gaza shoreline to allow delivery of humanitarian aid on a large scale, Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union speech, amid warnings of a widespread famine among the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
“Nearly two million more Palestinians under bombardment or displaced, homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin, families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking,” Biden said on Thursday night, declaring that the US was leading humanitarian relief efforts.
Continue reading...White House says Cox and Latorya Beasley’s stories show ‘how the overturning of Roe v Wade has disrupted access to healthcare’
An Alabama mother who saw a second round of IVF canceled after the state supreme court ruled that embryos were children and a Texas mother forced to travel outside her state for a doctor-recommended abortion were due to attend Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, as guests of the first lady, Jill Biden.
The White House said the cases of Latorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama, and Kate Cox, from Dallas, Texas, showed “how the overturning of Roe v Wade has disrupted access to reproductive healthcare for women and families across the country”.
Continue reading...Francine Prose, the novelist and Guardian US columnist, takes a look today at Republican attacks on reading in schools, particularly in Florida under Ron DeSantis, a leading (notional) contender for the presidential nomination in 2024.
For some time now, conservative groups pressured libraries and classrooms to remove certain “controversial” books from their shelves and their syllabi. These are texts that tell uncomfortable or unpopular truths about our nation’s origins, including inequality, race, history, gender, sexuality, power and class – a range of subjects that a small but vocal group of Americans would prefer to ignore or deny.
Continue reading...President hopes to combat widespread sense of pessimism and to tout his accomplishments from first two years in office
Joe Biden called on Republicans to help him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and restoring faith in American democracy in his second State of the Union address on Tuesday night, as he made an unfettered call to action on police reform, gun control and the climate crisis.
Addressing a divided Congress for the first time, an optimistic Biden made the case that the nation was stronger and more stable than when he assumed office two years ago.
Continue reading...US president believes he has an economic success story to tell although polls indicate voters are skeptical
Joe Biden has left the White House and is driving down Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to give the State of the Union address.
As he walked to his armored limousine known as The Beast, Biden told reporters he was “feeling good.” Asked what the state of the union was, he replied, “great shape. Getting better.”
Continue reading...Republican extremist appears to reference Chinese surveillance dirigible by parading halls of Congress with white balloon
Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to tee up a State of the Union stunt on Tuesday, patrolling the halls of Congress with a large white balloon in reference to Republican criticism of Joe Biden over his handling of a flight over US territory by a Chinese surveillance dirigible.
“Just an innocent white balloon everybody,” the Georgia extremist said, hours before Biden’s address to Congress, attempting to keep aloft the balloon saga which ended when it was shot down off the Carolinas on Saturday.
Continue reading...How Republicans are responding to the State of the Union address will offer a preview into what message the party will sell to voters in the 2024 presidential election. Republicans are already making media appearances on their chosen conservative news networks.
Elise Stefanik, House Republican Conference chair and rising GOP star from New York state whose staunch defense of Donald Trump helped her get a House seat, set up over 300 House Republican interviews with local media outlets, according to this morning’s Politico Playbook.
Continue reading...Former US vice president Mike Pence was expected to visit South Carolina today, as the signals grow louder that he’ll make his own run for the White House in 2024 as a rival to the former boss he’s essentially fallen out with, Donald Trump. But that visit has been postponed.
Fresh reports say that Pence has decided to delay his trip to the crucial primary state because his oldest daughter, Charlotte Pence Bond, has gone into labor in California. The ex-veep and his wife, Karen Pence, headed for California instead and will reschedule the trip to South Carolina.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s health reporter Jessica Glenza on the White House’s new Covid-19 plan:
The White House announcement and State of the Union address also came with a new look and feel. At the State of the Union, Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, were all mask-free. So, too, were White House officials when they announced the new Covid-19 plan, notably in-person rather than through a group video call.
Continue reading...Ukraine dominated Biden’s address, but he set out plans to combat inflation and insisted America can move on from the pandemic
Joe Biden denounced Russian “tyranny” in his first State of the Union speech, but also carved plenty of time time to make his pitch for Democrats as the US midterm elections loom.
The president, who is struggling with a low approval rating and faces the prospect of Democrats losing control of the House and the Senate in the November, condemned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He announced a flight ban on Russian aircraft, before turning to the domestic policies Biden hopes will make voters choose him.
Continue reading...White House officials say president will steer conversation toward economic progress rather than pessimism
Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday before a bitterly divided Congress, seeking to inspire a pandemic-weary nation deeply unhappy with its leaders and government, while projecting strength to the world after Russia unleashed the largest land war in Europe since the second world war.
The prime-time address comes at a precarious moment for Biden and the world. Speaking in the House chamber, Biden will interrupt harrowing coverage of combat in a European capital, as evidence builds that Russian attacks are striking civilian areas and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, threatens nuclear war.
Continue reading...The Republican governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, has come under fire for saying he needs the support of a far-right state senator who told a white nationalist event in Florida she fantasises about building gallows on which to hang her enemies.
State progressive groups said Ducey should “stop catering to hate”.
Continue reading...President posted video of House speaker tearing State of the Union address interspersed with clips of Trump lauding honorees
Facebook and Twitter have refused House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request to remove a video posted by Donald Trump that was misleadingly edited to show her repeatedly tearing a paper copy of his State of the Union address while he was honoring a Tuskegee Airman and other attendees.
“The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them – but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s chief of staff, said on Twitter. “The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.”
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