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☆ Biden Irish tour moves to Dublin for parliamentary address, castle banquet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] U.S. President Joe Biden holds a toy Air Force One as he meets with U.S. embassy staff families in Dublin, Ireland April 12, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueDUBLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden, a proud Irish-American, took his three-day tour of Ireland to Dublin on Thursday for an address to parliament and a banquet at Dublin Castle as his focus shifted from Northern Irish peace to celebrating his heritage. It feels like I'm coming home," Biden told journalists on Wednesday afternoon as he toured Carlingford Castle, near the home of one of the Irish branches of his family. Biden will be guest of honour at a banquet at St Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle on Thursday evening, an honour previously given to Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Biden will be accompanied for some of his Dublin engagements by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting Ireland before travelling to Vietnam and Japan.

☆ Biden plans to focus heavily on the economy in Belfast speech marking Good Friday Agreement anniversary
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Kevin Liptak | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Biden’s optimistic speech did not paper over tensions that persist 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement was signed. “It doesn’t change the political dynamic in Northern Ireland,” said Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, which withdrew from the government in dispute of Brexit trade rules. Ahead of the speech, Biden sat for brief talks over coffee with Sunak, though won’t participate in any major public events with him while he’s here. That includes the former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Arlene Foster, who previously served as the first minister of Northern Ireland. The region along the border with Northern Ireland was where Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather, Owen Finnegan, was born in 1818.

☆ UK PM Sunak to meet President Biden in Northern Ireland
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Phil Nobel/PoolLONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet Joe Biden in Northern Ireland next week when the U.S. president flies in to take part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace accord. Sunak will greet Biden on Tuesday evening when Air Force One lands for what will be a closely watched visit to both sides of the Irish border at a time of heightened political uncertainty in Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement - signed on April 10, 1998 - largely ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed that had convulsed Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. However the anniversary has been overshadowed by a year-long boycott by Northern Ireland's largest pro-British unionist party of the power-sharing devolved government central to the peace deal. Although that deal has so far failed to restore the devolved government in Northern Ireland, Sunak will seek to bolster his support for the province by announcing a summit later in the year to stimulate international investment.

☆ House GOP's attempt to shut down Alvin Bragg is unlikely to save Trump but could serve despots in training, say oversight experts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Donald Trump's formal arraignment in Manhattan criminal court sent House Republicans into a tizzy. Stretton wondered about House Republicans' attempt to defang state prosecutors they consider to be political persecutors. "It's hard to say what overstepping bounds are any more," Davis told Insider. "When you defend somebody before you've even seen the indictment, you're kind of hitching your wagon to all the investigations," Goldberg told Insider. He also warned that spotlight-chasing House Republicans risk drowning in unfinished business at the end of the term by floating new Biden-focused inquiries "every couple of weeks."

☆ Yellen says OPEC+ move bad for global growth outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday said a surprise OPEC+ oil production cut is an "unconstructive act" that will add uncertainty to the global growth outlook and to burdens on consumers at a time of high inflation. "I think it's a regrettable action that OPEC decided to take," Yellen told reporters, adding it was too early to assess what the price impact would be. "Clearly, it's not a positive for global growth," Yellen said. U.S. President Joe Biden downplayed the impact of the OPEC+ move in a brief comment to reporters on Monday. She said coalition countries could revisit the price cap level if a change was deemed appropriate, "but I don't see that that's appropriate at this time."

☆ Putin's war turned this quiet Polish airport into a global military hub where passenger jets touch down alongside Patriot missiles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport is just 50 miles from Poland's border with Ukraine. He told Insider: "I realized that a great challenge was ahead of us and that any mistake on our part couldn't be an option." Hamryszczak told Insider that he had to rise to "countless" challenges, including making complex arrangements with world leaders and welcoming the world's media. Air Force One is "the most famous aircraft that has ever visited our airport," Hamryszczak said. "This is no longer the same regional airport that operated in 2021, or even before the pandemic," Hamryszczak told Insider.

☆ Pentagon Probes Why Boeing Staff Worked on Air Force One Planes Without Security Credentials
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Andrew Tangel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden arriving on Air Force One to John F. Kennedy Airport last month. Pentagon officials are scrutinizing why Boeing Co. employees worked on current and future Air Force One planes without security credentials required for the highly classified jets. The Defense Department and Boeing have also been examining for how long many workers with access to the jets now in use by the U.S. president, and under development in San Antonio, lacked certain current security credentials, according to a Pentagon official and a person familiar with the matter.

☆ Pentagon probes lapse in Boeing security credentials for Air Force One
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

On March 14, Boeing discovered that "Yankee White" credentials for about 250 employees who work on the Air Force One planes had lapsed, the Air Force and Boeing confirmed. All of the workers involved have retained current top secret clearances, according to the Air Force and Boeing. However, the additional Yankee White clearance is required for individuals working on matters connected to the presidential aircraft. "When Boeing discovered this administrative issue, we quickly notified the Air Force, and, in coordination with the Air Force, we temporarily suspended access to the VC-25A and VC-25B areas for those Boeing employees who were affected," a Boeing spokesperson said. On March 19, "the vast majority of employees" with lapsed Yankee White credentials were approved to begin working in the secured areas where Air Force One planes are built and maintained, the Air Force said.

☆ About 250 Boeing employees were working on Air Force One planes with expired security clearance, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Boeing mistakenly allowed workers without the proper security clearance to fly on Air Force One. The company said it alerted the Air Force immediately about the issue and is working to fix it. A Boeing spokesperson said the company caught its mistake earlier this month and quickly reported it to the Air Force. As a result, the Air Force pulled the affected workers off the schedule until their clearances were back up to date. This isn't the first stumbling block Boeing has recently encountered in its work with Air Force One.

But an international war crimes prosecution could deepen Moscow's diplomatic isolation and make it difficult for those accused to travel abroad. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, saying its attacks are all intended to reduce Kyiv's ability to fight. Kyiv says thousands of deported Ukrainian children are being adopted into Russian families, housed in Russian camps and orphanages, given Russian passports and brought up to reject Ukrainian nationality. Asked if the ICC charges against the Russian officials could include genocide, the source said: "It looks that way." U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One that Ukraine had not confirmed a call between Xi and Zelenskiy.

☆ Biden speaks with California governor about Silicon Valley Bank: White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he boards Air Force One to depart for Washington from Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. March 5, 2023. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday about the Silicon Valley Bank failure and efforts to address the situation, the White House said after the bank's collapse. A White House statement said Biden discussed with Newsom an emergency declaration he issued on Friday to ensure California has the full support of the federal government as it responds to the impacts of severe winter weather, including flooding, landslides and mudslides. "The President and the Governor also spoke about Silicon Valley Bank and efforts to address the situation," the statement said without elaborating.

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The Biden administration will modify, but continue with, an Air Force One paint scheme that closely resembles the current white with two shades of blue, which dates back to President John F. Kennedy's administration, the Air Force said on Friday. The contractual decision for a Air Force One paint job "was not required until this year," the Air Force said. Last summer, the Air Force said Boeing was set to deliver the next-generation Air Force One 747s in 2026 and 2027, the latest delay. The Air Force said Friday they are now projected to be delivered in 2027 and 2028. Back in 2018, Boeing received a $3.9 billion contract to build two 747-8 aircraft for use as Air Force One, to be delivered by December 2024.

☆ Biden reversed a Trump-era decision to change the colors of Air Force One. Here's what it looked like throughout the years
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

President Joe Biden will keep with tradition and feature a blue and white Air Force One fleet. The news comes years after former President Donald Trump proposed that the colors change. Trump's changes would have resulted in additional heat on significant plane parts, the Air Force said. Air Force One, the plane of the president of the United States, is seen during takeoff, June 1968. Every Air Force One plane since has kept with tradition and featured a blue and white design.

☆ Joe Manchin for President?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Daniel Henninger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If Joe Biden and Donald Trump weren’t running, the race to the 2024 presidential election would be the wide-open, competitive contest many Americans say they want and, on the available evidence, aren’t going to get. Joe Biden looks to have decided he didn’t spend a half century trenching through politics to become a lame duck two years after replacing his I-get-around Corvette with Air Force One. Even most Democrats don’t want him to run, but Mr. Biden has frozen his party’s field—for now.

☆ Michelle Obama said she sobbed uncontrollably for 30 minutes straight after leaving the White House on Trump's inauguration day
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Michelle Obama said she cried uncontrollably on Air Force One on Trump's inauguration day. This was after the Obamas left the White House in 2017, on Trump's inauguration day. In a clip in "Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast," Obama described her experience on former President Donald Trump's inauguration day. Obama also talked about what it was like having to attend then-President-elect Trump's inauguration ceremony. In July 2019, Obama said in an interview with CBS host Gayle King that having to attend Trump's inauguration as one of the few people of color there was "a lot, emotionally."

☆ In Selma, Biden presses for voting rights on 'Bloody Sunday' anniversary
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jeff Mason | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SELMA, Alabama, March 5 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden pressed for the passage of measures to strengthen U.S. voting rights during a visit to Selma, Alabama, on Sunday to commemorate the 58th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when state troopers beat peaceful protesters marching against discrimination. It also came as his efforts to pass voting rights legislation have stalled in Congress. Coverage of the brutality of that day against the marchers, including John Lewis, a Black civil rights activist who went on to become a U.S. congressman, shocked the nation and helped spark the 1965 Voting Rights Act. DeSantis recently rejected an Advanced Placement high school course in African American studies claiming that it contained a political agenda, drawing criticism from civil rights leaders and educators. In January, Biden spoke at the Atlanta church of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.Biden's visit to Selma follows Vice President Kamala Harris's trip there last year for the anniversary of the march.

☆ Fact Check-Photographs show President Biden with ash on his forehead, not a bruise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Photographs showing President Joe Biden with an Ash Wednesday smudge on his forehead are circulating with false claims that the mark is a bruise from allegedly falling down the stairs leaving Air Force One after landing in Poland. Biden can be seen with a bluish-black mark on his forehead in the images being shared across social media platforms (here), (here). The mark on Biden’s forehead is ash in the shape of a cross, which he received from a priest that day, Ash Wednesday, and not a bruise. Reuters has also previously debunked the claim that the person who fell down the stairs on Feb. 20 was Joe Biden (here). Biden’s forehead mark seen in photographs was ash applied for Ash Wednesday, not a bruise.

☆ Fact Check-Clip does not show Joe Biden falling down Air Force One steps when arriving in Poland
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Users shared a clip that aired via Poland’s TVN24 and shows an individual falling down the steps when disembarking from the rear of the plane. A spokesperson for President Biden told Reuters via email that the individual who fell down the stairs on Feb. 20 was not the President. Further on in the livestream, Biden can be seen disembarking from the front of Air Force One at 6.14s, taking the steps alone (here). Biden did indeed trip when walking up the steps of Air Force One upon leaving Warsaw on Feb. 22 (here). The individual who tumbled down the steps when disembarking from Air Force One in Warsaw on Feb. 20 was not Joe Biden.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia, Feb 28 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his March 9 budget proposal to the U.S. Congress will include some higher taxes, including on billionaires, but will not violate his pledge not to raise rates on Americans making less than $400,000 a year. "On March the 9th, I'm going to lay down in detail every single thing, every tax that's out there that I'm proposing, and no one ... making less than $400,000 is going to pay a penny more in taxes," Biden told an audience in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I'm gonna raise some taxes," the Democratic president added, before suggesting that "billionaires" would be called upon to pay more. Biden, under pressure from Republicans who are threatening not to raise the U.S. debt limit unless he agrees to sharp spending cuts, has vowed to cut the deficit by $2 trillion over 10 years in the upcoming budget proposal. During the 2020 campaign, Biden pledged not to increase taxes on taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year.

☆ Biden’s Kyiv Visit Was Months in the Making
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Sabrina Siddiqui | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Ukraine—President Biden spent Saturday evening at Red Hen, a favorite spot in Washington’s dining scene, with first lady Jill Biden. Hours later, he departed Andrews Air Force Base aboard Air Force One under a shroud of secrecy for a roughly 20-hour journey that eventually brought him to Ukraine’s capital city for a historic wartime visit. Mr. Biden’s trip was meticulously planned for months and aimed to send a strong message of American support for Kyiv days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, top U.S. officials said Monday. It was known to only a handful of people at the White House, the National Security Council, the Secret Service and the Pentagon, officials said. A last-minute “huddle,” as White House officials described it, on Friday sealed the planning details for the trip, which was seen by officials as high-risk but high-reward.

That number includes both rocket launches and capsule reentries, and has been steadily climbing. A Falcon Heavy rocket launches the USSF-67 mission on January 15, 2023 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Air space is going to be a critical, critical issue," Isom said, calling on new industries to contribute to the cost of air traffic control. A graph of FAA-licensed or permitted commercial space launches (excludes launches licensed by other U.S. government agencies, such as NASA or the Department of Defense). Together they create a moving target for space launches and the commercial airlines eyeing the same air space.

☆ Biden doubles down on needling Republicans over proposed Social Security and Medicare cuts: 'I'm your nightmare'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

"I guess I shouldn't say any more," he said, "but particularly on Social Security and Medicare." Rubio, who is in the rumored mix for the 2024 GOP nomination, said anybody who supports slashing Social Security or Medicare is delusional. "You have to listen to what the president said the last couple of years about protecting and fighting for Medicare and Social Security." "I've never ever said I would reduce Medicare or Social Security benefits. As for Social Security, its trust funds are expected to be insolvent by 2035, which would trigger 20% in cuts across the board.

☆ White House: Biden put Republican lawmakers on defensive over entitlement programs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with Biden to Wisconsin that there was no doubt that House Republicans had called for cuts to both programs, despite their shouted denials on Tuesday. "Many House Republicans have called for deeply slashing Medicare, Social Security benefits," he said. "He called them out in front of million and millions of Americans who were watching ... He put them on the defensive again last night, and he's going to call them out." Reporting by Steve Holland, writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biden to deliver State of the Union address amid high inflation and divided Congress that threaten to derail economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"Put simply, I would argue the Biden economic plan is working. The White House is already seeing challenges under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the new Republican majority. House Republicans have been in a fraught standoff with the White House over raising the debt ceiling, a topic the White House has said is not up for negotiation. The White House on Friday announced that National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Biden's top economic aide, is departing. Jeff Zients, former White House Covid-19 response coordinator under Biden and an economic advisor to former President Barack Obama, will replace Ron Klain as White House chief of staff.

☆ Chris Christie says Biden is 'not capable of running a traditional American race' in 2024: 'He's old. He's boring.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Chris Christie blasted President Biden's reelection plans on Sunday, calling him "old" and "boring." Biden is set to announce his 2024 reelection campaign in the coming months. Chris Christie on Sunday was critical of President Joe Biden's expected 2024 reelection bid, arguing that the commander-in-chief is "old" and "not an exciting candidate." "Do you see Joe Biden on Air Force One doing seven, eight campaign stops a day at 82 years old?" Biden has not yet announced his 2024 reelection campaign but is expected to do so in the coming months.

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