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If those population-growth patterns continue for the rest of the decade, it could seriously imperil the Democrats’ long-term chances of winning the White House. The Week in Cartoons Jan. 15-19 View All 5 ImagesFor Democrats, the picture is grim. An analysis by the Brookings Institution found that the main factor driving population growth in 2022-23 was immigration. The two states Democrats are eyeing most urgently to become the new Arizona and Georgia are North Carolina and Texas. In particular, predictions of “Blexas” – a blue Texas – have taken longer to materialize than most Democrats had hoped.

Persons: Donald Trump, University’s, Joe Biden, ”, Alan Abramowitz, Christopher Cooper, Brennan, Biden, Mark P, Jones, it’s, Michael McDonald, Trump, Michael Bitzer, ” Bitzer, “ Biden's, Thomas Schaller, ” Schaller, –, Barack Obama, Cooper Organizations: White, Center for Justice, Biden, Emory University, Democrats, Western Carolina University, “, ”, Republicans, Rice University, University of Florida, Brookings Institution, Brookings, North Carolina’s Catawba, Northern Blacks, Brennan, University of Maryland, American Democracy, Senate, Democratic, Texas, Democratic Party, Electoral College Locations: South Carolina , Florida , Texas , Idaho, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, New, Texas, Florida, Idaho, South Carolina , Tennessee, California, New York, Illinois, Minnesota , Oregon, Rhode, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, U.S, That’s, North, Northern, Baltimore, Arizona , Colorado , New Mexico, Nevada, “ Texas, United States

☆ Opinion | Why Jan. 6 Wasn’t an Insurrection
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I’ve written several times about the case for disqualifying Donald Trump via the 14th Amendment, arguing that it fails tests of political prudence and constitutional plausibility alike. But the debate keeps going, and the proponents of disqualification have dug into the position that whatever the prudential concerns about the amendment’s application, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, obviously amounted to an insurrection in the sense intended by the Constitution, and saying otherwise is just evasion or denial. Such a limitation, they say, ignores all the obvious ways that lesser, less comprehensive forms of resistance to lawful authority clearly qualify as insurrectionary. I have a basic sympathy with Calabresi’s suggestion that the “paradigmatic example” that the drafters of the 14th Amendment had in mind should guide our understanding of its ambiguities, and since the paradigmatic example is the Civil War, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed, a five-hour riot probably doesn’t clear the bar. (For related arguments about the perils of applying precedents from specific crises to radically different situations, see this essay from Samuel Issacharoff as well.)

Persons: disqualifying Donald Trump, Adam Serwer, Jonathan Chait, Ilya Somin, Steven Calabresi, Samuel Issacharoff Organizations: prudential, Constitution, Trumpist Army, U.S, Capitol Locations: Northern Virginia, Confederate, America, New York

☆ Contested statues must stay but with explanations, says Britain
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Estelle Shirbon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Then prime minister Boris Johnson and other ministers denounced this as censorship of history while activists and some public figures said the glorification of such figures in public spaces had to end. The culture ministry's new guidance said custodians of contested statues and monuments should comply with the government's policy to "retain and explain". The guidance, which applies to structures in public spaces but not inside museums, said explanations could include alternative media and creative approaches, not just texts. The Conservatives say they are fighting a far-left agenda that seeks to denigrate Britain and its history. The controversies echoed debates in other countries, notably the United States where historic statues honouring leaders of Confederate States from the Civil War era have also been contested and removed.

Persons: Cecil Rhodes, George Floyd, Eddie Keogh, Boris Johnson, Lucy Frazer, Edward Colston, Robert Milligan, Estelle Shirbon, Gareth Jones Organizations: Oriel College, REUTERS, Conservative, Labour Party, Conservatives, Thomson Locations: Minneapolis, Oxford, Britain, Bristol, stoke, London, United States, Confederate

☆ Is It Ever Morally Acceptable to Visit a Confederate Historical Site?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Kwame Anthony Appiah | More About Kwame Anthony Appiah | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I recently moved back home to Biloxi, Miss., and I’m wondering about visiting the lavish grounds of Beauvoir, the historical site and home of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. I also enjoy history and historical sites, however, and Beauvoir is the biggest one in the area by far. Is it ethical to pay an admission fee and visit this historical site? — JacobFrom the Ethicist:What can you say about the Sons of Confederate Veterans? But at Brierfield and at the White House of the Confederacy, Davis appears to have believed that he was a benevolent master to the Black people he considered property.

Persons: Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis, ” Jefferson, Jacob, Nathan Bedford Forrest, ”, It’s, Davis, “ Organizations: Confederate Veterans, “, Confederate, Ku Klux Klan, National Confederate Museum, White, Confederacy, Smithsonian Locations: Biloxi, Miss, Confederate States, America, Mississippi, Columbia, Tenn, Beauvoir, Brierfield

Finding it and nurturing it remain entirely consistent with the mission of higher education and, indeed, vital to our democracy. More than in any other setting, students who are raised in homogenous neighborhoods and schools first encounter difference — class, racial, ethnic and religious — in college. We should remember that these sorts of learning opportunities are relatively new in the history of higher education. For hundreds of years, many universities that today proudly champion a diverse society promoted and perpetuated class, racial and gender hierarchies. Like Bard College, schools could create early college programs, which allow high school students to take and earn college credits.

Persons: —, I’ve, William, Mary, Johns Hopkins, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.N.C, LaDale C, Brett Kavanaugh’s, Angela Duckworth Organizations: Ivy League, Yale Law School, Brown University, University of Virginia, Rutgers, Princeton Theological Seminary , Yale, University of North, Harvard, Bard College, University of California Locations: Georgetown, University of North Carolina, America

☆ Why the US ‘does not get to assume that it lasts forever’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

“We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government,” Greene said in a tweet on President’s Day this year. Blue state governors, legislatures and mayors might respond to such an offensive in forceful ways difficult to predict today. The Republican-appointed majority on the US Supreme Court has encouraged the red state social offensive with decisions that stripped away national rights – most prominently on abortion and voting. “Given the make-up of the courts, it’s difficult for blue states to be hopeful about this,” says Kettl. “The United States does not get to assume that it lasts forever.”

Persons: we’ve, ”, Donald Kettl, Donald Trump, I’ve, ’ “, Trump, Daniel Cox, Alan Wolfe, Wolfe, ” Wolfe, “, Joe Biden, Trump –, Abraham Lincoln, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kevin McCarthy, ” Greene, Susan Stokes, Stokes, he’s, Biden, Jim Crow, Cox, Michael Podhorzer, what’s, MAGA, Eric Liu, Liu, Richard Nixon’s, Liu’s, ” Liu Organizations: CNN, America, University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, Republican “, American Enterprise Institute, Boston University, Republican, Democratic, Chicago Center, Democracy, University of Chicago, CBS, Trump, National Guard, Fugitive, “, US, GOP, White House, AFL, Citizen University Locations: United States, States, America, Black, Confederate States, Georgia, Midwest, Heartland, Great, New York, Memphis, Austin, Blue, Michigan , Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona

☆ How should slavery and its legacy be taught in U.S. schools?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +21 min

My father said it was indeed a general store, supplying everything from hog feed to eggs to coal for heating. On the map, I believe General’s Store is the building at the bottom and labeled S for store. Black people appeared chiefly in sketches aimed at amusing readers – or when they were accused of crimes against whites. The letter writer said a young white man in a general store had ordered the woman to put down a can of oil she was examining. I could find nothing that accounted for the death of General Bryson, let alone any item that mentioned the Bryson family.

Persons: General Bryson, General, G.G, Bryson, George T, Williamson, Bryson’s, Lucille Newton Duke, Boots ”, Barbara Newton, Bud Moon, Jim Smith, Smith, Sheriff Culberson, Moon, “, Martin Luther King Jr, Ancestry.com, Jim Crow’s, Margaret Burnham, Burnham, ”, –, ” Burnham, Isaac Gaston, Gaston –, General Bryson –, Walter White, weren’t, Patricia, Julia, I’d, LaBrenda Garrett, Nelson, Thomas Colquitt Hardman, Lamartine Hardman, Hardman, – Hardman, Harry Bryson, Harry, wasn’t, Uzell Mathis, Black, you’d, Terrie Epstein, Epstein, Chara Haeussler Bohan, Alexander Stephens, Mildred Rutherford, Bohan, ” Bohan, ” Chara Haeussler, Ron DeSantis, David Walker, DeSantis, ’ ” Bohan, Jim Crow, Carol Swain, Swain, ” Swain, Booker T, Washington . Organizations: Commerce, Herald, Calvary Baptist Church, Sanborn, Company, Library of Congress, Hurricane, Reuters, Civil, Northeastern University, National Association for, Advancement of Colored, NAACP, New York Times, Jackson County Herald, Arlington National Cemetery, Quartermaster Corps, Harmony, Black Commerce, New, Hunter College, Blacks, Georgia State University, Confederacy, Southern Poverty Law, Union, American AP, Republican, Yale, Harvard Law School, state’s Department of Education, –, demonize, Washington, Tuskegee University Locations: Jackson, Mt, Calvary, Hurricane, Hurricane Grove, Jefferson, Winder, Maxey’s, Donalsonville , Georgia, Donalsonville, Commerce, Georgia, Atlanta, Jackson County, United States, Brest, France, Arlington, Harmony Grove, Commerce Jackson County Georgia, Black, Grove, Michigan, Confederate States, America, Southern, South Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, demonize America, Virginia, Washington

They include eight chief executives of the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America, which seceded and waged war to preserve slavery. Although white people enslaved Black people in Northern states in early America, by the eve of the Civil War, slavery was almost entirely a Southern enterprise. South Carolina, where the Civil War began, illustrates the familial ties between lawmakers and the nation’s history of slavery. Each of the seven white lawmakers who served in the 117th Congress is a direct descendant of a slaveholder, Reuters found. In researching America’s political elite, Reuters found names – almost always just a first name – of 712 people enslaved by the ancestors of the political elite.

Persons: Black, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen, Joe Biden, –, Donald Trump –, Jimmy Carter, George W, Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch –, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, James Clyburn, Henry McMaster, ”, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Gates, ” “, ” Gates, enslavers, Tony Burroughs, Biden, Obama, McConnell, “ it’s, ” Burroughs, LINDSEY GRAHAM, Joseph Maddox, Maddox, Sela, Rubin, James, Sal, Sam ”, Graham, Graham didn’t, NANCY MACE, Nancy Mace, Drucilla Mace, John Mace, Hector Godbolt, John Mace’s, Godbolt, “, ” Nancy Mace, TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Duckworth, Henry Coe, Coe, Margaret, Isaac, Warner, George …, Isaac Franklin –, “ There’s, ” Duckworth, Tom Bergin, Makini Brice, Nicholas P, Brown, Donna Bryson, Lawrence Delevingne, Brad Heath, Andrea Januta, Gui Qing Koh, Tom Lasseter, Grant Smith, Maurice Tamman, Blake Morrison Organizations: U.S, Reuters, Republicans, Supreme, Republican, Harvard University, PBS, United States Congress, Geographic, Journalists, Black, Thomson Locations: America, U.S, Confederate States, Arkansas, North Dakota, Black, Northern, Southern, South Carolina, Congress, New Hampshire , Maine, Massachusetts, United States, Illinois, Virginia, Frederick County , Virginia

☆ More than 100 U.S. political elites have family links to slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Reuters Graphic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +46 min

Then the war came, and according to the family history, Union soldiers plundered Sessions’ 27-room house. About 48 years old at the time, he did not stand a chance to succeed without slavery, the family history suggests. ‘A Better Nation’Some historians and genealogists say there is a valuable reason for white leaders – and other white Americans – to explore their links to slavery. Nicka Sewell-Smith, a professional genealogist with the family history website Ancestry.com, said people frequently ask her what to do with such documents. The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Meeks said in an interview that he has spent years trying to trace his family history back before 1870.

Persons: Black, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, James Lankford, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Joe Biden, –, Donald Trump –, Jimmy Carter, George W, Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Trump’s, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch –, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, James Clyburn, Henry McMaster, ”, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Gates, ” “, ” Gates, enslavers, Tony Burroughs, Biden, Obama, McConnell, Burroughs, Joseph Maddox, Maddox, Sela, Rubin, James, Sal, Sam ”, Graham, Graham didn’t, Nancy Mace, Drucilla, Drucilla Mace, John Mace, Hector Godbolt, John Mace’s, Godbolt, “, ” Nancy Mace, Henry Coe, Duckworth, Coe, Margaret, Isaac, Warner, George …, Isaac Franklin –, “ There’s, ” Duckworth, George Floyd, Donald Trump, ” Biden, ‘, ’, Ben Affleck, ” Affleck, Independent Angus King, Mo Brooks, ” Brooks, Sean Kelley, Kelley, White, don’t, wasn’t, Richard Sessions, Pete Sessions, Richard’s, William Sessions, John Cowger, Tom Cotton of, ” Cotton’s, Cowger, Cotton, Archibald Crawford, Juneteenth, Shaheen, Pocahontas, Edmond Dillehay, Peter ”, Milly, Lankford, ” Lankford, Joe Wilson, Stephen H, Wilson, Boineau, General David Addison Weisiger, Wilson –, Addison Graves Wilson –, Weisiger “, ” Wilson, Daniel Weisiger, Daniel Weisiger’s, Samuel, Samuel Weisiger, Daniel, Julia Brownley, Jesse Brownley, Brownley, ” Brownley, Thomas Ferguson, Brooks, Manumission, Marie Jenkins Schwartz, ” “ It’s, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, Harvard’s Gates, Sherman, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Nicka Sewell, Smith, Ancestry.com, ” Sewell, LaBrenda Garrett, Nelson, Garrett, Rick Larsen, John Wiggins, Larsen, – Gilbura, George, Agg –, ” Larsen, Gilbura, Agg, Gregory Meeks, Meeks, Jim Crow South, – Meeks, – “, ” Meeks, “ I’m, I’m, Tom Bergin, Makini Brice, Nicholas P, Brown, Donna Bryson, Lawrence Delevingne, Brad Heath, Andrea Januta, Gui Qing Koh, Tom Lasseter, Grant Smith, Maurice Tamman, Catherine Tai Design, John Emerson, Jane Ross, Emma Jehle, Jeremy Schultz, Blake Morrison Organizations: Reuters, Republicans, U.S, Supreme, Republican, Harvard University, PBS, United States Congress, Representative, WikiLeaks, Sony, Facebook, White, FedEx, National Museum of, 117th, Independent, University of Essex, Geographic, American Economic, Pete Sessions, Sessions, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jeanne Shaheen U.S, CNN, Biden, Trump, ” Reuters, South, South Carolina General Assembly, Confederate, statehouse, Congressional, Chesterfield County, Mount Vernon College, George Washington University, Mo Brooks Former U.S, “, New York Times, United, Federal Government, Union, Black, Southern, Democrat, House Foreign Affairs, Klux Klan Locations: U.S, America, Confederate States, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Carolina, Congress, Black, Northern, Southern, Illinois, Virginia, Frederick County , Virginia, United States, Minnesota, ”, Mo Brooks of Alabama, American, Texas, Mississippi, Chicot County , Arkansas, Chicot County, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Yell County, Yell County , Arkansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Frankfurt, Germany, Chesterfield County , Virginia, California, Portsmouth , Virginia, Alabama, Haywood County , North Carolina, Antebellum, United States of America, Washington, Nicholas County , Kentucky, Queens , New York, New York, York County, Mende, Sierra Leone, Africa, Bunce

☆ Opinion | Learning About Freedom at a Black Rodeo
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Tressie Mcmillan Cottom | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of the Civil War’s end and their newfound freedom. The Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo organizers thought a lot about those questions. Jones-Dixon wants Black Portlanders to see a version of themselves in a rodeo that is fun but that also makes them proud. Frederick says there remains a notion among Black Portlanders that the flooding was a convenient excuse for displacing the city’s thriving Black enclave. Having the rodeo near Vanport is a way of saying that this is an event for you, for us.

Persons: Juneteenth, —, Biden, Vince Jones, Dixon, McClellan, Jones, Black Portlanders, Ivan, Lew Frederick, Frederick, ” Organizations: Expo, Oregon, Oregonian Locations: Juneteenth, Galveston , Texas, Portland, Gresham, American, Vanport, Black

☆ What is Juneteenth? History of US federal holiday and its celebration explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Juneteenth, long a regional holiday in the U.S. South, rose in prominence following protests in 2020 over police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other African Americans. Juneteenth, a combination of the words June and 19th, is also known as Emancipation Day. Connecticut, Minnesota, Nevada and Tennessee have made Juneteenth a permanent public holiday for the first time this year, according to the Pew Research Center. In Alabama and West Virginia, Juneteenth has been authorized as a state holiday for this year by a governor’s proclamation. People are also celebrating the holiday by organizing for civil rights, reading books about African American heritage and history, attending festivals and musical performances, and dining at Black-owned restaurants.

Persons: Crystal Howard, Read, Joe Biden, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Abraham Lincoln's, Juneteenth, Aurora Ellis, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Black Americans, U.S, District, Columbia, Pew Research, The U.S, Supreme, Thomson Locations: Texas, U.S, Nashville , Tennessee, United States, Connecticut, Minnesota, Nevada, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, America, The

☆ Biden to host Jennifer Hudson, Wu-Tang's Method Man at Juneteenth concert
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Method Man (C) and Streetlife (R) of rap band Wu-Tang Clan perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival July 18, 2007. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse (SWITZERLAND)/File PhotoWASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will host the White House's first big Juneteenth celebration, a concert featuring performances by Oscar-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man and marching bands from historically black universities in Tennessee and Maryland. Other performers include dance group Step Afrika!, singer Ledisi, choirs from more historically black colleges and universities, and a Broadway choir. Biden declared Juneteenth - a portmanteau of June and 19th, also known as Emancipation Day - a federal holiday in 2021. U.S. presidents dating back to George W. Bush have marked Juneteenth from the White House, often with a somber statement.

Persons: Wu, Tang Clan, Denis Balibouse, Joe Biden, Oscar, Jennifer Hudson, Tang, Kamala Harris, Biden, Ledisi, Karine Jean, Pierre, it's, Juneteenth, Abraham Lincoln's, George W, Bush, Andrea Shalal, Heather Timmons, Leslie Adler, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Montreux Jazz, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, White, Morgan State University, Tennessee State University, Thomson Locations: SWITZERLAND, Tennessee, Maryland, Baltimore, Nashville, Texas, Washington

☆ Biden hosts Jennifer Hudson, Wu-Tang's Method Man at Juneteenth concert
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Method Man (C) and Streetlife (R) of rap band Wu-Tang Clan perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival July 18, 2007. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse (SWITZERLAND)/File PhotoWASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening is hosting the White House's first big Juneteenth celebration, a concert featuring performances by Oscar-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man and marching bands from Tennessee and Maryland. Biden will address guests at the South Lawn event at 7:00 pm EDT (2300 GMT), which the White House has described as a "celebration of community, culture and music." Biden will welcome "community leaders, lawmakers, students educators and hundreds of others to the White House for a historic Juneteenth celebration," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. U.S. presidents dating back to George W. Bush have marked Juneteenth from the White House, often with a somber statement.

Persons: Wu, Tang Clan, Denis Balibouse, Joe Biden, Oscar, Jennifer Hudson, Tang, Biden, Ledisi, Karine Jean, Pierre said, Abraham Lincoln's, George W, Bush, Andrea Shalal, Heather Timmons, Leslie Adler, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Montreux Jazz, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, White, Thomson Locations: SWITZERLAND, Tennessee, Maryland, Texas, Washington

Section Four of 14th Amendment, adopted after the 1861-1865 Civil War, states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned." WHERE DOES THE WHITE HOUSE STAND ON THE 14TH AMENDMENT? HOW WOULD MARKETS REACT IF BIDEN USES THE 14TH AMENDMENT? Administration officials and economists have said that a default triggered by a debt-ceiling breach would roil the world financial system and plunge the United States into recession. That immediate catastrophe might be avoided if Biden invoked the 14th Amendment.

If Congress fails to act, some legal experts say Democratic President Joe Biden has another option to avert a crisis: Invoke the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure the United States can continue to pay its bills. Section Four of 14th Amendment, adopted after the 1861-1865 Civil War, states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned." HOW WOULD MARKETS REACT IF BIDEN USES THE 14TH AMENDMENT? Administration officials and economists have warned that a default triggered by a debt-ceiling breach would roil the world financial system and plunge the United States into recession. That immediate catastrophe might be avoided if Biden invoked the 14th Amendment.

☆ Why the 14th Amendment Is Being Cited in the Debt Ceiling Debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Linda Qiu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Some have argued that the clause, outlined in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, bars anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office. Now, the standoff over the national debt has renewed debate over Section 4 of the amendment, known as the public debt clause. After the Civil War and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, lawmakers sought to set out the terms of the Confederacy’s surrender and the rebellious states’ re-entry into the Union. The 13th Amendment’s formal abolition of slavery also meant that the size of delegations from former Confederate states would increase, even as the states passed discriminatory “Black codes” and prevented former slaves from voting. Reconstructionist Republicans in Congress sought to address these issues by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed citizenship and equal protection for former slaves.

☆ Factbox: U.S. debt ceiling standoff: Platinum coins, the 14th Amendment could be paths out
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

14TH AMENDMENTSection Four of 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted after the 1861-1865 Civil War, states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned." Some experts have suggested that Biden could invoke this amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own if Congress does not act. BYPASS REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIPDemocrats and rank-and-file Republican allies in the House could bypass McCarthy and force a vote on a "clean" debt ceiling increase, free of spending cuts or other conditions. GET RID OF ITCongress could vote to abolish the debt ceiling entirely, which would eliminate the need to vote on the issue periodically but also erode Congress's authority on fiscal matters. Attempts to abolish the debt ceiling have gotten no traction in Congress in recent years.

☆ Mitt Romney says Marjorie Taylor Greene's pitch for a 'national divorce' is insane
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mitt Romney thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene's idea to break up the US is unhinged. "Mitt Romney is so bad I couldn't even vote for him for president against Barack Obama," Greene told the outlet. Greene's idea for a national divorce has also received pushback from other members of her party. Spencer Cox called the Georgia congresswoman's call to break up the United States "evil" and "destructive." Representatives for Romney and Greene did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Default on U.S. Debt Is Impossible
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( David B. Rivkin Jr. | Lee A. Casey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Headlines last week claimed that the Congressional Budget Office had warned the U.S. “could default on its debt” as early as July if Congress didn’t raise the statutory debt limit. What the CBO director actually said was that “the government would have to delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both.” In reality, the U.S. can’t default on its debt. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment is unequivocal on that point: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, . . . shall not be questioned.” This provision was adopted to ensure that the federal debts incurred to fight the Civil War couldn’t be dishonored by a Congress that included members from the former Confederate states.

☆ Factbox: FACTBOX Possible U.S. debt-ceiling workarounds to avoid default
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Historians say that aimed to ensure the federal government would not repudiate its debts, as some ex-Confederate states had done. Some experts have suggested that Biden could invoke this amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own if Congress does not act. Analysts say this would leave Treasury on the hook for higher interest payments and unsettle the market for Treasury bonds, which serve as a bedrock for the global financial system. GET RID OF ITCongress could vote to abolish the debt ceiling entirely, which would eliminate the need to vote on the issue periodically but also erode Congress's authority on fiscal matters. Attempts to abolish the debt ceiling have gotten no traction in Congress in recent years.

☆ Factbox: Possible U.S. debt-ceiling workarounds to avoid default
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Historians say that aimed to ensure the federal government would not repudiate its debts, as some ex-Confederate states had done. Some experts have suggested that Biden could invoke this amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own if Congress does not act. That leaves only three possible dates for action in the first half of this year: March 27, May 22 and June 12. Analysts say this would leave Treasury on the hook for higher interest payments and unsettle the market for Treasury bonds, which serve as a bedrock for the global financial system. Attempts to abolish the debt ceiling have gotten no traction in Congress in recent years.

☆ AI bot that lets you chat with Jesus, Hitler is latest GPT-3 controversy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

But this week, it sparked viral controversy online over its inclusion of Hitler, his Nazi lieutenants and other dictators from the past. Historical Figures, which also uses GPT-3, launched the first week of January, and as of Wednesday, it had about 9,000 signups, app creator Sidhant Chadda said in a phone interview. “People expect these historical figures to be truthful, but in reality, people are not always 100% honest,” he said. Asking a question costs one coin, and the app charges extra to get access to high-profile historical figures. The possibility of digitally re-animating historical figures has been gaining ground ever since, from the “The Simpsons” to holograms of dead idols such as Buddy Holly and Whitney Houston.

☆ Police chief in Pennsylvania 'shocked' he wasn't stiffed by Donald Trump on a bill for rally security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Will Clark had low expectations when billed Donald Trump's political action committee. Clark's own department in Pennsylvania still has an unpaid bill for extra security at a "Make America Great Again Rally," back in 2018. Along with the Trump campaign, Clark also tried sending the bill to the Republican National Committee and Lou Barletta, the Trump-endorsed former Pennsylvania congressman who failed to oust Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in that race. To date, there's only one other known instance of late — also unexplained — where the Trump campaign paid some of the money it owed a municipal government. In this case, it was the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a 2020 campaign event that then-Vice President Mike Pence headlined.

☆ Police chief 'shocked' he wasn't stiffed by Donald Trump on a bill for rally security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Will Clark had low expectations when billed Donald Trump's political action committee. Along with the Trump campaign, Clark also tried sending the bill to the Republican National Committee and Lou Barletta, the Trump-endorsed former Pennsylvania congressman who failed to oust Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in that race. The Trump campaign said in 2020 that public safety billing inquiries should go to the Secret Service. To date, there's only one other known instance of late — also unexplained — where the Trump campaign paid some of the money it owed a municipal government. In this case, it was the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a 2020 campaign event that then-Vice President Mike Pence headlined.

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