Beltway Insider: Biden/Nat'l Security, Midterms, Jan 6/Trump, Florida, Social Security, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Raleigh, Parkland, Angela Lansbury

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 16 October 2022 12:42; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden, unveiled his National Security Strategy this week, presenting the administration's plan to increase America's superiority to compete against The People's Republic of China, who remains committed to realigning and elevating its preeminence to restructure world order.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending October 16, 2022 increased by 0.4% to 42.9% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.9% to 52.9% 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/DeSantis, Cannabis, Ukraine, Thailand, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Uvalde, Herschel Walker, Loretta Lynn, Nikki Finke

Biden Releases National Security Strategy

President Biden, who has served the nation as a senator from Delaware for 36 years, has seen the rise and encroaching shifts in the current geopolitical landscape. These global changes brought on through technological advances, has greatly hindered the United States ability to compete globally especially as China continues to infringe, both legally and often illegally, across all key industries in an effort to realign global dominance.

The National Security Strategy, details this administration's effort to address critical components that are at the forefront of attempts to thwart Americans global influence and dominance. From shared challenges, such as food insecurities and communicable diseases such as Covid, to investing in America workers, and revitalizing America's power in manufacturing, remains key and necessary to boost American to a 21^st century superpower.

"We are complementing the innovative power of the private sector with a modern industrial strategy that makes strategic public investments in our workforce, strategic sectors, and supply chains, especially in critical and emerging technologies," the report stated.

The importance of keeping Russian President Vladimir Putin in order, and with that the return of the nation of Ukraine to its sovereign borders and call for a complete ceasefire and end to the current military action, was also addressed as the need to approach this type of action with a coalition of nations and through key international partners.

President Biden's National Security Strategy also addressed the United States relationship with regional powers to extend governmental resources to assist in sharing regional responsibilities for the empowerment of emerging nations.

Midterm Elections November 8

With the November 8, 2022, midterm elections three short weeks away, President Biden has been campaigning heavily in crucial battleground states to ensure democrats retain the trifecta government that has aided the passage of legislation promised during his 2020 Presidential campaign.

What's at Stake

For Americans in solid red or blue states, the Mid-terms may appear less critical, however all 435 seats and party control over U.S. House of Representatives, and the successful implementation of the Biden agenda, which have benefited Americans from the first day of his presidency, is at risk.

Additionally control of the U.S. Senate also hangs in the balance as 35 Senators are facing reelection.

"Based on the consensus forecast, 24 of this year's 35 U.S. Senate seats up for election are seen as safe for the incumbent party. That includes 15 of 21 GOP-held seats, and nine of 14 held by Democrats. Assuming those play out as expected, Democrats1 will hold 45 seats, Republicans 44," 270towin.com reported.

Of the remaining 11 seats, Democrats are expected to take six seats, including hotly contested Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania; Colorado, New Hampshire and Arizona are expected to solidly go blue.

Over the next three weeks, the mid-term elections which are key to building American back better, especially for the middle class, seniors, and other often marginalized groups, will be treated like a presidential election, across all communication channels. Vote.

January 6 Committee Votes to Subpoena Former President Trump

The January 6 Committee, which over the course of the last 14 months have investigated former President Donald Trump's involvement in the January 6 Capitol Riots carried out by militant right-wing radicals protesting the 2020 Election results.

Holding nine public hearings, including two primetime hearings that garnered large market shares, have presented overwhelming evidence that the former president played a pivotal role in instigated the insurrection and failed to intervene through any means.

"Combining a mix of new evidence gathered by the committee since July and testimony played at previous sessions, the hearing aimed to bolster a conclusion that members have hammered again and again: that the violence on Jan. 6 was the direct and predictable result of Trump's choices in the weeks after he lost his bid for reelection," reported The Washington Post.

The possibility of a subpoena can result in a determined Trump to stall the committee through legal channels, or ignore the summons entirely, which his former Chief of Staff, Stephan K. Bannon chose to do and was held in contempt and convicted. He could also invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, which he did most recently when questioned by New York State AG Letitia James.

World News: Iran and the Youth Whirlwind

Social Security Recipients Receive Largest Raise in 40 Years

Close to 70million Americans who receive social security benefit will begin receiving an 8.7% cost of living increase, the largest boost recipients have seen in 40 years, resulting in approximately $146 more per month.

"Senior citizens will also see their Medicare Part B premiums drop in 2023, the first time in more than a decade that the tab will be lower than the year before, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced last month. It's only the fourth time that premiums are set to decline since Medicare was created in 1965," reported CNN.

Hurricane Ian Aftermath: Florida Continues Cleanup

Florida governor Rick DeSantis has issued an update on the Hurricane Ian clean-up effort. Ian, which slammed into the state's southwestern seaboard just shy of a category 5, packed winds of 150mph at landfall and created more than $67billion dollars in damage, making it one of the top five costliest storms in modern history.

"FEMA is providing rental assistance, hotel stays, repair assistance, reimbursement for temporary lodging and other forms of support for Floridians affected by Hurricane Ian who can't live in their homes. As of today, FEMA has provided $420 million in assistance to help survivors jumpstart their recovery," FEMA reported.

A complete list of the continued efforts to address the needs of the Floridians who are facing catastrophic injury, homelessness and other unprecedented impact can be found here.

Vaccine Totals

In the United States, 871,852,135 vaccines have been distributed, with a weekly increase of 8,617,740 and 627,854,963 have been administered with a weekly increase of 3,655,982 doses. More than 90% of the population have received the two-dose vaccine. (Date from the CDC).

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 one-week period ending October 16, 2022, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 620,878,405 people, with a seven day increase of 3,280,725 with a total worldwide death toll of 6,543,138 deaths, and a 7-day death rate increase of 10,433. (Data from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

Infections rates in the United States are also on the rise. For the seven-day period ending October 16, 2022, the total confirmed cases rose to 96,713,658 people with new confirmed cases increasing by 270,002 with a 7-day average of 38,571 cases per day. The coronavirus has claimed 1,059,390 total deaths, adding 2,688 more deaths over the 7-day period. (Data from the 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 the homegrown terrorism or the narcissistic above the law belief. The best obtainable version of the truth.

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Raleigh Shooter Leaves Five Dead, Remains In Critical Condition

Austin Thompson, 15, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was identified as the perpetrator of a mass shooting that killed five, including his brother, and injured two others, in the upper middle-income subdivision of Hedingham on the city's east side.

"Five people were killed and two injured in the shooting spree, although the timeline is not yet clear. The victims are: Gabriel Torres, 29, a Raleigh police officer, James Thompson, brother of the suspect, Nicole Conners, 52; Mary Marshall, 34, and Susan Karnatz, 49," WRAL.com reported.

The Wakefield prosecutor explained if Thompson survives, she expects him to be charged as an adult. He remains in critical condition with several gunshot wounds, including a self-inflicted wound to the head.

Parkland Jury Spares Gunman's Life

A Florida jury voted to spare the life of Nicolas Cruz, the perpetrator of the Valentin's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 and injuring 17 others in the premediated mass shooting.

The admitted killer's defense attorney put the admitted the actions of Cruz's late birth mother on trial for her alleged anti-social behaviors while he was in the womb, excessive alcohol use, smoking and prostitution during her pregnancy, which cannot be confirmed as she is dead. Essentially, blaming someone else for his premediated, throughout, and planned crimes.

"On each of the counts, jurors found that prosecutors had established aggravating factors including that the murders were especially cruel and heinous — indicating that the case met the threshold for death penalty eligibility. But they also decided that the most egregious elements of the attack did not outweigh the mitigating factors presented by defense attorneys," reported The Washington Post.

The Twinkie Defense, which is often used to prove diminished capacity or brain defect, played well to a sympathetic jury.

Over the course of the trial, the graphic and horrific details of the crimes were presented. The jury also returned to the scene of the murders, entering classrooms that have largely gone untouched since the February 14, 2018.

The three-month trial, which included explicit details of the victim's wounds, indicating that many of the students where shot multiple times and had defenses wounds which forensic experts explained where defense wounds as they begged for their lives before being executed.

As parents of the slain students reacted to the shocking verdict, in the first school mass shooting that has seen the inside of a courtroom, shock over the maneuvers, tactics and ploys the defense attorney presented depicting Cruz as a lost soul, with a troubled past, which played well presenting mitigating circumstance.

"How could mitigating factors apply to "this shooter, who they recognized committed terrible acts — shooting some victims more than once … pressing the barrel of his weapon to my daughter's chest?" asked Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed in the school. "That doesn't outweigh that poor little what's-his-name had a tough upbringing?," reported The Washington Post.

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Angela Lansbury, Star of Stage and Screen, Dies

Dame Angela Lansbury, star of stage and screen, whose career spanned seven decades, died this week in Los Angeles. She was 96.

A luminary of the Great White Way, Lansbury, was honored with a "dimming of the lights" a gesture of gratitude for a life of achievement, after news of her death was announced.

"Angela Lansbury was without a doubt one of Broadway's most endearing leading actresses and her influence in the world of musical theatre will forever live on. It is impossible to think of Broadway and not be reminded of Ms. Lansbury and some of her most iconic roles — from Mame and Gypsy to Sweeney Todd — just to name a few. We think of her as Broadway royalty and a member of our family," said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League.

Lansbury, was known to millions as crime writer and amateur detective, Jessica Fletcher of "Murder She Wrote," she was also known to many as the voice of the gentle and loving animated character Mrs. Potts, in the global phenomenon "Beauty and the Beast."

Born in 1926, Lansbury won a screentest with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at 17, and the rest, as they say is history. Beginning with small supporting roles, she had the ability to successfully play characters twice her age. Over the course of her career, she earned 46 nominations across the preforming arts highest honors and won one Academy Award of four nominations, six Tony Awards of eight nominations, and six Golden Globe Awards of 15 nominations; she was also nominated for 18 Primetime Emmy Awards, and one Grammy Award.

Lansbury died October 11, 2022, in Los Angeles, her family announced.

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