Episode Description Today’s solutions-news: Arielle dives into a surprising community-focused solution that solves many problems at once. Then, Karissa shares the uplifting news that over 800 veterans who were previously removed under the now-repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy have had their discharge statuses upgraded to honorable. The Optimist Daily is a project of The World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http://   Transcript:   Theme music Arielle:  Hello and welcome to The Optimist Daily’s weekly roundup. I’m Arielle.  Karissa:  And I’m Karissa, and we’re working hard to put solutions in view and optimism in movement.  Arielle:  Alright, we’re back after a little break with another episode of our podcast to share the solutions from The Optimist Daily this week. So, Karissa, how were the past two weeks for you?  Karissa:  Pretty chill for the most part, starting to trickle into some fall activities—finally went to the pumpkin patch and got some cooler weather here in the Central Valley of California. But yeah, it was nice to take a little break and heal from my long cough that was happening.  Arielle:  Yeah! You sound a lot better.  Karissa:  Yeah, I finally feel better, and I don’t have to cough on the podcast, even though we cut it out.  Both:  (Laugh)  Karissa:   How about you, Arielle? How’ve the past two weeks been?  Arielle:  Everything’s been going really well! The weather here has been amazing in Amsterdam, and actually just in our little part of the world because when I was in London last week, it was also gorgeous fall weather, so I’m definitely thankful for that. And, yeah, just been really enjoying our Changemaker Series that we have going on until Thanksgiving. Yeah, we didn’t get to mention which change makers were highlighted the weeks before. So I guess we’ll go ahead and tell you about them.  Last week, we highlighted the Coalition for Compassion and Justice, which is offering life-changing programs and housing solutions for homelessness. So, love that. And we also highlighted the Fish Reef Project, a nonprofit dedicated to building artificial reefs to provide essential habitats for fish, turtles, corals and other marine creatures.  Karissa:  Yeah, and this week we’re covering the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. Their mission is to protect and share Lahaina’s cultural heritage, which is especially important now after the devastating fires in August 2023 which dealt a severe blow to the historic town, with many cherished landmarks destroyed or damaged. The Lahaina Restoration Foundation spearheads efforts to rebuild these landmarks and help the community heal.  Arielle:  That was part of the Maui fires, right?   Karissa:  Yeah.  Arielle:  Lahaina’s located in that region.   Karissa:  Glad to see the community stepping in. Also in another community, the Montana Institute offers a refreshing and solutions focused approach to community health and safety that is rooted in their science of the positive framework. Definitely go read more about these changemakers and thank you again for submitting your stories to us and letting us share with the rest of the Optimist Daily community.  Arielle:  Yes, it’s really been amazing. And actually, speaking of solutions for a happy and healthy community, today I’m going to be talking about a unique solutions-focused strategy that tackles two big problems at once which are food insecurity and food waste. So do you mind if I actually just jump into my solution of the week?  Karissa:  Yeah, let’s talk about it!  Arielle:  Alright, so, the title of the article is “How Donating Expiring Food Boosts Supermarket Profits While Tackling Food Insecurity.” Yeah, we’re basically diving into how donating food that’s approaching its expiry date has become a win-win for both supermarkets and communities in need, and it’s pretty amazing to me how this simple act can benefit so many layers of society.  Karissa:  Wait, so how does it work? Are we talking about supermarkets just handing out food about to go bad —wouldn’t that hurt their business?  Arielle:  You’d think so, but in fact it’s quite the opposite. Big retailers like Kroger, Walmart, and Costco have been stepping up and donating food that’s approaching its expiration date to food banks. And here’s the unexpected benefit — this actually ends up boosting their profits, not hurting them. In 2022 alone,  supermarkets donated about 2 billion pounds of food, worth $3.5 billion.   Karissa:  Wow, that’s a lot of food! But how does giving it away help their profits?  Arielle:  Yeah, that’s a great question. So basically, it boils down to a couple of key financial benefits. First off, supermarkets can get tax breaks for these donations, which lowers their overall operational costs, but there’s more pros that are less obvious. So, when stores remove expiring items from shelves and donate them, they free up valuable space for fresher, more appealing products. So, this “preemptive removal” which is what researchers like John Lowrey from Northeastern University call it, actually leads to an increase in sales and improves the store’s image with fresher inventory on display.  Karissa:  Yeah. So, they’re basically swapping out the not-so-fresh food for stuff that’s in better shape. And that helps boost their image and profits, right?  Arielle:  Exactly. According to the researchers, when customers see fresher, higher-quality products, they’re more likely to shop there again and spend even more. Lowrey’s team even found that this practice increased average food prices by 1%, leading to a 33% increase in profit margins. And by the way, supermarkets typically operate on margins of less than 3%, so that 33% bump is huge.  Karissa:  So, it’s not just about generosity—it’s smart business. But what about discounting food? Wouldn’t selling expiring products at a lower price be a better way for stores to make money?  Arielle:  Actually, discounting isn’t always the best option. Discounted items still take up precious shelf space that could be used for fresh products, and on top of that, when customers see items that are obviously close to expiring—think bruised fruit or nearly expired milk—it can hurt the store’s overall image. Lowrey pointed out that consumers tend to judge the entire store’s quality based on the state of its products, so displaying aging food can actually make shoppers question the freshness of everything else on the shelves.  Karissa:  Oh yeah, totally. That makes sense. If I see old bananas next to fresh ones, I’d start wondering about everything else in the store.  Arielle:  Mmhm, yeah. But when stores donate expiring food instead, they kill two birds with one stone. They clear out space for fresh inventory and help their brand image while doing some good for the community. And of course, the donated food doesn’t go to waste. It goes to people who really need it. In America alone, there are actually millions of people suffering from food insecurity.  Karissa:  It sounds like such a seamless solution—reducing food waste, helping people, and boosting profits. Well, so kind of three benefits I guess, but I bet there still are some challenges with this, right, especially around the logistics of all of it.  Arielle:  Mmhm. That is one of the biggest challenges while donating food is great in theory, making it happen consistently can be tricky. There are transportation issues like getting that perishable food to food banks in time before it actually goes bad. And then there’s the fact that not all stores donate all types of food. For example, some may focus only on items like meat or baked goods, while other perishables might still end up getting wasted.  Karissa:  So even though this strategy is working, there still has to be room for improvement.   Arielle:  Yeah. The good news is that despite the logistical hurdles, this method is still one of the most effective ways to fight food insecurity and reduce waste. As more stores embrace consistent donation routines and partner more efficiently with food banks, we’ll see even more benefits. So, it’s all about building those partnerships and the more food they can donate, the more communities they’ll be able to help.  Karissa:  Yeah, it’s just so incredible how one solution can address multiple issues from food insecurity, food waste, brand image, and even store profits.  Arielle:  Totally! And it’s a great example of how businesses and communities can work together for mutual benefit. In a world facing hunger and waste, these kinds of solutions are exactly what we need—ones that acknowledge the interconnectedness of our food systems, environment, and economy.  Karissa:  Yes! I love, love, love these localized solutions. And also, I love the role of business in you know, providing for our communities and our world too, because, as we’ve mentioned before, our parent organization, the World Business Academy, really focuses on that role of businesses serving their communities.  Arielle:  Mmhm. Karissa:  Well, this is awesome, Arielle. Thank you so much for walking us through this really awesome concept. Such a win-win for supermarkets, food banks and communities. And I hope that more retailers will hop on board. Arielle:  Yeah. And I mean it is getting to the holiday season, so maybe now is a really good time for stores to start thinking about not just a seasonal approach to donating but making it a mainstay of their… I don’t know. Overall business plans. Yeah, cause apparently, it’s good for profits as well. So, here’s hoping more stores adopt this approach and just keep the cycle of good going.  Karissa:  Yeah! Well, I have a solution that doesn’t really have a graceful segue, but it’s definitely some good news that I was really happy to see this week. So, do you mind if I switch over to my solution?  Arielle:  Go for it.  Karissa:  All right, so my solution is titled Hundreds of veterans obtain honorable discharges following the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Review.  Karissa:  The United States Department of Defense announced that over 800 veterans who were previously removed under the now-repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy have had their discharge statuses upgraded to honorable. This historic action finally begins to address the harms caused by the discriminatory policy.  Arielle:  Wow.  Karissa:  This investigation comes more than a decade after the policy was revoked.   Arielle:  Oh, wow. This is such a watershed moment for LGBTQ+ veterans in the United States.  Karissa:  Absolutely. Like Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, brave LGBTQ+ Americans have long volunteered to serve the country they love. He emphasized the long-overdue efforts to rectify the injustices experienced by these service personnel. A recent study focused on 851 instances, with 96.8% qualifying for relief, resulting in honorable discharges for the great majority of veterans involved.  Arielle:  This is amazing news. Can you rewind a little bit and share more history on what the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was?  Karissa:  Yeah, so between 1994 and 2011, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy prevented openly gay and lesbian military personnel from serving, which resulted in the dismissal of over 13,000 people simply for their sexual orientation.  Arielle:  Hmm.  Karissa:  Yeah, and while the program was overturned in 2011, the consequences of those discharges persisted, with many veterans still receiving discharge classifications that denied them full military benefits. Defense Secretary Austin underscored the importance of correcting these errors, adding that 96% of those individuals now have an honorable discharge. This critical shift allows them to receive benefits that were previously denied. Although veterans discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell could apply for an upgrade to honorable discharge after the policy was repealed, many were unaware of this possibility.  Arielle:  What did the military do to make sure these individuals were no longer left behind?  Karissa:  The Pentagon’s year-long, proactive investigation helped in this situation. According to Christa A. Specht, a legal policy director at the Defense Department, about 2,000 veterans were separated with less than honorable characterizations, and this review sought to right those wrongs.  Karissa:  This study served as a stark reminder of the decades-long prejudice that LGBTQ+ military personnel have suffered. Between World War II and 2011, historians estimate that over 100,000 service members were forced to leave the military because of their actual or perceived sexuality.  Arielle:  100,000—that’s a huge number. These upgrades to honorable discharges are such an important step in addressing this troubling legacy.  Karissa:  Yeah, and for many veterans, this shift not only restores their dignity but also allows them to receive all the military benefits they were previously denied. Honorable discharges are required for benefits like healthcare, education support, and housing loans from the Department of Veterans Affairs. With this upgrade, LGBTQ+ veterans can now fully enjoy the benefits they earned while serving, which are certainly well deserved.  Arielle:  Yeah, most definitely well-deserved. And I’m guessing this move is receiving a lot of appreciation.  Karissa:  Absolutely. LGBTQ+ organizations have largely hailed the Pentagon’s move and view it as a significant step towards justice for veterans wrongly dismissed under the policy. While this assessment provides some closure for those affected, it also highlights the ongoing need for advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and recognition in the military. A little righting of the wrongs is definitely great to see.  Arielle:  Mm-hmm. Yeah, and it shows how far we’ve come. Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do as a society, but it’s good to see some progress.  Karissa:  I hope that you know, in any country where you serve, this can be similarly… um… I guess…   Arielle:  Implemented.  Karissa:  Implemented. Yeah.  Arielle:  Well, this is really great news. I’m feeling quite positive and optimistic, and yeah, going into a stressful week, this will be needed, all the good feels are needed (laughs).  Karissa:  Yeah, definitely.  Arielle:  That was a great roundup of solutions. We’ve got some other great solutions from this week that you can find on our website, optimistdaily.com, and they include…  Karissa:  Everything you need to know for voting in the 2024 election—next week is the election, so definitely check out this article. Make sure you’re registered to vote in the United States and get out there and vote—it’s so important.  Karissa:  We also have an article on a new cervical cancer treatment that brings risk and mortality down by 40%, From pollution to progress—the recovery of the Cuyahoga River—and How to determine your productivity style and maximize your workflow. What else do we have, Arielle?  Arielle:  We have an article titled It’s never too late—quitting smoking at any age can add years to your life, study finds,” Halloween isn’t the only spooky celebration—8 fascinating festivals from all across the world, This revolutionary ADHD headset and game identifies cases with 95% accuracy,” and of course, our local changemakers of the week: the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and the Montana Institute.  Karissa:  And if you want to start your day off right, make sure to subscribe to our free daily newsletter to get our solutions straight to your inbox.  Arielle:  We also have a lot more on our social channels. You can find us @OptimistDaily on all platforms, including Threads and Pinterest. The only different one is on X—on there, we’re known as @OdeToOptimism.  Karissa:  We are a small team of optimists working hard to bring you positive news. If you want to support our mission of putting optimism into the world, click on the link in the show notes to find out how.  Arielle:  And remember that support doesn’t always have to be financial. Just recommending our podcast to a friend, leaving a positive review on Apple or Spotify, forwarding a link, or sharing a solution on your socials—anything like that would be a big help for us.  Karissa:  We’ll be back next week with more solutions. I’m looking forward to it.  Arielle:  Yeah, me too. Until then, I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend and a good week ahead.   Karissa:  Bye, everyone!   The post Podcast Transcript October 25, 2024: How Donating Food Boosts Supermarket Profits and LGBTQ+ veterans get the honorable discharge they deserve first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

'It's how the game is'

Whether it's meant to create this pretext or not

Will probably take election workers several days

'That's what they're worried about'

It’s not that the presidential candidates haven’t mentioned taxes

One out of every 32 students enrolled in a public university in Nevada is an illegal alien. They have no legal basis for being in this country, but these unlawful students are enjoying their university’s classes, recreational facilities, parties, and sporting events—all of which are subsidized by hardworking Nevada taxpayers. The Nevada System of Higher Education is quite proud of having so many students who have no legal basis for being in the country. It issued a statement that “reaffirms our strong commitment in support of undocumented and DACAmented students” and declared “we are committed to efforts that support the success and well-being of all our students, regardless of their immigration status.” (The DACA in “DACAmented” stands for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that the Obama administration created to prevent the government from deporting illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. DACA has been ruled illegal by some courts and is still being contested in others.) That’s very bold of Nevada’s public universities to be indifferent to enforcement of immigration laws, especially when that indifference serves their interests by adding about 3,243 students to their total enrollment of about 105,000. But it is Nevada’s taxpayers who have to foot the bill. Nevada public universities offer illegal immigrant students in-state tuition and provide them financial aid on the same basis as students who are citizens. For example, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas charges students from out-of-state $28,046, much more than the $9,904 it charges in-state students and illegal immigrants. The $18,142 discount for in-state students largely comes from taxpayers. The extra charge for out-of-state students recognizes that people from out of state have not paid as much in taxes to Nevada. Of course, the same is true of illegal immigrants, especially if they are paid in cash to evade immigration laws and end up not paying state income taxes. So, Nevada public universities offer illegal immigrants a financial break that U.S. citizens from other states do not receive. That benefit extended to illegal aliens ends up costing Nevada taxpayers about $59 million per year. Offering in-state tuition to illegal aliens but not to U.S. citizens from other states also violates the 1996 immigration law, but the Biden-Harris administration has refused to enforce this provision, permitting states like Nevada to flaunt the law. In addition to the taxpayer-funded in-state tuition subsidy, Nevada public universities provided $683.2 million in financial aid in 2022-23. If that aid were distributed in proportion to the percentage of illegal immigrant students attending the schools, that would amount to another $21 million for them. But given that illegal immigrant students are significantly more likely to report fewer assets and lower incomes than other students, they will likely qualify for more aid. Therefore, it is reasonable to estimate that they receive not $21 million, but over $30 million per year in direct financial assistance to attend college, in addition to the $59 million in tuition subsidies. Between the in-state tuition and full access to financial aid offered to illegal immigrant students, Nevada taxpayers are spending about $100 million per year for these students. In doing so, they are often paying for illegal immigrant students to enjoy a much higher standard of living than the average taxpayer funding their college experiences. At UNLV, illegal immigrant students can swim at a natatorium with a “shallow water leisure pool with vortex,” a “13-person spa,” and a “gender-inclusive locker room.” The UNLV Student Recreation and Wellness Center also offers “outdoor adventures trips and equipment rentals,” “climbing elements,” “massage chairs,” and “a team of clinicians … who promote physical, emotional, spiritual, social, occupational, environmental, and intellectual well-being.” In addition to these taxpayer-subsidized luxuries, UNLV offers 576 student organizations. Illegal alien students can become active in the #BlackLivesMatter club to “get involved with their efforts for social justice,” the If/When/How–Lawyering for Reproductive Justice club to help people “actualize sexual and reproductive well-being on their own terms,” or the Students for Justice in Palestine club that’s “dedicated to advancing the cause for Palestinian justice and liberation.” According to the Nevada System of Higher Education, it is worth having taxpayers fork over almost $100 million each year so that illegal alien students can enjoy all of these wonders of higher education because, as they put it, “undocumented students are making positive economic, cultural, and scholarly impacts on our communities.” Even if illegal alien students do go on to make positive contributions, that does not consider what taxpayers might have been able to accomplish for themselves and their communities if they had been able to keep that $100 million. They could have started new businesses, hired more employees, paid for a better education for their own children, or donated to their local church. The injustice of having 1 out of every 32 students in Nevada public universities be an illegal alien and having their educational costs subsidized by taxpayers is that it treats the ambitions of those who have no legal reason to be in the country as more worthy than the hopes and dreams of Nevada citizens who have to pay for it. Nevada, like the rest of the U.S., should be a welcoming place to those who legally enter the country, but it should not subordinate the interests and needs of its own citizens for those who break the law to come here. The post Nevada Taxpayers Foot $100 Million Bill for Illegal Immigrant College Students appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If there is one data point above all that suggests Donald Trump and JD Vance are headed for a resounding victory on Nov. 5, it is this: By a nearly 40-point margin in the polling average, Americans are more inclined to believe the country is currently on the wrong track than the right track. There are other reasons to believe the 45th president is peaking at the best possible time and that dimwitted California commie Kamala Harris is cratering at the worst possible time, but the stubbornness of the right-track/wrong-track polling has surely led to many sleepless nights at Harris-Walz campaign headquarters. It defies common sense for Americans to reelect the vice president from the administration responsible for so much misery. At some level, Democrats surely know this. But if Trump’s campaign was already on the up and up, his brilliant, pitch-perfect stop to serve hamburgers and french fries last Sunday at a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s might have sealed the deal. The 45th president of the United States ditched his signature suit for a chef’s apron, manning the fryer and dishing out Happy Meals to drive-thru customers. Trump, a longtime McDonald’s aficionado, was affable and came across as genuinely thrilled to be interacting with the fast-food franchise’s employees and customers. The main photo of the visit that went viral, which saw Trump smiling as he waved goodbye to a drive-thru customer, has emerged as this presidential cycle’s second-most iconic image—following only Trump’s mesmerizing raised fist and bloodied face in the aftermath of his brush with death on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Once again, Trump has proven he is the people’s billionaire—someone who, as I wrote for TomKlingenstein.com earlier this year, “may hold ‘elite’ ruling class credentials, but whose hearts, minds, concerns, and general sensibilities are decidedly with the country class.” Trump, who has been an outlier among his fellow wealthy industrialists ever since his nationalist views on trade began to clash many decades ago with the free-trade absolutism of the neoliberal establishment, is the most formidable class traitor in American politics today. And at a time when Americans bewail the state of their republic and bemoan the decadence of their ruling elites, that class-traitor status increasingly looks like a ticket to victory. Once upon a time, Democrats were the working-class party in America. Those days are long over. At some point between the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presidencies, the Democratic Party decided to mount a full-scale war on the economic and cultural interests of the working class. Manufacturing and supply-chain resilience went out the window, as the “New Democrats” ditched the American heartland and outsourced countless jobs—and many entire industries—to our communist Chinese archfoe in the name of “efficiency.” Elites routinely belittled biblical morality as bigoted, disparaged respect for the rule of law as a vestige of “white supremacy,” denigrated advocacy for immigration restrictions as xenophobic, and lambasted support for locking up hardened criminals as racist. In came—or rather, descended down a gilded escalator—Trump to tell regular, salt-of-the-earth Americans that no, you actually are not that terrible. No, you are not a horrible person simply for being white (or having any other particular skin color). No, you are not an irredeemable troglodyte simply for thinking the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. No, you are not a relic of a bygone era for believing that cops do an important job, and that secure and stable national borders are necessary for a nation to, well, actually be a nation in the first place. No, you are not a crypto-fascist for flying the red, white and blue on your porch and for being proud of America’s historical legacy. Many have observed that Trump is like a “comment section come to life.” What they mean by this is that Trump says, and does, irreverent things that others would typically shy away from doing. There is some truth to this. But it would be more accurate to say that Trump is the silver spoon-fed scion who never much cared for his presumptive social and economic peers. Trump is “outer-borough” to his core—the boy from Queens who never thought very highly of the well-heeled Manhattanites who sipped their brandy and smoked their cigars across the East River. Trump was involved with Ross Perot’s populist Reform Party and outspoken in his opposition to NAFTA at a time when virtually everyone with a seven-figure net worth was an ardent free trader. Donald Trump, in short, has always been a class traitor. And following his large helping of french fries and Happy Meals in Pennsylvania, that class-traitor status may well win him a second term in the White House come Nov. 5. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Donald Trump, Class Traitor Par Excellence appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As Vice President Kamala Harris slips in the polls, the Democratic National Committee/Harris campaign/mainstream media fusion talking points become even more absurd. Claiming that JD Vance and Donald Trump were “weird” did not work—especially given the genuinely odd behavior of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and would-be first gentleman Doug Emhoff. Nor was the next Harris meme convincing: that the frenetic and nonstop Trump was somehow “exhausted,” “senile,” and “confused.” Voters know the workdays of the younger Harris are usually far shorter—or sometimes not workdays at all. But Harris also falsely claimed the physically and mentally challenged President Joe Biden was, in her words, “absolutely authoritative” and “very bold and vibrant.” Now Harris asserts that Trump is a “fascist,” a “dictator,” and “unfit” for office. But this new talking point will also not stop the Harris campaign’s hemorrhaging—and for a variety of reasons. First, voters see the election as a conflict of two absolutely antithetical visions. On the one hand is the prior, concrete Trump 2017-20 record: border security, no major wars abroad, calm in the Middle East, a deterred Russia, Iran, and China, low inflation, low interest rates, lower crime, lower taxes, strong deterrent military—and opposition to mandatory electric vehicle mandates, biological males competing in women’s sports, and the woke/DEI agenda. On the other hand is the Biden-Harris 2021-2024 record: the unchecked entry of 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens and a destroyed border. People still struggle under Biden-Harris’ earlier hyperinflation and high interest rates. The horrific regional wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue. Biden-Harris embraces the unpopular woke/DEI agenda. Harris herself knows that the Biden-Harris years were a failure. That is why she has shed almost all of the administration’s hard left-wing agendas—policies she has embraced for much of her adult life. So suddenly, in the last 90 or so days, Harris has completely flipped and flopped. Now she is for more funding of, not defunding, the police. She pivots for a secure border, not 20 million illegal aliens pouring across it. Harris brags about fossil fuel energy, not banning fracking; she’s for increasing, not cutting, defense. In fact, several endangered incumbent Democratic senators in swing states are claiming more allegiance to Trump’s issues than identifying with Harris and her unpopular record as vice president. Voters likely conclude that if Trump doubles down on his record, while even Harris and many senators temporarily piggyback on it, then it must be more effective and popular than Harris’ own. Second, Harris now claims Trump is a fascist and insurrectionist. But mouthing “Jan. 6” ad nauseam no longer persuades voters that Trump is a danger to anyone. They recall that Harris bragged of the far more violent demonstrations of 2020—five killed, $2 billion in damage, 1,500 law enforcement officers injured, 14,000 arrested—and said that the unrest would not and “should not” stop, while drumming up support to bail out jailed violent protesters. Nor does the slur that Trump is a fascist resonate. The Obama-Biden and Biden-Harris administrations weaponized the CIA and FBI to interfere in the 2016 and 2020 elections by peddling the fake “Steele dossier” and suppressing all the embarrassing news about Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop. Trump certainly didn’t coordinate, as Biden did, with local, state, and federal prosecutors to wage lawfare prosecutions to destroy his political opponents. He didn’t use the FBI to partner with social media to suppress the news. Neither Trump nor his supporters tried to remove Biden from state ballots. The House’s Republican majority didn’t impeach Biden twice despite the Biden family’s corruption and Joe Biden’s unlawful, decadeslong removal of classified papers to several insecure private residences. Trump and the Republicans never coercively removed the party’s primary-winning nominee. They didn’t nullify the will of 14 million primary voters. And in backroom fashion, they didn’t anoint a candidate who had never entered a single primary in her life. Nor did Trump support packing the Supreme Court. He doesn’t seek unconstitutional means of destroying the Electoral College. He isn’t demanding an end to the Senate filibuster or the creation of two new states to obtain four partisan Senate seats. Third, as for Trump being “unfit” and lacking “decorum?” It depends on what the Biden-Harris standards were. Having a trans activist reveal his breasts on camera at a White House “pride party?” Biden’s reportedly calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a f***ing idiot” and “son of a b**ch?” Bragging about locking Trump up, while waging lawfare against him? Unleashing son Hunter Biden with impunity to shake down foreign governments? The Nov. 5 election will not be decided on these empty talking points or fake, media-generated narratives. Instead, only two criteria matter: Which candidate’s past record and current agenda best appeal to voters? And which candidate seems the most authentic and genuine? (C) 2024 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY LLC We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Kamala’s Inane Talking Points appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Trump and Vance Had Their Phones Targeted by Chinese Hackers