Friends,
Before I get the good news, I wanted to let you know about another project I am starting.
As you likely know, I am a giant fan of Joe Biden. Pretty sure I haven’t been subtle about it. 😉
I understand that not everyone will love Joe as much as I love Joe, but I am super frustrated that people seem to dislike him simply because they have no idea about all the great things he has done!
So I am going to start a daily “Dark Brandon did that...” post where every day I outline a great thing he has done. I already have about a hundred rough drafts ready.
I am going to need your help.
First, I am going to publish these Monday — Friday every week leading up to the election.
Do any of you have recommendations for times of day? topics I might not have thought of? Ways to introduce or frame anything?
Second, I need people to rec and share these so that they get lots of eyes. Ideally, people will share them outside of DKos with their own friends via their own social media (or elsewhere).
Right now my plan is to launch on January 1st and then post every week day until the election. That will be about 230 posts, which I think I can do.
So ideas are welcome. And when they time comes, I’ll really need your support!
Thanks team!
Now onto the good news!
Biden and the Democrats are awesome
Biden says he's helped lower inflation as he hosts first meeting of his new supply chain council
President Joe Biden on Monday opened the first meeting of his supply chain resilience council by warning companies against price gouging and saying that his administration was working to lower costs for U.S. families.
“We know that prices are still too high for too many things, that times are still too tough for too many families,” Biden said. “But we've made progress.”
Biden used the council meeting to announce 30 actions to improve access to medicine and needed economic data as well as other programs tied to the production and shipment of goods.
He said he was tackling “junk fees,” hidden charges that companies sneak into bills just because they can and customers have no alternative.
Biden Administration to Avoid a 2024 Recession
Joe Biden's administration appears on track to avoid an economic recession in 2024, new data shows.
Despite fears of an economic downturn, new data from Bank of America's (BofA) Global Research division points towards a resilient U.S. economy, calling 2024 'The Year of the Landing.' The BofA report forecasts a soft landing rather than a recession over the next year. The research comes amid a backdrop of global economic challenges and the Federal Reserve's strategic moves to manage inflation.
The past year "defined almost everyone's expectations," Candace Browning, head of BofA Global Research, shared in a statement including "recessions that never came."
President Biden to Visit Largest Wind Tower Manufacturer in the World, Highlight How Bidenomics Is Driving Record Investments in Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s District
Today, //this happened earlier this week/// President Biden will visit CS Wind in Pueblo, Colorado — the largest wind tower manufacturer in the world — to highlight how Bidenomics is creating jobs and opportunities in Colorado’s third congressional district. CS Wind recently announced it is expanding operations and creating hundreds of jobs as a direct result of the Inflation Reduction Act — which self-described MAGA Republican Representative Lauren Boebert called “dangerous for America,” a “massive failure,” and “bad for Colorado’s Third District.”
Coinciding with the visit, the Department of the Treasury released a new analysis showing that clean energy investments spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act are predominantly going to underserved communities and energy communities. The analysis shows that President Biden is delivering on his promise to create opportunities and jobs in communities too often left behind, while self-described MAGA Republicans like Representative Lauren Boebert continue to undermine their constituents by trying to block the President’s agenda.
Since President Biden took office, companies have announced $7 billion in new manufacturing and clean energy investments in Colorado — including hundreds of millions of dollars in Representative Boebert’s district. Outside groups estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act has helped create over 3,500 good-paying clean energy jobs in Colorado in the one year since the President signed the law.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the most significant investment in reducing carbon emissions in American history.
A investments are delivering more clean investment to left-behind places, communities at the forefront of fossil fuel energy production and those that have benefited least from the economic growth of the past few decades. The IRA’s combined focus on expanding our productive capacity, mitigating climate change, and addressing inequality is central to the strategy Secretary Yellen has called “modern supply-side economics.”
We analyze the geographic and socioeconomic distribution of clean investment announcements using data from the Clean Investment Monitor (CIM). The CIM is a joint product of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Rhodium Group that catalogs and maps U.S. clean energy investments before and after the IRA passed. This work reflects an update and extension to our initial place-based analysis in The Inflation Reduction Act and U.S. Business Investment (August 2023). We offer two key conclusions:
- It is well-established that clean investments grew meaningfully after the IRA passed. But we find that clean investments grew especially quickly in “Energy Communities,” areas with a history of fossil fuel production, where clean industry potential exists but opportunity has been scarce.
- Since the IRA passed, clean investments have been landing in more economically disadvantaged counties: those with below average wages, incomes, employment rates, and college graduation rates. More than 80 percent of post-IRA clean investments have gone to counties with below-average wages; more than 85 percent have gone to counties with below-average college graduation rates. This is true for all regions of the country and all technologies supported by the IRA; the investment and benefits tend to accrue to disadvantaged counties.
Black Friday weekend shopping turnout soars to a record, as consumers seek bargains
Shoppers kicked off the holiday season with a bang, as a record 200.4 million people hit stores and searched websites for gifts from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.
The turnout marks an all-time high since the major trade group and Prosper Insights & Analytics began tracking total in-store and online traffic in 2017. It topped last year’s figure of 196.7 million shoppers and the NRF’s forecast for about 182 million people during the five-day weekend.
US economy grows 5.2% in third quarter
The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter as businesses built more warehouses and accumulated machinery equipment, but momentum appears to have since waned as higher borrowing costs curb hiring and spending.
"No sign of darkening skies for the economy in today's report, but growth is cooling," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York
Gross domestic product increased at a 5.2% annualized rate last quarter, revised up from the previously reported 4.9% pace, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said in its second estimate of third-quarter GDP. It was the fastest pace of expansion since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Student loan forgiveness announced for 813,000 borrowers
About 813,000 student borrowers will get student loan relief, the White House announced Tuesday.
The borrowers will begin to receive an email Tuesday from President Joe Biden informing them that their loans have been forgiven.
So far, the Biden administration has canceled more than $127 billion in loan debt for nearly 3.6 million borrowers.
In a statement the White House said: “For too long -- the student loan program failed to live up to its commitments – and millions never got the relief they were owed because of errors and administrative failures. The president vowed to fix that and he continues to deliver on that promise. As a result of his administration’s actions -- many of these borrowers now have zero dollars in student loans.”
Back in August, the Biden administration launched the SAVE plan, which they say save borrowers millions.
That action came after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s plan to erase student loan debt back in June.
Joe Biden is not getting the credit he deserves on foreign policy
Critics claim that President Joe Biden has failed in his efforts to project American power effectively for the American people and their allies around the world. But I am confident he will go down in history, as he should, for being one of the rare presidents who has accomplished something quite extraordinary: He has carefully defined and quite successfully defended democracy and democratic values before a host of existential challenges.
Former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush wound up ping-ponging from crisis to crisis with no clear sense of what shape the horizon might take, frequently updating their worldviews to match the moment. Bush was against nation-building until he was for it in Afghanistan and Iraq; Obama was against foreign intervention until he was for it in Libya; Trump was for sweet-talking global adversaries until he was against it.
Biden, in contrast, has been operating on the basis of a real weltanschauung (or worldview).
Biden’s latest challenge, of course, is in Israel and Gaza. In the face of a barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel and the unrelenting response of the government under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden has stood squarely by Israel, defined by The Economist’s Democracy Index as the only democracy in the Middle East and North Africa.
In contrast to George W. Bush, Biden has modeled how diplomacy as well as force can support efforts to shore up democracy. The US reportedly played a crucial role in getting many Israeli hostages released from Hamas. But the US also quickly dispatched two aircraft carrier strike groups and 900 additional troops to the Middle East to back up his warning to Iran and Hezbollah not to broaden the conflict.
Those moves not only safeguard Israel but help secure American interests in the region and show that a democratic power can constrain fundamentalist ones.
Biden is similar to other presidents in getting little credit for what doesn’t happen. Beyond containing the Israel-Hamas conflict (so far), he also hasn’t been properly recognized for avoiding a direct US-Russia confrontation — and likely conflagration — by tempering the delivery of advanced weapons to Ukraine and restraining its efforts to join NATO, even as the US has slowly but steadily ratcheted up the levels of military support for Ukraine.
Statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Airlift of Critical Humanitarian Supplies to Egypt to Support Aid Delivery in Gaza
Today //this was from Tuesday///, the United States airlifted over 54,000 pounds of medical items and food aid to the humanitarian logistics hub in Egypt for delivery for civilians in Gaza. This was the first of three planned deliveries in the coming days. These UN supplies will save lives and alleviate the suffering of thousands in Gaza. We are grateful to the Government of Egypt for its support of these deliveries and broader efforts to ensure humanitarian supplies reach Palestinians in need.
Over the past seven weeks, the United States has worked around the clock to address the acute humanitarian needs facing civilians in Gaza. Since October 21, thanks to a deal President Biden helped broker, we have worked with our partners in the region and international organizations to ramp up humanitarian assistance, with more than 2,000 trucks delivering aid, including food, water, medical and shelter supplies, and fuel.
Jill Biden’s White House decorations are AMAZING
Other Good News
Federal appeals court finds Trump not entitled to presidential immunity in Jan. 6 civil cases
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected former President Donald Trump's bid to dismiss civil claims seeking to hold him to account for the Jan. 6 riot, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol, denying his claims of presidential immunity
The ruling allows a large number of lawsuits seeking to hold Trump accountable for the deadly riot to move forward. The cases had all been stayed while the appeals court weighed the immunity issue, which they said would have to be revisited in the lower courts.
Trump’s Backdoor Attempts to Delay His Trials Are Backfiring
Donald Trump’s calendar is filling up—and not with campaign events.
The former president is battling conflicting trial dates in a number of courts, and judges are now hopping on the phone to coordinate their schedules. In fact, two judges may have already double-booked him. (In March, Trump has three weeks to wrap up a D.C. federal trial that’s potentially six weeks long—before he’s due in New York for a state trial.)
, judges are increasingly losing patience for these types of Trumpian delay tactics. For example, in front of Chutkan earlier this year, Trump’s lawyers tried to delay the trial by warning that speeding along too quickly threatens “to go forward with the haste of the mob.” They cited a 1932 Supreme Court decision that disagreed with the way nine young black Black men and teenagers were indicted in Alabama for raping two white women, and all but one were immediately sentenced to death after one-day trials.
That didn’t go over well with Chutkan, who noted wryly that “this case, for any number of reasons, is profoundly different from Powell.”
“Mr. Trump is represented by a team of zealous, experienced attorneys and has the resources necessary,” she commented. “I have seen many cases unduly delayed because a defendant lacks adequate representation or cannot properly review discovery because they are detained. That is not the case here.”
Youth and the 2024 Election: Likely to Vote and Ready to Drive Action on Key Political Issues
CIRCLE's early poll of youth (ages 18-34) ahead of the 2024 presidential election highlights major trends in young people's political views and participation
57% Extremely Likely to Vote
57% of youth, ages 18-34, say they’re “extremely likely” to vote in 2024, and another 15% say they’re “fairly likely” to cast a ballot in the election.
+21 for Democratic Candidate
Among youth who are extremely likely to vote: 51% back the Democratic candidate, 30% the Republican, 16% undecided.
NATO vows to stick with Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’
NATO's foreign ministers Wednesday agreed to step up work with Ukraine on a wide range of security issues, in a bid to show solidarity
In a statement, NATO allies vowed to "remain steadfast in their commitment to further step up political and practical support to Ukraine" and said they "will continue their support for as long as it takes," after a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Brussels.
On The Lighter Side
What can you do to save democracy?
Here are some ideas:
We here at the GNR have set up a fundraising ActBlue account where you can donate and have it evenly distributed between 24 races that will be key to winning the House in 24!
Go ahead and donate at this link:
More worried about keeping tfg out of the WH? You could:
Looking for something else? Maybe something that doesn’t involve donating? GREAT! Here are some other ideas:
So pick just one and get to it!
I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you 💓💚💛🧡✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿✊❤️🧡💛💚
