Democrats say polling is ‘useless’ as Trump pulls ahead of Biden in surveys
Democrats on Capitol Hill are publicly rejecting recent polls showing former President Donald Trump taking a lead over President Biden in the 2024 presidential election. A Tuesday poll from the New York Times and Sienna College found that Trump had a 46% to 44% lead over the sitting president. Trump’s lead was even more drastic among younger voters, who favored Trump 49% to 43%. That poll’s findings echoed surveys in November as well. Democrats, however, are remaining publicly unphased, according to reports. “I think polling is increasingly useless,” Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., told Punchbowl News. “If we haven’t taken that away from the last few elections, I don’t know how much more we need to see.” BIDEN INVOKES WARTIME POWERS TO FUND ELECTRIC HEATERS AS HE CRACKS DOWN ON GAS APPLIANCES “What are we, 11 months out from the next election? I mean, that’s a double eternity in politics,” Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., told the outlet. EXPERTS WARN BIDEN ADMIN’S WATER HEATER CRACKDOWN WILL HIKE PRICES, REDUCE CONSUMER CHOICE Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who is running a symbolic primary campaign challenging Biden, says the polls are starting to twist screws in private. “Everyone’s reading the polls, everybody sees,” Phillips said, adding that Democrats in competitive “Frontline” races “won’t say it publicly, most likely, because that’s cutting off your nose to spite your face. But I think they’re all feeling the same thing.” Polling has increasingly showed that voters have massive reservations when it comes to Biden, particularly with regard to his age. Large majorities of even Democrats have stated that he is too old to effectively serve as president in a second term. MAJOR ‘CLIMATE DECEPTION’ LAWSUIT AGAINST BIG OIL VOLUNTARILY DISMISSED Meanwhile, Trump’s lead in 2024 GOP primary polls only continues to grow.
Year Ender 2023: From Sharad Yadav to Oommen Chandy, famous politicians who died this year
From Sharad Yadav to Oommen Chandy, let’s dive into the lives of the 10 famous politicians who died in the year 2023.
Worried about safety, a small West Texas town challenges planned cross-border pipeline
Critics are calling on federal regulators to increase their scrutiny and oversight of the proposed pipeline, which would send gas from Texas to the Mexican coast for export to other countries.
Struggling to find teachers close to home, some Texas schools are looking overseas for help
Public schools got little help from lawmakers this year to address the state’s chronic teacher shortage, so they’ve turned to other creative solutions — like leaning on cultural exchange programs to recruit international teachers.
Kuwait’s new emir Sheikh Mishal takes oath of office
The new leader, seen as a reformist, pledged to adhere to constitutional principles and fight corruption. Kuwait’s new emir, Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has been formally sworn in before parliament to begin his rule over the wealthy Gulf monarchy. The new emir, who took over after the passing of his half-brother, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, on Saturday, took the oath of office during a special session of the National Assembly on Wednesday morning. In his inaugural address, Sheikh Mishal pledged to safeguard the country and its people, adhere to constitutional principles and fight corruption. “I swear by Almighty Allah to respect the constitution and the laws of the state, to defend the liberties, interests and properties of the people and to safeguard the independence and territorial integrity of the country,” he declared. The 83-year-old Sheikh Mishal is Kuwait’s third ruler in just over three years. He has already been de facto leader since 2021 when the frail Sheikh Nawaf handed over most of his duties. Sheikh Mishal previously served as deputy chief of the National Guard from 2004 to 2020 and head of State Security for 13 years after joining the Ministry of Interior in the 1960s. As he takes the helm of the OPEC oil producer, he is expected to preserve key Kuwaiti foreign policies, including support for Gulf Arab unity and Western alliances. Good relations with Saudi Arabia are seen as one of his top priorities. The new emir may also look to expand ties to China as Beijing seeks a bigger role in the region. Political analyst Hussain Jamal told Al Jazeera that Kuwait’s foreign policy would likely “remain as it is” under the new emir. “Zero enemies and a lot of friends – regionally and internationally.” As leader, Sheikh Mishal will also have to grapple with long-running strains between the ruling family and its critics in the perpetually deadlocked and fractious parliament. Critics complain that the friction has hindered fiscal and economic reform. In 2022, Sheikh Mishal intervened in a protracted dispute between the government and parliament. He dissolved parliament, decreed new elections and replaced the prime minister, but declared no intention to interfere in the vote or the selection of parliament speaker. After being sworn in, Sheikh Mishal castigated authorities for having previously appointed people to positions “that are not consistent with the simplest rules of justice and fairness”. He also stressed “the importance of follow-up, responsible oversight, and objective accountability within the framework of the constitution and the law for negligence, dereliction and tampering with the interests of citizens”. Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Anjeri, of the Kuwaiti think tank Reconnaissance Research, told Al Jazeera, Sheikh Mishal was likely to rule as a “reformist”. “He is someone who does not allow nepotism or favourtism to impact his decisions,” Al-Anjeri said. Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinian statues torn down by Israeli forces
NewsFeed Israeli forces are destroying statues and monuments of Palestinian resistance during raids in the occupied West Bank. Published On 20 Dec 202320 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
Can Trump still run for US presidency? What to know about Colorado ruling?
The top court in the US state of Colorado has ruled that former President Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office again over his role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the United States Capitol by his supporters. Tuesday’s verdict makes Trump the first presidential candidate in US history to be deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used provision of the US Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution after taking oath to protect it. Trump’s campaign spokesperson dubbed the verdict “flawed” and promised to “swiftly” file an appeal in the United States Supreme Court. Here is more to know about the ruling and what it means for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. What did the Colorado court rule on Donald Trump on Tuesday? A slim majority of the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the former president is ineligible to hold the US presidency and is to be disqualified from the state’s ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which bars anyone involved in insurrection or rebellion from running for federal office. “We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the Colorado Supreme Court wrote in its four-three majority decision. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us,” the Colorado justices said. “We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.” This is the first time a court has ruled on the basis of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War. A lower court judge in the state previously ruled that Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, amounted to insurrection but stopped short of disqualifying him, saying Section 3 does not apply to presidents. The Colorado Supreme Court paused its own ruling pending review by the US Supreme Court. The ruling was aligned with advocacy groups and activists who called for the disqualification of Trump from the presidential race following his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Multiple lawsuits have been filed across several US states in efforts to disqualify Trump from running for president in those states. Similar lawsuits have previously been dismissed by courts in Michigan, Florida and New Hampshire. The Minnesota Supreme Court has also rejected a disqualification case. However, this ruling can influence other states to invoke similar rulings in competitive states that Trump needs to win. What happened on January 6, 2021? On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to prevent the Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. This was after Trump prematurely declared victory and alleged voter fraud. In a speech on the day of the riot, Trump urged his supporters to march on the Capitol. A US Congressional committee concluded that Trump was responsible for the Capitol riots. Can Trump still run for presidency and what does it mean for the 2024 election? Even if the ruling survives Supreme Court review, it could be inconsequential to the outcome of the November 2024 election because Trump does not need to win Colorado, which is a Democratic-leaning state. Colorado has nine of the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. Biden won the state by more than 13 percentage points in the 2020 election. But similar lawsuits could be filed in competitive states that Trump must win to prevail, and while none of those courts would be bound by the Colorado decision, judges will likely study it closely while reaching their own conclusions. How did Trump and Republicans react to Colorado’s ruling? Trump’s campaign called the court decision “undemocratic”. Trump and his allies have dubbed disqualification cases in Colorado and other states as part of a conspiracy by his political rivals to keep him out of office. “The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court,” a campaign spokesperson said. Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the “all-Democrat appointed” panel in Colorado was doing the bidding of a “[George] Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden”. Even after his absence from the Republican debates, Trump remains a frontrunner in the polls. “Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls,” he added. Despite their exasperation with Trump, US Republican leaders joined in to call the ruling undemocratic and campaign for its appeal on X. This included Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination. DeSantis said the US Supreme Court “should reverse” the Colorado ruling. “The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal ground,” he wrote on X, What’s next? The ruling has been placed on hold by the Colorado Supreme Court until January 4, or until a review by the US Supreme Court, which Trump said he will immediately seek. Colorado officials have said the issue needs to be settled by January 5, which is when the state prints its presidential primary ballots. It is unclear how the Supreme Court would rule, but it is dominated by a conservative majority that includes three Trump appointees, some of whom are longtime sceptics of giving courts powers that are not clearly based in legislation. That was a top concern for the dissenting justices in the 4-3 Colorado decision, who said the majority’s ruling would strip Trump of one of his most basic rights without adequate due process. “Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past – dare I say, engaged in insurrection – there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified
Why does COVID-19 strain mutate from time-to-time? Know how dangerous is JN.1 variant
COVID-19 variants undergo mutations which is a natural process. This doesn’t necessarily make a variant dangerous, nor does it necessarily reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. A slight change in any strain of the virus can make it more or less transmissible
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to skip ED questioning again tomorrow; here’s why
Kejriwal was scheduled to leave for the Vipassana course on Tuesday but could not do so as he was busy with the INDIA bloc meeting, officials said. He left at around 1.30 pm on Wednesday for the pre-scheduled meditation course, they added.
20 cases of Covid sub-variant JN.1 found in three states, says INSACOG
The Centre has asked states and union territories to maintain constant vigil amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases and the detection of the new JN.1 variant in the country.