Seven in ten people will live in urban areas by 2050, according to predictions by the UN World Population Division. That’s up from just three in 10 in 1950.
The following chart, via Statista’s Anna Fleck, looks at a small selection of countries from around the world to highlight some of the patterns expected in the future. Of these, China is expected to see the greatest percent change over the 100 year span, increasing from 11.8 percent of the country living in urban centers in 1950, up to 80 percent in 2050 – a difference of some 68.2 percent. This has partly been driven by its rise of urban manufacturing and service sector jobs.
Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom are among the countries expected to have over 90 percent of their populations living in urban areas by 2050. As this chart shows, the UK was highly urbanized fairly early on, largely due to its early industrial revolution and the culture of people living in towns. It’s a similar story for other countries in Northern and Western Europe, which are forecast to have just below the 90 percent of their populations living in urban areas by 2050. In Southern Europe, the forecast is an average of 82.1 percent, while Eastern Europe is expected to be slightly lower at 79.4 percent. Meanwhile, in the United States, 83.7 percent of people are estimated to be living in urban centers in 2025, set to rise to 89.2 percent by 2050.
These can broadly be understood as ‘push factors’, which could include being forced to leave a rural area due to natural disasters or agricultural automation and land consolidation leading to fewer rural labor jobs, while ‘pull factors’ may look more like better employment and education opportunities or an interest in a different lifestyle.
The impacts of a changing climate are allegedly an important factor here too, as some areas will become increasingly uninhabitable such as at the equator or along coastlines. This was highlighted in a recent study, which indicates that some 13 million people could be forced to move in the United States by 2100 due to rising sea levels.
Urban growth is by no means universal though, with some cities seeing population decline.
The issue of microplastic pollution in the environment is gaining increasing societal attention. Research indicates that once microplastics enter the human body, they can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, or even death. What kind of everyday behaviors raise the risk of ingesting microplastics?
Lin Xiaoxu, a U.S. virology expert with a doctorate in microbiology, explained what microplastics and nanoplastics are on New Tang Dynasty TV’s “Health 1+1” program and how to reduce exposure to them.
Plastic is a crucial product in industrial production and is deeply intertwined with daily life. When plastic products break down, they become microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics. Microplastics are plastic pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, while nanoplastics measure below 1 micron (1,000 nanometers).
Sources of Microplastics
Mr. Lin explained that everyday plastic products release microplastics. Synthetic textiles shed fiber fragments, and worn-out tires produce plastic-containing dust. Even seemingly smooth plastic water bottles can shed microplastics during washing.
In nature, sunlight and ultraviolet radiation continuously degrade plastics into smaller particles. Textiles, hygiene products, bottles, bags, particles emitted from factories, tire dust, fishing nets, and more all contribute to microplastic pollution. Humans and other animals ingest some of these particles, while others accumulate and break down in oceans and soils. Marine organisms like shellfish, small fish, and shrimp, especially those near coastlines, are particularly prone to ingesting microplastics.
Mr. Lin emphasized that the main sources of microplastics are industrial waste and wastewater discharge, which can cause significant environmental damage if not adequately treated.
Therefore, before wastewater is released from factories, it must undergo processes like screening, sand removal, sedimentation, biological reactions, chlorination, ultraviolet treatment, membrane technology, etc., to remove over 90 percent of microplastics. However, complete elimination is not achievable. Natural environments may take thousands to tens of thousands of years to fully degrade microplastics.
Health Hazards of Microplastics
Microplastics typically enter the body through food and drink ingestion, while nanoplastics can be inhaled. Apart from directly irritating mucous membranes, microplastics can carry environmental microbes like bacteria and viruses into the body.
“If you ingest something toxic, people usually say to wash it out quickly, but microplastics are very tiny particles that adhere to the surface of the stomach. It’s not guaranteed that washing out will remove them; the body needs to slowly eliminate them, increasing the burden on the body,” Mr. Lin noted.
Studies have found that after exposure to ultraviolet light and microbial degradation in the natural environment, microplastics become more adsorbent, forming complexes with various environmental pollutants on their surfaces, making them more toxic to organisms.
Microplastics, which serve as carriers for heavy metals and pathogens, exhibit various toxicities upon entering the body. Most microplastics ingested through food are excreted via feces, but a small portion can remain in the intestines for days, causing intestinal damage, inflammation, and disruption of gut microbiota. Over time, microplastics can be absorbed into intestinal cells and enter the bloodstream, damaging organs and systems throughout the body. Organs like the liver and kidneys and bodily systems such as the immune, reproductive, and nervous systems are particularly affected. Additionally, excessive inhalation of microplastics can cause respiratory tissue damage and disease.
In March, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that most carotid artery plaques contained microplastics. The study included 257 patients aged 18 to 75 with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Following plaque removal from the arteries, researchers detected polyethylene in 150 patients (58.4 percent) and polyvinyl chloride in 31 patients (12.1 percent) of removed carotid artery plaques.
Macrophages within the plaques contained visible foreign particles, some with jagged edges and chlorine content. The study suggested that patients with detected microplastics had over 4.5 times higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, or death compared to those without microplastics.
On Feb. 27, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on microplastics in water.
Susanne Brander, an associate professor at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences who has been researching microplastics and plastic pollution for nearly a decade, pointed out at the hearing that microplastic particles exist in the human heart, placenta, and lung tissues and circulate in blood. Microplastics harm marine and terrestrial organisms, slowing growth, altering behavior patterns, and causing reproductive disorders, particularly adversely affecting mammals.
She described plastic pollution as one of humanity’s most significant environmental challenges and one of the world’s “most expensive” problems. It causes annual economic losses of $13 billion to fisheries, tourism, and shipping industries. In 2018, health care costs related to plastic-associated chemicals in the United States were estimated at up to $249 billion.
How to Avoid Ingesting Microplastics
How can we reduce the intake of microplastics in everyday life? Mr. Lin suggested the following preventive measures:
Filter water: Invest in a high-quality water filter capable of removing microplastics. Look for filters with a fine pore size or those specifically designed to filter out microplastics.
Avoid plastic containers: Opt for glass or stainless steel water bottles instead of plastic ones. Plastic bottles can shed microplastics, especially when exposed to heat or sunlight. Switch from plastic to glass containers for storing food. Glass does not degrade into microplastics and is safer for food storage.
Be cautious with food packaging: Choose fresh, unwrapped produce over prepackaged items. When buying packaged goods, select those in glass or cardboard rather than plastic.
Minimize processed food consumption: Processed foods often come in plastic packaging and can contain higher levels of microplastics. Cooking at home using fresh ingredients reduces exposure.
Avoid single-use plastics: Reduce the use of single-use plastics such as plastic cutlery, straws, and bags. These items contribute to pollution and degrade into microplastics over time.
Use natural fabrics: Synthetic fibers from clothing can shed microplastics during washing. Choose natural fabrics like cotton, wool, and silk, and use a laundry bag designed to capture microfibers.
Wash hands frequently: Wash hands often, especially after using gloves, as plastic residues inside gloves can transfer to hands.
Scrutinize cosmetics: Avoid cosmetics containing microplastics, such as microbeads in scrub creams and glitter in makeup products. Look for natural alternatives instead.
La Nina Watch Remains In Effect As Development Odds High For Northern Hemisphere Winter
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an update Thursday stating that there is a 70% chance La Niña will develop between August and October and a 79% chance between November and January.
#ENSO-neutral is expected to continue for the next several months, with La Niña favored to emerge during August-October (70% chance) and persist into Northern Hemisphere winter 2024-25 (79% chance for November-January). A #LaNina Watch remains in effect. https://t.co/5zlzaZ0D9Zpic.twitter.com/28c2iye7MM
— NWS Climate Prediction Center (@NWSCPC) July 11, 2024
In the first half of the year, waters across the eastern Pacific have rapidly cooled, signaling the end of a strong El Niño. Surface waters across the eastern Pacific have bottomed in recent months. If cooler ocean waters are seen in the months ahead, a stronger La Niña could emerge, producing a more active hurricane season.
The latest reading shows water temperatures in June were just 0.16 °C (0.3 °F) above the long-term average.
NOAA’s computer model, including the North American Multi-Model Ensemble, forecasts a “moderate” La Niña later this year.
NOAA’s historical winter precipitation data forecasts warmer- and drier-than-average conditions across the southern part of the US, colder-than-average conditions across the north-central Plains, and wetter-than-average conditions in the Ohio Valley and Pacific Northwest/northern California.
Government scientist pointed out, “Also keep in mind that there’s about a 1-in-5 chance that La Niña won’t show up, and neutral conditions will last through the winter.”
Let’s remind readers that NOAA has previously stated, “El Niño and La Niña are naturally occurring climate patterns and humans have no direct ability to influence their onset, intensity, or duration.”
Avoid far-left corporate media outlets that inject climate politics into nearly every weather headline and story they get a hold of to further their radical progressive agenda that’s not rooted in reality. Folks are realizing the leftist media is as clueless as Biden.
Saudi Aramco has attracted orders worth a total $31 billion for a fresh bond the company said it would place on international markets. The size of the bond was $6 billion.
In its first debt offering in three years, the Saudi energy giant offered 10- and 30-year notes, with offers for both topping $11 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the deal. The company also offered investors a 40-year note in the tranche.
Initially, plans were to offer some 140 basis points over U.S. Treasuries for the 10-year bond, 180 basis points over UST for the 30-year bond, and 195 basis points for the 40-year note. However, thanks to strong investor interest, the spreads were tightened to 105 basis points for the 10-year note, 145 basis points for the 30-year note, and 155 basis points for the 40-year note.
According to early reports about the bond offering, the proceeds would go towards refinancing existing debt and helping the investment program of the world’s largest oil company by market value and production.
“Aramco is extending maturities as it will continue to gradually leverage up given their expansion plans and capex needs,” the managing director of fixed income advisory at Union Bancaire Privee told Bloomberg.
Aramco is a major source of income for the Saudi government that has large-scale plans for the diversification of the Saudi economy. The Saudi government holds 81.5% directly in Aramco with another 16% held by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund—the Public Investment Fund. Per Reuters, Aramco plans to pay some $124.3 billion in dividends this year.
A month before the bond announcement, Aramco said it would also offer more stock to investors. The offering, priced at a discount, raised over $12.3 billion for the Saudi company. The initial proceeds came in at $11.2 billion, but the offering had an over-allotment option that kicked in, bringing the total to $12.35 billion.
Lawsuit Alleges Hyundai Conducted “Secret Program” With Dealers To “Inflate” EV Sales
Napleton Aurora Imports in Illinois recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, alleging that Hyundai pressured US auto dealers to “artificially inflate its publicly reported sales” of electric vehicles, creating a “false narrative” for consumers.
The suit, Napleton Aurora Imports Inc et al v. Hyundai Motor America Corp, claims Hyundai instructed some dealers to “falsely report unsold vehicles as ‘sold’ to a retail customer or placed into loaner service, only to reverse the ‘sale’ the following month.”
The suit, filed by Napleton Aurora Imports Inc. and other Hyundai franchises, detailed how there was an audio recording “demonstrating the existence of this scheme” with a dealer and district sales manager:
“We gotta hit a number for the press and for the Koreans.”
The suit alleges that Hyundai would reward dealers with “unlawful” perks, price discounts, and allocations of popular models in exchange for faking the sales numbers for EV cars.
Boosting fake EV sales allowed Hyundai to pump out a “press release touting its increased year-over-year sales and its growth in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.”
“Dealers who refuse to help HMA boost its fake numbers—like Napleton—are punished with allocations of slow selling vehicles, and denied wholesale price discounts, allocation, and retail price discounts to offer consumers, stifling competition and harming both Napleton and the public,” the suit said.
It seems like a classic case of “fake it till you make it.” This intriguing lawsuit raises the possibility that the demand for EVs reported in the corporate media might be inflated.
Biden Resumes Transfer Of 500-Pound Bombs To Israel As Fight Returns To Gaza City
The Biden administration’s punitive ‘pause’ of arms transfers for certain types of munitions to Israel, namely 500-pound and 2,000-pound bombs, didn’t last very long. As many predicted from the start, it was a mere slap of the wrist ploy for PR purposes to take some pressure off from both European allies abroad and Progressive Democrats at home in the US.
“The U.S. will soon begin shipping to Israel the 500-pound bombs that the Biden administration had previously suspended, ending a two-month pause it had imposed in a bid to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, U.S. officials said,” according to fresh Wall Street Journal reporting.
The bombs are expected to arrive in Israel in a matter of weeks, and “are in the process of being shipped,” the report adds. The 2,000-pound bombs Israel also previously had access to are reportedly still on hold, however, and will not be transferred by Washington.
The paused shipment had been withheld two months ago as Israeli ground forces went into the southern city of Rafah, resulting in the displacement of some one million civilians; however, despite calling the Rafah offensive a “red line” – the White House has kept supplying Israel with a variety of other weapons systems.
“Our main concern had been and remains the potential use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza,” a US official has confirmed. “Because our concern was not about the 500-pound bombs, those are moving forward as part of the usual process.”
Meanwhile, fighting has returned to Gaza City in the north of the Strip, which had been pacified in the opening months of the conflict.
Israel’s military (IDF) has once again ordered all residents of Gaza City to immediately evacuate to the central part of the Gaza Strip amid heightened operations in the north, where militants have returned. BBC details:
Leaflets dropped by aircraft instruct “everyone in Gaza City” to leave what is described as a “dangerous combat zone” via designated safe routes – marked as two roads that lead to shelters in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawaida.
All of these developments are likely to again intensify internal Democratic infighting in the US. Coupled with speculations over his health and fitness for another term, Biden also faces severe criticism over his handling of Gaza.
Ironically some of these same Progressives have at once accused Biden of enabling genocide while simultaneously urging that he should stay in the race and take the White House for another term…
The “Squad” position that Biden is both complicit in an ongoing “genocide” and totally fit to serve another four years as president is really special
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the start of this week came out in support of Biden staying in amid an avalanche of calls for him to step aside following his disastrous debate performance.
“I have spoken to the president over the weekend. I have spoken with him extensively,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Monday night. “He made clear then — and he has made clear since — that he is in this race.” She emphasized, “The matter is closed.” Likely she’ll remain quiet on his Gaza policies moving forward as well.
The FBI released a new batch of records about its Capitol Hill uprising investigation on Monday, revealing that investigators identified a “person of interest” in its Jan. 5/6 pipe bombs investigation within days of the incident.
The record about the FBI’s person of interest is a Jan. 10, 2021, report that summarized the bureau’s J6 investigation up to that point. The extremely faded report is difficult to read, but it appears to state: “FBI WF and USCP have identified a person of interest who may be a match to the description of the individual placing the bombs, and continue efforts to identify through surveillance footage.”
🚨NEW🚨 The FBI released records yesterday, showing that by Jan. 10, 2021, the bureau had “identified a person of interest who may be a match to the description of the individual” who placed the pipe bombs near the RNC and DNC
The FBI declined to comment in response to Headline USA’s questions about what happened to the person of interest, including whether the person was cleared or is still under investigation.
“We don’t have any comment on the documents. The pipe bomb investigation remains ongoing,” an FBI spokesperson told this outlet.
The FBI has been extremely tight-lipped on its pipe bomb investigation, and most of the revealtions have come via congressional investigations or other agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Last July, for instance, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., played a video showing a passerby “miraculously” finding a pipe bomb outside of the DNC headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Massie’s revelation followed an interview he and other House Judiciary Committee members conducted with former FBI official Steven D’Antuono, who oversaw the bureau’s pipe bomb investigation until he retired last November. In that interview, D’Antuono disclosed that some of the cell phone evidence from the FBI’s pipe bomb investigation was “corrupted.”
Why doesn’t Director Wray have answers about the January 6th pipe-bomb investigation?
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 12, 2023
More recently, congressional investigators revealed that the “passerby” pegged by Massie was, in fact, a plainclothes Capitol Police officer.
The latest major development came in March, when the Justice Department released ATF records showing that CIA explosives technicians were part of the response to the pipe bombs placed outside the RNC and DNC headquarters.
Still, the FBI is staying silent on the matter.
“It was 900 days ago when this happened, and you said you had total confidence that you’d apprehend the subject,” Massie said a year ago, to no avail. “It’s 900 days. You need to tell us what you found.”
China Has Been Practicing For Strikes On US Jets & Warships In Remote Desert Region
Recently emerged satellite images reveal that the Chinese military has been practicing for attacks on US fighter jets and aircraft carriers in the remote deserts of Xinjiang in northwest China.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) in a fresh report analyzing the photographs identifies that the images were taken by Google Earth on May 29 and show mock-ups of jets resembling advanced US stealth fighters.
SCMP highlights a post by the Turkey-based Clash Report which was the first to highlight the photos with a caption: “Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mock-ups.”
A likely location within Xingjiang region has been Qakilik (or Ruoqiang County) in the Taklamakan Desert, but this has neither been acknowledged by the Chinese government nor confirmed by any official source.
A number of the mock-up stealth fighters appeared to have suffered damage, likely by PLA aerial bombing runs, with blackened craters in a runway at the fictional airbase.
Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mockups.
A separate report in Business Insider appears to show separate satellite images, obtained on a different date, of the same location in the desert. The images, captured in late April by Planet Labs PBC, similarly show around 20 aircraft near a runway.
Among the planes that resembles US stealth fighters, there also appears to be a P-8A Poseidon and the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
Planet Labs was also able to capture an apparent US Arleigh Burke class destroyer mock-up in the Taklamakan Desert earlier this year.
One analyst highlighted in comments made to the publication that the mock-ups likely are not just for target practice, but for honing radar and weapons-guidance software and sensitive technology.
The expert described that “these mock-ups potentially allowed China to refine seekers with image-recognition capabilities and help it develop the ability to accurately target particular ships or even specific parts of ships where a missile could do the most damage.”
Participation in Gaza solidarity protests and student groups could become a disqualifying factor for applicants at a prominent Wall Street law firm, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The 145-year-old law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, which employs close to 900 lawyers and has had Amazon and Goldman Sachs among its clients, has hired the background check company HireRight to assess an applicant’s participation record in pro-Palestinian protests and student groups.
HireRight will scour a candidate’s social media profiles alongside news reports and footage from protests. Applicants will also be asked to list student groups they have joined.
Based on the materials found, the firm has the right to refuse employment. Using a private background check company to ensure compliance with existing workplace prohibitions on hate speech is not an uncommon practice in the US, only a handful of restrictions are in place to prevent discrimination.
The case of Sullivan & Cromwell, however, sets a new precedent, since it is the mere involvement in a protest that is enough to hold an applicant accountable, even if no problematic language was used by the candidate itself.
Under the firm’s new policy, it is enough if the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”, was chanted at a protest that the applicant attended.
Sullivan & Cromwell did not reportedly disclose whether the firm has already dropped candidates because of the policy.
Consequences
After the background check is performed, and material that Sullivan & Cromwell considers to be objectionable is found, the candidate will be asked to explain their role in the protest, including what efforts the candidate engaged in to prevent others from making offensive or harassing statements, a New York Times article published on Tuesday says.
No other law firm on Wall Street has publicly discussed a similar policy toward protesters, but several have considered adopting similar rules.
“Disqualifying people based on what someone else nearby may have been doing seems to characterize all protesters as having a single mindset,” Roderick A Ferguson, a Yale professor of American studies, told The New York Times. “Such thinking can mimic racist thinking, sexist thinking, homophobic thinking, that one instance becomes a character of all.”
Over the last couple of months, several reports have emerged of employees losing their jobs, or job offers being rescinded over their actions or statements regarding the war in Gaza. Faculty members at various colleges across the US have been fired, suspended or removed from the classroom for speech expressing solidarity with Palestine.
Last October, The Washington Post reported an incident in which a New York University law student was faced with a job offer being rescinded due to a letter she wrote to the Bar Association saying that Israel bears responsibility for the war in Gaza.
Watch Live: President Biden Calls Zelensky ‘Putin’ Minutes Before Solo Press Conference Attempt
Cheat-sheet in hand, we are sure; President Biden steps forward tonight for perhaps his final (and most important) press conference ever as he attempts to clam the masses about his ‘one off’ events at the debate and with Stephanopoulos (and the numerous times before that were all ‘cheap fakes’, remember).
Since George Clooney admitted he saw the emperor with no clothes on, Biden’s odds of getting the nomination have plummeted back to post-debate lows and Kamala is rising from her knees…
So grab your popcorn and get ready for fireworks – there is no way Americans are going to stand for an hour long press conference that is 100% rigged with pre-selected questions that do not test the President in his current state (which makes us wonder, who on his ‘team’ thought it a good idea to schedule this presser for 630pm!!!)
Bear in mind that the last time he was forced to do a solo presser, was right after the release of Robert Hur’s report wherein Joe was deemed unfit to stand trial due to being an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
When asked if he was too old for the job, Joe said: “That is not the judgment of the press.”
That didn’t age well.
Also in that PC, Joe claimed he was the best person to be president in the US and that his memory was fine — just before confusing the presidents of Egypt and Mexico.
At the time, this was viewed as a fairly hostile press asking some tough questions.
It will pale in comparison to what we’ll see tonight.
The long knives are unsheathed.
The last time Biden was forced to hold a press conference was in the wake of the release of the Hur Report, wherein Joe was deemed unfit to stand trial due to being an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
When asked if he was too old for the job, Joe said: “That is not the judgment… pic.twitter.com/IZfOWlt6oz
Yes we know it’s Thursday evening… yes, we know everyone is trying to dry out a little after July 4th celebrations… but this is too good an opportunity.
Drink every time President Biden says any of the following:
Liar
Clooney
Elites
Jan 6
Golf Handicap
Malarkey
Jill, Hunter, or Beau (double for Beau)
Democracy
Felon
Inflation
And down the whole bottle if Biden ‘glitches’ for more than 5 seconds flat… because that means it really is all over for ‘ol Joe, and Kamala is the gal!
Finally, just minutes before this press conference, Biden introduced Zelensky… as Putin!!
Watch the press conference live here (due to start at 1830ET)
* * *
Despite President Biden and his team attempting a major, multi-faceted counter-offensive aimed at silencing demands for him to call off his re-election bid, the push to bounce Biden off the ticket has only grown stronger — with major new developments in the Senateand elsewhere fostering a growing sense that the 81-year-old’s campaign is in its final days.
Today could bring the coup de grâce, when Biden hosts a rare, solo press conference at 5:30 pm ET.UPDATE: The press conference has been moved to 6:30 ET. That’s well outside the ideal 10am-to-4pm window in which administration sources say he’s best able to function — and it will be held on the South Grounds of the White House, with a forecast temperature of 91 degrees. As if that weren’t enough to stack the deck against him, the presser will come after Biden has spent a full day in NATO summit meetings, including a session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On top of all that, Biden will face a press corps that’s been re-programmed to accelerate the ongoing establishment coup that’s seen as the last means of beating Trump in November. As we noted in our press-conference preview:
“With Biden on a precipice, Thursday’s press conference could be a contest among reporters striving to cement their place in history by being the one to give Biden the decisive shove over the cliff.”
Biden’s 2024 campaign slid closer to that edge on Wednesday, as Vermont’s Peter Welch became the first Democratic senator to publicly call for Biden to exit the race, pointedly saying “We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night…I deliver this assessment with sadness.”
His call came on the same day that the number of House reps issuing similar pleas to Biden grew to nine, with Oregon’s Earl Blumenauer saying Biden “should not be the nominee.” Also, New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado joined the chorus, in a move that reportedly made Gov. Kathy Hochul “furious.”
Of potentially greater Senate significance than Welch’s announcement, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly been entertaining avenues by which Biden could be replaced. “Schumer is privately signaling to donors that he’s open to a Democratic presidential ticket that isn’t led by President Biden,” Axiosreported. According to three unnamed sources, he has been listening to “donors’ ideas and suggestions about the best way forward.” Schumer responded to the report by merely reiterating that he “support[s]” Biden.”
On NBC, a neurologist says Biden has Parkinson’s. “That is a fact. He has degeneration of the brain. Show me the MRI. Show me he doesn’t…. He definitely has it.” A med student who looked at Biden’s symptoms and didn’t diagnose Parkinson’s, says the doctor, would be failed. pic.twitter.com/VpaBGMCJY7
In an attempt to shore up Biden’s weakening Senate wall, three of Biden’s top political advisors will meet with Democratic senators at lunch today to give an audience to their concerns. Reflecting the increasingly sour mood among upper-chamber Democrats, Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio says one of those senators spontaneously told him the meeting will be “a waste of everyone’s time if Biden can’t even come make the case himself.”
In addition to the Senate, there’s new action on another anti-Biden front, as dozens of Democratic Party delegates are organizing a letter to the DNC seeking nominating-convention rule changes that would make their votes secret and allow delegates to vote their conscience — rather than being bound to vote for the winners of their state primaries and caucuses.
In a defensive move, members of Biden’s campaign team have been calling individual delegates to assess their loyalty to the president, Politico reports. The aides are asking question like, “Do you understand what being a pledged delegate means?” and “Do you have any potential disagreements with the president?”
Wednesday also brought a major-headline broadside from Hollywood, as actor and Biden rainmaker George Clooney published a New York Times op-ed declaring that the Biden he saw at last month’s big Los Angeles fundraiser is a shell of his former self:
In George Clooney’s NYT op-ed urging Biden to drop out, he says he saw how cognitively crippled Biden rwas at the Hollywood fund-raiser he co-hosted with Obama last month.
Remember: the media accused anyone saying this *at the time* of being a far-right disinformation agent. pic.twitter.com/j5a87XFcAo
Further fueling the Democrats’ sense of all-out crisis, donors large and small are making good on their promises to withhold donations so long as Biden is atop the ticket. Donations to the Biden-Harris campaign have gone into an absolute free-fall, and NBC News served up a variety of doom-and-gloom quotes from various sources “close to” the campaign’s fundraising efforts:
“It’s already disastrous.”
“The money has absolutely shut off.”
“Donors are negative. They had a call with the president. The call seemed so contrived to people…I don’t think they buy it.”
There’s beena growing comedic edge to Democrats’ public remarks this week. On Monday, Biden sent Congressional Democrats a two-page letter unequivocally declaring that, after having “extensive conversations…over 10 days” with Democratic party officials, legislators and voters, he is determined to stay in the race to Nov. 5. Pretending they didn’t read that — or hear Biden’s declaration that it would take a directive from “the Lord Almighty” for him to opt out, prominentDemocrats continue talking about Biden’s decision in the future tense. Case in point: Nancy Pelosi’s Wednesday-morning appearance on MSNBC:
Does Biden “have your support to be the head of the Democratic ticket? Nancy Pelosi’s non-answer: “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.” (He has repeatedly said he’s running.) pic.twitter.com/nyeZunyY30
Biden: I’m staying in the race.
Dems: Biden needs to make a decision.
Biden: I mean it, I’m staying in the race. No joke
Dems: It really is Biden’s time for choosing, given the high stakes.
…while even the long-serving Biden apologists at leftist outlets at CNN are increasingly contemptuous of the Baghdad Bob lines emanating from the White House:
Journalist: “The point is to suggest that Biden’s stamina is better than George Clooney’s.”
