Beltway Insider: Biden/Harris 2024, Trump Charged, Sailors Charged with Espionage, Navalny, Synagogue Shooter Sentenced

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 06 August 2023 12:37; Written by Janet Walker

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off their reelection campaign with a speech by the Vice-President in Wisconsin and celebrating the economic gains with a total of 13.4 million jobs created since they took office.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending August 6, 2023 increased by 1.1% to 41.2% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.2% to 54.4% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Economy Slows

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this week the economy gained 187,000 jobs, which is lower than expected by continues a trend of job growth and brings the total of created jobs since the Biden Administration took office to 13.4 million.

President Biden said, "The unemployment rate is 3.5%, marking a full year and half below 4%. This follows recent news that our economy continues to grow, while inflation has fallen by nearly two thirds and is at its lowest level in more than two years. We're growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up, lowering costs for hardworking families, and making smart investments in America."

With a record 30 straight months of job growth, the economy, which is always a key indicator in the strength of the leadership has proven to the people the current administration can provide the leadership needed to rebuild American in a 21^st century economic leader.

Trump Charged with Conspiracy

Former President Donald Trump, 76, was charged this week with conspiring to block the certification of the 2020 election and intentionally directing his supporters to the capitol knowing it would disrupt the proceedings which led to the January 6, 2020, insurrection, and storming of the U.S. Capitol.

The January 6, 2020, insurrection has resulted nearly 1,100 individuals being charged with seditious act against the United States, the former president is now on that same list.

The former president continues to lead in the polls among expected GOP voters by 54%, more than double, of his nearest challenger Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 17%. The recent charges against the expected party nominee are only fueling voter's who believe, according to NBC.com, the charges are politically motivated. Although in the same poll, the gap between DeSantis and Trump closes considerably when voters were asked if the primary was held today which candidate would you choose, with Trump still leading at 46% and DeSantis closer with 31%.

The former president is facing additional legal challenges stemming from the three previous indictments where "he also faces three upcoming trials in New York: a civil trial in October over allegedly fraudulent practices in his real estate business, a second civil trial in January in which he is accused of defaming a woman who accused him of rape, and a criminal trial in March in which he is accused of falsifying records to cover up payments to an adult-film actress," reported The Washington Post.

Expensive Presidency

Even as the 2024 Presidential election looms on the horizon, the dirt from the 2016 Election is oozing out of the crevices and with many of the former president's staff, cabinet and aides expected to be witnesses in his upcoming trials the possibility of more dirty tricks, shady deals, and criminal activities, used by the former real estate developer in his hostile takeover of the white house are expected to become public.

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U.S. Navy Sailors Charged with Espionage

Two men from the United States Navy were arrested this week on charges of espionage after they accepted money to pass to members of the PRC plans for a radar system.

The ongoing efforts of the Chinese government to "rob, replicate, and replace," critical technology and defense systems comes on the heels of a year of renewed and highly visible attempts from the People's Republic of China to gather intelligence and sensitive information on the United States through multiple means including the high altitude airships, which provided topography and military locations across the United States, as well as intentional leaks on the social media site Discord which released thousands of critical documents.

"These arrests are a reminder of the relentless, aggressive efforts of the People's Republic of China to undermine our democracy and threaten those who defend it," Suzanne Turner, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, said in a statement. "The PRC compromised enlisted personnel to secure sensitive military information that could seriously jeopardize U.S. national security," reported The Washington Post.

The oath of the enlisted calls for all active-duty United States military personnel to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. Terrorism comes in many forms, overt by selling secrets and clandestine by harboring information which violates the oath of the enlisted.

Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

Russian opposition leader attorney Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison, in addition to the eleven-year sentence he is currently serving, in what observers are saying are bogus charges meant to overwhelm and destroy Russian President Vladimir Putin chief rival.

Navalny, who was poisoned by the Kremlin with the World War II Russian developed chemical agent Novichok, in 2020, while traveling from Moscow to Siberia, where he planned to speak at anti-Putin rallies. During an Academy Award winning documentary, Navalny records his efforts to find the hit men ordered to kill him. His YouTube channel had more than 6million subscribers and recorded phone calls he made to the government sponsored group resulted in confessions. Days later the men disappeared and were never heard from again.

In 2021 after regaining his health Navalny returned to Moscow and was immediately arrested. Through his incarceration he has continued to have the support of the Russian people.

A post attributed to Navalny, on the social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, stated "The number of years does not matter . . .I perfectly understand that, like many political prisoners, I'm sitting on a life sentence where life is measured by the term of my life or the terms of life of this regime. The sentencing figure is not for me. It is for you. You, not me, are being frightened and deprived of the will to resist. You are being forced to surrender your country of Russia without a fight to the gang of traitors, thieves and scoundrels who have seized power. And, do not lose the will to resist," NPR.org reported.

Putin's time in office is limited; if he is not removed over the Ukraine war his Afghanistan, which is crippling the Russian economy, as someone who is older, and rumored to be in poor health he could simply die in office. All political prisoners will be released upon Putin's death.

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Coronavirus Totals

Mandates have been altered or lifted in most urban areas with limited exceptions, and the population is encouraged to maintain personal protective practices. Masks are optional and tolerated. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the week ending August 6, 2023, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 768,983,095 confirmed cases, an increase over the past week of 422,369 cases worldwide. The total worldwide death toll increased by 1,221 to 6,953,743 deaths. (Data from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

Infections rates in the United States are also on the rise. For the 7-day period ending August 6, 2023, the total hospitalizations resulting from new Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. increased by 8,035 to 6,224,831 which represents a 12.1% increase. The coronavirus has claimed 1,136,473 total U.S. deaths, an increase of 554 over the past week. (Data from CDC).

Pentagon's Diary Gets Personal

Protecting for gain of function knowledge only aides those who initiated the constitutional violations. It does nothing to combat homegrown terrorism or narcissistic, above the law, beliefs. The best obtainable version of the truth.

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Pittsburgh Synagogue Murderer Sentenced

Robert G. Bowers, 50, has been sentenced to death for the murders of 11 members of the Tree of Life Synagogue who were killed during the mass shooting on October 27, 2018.

Bowers was shot and captured during his attempt to flee which resulted in one of the rare instances where justice can actually be served, not only for the victims of these heinous crimes but for the community and as a deterrent for others who may be planning mass shootings.

Audrey Glickman, 66, hid in a storage room filled with laundry bags and covered herself with a prayer shawl during the attack. "Without a trial, the deeds of this criminal would be glossed over in the annals of history. The purpose of the death penalty is not so much punishing, but eliminating evil, taking away the risk … and the possibility of further harm to citizens," reported The Washington Post.

Highland Park Mass Shooter Charged

Jurors convicted Bowers in June on 63 counts of both hate crime and gun charges. During the trial phase he admitted to the killings, although his defense was mental illness.

Obviously, there is some truth as anyone who could plan and carry out an attack on innocent individuals because of age, race, religion, lifestyle, or the myriad of other justifications mass shooters use to carry out this kind of act of violence.

Failure by the judicial system to act to stop continued violence against any citizen is a failure against every citizen. Violent crime escalates without deterrents. Encouraging a system of justice that has a double standard, failure to uphold the law, failure to prosecute known felons, encourages the continued destruction of the judicial system, and serves as a warning to others, report us and we will assassinate your life. This type of action is a page from the Mexican cartel's playbook.

"The evidence in this trial proved that the defendant acted because of white-supremacist, antisemitic, bigoted views that unfortunately are not original or unique to him. Sadly, they are too common," U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan of the Western District of Pennsylvania said at a news conference after the decision," reported The Washington Post.

Biden appointee, Attorney General Merrick Garland has worked to reduce the number of federal death penalty cases, even halting federal executions, while reviewing the federal death penalty procedures under the previous administration which executed 13 inmates, nearly two per month, over the course of the last seven months of Trump's tenure.

Members of the Anti-Defamation league, which has recorded more than 3,600 antisemitic incidents within the United States in 2022, are hoping the verdict will bring awareness to any growing number of antisemitic attacks within our borders, however the broader implications of the verdict could possibly deliver some restraint in the war against mass shootings, which have claimed more than 25,000 victims in the first seven months of 2023.

For more information on President Joe Biden w ww.whitehouse.gov.