‘Loss for country…’, says Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son on Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from Paris Olympics
Following Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from Paris Olympics, Karan Bhushan Singh, son of former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, termed it a loss for the entire country.
Harris takes 3-point lead over Trump as she gains on key issues: poll
Vice President Harris has taken a 3-point lead over former President Trump as she gains ground on key issues, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted by NPR, PBS and Marist, found Harris leading Trump 51% to 48%, but clarified that the difference is within the margin of error. Harris has also narrowed Trump’s lead on key issues like the economy. Trump still holds a significant 6-point lead when it comes to illegal immigration, according to the poll. Meanwhile, Harris leads on abortion issues by a massive 15 points. The Marist poll was conducted from August 1-4 and advertised a margin of error of 3.4%. TRUMP QUICKLY MOVES TO DEFINE HARRIS AS ‘MORE LEFT THAN BERNIE SANDERS’ The survey comes days after a Fox News poll found Trump and Harris deadlocked in Pennsylvania, a key swing state for the presidential election. VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS NAMES MINNESOTA GOV. TIM WALZ AS HER RUNNING MATE The state of the race in the Keystone State is similar to where it was in April, when Biden and Trump were tied 48-48%. The survey, released Friday, shows Harris and Trump locked in a tie in Pennsylvania at 49-49% – barely different from what the final election results were in the state in 2020 (49.85% Biden vs. 48.69% Trump). The poll further showed Trump closing the gap with voters under 30 (-27 points in April to -4 points today), voters 65 and over (-5 to -1), suburban women (-32 to -12) and those with a college degree (-18 to -10), and widening it slightly among Independents (+8 to +9).
This AAP minister to hoist tricolour on August 15; check here
The Delhi government’s Independence Day celebration takes place at Chhatrasal Stadium.
Ranchers reported abandoned oil wells spewing wastewater. A new study blames fracking.
An SMU study is the first scientific proof of a phenomenon local landowners have long warned was occurring.
Texas schools got billions in federal pandemic relief. It is coming to an end as the school year starts.
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Texas set to execute Arthur Lee Burton for 1997 killing of Houston jogger
Arthur Lee Burton was sentenced to death for killing Nancy Adleman, a mother of three, while she was jogging on a summer evening in Houston.
Social media explodes with theory Harris snubbed Gov. Shapiro as VP pick to appease anti-Israel wing of Dems
Politicians, pundits, and conservative voices reacted to news of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz being selected as the Democratic vice presidential nominee by claiming it is evidence that Democrats have a problem with antisemitism within the party. “The Walz selection shows just how deep the Dems’ antisemitism problem runs,” Manhattan Institute’s Ilya Shapiro posted on X after Walz was selected by Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday over Gov. Shapiro. Shapiro, who is Jewish, was forced to defend his stance on Israel during the VP selection process after an op-ed he penned more than three decades ago, in which he wrote of being an Israeli army volunteer and disparaged the Palestinian people, resurfaced. Many commentators have made the argument that Shapiro was ultimately not selected because of the wing of the Democratic Party that opposes Israel and its war against Hamas in Gaza. DEMOCRAT CALLS OUT LEFT’S ‘STRONG UNDERCURRENT OF ANTISEMITISM’ IN ATTACKS ON POTENTIAL VP PICK SHAPIRO “It’s amazing that despite America’s right, left, and center agreeing that Josh Shapiro was Harris’ best pick for VP, at the end of the day, Shapiro being Jewish disqualified him,” former GOP Congressman Lee Zeldin posted on X. “It says so much about the state of today’s Democratic Party.” “Let’s be honest,” GOP Sen. Tom Cotton posted on X. “Kamala is the most anti-Israel member of Biden’s team, always siding with Hamas and Iran’s interests. Shapiro and Walz’s views on Israel aren’t that different. But Harris catered to her pro-Hamas, antisemitic base who opposed Shapiro because he’s Jewish.” “Kamala Harris did not pick Josh Shapiro because antisemitic progressives did not like that he is Jewish,” NRSC spokesperson Mike Berg said in a statement. “It was Harris’ first major decision as the nominee and she caved to the pro-Hamas contingency within the Democratic Party.” BBC CHAIR DENIES PLEA FROM 200 JEWISH STAFFERS CALLING FOR FORMAL PROBE INTO ANTISEMITISM AT THE NEWSROOM Despite not being chosen by Harris to be her running mate, Shapiro gave a fiery speech ahead of Harris and Walz speaking at a Philadelphia rally to kick off their swing state tour Tuesday evening, taking shots at former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio. “I lean on my family and I lean on my faith which calls me to serve,” Shapiro said during the speech. “And I am proud of my faith!” “The only reason Josh Shapiro was not selected as VP is because he’s a Pro Israel Jew,” prominent Austin, Texas attorney Adam Loewy posted on X. “The Left would have melted down. There is simply no other reason you pass on the wildly popular Governor of the THE MOST IMPORTANT swing state.” “They just couldn’t stomach a proud Jew,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Adviser Richard Goldberg posted on X. “There was no amount of apologizing for being Jewish and supporting Israel that Shapiro could ever do to be acceptable. That’s today’s Democratic Party.” “The Left did it to Joe Lieberman,” Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer posted on X. “Now, they did it to Josh Shapiro. The D party is not home for strong supporters of Israel. It’s time for the Jewish community to recognize the power in the D party rests with its anti-Israel progressive base.” “If it’s not Josh Shapiro…they will have not picked Shapiro frankly out of antisemitism in their own caucus and in their own party,” Trump VP candidate JD Vance said on Tuesday morning before the pic was announced. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Top House Republican from Walz’s home state says ‘radical’ Harris VP pick is ‘best’ scenario for GOP
EXCLUSIVE: The No. 3 House Republican leader says Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz being chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate is the best-case scenario Republicans could have asked for. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the highest-ranking congressional Republican from Walz’s home state, spoke with Fox News Digital after Harris announced the Midwestern progressive would join her on the Democratic Party ticket in November. “This could not be a better contrast with Donald Trump, who literally has run a business empire, has been incredibly successful. These two don’t know the first thing about running anything,” Emmer said. “And Tim Walz — I mean, look, he’s, he’s tried to turn Minnesota into Kamala Harris’ California for the last six years. He is a radical progressive.” HARRIS LAPS TRUMP IN CASH DASH THANKS TO FUNDRAISING SURGE Harris met with Walz along with Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro over the weekend to help finalize her decision, just over two weeks after she took over the mantle when President Biden dropped out of the race. Emmer said Walz was “absolutely” the best option for Republicans to run against and said Shapiro was “clearly too fiscally conservative” a choice for Harris. “Tim Walz literally has mismanaged the state from day one. Not only did he pick winners and losers during his mishandling of the pandemic situation, but he allowed Minneapolis to burn to the ground, just not willing to deal with criminals,” Emmer said. Walz has already been accused of waiting too long to send in the National Guard when Black Lives Matter protesters set fire to public property and clashed with police during the summer of 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. HARRIS LEANS IN ON BORDER SECURITY AND TRUMP RELISHES THE FIGHT Republicans are also likely to attack him for his handling of COVID-19, Emmer suggested. During the pandemic, Walz was criticized by opponents of government COVID mandates for policies on masking indoors and for a hotline set up by the state government to report instances of rule violations. Emmer said Walz’s push for more electric vehicles in the state, including the Clean Cars Minnesota program, would also be another point for Republicans to target. “This guy has embraced the radical left approach towards energy, trying to destroy our efficient, abundant energy supply. He wants Minnesota to be like California sooner than later by eliminating gas-powered vehicles,” Emmer said. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign and governor’s office for comment. 2024 AD WARS: TRUMP, HARRIS RACE TO DEFINE VICE PRESIDENT Former President Trump seemed similarly fired up over Harris’ decision, writing on Truth Social in all capital letters, “THANK YOU!” shortly after the announcement was made official. Top Democrats, however, have praised her choice of the Midwestern governor. “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will lead America into a brighter future for everyone. Onward!” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote on X. Ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on MSNBC, “Tim Walz I know very well. He served in the House. To characterize him as left is so unreal. He’s right down the middle. He’s a heartland of America Democrat.”
Obama-linked operatives dominate Harris campaign
Political insiders and advisers in former President Obama’s orbit are increasingly joining Vice President Harris’ campaign as she prepares to face off against former President Trump in November. Harris has less than 100 days to inspire voters to rally behind her White House run after President Biden dropped out of the race in the wake of mounting concerns over his mental acuity and 81 years of age. The vice president officially clinched her party’s 2024 presidential nomination on Friday, earning more than a majority of votes from convention delegates, the DNC reported. After Biden’s departure from the race, Harris is in the midst of building out her campaign team, most notably adding a bevy of Obama orbit insiders and advisers to her election effort. Last week, Harris hired David Plouffe as a senior campaign adviser after he managed Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 and served as a senior aide to Obama’s successful 2012 re-election effort. Harris also hired Stephanie Cutter as her campaign’s senior adviser for strategy messaging, after Cutter’s work as deputy campaign manager for Obama’s 2012 election. BARACK, MICHELLE OBAMA ENDORSE KAMALA HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT AFTER DAYS OF SILENCE Harris also brought on Mitch Stewart as a senior adviser for battleground states after he worked for both of Obama’s campaigns as a grassroots strategist, the Washington Post reported. David Binder, who has long worked with Harris, is also expanding his role in the campaign to oversee its team of pollsters. Binder previously worked on Obama’s public opinion research team. OBAMA ALLIES, ADVISERS HELPED LEAD THE CHARGE AMONG DEMS LOOKING TO SINK BIDEN AHEAD OF OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT Harris also brought on veteran Democratic operative Jennifer Palmieri as senior adviser to Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff. Palmieri served as White House director of communications under the Obama administration and as director of communications for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 White House bid. Harris also previously tapped Obama’s former attorney general, Eric Holder, to lead the vetting process of her potential running mates, while Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, who worked as Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager and Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign chair, was announced as Harris’ campaign manager. OBAMA’S INNER CIRCLE SIGNALS 44TH PRESIDENT FIRMLY BEHIND HARRIS DESPITE NOT SAYING SO PUBLICLY The 44th president had remained coy for days last month before offering his endorsement of Harris’ presidential run. Since leaving the Oval Office, Obama has typically held his endorsement card close to his chest. He endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in June 2016, while his endorsement of Biden in 2020 was only made days ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama officially endorsed Harris last week in a video. “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic,” Michelle Obama said in the video while speaking to Harris. “We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” former President Obama added. HARRIS EDGES CLOSER TO TRUMP IN NEW POLL CONDUCTED AFTER BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL Harris, who also ran for president in the 2020 cycle before dropping out and running alongside Biden, had long had a friendship with Obama before entering federal politics. Harris was among the first elected Democrats in the nation to endorse Obama’s first run for president in the 2008 election, snubbing Hillary Clinton in favor of the then-Illinois senator. Harris was in attendance when Obama announced his candidacy for president in 2007, after first meeting him in 2004 when he was an Illinois state senator running for the U.S. Senate, the Washington Examiner previously reported. “Barack Obama will be a president who finally ends the era of fear that has been used to divide and demoralize our country,” Harris said during California’s Democratic convention in 2008. As Harris built her political career from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general and then senator, Harris was even dubbed “the female Obama” by some political analysts. EX-OBAMA ADVISER SAYS BIDEN CAN’T BEAT ‘FATHER TIME’ AND IS ‘NOT WINNING THIS RACE’ Harris became the Democrat nominee for president upon Biden’s withdrawal from the race after his disastrous June debate performance against Trump, which included the president losing his train of thought, stumbling over his words and appearing more subdued than during other public events in recent years. The debate performance opened the floodgates to traditional Democrat allies and legacy media outlets joining conservatives in their concerns over Biden’s mental acuity and age. After the White House and Biden campaign repeatedly denied the president would drop out of the race, Biden announced in a tweet on a Sunday afternoon last month that he was leaving the race and would carry out his final months in the White House. Ahead of Biden dropping out of the race, Obama allies notably helped lead the charge in calling for the president to get out of the race in favor of a candidate they believed was more suitable to take on Trump. OBAMA AGAIN STEPPING INTO ROLE AS JOE’S CLOSER AHEAD OF TRUMP V BIDEN REMATCH Obama’s former chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, said last month that Biden is “not winning this race.” Actor George Clooney called on Biden to drop out of the race in a bombshell op-ed that was published just weeks after the Hollywood star co-hosted Biden, alongside Obama, at a ritzy campaign event in Los Angeles. Clooney has long had a personal friendship with the Obamas, including vacationing with the first couple in previous years. Another ally in Obama’s orbit, Jon Favreau, who served as former director of speech writing for Obama, also called on Biden to drop out of the race last month, saying he attended the fundraiser in L.A. with Clooney and Obama and witnessed firsthand Biden’s state of mental acuity. Favreau, alongside former Obama advisers Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor – known collectively as the
‘Fight for our future’: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz hold first rally
Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s candidate for November’s United States presidential election, has held her first rally with running mate Tim Walz, describing their campaign as a “fight for our future”. The two took the stage in Pennsylvania to Beyonce’s Freedom just hours after Harris named Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her vice presidential pick. Democrats are hoping Walz’s down-to-earth background will win over voters in crucial swing states in the Midwestern region, including Wisconsin and Michigan. Introducing the Army National Guard veteran and school-teacher-turned-politician, Harris said Walz was “a leader who will help unite our nation and move us forward, a fighter for the middle class, a patriot who believes, as I do, in the extraordinary promise of America.” A former attorney general of California, 59-year-old Harris has sought to contrast her past as a prosecutor with Republican rival Donald Trump’s criminal record. She told the crowd of about 10,000 supporters: “This campaign – our campaign – is not just a fight against Donald Trump. Our campaign – this campaign – is a fight for the future.” Walz, 60, was combative as he went on the attack against 78-year-old Trump. “He mocks our laws, he sows chaos and division, and that’s to say nothing of his record as president,” Walz said of Trump who was president for four years until 2020. “He froze in the face of the COVID crisis, he drove our economy into the ground, and make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump,” Walz said. “That’s not even counting the crimes he committed,” he added to roars of laughter and boisterous applause. Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz acknowledge the crowd as they arrive in Philadelphia [Joe Lamberti/AP Photo] He targeted Republicans for pursuing restrictions on women’s reproductive rights, an issue that has plagued the party since the US Supreme Court in 2022 ended women’s constitutional right to abortion. “Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business!” Walz said, drawing a huge ovation. The first joint appearance by Harris and Walz offered a glimpse of how they might appeal to voters – one a trailblazing Black and South Asian former senator from California, the other a white ex-congressman from the blue-collar US heartland. The Pennsylvania event was the first stop on a multi-day campaign tour through key states crucial to election success: Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Trump and his running mate Senator JD Vance were quick to tag the new competition as too liberal. “This is the most Radical Left duo in American history,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. Analysts said the new Democratic ticket were on the same page on policy and had the experience to govern. “What you saw today was a ticket that represents both the coastal liberals and the Midwest working class folks who are the base of the Democratic Party and what you also heard was a very effective takedown of the Republican party ticket, which includes a convicted felon and a guy who is the reason why Tim Walz refers to the Republican ticket as ‘weird’,” Luis Navarro, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, told Al Jazeera. ‘Sense of joy’ While most voters will make their choice on November 5 based on the presidential candidate, the choice of a running mate can help or hurt the ticket as a result of their background, home state popularity and ability to sway important constituencies or independent voters. A relatively low-profile politician, Walz spent 12 years in the US House of Representatives representing a largely rural district in southern Minnesota. He ran for governor of the state for the first time in 2018 and was returned for a second term four years later. Despite the state not being a traditional Democratic stronghold, Walz won both races with ease. During his time in office, he has won approval for policies including tuition fee programmes for low-income students, free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for workers. Walz, who got the nod ahead of more prominent names including Pennsylvania’s popular Governor Josh Shapiro, on Tuesday spoke of his upbringing in the small town of Butte, Nebraska where he worked on the family farm and where community was a “way of life” with neighbours striving together “for the common good.” Supporters cheer Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as they speak at Tuesday’s campaign rally [Matt Rourke/AP Photo] He also lauded Harris’s work and career. “She took on the predators and the fraudsters, she took down transnational gangs, stood up against powerful corporate interests,” Walz said. “And she never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people’s lives… And she does it all with a sense of joy.” The vice president’s first joint appearance with her new running mate comes before the Democratic Party convention in Chicago, which starts on August 19. The noisy rally was a striking reminder of how different the race was before 81-year-old President Joe Biden bowed to mounting concerns over his age and withdrew from the race giving his endorsement to Harris. Polls show she has erased the lead Trump had built against Biden. The Harris campaign said it had raised more than $20m after Walz was announced as Harris’s running mate. Biden described the Harris and Walz ticket as “a powerful voice for working people and America’s great middle class”. Adblock test (Why?)