Campaigning today in Florida, President Barack Obama said Mitt Romney and Republicans are set to make seniors pay thousands more for Medicare so the rich can get more tax cuts. Obama declared the GOP plan would tell the elderly “You’re out of luck.”
** QUICK HITS. With China and Russia issuing twin vetoes of the latest UN Security Council resolution on Syria, it’s unclear what if anything the US and its European and Arab allies have in store to rescue the situation from a very dark denouement. … Game Change, the HBO movie about the John McCain for President campaign and the rise of Sarah Palin, garnered a whopping 12 Emmy nominations today, including one for Woody Harrelson for his depiction of McCain campaign director and 2006 Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt. Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, and Sarah Paulson also earned Emmy nods for playing Palin, McCain, and McCain advisor Nicole Wallace, who started out in California politics.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … MITT WHITMAN = MEG ROMNEY and THE DARK KNIGHT FALTERS AGAINST A GRITTY BOND VILLAIN (OR TWO), HIMSELF, AND US.
** NEW POLL: BY A LARGE MARGIN, VOTERS WANT MORE ROMNEY FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE. A new Gallup Poll survey shows that President Barack Obama’s strategy of hammering super-rich conservative Republican challenger Mitt Romney for secretiveness about his finances is good politics.
By a big margin of 54% to 37%, voters want Romney to reveal more about his finances beyond the partial returns from the two most recent years.
There is no sign whatsoever that he will do this, of course.
It’s much like the situation with his protege, billionaire Meg Whitman, who ran for governor of California in 2010. Before disappearing under a Jerry Brown landslide, Whitman also refused to reveal much about her great wealth.
The problem for candidates like this is that this is their calling card. Without it, they aren’t contenders.
A majority of Americans (54%) say Mitt Romney should release additional tax returns, while 37% say he should not, according to a USA Today/Gallup snapshot poll conducted Wednesday night. Predictably, Democrats strongly favor his releasing more tax returns, Republicans have the opposite view, and independents mirror the national tendency to favor Romney’s releasing more returns.
While presumptive Republican presidential nominee Romney has released his 2010 tax return and has promised to release his full 2011 return when it is filed, he has balked at the idea that he release returns from previous years.
The Obama campaign has been pressuring Romney to release more tax returns, presumably because it would call further attention to the way in which Romney acquired and managed the wealth he developed as head of the private equity firm Bain Capital. Romney’s years at Bain have become a centerpiece of the Obama campaign’s criticisms of Romney in campaign ads, speeches, and media appearances. …
Even after the dramatic events in Damascus, Russia and China this morning again vetoed a Western-backed U.N. resolution Thursday aimed at pressuring President Bashar Assad’s government to end the escalating 16-month conflict in Syria.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … MITT WHITMAN = MEG ROMNEY and THE DARK KNIGHT FALTERS AGAINST A GRITTY BOND VILLAIN (OR TWO), HIMSELF, AND US.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Florida.
Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He then flew on Air Force One to Jacksonville, Florida.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville.
At 12:05 PM Pacific, Obama attends a campaign event at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville.
At 1:35 PM Pacific, Obama departs Jacksonville, Florida on Air Force One en route to West Palm Beach, Florida.
At 2:35 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in West Palm Beach.
At 3:20 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Century Plaza in West Palm Beach.
At 4:35 PM Pacific, Obama attends a campaign event at the Century Plaza in West Palm Beach.
Obama will spend the rest of the night in Manalapan, Florida.
Israel is blaming Iran for a bomb blast that killed six Israeli tourists yesterday in Bulgaria. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu pledged “a strong response.”
Netanyahu says this attack shows the world that Iran is behind terrorist activity around the world.
Netanyahu was already shaken by the collapse late Tuesday of his national unity government. The opposition centrist Kadima Party, which actually finished first in the most recent Israeli national elections, pulled out of the government it entered with fanfare a few months ago. This may lead to an election that seemed to have been postponed from this year till next.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hasn’t been seen or heard from since the dramatic assassinations of his defense minister, interior minister, deputy president, and brother-in-law inside a very high-security complex in Damascus.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, AfPak, and the South China Sea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time. The time in Manila, on the South China Sea, is fifteen hours ahead of Pacific time.
Governor Jerry Brown, decrying “declinists,” signed legislation authorizing the start of construction of California’s high-speed rail program, the only one in America. Most of the rest of the advanced industrial world has high-speed rail.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
On Wednesday, Brown joined state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Assembly Speaker John Perez, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and other state and local officials as he signed the High-Speed Rail funding bill (SB 1029) at Union Station in Los Angeles, and later at the future Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco.
This is an $8 billion program for the first phase of the the bullet train project, encompassing some $2 billion for improvements and high-speed prep for the existing systems in the Metro LA and San Francisco Bay Area regions and the rest for construction of the spine of the system in the Central Valley.
** CRISES CHAOTIC AND BUBBLING: THE GULF AND THE SOUTH CHINA SEA. … From my July 17th essay.
** WHY THE CLINTONS NEED OBAMA TO WIN: UNCERTAINTY AS HILLARY PUSHES THE BIG GEOPOLITICAL PIVOT. … From my July 13th essay.
** A TICKET TO RIDE: HIGH-SPEED RAIL MOVES FORWARD ON A HISTORIC (AND BUMPY) TRACK IN CALIFORNIA. … From my July 11th feature.
** DARK KNIGHTS, AVENGERS, BONDING RETRO ACTION HEROES: HOW LONG WILL THE SUPERHERO PHENOMENON LAST? … From my July 7th essay.
** FOUNDED IN ENLIGHTENMENT, AMERICA FACES IGNORANCE AND CONFUSION AS THE CHALLENGES GROW EVER MORE COMPLEX. … From my July 2nd essay.
** THE “MOMENTARY MEDIA” STRIKES: EPIC FAILS BY CNN AND FOX NEWS HIGHLIGHT DYSFUNCTIONALITY. … From my June 28th column.
** THE “SLOW BORING OF HARD BOARDS” IN AN ERA OF LIMITS. … From my June 27th essay.
** A RUGGED TIME FOR OBAMA’S BIG GEOPOLITICAL PIVOT. … From my June 22nd essay.
** THE “FAIR SHOT” VS. THE “TO DO LIST” — A BIG REVEALING BLAH IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE. … From my June 20th column.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
The Dark Knight Rises, perhaps the key film of the year, opens across North America on Friday. It opened today in Australia and New Zealand, but no spoilers will be revealed here yet. Needless to say, I’ll have an essay on it.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $93 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $59 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $21 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (34) |
Good bad news news video on the UN Security Council Syria resolution.
Great funny trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Gulf crisis video today?
Love the video of JB signing HIGH SPEED RAIL!!!
The Russians and Chinese are with that Assad creep to the bitter end…
Jonas says:
July 19, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Good bad news news video on the UN Security Council Syria resolution.
Awesome, cannot wait.
Jonas says:
July 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Great funny trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises”.
A Bond villain or 2??
THE DARK KNIGHT FALTERS AGAINST A GRITTY BOND VILLAIN (OR TWO), HIMSELF, AND US.
Is he injured?
BBMeanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hasn’t been seen or heard from since the dramatic assassinations of his defense minister, interior minister, deputy president, and brother-in-law inside a very high-security complex in Damascus.
Just his courage.
I concur, sir.
Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Awesome, cannot wait.
Jonas says:
July 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Great funny trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Spoilers?!
Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:25 pm
A Bond villain or 2??
THE DARK KNIGHT FALTERS AGAINST A GRITTY BOND VILLAIN (OR TWO), HIMSELF, AND US.
He sounds and looks pretty good there.
Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Love the video of JB signing HIGH SPEED RAIL!!!
I’m getting excited about Dark Knight, too.
Yaaaay ! horoscopenet.com is predicting an Obama VICTORY ! Now I finally am beginning to like hocus pocus horoscope !
Good news video of President Obama campaigning.
Barack is doing great on message down in Floridia….
That must be really wild for Steve Schmidt.
… Game Change, the HBO movie about the John McCain for President campaign and the rise of Sarah Palin, garnered a whopping 12 Emmy nominations today, including one for Woody Harrelson for his depiction of McCain campaign director and 2006 Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt. Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, and Sarah Paulson also earned Emmy nods for playing Palin, McCain, and McCain advisor Nicole Wallace, who started out in California politics.
What happens now???
** QUICK HITS. With China and Russia issuing twin vetoes of the latest UN Security Council resolution on Syria, it’s unclear what if anything the US and its European and Arab allies have in store to rescue the situation from a very dark denouement. …
The question has been raised about the identity of the blond standing next to L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa at the bullet train signing ceremony at Union Station yesterday. I don’t know. Maybe she is the ansawer to the question why Mayor AV and Lu Parker recently split…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/jul/03/los-angeles-mayor-antonio-villaraigosa
Colorado tragedy video today?
Of course.
Perhaps, though that seems an unusual place for a new gal pal.
> Dana says:
July 19, 2012 at 8:15 pm (Edit)
The question has been raised about the identity of the blond standing next to L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa at the bullet train signing ceremony at Union Station yesterday. I don’t know. Maybe she is the ansawer to the question why Mayor AV and Lu Parker recently split…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/jul/03/los-angeles-mayor-antonio-villaraigosa
A dark conclusion plays out.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 5:19 pm (Edit)
What happens now???
** QUICK HITS. With China and Russia issuing twin vetoes of the latest UN Security Council resolution on Syria, it’s unclear what if anything the US and its European and Arab allies have in store to rescue the situation from a very dark denouement. …
He finds it very amusing.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 5:18 pm (Edit)
That must be really wild for Steve Schmidt.
… Game Change, the HBO movie about the John McCain for President campaign and the rise of Sarah Palin, garnered a whopping 12 Emmy nominations today, including one for Woody Harrelson for his depiction of McCain campaign director and 2006 Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt. Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, and Sarah Paulson also earned Emmy nods for playing Palin, McCain, and McCain advisor Nicole Wallace, who started out in California politics.
It was going very well till this morning.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 5:16 pm (Edit)
Barack is doing great on message down in Floridia….
It is a terrific movie.
> Cooper Hawks says:
July 19, 2012 at 3:50 pm (Edit)
I’m getting excited about Dark Knight, too.
An historic occasion.
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 19, 2012 at 3:17 pm (Edit)
He sounds and looks pretty good there.
Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Love the video of JB signing HIGH SPEED RAIL!!!
A slight one.
>
Jack Aubrey says:
July 19, 2012 at 3:12 pm (Edit)
Spoilers?!
Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:25 pm
A Bond villain or 2??
THE DARK KNIGHT FALTERS AGAINST A GRITTY BOND VILLAIN (OR TWO), HIMSELF, AND US.
Heh.
> Jack Aubrey says:
July 19, 2012 at 3:07 pm (Edit)
Just his courage.
Unknown.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:32 pm (Edit)
Is he injured?
BBMeanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hasn’t been seen or heard from since the dramatic assassinations of his defense minister, interior minister, deputy president, and brother-in-law inside a very high-security complex in Damascus.
That would be two.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:25 pm (Edit)
A Bond villain or 2??
THE DARK KNIGHT FALTERS AGAINST A GRITTY BOND VILLAIN (OR TWO), HIMSELF, AND US.
They are proving to be bitter enders. I don’t know what sort of deal they can work out.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:21 pm (Edit)
The Russians and Chinese are with that Assad creep to the bitter end…
Jonas says:
July 19, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Good bad news news video on the UN Security Council Syria resolution.
Indeed.
> Capitol Boy says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:15 pm (Edit)
Love the video of JB signing HIGH SPEED RAIL!!!
We have the casino owner dumping money from foreign sources into the romney campaign.