Beltway Insider: Biden, Harris, and the DNC, Harris Economic Plan Scorned, Debate Schedule, Ukraine, India Rape, MDMA

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 18 August 2024 10:32

Written by Janet Walker

President Biden who will deliver Monday's keynote speech, and likely the final speech of his political career, at the Democratic National Convention will be starkly different from what he had planned only a few short weeks ago.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending August 18, 2024, decreased by 0.5% to 38.4% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.2% to 56.0% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Averaging the National Polls, with the Tuesday, November 5, 2024 election in 79 days, Vice-President Kamala Harris's popularity with prospective voters has increased by 0.05% to 46.2% over the former president and convicted felon Donald Trump, whose popularity with prospective voters has decreased by 0.03% averages 43.7%.

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Biden, Harris and Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention begins this week in Chicago. Home to a strong contingency of democratic supporters, amid fanfare and hope, a reminder of a celebration in Millennium Park not so long ago, when America was amid a deepening global economic crisis.

What to Expect

The Democratic party is also youthful party with more living past presidents who will all be showing up delivering primetime addresses, conjuring memories of days of victory, and others reminding the people of what can happen if tyranny isn't stopped.

Party heavyweights including former President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries  who are all scheduled to speak.

Vice-President Kamala Harris, who will accept the nomination for President of the United States, the second female in the history of the party, and the first African American female, will speak during the primetime slot on Thursday, August 22, 2024.

Harris is Wasting Key Moments

Vice-President and presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris is wasting key moments in an abbreviated campaign season. Her recent speech on the economy, a moment where many expected, at minimum for the vice-president to stick with the Biden economic plan, and using her strengths elevate the highlights of his administration and add a high-level view of her expected points.

Unfortunately, this moment was wasted and generated so much negative publicity for the candidate that it became a glaring red flag and will be seized upon, like a pack of wild wolves, during the upcoming presidential debate.  

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In a scathing Op/ed written by The Washington Post Editorial Board, "Vice President Kamala Harris's speech Friday was an opportunity to get specific with voters about how a Harris presidency would manage an economy that many feel is not working well for them. Unfortunately, instead of delivering a substantial plan, she squandered the moment on populist gimmicks."

The economy is a central issue to many voters and many of these voters see her as the most obvious choice in the upcoming presidential election. And still. if she is unable to step back from wowing the crowd with generalities and realize the riding high time is over, and that it is a war for the office, she may lose undecided voters and key swing states.

For Harris who is riding high on verbal endorsements, which may or may not translate to actual votes come November, understanding the people want to hear her "boots on the ground" plan for the economy and not generalizations of "price gouging," which anyone who has shopped for eggs recently understands is a real issue, has somehow slipped past her.

Debating over buying a dozen large eggs at a big box store for $5.99 or a half-dozen at $2.14, which can run $1 to $2 higher at national food store chains, or planning the weekly grocery shopping like a military operation in order to find the best deal and bargain to help ease the high cost of food shopping, has become a real issue striking the heart of America. And the understanding that once prices rise, they will not fall. And the consumers, especially those who can least afford it, are affected the most.

Vice-President Harris may not fully understand the power of the economy when it comes to a national election, but you can be sure Donald Trump understands. The people who are putting their trust in the hands of the next president are going to be shopping for someone who can address the economy, in real, down to earth, hard choices, kitchen table discussion terms.  

After staging a coup within the party as the stalwarts rose up explaining "there was no path to victory," they have somehow forgotten they are in a war for not only the direction of the nation, but also the respect of the world, and are coasting to what they believe is an assured victory. The finish line in this race is November 4, 2024. Act like it.

The time has come for a more narrowed view of the Harris Presidency 100-day economic plan.

Harris, Trump Agree on Debate Date

Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris, and former President and GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump, have agreed to a Trump proposal of two Presidential debates. The first ABC will host the first debate, which will air live on September 10, 2024, scheduled to be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Walz, Vance Agree on Debate Date

Presumptive Democratic Vice-President nominee Tim Walz and Republican Vice-Presidential nominee JD Vance has agreed to a debate on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The debate, sponsored by CBS news.

After the Walz agreed on the debate, Vance threw down the gauntlet and challenged the Governor to an additional early, mid-September, debate.

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Ukraine Advances Inside Russian Border

The Ukraine Army has continued to advance inside the Russia border after capturing the city of Kursk, gaining approximately three kilometers daily, over the past nine days.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has continued to capitalize on his aggressive military strategy which included a bombing raid on Savadleyka, an airbase which houses Russian missiles and aircraft, and more than 400 miles from Kyiv. Approximately ten targets were direct hits, with residual damage also reported.

Social media posts have shown Russian soldiers surrendering, as the Ukraine military, refreshed with Western and European Union aid, continue to make gains, effectively slowing the aggression of the Russian occupation efforts.

"Ukraine has had success destroying Russian warplanes with drone attacks on airfields deep inside Russian territory but is barred by its Western partners from using Western weapons, such as long-range missiles, to do so," reported The Washington Post.

Russia-American Sentenced in Russia for Treason

A Russian-American citizen, from Los Angeles, visiting Russia, was arrested and charged with treason after donating $50 to a Ukraine Charity. She was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

"White House national security spokesman John Kirby called the sentencing cruel and said the United States would continue to seek consular access to her and press for her release. "It's nothing less than vindictive cruelty. We're talking about 50 bucks to try to alleviate the suffering of the people in Ukraine, and to call that treason is just absolutely ridiculous," Kirby told reporters," Reuters reported.

India Fails Women, Again

The brutal rape and murder of a female doctor working in Kolkata, has once again brought the global spotlight on India and it continual failure in protecting its female citizens and imposing harsher penalties for perpetrators of those convicted vicious and brutal crimes.

"In protests called "Reclaim the Night", women marched across several Indian cities from midnight on Wednesday, on the eve of the country's 78th Independence Day, […] "As a society, we have to think about the atrocities being committed against our mothers, daughters and sisters. There is outrage against this in the country. I can feel this outrage," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an Independence Day address to the nation on Thursday," Reuters reported.

The woman, 31, a doctor in a residency program, at R G Kar Medical College, who had just worked a 36-hour shift, was sleeping on the floor of her hospital, in a lounge. She was found brutally bludgeoned to death the next morning. Autopsy reports showed she had been engaged in a violent struggle, bleeding from her head, face, and eyes, with wounds to her body. A police officer, in training, was arrested.

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National protests are not enough to change generational beliefs that violence, and especially sexual violence, is acceptable. Governments need to begin implementing education programs at a young age so that violence, and especially sexual violence, will become a blight in history and not an everyday occurrence.

The rape has recalled the violent, shocking, and heinous rape, of Jyoti Singh Pendey, in 2012. India has a long history of violent, heinous and unfathomable crimes against women, and girls. In fact, as many say simply, India hates women.

"Jyoti Singh Pandey was attacked with her male companion while traveling on a public bus in India's capital, New Delhi. Both were savagely beaten, the woman raped, and then both thrown from the moving vehicle. Her intestines had been ruptured by an iron rod that her attackers inserted into her vagina; her brain and internal organs had suffered massive damage," reported Ms. Magazine.

Every 20 minutes, in India, a woman is raped. Rape is about control, the less control a perpetrator has in their life, coupled with hate, becomes the wick that ignites inhumane, savage and sadistic violence. The burden to rewire the male thought process falls on the women in the home, mothers, sisters, must impress on their sons and brothers, that sexual violence is not acceptable, rape is not acceptable.

Coronavirus Totals

The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

For the seven days ending August 18, 2024, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization increased by 37,347 confirmed cases totaling 775,867,547. The total worldwide death toll increased by 1,037 to 7,057,145 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated August 4, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

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FDA Rejects Psychedelic Drug MDMA

The Food and Drug Administration, (FDA), has rejected an application submitted by Lykos Therapeutics, for the psychedelic drug MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy or Molly, to win approval for use in the treatment of severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

According to Dr. Rachel Yehuda, PhD, the Director of Mount Sinai's Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research, who has spent her career focused on the treatment and prevention of PTSD, "A typical MDMA-assisted psychotherapy session involves ingesting 120 mg of MDMA, followed by an optional half-dose of 40 mg administered about two hours after the initial dose to extend the therapeutic effects. The effects can last as long as eight hours, during which the patient has the opportunity to revisit important past events and emotions with two trained therapists."

Even as medical studies point to a possible benefit for those severely affected by PTSD, from any of the many aggravating issues which can trigger PTSD, from war, criminal attacks, and childhood trauma, the FDA requested a larger study, which will set back any possible approval for three-to-five years.

Lykos Therapeutics has announced they will appeal, citing the research submitted is sufficient.

For more information on President Joe Biden: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.