This is a big week in American politics: Congress is back in town after a five-week break after a summer break, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to hold their first (and only) debate on Tuesday night, and the earliest voting states are beginning to count their votes.
This is a big problem, and it's only going to get bigger. We may see a fight over the government shutdown, depending on how stubbornly House Republicans stick to their guns in their fight against the 82-year-old Senate Republican leader, who remains adamantly opposed to including foreign vote protections in the next round of short-term government funding.
The title fight this week will undoubtedly be Trump vs. Harris. No major candidate in modern American history has come close to matching the Harris-Waltz campaign. Despite having no debates, primaries, polls, or campaigning, Harris has given a reporter 18 minutes to ask questions since receiving the nomination and has barely put a policy statement on paper. As the esteemed Mark Hemingway put it: He wrote in The Federalist Magazine“Carefulness over democracy, nuclear weapons and trillions of dollars requires, at a minimum, that you explain yourself, but Harris' entourage has decided that even doing so is too risky.”
Former Hillary Clinton advisor Mark Penn agreedescribes the problem in demanding and stark terms: “No three debates. No two years of primaries. No coalition building. No detailed policy development. No daily press conferences. No leadership tests.”
Harris's silence protection is absolute, and it even engulfs her running mate, who has been promised to be America's assistant coach, but who is, by any standard or measure, a far-left politician more comfortable shutting down the public than his extended Trump-supporting family. And he barely gives interviews because 1) he fears they will draw attention to his boss' silence, and 2) he can't articulate policies that don't exist. This is a tricky one.
So it's Tuesday, and we, the voters, have to decide whether we're comfortable with electing a president who doesn't reveal himself on the basis of his promise to be a good progressive. The current state of American politics worries me that this is not the case.
Meanwhile, just outside the main stage, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is gearing up for what may be the biggest fight of his career. He envisions tying the SAVE Act from Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to a short-term spending bill that would extend government funding through the first two and a half months of the next administration.
Johnson will have plenty of time to tell donors and lawmakers that he tried really hard, and then he'll get to do what the liberals and big-spending people who run Washington want to do.
The move is a surprise. It puts the speaker in league with Republican members of the House, the party's presidential candidates and, surprisingly, its donor base. But it also puts him at odds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a stubborn man used to getting his own way, even as he plans to finally relinquish his historically tense leadership this fall.
Republican senators, on the other hand, are accustomed to following McConnell's lead, and if they defy him, He won't hesitate to hurt you.
Will Johnson be successful in pressuring the Senate to take up a spending bill? The pressure from Democrats and the corporate media is relentless, and if House Republicans start their fight this week (as they suggest), they'll have enough time to get a “no” from the Senate, tell donors and lawmakers that they tried really hard, and then do what the liberals and spendthrifts who run DC want to do.
“If progressives really want foreign voters to vote, they're going to have to say so,” Sen. Mike Lee told The Blaze News earlier this week.
And immigration is not the problem It fades away, Even if Washington wants to look the other way, shocking statistics released Friday showed that 1.3 million native-born Americans lost their jobs in August, while 635,000 jobs were lost to foreign-born workers.
As ZeroHedge analysis Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics points out that “Since July 2018, native-born Americans have lost 350,000 jobs, meaning that over the past six years, zero native-born workers have been employed. During this period, 4.7 million non-born workers have replaced native-born workers in employment.”
“September is a fundraising battle,” one conservative House staffer told The Blaze News, “and the outcome of the election, along with the results, will determine what happens in November and December.”
“All I know for sure at the end of the year is that it will be just a facade.”
NY Times: Times/Siena poll finds Trump and Harris neck and neck after summer turmoil
Blaze News: Do illegal immigrants really vote in elections?
Blaze News:While millions of Americans lost their jobs last month, the “foreign-born” enjoyed huge gains.
Blaze News:NYT publisher stoks fears about Trump, fueling new victim mentality
Blaze News investigates:Democrats' election fraud is in danger of dying with 1000 cuts
Blaze News: Judge sets Trump trial date after election to avoid rigging allegations
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The fire rages: The New York Times: Smartphones at school
Smartphones block out nature, dull our concentration, stifle literature, and dominate the spouse bedroom. This is only true for adults. Children are even worse. What was marketed as the great dissemination of knowledge is raising empty, commercialized kids who don't know anything and don't care about anything. Parents and schools are finally starting to get wise. David Leonhardt reports:
School officials and policymakers are fighting back, and it's perhaps the most significant development of the 2024-25 school year.
At least eight states, including California, Indiana and Louisiana, have restricted or are taking steps to restrict cellphone use. They are following the lead of Florida, which banned cellphones in K-12 classrooms last year. Other states, including Arizona and New York, may act soon. (My colleague Natasha Singer, A reporter who has covered the case discussed these policies on “The Daily.”
Many in schools that have restricted cellphone use say they're already seeing results. Natasha visited a Florida school district that went further than state law by implementing a day-long cellphone ban, and now students chat at lunch and play games like Twister and pickleball. “Before, kids were mostly on their phones,” one principal said.
