AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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REUTERS

"Biden nominates top prosecutors, including one to oversee Jan. 6 riot cases"


By Sarah N. Lynch, Nate Raymond

JULY 26, 2021

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday nominated a slate of eight people to serve as U.S. attorneys, including the top federal prosecutor who will oversee the Jan. 6 Capitol riots cases if he is confirmed, and a progressive prosecutor in Massachusetts.

Matthew Graves, a former federal prosecutor now with the corporate law firm DLA Piper, is Biden’s choice to run the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which has been overwhelmed with a flood of cases stemming from the riots.

Federal prosecutors have arrested more than 535 people on charges of taking part in the violence, in which followers of then-President Donald Trump fought police, smashed windows and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for safety.

Graves earlier in his career served as a prosecutor in the same U.S. Attorney’s Office he would lead, securing a guilty plea from former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr for misusing campaign funds and investigating banks for sanctions violations.

Biden also nominated Rachael Rollins, a local prosecutor in Boston who is part of a growing national movement of “progressive prosecutors” who support efforts to eliminate racial disparities by rejecting the traditional “tough on crime” culture that has led to the disproportionate incarceration of Black men.

The nominations must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Rollins, who earlier in her career worked as a federal prosecutor, was elected in 2018 as the first Black woman to serve as the district attorney in Suffolk County, which covers Boston.

She would be the first Black woman to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts.

Rollins campaigned on a promise to decline prosecution for some low-level crimes, and she had been vocal about the need for police reform even before the nationwide protests following the May killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Some other progressive district attorneys have also been under consideration to serve as U.S. attorneys.


Other nominees to serve as U.S. attorneys include Erek Barron for the District of Maryland, Nicholas Brown for the Western District of Washington, Clifford Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana, Zachary Myers for the Southern District of Indiana, Trini Ross for the Western District of New York and Vanessa Waldref for the Eastern District of Washington.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN2EW1RW
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REUTERS

"Fed now facing twin inflation, growth risks as virus jumps and supply chains falter"


Howard Schneider Ann Saphir

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO, July 26 (Reuters) - A U.S. Federal Reserve divided over how to respond to fast-rising prices meets this week with the fresh complication of increased coronavirus infections and a global supply chain that, far from sorting out its problems, may be headed for more inflation-inducing trouble.

Fed officials are likely to affirm after their two-day meeting that a strong U.S. recovery and their planning for an eventual policy shift both remain underway.

But the new risks, threatening the twin ills of slowed growth and higher prices, mean the rosy future seen in June seems less assured.

Debate over how to shape post-pandemic monetary policy has just begun, and decisions were not expected before the fall.

But since the Fed met just six weeks ago, what had seemed a blue-sky setting for that debate has become clouded by a quadrupling of daily infections led by the more-contagious Delta variant to levels approaching those seen in last summer's virus surge.

Even if the worst of the new outbreak is concentrated among less-vaccinated communities, economists see it potentially changing consumers' willingness to spend and travel, and say it will likely require the Fed to strike a balance between keeping faith in the recovery while taking explicit stock of what could go wrong.

So far, the risks to growth remain just that: Data on air travel and restaurant visits show consumers are still in recovery mode, not hunkering down.

A new policy statement is to be issued Wednesday at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) followed by a press conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

"Again and again we’ve seen over the last 18 months that the No. 1 determinant of economic activity is the virus," said Karen Dynan, a Harvard University economics professor and former assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary.

"I think that we will continue to make forward progress, but that progress will be slower than otherwise.”

Developments since the last meeting "strengthened the case against pulling back on accommodation prematurely," given the new uncertainty about the recovery and despite higher-than- expected June inflation, Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle wrote.

The Fed continues to buy $120 billion in government bonds each month and hold its policy interest rate near zero, measures rolled out in the spring of 2020 to buttress the economy from the pandemic.

Some Fed officials already feel it is time to pivot from those policies because of the unexpected pace of recent price increases, and trading in bond markets in recent weeks showed investors betting the Fed may have to accelerate its exit from the crisis programs.

SUPPLY ISSUES 'NOT GOING ANYWHERE'

Yet it is, indeed, a long list of new problems that have arisen since June 16, when the Fed expressed confidence the pandemic was fading and that "progress on vaccinations will likely continue to reduce the effects of the public health crisis on the economy."

The rise of infections could, if it continues, weigh on the recovery, and would do so at a particularly tenuous moment.

The Fed is still hoping the economy can regain all of the 6.8 million jobs missing since the start of the pandemic, but that depends on other aspects of the recovery continuing apace - particularly a full reopening of public schools in the fall.

That's anticipated to help free parents to return to jobs, but the process could be set back if the health crisis intensifies again.

Any slowdown in the recovery or hiring, meanwhile, would occur amid the expiry of the federal spending and benefits that sustained personal incomes last year, a "fiscal cliff" already expected to slow annual economic growth from its current high-octane pace of around 7%.

Rising inflation had been the immediate focus of Federal Reserve officials in recent weeks, cleaving the central bank between those worried prices may be increasing too fast and those arguing that the economy needed much more time to grow and regain lost jobs before any change in monetary policy.

Powell was peppered with questions about that politically sensitive subject during recent hearings on Capitol Hill.

The issue is being watched carefully at the White House as well, with both the core of Fed officials and the Biden administration saying they remain convinced current price increases are mostly the result of a complicated economic reopening and will ease on their own.


There may be new reason to doubt.

A collision of events, including floods in Germany and China, are again clogging the flow of parts and materials around the world, prolonging the supply bottlenecks that Fed officials and the White House have counted on getting resolved to help ease price pressures.

"Supply-side issues are clearly not going anywhere," Citi economists wrote on Friday.

"Costs from inputs and supplier wait times are likely to continue appearing in consumer inflation for months to come."


From a relatively straight-forward and even somewhat old-fashioned dilemma in June - was inflation too high or not? - the Fed now "has risks in two directions," said former Fed monetary policy director and Yale School of Management professor William English, with the likelihood of more embedded inflation now running alongside risks to growth and the waning of federal fiscal support.

"Things could play out in a way they didn't expect," English said.

Reporting by Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci

https://www.reuters.com/business/financ ... 021-07-26/
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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

"U.S. Combat Role in Iraq to Conclude This Year, Biden Says"


Ken Thomas, Michael R. Gordon

26 JULY 2021

WASHINGTON—President Biden said that the U.S. combat mission in Iraq would conclude by the end of 2021, but the U.S. military would continue to work with Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State militant group.

“We are not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” Mr. Biden said Monday at the start of a White House meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.


The president said U.S. military forces would “be available to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS.”

The announcement is intended to help Mr. Kadhimi blunt criticism from hard-line Shiite politicians at home, who have been demanding that the approximately 2,500-strong American force leave Iraq.

U.S. officials, however, say it won’t lead to a significant reduction in the number of American troops in the country nor fundamentally alter their mission.

The focus of the American deployment has long been on advising and training Iraqi troops, which mainly takes place within the confines of large bases.


The Iraqi military has been supported by American air power in carrying out their fight against cells of Islamic State militants and Iraqi officials have signaled they expect this to continue.

“We don’t need any more fighters because we have those,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told The Wall Street Journal last week.

“What do we need?"

"We need cooperation in the field of intelligence."

"We need help with training."

"We need troops to help us in the air.”

A U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraqi 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein from power, but then had to contend with Sunni insurgents and Iranian-backed militias.

The U.S. regained the initiative on the battlefield after President George W. Bush sent a surge of reinforcements to the country in 2007 and U.S. troops forged an alliance with Sunni tribes, and the level of violence gradually subsided.


However, talks between the Obama administration and then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on maintaining a modest, several-thousand-strong U.S. military presence to continue the training of Iraq’s forces faltered.

American troops left the country in 2011.

Following the departure of the American troops, the training and performance of Iraqi forces began to deteriorate and Washington’s ability to encourage the appointment of qualified and nonsectarian Iraqi commanders waned.

The Islamic State group seized Mosul in June 2014, and President Barack Obama sent U.S. forces back to Iraq to advise the Iraqi military.

A small number of American and European special-operations troops were also deployed to carry out raids in Iraq and Syria, and the U.S. and allied powers carried out punishing airstrikes against Islamic State militants.

With the collapse of the Islamic State caliphate in March 2019, the U.S. stopped accompanying Iraqi forces on the battlefield, concentrated on mentoring Iraqi forces and encouraged North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations to expand their training efforts in the country.

But the American presence has been a political target for Shia groups, including militias backed by Iran who have fired rockets and carried out drone attacks at Iraqi bases where American troops are located.

Mr. Biden has carried out two retaliatory attacks against militia facilities in Iraq and Syria.

Shiite hard-liners say that nothing short of the departure of all U.S. troops will satisfy their demands.


On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Mr. Biden would discuss “a change of mission” during the meeting and said the number of U.S. troops would be “driven by what is needed for the mission over time.”

Ms. Psaki said it was a natural next step that would allow the U.S. to coordinate with the Iraqi leadership in fighting ISIS and threats from Iranian proxies.

“This is a shift in mission, it is not a removal of our partnership or our presence or our close engagement with Iraqi leaders,” she said.

While the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq divides the Shiite community, Sunni and Kurdish politicians generally welcome their presence, a senior Iraqi national security official told American officials in closed door meetings last week, according to an Iraqi official who was present.

An April report by the Pentagon’s inspector general, which drew on classified information, estimated that 10,000 Islamic State fighters operate in Syria and Iraq.

“ISIS remains entrenched in rural areas throughout Iraq and retains freedom of movement,” the report noted, adding that the group has carried out suicide bombings in Baghdad.

The struggle against Islamic State isn’t entirely military, the report noted.

It found that the slow pace of economic reform and reconstruction by the Iraqi government helped Islamic State’s effort to recruit more fighters.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled in Iraq in October, adding to the sensitivity of the issue of American troops.


Write to Ken Thomas at ken.thomas@wsj.com and Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/u- ... d=msedgntp
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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Lightfoot says she would 'absolutely' exclude white journalists from interviews again"


Jake Dima

26 JULY 2021

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would "absolutely" grant interviews only to journalists of color again after she drew waves of backlash earlier in the year when she announced the policy.

"I would absolutely do it again."

"I’m unapologetic about it because it spurred a very important conversation, a conversation that needed to happen, that should have happened a long time ago," the Democrat said on a segment of the New York Times's podcast Sway, released on Monday.

"Here is the bottom line for me: To state the obvious, I’m a black woman mayor," she said.

"I’m the mayor of the third-largest city in the country."

"Obviously, I have a platform, and it’s important to me to advocate on things that I believe are important."

"Going back to why I ran — to disrupt the status quo."

"The media is critically important to our democracy."

"… The media is in a time of incredible upheaval and disruption, but our City Hall press corps looks like it’s 1950 or 1970."

In May, Lightfoot said the one-on-one interviews that mark the two-year anniversary of her inauguration would not be offered to white reporters.

At the time, she said the initiative would foster diversity and inclusion to push back against the "overwhelming whiteness and maleness of Chicago media outlets."


"By now, you may have heard the news that on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as Mayor of this great City, I will be exclusively providing one-on-one interviews with journalists of color," she said in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.

"As a person of color, I have throughout my adult life done everything that I can to fight for diversity and inclusion in every institution that I have been a part of and being Mayor makes me uniquely situated to shine a spotlight on this most important issue."

"I have been struck since my first day on the campaign trail back in 2018 by the overwhelming whiteness and maleness of Chicago media outlets, editorial boards, the political press corps, and yes, the City Hall press corps specifically," she continued.

When Lightfoot was pressed on the subject and reminded of criticism from those who suggested politicians don't get to choose their coverage, she remained defiant and said the move was meant to resist "systemic racism."


"No, it’s not about me choosing who covers me, right?"

"I gave exclusive interviews," the mayor said.

"And we do get to choose who we talk to in exclusives."

"I gave exclusive interviews with journalists of color, right?"

"One 24-hour period and it was like people’s heads exploded."

"I had journalists saying, ‘Does the mayor think I’m racist?’"

"No, it’s not about individuals."

"It’s about systemic racism."


Journalists in May railed against Lightfoot's move.

"I am a Latino reporter [at the Chicago Tribune] whose interview request was granted for today," reporter Gregory Pratt tweeted.

"However, I asked the mayor’s office to lift its condition on others and when they said no, we respectfully canceled."

"Politicians don’t get to choose who covers them."

Similarly, NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern told the Washington Examiner, "I expressed my outrage."

"Nothing has changed."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/light ... d=msedgntp
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CNBC

"IMF warns that inflation could prove to be persistent and central banks may need to act"


Silvia Amaro @SILVIA_AMARO

PUBLISHED TUE, JUL 27 2021

KEY POINTS

* Higher prices increase the chances that central banks will start to curb their ultra-accommodative monetary policies, such as a tapering of market-friendly stimulus like asset purchases.

* The IMF had already pointed out that if the U.S. were to provide more fiscal support then this could increase inflationary pressures even further and lead to a hike in interest rates earlier-than-expected.

* The IMF on Tuesday kept its global growth forecast at 6% for 2021, but it revised its expectations for 2022.


The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that there’s a risk inflation will prove to be more than just transitory, pushing central banks to take pre-emptive action.

The issue is currently dividing the investment community, which has been busy contemplating whether a recent surge in consumer prices is here to stay.


In the U.S., the consumer price index came in at 5.4% in June — the fastest pace in almost 13 years.

In the U.K., the inflation rate reached 2.5% in June — the highest level since August 2018 and above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

For the most part, the Washington-based institution sees these price pressures as transitory.

“Inflation is expected to return to its pre-pandemic ranges in most countries in 2022,” the Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook update released Tuesday.

However, it warned that “uncertainty remains high.”

“There is however a risk that transitory pressures could become more persistent and central banks may need to take preemptive action,” the IMF said.

Higher prices increase the chances that central banks will start to curb their ultra-accommodative monetary policies, such as a tapering of market-friendly stimulus like asset purchases.


More persistent supply disruptions and sharply rising housing prices are some of the factors that could lead to persistently high inflation.

Speaking earlier this month, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the jobs market was “still a ways off” from where the central bank would like to see it before it reduces stimulus.

He added that inflation would “likely remain elevated in coming months before moderating.”

The IMF had already pointed out earlier this month that if the U.S. were to provide more fiscal support then this could increase inflationary pressures even further and lead to a hike in interest rates earlier-than-expected.

IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said in a blogpost Tuesday that “more persistent supply disruptions and sharply rising housing prices are some of the factors that could lead to persistently high inflation.”

She also warned that “inflation is expected to remain elevated into 2022 in some emerging market and developing economies, related in part to continued food price pressures and currency depreciations.”

Global recovery is ‘not assured’

The IMF on Tuesday kept its global growth forecast at 6% for 2021, but it revised its expectations for 2022.

Instead of a gross domestic product rate of 4.4%, as predicted in April; the Fund now sees a growth rate of 4.9% next year.

“The 0.5 percentage point upgrade for 2022 derives largely from the forecast upgrade for advanced economies, particularly the United States, reflecting the anticipated legislation of additional fiscal support in the second half of 2021 and improved health metrics more broadly across the group,” the IMF said.

However, the outlook is dependent on the coronavirus vaccination campaigns.

According to Our World in Data, 13.81% of the global population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and 13.46% are partially inoculated.

This shows the stark difference between advanced and developing economies.

In the U.K. and Canada, more than 54% of all citizens are fully vaccinated.

In South Africa, that number drops to 3.9% and in Egypt to 1.57%.

“Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line along which the global recovery splits into two blocs: those that can look forward to further normalization of activity later this year (almost all advanced economies) and those that will still face resurgent infections and rising COVID death tolls,” the Fund said.

“The recovery, however, is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere,” the IMF warned.

Data also provided by Reuters

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/imf-war ... stent.html
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THE DAILY MAIL

"AOC says she wants to 'abolish our carceral system'"


Brian Stieglitz For Dailymail.Com 

28 JULY 2021

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for the abolition of the 'carceral system' in the US during a campaign event in Ohio over the weekend.

The Democratic Squad member was campaigning for congressional candidate Nina Turner on Saturday when she said: 'I want to abolish our carceral system that's designed to trap black and brown men.'


'I want justice.'

'I want peace, and I want prosperity.'

'That's what I want,' Ocasio-Cortez added during her speech in Cleveland for the co-chair of Bernie Sander's 2020 presidential campaign.

The country's carceral system refers to its approach to criminal justice and punishment of criminals.

Ocasio-Cortez has long fought for drastic changes to the system that she says unfairly targets black and brown people.

A statement on her official government website reads that she 'is committed to dismantling our system of mass incarceration and ending the school-to-prison pipeline.'

According to the website, her criminal justice reform goals include federally legalizing marijuana, ending for-profit prisons, releasing all individuals incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses, ending cash bail, and launching independent investigations for every case in which someone is killed by law enforcement.

Ocasio-Cortez shares similar views as Turner, who is running to represent Ohio's 11th congressional district.

The seat was vacated in March by Marcia Fudge, who became President Biden's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Turner's campaign is supporting policies like AOC's Green New Deal, Medicare for all, the cancellation of student debt and a $15 per hour minimum wage.

There are 15 candidates - 13 Democrats and two Republicans - vying for the seat.

The 11th district often sways left, so the winner of the Democratic primary may likely determine the winner of the general election.

The Democratic and Republican primaries will be held on August 3, though early voting started two weeks ago.

'This isn't about Nina vs any opponent; this is about the people versus big money,' she said at the event according to WJW.

The congresswoman continued, 'This is a deep blue seat.'

'It's a deep blue seat.'

'Districts like Ohio's 11th should be leading the country on issues.'

'They are opportunities, they are very rare opportunities, very rare districts like this one that can take and be visionary.'

She added, 'If there is anywhere where you can afford to have somebody be bold.'

'If there is any district where you can afford to have somebody who is going to bespeak not only a certain truth to power but stand up and help create a vision that provides
provision.'

'If there is any district where it can be done in the great state of Ohio, it's Ohio 11th district.'

Turner's canvas launch included four different events in Cleveland and Cleveland Heights to help rally volunteers for the last week and a half until the primary.

'Canvasses are where the fight gets won.'

'Right here is where the work happens and I love being where the work happens.'

'Where we actually get our hands dirty in the work of knocking on our doors and having conversations with our neighbors and building actual community.'

'There's no replacement for that,' said Ocasio-Cortez.

One of Turner's opponent's, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, a moderate, told WJW in response to Ocasio-Cortez's rally, 'The contrast in this race could not be clearer.'

'Shontel Brown is the only candidate who from day one can work with the Biden administration and our house majority to deliver good-paying jobs, affordable healthcare, and affordable prescription drugs to northeast Ohio.'

Brown, who has been endorsed by Hillary Clinton and House Majority leader Jim Clyburn, also canvassed on Saturday in the west side of Cleveland and held a community cookout in Cleveland Heights Sunday afternoon.

She told WJW, 'I couldn't be more excited that we have an administration that's talking about things through a lens of equity, equality and inclusion so when you're talking about trillions of dollars in infrastructure, that is going to create many job opportunities so we need someone who can be at the table who can make sure we get those resources back into the 11th Congressional District.'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
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REUTERS

"U.S. goods trade deficit widens on imports; inventories increase"


Lucia Mutikani

July 28, 2021

Summary

* Goods trade deficit increases 3.5% in June

* Wholesale inventories rise 0.8%; retail stocks up 0.3%


WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit in goods increased in June as imports continued to rise amid strong economic activity, suggesting trade likely remained a drag on growth in the second quarter.

The U.S. economy has rebounded more quickly from the pandemic compared to its global rivals, thanks to massive fiscal stimulus, low interest rates and vaccinations against COVID-19.

But bottlenecks in the supply chain have hampered manufacturers' ability to boost production, drawing in more imports.

"The widening in the advance nominal goods deficit in June is further evidence that net exports will be a drag on second- quarter GDP," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The goods trade deficit increased 3.5% to $91.2 billion last month, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

Imports of goods advanced 1.5% to $236.7 billion.

There were increases in imports of food, industrial supplies and capital goods.


But imports of motor vehicles and consumer goods fell.

While that could hint at a possible moderation in consumer spending in the months ahead, the drop could reflect a global shortage of semiconductors, which has weighed on the production of motor vehicles and some household appliances.

Spending during the pandemic shifted to goods from services, with Americans cooped up at home.

With nearly half of the United States population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, demand for services is picking up.

That has raised optimism among some economists that fewer goods will be imported in the coming months and allow the trade gap to shrink.

But the Delta variant of the virus is driving a resurgence in new infections across the country, which could limit demand for services.

"We expect the overall trade deficit to narrow in the coming months as consumers rotate their spending towards services and greater vaccine diffusion abroad encourages stronger export growth," said Mahir Rasheed, a U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York.

"However, risks from sticky supply chain disruptions and the rapid spread of the Delta variant could slow trade flows."

Stocks on Wall Street were mixed.

The dollar rose against a basket of currencies.

U.S. Treasury prices were lower.

EXPORTS RISE

Goods exports rose 0.3% to $145.5 billion, amid a sharp decline in food shipments.

Capital goods exports also slipped.

But the nation exported more motor vehicles and consumer goods.

The report was published ahead of Thursday's advance second-quarter gross domestic product data.

Trade has been a drag on GDP growth for three straight quarters.

According to a Reuters survey of economists, the economy likely grew at a robust 8.5% annualized rate last quarter, an acceleration from the first quarter's 6.4% pace.

The anticipated growth pace in the second quarter would be the fastest since 1983 and could mark a peak in the current cycle.

Some of the imports last month were used to replenish inventories at wholesalers and retailers, which could soften the drag on GDP growth from trade.

The Commerce Department reported wholesale inventories increased 0.8% last month after rising 1.3% in May.

Stocks at retailers gained 0.3% after dropping 0.8% in May.

Motor vehicle inventories slipped 0.3% after declining 5.5% in May.

Auto production has been undercut by the global chip shortage.

Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, climbed 0.6% after advancing 0.9% in May.

Business inventories were drawn down in the first quarter.

"Overall, it looks like real inventories fell sharply in the second quarter on net, but the weakness was most severe early in the quarter," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-goo ... 021-07-28/
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THE HILL

"Democrats need a coherent response to attacks on critical race theory"


Albert Hunt, opinion contributor 

28 JULY 2021

Republicans have their 2022 version of "defund the police" - attacking the critical race theory.

It's largely specious, and is pandering to racial resentments, but Democrats better figure out how to respond.


Last year after police violence, left-wing Democrats talked about defunding the police.

The vast majority of Democratic candidates, starting with Joe Biden, wanted to reform - not defund - police; however, caught in a squeeze, some down-ballot Democrats evaded the issue, and it hurt them.

Republicans apparently believe that "critical race theory" is an even more lethal weapon this year.

Dozens of state legislatures are considering a ban on teaching the concept - some of racism in America in general.

The issue is featured scores of times daily by Fox News.

Although there are variations, the critical race theory argues that racism is systemically embedded in American history, our legal system and politics.

Its most radical opponents charge that it calls for shaming whites and reverse discrimination, but one of the central figures in developing the theory says it's about learning the stain of slavery and recognizing its legacy of discrimination thereafter.


Republicans see it as wedge, focusing on the most radical interpretation to put Democrats on the defensive: If Democrats don't oppose bans on critical race theory, it could alienate Black supporters; if they do, it could offend moderate white voters.

The reality is that racism is a systemic shame and that there remains discrimination.

But America has made enormous progress in the past half century, and no child should be made to feel guilty because of the color of his or her skin.

That may not be easy to put on a bumper sticker.

The main right-wing push to ban this from being taught in elementary and secondary public schools is bogus.

According to a survey from the Association of American Educators, only 4 percent of public school and public charter school respondents report it being taught - and the overwhelming majority oppose any such mandate.

Politicians cultivating this as a campaign weapon have "painted it in the most lurid way," notes Randall Kennedy, a Harvard Law School professor and expert on issues of race and the legal system.

He told me, "You need to put critical race theory in quotation marks as it's used in different ways by different people."

In a broad sense, he says, some elements are "dislikeable," but enumerating a deeper and uglier history of racism is important.

Anything political that critics don't like, they call "critical race theory."

Kennedy says, "It really is a stalking horse for race."

The best case may be the effort to ban critical race teaching in North Carolina by state senate president Phil Berger, a ruthlessly smart right-wing leader.

Berger defines teaching about critical race in the most radical way.

He says it teaches the "only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination" and making whites to feel guilty.

He criticized the Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) school system for telling students "it is no longer enough to be passively 'not racist.'

"We are called on to be antiracist."

Incredibly Berger wraps his push to stop critical race theory in the mantle of civil rights, citing the 1964 civil rights act and misconstruing Barack Obama's speech to the 2004 Democratic convention.

This is the same Berger under whose leadership the Republican legislature passed a racially discriminatory redistricting measure and a voter ID law that - according to the federal courts - was intended "to target African Americans with almost surgical precision."

What Berger really is up to, North Carolina civil rights leader the Rev. William Barber told me, is "nothing more than Jesse Helms race baiting and lying."

Helms was a longtime segregationist U.S. Senator.

In reality, few Blacks espouse the critical race theory as defined by Berger - and the Charlotte school system has it right: We should be actively antiracist.

Most telling, Berger - parading as a champion of free speech - said: "We don't burn books with radical ideas."

"We read them, discuss them and either accept or reject the ideas they present."

He then proposes to ban the teaching of certain concepts.

That's part of a national pattern - one that Democrats, so far, have not countered.

The right wing has vociferously campaigned against "cancel culture," in which leftists, mainly at elite universities, oppose what they deem unacceptable speech or actions.

In the critical race debate, the cancel culturists are the conservatives.

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of Bloomberg News. He previously served as reporter, bureau chief and Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal. For almost a quarter century he wrote a column on politics for The Wall Street Journal, then The International New York Times and Bloomberg View. He hosts Politics War Room with James Carville. Follow him on Twitter @AlHuntDC.

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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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POLITICO

"‘A very dangerous precedent’: Democrats take aim at Biden’s Somalia airstrikes"


By Andrew Desiderio and Lara Seligman  

28 JULY 2021

Top Democratic lawmakers took aim this week at the Biden administration’s recent airstrikes in Somalia, disputing the legal rationale for the operations and arguing that it undercuts the president’s stated desire to replace outdated war authorizations.

“I think President [Joe] Biden should submit a new authorization for the use of military force and should recognize that the 2001 AUMF should be terminated,” Sen. Ben Cardin said.

The Pentagon justified the strikes, which targeted al Qaeda affiliates in the war-torn country, by invoking the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force against the terrorist groups that attacked the U.S. on 9/11.

Democrats, who have long maintained that the 2001 authorization is irrelevant 20 years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, said the Biden administration did not have the authority to strike in Somalia.

“What the Biden team is doing is consistent with what we’ve seen now in three prior administrations, but it’s, to me, inconsistent with the intent of Congress,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.


“I think President [Joe] Biden should submit a new authorization for the use of military force and should recognize that the 2001 AUMF should be terminated,” Cardin added.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who has been working with the White House on a replacement for the 2001 AUMF that better aligns with the current terror threats, called on the Biden administration to brief Congress “expeditiously” on its “counterterrorism goals and the current threats.”

“I have received no information suggesting that these strikes are necessary to protect any U.S. personnel and would need to understand, if this is so, why they are occurring,” Kaine added.

Biden has backed efforts to repeal some war authorizations, such as the 2002 AUMF for Iraq, and replace others, like the 2001 measure.

Yet like his predecessors he has cited a range of legal justifications, including outdated war authorizations, following military action.

That includes twice invoking his Article II constitutional “self-defense” authority when he ordered airstrikes against Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq and Syria that attacked American troops.

“If you’re taking strikes in Somalia, come to Congress and get an authorization for it."

"If you want to be involved in hostilities in Somalia for the next five years, come and explain why that’s necessary and come and get an explicit authorization,” added Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), another top Foreign Relations Committee member.

“This idea that that’s too much trouble, that that’s too much to ask, is a very dangerous precedent for Congress to set.”


The criticism comes days after the Pentagon struck al-Shabab in Somalia on Friday, marking the second such operation in less than a week and the Biden administration’s second in the country since taking office.

In both cases, Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command — not Biden — authorized the strike.

The mission was conducted to support an American-trained Somali force known as the Danab after they came under fire from al-Shabab militants in the Galmudug area of Somalia, defense officials said.

Murphy said the strike approval process raised questions about the chain of command.

“Any time you’re taking strikes in countries that have no clear authorization for hostilities passed by Congress, the chief executive needs to be involved.”

The U.S. resumed operations in the country after a six-month hiatus despite new limits the Biden administration placed on drone strikes outside active combat zones.

While the Trump administration gave regional commanders broad authority to green-light such operations, proposals for airstrikes are now generally routed through the White House.

Prior to last week’s actions, the U.S. had not conducted a strike in Somalia since Jan. 19, the day before Biden took office.


Biden’s invocation of the 2001 AUMF comes as his administration is conferring with lawmakers about a replacement for that authorization — one that includes specific geographic designations, mandates a cut-off date, and names specific terrorist groups covered under the AUMF.

“It illustrates that we need to come up with some sort of mechanism where we can approve geographies,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who has long advocated for war powers reforms, said of the Somalia strikes.

“We don’t want to hamstring the president’s Article II powers — which we don’t have the power to do anyway.”

Cardin said citing the 2001 AUMF “makes it more difficult” to get a new authorization through Congress, adding: “It undercuts our ability to see an urgency for action.”

The Foreign Relations Committee has asked the Biden administration for more information about the airstrikes.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who chairs the panel, said his main focus was on repealing the AUMFs that no longer have functional value.

But the committee is scheduled to hold a hearing next week with top State Department officials on AUMFs more broadly, allowing senators to question administration officials directly about the invocation of the 2001 AUMF as well as Biden’s Article II powers.

After that hearing, the committee will vote on a bipartisan measure to repeal the 2002 and 1991 AUMFs, both of which authorized military force in Iraq for different conflicts.

But the 2001 AUMF is still on lawmakers’ minds as a future target.

“It’s just more evidence of how badly the 2001 AUMF is in need of reform,” Murphy added.

“I think the administration is struggling a little bit to find the legal authorization for these strikes.”

Pentagon spokesperson Cindi King declined to give additional details about the dual attacks, including why the Biden administration had conducted two in a row after a six-month hiatus, citing operational security.


But a defense official said the end of Somalia’s rainy season has allowed operations to resume on both sides and anticipated a resumption of active fighting.

The defense official defended the airstrike, drawing a distinction between “deliberate” strikes against a particular threat developed in advance by military planners, and close-air-support or self-defense operations based on an imminent threat."

"In the latter cases, commanders must be able to authorize a strike quickly in life-threatening situations."

"All strikes go through rigorous approval processes including assessments of civilian casualties and collateral damage, the official said.

Republicans defended and applauded the administration’s airstrikes, as they have often done since Biden became president.

On the issue of war powers, GOP lawmakers have generally backed expanded presidential authority to conduct military operations.

“I don’t think the president needs a law passed by Congress in order to target terrorists who are posing a threat to the United States, no matter where they are in the world,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“Especially if it’s a one-off, targeted engagement, not a full-scale military situation.”

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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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THE DAILY CALLER

"Biden’s Defense Budget Adds Bureaucrats And Cuts Troops"


Varun Hukeri

29 JULY 2021

President Joe Biden’s proposed defense budget for fiscal year 2022 calls for an increase in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) civilian workforce while reducing the number of active-duty personnel.

In spite of global threats such as China and Russia, the president’s proposed budget would shrink every military branch except the nascent Space Force.


The budget proposes reducing the number of active-duty personnel by nearly 7,000 service members but increasing the Pentagon’s civilian population by around 9,000 employees.

A Congressional Research Service report published in June noted the DoD employed more than one million civilians, contractors and uniformed personnel in administrative positions compared to 1.3 million service members on active duty.

Some argue that increasing the civilian workforce compared to active military personnel would provide cost savings and strengthen the military’s overall capabilities.

A Government Accountability Office report concluded that civilians cost the government around $15,000 less per year than an active service member of a similar rank.

In an overview of the president’s proposed budget published, the DOD argued the “use of civilians allows the Department to focus its soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and guardians on the tasks and functions that truly military essential.”

But an internal report published by the Defense Business Board in 2015 exposed around $125 billion in administrative waste, according to The Washington Post.

The report identified “a clear path” to make up the cost by streamlining the DOD’s civilian workforce, though the proposals were never adopted.


One proposal was to reallocate the $125 billion in cost savings over five years toward troops and weapons.

The savings could have covered the operating expenses for 50 Army brigades or covered a large portion of the cost to rebuild the nation’s nuclear arsenal, according to The Post.

The DOD had two active-duty service members for every one civilian employee in 2011, but that number decreased over the following decade, according to budget data for the fiscal year 2021.

The president’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022 would leave the military with 1.7 active-duty service members for each civilian employee.

The DoD in comparison maintained around 2.2 active-duty service members for every one civilian employee at the height of the Iraq War, and a considerable 4.6 active-duty service members for every one civilian employee at the end of World War II.

The U.S. is not involved in combat operations as extensive as World War II, or even the Iraq War, but military leadership has maintained the nation is currently engaged in great power competition with Russia in Europe and China in the Indo-Pacific.

An American Enterprise Institute report published in February further argued that increasing the number of service members while reducing the civilian workforce would streamline military operations and allow time for training, maintenance and deployment.

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