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☆ Harris says it’s absurd and unfair that marijuana is treated more seriously than fentanyl under federal law
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Michael Williams | Samantha Waldenberg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that it is “absurd” and “patently unfair” that marijuana is treated the same as heroin and other Schedule I drugs – and more seriously than fentanyl – under federal law. “Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair,” Harris said during a roundtable on the administration’s plans for cannabis reform. The administration began the process of reconsidering how marijuana is treated under federal law just before the midterms in 2022. Andy Beshear - and alluded to her own role in what she described as an unequal criminal justice system. Harris’ own feelings on marijuana reform have evolved in line with her career.

Persons: Kamala Harris, ” Harris, “ I’m, Biden, Harris, Joe Biden, Xavier Becerra, Fat Joe, Andy Beshear, ”, “, ” Biden, Bill Clinton’s, CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Kevin Liptak Organizations: Washington CNN —, White, Black, Democratic, US Health, Human Services, Kentucky Gov, Union, Los Angeles Times Locations: California, Francisco’s

☆ Opinion | It’s Time to End the Use of Special Counsels
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Jack Goldsmith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Tuesday, when the special counsel Robert Hur testifies before Congress, it will be high presidential-year political theater. This is just the latest example of the inversion of the aims of the special counsel office. A special counsel is supposed to ensure that the Justice Department can credibly conduct sensitive investigations that are, and that appear to be, fair and apolitical. Yet special counsels (and their precursors) have for decades failed to achieve this goal — a failure that has now reached a peak with two special counsels having an extraordinary impact on a presidential election. Special counsels have had different labels over the years.

Persons: Robert Hur, ”, Lawrence Walsh, Kenneth Starr, Bill Clinton’s, Monica Lewinsky, Walsh, Starr, Clinton’s Organizations: Justice Locations: Iran, Whitewater

☆ Opinion | Yes, Take Me Back to 2001
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth,” he told his audience. “Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquillity, faith and confidence in action. And to those who say it was never so, that America’s not been better, I say you’re wrong. But much of contemporary conservatism believes strongly in Dole’s formulation — in a lost Arcadia and a debased present. But they’re usually couched as a kind of reactionary futurism, where going forward requires first taking several big steps back.

Persons: Bob Dole, ”, America’s, Dole’s, Bill Clinton’s, Donald Trump, Matt Yglesias Organizations: Republican, Trump Locations: America, Arcadia

☆ Opinion: Donald Trump wins against Nikki Haley, but loses it
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Opinion Cnn Contributors | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +24 min

The problem with this approach is that most Republican voters do not want an alternative to Trump; they overwhelmingly back him. At least that’s what the Nikki Haley campaign said after finishing second to former President Donald Trump in the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday. Democratic nominee Bill Clinton and third-party candidate Ross Perot exploited that division in the Republican Party against Bush in the fall. The Republican Party is united behind Trump, and with optimal conditions for an opponent like Haley, Trump was still unstoppable. “Democrats deserve options, and it’s not clear at all that President Biden can beat Donald Trump.

Persons: Raul A, Reyes, Nikki Haley’s, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, bode, Reyes CNN Haley, Trump, Haley, “, CNN’s Dana Bash, That’s, it’s, Trump …, Nikki, –, She’s, Paul Begala, Donald Trump’s, Paul Begala CNN Trump, Joe Biden, Reagan, Bush, Bill Clinton’s, Clinton, Ana Marie Cox, Ana Marie Cox Faith Fonseca, ” Trump, Biden, Jamal Simmons, Biden’s, he’s, Dean Phillips, Jimmy Carter, Edward Kennedy, Kennedy, Carter, Republican Ronald Reagan, George H.W, Pat Buchanan, Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, Eugene McCarthy’s, Lyndon Johnson, Marianne Williamson, Sen, Bernie Sanders, Pramila, Kamala Harris, Daniel McCarthy, John McCain, George W, Ron DeSantis, Biden —, ”, Rizwan Virk, Williamson, Sanders, Andrew Yang, Dean Philips, Yang, ” Rizwan Virk, Patrick T, Brown, Barack Obama, Dozens, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, South Carolina Sen, Tim Scott, Texas Sen, Ted Cruz, Florida Sen, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Cruz, Sophia A, DeSantis, Nelson Stephanie Honikel, Harris, Nelson, Tuesday’s, Phillips ’, Phillips, Arick, Michael Bloomberg Organizations: CNN, GOP, South Carolina Gov, Republican, Reyes CNN, Trump, Independents, Polling, White, USA, Twitter, New, South, Biden, diehard Republicans, New Hampshire, Republican Party, Bush Republicans, NATO, Republicans, Democratic, Minnesota Rep, Hamas, Washington Rep, Former South Carolina Gov, mavericks, New Hampshire Democratic, Florida Gov, The, Syndicate, Democratic Party, Democrat, Labs, MIT, Physics, Eastern, Arizona State University’s College of Global Futures, Wisconsin Gov, Ohio Gov, Public Policy Center, Economic, Florida’s, America, Trump Party, Congressional, UN, Tuesday’s New, Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic, Democratic National, Biden –, Medicare, New York Locations: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, America, Granite, Trump, Michigan, New Hampshire , Iowa, Austin, Israel, Vietnam, Granite State . South Carolina, Gaza, Yemen, Ukraine, Vermont, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, Ohio, New York, Washington , DC, Virginia, Minnesota, Tuesday’s New Hampshire, Hampshire

☆ Takeaways from the Biden-Xi summit, where low expectations were met
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hand with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Woodside, California, U.S., November 15, 2023. The Biden administration is worried about scores of what it calls “unprofessional” operations by Chinese planes and ships near US assets. Biden balances his job as commander in chief with huge political risksBiden knew his meeting with Xi would unleash a political firestorm. Biden had huge political incentives to make this summit a success but also needed to show he was tough on Xi. Meeting low bars at a moderately successful summit will not change the fundamentals of their rivalry.

Persons: Joe Biden’s, Xi Jinping, Biden, Xi, ” Biden, ” Xi, China’s, Joe Biden, Kevin Lamarque, “, Nancy Pelosi’s, Sen, Jim Risch, lacerated Biden, Bill Clinton’s, George H.W, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s, it’s, ” Sue Mi Terry, George W, Bush, Barack Obama, CNN’s Erin Burnett, reaffirmation, “ I’m, that’s, ”, he’d, he’s Organizations: CNN, Economic Cooperation, United, US Air Force, Soviet Union, People’s Liberation Army, Republican, Senate Foreign Relations, US, Biden, South Carolina Gov, Florida Gov, GOP, Barack Obama National Security Council, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Congress, New York Times, Trump Locations: San Francisco, perilously, Asia, China, United States, ., Woodside , California, U.S, Taiwan, Chinese, Hainan, Soviet, Ukraine, Moscow, Syria, The Idaho, Beijing, George H.W . Bush, Iowa, Washington

☆ Opinion | Conservative Thinkers Didn’t Create Trumpism
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There is a story that professional ideamongers like to tell about political history that gives pride of place to their own work. It’s a story that usually begins with some small tribe of writers or intellectuals who come up with a set of theories that describe the world in a new way. This fall, I’ve been co-teaching a course at Yale University, the Crisis of Liberalism, which looks for the roots of today’s disturbances in long-running debates about the liberal order. And one of my thoughts is that both of them break, in different ways, with the familiar narrative about intellectuals and democracy I’ve just sketched. With wokeness, you have a movement in which the intelligentsia really matters but democratic politics much less so.

Persons: Reagan, Clinton’s, George W, Myron Magnet, Marvin Olasky, Barack Obama’s, I’ve, we’ve, progressivism, Obama Organizations: New, The Washington Monthly, The New, Yale University, American Locations: The New Republic

☆ The case for a career in bond investing
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Felix Martin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

I sensed familiarity with the recent fate of fixed income benchmarks such as Austria’s hundred-year government bond. For this reason, when bond yields are low, the sensitivity of capital prices to inflation and interest rate shocks is high, and vice versa. The appreciating greenback has been a drag on much of the global fixed income universe for the past decade. The real reason to go into fixed income investing, I explained, is that you get to tell governments what to do. Now that the end of monetary anaesthesia has awoken fixed income from its 15-year coma, I told the MBA students, you’ve got your chance.

Persons: Bonds, That’s, Torsten Slok, GMO’s, Liz Truss, ”, Bill Clinton’s, James Carville, you’ve, Peter Thal Larsen, Streisand Neto, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Treasury, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Apollo Global Management, U.S ., JPMorgan, Economist, UK, Thomson Locations: U.S, Venezuela

☆ Opinion | How Covid Built a Bridge Between the Worst of Past and Future
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

I would put inflation in this category as well. By contrast, the aspects of the Covid era that I discussed or tried to predict in my fast-forward column were accelerations, not disjunctions. The growth of working-from-home and virtual commuting, similarly, was a leap upward that followed a “continuous rise” in the pre-Covid decades. And the baby bust of 2020 was, of course, an acceleration of a fertility decline that began with the Great Recession more than a decade before. Some trends didn’t shake out exactly as I anticipated three years ago: The decline of newspapers, for instance, continued on trend but didn’t actually accelerate.

Persons: Wells, Bill Clinton’s, George Floyd, Barack Obama’s, wokeness Locations: America

NEW YORK (AP) — A former U.S. congressman from Indiana was sentenced Tuesday to 22 months in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information while working as a consultant and lobbyist after he left office. Former U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, 64, a House Republican from 1993 to 2011, was also ordered to forfeit $354,027, representing the amount of illegal gains, and to pay a $10,000 fine. Defense lawyers had requested home confinement and community service as a punishment while prosecutors urged a three-year prison sentence. The judge said Buyer lied when he testified at his trial about when he learned about mergers that he profited from. Buyer was ordered to report to prison on Nov. 28.

Persons: —, Steve Buyer, Bill Clinton’s, Navigant, Guidehouse, Richard M, Berman, “, I’ve, ” Organizations: U.S . Rep, Republican, Persian Gulf, Veterans ’ Affairs, Mobile, Sprint Locations: U.S, Indiana, Persian, Manhattan, New York City, Noblesville , Indiana

☆ Ramaswamy, the Millennial Candidate, Has a Lot to Say About His Generation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Vivek Ramaswamy, rising in the polls and buoyed by the first Republican primary debate this week, was barnstorming through central Iowa on Friday with a trademark smile and a remarkably bleak generational diagnosis of what ails younger America. The government “systematically lies to us,” he said. He told another gathering in Indianola, “We face a nonzero risk that the United States of America could cease to exist,” obliterated by the blossoming alliance of Russia and China. And yet somehow his evocation of a generational malaise seems to resonate, at least with the crowds that are packing the restaurants, cafes and even larger venues in the state that will cast the first ballots this January for the Republican presidential nomination. Noticeably, however, those crowds don’t seem to include many young voters.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Millennials, “, ”, Ronald Reagan’s, Bill Clinton’s Organizations: Republican Locations: Iowa, America, Pella , Iowa, Indianola, United States, Russia, China, Young

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy Loves Eminem. And He Doesn’t Care If the Feeling Is Mutual.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For some audiences, Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur who pushed for pharmaceutical breakthroughs before he tried to break into politics. For others, he is a cultural warrior battling “woke” corporations or a crusader for his definition of “truth,” whether it be the sanctity of two genders or the perpetuation of fossil fuels. The identity that the entrepreneur and Republican candidate for president has kept more or less under wraps since his undergraduate days at Harvard is another thing entirely, Da Vek the Rapper. Yet there it was at the Iowa State Fair this month, the 38-year-old shape-shifting presidential candidate, microphone in hand, spitting Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” before a largely white crowd that appeared somewhere between amused and enthused. Beside him onstage was the Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, who watched with the look of a mother baffled by her child’s latest science fair project.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, “, Vek, Kim Reynolds, Bill Clinton’s, Arsenio Organizations: Harvard, Arsenio Hall Locations: Iowa

CNN —First lady Dr. Jill Biden is emerging as a prominent voice taking on Republicans and former President Donald Trump since his indictment – even as the White House has maintained a stay-silent strategy on the legal case. Their support is so needed, because whether we like it or not, this guy (Trump) could be back,” he said. LaRosa noted that Biden’s language Tuesday evening in the Bay Area didn’t stray far from language she and the president have previously used. Former first lady Melania Trump actively avoided the campaign trail as her president campaigned for reelection in 2020. At her stops this week, Jill Biden touted the president’s accomplishments, including bipartisan work on infrastructure and gun safety.

Persons: Jill Biden, Donald Trump, ”, MAGA, MAGA Republicans ”, Trump, “, surrogates, Michael LaRosa, LaRosa, Biden, ” LaRosa, Bill Clinton’s, Gabrielle Giffords, it’s, Joe, Melania Trump, “ Joe Biden’s, ” Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney Organizations: CNN, White, Trump, New York City, Associated Press, MAGA Republicans, Republicans, GOP, Gingrich Republicans, Giffords Law, “, ”, Democratic, Republican National Convention, Convention Locations: New York, California, Marin County , California, Mission, San Francisco, Bay, Florida, America, Atglen , Pennsylvania

☆ Donald Trump, the Presidential Records Act and ‘Clinton's sock drawer’ defense
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

“The [Presidential Records Act] does not confer any mandatory or even discretional authority on the archivist,” wrote U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in that 2012 ruling. “These are not presidential records,” he added. The Presidential Records Act, Trump’s brief said, gave Trump the sole authority to decide how to categorize his records. Fitton told me he explained his Presidential Records Act theory to the Washington, D.C., grand jury in the Trump document case last winter. Fitton, for instance, accused the Justice Department of flipping its position on presidential discretion under the Presidential Record Act to go after Trump.

Persons: Donald Trump, Bill Clinton’s, Clinton, Taylor Branch, Clinton “ squirreled, ”, Amy Berman Jackson, Trump, Jason Baron, Bradley Moss, Mark S, Zaid, Moss, Baron, “, Todd Blanche, Tom Fitton, ” Fitton, Fitton, Jack Smith, Margaret Kwoka of Organizations: Reuters, Watch, GQ, Branch, National Archives, Records Administration, Presidential, Judicial, Archives, “, Justice Department, Mar, University of Maryland, Trump, Trump –, Presidential Records, Circuit, Records, D.C, Margaret Kwoka of Ohio State University, Thomson Locations: Mar, United States, U.S, Washington

☆ Opinion | Tucker Carlson’s Dark and Malign Influence Over the Christian Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

As a much younger Christian, I’d read stories of unholy violence and hatred unleashed in Jesus’ name in religious conflicts of even the recent past and think, “Thank God that’s over.” I felt comfortable in my Christian conservatism. After all, isn’t “love your enemies” a core Christian command? If you infuse an issue or set of issues with religious intensity but drain a movement of religious virtue, then profound religious conflict — including violent conflict — is the inevitable result. But let’s turn the question around — under what circumstances would you actually vote for your polar political opposite? Honestly exploring that question can perhaps help you sympathize with Republican Trump voters.

“If it’s a room of five people, Anita and Bob are two of them,” said a former White House aide, who asked to remain anonymous because the person was not authorized to speak on the record about White House business. The White House declined to comment for this piece. The group of White House aides that were looped in on the discovery immediately was slightly larger and included Dunn, this person said. “Whatever strategy they had has not served him well — the lack of transparency from November to January,” said a second former White House official. Bauer, who didn’t join the administration, has acted as a sounding board for White House lawyers on potential hires.

But even Democrats acknowledge the issue will give the new GOP-controlled House a fresh line of attack against the White House and may help Trump neutralize or counteract one of the most potent charges against him. And of course, the FBI investigation into classified documents on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server may have sunk her 2016 presidential campaign. Recent polls show most Americans have little interest in Congress investigating Biden and are more likely to trust him over Trump or the new Congress. “I think House Republicans have tied themselves into knots already,” Petkanas added, noting GOP lawmakers have downplayed Trump’s documents. James Comer said Trump’s documents are not 'a priority.’ So how can they with a straight face say that the Biden documents have legs but Trump’s do not?”

☆ Gladys Knight, George Clooney, Amy Grant feted at Kennedy Center Honors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON — A heartfelt Patti LaBelle praised her lifelong friend Gladys Knight. Matt Damon playfully teased his friend George Clooney — a lot — while Sheryl Crow gave thanks and a heartfelt rendition of “Baby Baby” to her fellow singer Amy Grant during Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors. Every year the Kennedy Center honors a select group of people for their artistic influences on American culture. 2022 Kennedy Center Honorees, front row from left, Amy Grant, Gladys Knight, George Clooney, Tania León, join, back row from left, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr., The Edge, and Bono for a group photo at the State Department following the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, in Washington. León said during an interview when the honorees were announced that she wasn’t expecting “anything spectacular” when the Kennedy Center initially reached out to her.

They’re offering more policy briefings to longtime supporters, Zoom calls with top administration officials and White House tours, too. "The $500,000 people like me, we’re not going to be players in 2024," said Dick Harpootlian, a longtime Democratic donor and South Carolina state senator. For the White House, the shift is an acceleration of a courtship campaign that began more modestly before the midterm elections. Amid concerns about the omicron variant last year, the White House was forced to abandon plans for a more full set of holiday parties. Some of those same people were invited to the White House next month for an in-person policy briefing.

☆ The Lesson from the U.K. Budget Meltdown: Fear Currencies, Not Bond Markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Jon Sindreu | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.K. is a large economy with deep capital markets and a widely-owned currency, fears of an unstoppable slide in the pound seem overblown. James Carville should have wished he could be the currency market. The famous 1994 remark by Bill Clinton’s political adviser that he would like to be reincarnated as the bond market encapsulates a widespread perception among investors and officials that, when currencies are left to float freely, soaring public debt becomes the key constraint on government spending. The U.K.’s budget crisis shows why they are wrong.

☆ Biden says the election is a battle against 'MAGA Republicans.' He’s been silent about Democrats elevating them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Carol-Lee-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

Democrats had been spending millions of dollars in Republican primaries elevating extreme candidates who falsely insist Donald Trump won the 2020 election, in hopes of facing weaker opponents in the general election. The raw political calculus that underpins the Democrats’ midterm election strategy is at odds with President Joe Biden’s core political message that democracy is in peril. Biden appears to have accepted the tradeoff involved: If boosting election-denying candidates saves even a few Democratic congressional seats, it’s worth the risk. NBC News asked the White House what Biden thinks of the practice and whether he’s ever voiced qualms about it. During the 2016 presidential campaign, many Democrats saw Trump as the weakest and, hence, most desirable opponent in the general election.

☆ Biden aides are quietly assembling a 2024 campaign as they await a final decision on his political future
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Carol-Lee-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Carol E. Lee | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

But, they said, if Republicans win one or both chambers, that would likely trigger a quicker pivot to a Biden re-election campaign. Relying on the party apparatus would allow the Biden campaign to forgo trying to build up its own separate campaign infrastructure in each state. But while a DNC-centric campaign might seem to be a natural fit for Biden, relying on the committee poses risks. “The Biden approach is the more traditional approach.”Far more than Obama, Biden is a creature of the Democratic Party. Biden aides say no final decisions on campaign staffing have been made, and they’re not expected to be until after the midterms.

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