Beltway Insider: Biden/Gaza, Harris/Walz Launch Campaign, ISIS Returns, Watergate, LA/Homeless

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 11 August 2024 13:05; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden, along with regional partners Egypt and Qatar, has called on Israel to finalize the cease-fire agreement, and "bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families."

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending August 11, 2024, decreased by 0.2% to 38.9% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.3% to 55.8% 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 86 days, Vice-President Kamala Harris's popularity with prospective voters has increased by 0.06% to 45.7% over the former president and convicted felon Donald Trump, whose popularity with prospective voters has decreased by 0.02% averages 43.4%.

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Harris Campaign Picks Walz

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Vice-President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as the Vice-Presidential running mate, for the 2024 Presidential election. The pair begin a seven-state tour holding rallies in swing states, where the former president maintained a small lead. By week's end, the Harris-Walz ticket had narrowed the lead in all seven states and gained a significant lead in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

"The Biden-to-Harris swap has, in just three weeks, flipped the election on its head. Democrats can now avoid making the race a referendum on Mr. Biden — a contest that many worried they would lose — and instead cast it as a choice between a Harris-led future or a return to power by former President Donald J. Trump," The New York Times reported.

Harris, Walz Campaign

The Harris-Walz ticket has the edge in this election, the momentum is clearly in their favor. The ticket appears balanced with a range of ages and interests represented.

The flip by Biden allowed Harris to secure the nomination, essentially by default, as she did not have to campaign against anyone within her party in the primaries, which cost former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders campaigned against her and galvanized a stronghold of 17 million voters who followed him, religiously.

Between his sharp, targeted, attacks and Trump's disinformation campaign, Clinton represented a threat to both men. As optimistic as Democrats were, they were blindsided and unprepared for the Trump disinformation campaign and mudslinging hostile takeover tactics.

The Vice-President's secondary strength, outside of her record, that makes this moment historic is that her opponent is a convicted felon. Whether the evidence is tossed in the upcoming ruling, scheduled for September, voters will remember the amount of evidence and revelation of criminality presented and a jury of their peers, a cross representation of Americans found the evidence overwhelming.

Moreover, the Supreme Court, which has become a court of five conservative justices, a stacked deck, has continually ruled for the former president, stating unequivocally that crime does pay when you are the president.

The possibility of Trump being sentenced for the New York conviction is still scheduled for September 18, 2024. Harris may end up running against a ticket without a leader. If Trump is sentenced and is not allowed to remain free pending appeal, JD Vance would assume the lead on the ticket, and possibly choose Donald Trump, Jr. as his VP choice.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for Monday, August 19, 2024, through Thursday, August 22, 2024.

The Office of the Presidency and the Code of Conduct

In five weeks, the 2024 Presidential election has transformed, going from deep concern by many to a cautiously optimistic belief that the voters, throughout the nation, will not endorse a convicted felon elevating him to the highest office in the nation.

The office of the presidency must have some level of honor, and a convicted felon, whose actions include infidelities, sexual assault, misogynism, defamation and destruction, and falsifying business records, all of which were exposed must be the lens through which voters use when considering casting their vote.

World News: Macron Aligns with Morocco, Angers Algerian Republic

Trump Agrees to Debate

Former President Donald Trump, 78, who backed out of a previously agreed debate schedule made with President Biden, has changed his mind and has agreed to uphold his commitment and engage in a presidential debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris. The debate on September 10, 2024, will be aired on ABC.

In the press conference where he announced his intent to uphold his commitment to a debate, the former president presented his strategy, ad hominin attacks, unverifiable comparisons, fearmongering, hate rhetoric, and championing the rights of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol in the January 6, 2021, attack.

Audiences can expect his debate strategy to include using most of the time to tout what appear to be victories such as border control and only leaves seconds of the allocated time to address the questions, so the question is never answered.

His inability to offer complete responses to hard questions, without deteriorating into his usual, and expected, four-move strategy of ad hominin attacks, unverifiable comparisons, fearmongering, and hate rhetoric, attests to his mental state and possible early-stage dementia.

Trump VP Vance and Charles Johnson

Trump's Vice-Presidential pick, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance has also come under scrutiny for his political fringe beliefs, and his willingness to entertain individuals who believe in the far-right conspiracy theories touted by Trump's new wave "stop the steal" Republicans.

Vance surrounded himself with conspiracy theorist blogger Charles Johnson, who is considered an internet troll and Holocaust denier. The Washington Post story, which was picked up internationally, depicts Vance as a young, unprepared, and unequipped political official, basking in the attention of his newfound powerful position.

"As a newly minted senator, Vance solicited Johnson's views on many topics, including UFOs ("What is your read"), the Republican Party's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ("What is GOP Bibi problem?") and the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ("Do you think Epstein actually killed himself?"). When Johnson suggested that the senator should work to restrict foreign ownership of U.S. housing, Vance responded with a "thumbs up" emoji," reported The Washington Post.

Former President Donald J. Trump Found Guilty on All Counts

ISIS Returns, Targets Taylor Swift Vienna Concert

ISIS-K, a variant of the international terror group that the Obama Administration, along with a sixty-nation coalition united to dismantle and defeat, has regrouped and has once again begun to radicalize disgruntled citizens across Europe, using the internet, to secure cause-oriented devotion which includes carrying out targeted attacks and martyrdom.

American singer Taylor Swift, who is currently on the European leg of her world tour, was forced to cancel three of her shows in Vienna, Austria, after authorities, uncovered credible intelligence suggesting that ISIS was planning to attack concertgoers either inside or outside the venue, especially as the singer as created a phenomena called "Taylor-gating" in which thousands who are unable to secure tickets sit outside the venues. In Munich, Germany, the crowd that formed outside was estimated to be as high as forty thousand.

Austrian officials arrested two teenagers, a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old, both of whom had been radicalized online. "Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the head of Austria's Directorate for Security and Intelligence, said in a news conference Thursday that explosive devices and Islamic State propaganda were discovered in a search of the 19-year-old's house," reported The Washington Post.

The teen is reported to have made statements indicating he planned to use both stabbing and explosions, to create mass casualty and then kill himself. Although authorities have not indicated if the explosive found in the teen's home included a suicide vest, the idea of this type of terror plot could only be carried out by wearing a suicide vest and self-detonation.

European officials have noted that the current ISIS-K terror group is just one of the many terror organization threats the European continent is confronting. Fertile soil across terror hotbeds including the Middle East and North Africa has "improved financial and logistical capabilities," as these organizations have deep financial resources, and are fueled by a politically charged climate, and a meaningless or sense of no purpose affecting the youth culture, which is the main target age used to radicalize teenagers. These elements have created a perfect storm.

The October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which aided a belief to all radical organizations that anyone is vulnerable with the right planning, and recent attacks in Russia, that killed 140, for which ISIS-K did claim responsibility, creates an expectation that the organization will continue to recruit and radicalize teens to infiltrate large gatherings for mass casualty. For every successful attack, ISIS-K and other radicalized groups believe in their invincibility and their ability to continue to terrorize with impunity.

To combat the progress of terror networks the United States and European partners have increased security and terror-fighting tools, especially after the November 15, 2015, Paris attacks which killed 130 in coordinated attacks across the city, developing a more cooperative interagency environment, and more technologically advanced surveillance tools, even extending credible intelligence of impending terror threats to nations currently experiencing sanctions.

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 11, 2024, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization increased by 98,502 confirmed cases totaling 775,830,200. The total worldwide death toll increased by 1,217 to 7,056,108 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated July 28, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

Watergate at 50 And the Office of the Presidency

The Watergate Scandal, which culminated with the August 1974 resignation of then-President Richard M. Nixon, has reached a significant milestone turning 50 years old and is celebrating a retrospective of sorts, as the fascination with government espionage and conspiracy continues to intrigue the American public.

For many, the dogged reporting of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein became the foundation on which careers were built and even now, leave many to wonder where have the "Woodward and Bernstein's" of modern investigative journalism gone, as scandals and government conspiracies continue to become enmeshed in American politics.

The Watergate Scandal, which began with a seemingly minor break-in at Washington's Watergate Hotel, over 24 hours mushroomed when Woodward, who was assigned to the crime and courts beat, discovered one of the buglers had the initials "H.H" and a telephone number in his possession. Of course as the story goes, "H.H." at "W.H." implicated Howard Hunt, one of the president's clean-up men who performed clandestine operations throughout the world.

For those who want to know more about Watergate, The Washington Post, has condensed the more than two-year investigation into a five-minute, key moments, video which can be seen here along with other videos that provide insight into the investigation.

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California Governor Overrides LA Supervisors Clears Homeless Encampments

California Governor Gavin Newsome, who was in San Diego to welcome two giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo, drove with his motorcade to Los Angeles and personally supervised the removal of several homeless encampments.

After the LA County Board of Supervisors ruled unanimously against implementing the governor's plan to forcefully remove homeless encampments and with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in Paris to attend the XXXIII Paris Summer Olympics closing ceremonies as the next host city, the governor decided now was as good a time as any to enforce his decree.

"His mission, he said, was part public service, part political flex. The governor said that he particularly wanted more "urgency" from the leaders of Los Angeles County, home to nearly 10 million Californians, where unsheltered homelessness decreased last year at about half the rate as it did in the City of Los Angeles, its largest jurisdiction," The New York Times reported.

California has one of the largest homeless populations, an estimated 180,000, which is one-third of the entire nation's unhoused population estimate. Newsome has vowed to withhold funds from cities across the state that do not adhere to the decree to demolish encampments.

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

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.