Biden Marketing Team To Create Trump Mega-Martyr With ‘Guilty’ Verdict Campaign Strategy
Joe Biden’s galaxy brain handlers plan to use any ‘guilty’ verdicts in Donald Trump’s criminal trials to campaign on, unaware that most of the country views them as political lawfare by the permanent ruling class hatched in coordination with Biden’s own DOJ.
Biden intends to initially address the verdict in a White House setting — not a campaign one — to show his statement isn’t political, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
If the jury convicts Trump, Biden’s team will then argue that the result shows Trump is ill-suited for office and that it demonstrates the extremes to which the former president would go to win again. The campaign’s social media team is considering leveraging the line of attack further, with discussions underway about referring to the ex-president online as “Convicted Felon Donald Trump.”
The report comes as closing arguments are set for Tuesday in Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial, which saw the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen, implode on the stand. Of course, a Manhattan jury won’t care – so a Trump ‘guilty’ verdict wouldn’t come as a surprise.
“This is an important moment and the president first and foremost needs to stress that the American system works, even and especially in an election year,” said one of Politico‘s anonymous sources. “And in a measured way, it becomes part of his argument against Trump too:Do Americans really want this?“
Do voters want a president being transparently pursued for partisan reasons by a behemoth government that fewer than two-in-ten Americans trust?
This goes hand-in-hand with why the left can’t meme and are desperate to find someone who can.
At least one Democrat sees how stupid this is.
“I don’t think it’s important to rub it in,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) told Politico. “I don’t think anybody on our side should be reacting with glee. It just should be a tragedy that an American president has been convicted of real crimes.”
Recently, I gave a presentation about edible plants at my local library. Kitchen herbs, in fact, that double as medicinals, which people can easily grow in their gardens or on window sills. While preparing my presentation, I was reminded that this topic is immense in its breadth and depth. One number especially stood out and even stopped me in my tracks.
There are 50,000 – 80,000 plants used medicinally worldwide, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. What a number! I feel a bit inadequate with my limited knowledge of several hundred of them.
The millennia-old knowledge of herbal medicine is practiced in all regions of the world and backed up by much international research—the Near East, Russia, East Africa, North East India, and even Transylvania. The list clearly goes on.
New Review Reapproves Plants’ Anti-Cancer Qualities
In recent years, scientists have re-discovered their urge to learn more about our floral companions. This rekindling of passed-down wisdom is possibly driven by the need to find remedies for diseases that otherwise modern medicine seems unable to prevail over.
A 2024 review, published in the journal Pharmaceuticals, appears to follow this direction. The new release highlights 15 medicinal plants with potential anti-tumorigenic qualities, meaning these plants have active compounds that fight abnormal cell growth.
Interesting to me was the selection of plants featured in the review. Some of them, we are familiar with—much having been written about them—for instance, dandelion, nettles, or Curcuma longa, better known as turmeric.
Others, like the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), the tropical soursop, and even a houseplant with the name of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, we find less familiar.
However, all these plants have one common characteristic —they work “against the Majority of Common Types of Cancer,” reads the review’s headline.
Efficient Treatment for Immediate Development
The International Agency for Research on Cancer describes the worldwide cancer situation as dire. Their 2022 report states that globally most people died from lung cancer (18.7 percent), followed by colorectal cancer (9.3 percent), and liver cancer (7.8 percent). A total of 3,480,213 individuals.
Therefore, researchers of the current review call for an immediate development of “more targeted and efficient treatment plans.” In their eyes, “Plants and products derived from them have promising potential as a source of less toxic anticancer drugs.”
Blending Traditional Wisdom and Novel Nanotechnologies
To accomplish this goal, herbs are employed to keep the immune system strong, kill off carcinogens, and improve antioxidant levels in our bodies. Scientists see new nanomedicines and bioengineering techniques for immune cell therapies as innovative approaches to treating the disease.
As a community herbalist, I view things with the eyes of longevity. What traditional wisdom about these herbs has been passed on for centuries? How can the two worlds of novel research and ancient knowledge be combined for the benefit of the patient?
Anti-Cancer Plants: Research and Application
There are several herbs the recently released review mentions, which might grow abundantly in our gardens—often, we might even see them as annoying weeds that need to be fended off. Such is frequently the case for dandelions.
In the back of my head, I hear my herbal teacher repeat over and over, “Often, the herbs show up where we need them.” This holds true for one of the most robust herbaceous perennials that is native to Europe but grows all over the world in gardens and lawns, along roads and fields, and even waste areas.
Taraxacum officinale, commonly known as dandelion, is not only a medicinal herb but an edible vegetable. Especially young leaves are tender and round out the taste in any salad, gifting it a slightly bitter flavor—which is a sign of assisting digestion.
The Taraxacum genus includes over three hundred species. These have been discovered and utilized in traditional and folk medicines for centuries. German botanist Leonhart Fuchs, for example, featured the healthy properties of the plant in the 16th century in his herbal compendium, “De Historia Stirpium.”
Dandelion was also known as a drug in Arabian medicine. There, physicians recorded its utilization as early as the 10th century. Indian and Chinese medicine treated liver and digestive diseases with the common dandelion, states an article about the plant published in the National Library of Medicine.
Dandelion is a true all-rounder. Featuring among others, vitamins A, C, B, and D, the minerals potassium and calcium, and traces of iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.
A 2023 review carefully examined the dandelion and remarked upon its bioactive compounds. “Sesquiterpenoids, phenolic compounds, essential oils, saccharides, flavonoids, sphingolipids, triterpenoids, sterols, [and] coumarins” are sources for “therapeutic potential, including anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-rheumatic activities.”
Korean research showed that the amount of phenols and flavonoids in the plant drives its anticancer and antioxidant activities. This varies in different taraxacum species but exists in the common dandelion.
Researchers investigated a dandelion extract combination in a 2023 study. The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, highlight the importance of inhibiting the “rapid proliferation of cancer cells and its invasion into healthy tissues” specific to breast cancer. This is exactly what dandelion extract does—it inhibits their spread and “induce death in them.”
Photodynamic Therapy is another method to target cancerous tissue. In it, a photosensitizing agent is stimulated by light, for instance by a laser. In a 2023 article in Nanomedicine, this process was tested with dandelion for “synergistic chemotherapy and photo-dynamic cancer therapy.” This transportation method succeeded in the delivery of the active compound to the cancer cells and disrupted their homeostasis, thus portraying anti-cancer and anti-tumor effects.
Runner-up in the title of highly medicinal weeds is Urtica dioica. In many temperate places, nettles grow like a pest and are unwanted wildflowers by many.
Contrary to popular reason, I recently transplanted some nettles into my garden and even spread nettle seeds in my best effort to establish them there. Nettles are delicious plant nutrition and are a great addition to soups and salad dressings, as the hairy stingers lose their power when processed.
Full of provitamin beta-carotene, vitamins A, B, and C, minerals iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium, this protein-rich perennial herb is loaded with health benefits. But the loaded weed can do more.
A 2020 research article features the potentially anticancer properties of nettles. When evaluated, the extract of Urtica dioica showed promising effects on the proliferation rate of “hepatocarcinoma and colon-cancer cell lines at specific doses.”
In a 2022 study published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, plant medicine proved its anticancer qualities against three different types of cancer cell lines. Testing of urtica dioica’s cytotoxicity was performed in vitro (via mycoplasma testing) and in vivo (in a living organism, in this case, rats). Findings were positive and showed that nettles may work against breast cancer through their anti-tumoral properties.
According to another study, directed to research the herb’s potential healing qualities in regards to human colon and gastric cancer, nettles also induced apoptosis and “inhibited proliferation of gastric and colorectal cancer cells,” while not having any toxic side effects on normal cells.
Continuing to feature weedy wildflowers that grow in many disturbed areas around the United States, and are surely to be found in an empty parking lot, pasture, or along fields and roads in your area, is burdock.
Like Dandelion, burdock is a member of the Asteraceae family (the Aster family) and grows seemingly everywhere. Similarly, the medicinal parts of burdock include roots and leaves, with the addition of seeds.
Arcticum lappa is likewise high in minerals and vitamins, including the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. However, it also features lignans in roots and seeds, amino acids in the roots, phenols, sterols, and fatty acids in the seeds, and a “plethora of biological activities and pharmacological functions.”
One of burdock’s compounds, lappaol F (a natural lignan), is an anticancer agent that “inhibits tumour cell growth by inducing cell cycle arrest,” states a 2021 study while noting that the underlying processes of burdock’s anticancer qualities remain unclear.
Nevertheless, the plant is effective and researchers suggest that a potential anticancer drug could be developed from the medicinal herb.
A review published in Inflammopharmacology, emphasizes the century-old traditional medicinal uses of burdock in Europe, North America, and Asia. It highlights the plant’s anti-inflammatory qualities and detoxifying effects, as well as anti-tumor properties, especially its “potent inhibitory effects on the growth of tumors such as pancreatic carcinoma.”
Burdock has even proven effective against “multi-drug resistant cancer cells.” A study investigated six lignans present in the burdock seed and combined them as non-toxic chemotherapeutic agents. Results showed that they “possess promising MDR [multidrug resistant] reversal activities.” The study also tested and verified this effect in combination with a chemotherapy drug named doxorubicin.
Remaining 12 Anti-Cancer Plants
The remaining 12 plants examined in the recent review are soursop (Annona muricata), black calla (Arum palaestinum), hemp (Cannabis sativa), Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), turmeric (Curcuma longa), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), moringa (Moringa oleifera), hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), milk thistle (Silybum marianum ), oleander (Nerium oleander), kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana ), and ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L).
Turmeric, licorice, hibiscus, hemp, ashwagandha, and milk thistle are well known—beyond the ears of an herbalist. Soursop might fall into this category for some, especially those living in tropical regions.
Then, some might make us pause, as we see the plants more as blooming decoratives in the garden or house plants, like oleander, the black calla, Madagascar periwinkle, or kalanchoe. Being native to the Indian subcontinent, and being used mostly in Southern Asia, moringa may be the most foreign of them all.
Yet, in total, they are acclaimed plant medicines.
Ongoing Phytopharmaceutical Research
A 2022 review, for instance, hails the healing qualities of soursop. Its “pharmacological effects of anti-cancer, anti-microbial, antioxidant, anti-ulcer, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, and wound healing” are impressive.
Another review features a study in which patients were given 300 milligrams of soursop extract (leaf water) in capsules after breakfast. This restrained colorectal cancer cell growth.
A phytotherapeutic that likewise targets colorectal cancer is ashwagandha. A 2023 study found that the herb and its bioactive compounds “kill cancer cells via at least five separate routes.”
It has even been named “a wonder drug” in the alternative field and has shown remarkable bioactive compounds that function as “anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, apoptotic, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic, cardio-protective and spermatogenic agents,” as outlined in a comprehensive review.
In general, phytopharmaceuticals are powerful medicine.
Although many of the plants do not have any side effects and often naturally target cancer cells without affecting healthy cells, a mechanism not quite understood by science yet (as mentioned above). At the same time, ingesting the wrong plant or the wrong dosage can harm or even kill.
As for dandelions, nettles, and burdock—there are some guiding principles:
Nettles should not be eaten raw. The fresh leaves will sting.
Dandelions can make your stomach upset if too many leaves are ingested or after prolonged use, as it can increase the hydrochloric acid production (HCl) in the stomach and lead to loose stool.
Dandelion root should be taken with caution if the individual suffers from excess HCl, gastritis, ulcers, or heartburn.
During the first trimester of pregnancy, burdock should only be prescribed in mild doses. Also, take with caution if suffering from hypoglycemia.
Tips:
When gathering herbs or plants in the wild or public spaces, please collect your specimens wisely. This means, pick plant matter only away from dirty or polluted areas and wash before eating or processing. Also, never take the whole plant (you want it to continue to live and come back the next year).
Note:
For all individualized herbal recommendations and dosages, please consult with your local herbalist. If you are on any medications consult with a physician before taking herbal supplements. The author is writing for informational purposes only and is not acting in the capacity of a doctor or licensed dietitian-nutritionist.
Regular Cannabis Users Exceeds Drinkers For First Time Ever
For the first time, a nationwide study providing current data on tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, mental health, and other health-related issues has found that the number of people smoking cannabis daily has surpassed those drinking beer or vodka daily. This development coincides with the Biden administration’s efforts to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous substance.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) has been conducted annually since 1990 and four times before (1979, 1982, 1985, and 1988). Data shows an explosive amount of daily cannabis use a few years after the Great Financial Crisis. The trend has become parabolic in the last ten years due to “a period of federal non-interference with the legalization of supply,” according to the study’s authors.
Figure 1 shows sharp declines during the Reagan-Bush era to a nadir in 1992, a partial recovery between then and 2008, and substantial increases since 2008. Increases are greater, proportionally, for measures of more intense use. For example, between 2008 and 2022, the per capita rate of reporting past-year use increased by 120%, and days of use reported per capita increased by 218% (in absolute terms from the annual equivalent of 2.3 to 8.1 billion days per year). Since the 2022 NSDUH-estimated population 12 and older is 282.0 million, that is, 29 days per person per year, on average.
Growth is most striking for DND use, defined here as reporting use on 21 or more days in the past month. 2 From 1992 to 2022, there was a 15-fold increase in the per capita rate of reporting DND marijuana use (in absolute terms, from 0.9 million to 17.7 million DND users). That was because of a fivefold increase in the number of PM users (from 7.9 to 41.9 million) and a fourfold increase in the proportion of PM users who report DND use (from 11% to 42%).
Given the increased marijuana usage nationwide and legalization trends, with the Drug Enforcement Administration moving closer to reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the gap between the number of daily drinkers and marijuana has officially closed in the multi-decade dataset. In fact, there are now more regular marijuana users than alcohol users for the first time.
Figure 2 compares growth in DND marijuana use to contemporaneous changes in DND alcohol use. In 1992, the household survey recorded 10 times as many DND alcohol as DND marijuana users (8.9 vs 0.9 million). Back then, a conversation about DND use of a dependence-inducing intoxicant was essentially a conversation about alcohol use. In the most recent survey, for the first time, NSDUH recorded more DND marijuana than DND alcohol users (17.7 vs 14.7 million).
That change reflects both growth in the number of PM marijuana users and changes in patterns of marijuana use. In 2022, the median drinker reported alcohol use on 4 to 5 days in the PM, whereas the median marijuana user reported use on 15 to 16 days in the PM.
This increased access has allowed the general population to consume more and more cannabis. A map from think-tank Pew Research shows that 74% of Americans reside in states that have legalized marijuana for either recreational or medical purposes, with 54% living in states where pot is only permitted for recreational use.
Here’s a map of America’s 15,000 cannabis dispensaries.
A separate study from Gallup found regular cannabis usage differs by education and income, with the highest rates seen among the working poor.
In markets, the top exchange-traded funds that buy marijuana companies have been rounding a multi-year bottom after the speculation craze during Covid.
The next market driver could be the DEA’s approval of an opinion by the Department of Health and Human Services that states marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest Schedule I to the less stringent Schedule III.
Hamas said Palestinian fighters captured members of an Israeli force in an ambush inside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a claim denied by the Israeli military.
Abu Obaida, spokesman for the group’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said fighters killed, wounded or captured members of the Israeli force during fighting in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
He did not say how many had been abducted and provided no further information about their identities. He said more details would follow soon.
“Our fighters lured a Zionist force into an ambush inside a tunnel … The fighters withdrew after they left all members of the force dead, wounded, and captured,” Abu Obaida said in a recorded message broadcast by Al Jazeera early on Sunday.
The Israeli military was quick to deny the claim. “The IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) clarifies that there is no incident in which a soldier was abducted,” a military spokesperson said in a statement.
Abu Obaida’s message was followed by a video released [warning: graphic] by al-Qassam Brigades showing fighters pulling inside a tunnel a man who appeared to be unconscious. He was pulled alongside military gear.
The video separately showed three semi-automatic rifles and other military gear that Hamas said were taken from the captured Israelis. Middle East Eye could not independently verify when or where the video was filmed.
The comments by Abu Obaida came after weeks of renewed intense close-quarter combat across the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, according to Israeli and Palestinian media.
The Israeli military sent tanks and troops to Rafah and north Gaza in fresh attacks early in May. The advances have been met by some of the fiercest resistance by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, especially in the Jabalia refugee camp.
The heavy fighting has coincided with an increase in carpet bombing by Israeli jets, flattening neighborhoods in Jabalia and Rafah.
Meanwhile on Sunday rockets were launched from Gaza on Tel Aviv, a first in months:
Israeli forces have reportedly killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since 7 October, the majority of them children and women according to Gaza Health Ministry figures.
Palestinians have killed more than 1,500 Israelis in the same period, the majority of them during the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on 7 October.
Sam Altman-Backed Oklo Signs Deal To Power Another Data Center
Sam Altman backed nuclear startup Oklo inked a deal to supply 100MW of nuclear power to data center company Wyoming Hyperscale, it was announced last week.
The news sent shares of NYSE-listed Oklo up more than 30% in trading on Friday.
The companies signed a “non-binding letter of intent outlining plans for the PPA, which will last for 10 years,” according to industry publication Data Center Dynamics. This comes on top of the revelation that, last month, Oklo signed to supply up to 500MW of power to another data center, Equinix.
“Wyoming Hyperscale is building a data center campus on 58 acres of land,” the report says.
Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo, commented: “As the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence increases, Oklo remains dedicated to providing clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions to meet the needs of our data center partners.”
“Our partnership with Wyoming Hyperscale underscores our commitment to advancing sustainable energy practices and supporting high-efficiency operations within the data center industry.”
Trenton Thornock, founder of Wyoming Hyperscale, added: “Our goal is to create data centers with minimal environmental impact. This collaboration with Oklo perfectly aligns with our vision for sustainable, efficient operations. By merging sustainability with advanced technology, we are setting a new standard for the future of accelerated computing.”
As we wrote earlier this month, Oklo won shareholder approval on May 8 for its NYSE listing. The company’s mission is “to provide clean, reliable, affordable energy on a global scale through the design and deployment of next-generation fast reactor technology”.
Backed by investors like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Peter Thiel, the who’s who of the AI revolution, nuclear fusion startups are gaining traction. Sam Altman, who invested in Oklo in 2015, believes the company is “best positioned to commercialize advanced fission energy solutions,” per a July press release.
Last month, we published a lengthy report discussing why even as the AI trade may be fizzling, the “electrification” trade, aka the “Power-Up America” trade – so urgently needed to run all those electricity-gobbling data centers needed to run AI – is just getting started and has in fact outperformed substantially both the broader AI and Data-Center Equipment baskets over the past two months…
… and Altman – who teamed up with another power company, Exowatt, earlier this year to focus on clean energy for AI power -agrees: “Fundamentally today in the world, the two limiting commodities you see everywhere are intelligence, which we’re trying to work on with AI, and energy,” Altman told CNBC in 2021.
For those who missed it, in “The Next AI Trade,” we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, most of which have dramatically outperformed the market. In the next iteration, we will likely add Oklo to the list of beneficiaries certainly ahead of the inevitable cascade of Buy ratings sure flood the name over the next month.
With those words and pictures like this one of Biden using crack, the Justice Department introduced the Hunter Biden laptop as evidence in his upcoming trial over federal gun violations.
The federal prosecutors went on to denounce suggestions of Russian disinformation, long peddled by the Bidens, the media and former intelligence officials, as nothing more than a “conspiracy theory.”
The media eagerly spread the claim of Russian disinformation before the presidential election. Twitter and others suppressed the story. This was done through one of the most skillful disinformation campaigns in history.
It later came out that associates of the Biden campaign (including now Secretary of State Antony Blinken) pushed a long effort to get former intelligence officials to sign a letter making the claim, knowing that an ever-accommodating media would accept the claim without question or further inquiry.
At the time, some of us wrote that the laptop was “self-authenticating” since many of the emails were confirmed by third parties and other evidence. The Justice Department last week made the same claim of “self-authentication” as well as independent confirmation by federal investigators.
In the now-debunked letter of former intelligence officials just before the election, figures such as Leon Panetta, former CIA Director in the Obama Administration, claimed that the letter had all of the markings of a Russian disinformation effort by intelligence services. (Panetta continued to make the assertion late last year in pushing what the federal government is now calling a “conspiracy theory.”).
The Washington Post’s Phillip Bump and others also continued to push the conspiracy theory. Indeed, in 2021, when media organizations were finally admitting that the laptop was authentic, Bump was still declaring that it was a “conspiracy theory.” Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bump continued to suggest that “the laptop was seeded by Russian intelligence.”
What is equally astonishing is that in 2023 the Post expressly stood by Bump’s reporting on the laptop and other debunked claims. Even after the government has declared this reporting as part of a “conspiracy theory,” the Post continues to support the reporting by Bump and others.
The laptop includes not just pictures of Hunter using drugs but brandishing a handgun. The court clearly agrees with the government on the authenticity of the laptop. It has ruled against the defense and will allow it to be introduced into evidence.
Despite the conclusions of American intelligence and others, the Biden team continued to push the disinformation.
That led the Justice Department to tell the court that:
“The defendant’s theory about the laptop is a conspiracy theory with no supporting evidence.”
It added that Hunter’s “laptop is real (it will be introduced as a trial exhibit) and it contains significant evidence of the defendant’s guilt.”
The response from the media has been a collective shrug.
Worse yet, many of these same political and media figures continue to support censorship and government regulations of “disinformation” while the government is now acknowledging that they carried off one of the most successful disinformation campaigns in history.
President Joe Biden is struggling to win over key Democratic voting blocs in battleground states, according to recent polls. Yet, it’s becoming increasingly evident that this challenge is largely unique to the incumbent president himself, rather than indicative of a broader issue within the Democratic Party.
According to a recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College, the president trailed former President Donald Trump among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup in five out of six key swing states: Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Wisconsin was the only state where the president had the advantage.
Among likely voters, which are considered a more accurate reflection, the race was tighter, with President Trump holding his advantage in five states and President Biden edging ahead in Michigan.
Meanwhile, the Senate races are showing a very different picture.
In four battleground states, Democratic Senate candidates outperformed President Biden, according to the New York Times/Siena College survey.
In Nevada, for example, where President Biden is facing his biggest challenge, President Trump holds a 12-point lead. However, in the Senate race, polls indicate that Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) is heading off her Republican opponent, Sam Brown, by 40 percent to 38 percent among registered voters.
In Arizona, the former president leads 49 percent to 42 percent. Meanwhile, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is ahead of his Republican rival for Senate, Kari Lake, by 4 points. And a most recent CBS News poll indicates an even wider margin, with Mr. Gallego holding a 13-point lead.
A study by the Center for Politics, since World War II, shows 196 instances of ticket-splitting, which means that states voted for a president from one party and a Senate candidate from another party.
However, that trend has become a lot less common in recent years.
In 2020, nearly 90 percent of candidate Biden and President Trump voters also opted for a congressional candidate from the same party.However, in the 1970s and ‘80s, that ratio was roughly 70 percent, according to the American National Election Studies.
“Split ticket voting at the Senate level is not as prevalent as it used to be,” Ford O’Connell, a political analyst and Republican strategist, told The Epoch Times.
Maine was the only state in 2020 where voters split their tickets, electing Democrat Mr. Biden for president and Republican Susan Collins for Senate.
Some observers are wondering if ticket splitters will return in 2024, given the large gaps in the survey results of presidential and Senate races.
Aside from Nevada and Arizona, President Biden is underperforming in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) leads by 5 points, and in Wisconsin, where Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) leads by 9 points, according to the New York Times/Siena College poll.
Even in red states like Ohio and Montana, where President Trump enjoys overwhelming popularity, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) lead their Republican opponents in polls.
This is the opposite of what happened in 2020 when congressional Republicans outperformed President Trump and President Biden outperformed congressional Democrats.
Mitchell Brown, pollster and director of political strategy at Cygnal, said the large gaps are driven by President Biden’s historically low approval ratings.
This creates the possibility that President Trump could win several battleground states in 2024, while Democratic incumbent senators retain their seats in those races, Mr. Brown told The Epoch Times.
Injuries Reported After Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Hits Turbulence
Just days after a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER experienced ‘severe turbulence‘ on a flight from London to Singapore, injuring dozens, another Boeing aircraft, this time operated by Qatar Airways, encountered severe turbulence, resulting in passenger injuries.
AP News reported that Qatar Airways flight QR017, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was hit with turbulence on Sunday on a flight from Doha to Dublin. The plane has since landed in Dublin, and local officials say eight passengers were injured.
Here’s more from AP:
It said that upon landing the aircraft was met by emergency services, including airport police and the fire and rescue department, “due to six passengers and six crew … reporting injuries after the aircraft experienced turbulence while airborne over Turkey.”
The airport said all passengers were assessed for injuries aboard the plane, and eight were then taken to hospital.
Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention.”
QR017’s flight data from Flightrader24 shows the incident may have occurred in the Black Sea.
However, Flightrader24 cautions the data might be fraught with errors because of high “GPS jamming” in the region due to the war in Eastern Europe.
We’re aware of reports of severe turbulence over Turkey aboard today’s #QR17 from Doha to Dublin. Per @DublinAirport 6 passengers and 6 crew sought medical attention upon landing. https://t.co/GyWEmFMWtn
On Tuesday, the other severe turbulence incident occurred on a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER. The plane was flying from London to Singapore when an abrupt drop in altitude injured dozens.
One X user asked: “Two extreme turbulence flights in one week?”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at a California commercial facility made two major drug seizures recently. The interceptions of illegal drugs found in tractor-trailers included:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Port Commercial Facility discovered over 400 pounds of cocaine concealed in a tractor-trailer’s fuel tanks on Friday, May 17.
At approximately 9 p.m., CBP officers encountered a 35-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer and empty trailer applying for entry from Mexico at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility. The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by CBP officers along with the tractor and empty trailer.
In the secondary inspection area, a CBP canine unit screened the tractor-trailer and alerted officers to examine the fuel tanks.
After an intensive examination, CBP officers discovered packages hidden in a non-factory compartment inside both fuel tanks of the semi-truck. The contents of the packages were tested and identified as cocaine, with a total of 160 packages extracted weighing 412.26 pounds.
CBP officers seized the narcotics and commercial tractor-trailer while the driver was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation
“The continued success of OFO canine teams in the detection of narcotics is a team effort,” stated Rosa E. Hernandez, Port Director for the Area Ports of Otay Mesa. “We will continue to conduct operations, including Operation Apollo, while leveraging intelligence and investigative information to target drug traffickers’ supply chains.”
Over $18 million in meth found in squash
CBP officers working at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility discovered $18 million dollars’ worth of methamphetamine hidden within a shipment of squash.
On Monday, May 20, at about 6:47 a.m., CBP officers encountered a 44-year-old male driving a commercial tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested for squash. The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by CBP officers along with the tractor-trailer and shipment.
Non-intrusive scanning technology was utilized to conduct a full scan of the tractor-trailer. After examination, irregularities were observed and CBP officers requested a CBP human and narcotics detection canine. The canine team responded and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics.
CBP officers discovered and extracted a total of 1,419 packages concealed within the shipment of squash. The narcotics were tested and identified as methamphetamine with a total weight of 11,469 pounds with an estimated street value of $18,350,400.
“Our officers’ commitment to duty, excellence, and the safety of our nation is truly commendable. These results serve as an outstanding display of effectiveness in thwarting the illegal importation of narcotics,” stated Rosa E. Hernandez, Otay Mesa Area Port Director. “Their exceptional efforts truly embody the highest standards of service.”
CBP officers seized the narcotics, commercial tractor, and trailer while the driver was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) for further investigation.
In remarks at the Libertarian National Convention, Trump surrogate and former Libertarian Party voter Vivek Ramaswamy called for the men and women in attendance to ally with the “America First” wing of the Republican Party.
“I believe the future of this country depends on a libertarian-nationalist alliance,” the entrepreneur said. The crowd mostly booed in response.
The call for tactical cooperation came after Mr. Ramaswamy outlined his skepticism with both Democrats and what he characterized as “the establishment wing of the Republican Party,” criticizing Republican support for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), among other policies.
He also said that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who spoke earlier that day to the convention, was “in no sense a libertarian,” citing his past support for “punish[ing]” skeptics of the mainstream scientific narrative on climate change.
In his opening comments and a subsequent debate with the Libertarians’ vice presidential nominee, Clint Russell, Mr. Ramaswamy suggested that the current political moment offered an opportunity for libertarian ideals to influence the future of former President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” movement.
“I have had extensive conversations with Donald Trump about libertarian objectives,” the entrepreneur said.
In New Hampshire, after Mr. Ramaswamy left the race, President Trump stressed his opposition to central-bank digital currencies, adding that “Vivek [also] wanted this.”
Yet, President Trump’s warm response to new support from another past presidential hopeful, Nikki Haley, has some wondering whether Ms. Haley’s more neoconservative politics would significantly influence a future Trump administration.
“You know, we had a nasty campaign, it was pretty nasty, but she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form absolutely,” President Trump said in an interview after his rally in the Bronx on May 22.
President Trump will also be speaking at the Libertarian National Convention.
In his remarks in D.C., Mr. Ramaswamy also criticized what he described as two other possible future paths for “America First,” aside from a more libertarian or constitutionalist vision.
One was neoconservatism, “the way of Dick Cheney.” The other, he said, was “what they would call industrial policy, but what increasingly looks and smells like a right-wing version of the nanny state.”
He reiterated his criticism of industrial policy during his debate with Mr. Russell, which was moderated by comedian Dave Smith.
Yet, when defending his views on China—an area of meaningful disagreement between many Republicans and many libertarians—the businessman and investor leaned on concerns about Chinese domination of America’s defense-industrial base while indicating that some would disagree that such a sector is necessary at all.
When asked about legislators’ intensified worries about TikTok, Mr. Ramaswamy also hewed to the GOP-friendly view.
“Why do you think there was this push to ban TikTok? Do you think it’s really because, as they say, it’s partially owned by a Chinese subsidiary. Or is it because of, let’s say, a different foreign nation?” Mr. Smith asked.
It was a clear reference to Israel and the Israel lobby, the frequent target of Mr. Smith and many other libertarian commentators as the nation’s war with Hamas rages.
The Wall Street Journal’s Georgia Wells wrote that pro-Palestine content on the app “helped galvanize lawmakers to want to take action” after years of comparative indifference.
Mr. Ramaswamy, known for his comments on the U.S.-Israel relationship while on the campaign trail, laughed before reframing the question.
“I think you’re talking about a foreign nation beginning in Silicon Valley, actually. It’s Facebook lobbying is the reason we passed that bill,” he said.
“He’s not entirely wrong,” Mr. Smith interjected as the former candidate kept talking.
