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Friday, August 11, 2023

Wildfire in Maui Kills 53, Causes Billions in Damage

CBS: The death toll from a fast-moving wildfire on Hawaii’s Maui island rose Thursday, with at least 53 people now confirmed dead, officials said. The blaze, which nearly destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, was said to be 80% contained earlier in the day. Officials had earlier warned the death toll could continue to go up, with multiple fires on the island still burning and teams spreading out to search charred areas. Evacuations were continuing Thursday with officials providing buses to take people from the disaster area on the western part of the island to a shelter or Maui’s Kahului Airport. Maui officials said 1,400 people stayed at the airport overnight Wednesday while waiting for flights off the island (CBS). CNN: While it’s too early to know the full magnitude of destruction, Green, the governor, told CNN he estimates “billions of dollars of structural damage.” The White House announced Thursday that President Joe Biden had approved a disaster declaration, freeing up federal aid to assist in the recovery in Maui County (CNN).

Biden Continues to Gloat About His Economy

Washington Examiner: President Joe Biden is adamant “Bidenomics” is working despite annualized inflation ticking up to 3.2%, the first increase in a year. The economy remains strong, Biden wrote in a statement Thursday morning after the Labor Department released its July consumer price index report. Republicans reacted to the report by highlighting the cumulative impact of inflation even as numbers have trended down. “Since Biden took office, prices are up by 16.9% and real wages are down by about 3%,” Republican National Committee spokesman Jake Schneider said. “That’s bad news for Americans, who already have little faith in Biden’s ability to handle the economy with competence” (Washington Examiner). RNC Research: BIDENOMICS: Just two percent of Americans say economic conditions are “excellent.” Half of Americans say economic conditions are “poor” (Twitter). Daily Mail: New York city rents hit a new high in July at an average of $5,588 a month, up 30 percent since 2019. The eye-watering cost of renting an apartment in Manhattan comes despite the city’s population declining since the pandemic (Daily Mail).

NYC Mayor Adams Pleads with Biden Administration to Help with Illegal Immigration Crisis

Washington Examiner: Mayor Eric Adams warned President Joe Biden on Thursday that continued federal inaction on New York City’s migrant crisis will eventually “decimate” the city, which he claimed is the “economic engine” of the United States. Adams urged federal officials to send money and resources to the country’s most populous city in order to help with funding for housing and food for asylum-seekers. Nearly 100,000 immigrants have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022, and Adams predicted the price of the migrant crisis on the city could reach $12 billion by 2025 if the flow of immigrants remains the same (Washington Examiner). CBS Mornings: Officials are scrambling to house more than 57,000 asylum seekers currently in New York City’s care — and NYC Mayor Adams says it will cost $12 billion: “Every day we are juggling where are we going to find another place so human beings don’t sleep on the streets” (Twitter).

Biden Asks for $40 Billion in Additional Ukraine Aid

CNBC: The White House unveiled a nearly $40 billion supplemental funding request on Thursday to provide additional aid to Ukraine and respond to natural disasters, including wildland firefighter pay and border management. The White House is seeking $12 billion for ongoing disaster relief, $60 million to cover pay increases for firefighters and $3.9 billion to address border and migration issues. Biden’s request also seeks over $24 billion in additional funding for Ukraine’s slow-moving defense against Russia’s illegal invasion. In the nearly 18 months since Russian troops poured over Ukrainian borders, the U.S. has unleashed a war chest worth more than $43 billion to bolster Kyiv’s arsenal (CNBC). Bloomberg: Bipartisan support for Ukraine aid has held steady in the US Senate, but the funding has become controversial in the House, where McCarthy has promised not to bring an assistance package to the floor if it skirts defense-spending caps set in the May debt-ceiling agreement (Bloomberg).

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) Considering Leaving the Democrat Party Before 2024 Election

He is thinking of following the steps of Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema who left the Democrat Party last year. Washington Examiner: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he has been “thinking seriously” about becoming an independent before the 2024 election in a local radio interview on Thursday, one of the strongest statements he has said to date about potentially leaving the Democratic Party. Manchin has been in no hurry to announce his plans for 2024, keeping the political world on the edge of their seats for the foreseeable future. The three-term senator has publicly flirted with running for president in 2024, including a third-party run with No Labels (Washington Examiner).

US, Iran Reach Agreement for Release of Five American Prisoners

Just the News: Iran placed five Iranian Americans on house arrest Thursday amid reports of a planned prisoner swap between Washington and Tehran. The two countries have reached an agreement to exchange the incarcerated Americans for several imprisoned Iranians and for the U.S. to unfreeze Iran’s access to about $6 billion in oil revenue. Four of the Americans were transferred from Iran’s notorious Evin Prison on Thursday to a hotel in Tehran, where they will stay for several weeks until they are allowed to leave via airplane (Just the News). Wall Street Journal: U.S. officials for years have pressed for the release of the Americans imprisoned in Iran on what U.S. officials say are false charges to be used as bargaining chips by the Iranian government. The latest attempt at diplomacy represents a political balancing act for the Biden administration and is focused on cooling tensions with Tehran, which have soared this year (Wall Street Journal).

Ecuador in State of Emergency After Presidential Candidate is Assassinated, US Sends FBI to Assist in Investigation

Wall Street Journal: Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso said he ordered soldiers into the streets to boost security after gunmen killed a presidential hopeful in a country hit hard by drug-fueled violence. Lasso on Thursday declared a 60-day, nationwide state of emergency that will also curtail civil liberties like freedom of movement and right to assembly. It takes force as several other candidates suspended their campaign following Wednesday’s killing of Fernando Villavicencio, the first time a presidential hopeful has been assassinated in the country’s history. Lasso on Thursday also declared three days of national mourning and said the Aug. 20 election will go forward as planned. Villavicencio, a 59-year-old former journalist and congressman, was killed after leaving a campaign event at a school in the capital, Quito (Wall Street Journal). Bloomberg: The Biden administration is planning to send the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Ecuador to aid in the investigation into the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, according to people familiar with the plans. It’s relatively common for the FBI to assist in this type of investigation in countries that are US allies (Bloomberg).

Squad Member, Cori Bush, Receives Criticism Over Tweet of False Information on Anniversary of Michael Brown’s Death

Daily Wire: Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) faced backlash online on Wednesday over a false and inflammatory tweet on the ninth anniversary of when Michael Brown attacked a police officer and was subsequently killed when the officer defended himself. Former President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded that there was no credible evidence to disprove Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson’s story that he shot Brown after Brown attacked him while he was seated in his police vehicle. The encounter happened after Wilson was called to the area to respond to Brown reportedly stealing from a store and attacking a store clerk (Daily Wire). Dana Loesch: He would be alive today if he had not chosen to steal from a convenience store, resulting in the owner calling police, resulting in police stopping him, at which point Brown CHOSE to attack a cop and try to take his gun — which Eric Holder’s own DOJ concluded with its forensics report. Stop YOUR shameful and racist rewrite of facts (Twitter). Reporter Stephen Miller: He choked a bodega owner in the act of shoplifting and attempted to assault the responding police officer while grabbing his firearm. Eric Holder’s justice department cleared the officer of any wrongdoing (Twitter).

Oregon Governor Creates Taskforce to Clean Up Crumbling Portland

Her solution to clean up a city wrought with consequences of woke policies is to create a taskforce guided by woke policies. Daily Wire: Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced in a press release on Wednesday that her executive office will partner with the Oregon Business Council to create the Portland Central City Task Force (PCCTF). Kotek admitted that Portland had earned a notorious reputation, though she attributed the current state of the city to “growing pains” and COVID. Kotek added that social justice values would guide the PCCTF by collaborating with “diverse voices” for “equitable solutions” (Daily Wire). Oregon.gov: Their first meeting will be held on August 22, 2023. The task force will meet once per month between August and October and is slated to present recommendations at the Oregon Business Plan Leadership Summit in December. Full membership will be announced at a later date (Oregon.gov).

10.

Disney+ Loses 12.5 Million Subscribers

Variety: The Walt Disney Co. saw its streaming losses narrow in the second quarter amid an exodus of 12.5 million subscribers from its Disney+ Hotstar streaming platform in India. Disney notched a gain of 800,000 subscribers in other parts of the world. In the U.S. and Canada, Disney+ lost 300,000 subscribers while the streaming-only side of Hulu gained about that same number (Variety). No wonder they are losing subscribers. They are ratcheting up their prices. Discussing Film: Disney+ Premium (with no ads) will have a price increase from $10.99 to $13.99/month for U.S. customers. Hulu without ads will increase from $14.99 to $17.99/month (Twitter).