Biden was Biden but despite a smaller field sparks failed to fly with Warren, while O’Rourke had a good night – as did Obama
The Democratic debate in Houston was a mix of smackdown, backslapping and policy gab-fest as the 10 top-tier candidates faced off against each other while at least 10 others were only able to watch from the sidelines, having failed to qualify.
Related: Biden clashes with Warren and Sanders in lively Democratic debate
Continue reading...The 10 candidates on stage in Houston offered competing visions based on Obamacare and Medicare for All
Joe Biden is taking a question on gun control and once again arguing he has the best (and certainly the longest) record on the issue. “I’m the only up here who’s ever beat the NRA,” the former vice president and senator said.
Biden then similarly applauded Beto O’Rourke for his efforts to help his hometown of El Paso heal from the mass shooting that killed 22. Biden originally referred to the former congressman as “Beto.” He then apologized and O’Rourke interjected, “Beto is good.”
In the midst of a discussion on race and criminal justice, Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot, has made this important point:
You know what else is racist? Preventing people from voting. There have been 29 presidential debates in 2020 & 2016 and no questions about voting rights
Continue reading...The Bureau of Land Management will offer leases to the 1.6m-acre coastal plain which is home to threatened polar bears
The Trump administration is finalizing plans to allow oil and gas drilling in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that has been protected for decades.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will offer leases on essentially the entire 1.6m-acre coastal plain, which includes places where threatened polar bears have dens and porcupine caribou visit for calving. Drilling operations are expected to be problematic for Indigenous populations, many of which rely on subsistence hunting and fishing.
Continue reading...Surveillance devices planted over past two years, says report citing former US officials
Israel is likely to have planted mobile phone spying devices near the White House and other sensitive locations in the US capital over the past two years, according to a report from Politico that cited three former US officials.
The miniature surveillance devices mimic telecommunications towers to gather information, including the contents of phone calls. The US government concluded Israeli operatives were most likely to have put them in place to spy on Donald Trump and his associates, the news website reported.
Continue reading...President Hassan Rouhani signals approval of firing of national security adviser
Iran’s president has urged the US to “put warmongers aside” as tensions roil the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran after the collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.
Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signalled approval of Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser. Bolton had been hawkish on Iran and other global challenges.
Continue reading...No one expected Trump to pivot to diplomatic breakthroughs with someone as bellicose as Bolton by his side
John Bolton can at least boast that he lasted longer than his two predecessors, but few observers of Trumpworld expected him to cling on until 2020.
Donald Trump hired Bolton to break things, like the Obama administration legacy and the orthodox foreign policy establishment in general. Now, with the 2020 election coming, a downturn looming and a second presidential term in doubt, Trump is trying to build a foreign policy legacy of his own – or at least a reasonable impression of one.
Continue reading...President tweeted about the firing after reports emerged Bolton opposed Trump plan to hold peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David
Trump has taken the stage at the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference and appears to (so far) be sticking to the teleprompter.
He has touted the importance of HBCUs and celebrated his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, as a champion for the institutions.
Trump is expected to soon start speaking at the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference. The president was scheduled to take the podium at 2:15 p.m. E.T. but is apparently running behind.
Continue reading...Trump’s anti-interventionist instincts likely to come to the fore in flashpoint countries
Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton, his national security adviser, may reflect the near breakdown in personal relations between the two men, as well as Bolton’s rivalry with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, but it will also have implications for US foreign policy in a range of flashpoints.
Related: John Bolton fired as Trump's national security adviser – live news
Continue reading...Neil Jacobs said a statement criticizing the Alabama office that disagreed with Trump was meant to clarify ‘technical aspects’
The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) appeared close to tears on Tuesday, as he both defended the administration and thanked a local weather office that contradicted Donald Trump’s claims about Hurricane Dorian threatening Alabama.
Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator, told a meteorology group a Noaa statement that criticized the Birmingham-area forecast office after it disagreed with the president was meant to clarify “technical aspects” about Dorian’s potential impact.
Continue reading...Wilbur Ross said to have issued threats at Noaa after the agency contradicted the president’s false claim on Hurricane Dorian
Trump told his supporters at a rally in North Carolina that he might need an extra term as president, then mocked the idea that news headlines tomorrow will announce that he said he wants an extra term.
“We told you he’s a dictator, we told you,” Trump said, impersonating his critics.
Just as a Republican congressional candidate had started to speak, Trump paused the rally for several minutes and repeatedly said “thank you” to a doctor presumably assisting an audience member who was unwell.
Then the president quipped, “I guess Dan’s speech wasn’t so good,” referring to Dan Bishop, a Republican congressional candidate the president had flown to North Carolina to support.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s social media behaviour took another surreal turn with a public attack on model Chrissy Teigen and her musician husband John Legend over the issue of criminal justice reform.
Related: 'A dynasty for decades': Trump aide stokes succession speculation – live
Continue reading...The US extracted “one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government” in 2017, it was reported on Monday, in part because of concerns that mishandling of classified intelligence by Donald Trump and his administration could jeopardise the source’s safety.
CNN cited “multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge” of the matter and said “a person directly involved in the discussions” said the move was made because Trump and his officials could not be fully trusted.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s shock announcement that he had canceled secret peace talks with the Taliban this weekend has prompted criticism and confusion, including from his own Republican party.
The Democratic presidential 2020 hopeful and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar ridiculed the president on Sunday morning, saying he approaches foreign policy like “some kind of gameshow”.
Continue reading...NYT reports top official has proposed ‘zeroing out’ the program, while another option is to cut admissions by half or more
That’s it from me this week. My West Coast colleague, Julia Carrie Wong, will be taking over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Fresh from the department of oof: Democratic presidential candidate Tim Ryan said he thinks Joe Biden is “declining” and doesn’t have the “energy” to defeat Trump.
“I just think Biden is declining,” Ryan told a reporter, whom he apparently mistook for a potential donor. “I don’t think he has the energy. You see it almost daily. And I love the guy.”
Continue reading...US president says Jason Greenblatt will be leaving to pursue work in the private sector after three years in administration
A CNN analyst neatly summarized Joe Biden’s continued dominance in the polls despite a series of embarrassing gaffes that many commentators predicted would affect his front-runner status.
Average of all polls this year of Biden v. Trump? Biden by 8. Average of all August polls, after all the gaffes? Biden by 10. That's the same as it is in the RCP average. Clinton lead in the RCP average against Trump at this point? 2.4 points... (1/?)
Maybe, it will change. Heck, we're over a year out. But the difference between what the numbers are saying and conventional wisdom (at least in some quarters) is stunning.
Meanwhile, Trump is still refusing to acknowledge that he was wrong when he tweeted Sunday about the threat Hurricane Dorian posed to Alabama.
Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it! pic.twitter.com/elJ7ROfm2p
I was with you all the way Alabama. The Fake News Media was not! https://t.co/gO5pwahaj9
Continue reading...The ‘ultimate deal’ for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due to come out after the Israeli elections on 17 September
Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East peace, tasked with working on the “ultimate deal” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is to leave the post, it has been announced.
Greenblatt may stay in the role until the publication of the long-delayed plan, which is now due to come out some time after Israeli elections on 17 September. However, if those elections bring about the fall of Donald Trump’s close ally, Benjamin Netanyahu, the plan could be shelved indefinitely.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has caused uproar on social media after displaying a map of Hurricane Dorian's path featuring an extra loop drawn in Sharpie extending it to Alabama – in an apparent attempt to validate previous baseless claims the state could be affected.
Over the weekend, as Dorian struck the Bahamas, the president issued a torrent of tweets. One mistakenly warned that Alabama would also be impacted.
Just 20 minutes later, the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama, tweeted: "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.”
Continue reading...Some vacationers ‘too depressed by UK politics’ are heading to Iowa, the state with an outsized importance in the nominee process, to witness the primary elections
For many people, a vacation to the US means heading up New York’s Empire State Building, descending into the Grand Canyon in Arizona or splashing about in the Pacific Ocean in California.
Some, however, are choosing to whet their appetites differently, by instead traveling to Iowa, in the middle of the US, to witness the presidential primary elections in person.
Continue reading...Candidates warn of ‘irreparable damage’ in marathon town hall but can’t agree on how aggressively to tackle problem
Democrats vying for president revealed a fundamental split over how aggressively the US should tackle climate change in a seven-hour town hall meeting on Wednesday.
Bernie Sanders painted an apocalyptic future wreaked by the climate crisis and pledged to wage war on the fossil fuel industry. A high-energy Elizabeth Warren urged optimism for building a better America and the former vice-president Joe Biden, who has a pitched a more moderate proposal, said he would push other nations to recommit to stronger action.
Continue reading...To the annals of American political scandal, we must now add Sharpiegate.
Related: Floridians still divided over climate crisis as Dorian rages
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