Sen. Tammy Duckworth is scheduled to deliver an address to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know about the Illinois federal lawmaker.

She was born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1968 and is fluent in Thai and Indonesian. She attended college at the University of Hawaii and earned a Master of Arts in international affairs from George Washington University.

After her graduation, Duckworth moved to Illinois and began studying for her Ph.D. in political science at Northern Illinois University.

In 2004, Duckworth was deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois Army National Guard and was hit by and RPG. She lost both legs in the attack. She wounded her right arm and lost partial use of it.

She was awarded the Purple Heart for her injuries.

DUCKWORTH DEFENDS BILL CLINTON DNC APPEARANCE; PARTY IS ‘A BIG TENT AND ALL SORTS OF FOLKS FIT UNDERNEATH IT’

After becoming director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, she was appointed by then-President Barack Obama to serve as assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Duckworth, 52, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, and she serves on the Armed Services Committee. She was later elected to the Senate in 2016.

Duckworth publicly commented on sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden back in May, and said the women accusing him deserve to be heard.

“Any woman who brings, or any man for that matter, who brings forward allegations of abuse, especially in the workplace, deserve to be listened to, and I certainly think that we need to thoroughly look at these allegations,” Duckworth said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

She also defended Bill Clinton’s invitation to speak at the convention, despite photos surfacing of one of Jeffrey Epstein’s female accusers giving the former president a neck massage.

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“I will let Bill Clinton defend himself and I’ll let Bill Clinton make his remarks tonight,” Duckworth told Bret Baier of “Special Report” on Tuesday. “What I can tell you is that the Democratic Party is a big tent and all sorts of folks fit underneath it. And I welcome anyone who truly wants to come and work to solve the problems we have in this country.”

Her convention speech is slated for between 9-11 p.m., according to the party website.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dnc-speakers-tammy-duckworth

States have started to mobilize and submit applications to FEMA for the enhanced federal unemployment benefits approved by President Trump on August 8. Initial confusion about the mechanics of the program was partly mitigated by guidance issued by FEMA, which clarified the structure of the program and confirmed that states would not be required to chip in an additional $100 to secure $300 in federal funds. Most states that are seeking FEMA funding have said they will not pay unemployed workers an optional state match of $100; however, three states have indicated they will provide an extra $100, meaning that their unemployed workers will start receiving $400 each week.

MORE FROM FORBESConfirmed: Extra $400 Unemployment Benefit Extension Slashed To $300; State Match Optional

Trump’s Unemployment Benefit Extension Overview

Trump’s Memorandum

With Congress at an impasse over the next coronavirus stimulus package, President Trump signed four executive directives on August 8, including one to provide enhanced unemployment benefits to 30 million Americans. The unemployment benefits memorandum issued by President Trump called for the federal government to cover 75 percent of a new $400 weekly benefit and for states to use money from their Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) or other programs to cover the rest. As The Washington Post noted, “that was interpreted by many states to mean that they would have to provide an additional $100 per week for their residents to qualify for the benefit.”

President Trump’s verbatim comments from his press conference reinforced this interpretation. He remarked, “I’m taking action to provide an additional or an extra $400 per week in expanded benefits: $400. Okay?” “States will be asked to cover 25 percent of the cost using existing funding, such as the tens of billions of dollars available to them through the Coronavirus Relief Fund. Under this plan, states will be able to offer greater benefits if they so choose, and the federal government will cover 75 percent of the cost. So we’re all set up. It’s $400 per week,” he added.

Bipartisan Blowback Leads To Program Modifications

Almost immediately, there was bipartisan outrage from state leaders about their required incremental contributions. State budget shortfalls are projected to reach $555 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and many claimed that funding an additional $100 was impossible. As a result, White House officials began to tweak the directive issued by Trump. Most significantly, it walked back the mandate for states to contribute an extra $100 in order for the federal government to provide the $300 in federal unemployment benefits.

MORE FROM FORBESWhite House Modification May Cut Another $100 Before $400 Unemployment Benefit Extension Even Starts

This change was announced via a letter from the Department of Labor, which provided guidance to states on how the Lost Wages Assistance program would work. The letter confirmed that states were relieved of the obligation to provide an incremental $100 in unemployment benefits in order to receive the $300 federal contribution. “States may count funds that are already used to provide regular state UI payments toward the state match, if they choose to do so, eligible claimants will receive a LWA payment of $300 from the Federal Government in addition to their weekly benefit amount,” the letter stated.

States’ Response Varies To Enhanced Unemployment Benefits

Despite additional clarity on the program, states’ responses have varied dramatically.

Some States Decline Aid

A few states, like South Dakota and New York, have declined to participate, turning down extra federal unemployment benefits for their unemployed workers. South Dakota Governor Noem issued a statement late last week declining to participate in the Lost Wages Program. “My administration is very grateful for the additional flexibility that this effort would have provided, but South Dakota is in the fortunate position of not needing to accept it,” she said. “South Dakota’s economy, having never been shut down, has recovered nearly 80% of our job losses.”

Others Have Already Submitted Applications And Received Approval

Other states mobilized quickly to submit applications to FEMA. As of this morning, nine states have received approval from FEMA with Arizona starting to pay out extra benefits on August 17th. [For the latest state-by-state updates, please reference the table in this article from Forbes’ Rob Berger.]

MORE FROM FORBESPresident Trump’s $300 Unemployment Benefit: A State-By-State Update

3 States Will Provide Workers With Full $400 Benefits; 1 State Still In Flux

Most states that have submitted applications signaled that they will not provide an additional $100 to unemployed workers, meaning eligible claimants will only receive the $300 in federal funds each week. However, three states so far have decided to match the federal funds, while one state’s payout is in flux.

Montana

Montana was the eighth state to receive approval for the enhanced unemployment benefits. It plans to pay the incremental $100 weekly state benefit from the $1.25 billion it received as part of an allotment received from the CARES Act. Montana’s average unemployment state benefit was $341. With the full enhancement contribution, unemployment payments will range between $560 to $950, according to the Associated Press.

West Virginia

West Virginia also plans to contribute $100 and pay unemployed workers the full $400 weekly benefit. “West Virginia’s gonna pay it,” Governor Jim Justice said. “We’re going to pay it and very willingly we’re going to pay it.” West Virginia is considering using its CARES Act allotment, also $1.25 billion, for the incremental payment. Governor Justice indicated paying the $100 per week benefit would cost the state $26 million each week. “At the end of the day, we’ll figure it out,” he said.

Kentucky

On Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced his intention to submit an application for the full $400 a week payment. “While there is still some uncertainty in this new program, it is just too important to get these dollars to our families,” he told reporters. Kentucky will use CARES Act funds for its portion, which Beshear estimated would cost the state $8 million a week. Asked why he decided to use state funds and provide unemployed workers with the full $400 a week payment, Beshear said the incremental $100 was “critically important” for recipients. “We know how this money moves through the economy,” he noted.

North Carolina – Still In Flux

North Carolina has some of the worst jobless benefits among states, providing benefits for only 12 weeks in most cases, instead of the 26 weeks that many other states allocate. Governor Roy Cooper said he supports North Carolina providing an extra $100 so that unemployed workers could receive the full $400 a week benefit. Unlike other states, Cooper indicated the state match should come from North Carolina’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund instead of the state’s CARES Act allotment. The trust has $2.9 billion in funds as of August 10.

However, State Senator Chuck Edwards, who co-chairs of the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Oversight, was non-committal about paying the full $400. “That is certainly a keen possibility, but we also need to consider the fact that the length of the state of emergency is unknown,” he remarked. “What we’re working to make sure happens right now is we’re able to take advantage of the $300 that the federal government is offering us.”

The Upshot

Most states applying for funding under the enhanced unemployment benefit program are only paying out the $300 federal contribution. A few states have declined to participate altogether, but Montana, West Virginia, and Kentucky are going in the opposite direction and paying out the full $400 weekly benefit.

Further Related Reading:

Earliest Start For Extra $300 Unemployment Benefit Is August 29 For Most States, Says FEMA

Confirmed: Extra $400 Unemployment Benefit Extension Slashed To $300; State Match Optional

White House Modification May Cut Another $100 Before $400 Unemployment Benefit Extension Even Starts

Will $400 Unemployment Extension Start Soon? Don’t Count On It, Despite Trump’s Executive Order

Only Road To Second Stimulus Check, Real Unemployment Benefit Extension Runs Thru Congress

South Dakota Refuses Trump’s Extra $300 Unemployment Benefit; Declines Free Money

Trump Signs Executive Orders: Extends Federal Unemployment Benefits At $300 Per Week, Protects Against Evictions, Defers Student Loan Payments, Suspends Payroll Tax

Source Article from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2020/08/20/3-states-will-start-paying-400-extra-in-weekly-unemployment-benefits-not-extra-300-unemployment/

Working with the Coast Guard, special agents from the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan and federal postal inspectors boarded the yacht off Westbrook, Conn., the officials said. Mr. Bannon, 66, was on deck, drinking coffee and reading a book, when the raid occurred.

The criminal charges, filed a week before Mr. Trump was to accept the Republican nomination for a second term, marked a stark turn of fortune for the flamboyant political strategist. Mr. Bannon first came to prominence when he was in charge of the right-wing media outlet Breitbart, where he had aligned himself with the alt-right, a loose network of groups and people who promote white identity.

As chief strategist, Mr. Bannon was one of the most powerful figures in the White House early in the Trump administration, but he stepped down in August 2017 after frequently clashing with other aides.

With the indictment, Mr. Bannon became the seventh Trump associate to have been charged with federal crimes, a list that includes Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager; Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser; and Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s onetime lawyer and fixer.

The 24-page indictment, unsealed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, is by far the most politically sensitive case that Audrey Strauss, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan, has handled since she assumed her job after her predecessor, Geoffrey S. Berman, was fired in June by Mr. Trump.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/nyregion/steve-bannon-arrested-indicted.html

Pelosi’s endorsement could be a significant boon for Kennedy as the race has tightened in recent weeks, with polls showing he and Markey, who served alongside Pelosi in the House for more than two decades, in a near tie headed into the Sept. 1 contest.

Still, Pelosi’s move shocked many on Capitol Hill and puts her at direct odds with her close ally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whose Senate campaign arm is designed to protect vulnerable incumbents like Markey. The speaker rarely weighs in on Democratic primary contests, particularly in favor of the challenger.

A Pelosi aide said Kennedy did not ask for the endorsement. But Pelosi felt compelled to weigh in on the race given Kennedy’s efforts in 2018, “which was essential to Democrats’ successful efforts winning back the majority,” the aide said.

Pelosi was also concerned after the Markey campaign started ramping up its attacks on the Kennedy name, going after “Joe, his family, his supporters and the Kennedy family policy legacy,” the aide added.

“With all due respect, it’s time to start asking what your country can do for you,” Markey said pointedly at the end of one ad, borrowing from the famous quote from Kennedy’s great uncle, President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy responded with a speech of his own earlier this week flanked by Black community leaders, defending his family and accusing Markey of hampering efforts to further racial equality during his political career.

“We are, once again, at a moment of profound racial reckoning. And we deserve a senator who will not stand by,” Kennedy said.

Markey and Pelosi have a long-standing relationship after working decades together during his nearly 40-year tenure in the House. Pelosi even appointed Markey to lead a select House committee on climate change in 2007.

But Kennedy has been loyal to Pelosi since coming to the House in 2013, often working behind the scenes to find avenues for new members to participate in caucus leadership rather than moving to push Pelosi out, like some of his fellow classmates. Kennedy was a significant asset for Pelosi in 2018, using his sway within the caucus to build support for Pelosi’s second tenure as speaker at a time when many others were calling for her to step down.

Markey on Thursday tweeted that Pelosi “is an effective leader who has shattered glass ceilings throughout her career,” adding, “any candidate would be proud to have her endorsement. I congratulate Joe Kennedy on securing her support.”

Pelosi donated $5,000 to Kennedy’s campaign through her super PAC earlier this month. She also gave $5,000 to Markey’s campaign last year.

Pelosi’s endorsement infuriated many progressives, who have faced mounting resistance from the Democratic establishment as they’ve launched their own primary challenges against sitting members.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has backed a slew of primary challengers against Democrats since her own insurgent campaign in 2018, said Pelosi’s support of Kennedy over Markey went against the party’s longtime policy against backing challengers, which she said “seems like less a policy and more a cherry-picking activity.”

“No one gets to complain about primary challenges again,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

The New York Democrat has been a vocal supporter of Markey — who is the Senate’s lead co-sponsor of her Green New Deal proposal — and has helped to rally her own massive supporter base behind the 74-year-old.

Justice Democrats, which has helped fuel the rise of Ocasio-Cortez and a slew of other progressive challengers, released a blistering statement that accused Pelosi of double standards.

“This move reeks of hypocrisy,” the group wrote in a statement. “The party is setting one standard for progressives and one entirely different standard for the establishment.”

Democratic campaign leaders redoubled efforts in the 2020 election cycle to protect incumbents from threats from the left, attempting to reassure anxious members of the party who watched Ocasio-Cortez topple Joe Crowley, who was considered to be in line to potentially be speaker. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began implementing policies such as a “blacklist” for outside groups that back primary challengers.

House Democrats have argued that their policies to protect incumbents are enforced in their races alone, and don’t carry over to the Senate.

Several other Democratic incumbents — most notably House Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) — have also been ousted by liberal challengers this year. Earlier this month, longtime Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) also lost a primary challenge, falling to Cori Bush, a Sen. Bernie Sanders-endorsed candidate.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/20/nancy-pelosi-endorses-joe-kennedy-senate-race-399447

Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced the unsealing of an indictment charging BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA for their roles in defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall” that raised more than $25 million.  The defendants were arrested this morning.  KOLFAGE will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon in the Northern District of Florida.  BANNON will be presented today in the Southern District of New York.  BADOLATO will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson in the Middle District of Florida.  SHEA will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix in the District of Colorado.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York.

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction.  While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle.  We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it.”

Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett said:  “The defendants allegedly engaged in fraud when they misrepresented the true use of donated funds.  As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth.   This case should serve as a warning to other fraudsters that no one is above the law, not even a disabled war veteran or a millionaire political strategist.”

According to the Indictment[1] unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

Starting in approximately December 2018, BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA, and others, orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign ultimately known as “We Build The Wall” that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States.  In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, KOLFAGE repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised . . . will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose” because, as BANNON publicly stated, “we’re a volunteer organization.”

Those representations were false.  In truth, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations.  In particular, KOLFAGE covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall, while BANNON, through a non-profit organization under his control (“Non-Profit-1”), received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which BANNON used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in BANNON’s personal expenses.  To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA devised a scheme to route those payments from We Build the Wall to KOLFAGE indirectly through Non-Profit-1 and a shell company under SHEA’s control, among other avenues.  They did so by using fake invoices and sham “vendor” arrangements, among other ways, to ensure, as KOLFAGE noted in a text message to BADOLATO, that his pay arrangement remained “confidential” and kept on a “need to know” basis.  

*                *                *

KOLFAGE, 38, of Miramar Beach, Florida, BANNON, 66, of Washington, D.C., BADOLATO, 56, of Sarasota, Florida, and SHEA, 49, of Castle Rock, Colorado, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. 

The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants would be determined by the judge.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the USPIS and the Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  She also thanked the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida for their assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Nicolas Roos, Alison G. Moe, and Robert B. Sobelman are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/20/former-trump-advisor-steve-bannon-arrested-on-charges-of-defrauding-donors-in-fundraising-scheme.html

Earth-orbiting satellites have spotted the wildfires ripping through Northern California.

As record-high temperatures hit the U.S. West Coast this past week, wildfires began to spread rapidly in a region west of Sacramento, quickly growing to encompass 124,000 acres (50,000 hectares), according to the New York Times. As the fires rage on, they are being monitored by Earth-orbiting satellites and experiments onboard the International Space Station. 

Source Article from https://www.space.com/california-wildfires-satellite-photos-august-2020.html

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

Kim Yo-jong is the younger sister of Kim Jong-un

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has delegated more responsibilities to his aides, including his sister Kim Yo-jong, South Korea’s spy agency claims.

Mr Kim still maintains “absolute authority”, but handed various policy areas to others to reduce his stress levels, the spy agency reportedly said.

Ms Kim is now “steering overall state affairs”, the National Intelligence Service added.

However, Seoul’s spy agency has been wrong about North Korea in the past.

The claims were reportedly made during a closed-door briefing on Thursday to South Korea’s National Assembly.

Lawmakers then discussed the assessment with journalists.

“Kim Jong-un is still maintaining his absolute authority, but some of it has been handed over little by little,” the agency was quoted as saying.

Ms Kim now has responsibility for Pyongyang’s policy towards the US and South Korea, among other policy issues, and is “the de-facto number two leader,” it added, although it stressed that Mr Kim had “not selected a successor.”

Mr Kim’s decision to delegate was in part to “relieve stress from his reign and avert culpability in the event of policy failure,” it said.

However, some analysts have been sceptical of the intelligence, with website NKNews noting that she appeared to have missed two important meetings this month, leading to speculation from some observers that she may have been demoted.

Who is Kim Yo-jong?

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong are said to be close

She is the younger sister of Kim Jong-un and the only one of his siblings considered a close and powerful ally.

Born in 1987, she is four years younger than Mr Kim. The two of them lived and studied in Bern, Switzerland, at the same time.

Ms Kim first gained international attention in 2018, when she was the first member of the Kim dynasty to visit South Korea. She was part of the delegation to the Winter Olympics, where North and South competed as a joint team.

She also worked alongside her brother at international summits, including his meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, China’s Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.

There’s no doubt Kim Yo-jong is on the rise.

Some analysts believe the crisis earlier this year between North and South Korea which saw the inter-Korean liaison office blown to bits was manufactured just to give her a major platform.

She issued her first public statement in March. It was a scathing verbal attack condemning the South. She later noted that she had been given “power authorised by the Supreme Leader, our Party and the state”.

She also wrote about the potential for a summit between Kim Jong-un and President Trump later this year, insisting that North Korea did not have the “slightest intention to pose a threat to the US”.

All of which suggests she may have been given responsibility to influence policies toward the United States and South Korea.

Let’s caveat this a little. This does not mean she will succeed her brother as leader of North Korea. She is also not the only one to have been given extra responsibilities. Other aides have been handed some power too.

It is also worth noting that the intelligence briefing specifically states that Kim Jong Un remains in overall control – he is merely delegating. He will still have the final say.

But it is yet another indication that Kim Yo-jong has gone from hiding behind pillars at public events and carrying ashtrays for her brother to being at the forefront of North Korea’s foreign policy.

How reliable is South Korea’s spy agency?

North Korea is one of the world’s most secretive societies.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service may have more intelligence on the North than most other organisations, but it has still had a mixed record.

For example, in 2016, South Korean media cited a similar briefing by the spy agency in which it was said that the chief of staff of the North Korean army, Ri Yong-gil, had been executed.

Three months later, the South Korean government said that he appeared to be alive, as his name had appeared on a list of party officials.

In 2017, the spy agency also admitted it tried to manipulate the result of the 2012 presidential election in the South.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53847400

Michelle Obama’s speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention has been widely praised. From her personal and emotional speaking style to her mastery of the intimate speaking setting, the speech has been rightly lauded.

But for business leaders, in particular, there were 13 sentences in that speech that haven’t gotten as much attention. And those sentences deliver a vital lesson that every leader needs to hear right now. Here are those sentences:

“Empathy, that’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes, the recognition that someone else’s experience has value, too. Most of us practice this without a second thought. If we see someone suffering or struggling, we don’t stand in judgement. We reach out because “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” It is not a hard concept to grasp. It’s what we teach our children. And like so many of you, Barack and I have tried our best to instill in our girls a strong moral foundation to carry forward the values that our parents and grandparents poured into us. But right now, kids in this country are seeing what happens when we stop requiring empathy of one another. They’re looking around wondering if we’ve been lying to them this whole time about who we are and what we truly value. They see people shouting in grocery stores, unwilling to wear a mask to keep us all safe. They see people calling the police on folks minding their own business just because of the color of their skin. They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good and winning is everything, because as long as you come out on top, it doesn’t matter what happens to everyone else. And they see what happens when that lack of empathy is ginned up into outright disdain.”

Her speech delivered a textbook definition of empathy; it’s seeing the world, or a particular situation, from another person’s viewpoint. Atticus Finch, the moral guide and conscience in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, sets this as a key life lesson for his daughter when he tells her, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

George Herbert Mead, the great American philosopher, said it’s “the capacity to take the role of the other and to adopt alternative perspectives vis-à-vis oneself.” In short, can you put yourself in another person’s mind and see the world as they do?

As Michelle Obama notes, empathy is something that we (ideally) teach our kids. But getting both kids and adults to practice empathy effectively is much easier said than done. And I’ve got some data to prove it.

Across the thousands of people who’ve taken the free online test “Do You Know How To Listen With Empathy?” about a third of respondents failed pretty badly. And only about 20% of people achieved perfect scores.

In the study The Risks Of Ignoring Employee Feedback, we discovered that most leaders are doing a poor job of listening. For example, we found that only 23% of people say that when they share their work problems with their leader, he/she Always responds constructively. By contrast, 17% say their leader Never responds constructively. And if someone says their leader Always responds constructively when they share their work problems, they’re about 12 times more likely to recommend the company as a great employer.

As I recently wrote on Forbes, new data shows that not only has employee mental health suffered during the pandemic, but that employees are afraid to discuss their declining mental health with their bosses. More than half of people (54%) said they felt uncomfortable talking to their managers and supervisors about mental health. And 30% of people feared that discussing their mental health could lead to being fired or furloughed, and 29% thought discussing their issues could cost them a promotion.

So how can leaders more effectively practice empathy? Simple. When your employees share their problems or concerns, confirm that you heard what they just said and corroborate that you understood them correctly.

This is really as simple as following this three-step process:

  • Step 1: Say “I want to make sure I really understand what you’re saying.”
  • Step 2: Restate what you heard them say.
  • Step 3: Say “Did I get that right?”

We haven’t successfully empathized with someone until the other person says, “yes, you got it right.” And if they say, “no, that’s wrong” or “you completely missed the point,” then we need to say, “I’m sorry I got it wrong, would you share again, because I really want to understand your perspective?”

Michelle Obama is correct that empathy is not a hard concept to grasp. But we could all use a bit more practice to empathize effectively.

Source Article from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2020/08/20/michelle-obamas-dnc-speech-hid-a-secret-lesson-for-every-leader-and-its-only-13-sentences-long/

Lightfoot refused to elaborate on the specific threats, but said she receives them daily against herself, her wife and her home. Comparisons to how the Police Department has protected previous mayors’ homes, such as Rahm Emanuel’s Ravenswood residence, are unfair because “this is a different time like no other,” Lightfoot told reporters.

Source Article from https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-police-lightfoot-home-protests-20200820-s563zjj4uzc2rcbprrruzalwaq-story.html

(CNN)New York federal prosecutors on Thursday charged President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon and three others with defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a fundraising campaign purportedly aimed at supporting Trump’s border wall.

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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/bannon-build-the-wall-indictment/index.html

    Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/donald-trump-new-york-tax-records/index.html

    President Donald Trump hit some familiar notes on Twitter while responding to former President Barack Obama’s speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention Wednesday night. Trump again repeated the false accusation that the former president spied on his 2016 campaign and got caught. And he needled Obama for waiting until April, when the primary was essentially over, to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden.

    The tweets came after Obama offered his sharpest criticism of Trump’s presidency to date, describing him as unfit for office.

    “I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care,” Obama said. “But he never did. For close to four years now, he’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”

    Trump, in turn, fired off a few tweets in all caps and then shared a video taken at one of his White House press conference appearances explaining that he wouldn’t have been elected in the first place if Obama and Biden hadn’t done “such a bad job.”

    Trump’s claim that Obama spied on the 2016 Trump campaign is one portion of a baseless conspiracy theory called Obamagate, which claims that “deep state” government officials left over from the Obama era have been attempting to undermine the Trump administration since before the president took office. The assertion was quickly refuted by the FBI and NSA in 2017; however, Trump has refused to accept this, and has repeated his false claim throughout his first term.

    Trump also took aim at Obama’s choice to remain above the fray during the Democratic primary — while Obama met with and gave advice to all campaigns that asked for it, he did not endorse anyone, including his former vice president, until Joe Biden had all but clinched the nomination.

    Trump also retweeted several posts from his ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who took Obama’s record to task for “slow economic growth” and a “rogue Department of Justice.” Trump has presided over an economy in collapse amid the coronavirus pandemic, and his Justice Department has routinely faced accusations of improper fealty to the president over the law.

    The tweets from Trump really are nothing new. Trump is a loud — and frequent — critic of Obama and his presidency, beginning his criticism of his predecessor even before he joined 2016’s Republican primary. Ahead of his political career, Trump was perhaps the loudest purveyor of the racist birther conspiracy theory that the former president was not born in the United States. That criticism — as well as complaints about the military, family separation, and even the country’s preparedness for the coronavirus, which did not exist when Obama was president — has continued throughout Trump’s first term, despite Obama being out of office now for over three and a half years.

    Obama, however, has largely stayed away from commenting on Trump or his record, focusing instead on encouraging people to vote. Wednesday night’s speech was a departure for him, breaking an unwritten rule that former presidents shouldn’t directly criticize sitting presidents.

    But Obama — like the rest of the country — watched from a distance while Trump reworked the government to benefit himself and his friends, and then failed to adequately respond to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic collapse. He obviously felt a need to not hold back, making the case that if Trump is reelected, there will be “no democracy at all.”


    Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we weren’t sure how it would go. Today, we’re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it, too. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy. That’s never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone won’t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Contribute today from as little as $3.

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    Between midnight Saturday and midnight Wednesday, there were 20,203 cloud-to-ground strikes in California, according to Chris Vagasky of Vaisala, which operates the National Lightning Detection Network. The total number of lightning discharges, which includes lightning that jumped from cloud to cloud without hitting the ground, was equivalent to 11 percent of California’s average annual lightning activity, he said via a message on Twitter.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/20/california-wildfires-evacuations/

    The White House and Democratic Party leadership both cast blame for the stalemate over a stimulus package on the opposing side, but, in the battle for another round of relief, experts see Republicans as having more to lose.

    While the chasm between the two sides remains significant after weeks of discussions, there are areas of common ground, including an agreement on issuing another round of stimulus checks. As a compromise, The White House suggested moving forward with a bill encompassing areas in which both sides agree and tackling more contentious issues later, but Democrats stood by the need for aggressive relief and rejected a piecemeal approach.

    With a divided Republican Party and an election only three months away, experts told Newsweek Democrats are poised to hold firm on the position that it’s a $2 trillion package or no package at all.

    “What’s their incentive to back down? If Democrats thought they’d be blamed squarely for the deadlock, I think they’d give in or they’d go to the table for something smaller,” Sarah Binder, a professor of political science at George Washington University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, said. “If you do something smaller, Republicans can say, ‘We’re done.’ And I think Democrats don’t want to be in that position.”

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    Part of what’s working in Democrats’ favor, according to experts, is their unity. Having passed the HEROES Act in the House of Representatives in May, the party has a clear vision of their demands. Republicans, however, are far from being on the same page and infighting over what should be included—or if there should even be another package—calls into question if any bill will be able to get more than 50 percent support among GOP senators.

    Polling shows that the majority of Americans support additional support for small businesses, another round of stimulus checks and expanded unemployment payments. So, Democrats pushing against a curtail of emergency relief and for a renewal of the CARES Act is a message they likely feel is popular, Binder said, and thus another motivation to hold out for a deal they want.

    And, if come November, they take control of the Senate and the White House, Daron Shaw, a professor at the University of Texas’ Department of Government and Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Chair of State Politics, said they’ve “effectively won.” Senators Susan Collins, John Cornyn and Martha McSally are facing tough reelection bids against Democratic challengers and polls put Democratic nominee Joe Biden more than 10 percentage points ahead of President Donald Trump.

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    With that kind of control, Democrats could more easily pass measures in line with their agenda and even provide relief without a formal stimulus package. By implementing an automatic stabilizer, Congress could provide enhanced unemployment benefits whenever the unemployment rate increased above a set amount without requiring legislators to vote on the measure.

    Tied to the nature of the economy, Brian Kench, dean of the Pompea College of Business at the University of New Haven, said it takes politicians out of the story during a recession. Having it already in place would also likely increase speed and efficiency in getting payments to those who are out of work.

    According to a CNN poll, 89 percent of Americans already decided on who they’ll cast their ballot for, making it unclear how much of a role the economy will play in swaying the election. However, historically, it’s been one of the most important predictors of a presidential election.

    “I think the president is eager to sign something that will show action and that will perhaps provide economic stimulus before the election,” Jason Roberts, associate chair and professor in the political science department at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said. “The president gets outsized attention in a situation like this, so President Trump probably has more to lose in terms of perception.”

    In times of a divided government, Shaw said inaction on the part of Congress to pass a stimulus package will “fall at the feet of the Trump administration.” Some Republicans are pushing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to strike a deal, an indicator that Binder said suggests they feel they’re losing the messaging war or agree that more government action would be valuable.

    While some prominent Republicans took umbrage with the price tag of the proposal presented by Democrats, and being the party known historically to be home to fiscal conservatives, Shaw said the GOP is at a disadvantage to prove they’re taking the pandemic seriously.

    “The public’s perception of government responsiveness to issues is if you’re spending money you’re addressing the problem and Republicans are constantly put in this position of, ‘It’s not that I’m opposed to spending on education but I don’t think the money is being spent wisely,'” Shaw said. “Optically it pays off for Democrats because spending shows your commitment to fixing the problem.”

    While attention should always be paid to the national debt, but economic experts told Newsweek the government should be spending now and enact fiscally conservative measures later. A “forceful up front” effort may boost the price tag, but Bill Foster, vice president at Moody Analytics, said being “bigger and bolder” helps ensure the recovery is swifter.

    A small package means the economy is going to face “some headwinds” as America heads into fall, Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at J.P. Morgan, said, and the most time-sensitive issue is expanded unemployment, making it a priority. State and local aid, a sticking point in the negotiations, is also important, but when comparing it to unemployment payments, Feroli considered it to be the less urgent of the two.

    Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, agreed that a “tightly focused” response should center on targeting families and businesses bearing the brunt of the pandemic to “help them weather the storm,” and policies that incentivize private sector growth once shutdowns are over.

    “I think a better phrasing of the issue is not the size of the response, but the effectiveness of the policies implemented as a response to the unique challenges facing the economy today. More spending is not necessarily better spending,” Winegarden said.

    Once hoping for a V-shaped recovery, where a sharp economic decline is followed by a sharp rise, America’s now looking at a W-shaped recovery, where the economy takes a second sharp decline and then another sharp rise. Given that the economy is likely to remain in flux until the pandemic is over, Kench said “mission number one” should be creating a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. It may take four times the amount of money the government thinks it needs, but if a vaccine is created, “all the other stuff is secondary.”

    “What’s fundamentally different from this recession relative to the past financial one is that it’s a health crisis … we’ll muddle along until this vaccine comes along,” Kench said. “So, the number one item is to solve that piece.”

    p:last-of-type::after, .node-type-slideshow .article-body > p:last-of-type::after {
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    Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/heres-why-democrats-have-edge-over-republicans-stimulus-negotiations-1526269

    And his ticket has some built-in support: Howard alumni rallied behind Harris during her 2016 senatorial campaign and 2020 primary run. Biden’s decision to add the California senator and former prosecutor to the Democratic ticket makes Harris not only the first Black woman to be a major party’s vice presidential nominee, but also the first graduate of an historically Black college or university (HBCU). It’s injected a new burst of energy into the HBCU community’s engagement with the presidential race.

    “Howard really paved the way for a lot of the HBCUs and the significance of (Harris) being at the top of the ticket just really shows the value of HBCUs and … how transformational this would be for us,” said Charlie Lewis, a 1989 Howard graduate. “We have over 86,000 alums and we’re not all monolithic,” Lewis continued. “We come from all over the diaspora, the African diaspora. That’s unique. And she takes a part of that.”

    Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick described seeing a Howard alumna on the Democratic ticket as both “humbling” and “exhilarating.” Harris and her team, he said, have demonstrated they are aware of the unique challenges facing the African American community and want to help remedy them, but they can’t do it alone.

    “She clearly is going to be a champion and that’s good,” Frederick said. “But we, as a population have to continue to push for more broader reforms, etc. and recognize that it’s going to take all of our elected officials to participate at the federal, state and local levels.”

    Members of the Howard network maintain that the unique political and cultural education the university offers set the standard for their success as Black leaders in America. Its most notable alumni include Thurgood Marshall, Elijah Cummings and Stokely Carmichael. Harris’ time at Howard coincided with a pivotal era of Black political activism, from Jesse Jackson’s first presidential run to the international protests against apartheid in South Africa.

    However, even as Harris’ fellow Howard graduates recognized the historic importance of her selection, they emphasize that symbolism is not enough. In particular, they hope she and Biden are prepared to reckon with their past records — hers as a local prosecutor, his as the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill — and the way those policies helped pilot harmful systems that have been particularly detrimental to Black communities. It’s perhaps the biggest obstacle to Biden and Harris’ efforts to rally the same voting bloc that has overwhelmingly supported Democrats for decades.

    Jade Agudosi, a 2018 Howard graduate, said that while she is excited about Harris’ nomination, she doesn’t subscribe to the mantra that’s it enough to “black faces in high places.”

    “There has to be more that’s involved in that,” said Agudosi, who was the president of Howard’s student government association when students occupied the university’s administrative building in 2018. “There’s work that goes along with that.”

    After developing a reputation in California as a pragmatist on crime, Harris has shifted her approach to criminal justice in recent years. As a senator, her legislative record has been markedly more progressive than in the past, including sponsoring a number of pieces of criminal justice reform legislation alongside her Democratic and Republican colleagues. In June, she co-authored the Justice in Policing Act, which aims to standardize police force tactics and independently investigate instances of misconduct.

    “In my career, the conventional wisdom was that people were either soft on crime or tough on crime. But I knew we should be smart on crime,” Harris said in her commencement address to Howard’s Class of 2017, explaining her work to reduce recidivism rates as a district attorney. Challenging the status quo while making substantive improvements to Black communities were not easy goals, but, she said, she learned the playbook through her Howard education.

    Her explanations of her prosecutor past were not enough to win over the coalition of Black, brown and young voters she had hoped to appeal to in the Democratic presidential primary in 2019. Her big bet on South Carolina, the early primary state thought of as a snapshot of Black voter preferences, paid off only marginally. Before suspending her campaign for president last December, Harris hardly broke through the top three choices among Black voters.

    Yet, in the face of November’s high stakes, even those who did not support Harris or her past policies are now giving her the benefit of the doubt. That’s echoed in recent polls, which have found her addition to the Biden ticket has the support of a majority of voters across races and ideologies. A flash poll of voters from Morning Consult revealed that 84 percent of all Democrats and 79 percent of Black voters approve of her.

    “I’m not trying to square it. She was a prosecutor. And hell, I can think of a bunch of things that I probably disagree with her about. And that’s the same for probably any other elected official around here,” said Ras Baraka, the current mayor of Newark who graduated from Howard in 1994. “I do believe, however, that her idea of America includes us in it. And her idea of what should happen is different than what we’re experiencing now … and whatever issue I have with her, she deserves a pass. For right now.”

    Harris’ supporters say she is more than prepared to tackle issues about her record on law enforcement.

    “She has never chosen the path of least resistance,” said Kirsten Allen, a Howard alumna who was Harris’ national press secretary during her presidential campaign. “When she would do interviews, especially as we got in the swing of things [during the presidential campaign], she would start off a lot of questions about her prosecutorial record with the statement, ‘I understand why black and brown people have a problem with prosecutors, I totally understand your concern.'”

    Since Biden’s VP announcement last week, questions about Harris’ loyalty to the Black community have returned as GOP talking points. Harris supporters say her choice of college answers many of them.

    “When you choose to go to Howard after living in Canada and coming from California, you’re making an affirmative decision about Blackness,” said Keneshia Grant, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University. “When you choose to pledge and stay in the sorority, stay active with it after you leave school … and all of these other things, like, she’s making multiple affirmative decisions about Blackness. She’s embracing it.”

    Grant, who had been quietly hoping that Biden would choose a Black woman for his vice presidential ticket in recognition of the value that Black voters bring to the Democratic party, said she was surprised by how immediate and vehement the critiques of Harris were.

    “People did not even take a moment to celebrate the historic nature of her being named to the ticket,” Grant said. “I understood why people had these feelings about critiquing her but I did not understand why they could not celebrate the progress.”

    To some, the unwillingness to recognize the gravity of her accomplishment reveals a more insidious trend among her detractors, who have pointed to specific career decisions to make sweeping calculations about how deserving of the Black vote she might be.

    “The reality is, we made this mistake in the Black community in 2016,” said Ravi Perry, chair of the political science department at Howard. “I think if we allow ourselves to forward these narratives, this time around again we’re only shooting ourselves in the foot, whether it’s Hillary Clinton and ‘super predators’ or the crime bill or Anita Hill, or Kamala Harris’ prosecutorial record.”

    In the absence of in-person campaign events and as college courses largely take place online, any campaign’s engagement with students will be limited in the lead up to November. HBCUs for Biden remains active and has hosted events for the campaign in the wake of the announcement of Harris’ vice presidential selection. However, HBCU grads, in particular, remain an untapped resource for campaigning and fundraising.

    Kamau Marshall, the Biden campaign’s director of strategic communications, said in a statement that Biden and Harris recognize “the significant role that Black colleges and universities play in our society” and that, “America can expect that the Biden Harris administration is committed to ensuring a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous future for these storied institutions.” He said the campaign has plans to continue to expand the reach of HBCUs for Biden by leaning into Harris’ connections to the HBCU community as an alumna.

    While Biden’s polling with Black voters tops 90 percent, making sure their enthusiasm translates to electoral support in November is crucial. With a Black woman and HBCU grad on the ticket, Democrats have a chance to close enthusiasm gaps that cost Hillary Clinton the White House in 2016.

    “HBCUs are a touch point in African American society. They mean a lot to all of us,” said Lodriguez Murray, Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for the United Negro College Fund. “The good education, the wraparound services, the economic empowerment — that creates loyalty in that community and galvanizing that loyalty for any candidate would be a game changer.”

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/19/kamala-harris-howard-university-398676

    Alexei Navalny is seen during a rally in Moscow last year along with his wife, Yulia (right). She and his personal doctor were reportedly prevented from seeing him in the hospital.

    Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images


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    Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Alexei Navalny is seen during a rally in Moscow last year along with his wife, Yulia (right). She and his personal doctor were reportedly prevented from seeing him in the hospital.

    Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, is fighting for his life in a hospital, and his spokeswoman says she believes Navalny was poisoned as he was flying from Siberia back to Moscow.

    Navalny is unconscious and on a ventilator, spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, who had been traveling with the opposition leader, said via Twitter.

    Navalny drank some tea at the airport in Tomsk, Yarmysh said, and he began feeling unwell shortly after his commercial flight took off. His deteriorating condition prompted the plane’s pilots to make an emergency landing at Omsk, some 550 miles away.

    A doctor who spoke to reporters at the hospital “said Navalny is in serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit,” NPR’s Lucian Kim reports. “But he said poisoning is only one possible diagnosis.”

    The only thing Navalny drank before becoming sick was the tea, according to Yarmysh, who says she was with Navalny from early in the morning.

    Navalny’s personal doctor Anastasy Vasilyeva says she is asking the Kremlin to help arrange his transfer to a poison treatment center in Europe. Vasilyeva flew to Omsk on Thursday along with the politician’s wife, Yulia. But after they arrived at the hospital, they were prevented from seeing him, both Vasilyeva and Yarmysh say.

    The opposition leader’s arrival at the hospital triggered a massive police response — Yarmysh said she believes police officers may now outnumber doctors at the hospital where Navalny is being treated. She posted a photo showing what she said was a small portion of the officers, gathered in the hallway outside of Navalny’s room in intensive care.

    Navalny, 44, is an energizing force for Russia’s opposition, conducting investigations that expose corruption and mobilizing against Putin’s regime. He attempted to run against Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but he was barred from doing so. Authorities cited a fraud conviction that Navalny describes as retribution for his activism.

    It’s the second time Navalny has possibly been poisoned. He was hospitalized in July 2019, days after being jailed for calling for street protests, with severe swelling and other symptoms. His sudden illness is also suspicious because a number of Kremlin foes have been poisoned or killed during Putin’s 20 years in power.

    Recent high-profile cases include the use of a Novichok nerve agent to poison former KGB spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the U.K. But Navalny’s possible poisoning also brings to mind the targeted killing of Kremlin critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died after drinking tea that was laced with polonium-210 in a London hotel.

    But experts also note that because of his repeated successes in exposing corruption among high-ranking government officials and state-controlled companies, Navalny has a long list of enemies in Russia.

    “Navalny could have been poisoned by anyone from a long list of ill-wishers,” Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said. “He’s garnered hundreds of enemies in the past few years, including some hardened individuals. And times are such that the cost of doing something like this barely matters.”

    On Thursday, Semyon Kochkin, an activist and ally of Navalny, said via Twitter that it would be “impossible” to poison Navalny without Putin’s approval. He added that the ongoing unrest and public anger over a hotly disputed election in Belarus has made Russia’s leaders afraid of similar scenes playing out in Russia.

    If Navalny were to die, it would be a seismic event in Russian politics.

    “It would be a huge loss for the opposition,” Kim says. “What Navalny has done or accomplished is really energize a new generation of Russians who have only known Putin as their president. And Navalny has shown them how to organize at the grassroots level, how to investigate corruption and how to harness social media also for fundraising purposes.”

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/08/20/904217260/alexei-navalny-voice-of-russias-opposition-is-hospitalized-in-possible-poisoning

    The Trump campaign plans to release a new digital ad targeting Hunter Biden Thursday, the same day his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, the campaign confirmed to Fox News.

    The campaign ad, part of a seven-figure buy, will focus on Hunter Biden’s dealings with China while his father was vice president, suggesting he used his father’s position for personal profit.

    Part of the ad, which will run on YouTube, shows a reporter asking Hunter Biden if negotiations for a joint investment fund with a Chinese bank took place during a 2013 flight with the vice president for a Bejing trip they took together.

    The younger Biden said in an interview last year business never came up on the Bejing flight and said he was on the trip because of his daughter.

    In July 2019, the president asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a private phone call to investigate Hunter Biden’s involvement with Ukrainian oil company Burisma and in the fall he told reporters he thought China should also investigate the Bidens, “cause what happened with China is just about as bad as what happened in Ukraine.”

    Hunter Biden’s work with Burisma has come under scrutiny after Trump alleged that Joe Biden inappropriately used his diplomatic influence in Ukraine to help his son.

    The ad also broadly paints Joe Biden as pro-China. “While China was crippling America, Joe Biden was standing up for” Beijing, the ad, first reported by Politico, says.

    SEN. RON JOHNSON DEFENDS INVESTIGATING JOE, HUNTER BIDEN’S TIES TO UKRAINE: ‘THEY PUT THEMSELVES’ IN SPOTLIGHT  

    Trump’s Ukrainian phone call eventually led to his impeachment on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges. He was acquitted in February.

    No evidence of wrongdoing has been found on the part of either Biden and both men deny the allegations. Hunter Biden has since pledged to avoid business deals with foreign entities if his father becomes president.

    The Senate has also been investigating Hunter Biden’s involvement in Ukraine.

    Trump’s own children have faced scrutiny over allegedly using their positions in the White House for personal business profit.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    For example, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, received several Chinese trademarks for her personal business in 2018 while dealing with Chinese officials through her White House role.

    A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump’s ethics attorney said at the time she applied for the trademarks in 2016 “to prevent others from stealing her name and using it to sell their products.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-campaign-releasing-hunter-biden-ad-as-joe-biden-accepts-nomination

    Sen. Kamala HarrisKamala HarrisThe Memo: Obama enters battle, enraging Trump Harris pledges to fight for country’s ideals in accepting VP nomination Pelosi paints Trump and McConnell as twin impediments to progress MORE (D-Calif.) will blast President TrumpDonald John TrumpThe Memo: Obama enters battle, enraging Trump Harris pledges to fight for country’s ideals in accepting VP nomination Pelosi paints Trump and McConnell as twin impediments to progress MORE’s “constant chaos” and “failure of leadership” in her vice presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday night as she makes the case that Democratic presidential nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenHarris pledges to fight for country’s ideals in accepting VP nomination Pelosi paints Trump and McConnell as twin impediments to progress Democratic stars unleash fury of assaults on Trump MORE will unite a divided country.

    According to excerpts from her Democratic National Convention speech, Harris will say the nation is at an “inflection point” and must choose between Trump’s path of “constant chaos” and Biden’s vision of “dignity and respect.”

    “Donald Trump’s failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods,” Harris will say.

    The vice presidential nominee will say that Trump has been a president who “turns our tragedies into political weapons” and that Biden is best suited to lead the country out of the coronavirus pandemic and racial turmoil.

    “[Trump’s] constant chaos leaves us adrift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone. It’s a lot,” Harris will say.

    “And here’s the thing. We can do better and deserve so much more. We must elect a president who will bring something different, something better, and do the important work. A president who will bring all of us together — Black, White, Latino, Asian, Indigenous — to achieve the future we collectively want. We must elect Joe Biden.”

    Harris will make history on Wednesday night as the first Black woman on a major party’s presidential ticket.

    The California Democrat will be introduced by her family, including sister Maya Harris, niece Meena Harris and stepdaughter Ella Emhoff.

    In her speech, Harris will talk about how her mother taught her to fight for a political future, “where we may not agree on every detail, but we are united by the fundamental belief that every human being is of infinite worth, deserving of compassion, dignity and respect.”

    “Today that country feels distant,” Harris will say.

    The Biden campaign plans to run a promotional video of Harris, featuring women of color talking about how she has been a fighter for the “voiceless.”

    “The litmus test for America is how we’re treating Black women,” Harris says in the video.

    “It’s about all of us knowing the power in each of us to live people up, right? And to remind them that we see them and that we hear them and that they matter.”

    Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/512812-harris-to-blast-trumps-failure-of-leadership-in-convention-speech