Beltway Insider: Biden Readies for 2024, GOP 2024, India Train Crash, Scientologist Masterson Guilty of Rape

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 04 June 2023 13:51; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden, after weeks of tense and acrimonious meetings, signed into law the historical budget package barely adverting a U.S. government default in the initial budget negotiation with the Republican led House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending June 4, 2023 decreased by 0.8% to 40.7% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.1% to 54.9% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Biden, GOP Led House Reach Budget, New Variant, Tina Turner, Memorial Day

Biden's Takes a Tumble

President Biden was "sandbagged" this week after he delivered the commencement speech at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the octogenarian wasn't injured in the fall, however the image of the Commander-in-Chief falling, especially with the expected antagonistic 2024 President campaign months away, brings all the ageism issues to the forefront in what appears will be a contentious political process, complete with mudslinging and verbal pugilism.

Biden isn't the first president to take a tumble with the world's media watching. President Gerald R. Ford, also known as the clumsy president, tripped so many times it became a running skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live with the comedian Chevy Chase playing Ford. President Biden's former boss, former President Barack Obama also tripped walking up the stairs at a 2012 event. It happens and unfortunately for the President, it becomes an indication of governing ability.

Biden Readies for 2024 Race

With the official start of the 2024 Presidential Campaign season nearing, President Biden, the incumbent, has the luxury of watching the tenor of the ever-widening pool of Republican nominees to see which of the candidates separate from the pack.

"While the rest of us are sweating the micro-news cycles and who's up and who's down on Twitter, the president is playing the long game. He ran for the presidency pledging to restore functionality to Washington after his predecessor, and it's hard to argue with his record of doing so," said [former President Barack] Obama spokesman and Democratic strategist Eric Schultz, The Associated Press reported.

Leaning on his record, Biden stepped into the office during a season of uncertainty and delivered on his campaign promises. Over the last 30 months, Biden has managed to steady the listing ship of American politics and provide people centric government, with a focus on the most important matters at hand, including ensuring the Coronavirus pandemic would no longer control the population, and the staggering unemployment rate would be reduced, which he did.

Republican Presidential Pool Widens

With former Vice-President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie expected to declare their intent to seek the Republican party's nomination for president the already crowded GOP pool of candidates increases by two.

Other than former President Donald Trump, who is confronting a summer of current legal issues, and residual legal issues, and has spawned a contentious politicking style based on verbal sparring, jousting, jabbing embellishments, and a hostile takeover style war tactics which works for him, and separates him from the traditional view of democracy which reaches the smackdown generation.

The remaining pool of candidates must separate themselves, pull away from contentious politicking and concentrate on the differences in the party and the issues at hand. More importantly, any of the candidates that want to secure the nomination must draw in undecided voters.

Biden, undoubtedly, has his team building campaign strategies against the top contenders which will likely be Trump, DeSantis, Pence, and possibly Chris Christie. A Pence-DeSantis ticket could serve each of these politically hungry politicians with the possibility of sixteen years of republican leadership.

"While Christie called a potential presidential run a "huge risk" at an event hosted by Semafor in Washington last month, he said, "If it turns out that I'm on a debate stage in August of this year and Donald Trump decides to be on it, you can be sure that we'll have some exchanges that I hope will be illuminating to the public about both him and me," CNN reported.

The 2020 election, which many will recall, came the highest point of uncertainly in American history since the 1960s, images of the January 6 insurrection and a president who encouraged violence, to plant the seed of dissension for the next election, causing grievous injury and death.

Theranos Founder Guilty in Massive Wire Fraud Scheme

Indian Train Disaster

Three trains collided in the Indian countryside killing at least 275 and injuring more than a 1,100, in what officials are calling he worst transportation accident in the nation's history. Officials has stated the crash occurred on Friday June 2, near the coastal city of Banhanaga, India in the eastern Odisha state, when a passenger train, the Coromandel Express, struck a freight train.

This derailed some of the train's cars. Minutes later the Howrah Express, a passenger train traveling in the opposite direction struck the debris from the first crash which also derailed the at capacity passenger train. A signal error has been determined to have caused the crash.

"According to senior railway officials, the Coromandel Express, a high-speed train that was traveling from Kolkata to Chennai, was diverted onto a loop line and slammed into a heavy goods train idled at Bahanaga Bazar railway station. Its carriages derailed onto the opposite track, where they were hit by an oncoming high-speed train, the Howrah Express, which was traveling from Bangalore," CNN reported.

Passengers have described the collision as "an earthquake" resulting in "unimaginable injuries" as survivors worked to free themselves from the twisted and shifting metal train cars. The scene was likened to a war zone, a bomb blast, as train cars lie bent and zigzagged across the field, blocking the tracks, now littered with personal effects, decapitated bodies strewn about.

The high-speed rail cars, which were traveling upwards of 125mph, carried more than 2,200 people. It is surprising that there are survivors considering the rate of speed at which the trains were traveling. More than 1,100 are injured, 100 are considered critical. This is a developing story.

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 June 4, 2023, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 767,364,883 people, with a 7-day increase of 469,808 with a total worldwide death toll of 6,938,353 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 June 4, 2023, the total confirmed cases rose to 103,436,829. The coronavirus has claimed 1,130,593 total deaths. (Data from The World Health Organization).

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, belief. The best obtainable version of the truth.

Justice Watch: And They Got Away With It (Part 4)

Elizabeth Holmes, Disgraced Theranos CEO, Reports to Prison

Disgraced Silicon Valley CEO Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison this week to begin her 11-year sentence. Holmes, who along with her partner Ramesh Sunny Balwani, were each convicted of defrauding investors of millions in her blood testing company Theranos.

Holmes, the mother of two children under the age of three, was not convicted of all counts. On January 3, 2022, a federal jury convicted Holmes of one count of conspiracy to commit fraud on investors and three counts of committing fraud on individual investors, which involved wire transfers totaling more than $140 million.

Her former partner, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was sentenced on in December 2022 to 155 months (12 years, 11 months) for fraud that risked patient health by misrepresenting the accuracy of Theranos blood analysis technology and that defrauded Theranos investors of millions of dollars.

Theranos, who at one time had a board of directors that included a who's who of American politics, University presidents, politicians, decorated military generals, all of whom saw Holmes' company as an opportunity to transform the blood testing industry. The potential for astronomical profit blinded these best minds and never once did they see past the façade.

Holmes will spend the next 11 years and three months at a minimum-security federal prison Camp Bryan, where "inmates will have job assignments as well as opportunities to participate in wellness programs, religious services, and recreation activities," reported People.com.

Danny Masterson, Scientologist, Actor, Found Guilty of Rape

Danny Masterson, star of "The 70s Show" and member of the Scientology religion, was found guilty this week of two counts of forcible rape in a sensational second trial that included the introduction of a "prior bad acts witness" witness and an expert in Scientology.

"The three women who accused Danny Masterson of raping them at his Los Angeles home in the early 2000s each said the same thing: The actor gave them a drink that quickly made them feel disoriented before he raped them," The Hollywood Reporter reported.

After the first trial resulted in a hung jury. The LA prosecutors had the choice of closing the case or opting for a second trial. They chose to return to court, and moved toward cleaning up their witness list, determining which factors needed to be clarified to the jury to prove the actions of the now convicted rapist, where exactly as had been reported.

The strategy worked as Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told jurors in her closing arguments, "The defendant drugs his victims to gain control. He does this to take away his victims' ability to consent." The jury returned a guilty verdict. He faces 30 years in prison.

"The church taught his victims, 'Rape isn't rape, you caused this, and above all, you are never allowed to go to law enforcement,'" Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told the jury during the trial. "In Scientology, the defendant is a celebrity, and he is untouchable," Foxnews.com reported.

Scientology is not the only religious organization that ingrains members of their organization with distorted doctrine, criminal thinking for a personal power trip. Churches that even base their doctrine on Christianity indoctrinate individuals to committing sexual violence against other church members as the likelihood of Christian women reporting rape are rare.

The courage of the LA prosecutor to move ahead, even after the first trial resulted in a hung jury, regardless of the prominence of the accused, especially with the powerful Scientology organization attempting to control the narrative, elevates the standard of prosecution as no person or organization, religious or professional, should be permitted to engage in predatorial behaviors resulting in rape, sexual violence and torture or in any way removes the individual's right to consent.

DAs across the nation should review the prosecutor's use of prior bad act witnesses and sect cult theories and practices instead of dismissing the victims because they just don't want to deal with it.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Longtime Companion of Jeffrey Epstein, Found Guilty

LA Prosecutor Declines to Bring Charges Against Armie Hammer

The Los Angeles Prosecutor's office announced this week it would not seek charges against disgraced actor Armie Hammer, after several women accused "The Social Network" star of rape and other deviant behaviors.

"Tiffiny Blacknell, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said in a statement on Wednesday that there was "insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime" because of the "complexity" of the relationship between him and the woman, whose name was not released," The New York Times reported.

Hammer had maintained the actions were consensual.

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