By Todd Lassa

Lines for entry into a rally for the Democratic presidential ticket wrapped a couple of blocks around the Fiserv Forum Tuesday evening, leading one man in one line to wonder whether we would make it inside before the program was to start at 7 pm. The Fiserv Forum’s capacity is 17,341 when configured for Milwaukee Bucks NBA games, so let there be no doubt that about 17,000 supporters (and this reporter) shlepped out to see the presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, a number that must have rivaled attendance at the very same venue a month earlier for the Republican National Convention. 

One of the charged-up supporters to see Harris and Walz divert 90 miles or so north from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was Milwaukeean Joyce Fowler, who says she would not have made the same effort for a Joe Biden rally.

“I think he made the right decision,” she said of Biden, “and Kamala ought to make a good president.”

Fowler did not single out any issue that binds her vote to Harris, though she added that it is “crucial” that Donald J. Trump be defeated in November. Fowler, who is Black, lamented that her son plans to vote for the Republican rival.

Nathanial Brown of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, said he would have come out for a Biden/Harris rally. For him, the big issue is what he described as Trump’s threat to American democracy.

Retired teacher Edward Croke, of Milwaukee, said; “I feel we need more progressive people. Like (Sen.) Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and (Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio) Cortez (D-NY), and these older people, they shouldn’t be there.

“I like Biden. I think he was given, excuse my language, a big fucking mess from Trump, and he had to deal with it. And he did.”

Inside, the program began at 7 pm with the big, ceiling-mounted Bucks video scoreboard broadcasting the ceremonial convention roll call (Harris was officially nominated August 7) from Chicago. 

You can see from our photograph that the Editorial We ended up just short of the very last row. Acoustics were such that it often was hard to make out what anyone was saying. 

Walz came out solo about halfway through the roll call and declared the Democratic crowd more enthusiastic than the Republican crowd in July.

Back to the Chicago video feed, the Fiserv crowd cheered especially for the Democratic superstars as they rattled off delegate counts – Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Some of the states had small numbers of delegates – often just one – vote “present” or “absent” in protest of the Biden/Harris administration’s support of the Israeli government in its execution of the war in Gaza.

The Fiserv crowd erupted loudly when the Wisconsin delegation came on the scoreboard-screen, drowning out apparent flubs by Gov. Tony Evers. Then Wyoming, and then Minnesota and California in honor of their favorite son and daughter, and then, finally, Vice President Harris came out to speak. 

She warned it’s “going to be a tight race” … 

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work,” Harris said, adding her side will win “because we’re going to put a lot of hard work into the next 77 days.”

A disruption several sections over appeared to be from a pro-Palestinian protester; all that could be made out of a crumpled banner he or she had previously held was the word, “genocide.”

Meanwhile, Harris emphasized the parts of her agenda that could be most important in the remaining 76 days. These include her $6,000 child tax credit, calling out the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 (even as Trump denies any serious knowledge of plans to take over the federal bureaucracy) and, of course, women’s reproductive rights remain important. 

Harris’ brief pause to get help from medics for someone who apparently had collapsed behind the nylon cordon a few feet from her stage drew admiring cheers from the audience. 

The vice president concluded with one of her campaign’s recurring slogans, “We’re not going back.” (Blue rectangular cards with the word “Freedom” printed on it also were handed out to the audience.)

“Just like the Wisconsin state motto tells us,” Harris concluded; “Forward.”

It’s going to be a long 76 days forward to the presidential election.

Posted WEDNESDAY 8/21/24

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

By Charles Dervarics

It wasn’t the Democratic convention that Joe Biden envisioned for 2024. Instead, his appearance Monday in Chicago — part campaign speech, part wistful reflection on his career — represented the end of an era as the president made clear he is turning the keys over to new management.

With a speech that pulled on a few heartstrings, Biden touted his administration’s progress to overcome the pandemic, create new infrastructure and manufacturing jobs, reduce drug prices and install the most diverse cabinet in history. “We’ve had the most extraordinary four years of progress,” he said.

To steady chants of “Thank you Joe” and “We love Joe,” the president reflected on why he ran for president in 2020 — to honor his late son, Beau, and to help restore democracy amid the turmoil of Donald Trump’s presidency. 

“I made a lot of mistakes in my career. But I gave my best to you for 50 years,” he said. “Like many of you, I give my heart and soul to our nation.”

Even with the warm reception for Biden, the night’s activities illustrated the fast-changing political landscape of the past month. Vice President Kamala Harris made the unusual step of appearing on stage the first night of the convention, both to introduce herself to delegates and urge them to give Biden a warm welcome. 

A video and speeches about Harris’ early years were just some of the many activities that pushed Biden’s speech back until 11:30 p.m., well after prime-time television on the East Coast.

Biden spoke briefly about the tumultuous events of the past month when he faced pressure to step aside due to his age and eventually withdrew and endorsed his vice president.

The 81-year-old president said it is “not true” that he is angry at those who urged him to end his candidacy. “I love the job, but I love my country more.” Of Harris, he said, “She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity.”

He also noted that his half-century career in national politics began as a 29-year-old elected to the U.S. Senate, where the minimum age to serve is 30. “I've either been too young to be in the Senate because I wasn't 30 yet or too old to stay as president. But I hope you know how grateful I am to all of you.”

•••

Some “apparently uncommitted” delegates unfolded a protest banner during Biden’s speech, according to The Washington Post. Outside, the “tens of thousands” of pro-Palestinian protesters organizers had predicted turned out in far lower numbers. Dozens broke through part of a perimeter security fence, which drew riot police to the site, according to a Reuters witness. Chicago Police declined to say how many were arrested.

•••

While Biden’s late speech served as the highlight of the evening, it was not the only dramatic event of the night. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain introduced a new campaign slogan when he removed his jacket to reveal a red t-shirt with the words “Trump is a Scab! Vote Harris!”

The convention hall quieted during a series of short speeches about protecting reproductive rights. Most dramatic was the story of Hadley Duvall, a victim of sexual assault who became pregnant by her stepfather at age 12. “What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?” she told the crowd.

And Hillary Clinton connected the past and future in an address criticizing Trump and calling on Americans to break the glass ceiling to elect a female president. “We have him on the run now,” she said of the former president. At one point, the crowd chanted “lock him up” in reference to Trump’s recent felony convictions—a stark difference from 2016 when Trump supporters used “lock her up” as a chant against Clinton, then the Democratic nominee, over her email controversy.

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DNC Week -- MON 8/19/24

Prepping for a Loss – While Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has said he will accept the results of a “free and fair” election, he is defining for his supporters what that means; “This was an overthrow of the president. This was an overthrow,” Trump said at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, of President Biden stepping down from the race last month, The Washington Post reports. “It was a coup of a president. This was a coup.” Beware January 6, 2025.

•••

Of Protests and Ceasefires – As pro-Palestinian protesters gather around the DNC in Chicago, Gaza war ceasefire talks are moving this week from Qatar to Egypt, where stubborn resistance from Hamas leaders and from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far prevailed. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says this week’s talks are “maybe the last chance” for a Gaza ceasefire, according to The New York Times. 

•••

Zelenskyy Explains – What’s Ukraine doing in Russia? Has been the much-asked question since the counter-invasion earlier this month. Ukraine is creating a “buffer zone on the territory,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained in his Sunday address, Newsweek reports. Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian forces destroyed a second bridge in Russia’s Kursk region.

“It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall, to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible. … In particular, this is the creation of a buffer zone on the territory of our aggressor – our operation in Kursk Oblast.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Waiting for the Fed -- July’s Consumer Price Index all but assures the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates when it next meets in September. The CPI dropped to 2.9% for July, from 3.0% in June, marking its lowest level since March 2021, the Labor Department reports. Prices increased 0.2% in July over June, with shelter up 0.4%, accounting for 90% of the increase for all prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food was up 0.2%, food away from home was up 0.2%, and food at home was up 0.1%, while all prices except food and energy rose 0.2%. [Chart: BLS]

FRIDAY 8/16/24

It’s the Economy, Stupid – Ex-President Donald J. Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic policy Thursday at a press conference held at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club ahead of the Democratic presidential candidate’s unveiling of her economic policy in a Raleigh, North Carolina, appearance Friday.  

Her “populist” agenda, according to The Washington Post features …

•Elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans.

•”First-ever” ban on price gouging for groceries and food.

•Cap on prescription drug costs.

•$25,000 subsidy for first-time home buyers.

•Child tax credit that would provide $6,000 per child to families for the first year of a baby’s life.

The last plank follows Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s suggestion earlier in August that the child tax credit be raised from $2,000 to $6,000, WaPo notes.

The price gouging ban gave Trump fodder at his Thursday presser that “radical left” California politician Harris wants to put “price controls all over the place, which will end up driving up your prices, not down your prices,” USA Today reports. Trump held up examples of foodstuffs to highlight grocery inflation, including Oreos, Froot Loops, Cheerios and an impossibly downsized container of Tic Tacs. 

Trump also attacked the Biden/Harris administration’s favorable jobs growth and unemployment rate record, which has generally gone unnoticed by voters. He claimed without evidence that “virtually 100%” of net job growth over the last year has gone to migrants, “actually beyond the number of 100%.”

•••

Vance Wrote the Forward – Donald J. Trump has spent much of the summer trying to distance himself from Project 2025, the 900-some page Heritage Foundation book that, among other things, would consolidate presidential power, eliminate various federal agencies and promote a “Christian nation.” 

In an August 6 speech in Philadelphia, with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris standing behind him, running mate Tim Walz said: “JD Vance literally, literally wrote the forward for the architect of the Project 2025 agenda. 

Friday PolitiFact:Daily confirmed Walz’s charge. Vance wrote the forward for Kevin Roberts’ book, Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America. PolitiFact cites HarperCollins Publishers’ website and “other marketing materials” as proof. 

Whatever your opinion, be sure to give Walz credit for correct use of the word, “literally.”

--TL

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THURSDAY 8/15/24

Reviving Ceasefire Negotiations? – Negotiations to negotiate a Gaza ceasefire were set to resume Thursday in Doha, Qatar, where mediators from Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel are to take up the deal President Biden proposed May 31. Talks over that proposal have been stalled.

Problem is, it appears that Hamas, whose chief negotiator was killed in July 31 by an explosive device in a Tehran guesthouse, will not attend.

Phase I of Biden’s deal would have been a six-week ceasefire in which all hostages and detainees were to be released while Israel and Hamas were to negotiate Phase II, a complete and final ceasefire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants Israel to resume its war on Gaza after Phase I, if necessary.

Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza reported Thursday that the death toll there has topped 40,000. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and soldiers killed, according to NPR.

Competing interests: Haaretz reported earlier this week that while the war in Gaza drags on, Netanyahu is quietly working to advance his overhaul of the Israeli Supreme Court, which would limit its ability to overturn Netanyahu’s decisions it finds “extremely unreasonable.” Biden, on the other hand, hopes a ceasefire will diffuse a movement by pro-Palestinian Democrats to withhold their votes on November 5.

•••

Harris Leads in Battlegrounds – Vice President Kamala Harris leads Donald J. Trump in five battleground states, is tied in a sixth, and is behind in the seventh, in the non-partisan Cook Political Report’s Swing State Project Survey conducted by BSG and GS Strategy Group. In a head-to-head race, Harris leads Trump nationally, 48% to 47%. 

In the Swing State Survey, Harris leads Trump in Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They are tied in Georgia and Trump leads in Nevada.

Meanwhile: Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton infamously avoided campaigning in Wisconsin in 2016. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris will not make that mistake. She plans to visit Milwaukee next Tuesday while former President Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (per The New York Times). Harris will appear with running mate Tim Walz at Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention was held last month.

•••

Menendez Sub in Senate – Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy intends to appoint his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to serve out the rest of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s term this year, CQ Roll Call reports, citing “multiple New Jersey media outlets.” 

Menendez, who was found guilty in July of multiple federal charges, including acting as a foreign agent, steps down from his Senate seat next Tuesday. 

Murphy might have appointed the Democratic nominee for Menendez’s seat, Rep. Andy Kim, but Kim defeated Tammy Murphy, the governor’s wife, in the New Jersey Democratic primary. Kim faces Republican candidate Curtis Bashaw November 5.

--TL

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...meanwhile... WEDNESDAY 8/14/24

Ukraine Keeps Pushing into Russia – Ukraine hit four Russian airbases with four long-range drones overnight Wednesday, The Kyiv Independent reports, citing a source from the SBU, Ukraine’s security service. It is Ukraine’s largest such attack since pushing into Russia’s Kursk region more than a week ago. 

Earlier, according to the report, Russia claimed it had downed 110 Ukrainian drones in a massive attack. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that the governor of Belgorod Oblast has declared a state of emergency as Ukraine’s military moves into the region adjacent to Kursk.

•••

Omar Survives Primary – Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza beat centrist liberal Don Samuels in Minnesota’s primary election Tuesday, the AP reports. She escapes the fate that befell two fellow “Squad” members, Rep. Cori Bush, who lost the Democratic nomination in Missouri last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who lost the Democratic nomination in New York in June. Samuels, Omar’s challenger for her Minnesota 5^th District seat, is an ex-Minneapolis City Council member she narrowly defeated in 2022.

Reports indicate Omar was not subject to a well-funded opposition campaign by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s United Democracy Project, which is credited with defeating Bush and Bowman.

•••

In Wisconsin – Trump-backed businessman Eric Hovde won the state’s Republican nomination Tuesday to take on two-term Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in November, per USA Today. In Wisconsin’s 3^rd House District small business owner Rebecca Cooke defeated state Rep. Katrina Shankland in the Democratic primary to take on freshman Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden November 5. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates Wisconsin’s 3^rd as “lean Republican,” according to USA Today.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

By Charles Dervarics

With Vice President Kamala Harris surging in the polls, Donald J. Trump took to the friendly territory of X (formerly Twitter) Monday night for an interview with Elon Musk in hopes of reclaiming momentum for the fall presidential campaign.

What he perhaps didn’t expect were technical glitches that delayed the event by 40 minutes. Users received messages such as “this space is not available,” and those gaining access just heard music for many minutes. Musk claimed that a massive external attack on the website was to blame, and both he and Trump spun the delay as proof of tremendous interest in the interview.

The event was a homecoming of sorts for the former president, whose Twitter account was suspended in 2021 and who then launched his own social media site, Truth Social. Prior to the interview, Trump touted his return to the platform in a video posted to X.

While the Trump campaign termed it beforehand as “the interview of the century,” the event was more of a conversation between two men who agree on most topics. His questions were more of the softball variety, with no fact-checking of the responses.

For his part, Trump returned to many of his favorite themes, sharply criticizing Harris as both unqualified and too-far left for most Americans. “I think she’s more incompetent than he (President Biden) is,” Trump said. He also urged his supporters and the media to not let Democrats “get away with their disinformation campaign” to distance the vice president from her role in setting immigration policy.

The more newsworthy revelations, however, included the following:

• Return to Butler: “We’re going back to Butler,” Trump said of his desire to return to the Pennsylvania site of his recent assassination attempt. The former president and Musk spent 20 minutes talking about the assassination attempt, with Trump stating that he will return there in October. He also joked that “illegal immigration saved my life” because he turned his head toward an immigration chart on stage. Without that turn of the head, the bullet may have caused more catastrophic injury.

• Education changes: Trump returned to an earlier theme of wanting to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and “move education back to the states.” He noted that “not every state will do great” but that it would spur competition as families may relocate in search of better schools. He predicted about 35 states would “do great” with the change.

• Government efficiency: Musk said he wants to sit on a commission to examine government inefficiency, and Trump seemed ready to take him up on his offer. “The waste [in government spending] is incredible,” Trump asserted.

Musk previously has endorsed Trump and pledged to provide substantial funding for his campaign.

TUE 8/13/24

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Ukraine's military says it controls nearly 400 square miles of Russia, in and around the Kursk region, NPR's Morning Edition reports. Scroll down for details.

TUE 8/13/24

Details -- Up to 1,000 soldiers, at least 11 tanks and 20 armored vehicles have crossed the Ukraine border into Russia since its counteroffensive a week ago, the Kyiv Post reports. Alexei Smirnov, governor of Kursk Oblast reports at least 12 civilians dead and 121 injured. About 121,000 residents of the region have fled or evacuated, and the governor of the neighboring Belgorod region also has evacuated civilians from its border region, according to the Post.

As Western pundits debate over why Ukraine chose to invade a week ago, The Kyiv Independent says the move into Kursk Oblast is meant to divert Russian tanks and protect Ukraine's border regions, Kyiv says. But the Kyiv Post also reports that residents of the small town of Sudzha have appealed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin for help and that many there worry that family members were unable to evacuate. Sudzha has just 5,000 residents, but it also is the last major transit point for Russian pipeline gas heading to Europe via Ukraine.

•••

Both Campaigns Hacked, FBI Says -- Computer hackers in Iran have tried to hack a Trump associate and advisors to the Biden-Harris campaign, people "familiar with the matter" tell The Washington Post. Three Biden-Harris staffers also received spear-phishing emails, according to the report.

"We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter," the agency said in a prepared statement. According to the WaPo the FBI began investigating the hacking in June, contacting Google and other companies.

--TL

____________________________________________

MON 8/12/24

More – Ukraine pushed at least 10 miles into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, adding that unconfirmed reports say the counteroffensive went as much as 20 miles past the border, with locals fleeing and complaining there was a lack of warning from Russia’s government, which is offering them 10,000 rubles (about US$115) compensation. 

The incursion has strained Ukraine’s defensive forces in the Kharkiv region, according to NPR, while Russian reinforcements are expected to push back Ukrainian troops in Kursk soon and reclaim the border.

The debate: Allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with US arms once raised worries Vladimir Putin would give him excuse to engage with the US and NATO. In May, the US allowed Ukraine to use its missiles to counter-strike Russia’s attack on the Kharkiv region. Of the further push across the border, Business Ukraine magazine tweeted this Monday morning: “Now that Ukraine has crossed the reddest of Putin’s red lines and invaded Russia without sparking World War III, there are no excuses for restricting Kyiv’s ability to defend itself or denying Ukraine the weapons it needs to win the war.”

Agree? Disagree? – Read the left or right column for how to add your comments to this page.

•••

‘Final’ Ceasefire Proposal This Week (?) – It all comes to a head, again, this week when President Biden, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani are to present a “final” ceasefire proposal to end Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza (per The New York Times). The US, Egypt and Qatar last Thursday called on Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiations table. Then on Saturday, at least 93 people were killed in a school sheltering Palestinian refugees in Gaza, The Washington Post reports. Israel said its military forces were targeting Hamas fighters. 

On Monday, according to Haaretz, leaders of the UK, France and Germany called on Iran to refrain from attacks on Israel that would jeopardize truce talks, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asking Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to “do everything possible to prevent further military escalation.”

•••

On Biden’s Exit Interview – President Biden spoke about his proposal for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire in his interview with Robert Costa for CBS Sunday Morning over the weekend. 

“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, etc., is still viable,” Biden said. “And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole term – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.”

Huge turnouts supporting Harris’ campaign have included some demonstrators opposed to continued funding and support for Israel in its war on Hamas in Gaza. 

CBS News released a clip of the Sunday Morning interview last week, in which Biden warns that he believes Donald J. Trump will not accept a loss in the November election. Trump has said he will accept results of a free and fair election, but his campaign also is floating the notion that the Democratic Party’s switch to Vice President Harris as his opponent is not “constitutional.”

Biden told Costa he made his decision to withdraw from the presidential race with a “small circle” of people including First Lady Jill Biden at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, vacation home as he recovered from a case of COVID.

•••

Harris Trumps Trump, Biden, on Economy – This one, frankly, is a bit confounding. An FT Michigan Ross poll finds that 42% trust Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the economy while 41% trust ex-President Trump.  … And Harris’ score tops the most recent score for President Biden by seven points. Never mind that the Federal Reserve has more to do with interest rates and trying to control inflation than does any president, though Trump has indicated his second presidential term would seize some or all control from the Fed. In her nascent presidential campaign, there is no indication Harris would abandon Biden’s reversal of “trickle-down” supply side Reaganomics.

And yet, “The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden … says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” University of Michigan Professor Erik Golden said, according to the Financial Times.

Presumably, the professor was speaking about the Harris v. the Biden campaign, not the Harris v. the Biden economy.

•••

Musk Interviews Trump – X-Twitter owner Elon Musk will interview Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump on X-Twitter, 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific, on X-Twitter.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news