ASSOCIATED PRESS
"More than 1 million voters switch to GOP in warning for Dems"
By STEVE PEOPLES and AARON KESSLER, Associated Press
27 JUNE 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban swing voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party's gains in recent years are becoming Republicans.
More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed by The Associated Press.
The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country — Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns — in the period since President Joe Biden replaced former President Donald Trump.
But nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs, where well-educated swing voters who turned against Trump's Republican Party in recent years appear to be swinging back.
Over the last year, far more people are switching to the GOP across suburban counties from Denver to Atlanta and Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
Republicans also gained ground in counties around medium-size cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; and Des Moines, Iowa.
Ben Smith, who lives in suburban Larimer County, Colorado, north of Denver, said he reluctantly registered as a Republican earlier in the year after becoming increasingly concerned about the Democrats' support in some localities for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, the party's inability to quell violent crime and its frequent focus on racial justice.
“It’s more so a rejection of the left than embracing the right,” said Smith, a 37-year-old professional counselor whose transition away from the Democratic Party began five or six years ago when he registered as a libertarian.
The AP examined nearly 1.7 million voters who had likely switched affiliations across 42 states for which there is data over the last 12 months, according to L2, a political data firm.
L2 uses a combination of state voter records and statistical modeling to determine party affiliation.
While party switching is not uncommon, the data shows a definite reversal from the period while Trump was in office, when Democrats enjoyed a slight edge in the number of party switchers nationwide.
But over the last year, roughly two-thirds of the 1.7 million voters who changed their party affiliation shifted to the Republican Party.
In all, more than 1 million people became Republicans compared to about 630,000 who became Democrats.
The broad migration of more than 1 million voters, a small portion of the overall U.S. electorate, does not ensure widespread Republican success in the November midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress and dozens of governorships.
Democrats are hoping the Supreme Court's decision on Friday to overrule Roe v. Wade will energize supporters, particularly in the suburbs, ahead of the midterms.
Still, the details about party switchers present a dire warning for Democrats who were already concerned about the macro effects shaping the political landscape this fall.
Roughly four months before Election Day, Democrats have no clear strategy to address Biden’s weak popularity and voters’ overwhelming fear that the country is headed in the wrong direction with their party in charge.
And while Republicans have offered few policy solutions of their own, the GOP has been working effectively to capitalize on the Democrats' shortcomings.
Republicans benefited last year as suburban parents grew increasingly frustrated by prolonged pandemic-related schools closures.
And as inflation intensified more recently, the Republican National Committee has been hosting voter registration events at gas stations in suburban areas across swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania to link the Biden administration to record-high gas prices.
The GOP has also linked the Democratic president to an ongoing baby formula shortage.
“Biden and Democrats are woefully out of touch with the American people, and that’s why voters are flocking to the Republican Party in droves," RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told the AP.
She predicted that “American suburbs will trend red for cycles to come” because of “Biden’s gas hike, the open border crisis, baby formula shortage and rising crime.”
The Democratic National Committee declined to comment when asked about the recent surge in voters switching to the GOP.
And while Republican officials are quick to take credit for the shift, the phenomenon gained momentum shortly after Trump left the White House.
Still, the specific reason or reasons for the shift remain unclear.
At least some of the newly registered Republicans are actually Democrats who crossed over to vote against Trump-backed candidates in GOP primaries.
Such voters are likely to vote Democratic again this November.
But the scope and breadth of the party switching suggests something much bigger at play.
Over the last year, nearly every state — even those without high-profile Republican primaries — moved in the same direction as voters by the thousand became Republicans.
Only Virginia, which held off-year elections in 2021, saw Democrats notably trending up over the last year.
But even there, Democrats were wiped out in last fall's statewide elections.
In Iowa, Democrats used to hold the advantage in party changers by a 2-to-1 margin.
That’s flipped over the last year, with Republicans ahead by a similar amount.
The same dramatic shift is playing out in Ohio.
In Florida, Republicans captured 58 percent of party switchers during those last years of the Trump era.
Now, over the last year, they command 70 percent.
And in Pennsylvania, the Republicans went from 58 to 63 percent of party changers.
The current advantage for Republicans among party changers is playing out with particular ferocity in the nation's suburbs.
The AP found that the Republican advantage was larger in suburban “fringe” counties, based on classifications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to smaller towns and counties.
Republicans boosted their share of party changers in 168 of 235 suburban counties AP examined — 72 percent — over the last year, compared with the last years of the Trump era.
These included suburban counties across Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Virginia and Washington state.
Republicans also gained ground in further-out suburban counties, which the CDC lumps in with medium-size cities and calls “medium metro” — more than 62 percent of such counties, 164 in all, saw Republican growth.
They range from the suburban counties north of Denver, like Larimer, to Los Angeles-area ones like Ventura and Santa Barbara in California.
The Republican advantage was nearly universal, but it was stronger in some places than others.
For example, in Lorain County, Ohio, just outside Cleveland, nearly every party switcher over the last year has gone Republican.
That's even as Democrats captured three-quarters of those changing parties in the same county during end of the Trump era.
Some conservative leaders worry that the GOP's suburban gains will be limited if Republicans don't do a better job explaining to suburban voters what they stand for — instead of what they stand against.
Emily Seidel, who leads the Koch-backed grassroots organization Americans for Prosperity, said her network is seeing first-hand that suburban voters are distancing themselves from Democrats who represent "extreme policy positions.”
“But that doesn’t mean that they’re ready to vote against those lawmakers either.
Frankly, they’re skeptical of both options that they have,” Seidel said.
“The lesson here: Candidates have to make their case, they have to give voters something to be for, not just something to be against.”
Back in Larimer County, Colorado, 39-year-old homemaker Jessica Kroells says she can no longer vote for Democrats, despite being a reliable Democratic voter up until 2016.
There was not a single “aha moment” that convinced her to switch, but by 2020, she said the Democratic Party had “left me behind.”
“The party itself in no longer Democrat, it's progressive socialism,” she said, specifically condemning Biden's plan to eliminate billions of dollars in student debt.
___
Peoples reported from New York.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 6d65ca707d
AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"Biden polls worse as people notice their financial situation is worse"
Opinion by David Freddoso
27 JUNE 2022
The CBS News poll released yesterday shows Joe Biden at 41% approval, the lowest rating of his presidency so far — that is, the lowest in this particular poll.
He has lower ratings in other polls, such as his recent 33% approval in Quinnipiac, but it's best to compare apples to apples.
So why can't Biden catch a break?
Probably because this same poll shows that people are really noticing their own personal financial situation deteriorating, in spite of continued low unemployment levels.
In July 2021, 60% told the CBS poll that their own financial situation was "good."
Only 33% said it was "bad."
This month, only 50% say their own finances are "good," whereas 45% say they are "bad."
So the response to that question has swung by 22 points, from plus-27 good to just plus-5 good, over only one year.
Currently, 66% disapprove of "the way Joe Biden is handling the economy," versus 34% who approve.
But when the specific problem of inflation is mentioned, Biden's disapproval rises to 71%.
Inflation is a silent killer, but people still notice its effects over time.
Last July, Biden's White House tweeted that "the Biden economic plan is working" based on the fact that an average Fourth of July cookout in 2021 cost 16 cents less than the year prior.
Don't expect a repeat performance next month.
The economy is not Biden's only problem.
Large majorities also disapprove of his handling of Ukraine (57%), immigration (59%), abortion (60%), and gun policy (62%).
But what's changed over the last year is the national economic situation.
Currently, 69% expect the economy to slow further in the next 12 months, and 44% believe there will be a recession.
Here, I think things are only going to get worse for Biden, because public opinion has not caught up with the facts.
We already finished one quarter of economic shrinkage earlier this year.
It's very likely that we'll find out next month that we've been in a recession since January, at which point the question becomes whether the recession ends before the midterm election.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ee1199d7e3
"Biden polls worse as people notice their financial situation is worse"
Opinion by David Freddoso
27 JUNE 2022
The CBS News poll released yesterday shows Joe Biden at 41% approval, the lowest rating of his presidency so far — that is, the lowest in this particular poll.
He has lower ratings in other polls, such as his recent 33% approval in Quinnipiac, but it's best to compare apples to apples.
So why can't Biden catch a break?
Probably because this same poll shows that people are really noticing their own personal financial situation deteriorating, in spite of continued low unemployment levels.
In July 2021, 60% told the CBS poll that their own financial situation was "good."
Only 33% said it was "bad."
This month, only 50% say their own finances are "good," whereas 45% say they are "bad."
So the response to that question has swung by 22 points, from plus-27 good to just plus-5 good, over only one year.
Currently, 66% disapprove of "the way Joe Biden is handling the economy," versus 34% who approve.
But when the specific problem of inflation is mentioned, Biden's disapproval rises to 71%.
Inflation is a silent killer, but people still notice its effects over time.
Last July, Biden's White House tweeted that "the Biden economic plan is working" based on the fact that an average Fourth of July cookout in 2021 cost 16 cents less than the year prior.
Don't expect a repeat performance next month.
The economy is not Biden's only problem.
Large majorities also disapprove of his handling of Ukraine (57%), immigration (59%), abortion (60%), and gun policy (62%).
But what's changed over the last year is the national economic situation.
Currently, 69% expect the economy to slow further in the next 12 months, and 44% believe there will be a recession.
Here, I think things are only going to get worse for Biden, because public opinion has not caught up with the facts.
We already finished one quarter of economic shrinkage earlier this year.
It's very likely that we'll find out next month that we've been in a recession since January, at which point the question becomes whether the recession ends before the midterm election.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ee1199d7e3
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"Ethanol is poison for the environment"
Esther Wickham
27 JUNE 2022
Ethanol makes global warming worse, according to a recent study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This new study contradicts, though, what the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been claiming.
This comes at a time when President Joe Biden’s administration is reevaluating biofuel policies in an effort to combat climate change.
The research found that “ethanol is likely at least 24% more carbon-intensive than gasoline."
“Corn ethanol is not a climate-friendly fuel,” said Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and lead author of the study.
This report runs contrary to the Renewable Fuel Standard, a 2005 federal program that mixed corn-based ethanol into gas pumps with the goal of reducing emissions and energy dependence outside of the United States.
The Renewable Fuels Association couldn't disagree more with Lark and his new study.
“The authors of this new paper precariously string together a series of worst-case assumptions, cherry-picked data, and disparate results from previously debunked studies to create a completely fictional and erroneous account of the environmental impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard,” the rebuttal report said.
This conversation is certainly not a new one.
Corn-based ethanol has been questioned for over a decade.
NPR wrote an article in 2008 containing the same conclusions Lark has found.
“Right now, there's little doubt that ethanol is making global warming worse,” said Tim Searchinger, a scholar at Princeton University.
Others agree.
“If you care about greenhouse gases, then this expansion of the corn biofuel industry is going in the wrong direction,” the late Alex Farrell, then at the University of California, Berkeley, said at the time.
The facts remain the same today, despite the ethanol lobby's influence.
Corn-based ethanol produces higher amounts of carbon emissions compared to gasoline due to the amount of farmland and the tillage the corn requires.
It doesn’t matter how educated someone is on energy policies — the more intense production is, the more intense carbon emissions will be.
Esther Wickham is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... ee1199d7e3
"Ethanol is poison for the environment"
Esther Wickham
27 JUNE 2022
Ethanol makes global warming worse, according to a recent study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This new study contradicts, though, what the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been claiming.
This comes at a time when President Joe Biden’s administration is reevaluating biofuel policies in an effort to combat climate change.
The research found that “ethanol is likely at least 24% more carbon-intensive than gasoline."
“Corn ethanol is not a climate-friendly fuel,” said Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and lead author of the study.
This report runs contrary to the Renewable Fuel Standard, a 2005 federal program that mixed corn-based ethanol into gas pumps with the goal of reducing emissions and energy dependence outside of the United States.
The Renewable Fuels Association couldn't disagree more with Lark and his new study.
“The authors of this new paper precariously string together a series of worst-case assumptions, cherry-picked data, and disparate results from previously debunked studies to create a completely fictional and erroneous account of the environmental impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard,” the rebuttal report said.
This conversation is certainly not a new one.
Corn-based ethanol has been questioned for over a decade.
NPR wrote an article in 2008 containing the same conclusions Lark has found.
“Right now, there's little doubt that ethanol is making global warming worse,” said Tim Searchinger, a scholar at Princeton University.
Others agree.
“If you care about greenhouse gases, then this expansion of the corn biofuel industry is going in the wrong direction,” the late Alex Farrell, then at the University of California, Berkeley, said at the time.
The facts remain the same today, despite the ethanol lobby's influence.
Corn-based ethanol produces higher amounts of carbon emissions compared to gasoline due to the amount of farmland and the tillage the corn requires.
It doesn’t matter how educated someone is on energy policies — the more intense production is, the more intense carbon emissions will be.
Esther Wickham is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... ee1199d7e3
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
USA TODAYTHE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"Biden polls worse as people notice their financial situation is worse"
Opinion by David Freddoso
27 JUNE 2022
The CBS News poll released yesterday shows Joe Biden at 41% approval, the lowest rating of his presidency so far — that is, the lowest in this particular poll.
He has lower ratings in other polls, such as his recent 33% approval in Quinnipiac, but it's best to compare apples to apples.
So why can't Biden catch a break?
Probably because this same poll shows that people are really noticing their own personal financial situation deteriorating, in spite of continued low unemployment levels.
Currently, 66% disapprove of "the way Joe Biden is handling the economy," versus 34% who approve.
But when the specific problem of inflation is mentioned, Biden's disapproval rises to 71%.
The economy is not Biden's only problem.
Large majorities also disapprove of his handling of Ukraine (57%), immigration (59%), abortion (60%), and gun policy (62%).
"Facing upheaval at home, Biden seeks to keep NATO military alliance behind Ukraine"
Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY
28 JUNE 2022
MADRID – President Joe Biden had hoped to use this week’s NATO summit as a platform to plead his case for maintaining support for the war in Ukraine.
But domestic upheaval over abortion rights, gun violence and a dwindling economy threaten to overshadow Biden’s message at home about the urgent need to send Ukraine more weapons to protect itself from Russian attacks.
These developments threaten to distract U.S. voters as the Russian offensive into Ukraine enters its fifth month and is quickly fading from American attention spans.
The question: Can Biden succeed?
“The war here in Europe seems farther away and further down the list of things that Americans expect their leaders to be focused on,” said Brett Bruen, who was director of global engagement at the White House in the Obama administration.
“Unfortunately, Ukrainians are not going to see the same kind of attention, not going to see the same kind of resources that we’ve been looking at over the last several months.”
It’s a political reality the White House is aware of, said Bruen, a former diplomat who’s attending the NATO summit in Madrid.
Yet, it has not shifted Biden’s approach.
Biden is arriving in Madrid in a weaker position than he did to NATO a year ago.
With oil and gas costs climbing and a low job approval rating that refuses to budge, it may not be as easy for the U.S. president to convince members of the military alliance to keep supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons as it once was.
“He needs to make sure that we maintain also a sufficient level of public support for our current policies toward Ukraine to avoid war fatigue,” said Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for global affairs in the George W. Bush administration.
U.S. officials have indicated Biden will stick to a bipartisan argument that it is in America’s national security interests to keep Vladimir Putin’s aggression from spreading across the rest of the continent.
Since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, Americans have largely supported the war effort, giving it broad support in public polling.
But that’s not necessarily because they approve of the way Biden is handling the situation.
A survey taken by Quinnipiac University earlier this month found that more Americans, 51%, disapproved of Biden’s response to the Russian invasion than those who approved of it, 40%.
While the American public supports "sanctions against a thug like Putin," they certainly are not happy this war is happening, explained Michael O’Hanlon, director of the Center on Security, Strategy and Technology at the Brookings Institution, a leading Washington think tank.
Some experts said that pessimism over high fuel and food costs could lead to falling support for Ukrainian aid.
They said they worry that “Ukraine fatigue” – as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson put it – lurks just beneath the surface.
“Everyone's just exhausted,” says Samantha Turner, a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project, a foreign policy organization headquartered in Washington.
“There's a lot of things happening at once that can basically trump how much people care about whether we're giving military aid to Ukraine,” Turner said.
National security experts from both political parties argued, like Biden, that if Ukraine cannot beat back Russia, then NATO, and the United States, could end up in a confrontation with Putin's army.
They said it’s imperative that Biden make a strong case at the NATO summit for continued military equipment and aid to be shipped to Ukraine.
Biden sought to get G-7 leaders on board this week with a proposal to cap the price of Russian oil to tamp down inflation and keep Putin from selling to buyers who are willing to pay more.
Leaders were getting closer to an agreement near the end of three days of closed-door talks but many of the details of the plan are yet to be worked out.
NAVIGATING NATO
Biden will seek to stave off any fractures in the military alliance, particularly as Russia makes more gains on the battlefield and leaders worry about an even more protracted war.
“NATO as an organization was formed to push back against what everyone thought Russia might do,” said Sen. James Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“They can't be trusted."
"And so it's time to reinvent and reconfigure NATO and it's time for us to pull together again.”
One of the problems that Biden faces is that the U.S. is yet to articulate a strategy on how Ukraine can win the war, O’Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, said.
“We haven't resolved this as a government."
"We were still sort of hopeful that if we just send Ukraine enough, big artillery, maybe they can get back the 20% of their country that Russia now holds," O’ Hanlon said.
"Meanwhile, the battlefield trends are primarily in Russia's favor.”
He added: “So that sort of thing is not very plausible.”
On the other hand, NATO allies face tough choices with the Russian military on the march in the Donbas and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, former U.S. officials and national security experts say.
The coalition must decide how much heavy artillery support, including howitzers, multi-launch rocket systems, and anti-ship missiles, it wants to provide Ukraine.
Before the president left for Europe, the United States announced another $450 million worth of military equipment.
During a virtual meeting with G-7 leaders on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told world leaders that his military needs more equipment.
Dobriansky said that if Ukraine does not win the war, “it sends a signal to tyrants worldwide, that anything goes.”
“This war was unprovoked."
"It's unjustified,” she said.
“If you can have outright blatant aggression, there is no kind of counter attack and measures taken, then you can only imagine that you can have such attacks take place by dictators across the globe.”
Will a continued war in Ukraine hurt Biden?
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said in an interview with USA TODAY in advance of Biden’s visit to Europe that the war in Ukraine is representative of the fight for democracy across the globe.
“Thus far, the American people have been very supportive."
"Not just the American people but populations around the world have been very, very supportive of Ukraine,” Kirby said.
“From a geopolitical perspective, it very much is a fight for democracy on the continent of Europe, and we believe that the American people understand that,” the Biden adviser added.
Experts said that any agreement to discuss early negotiations for an exit to the war would be a political and strategic mistake for Biden.
“If you’re Biden, you want to show that you’re leading the West – the free world – and the free world is united and you’re not wimping out," said Daniel Fried, a former U.S. Ambassador to Poland who was the State Department’s sanctions policy coordinator when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.
"There’s still a lot of support for Ukraine, especially if there’s a chance they can succeed reasonably well.”
If world leaders think that by withdrawing from the region, it will stop Putin’s aggression, it won’t, Fried said.
“They might be forced into bad negotiations, because the military situation demands it,” Fried said.
“But don't have a champagne party for some deal."
USA TODAY Pentagon reporter Tom Vanden Brook contributed to this piece.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fa ... ee1199d7e3
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
REUTERS
"U.S. consumer confidence index tumbles in June"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in June as worries about high inflation left consumers anticipating economic growth would weaken significantly in the second half of the year.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday its consumer confidence index dropped 4.5 points to a reading of 98.7 this month.
The present situation index, based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, slipped to 147.1 from 147.4 last month.
The expectations index, based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, tumbled to 66.4 - the lowest level since March 2013 - from 73.7 in May.
"Expectations have now fallen well below a reading of 80, suggesting weaker growth in the second half of 2022 as well as growing risk of recession by year end," said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board in Washington.
Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-c ... 022-06-28/
"U.S. consumer confidence index tumbles in June"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in June as worries about high inflation left consumers anticipating economic growth would weaken significantly in the second half of the year.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday its consumer confidence index dropped 4.5 points to a reading of 98.7 this month.
The present situation index, based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, slipped to 147.1 from 147.4 last month.
The expectations index, based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, tumbled to 66.4 - the lowest level since March 2013 - from 73.7 in May.
"Expectations have now fallen well below a reading of 80, suggesting weaker growth in the second half of 2022 as well as growing risk of recession by year end," said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board in Washington.
Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-c ... 022-06-28/
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
REUTERS
"Rouble firms past 52 against dollar for first time since May 2015"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
MOSCOW, June 28 (Reuters) - The rouble rallied past 52 against the dollar to a more than a seven-year high on Tuesday as capital controls and month-end taxes offset the negative impact of Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds.
The rouble became the world's best-performing currency this year, boosted by emergency measures that authorities have taken to shield Russia's financial system from western sanctions after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The rouble hit 50.6125 against the dollar in Moscow trade for the first time since late May 2015, and jumped to 54.40 against the euro, a level last seen in April 2015.
As of 1523 GMT, the rouble gained nearly 3% to 51.88 against the greenback and was at 54.71 against the euro, gaining more than 2.5% on the day .
The rouble is much stronger now than it was before Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Back then the rouble traded near 80 against the dollar and 90 against the euro as it was in free-float mode, hammered by fears of sanctions and had no support from capital controls.
Now demand for foreign currency in Russia remains below supply volumes from export-focused companies that need to convert their dollar and euro revenue to pay month-end taxes.
With restrictions on forex withdrawal from banks' accounts for individuals, capital restrictions have helped the rouble shrug off Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century.
But Kremlin, which has money to make payments from oil and gas revenue, has rejected the claims and accused the West of driving it into an artificial default.
The declared default will have no substantial impact on Russian securities as Eurobonds have long priced in the default, while the external debt market is shut for Russia in any case, said Alexander Afonin, head of debt research at Sinara investment bank.
The rouble's upside could be limited given growing concerns about the impact of the strong rouble on Russia's revenues from selling commodities abroad for foreign currency.
Market players "see the current levels as attractive for purchasing hard currency, especially in light of the recent comments from Russian officials indicating that the rouble has become too strong," Sberbank CIB said in a note.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose 2.5% to 1,464.1 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% lower at 2,409.1 points.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara Lewis and Shinjini Ganguli
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-28/
"Rouble firms past 52 against dollar for first time since May 2015"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
MOSCOW, June 28 (Reuters) - The rouble rallied past 52 against the dollar to a more than a seven-year high on Tuesday as capital controls and month-end taxes offset the negative impact of Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds.
The rouble became the world's best-performing currency this year, boosted by emergency measures that authorities have taken to shield Russia's financial system from western sanctions after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The rouble hit 50.6125 against the dollar in Moscow trade for the first time since late May 2015, and jumped to 54.40 against the euro, a level last seen in April 2015.
As of 1523 GMT, the rouble gained nearly 3% to 51.88 against the greenback and was at 54.71 against the euro, gaining more than 2.5% on the day .
The rouble is much stronger now than it was before Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Back then the rouble traded near 80 against the dollar and 90 against the euro as it was in free-float mode, hammered by fears of sanctions and had no support from capital controls.
Now demand for foreign currency in Russia remains below supply volumes from export-focused companies that need to convert their dollar and euro revenue to pay month-end taxes.
With restrictions on forex withdrawal from banks' accounts for individuals, capital restrictions have helped the rouble shrug off Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century.
But Kremlin, which has money to make payments from oil and gas revenue, has rejected the claims and accused the West of driving it into an artificial default.
The declared default will have no substantial impact on Russian securities as Eurobonds have long priced in the default, while the external debt market is shut for Russia in any case, said Alexander Afonin, head of debt research at Sinara investment bank.
The rouble's upside could be limited given growing concerns about the impact of the strong rouble on Russia's revenues from selling commodities abroad for foreign currency.
Market players "see the current levels as attractive for purchasing hard currency, especially in light of the recent comments from Russian officials indicating that the rouble has become too strong," Sberbank CIB said in a note.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose 2.5% to 1,464.1 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% lower at 2,409.1 points.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara Lewis and Shinjini Ganguli
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-28/
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
WCVB Boston
"New UMass poll show President Biden support slipping in Mass."
28 JUNE 2022
A new poll released Tuesday by WCVB’s partners at UMass Amherst shows President Joe Biden's approval ratings among Massachusetts residents is slipping.
A sample of 1,000 Massachusetts respondents were used in the poll, which was conducted between June 15 and June 21.
It found that 45% of respondents approved of the job Biden is doing, down from a 56% approval rating in November 2021 and down from a 61% approval rating in March of 2021.
The same poll which asked respondents about their approval of U.S. Congress showed dwindling support for the legislative body as well.
Just 24% of respondents approved of the job Congress was doing, down from 31% in November 2021 and 33% in March 2021.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Democrats or Independent, the poll found 26% support Biden as their primary candidate in the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary.
Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren tied for second among preferred Democratic candidates in the 2024 primary, with 14%.
Pete Buttigieg was the top candidate among 13% of respondents.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Republicans or Independent, the poll found 51% support Donald Trump as their primary candidate in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the primary pick of 24% of respondents.
On the issue of gun regulation, 76% of respondents said they strongly supported requiring background checks for all gun sales while 68% strongly supported raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines from 18 to 21.
The poll found 15% of Massachusetts respondents strongly supported allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools, while 44% strongly opposed it.
When respondents were asked if it should be easier for people to obtain a concealed-carry permit, 49% said they strongly opposed the idea while 11% strongly supported it.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ee1199d7e3
"New UMass poll show President Biden support slipping in Mass."
28 JUNE 2022
A new poll released Tuesday by WCVB’s partners at UMass Amherst shows President Joe Biden's approval ratings among Massachusetts residents is slipping.
A sample of 1,000 Massachusetts respondents were used in the poll, which was conducted between June 15 and June 21.
It found that 45% of respondents approved of the job Biden is doing, down from a 56% approval rating in November 2021 and down from a 61% approval rating in March of 2021.
The same poll which asked respondents about their approval of U.S. Congress showed dwindling support for the legislative body as well.
Just 24% of respondents approved of the job Congress was doing, down from 31% in November 2021 and 33% in March 2021.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Democrats or Independent, the poll found 26% support Biden as their primary candidate in the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary.
Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren tied for second among preferred Democratic candidates in the 2024 primary, with 14%.
Pete Buttigieg was the top candidate among 13% of respondents.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Republicans or Independent, the poll found 51% support Donald Trump as their primary candidate in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the primary pick of 24% of respondents.
On the issue of gun regulation, 76% of respondents said they strongly supported requiring background checks for all gun sales while 68% strongly supported raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines from 18 to 21.
The poll found 15% of Massachusetts respondents strongly supported allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools, while 44% strongly opposed it.
When respondents were asked if it should be easier for people to obtain a concealed-carry permit, 49% said they strongly opposed the idea while 11% strongly supported it.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ee1199d7e3
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
NEWSWEEK
"Joe Biden's Approval Rating Plummets Internationally: Poll"
John Feng
28 JUNE 2022
Confidence in Joe Biden has declined sharply around the world since his first year in office, even as global views of the United States continue to improve following record lows under Donald Trump, a recent survey has found.
A survey published by the Pew Research Center on June 22 found confidence in Biden had declined sharply around the world in the second year of his presidency.
Among more than a dozen publics in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, median confidence in Biden was at 60 percent, according to a Pew Research Center report on June 22.
Its analysis links the dip—down an average of 15 percentage points from 2021 — to initial enthusiasm after Trump's presidency, as well as the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer.
Some of the biggest declines were recorded in Italy (down 30 points), Greece (down 26 points) and Spain (down 25 points), while drops in excess of 15 points were also reported in Singapore (down 22 points), France (down 21 points) and the Netherlands (down 19 points), Pew's results found.
Among countries where directly comparable data was available, only South Korea (up 3 points) recorded an increase in confidence in Biden.
Pew's report attributes Biden's second-year approval to an averaging out of the initial rebound following the tenure of former President Trump, whose median confidence dropped to just 17 percent in his final year.
The survey found that, on average, a majority of 51 percent of publics viewed the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan as the right decision, but 57 percent saw the exit as having been poorly handled, causing a further hit to confidence in Biden.
Global trust in Biden has so far failed to reach the highs enjoyed by Barack Obama, but they exceed those experienced by Trump at any time between 2016 and 2020, according to Pew.
Confidence in Biden was highest in Poland (82 percent), Sweden (74 percent) and South Korea (70 percent), and lowest in Greece (41 percent), Italy (45 percent), Spain (48 percent) and Singapore (48 percent).
His median approval of 60 percent was slightly worse than that of President Emmanuel Macron of France (62 percent) and slightly better that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany (59 percent), while each suffered from roughly one-third no confidence among the 18 publics surveyed.
Biden, Macron and Scholz enjoyed much higher ratings than President Xi Jinping of China (18 percent) and President Vladimir Putin of Russia (9 percent), both of whom are experiencing record or near-record lows in the Pew polling on global attitudes.
The publics in Malaysia (62 percent for Xi and 59 for Putin) and Singapore (69 percent for Xi and 36 for Putin) reported the most trust in the two heads of state to "do the right thing regarding world affairs."
Despite Biden's individual slip down the global confidence ladder, favorable views of the U.S. are on the rise, the numbers showed.
It enjoyed a median favorability of 61 percent, versus 35 percent unfavorable views.
The U.S. was viewed most favorably in Poland (91 percent), South Korea (89 percent) and Israel (83 percent), and most unfavorably in Malaysia (57 percent), Singapore (48 percent) and Greece (48 percent).
An average of 79 percent of foreign publics said the U.S. was a "reliable partner."
The results were highest in the Netherlands (89 percent), Poland (86) and Sweden (84 percent); lowest in Malaysia (43 percent), Greece (53 percent) and France (62 percent).
Pew said South Koreans increased their opinions of the U.S. by 25 points since 2021.
Other significant increases were recorded in Sweden (up 21 points), Australia (up 16 points) and Canada (up 16 points).
Pew's report drew on surveys of 19,903 adults in 18 countries between February 14 to May 11 this year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jo ... 311fcf4f14
"Joe Biden's Approval Rating Plummets Internationally: Poll"
John Feng
28 JUNE 2022
Confidence in Joe Biden has declined sharply around the world since his first year in office, even as global views of the United States continue to improve following record lows under Donald Trump, a recent survey has found.
A survey published by the Pew Research Center on June 22 found confidence in Biden had declined sharply around the world in the second year of his presidency.
Among more than a dozen publics in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, median confidence in Biden was at 60 percent, according to a Pew Research Center report on June 22.
Its analysis links the dip—down an average of 15 percentage points from 2021 — to initial enthusiasm after Trump's presidency, as well as the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer.
Some of the biggest declines were recorded in Italy (down 30 points), Greece (down 26 points) and Spain (down 25 points), while drops in excess of 15 points were also reported in Singapore (down 22 points), France (down 21 points) and the Netherlands (down 19 points), Pew's results found.
Among countries where directly comparable data was available, only South Korea (up 3 points) recorded an increase in confidence in Biden.
Pew's report attributes Biden's second-year approval to an averaging out of the initial rebound following the tenure of former President Trump, whose median confidence dropped to just 17 percent in his final year.
The survey found that, on average, a majority of 51 percent of publics viewed the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan as the right decision, but 57 percent saw the exit as having been poorly handled, causing a further hit to confidence in Biden.
Global trust in Biden has so far failed to reach the highs enjoyed by Barack Obama, but they exceed those experienced by Trump at any time between 2016 and 2020, according to Pew.
Confidence in Biden was highest in Poland (82 percent), Sweden (74 percent) and South Korea (70 percent), and lowest in Greece (41 percent), Italy (45 percent), Spain (48 percent) and Singapore (48 percent).
His median approval of 60 percent was slightly worse than that of President Emmanuel Macron of France (62 percent) and slightly better that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany (59 percent), while each suffered from roughly one-third no confidence among the 18 publics surveyed.
Biden, Macron and Scholz enjoyed much higher ratings than President Xi Jinping of China (18 percent) and President Vladimir Putin of Russia (9 percent), both of whom are experiencing record or near-record lows in the Pew polling on global attitudes.
The publics in Malaysia (62 percent for Xi and 59 for Putin) and Singapore (69 percent for Xi and 36 for Putin) reported the most trust in the two heads of state to "do the right thing regarding world affairs."
Despite Biden's individual slip down the global confidence ladder, favorable views of the U.S. are on the rise, the numbers showed.
It enjoyed a median favorability of 61 percent, versus 35 percent unfavorable views.
The U.S. was viewed most favorably in Poland (91 percent), South Korea (89 percent) and Israel (83 percent), and most unfavorably in Malaysia (57 percent), Singapore (48 percent) and Greece (48 percent).
An average of 79 percent of foreign publics said the U.S. was a "reliable partner."
The results were highest in the Netherlands (89 percent), Poland (86) and Sweden (84 percent); lowest in Malaysia (43 percent), Greece (53 percent) and France (62 percent).
Pew said South Koreans increased their opinions of the U.S. by 25 points since 2021.
Other significant increases were recorded in Sweden (up 21 points), Australia (up 16 points) and Canada (up 16 points).
Pew's report drew on surveys of 19,903 adults in 18 countries between February 14 to May 11 this year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jo ... 311fcf4f14
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Most say nation on wrong track, including Dems: AP-NORC poll"
By JOSH BOAK and EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press
29 JUNE 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — An overwhelming and growing majority of Americans say the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats, according to a new poll that finds deep pessimism about the economy plaguing President Joe Biden.
Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track, and 79% describe the economy as poor, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The findings suggest Biden faces fundamental challenges as he tries to motivate voters to cast ballots for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.
Inflation has consistently eclipsed the healthy 3.6% unemployment rate as a focal point for Americans, who are dealing with high gasoline and food prices.
Even among Democrats, 67% call economic conditions poor.
“He’s doing the best he can — I can’t say he’s doing a good job,” said Chuck McClain, 74.
“But his opposition is so bad."
"I just don’t feel the Democratic Congress is doing enough.”
The Las Vegas resident is a loyal Democrat who said he doesn't miss an election, but he said the price of gas and groceries, Russia's war in Ukraine and the country's deep political divides have led more Americans to feel as though Washington is unresponsive to their needs.
“My wife and I are very frustrated with where the country is headed, and we don’t have a lot of hope for the political end of it to get any better,” he said.
The poll shows only 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s leadership overall, while 60% disapprove.
His approval rating fell to its lowest point of his presidency last month and remains at that level.
The Democratic president gets hit even harder on the economy, with 69% saying they disapprove of him on the issue.
Among Democrats, 43% disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy.
Just 14% say things are going in the right direction, down slightly from 21% in May and 29% in April.
Through the first half of 2021, about half of Americans said the country was headed in the right direction, a number that has steadily eroded in the past year.
Dorothy Vaudo, 66, said she voted for Biden in 2020 but plans to switch allegiance this year.
“I’m a Democrat so I had to vote Democrat, but that’s going to change,” said the Martin County, North Carolina resident.
In recent weeks, Americans have endured even more bad economic news, with inflation continuing to rise, interest rates increasing dramatically and the S&P 500 entering a bear market as many serious economists predict a recession.
Yet consumer spending has largely kept pace and hiring remains brisk in a sign that families and businesses have been able to withstand some of the economic pain.
In an interview this month with the AP, Biden traced the decline in his popularity to increases in gas prices that began a year ago.
He said that prices shot up further with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
But he rejected claims by Republican lawmakers and some major economists that his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from last year contributed to inflation, noting that price increases were a global phenomenon.
“We’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation,” Biden said.
“If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher?"
Douglass Gavilan, a 26-year-old in Miami, is concerned about the “skyrocketing” prices and rent that he sees in his community.
Shelter costs are roughly a third of the U.S. consumer price index, so the run-up in rents and home values has started to strain the budgets even of many people living where there are strong job opportunities.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to live here in a few years,” Gavilan said.
“I definitely don’t feel confident in the economy.”
Though he doesn’t identify with a political party, Gavilan voted for Biden in 2020.
He doesn't think Biden has proposed anything to make a meaningful difference in his life, but he does think the president’s in a tough spot.
“There’s very little he can do without everyone blaming him for everything,” Gavilan said.
The poll was conducted from Thursday to Monday, with many interviews conducted after the Supreme Court on Friday struck down Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion -- a decision opposed by a majority of the American people in earlier polls, which could also have contributed to the continued slump in the national mood.
The national dissatisfaction is bipartisan, the poll shows.
Ninety-two percent of Republicans and 78% of Democrats say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Since last month, the percentage of Democrats saying the country is headed in the wrong direction rose from 66%.
Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic remains a relative bright spot, with 53% of Americans saying they approve of his handling of that issue.
On the other hand, only 36% say they approve of Biden’s handling of gun policy; 62% disapprove.
But the economy is what weighs on many Americans as their top priority.
Curtis Musser, 57, a chemistry teacher from Clermont, Florida, said he expects a recession is coming, though he believes it will be mild.
Musser said many Americans simply feel as though they're at the mercy of events beyond their control, whether that's the pandemic, rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, war in Europe or political hostilities within the U.S.
“I feel as an individual somewhat helpless,” he said.
“I don’t have control of the markets, and you can’t really guess what markets are going do because you don’t know what the Fed is going to do."
"You don’t know what Congress is going to do."
"You don't know what Vladimir Putin is going to do."
___
The poll of 1,053 adults was conducted June 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
___
AP writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
"Most say nation on wrong track, including Dems: AP-NORC poll"
By JOSH BOAK and EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press
29 JUNE 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — An overwhelming and growing majority of Americans say the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats, according to a new poll that finds deep pessimism about the economy plaguing President Joe Biden.
Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track, and 79% describe the economy as poor, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The findings suggest Biden faces fundamental challenges as he tries to motivate voters to cast ballots for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.
Inflation has consistently eclipsed the healthy 3.6% unemployment rate as a focal point for Americans, who are dealing with high gasoline and food prices.
Even among Democrats, 67% call economic conditions poor.
“He’s doing the best he can — I can’t say he’s doing a good job,” said Chuck McClain, 74.
“But his opposition is so bad."
"I just don’t feel the Democratic Congress is doing enough.”
The Las Vegas resident is a loyal Democrat who said he doesn't miss an election, but he said the price of gas and groceries, Russia's war in Ukraine and the country's deep political divides have led more Americans to feel as though Washington is unresponsive to their needs.
“My wife and I are very frustrated with where the country is headed, and we don’t have a lot of hope for the political end of it to get any better,” he said.
The poll shows only 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s leadership overall, while 60% disapprove.
His approval rating fell to its lowest point of his presidency last month and remains at that level.
The Democratic president gets hit even harder on the economy, with 69% saying they disapprove of him on the issue.
Among Democrats, 43% disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy.
Just 14% say things are going in the right direction, down slightly from 21% in May and 29% in April.
Through the first half of 2021, about half of Americans said the country was headed in the right direction, a number that has steadily eroded in the past year.
Dorothy Vaudo, 66, said she voted for Biden in 2020 but plans to switch allegiance this year.
“I’m a Democrat so I had to vote Democrat, but that’s going to change,” said the Martin County, North Carolina resident.
In recent weeks, Americans have endured even more bad economic news, with inflation continuing to rise, interest rates increasing dramatically and the S&P 500 entering a bear market as many serious economists predict a recession.
Yet consumer spending has largely kept pace and hiring remains brisk in a sign that families and businesses have been able to withstand some of the economic pain.
In an interview this month with the AP, Biden traced the decline in his popularity to increases in gas prices that began a year ago.
He said that prices shot up further with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
But he rejected claims by Republican lawmakers and some major economists that his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from last year contributed to inflation, noting that price increases were a global phenomenon.
“We’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation,” Biden said.
“If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher?"
Douglass Gavilan, a 26-year-old in Miami, is concerned about the “skyrocketing” prices and rent that he sees in his community.
Shelter costs are roughly a third of the U.S. consumer price index, so the run-up in rents and home values has started to strain the budgets even of many people living where there are strong job opportunities.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to live here in a few years,” Gavilan said.
“I definitely don’t feel confident in the economy.”
Though he doesn’t identify with a political party, Gavilan voted for Biden in 2020.
He doesn't think Biden has proposed anything to make a meaningful difference in his life, but he does think the president’s in a tough spot.
“There’s very little he can do without everyone blaming him for everything,” Gavilan said.
The poll was conducted from Thursday to Monday, with many interviews conducted after the Supreme Court on Friday struck down Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion -- a decision opposed by a majority of the American people in earlier polls, which could also have contributed to the continued slump in the national mood.
The national dissatisfaction is bipartisan, the poll shows.
Ninety-two percent of Republicans and 78% of Democrats say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Since last month, the percentage of Democrats saying the country is headed in the wrong direction rose from 66%.
Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic remains a relative bright spot, with 53% of Americans saying they approve of his handling of that issue.
On the other hand, only 36% say they approve of Biden’s handling of gun policy; 62% disapprove.
But the economy is what weighs on many Americans as their top priority.
Curtis Musser, 57, a chemistry teacher from Clermont, Florida, said he expects a recession is coming, though he believes it will be mild.
Musser said many Americans simply feel as though they're at the mercy of events beyond their control, whether that's the pandemic, rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, war in Europe or political hostilities within the U.S.
“I feel as an individual somewhat helpless,” he said.
“I don’t have control of the markets, and you can’t really guess what markets are going do because you don’t know what the Fed is going to do."
"You don’t know what Congress is going to do."
"You don't know what Vladimir Putin is going to do."
___
The poll of 1,053 adults was conducted June 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
___
AP writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"Media silent on Hunter Biden's Russia prostitute counterintelligence scandal"
John Schindler
The strange saga of Hunter Biden’s waylaid laptop constitutes one of the bigger scandals in the recent history of American journalism and politics.
In the last month of the 2020 election campaign, Democrats, much of the media, and Big Tech worked together to suppress discussion of that laptop and its unflattering contents.
They did so in a manner that reeked of collusion.
The impact of this suppression on the election is difficult to gauge, however, since nobody had effectively killed relevant reporting in such a nakedly partisan manner before.
That was then.
In the more than 20 months since, the media have gradually decided that maybe there’s something there after all.
The original contention that the "laptop from hell" was mere Russian disinformation has given ground to the reality that it was the careless first son’s property.
The Washington Examiner commissioned a forensic examination that proved as much.
Other outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, and Politico have grudgingly admitted that it’s really Biden's laptop and the sordid information contained therein is real.
Not that the media seem interested in pursuing stories derived from that laptop about what Biden and his father were up to — particularly, that is, regarding shady finances with foreign ties.
There’s a plethora of data to work with, but the liberal media don’t seem eager to report any of it.
Apparently, it’s now acceptable to admit that it really was Biden's laptop, but nobody’s supposed to discuss its contents.
It has therefore fallen to conservative outlets to do that reporting, and some of those findings can be fairly termed bombshells.
Yet, these continue to be trees falling in forests that many people don’t hear about since the media keep ignoring these investigative reports.
Take the case of the exclusive story reported this week by the Washington Examiner.
It concerns the younger Biden's rather recent dalliances with Russian escorts, which were being funded by his father.
Personally, I don’t care about his prolific sexual antics during his years of epic drug binges, but when it involves Russians and shady finances, that’s getting into my counterintelligence wheelhouse.
To any trained eye, this week’s report raises troubling questions about Biden and his Russian friends.
To summarize it, over less than four months in late 2018 and early 2019, Biden spent in excess of $30,000 on Russian escorts, many of whom were linked to ".ru" Russian email addresses and worked with an "exclusive model agency" called UberGFE.
He exchanged numerous text messages with a woman named Eva, who served as his primary point of contact at UberGFE.
Eva called him "Robert" which is, in fact, Biden's first name.
As the Washington Examiner report notes, his bank "accounts were temporarily frozen at one point because his attempted payments to her 'girls' with Russian email accounts were too much of a 'red flag' for his bank."
The president's son also searched on Google for "dc russian escorts" and visited UberGFE’s website to search for escorts in Boston.
The report likewise notes that the elder Biden was financing Hunter Biden’s dalliances with Russian escorts.
The current president wired his son over $100,000 during the period in question.
Hunter Biden was spending his father's money as fast as it landed in his accounts.
As the report dryly states, "Joe Biden wired his son $5,000 while he was actively engaged with an UberGFE escort."
"... Texts indicated Hunter Biden convinced his father to wire him $20,000 to finance his stay at a New York City drug rehabilitation program that he never checked into."
As the Washington Examiner report emphasizes, there’s no indication that President Joe Biden knew what his son was spending that money on.
Let's give the president the benefit of the doubt that he had no clue that Hunter Biden was dropping $10,000 or so every month on Russian escorts.
What happened is bad enough.
Summed up, the younger Biden was seeking out Russian escorts in Washington, a city that’s crawling with Russian (and many other) spies, while giving tens of thousands of dollars to Eva, who appears to have been running a human trafficking ring.
For years, Democrats and their media allies have insisted that former President Donald Trump was "compromised" by the Kremlin.
Well, this story constitutes worse kompromat than the media ever reliably reported about the Trump family.
In other words, this is a bombshell report.
It carries troubling counterintelligence implications for the first son and potentially for the Biden family.
One might think the media would eagerly expand on this intriguing story in an effort to "speak truth to power" and all that.
One would be wrong.
Since that Washington Examiner report appeared, it has been commented on in a few right-of-center outlets, but Google searches reveal no further media amplification of the story whatsoever.
This coordinated ignoring of a major story with national security implications amounts to censorship.
It worked in October 2020, but it’s not working anymore.
If Republicans retake the House of Representatives in January, as seems likely, expect to hear more about this matter.
And rightly so.
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
"Media silent on Hunter Biden's Russia prostitute counterintelligence scandal"
John Schindler
The strange saga of Hunter Biden’s waylaid laptop constitutes one of the bigger scandals in the recent history of American journalism and politics.
In the last month of the 2020 election campaign, Democrats, much of the media, and Big Tech worked together to suppress discussion of that laptop and its unflattering contents.
They did so in a manner that reeked of collusion.
The impact of this suppression on the election is difficult to gauge, however, since nobody had effectively killed relevant reporting in such a nakedly partisan manner before.
That was then.
In the more than 20 months since, the media have gradually decided that maybe there’s something there after all.
The original contention that the "laptop from hell" was mere Russian disinformation has given ground to the reality that it was the careless first son’s property.
The Washington Examiner commissioned a forensic examination that proved as much.
Other outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, and Politico have grudgingly admitted that it’s really Biden's laptop and the sordid information contained therein is real.
Not that the media seem interested in pursuing stories derived from that laptop about what Biden and his father were up to — particularly, that is, regarding shady finances with foreign ties.
There’s a plethora of data to work with, but the liberal media don’t seem eager to report any of it.
Apparently, it’s now acceptable to admit that it really was Biden's laptop, but nobody’s supposed to discuss its contents.
It has therefore fallen to conservative outlets to do that reporting, and some of those findings can be fairly termed bombshells.
Yet, these continue to be trees falling in forests that many people don’t hear about since the media keep ignoring these investigative reports.
Take the case of the exclusive story reported this week by the Washington Examiner.
It concerns the younger Biden's rather recent dalliances with Russian escorts, which were being funded by his father.
Personally, I don’t care about his prolific sexual antics during his years of epic drug binges, but when it involves Russians and shady finances, that’s getting into my counterintelligence wheelhouse.
To any trained eye, this week’s report raises troubling questions about Biden and his Russian friends.
To summarize it, over less than four months in late 2018 and early 2019, Biden spent in excess of $30,000 on Russian escorts, many of whom were linked to ".ru" Russian email addresses and worked with an "exclusive model agency" called UberGFE.
He exchanged numerous text messages with a woman named Eva, who served as his primary point of contact at UberGFE.
Eva called him "Robert" which is, in fact, Biden's first name.
As the Washington Examiner report notes, his bank "accounts were temporarily frozen at one point because his attempted payments to her 'girls' with Russian email accounts were too much of a 'red flag' for his bank."
The president's son also searched on Google for "dc russian escorts" and visited UberGFE’s website to search for escorts in Boston.
The report likewise notes that the elder Biden was financing Hunter Biden’s dalliances with Russian escorts.
The current president wired his son over $100,000 during the period in question.
Hunter Biden was spending his father's money as fast as it landed in his accounts.
As the report dryly states, "Joe Biden wired his son $5,000 while he was actively engaged with an UberGFE escort."
"... Texts indicated Hunter Biden convinced his father to wire him $20,000 to finance his stay at a New York City drug rehabilitation program that he never checked into."
As the Washington Examiner report emphasizes, there’s no indication that President Joe Biden knew what his son was spending that money on.
Let's give the president the benefit of the doubt that he had no clue that Hunter Biden was dropping $10,000 or so every month on Russian escorts.
What happened is bad enough.
Summed up, the younger Biden was seeking out Russian escorts in Washington, a city that’s crawling with Russian (and many other) spies, while giving tens of thousands of dollars to Eva, who appears to have been running a human trafficking ring.
For years, Democrats and their media allies have insisted that former President Donald Trump was "compromised" by the Kremlin.
Well, this story constitutes worse kompromat than the media ever reliably reported about the Trump family.
In other words, this is a bombshell report.
It carries troubling counterintelligence implications for the first son and potentially for the Biden family.
One might think the media would eagerly expand on this intriguing story in an effort to "speak truth to power" and all that.
One would be wrong.
Since that Washington Examiner report appeared, it has been commented on in a few right-of-center outlets, but Google searches reveal no further media amplification of the story whatsoever.
This coordinated ignoring of a major story with national security implications amounts to censorship.
It worked in October 2020, but it’s not working anymore.
If Republicans retake the House of Representatives in January, as seems likely, expect to hear more about this matter.
And rightly so.
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d