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WAR IN UKRAINE: Three nights with the volunteer force supplying the frontlines

It’s nearly 9 pm when the Ukrainian commander who calls himself “The Greek” brings our group to a makeshift workshop in the east of Ukraine, where soldiers are tinkering with improvised explosive devices. 

The apparent head of the workshop, an engineer in his life before the war, welcomes us into a room that’s been repurposed from its original, civilian use – its exact description withheld for security purposes – but it looks distinctly like an arts and crafts center of death. 

Materials for mixing explosives and their components, grenades and fuses with English-language descriptions, are all neatly organized on book-shelves and in see-through plastic containers that one would find in a kitchen or classroom.

The engineer is keen to talk to Jonas Öhman, the founder of the Blue/Yellow nongovernmental organization that since 2014, has provided non-lethal support to Ukraine’s frontline troops —  part of a volunteer force that has mushroomed since Russia’s invasion in February to keep Ukrainian forces fed, clothed, supplied and sane. 

A reporter from The Hill traveled with Öhman, along with his colleague and driver, Gabrielius Merzinskis, over the course of three days – between August 19 and 21 – visiting with Ukrainian military commanders holding the frontline in the south and the east.

Jonas Öhman (Photo Laura Kelly)

DAY 1

6:30 PM – Heading out from Mykolaiv

The summer sun slowly sets over the vast expanse of grain and sunflower fields while we drive out of Mykolaiv to a small village on Ukraine’s southeast. There are few cars on the road as most of the villages are abandoned, given the intensity of fighting. 

Mykolaiv, a mid-size city known for its port and shipbuilding industry, is a priority target for Russians, who’s missiles are sent to destroy the city nearly every day. 

We pull into an abandoned petrol station – it’s unclear if the damage is from the war or neglect, or maybe it is neglected from the war – and meet our escort.

Anatoly is a battalion commander who goes by the call sign “Chute,” an homage to his time in the paratroopers. Originally from the east, he’s an eight-year veteran of Russia’s war in the Donbas. His brigade was deployed to the area a few weeks earlier and he met us driving a truck provided by Blue/Yellow. Öhman is relieved to see the vehicle still in commission, when so many things are being destroyed under Russian fire. 

We’re sitting in a cafe away from the frontline in the Kherson region, but the volley of artillery is audible. The line of contact is a few miles from our position. Anatoly explains that while the Russians are using their standard 122 and 152 mm artillery, the Ukrainians are answering with U.S.-provided M777 Howitzers and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

All the lights are off except for those behind the bar. There are a few other patrons sitting at tables, but almost no conversation. Our hour-long conversation is slow, to account for the translation, and what little light was streaming through the window quickly fades.

At one point someone’s ringtone blares, it’s completely incongruous with the atmosphere and is quickly shut off – the whole point is to be invisible to possible Russian attacks.

Anatoly has agreed to speak with me about his experience at the front line as officials in Kyiv are pounding the drumbeat for a counteroffensive to retake Kherson – a strategic port city on the Dnipro river that fell in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion.

Antaloly looks exhausted. He orders a tea. He has taken command of a battalion that includes a large number of recent military recruits, and their lack of experience is both worrisome and frustrating. Everyday, more soldiers are being wounded or killed. 

The Ukrainians are making small advances, but the Russians forward artillery, while not accurate, is overwhelming in its stockpiles. 

America and the west are providing “huge quantities” of weapons to Ukraine, but he appeals for “high-level, hi-tech support.”

“What we are getting we’re very grateful for, it’s fantastic, obviously, but it helps to a certain level and we need to get beyond that level,” he says. 

Öhman’s group has provided Anatoly’s battalion a Matrice 300 drone – a highly sophisticated reconnaissance drone that Anatoly says they launch behind enemy lines. The UAV has a ticket price of over $10,000 and any loss is a defensive and financial hit. To combat Russian efforts to electronically disrupt its flight, the Ukrainians have rigged a low-tech solution, attaching fishing wire to the machine, to reel it back in case of a problem. 

Anatoly reels off a long list of additional materials needed to fight the war, and wants all of it to arrive faster. 

“People are very motivated, if they get something, some new kind of weaponry, they basically go to YouTube, they teach themselves, and, I may say, in two, three days, most people can learn how to use them.” 

It’s late when we finish. Öhman and Merzinskis leave Anatoly with a box of 10 helmets before we part ways. We have a long and dangerous drive ahead of us to reach Dnipro. 

Gabrielius Merzinskis (Courtesy photo)

9:00 PM – The night drive 

Merzinskis is driving us in a German-made, covered pick-up truck, in which every available space is filled with donations to drop off at their warehouse in Dnipro.

If you ask Google Maps how to get to Dnipro, it will take you straight through Russian-controlled Kherson and the drive time is around seven hours.

Merzinskis does not drive through Kherson, but manages to accomplish the drive in five hours. It is a grueling ride on deeply pock-marked backroads that requires intensive swerving to avoid the larger holes, and slowing down to ride over the more shallow ones. 

Still, I managed to fall asleep, propped up by the donations piled around me. Öhman and Merzinskis wake me at around 2 am. We’ve arrived at our hotel in Dnipro. 

DAY 2  

12:00 pm – Dnipro into Donetsk

Merzinskis has already unloaded the truck at Blue/Yellow’s warehouse – I’m relieved to have a little more space for what will end up being nine hours of travel later that night.

Öhman gives me a tour of the warehouse. Stockpiles range from energy drinks to tactical optics, backpacks organized as all-in-one medical kits and mobile fuel tanks. 

He points out some souvenirs he’s received from grateful Ukrainian soldiers – Russian license plates, Soviet-era anti-tank missile launchers, and World War II-era helmets he said the Russians are outfitting soldiers with to fight on the frontlines. 

Those soldiers are likely Ukrainian teenagers from the Russian-occupied territories, rounded up en masse, forced conscripted and sent to the frontline without military training as gunfire fodder.

4:00 pm – Heading out of Dnipro

We head out from Dnipro to start our night. The roads were better and military infrastructure more visible, in what has become a way-station for the frontline. We pass one rest area where a number of trucks are parked and soldiers are sitting and drinking from disposable coffee cups. 

My lunch that day consisted of a protein bar and some trail mix. Our dinner will come from a gas station on the way. Öhman keeps highly concentrated mineral water stocked in the warehouse. It tastes salty, but is supposed to be good for hydration. 

They’ll make at least three stops tonight – two for delivery handoffs and one visit to the IED workshop. 

Öhman has received rare permission from the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) to travel after sunset, when the rest of the country is under a government-imposed curfew – meant to keep civilians inside, streetlamps off and the roads empty, limiting the targets the Russian’s can identify for missile strikes. We have a security detail guiding us through the roads. 

“It’s a good time to move around, but it’s also the time we have,” Öhman said.

“If you work during the day, you are open to the threat of civilians documenting you and spreading information. Darkness is a natural cover,” he said.

7:30 pm

The first hand-off occurs on the side of the road in a small village in the east. In the middle of a traffic circle sits a fake headstone for Putin, showing his date of death as Feb. 24, 2022 the day of invasion. Putin’s image is defaced with a mustache to resemble Hitler. A dirty mattress, toilet and broken washing machine are laid next to it.

Laura Kelly/The Hill

Öhman is meeting “The Greek,” who he describes as a long-time contact, and Dmytro “Da Vinci” Kotsyubaylo, a veteran fighter from Ukraine’s volunteer militias – called “dobrebat” – who was recognized in January by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the “Hero of Ukraine” award, one of the highest distinctions provided by the state. 

Da Vinci is a fighter from what’s been described as the ultra-nationalist Right Sector, one of the militias that make up Ukraine’s volunteer battalions. These dobrebat – some that originated with far-right ideologies – have assimilated into the military structure and officials in Kyiv credit them as indispensable to the state’s defense. 

Öhman hands over a few boxes of materials to The Greek and Da Vinci, including body armor, drones, batteries and some camping stoves and gas. 

Öhman shows Da Vinci Blue/Yellow’s EOTech Red Dot Sight – an optical rifle attachment that can provide night vision and thermal imaging optics on the battlefield.

The Greek expresses gratitude for U.S. military assistance, but wants a steadier flow of weapons, and more Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems – reconnaissance and surveillance drones – which have been delivered as part of the $13 billion in U.S. military assistance provided to Ukraine. 

It’s from here that The Greek wants to introduce us to the engineer at the makeshift IED workshop. We’re on a tight schedule but Öhman agrees. 

When our group arrived at the workshop, about a dozen Ukrainian soldiers – many looking like they came directly from the frontline – shuffled out of the room after sitting through a “lesson” provided by the engineer on different ways to build, hide and deliver explosives. 

“Any object can kill,” the engineer tells our group, while pointing out the different options available for making explosives. There are palm-sized bombs to be dropped from drones, with small pellets wrapped around it with masking tape. A 3-D printer is pumping out light-weight propellers to make it aerodynamic.

What appears to be a recovered 152mm Russian artillery shell lies on its side against the wall, to be recycled by the engineer and turned back on the enemy. 

The engineer is looking to source electronic parts from Öhman that can be used for the explosives. Öhman is noncommittal. He uses these frontline meetings to establish rapport and personally vet the people and requests on his donations list.

“This has taken a turn, they have boosted production,” Öhman says as we walk out of the building. “This is a major development in terms of IED capacity.”

10:00 PM

We’re back on the road, driving to deliver to Ukrainian medics five medical stretchers at about $100 a pop. The stretchers are lightweight and compact and can be stored in any frontline military vehicle to allow for quick evacuation of injured soldiers, Öhman says. 

Distant explosions periodically light up the pitch-black night during the two-hour drive, but the frontline appears far enough away to feel some sense of safety. 

We drive through totally blacked out villages and along the more secluded roads that are obstructed with concrete road blocks and tank-busters – steel beams criss-crossed to obstruct the roadway. Merzinskis veers through this maze at high speed – both to account for the long drive and avoid potential Russian strikes. 

We pass over a bridge where all the street lights are off and pull into what appears to be a small city, but feels like a ghost-town, with buildings dark and lifeless. 

We arrive at our rendezvous point near the Ukrainian-controlled village of Kramatorsk. 

The remains of the destroyed School Number 23 are seen at dusk after a Russian attack that occurred in the second half of July, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

In the quiet moments while we wait, I look up to the sky and take a moment to appreciate the blanket of stars – only visible because life on the ground is plunged into darkness.

The medics arrive in their ambulance. Maxim, a first responder, introduces himself in broken English. He’s been in the war for nearly five months and explains that his ambulance — himself, a nurse and a driver — is one of five evacuation teams working on the frontline. 

Inside the ambulance, some children’s drawings offer a pop of life and color to the sanitized medical equipment. But Maxim also shows me photos on his cellphone of the ambulance covered in blood – pooled and spattered on the floor and walls. 

“We have many who need this,” he says, referring to the stretchers. “Many different situations can be in this war.” His team wants to put a portable stretcher in each Armored Personnel Carrier so that, if attacked by the Russians, it can help with evacuating the wounded. 

This was Öhman’s first time meeting the medics, and he said it was important to do it face-to-face.

“How we’re working, it’s a lot of personal relationships, and making personal connections,” he said. 

DAY 3 

3:00 pm – Kharkiv to Kyiv

We arrived in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, Sunday afternoon.

The morning had been surreal. After arriving at a different hotel in Dnipro around 1 a.m., I got a decent night’s sleep and in the morning, took stock of the German-Bavarian riverside vacation retreat where we had landed. Breakfast was served in the sunshine along the water in individual gazebos. It was like we were enjoying an all inclusive trip — and then we were back on the road.  

The drive to Kharkiv was about three hours, and we’d spend only three hours in the city, which has fiercely resisted a Russian takeover, with the border roughly 30 miles away.

It feels cosmopolitan and somewhat lively despite the signs of Russia’s attacks. We pass a shopping mall with the glass windows blown out and shops boarded up after a rocket strike.

Öhman directs us to an empty parking lot to hand over helmets to a Ukrainian brigade commander, who declines to be interviewed, but lets out a “Super!” when he sees the quality of helmets.

He invites us for lunch at a building serving as their headquarters. Baked catfish, cured meats, and traditional Ukrainian coleslaw salad are on the table. We’re served homemade Borscht, lard on toast with pickles, and rice and meat. 

The conversation takes place largely in Russian and Ukrainian and I’m offered little translation, except for one anecdote from the commander. He describes speaking with an older woman in a recently liberated Ukrainian village in the south, who said Russian soldiers were incredulous at Ukrainians basic amenities, like a fence for their yard. 

“‘Who gave you permission to live like this?’” the soldier asked the woman, per the commander’s telling, and he shakes his head.

The next stop was a repurposed office building that is the headquarters of the Freikops, a “dobrebat” but that coordinates closely with Ukrainian forces. 

The building could house a tech startup, with graffiti art on the walls, an open floor plan and snooker and a pingpong table in the center of the room. 

A few of the soldiers are on leave from the front for a week of rest and training. They sleep on stacked mattresses in the basement, with some curtains strewn up for privacy. Next to the sleeping quarters is the weapons arsenal – rifles with their call signs stacked in the corner. 

Laura Kelly/The Hill

Makar, the 26-year-old commander of the unit, shows off a stockpile of seized Russian weapons, including a Kalishnokov machine gun. Some of these weapons are being repurposed for use by the Ukrainians, but are largely trophies from the battlefield. 

The visit was supposed to give me a chance to get a sense of the frontlines through those leading the fight, but Makar can say little about what the unit is doing operationally. He mentions that the morale of the soldiers is high, but they are also speaking with military psychologists to deal with post-traumatic stress from the battles. 

6:00 pm

We begin the seven-hour drive to Kyiv, where I’ll leave Blue/Yellow. Around 10 pm, and about an hour outside of Kyiv, we drive over a brightly lit bridge. All the street lamps are on. It’s a jarring contrast to the darkness of the past few nights. 

Source: TEST FEED1

The witnesses missing from tax hearings: average taxpayers

As Congress raced to pass long-stalled health, climate and tax legislation this summer, Democrats advanced the country’s latest update to U.S. tax laws, giving the IRS $15 million to design a free “e-file” tax return system.

However, over the course of several months working on the legislation, on no occasions were working Americans asked in hearings before the main tax writing and tax collection oversight committees in Congress to describe or comment on the personal administrative work of filing their yearly taxes.

That process usually consists of filling out different kinds of forms, using a piece of software or interacting with agents in the tax preparation industry. Instead of hearing from working taxpayers who file their own forms, the congressional panels heard from certified public accountants (CPAs), a business executive, a watchdog agency member and a “taxpayer experience” officer, among other specialists.

In one hearing in February, titled “Spotlighting IRS Customer Service Challenges,” the witnesses were an IRS officer, a director of strategic issues at the Government Accountability Office and the chair of the tax executive committee at the American Institute of CPAs — though no direct IRS customers.

While members of the tax-related committees maintain they regularly hear from average taxpayers at constituent events back home, the hearings in the first half of 2022 were the latest example of working taxpayers almost never being asked to testify before the panels, which instead opt to hear from tax experts, business owners, advocates, lawyers and other types of analysts with a professional relation to the hugely complicated U.S. tax system.

An analysis by The Hill of 49 tax-focused public hearings of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee held since the last major overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 2017 shows that on only two occasions — both relating to unusual tax relief measures following the coronavirus pandemic — were working Americans invited to hearings to share their experiences of U.S. tax policies directly with the lawmakers who write them.

Meanwhile, 207 experts in various official and professional roles within the U.S. tax system testified as witnesses in the 49 hearings analyzed by The Hill since the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law. Control of both the House and Senate changed hands between Democrats and Republicans during that period.

Broken down by category, those experts comprised 57 public officials, 57 business executives or trade association representatives, 48 policy advocates, 18 legal experts, 12 academic policy experts and 15 specialists in other categories like union organizers and volunteer organization representatives.

Some of those hearings were specifically to get updates from officials on various government processes, such as when the IRS commissioner gives a progress report on the current tax filing season or when the Joint Committee on Taxation reports nonpartisan analysis of proposed legislation. Exempting hearings reserved for officials, the number of experts was 173.

The near-total emphasis on hearing from policy and legal experts, advocates and other specialists is not unique to the tax-related panels, and lawmakers often turn to those types of witnesses to help parse and explain the complicated U.S. tax code.

In 2012, the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate Service wrote in a report that “the tax code is so complex that the IRS has difficulty administering it,” adding it “requires the significant majority of taxpayers to bear monetary costs to comply, as most taxpayers hire preparers and many other taxpayers purchase tax preparation software.”

Still, longtime observers note that in the past tax committees more regularly consulted people who didn’t specialize in taxes for their personal views and experiences in how they paid their annual taxes to the government.

“It used to be that they would do that,” said former tax reporter Howard Gleckman, now a policy analyst with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. “But congressional hearings really serve two purposes. One of them is to actually elicit information for the record from experts, and the other is the dog-and-pony show. It’s to have a witness that’s going to express the view that the party agrees with, so they can say, ‘A normal person came and said the current state of law is terrible and we need to fix it and here’s why.’ ”

Gleckman added that “these witnesses are generally very highly scripted, and there will be a lot of interaction between a committee staff and the witnesses about exactly what it is the witness is going to say, and it’s easier to do that with professional witnesses like lobbyists than it is to do it with real people.”

Some committees have practiced trying to find real working people to testify on policy issues before their panels. In a March 17 hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging concerning banking and credit issues, Shelley Jaspering, a grocery store clerk with a disability, was invited to explain her financial situation to senators and how it related to various government policies.

“I’m 44 years old and work part time as a pricing assistant at Wheatsfield Cooperative. I also love to sew and occasionally sell things at our local farmers market,” Jaspering testified. “I was hired full time at Wheatsfield, which also luckily gave me full-time benefits including an IRA and short-term disability insurance.”

“The requirements of Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance, vocational rehabilitation and state programs are overwhelming. We need understandable information about how to manage our benefits and earnings. We need to locate trusted people that we can count on to walk us through the financial stages in life,” she told the committee.

Congressional aides on the Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees told The Hill that most of their members’ interactions with working Americans happen outside the committee chamber.

“Hearings aren’t the only means by which we develop legislation, though they are important,” one House aide told The Hill in an email. “Members have constituent meetings all the time where they meet with regular folks, and district work necessitates meeting with local business owners.”

“If you think about the amount of time any member of Congress spends in their district and talking to constituents about their taxes, you may actually reasonably conclude that we engage with regular people far more frequently on tax policy than we do with the Beltway policy set, and that the purpose of the hearings is to take the formal insight of formal experts,” the aide added.

An aide on the Senate Finance Committee, currently chaired by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), told The Hill in an email that the committee’s work on tax policy is entirely geared toward the interests of working families and that this is reflected in various hearings.

“The Finance Committee under Chair Wyden’s leadership centers working families in all its efforts on tax policy. For example, hearings on incentives for clean energy manufacturing, the retirement crisis, the struggles of small businesses to comply with state tax laws, and the lack of affordable housing — just to name a few — all revolved around creating jobs and financial security for American families,” the aide said.

Since tax policy affects 144 million U.S. taxpayers — covering a wide range of circumstances and income levels — trying to synthesize them into one or two representative witnesses offers a challenge many may view as impossible.

Still, aggregating the voices of regular taxpayers before congressional committees is one of the jobs of the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), an office within the IRS that describes itself as “your voice at the IRS.” The NTA says that it can recommend ” ‘big picture’ or systemic changes at the IRS or in the tax laws.”

But the NTA has only testified before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees four times in the years since the 2017 tax bill was passed, and only eight times before any congressional committee. The NTA did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Several hearings during that period have lacked mainstream voices, including an April 2021 hearing titled “Creating Opportunity Through a Fairer Tax System.” The hearing had six witnesses — two Beltway policy advocates who talk about taxes for a living, a scholar of accounting, a law professor and two business owners — but no one who works simply as an employee of a business unrelated to the tax field.

Another hearing of the Senate Finance Committee held in May 2019 on ways to pay for retirement plans had three witnesses from the lobbying and financial sectors and one state government official, though no current or prospective retirees.

Another in September 2017 titled “Individual Tax Reform” had two policy advocates from the same Washington think tank, a vice president of a trade group for real estate agents and a law professor, though no one was invited to speak on behalf of individual taxpayers.

Source: TEST FEED1

Why movie tickets will only be $3 on Saturday

Thousands of movie theaters will be offering tickets for just $3 on Saturday as the cinema industry attempts to draw in customers over a long weekend that typically doesn’t see a lot of movie-goers.  

The Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit connected to the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), is launching the inaugural National Cinema Day. Over 3,000 movie theaters are participating by offering $3 tickets to customers of all ages. That’s a steep discount, as nationally the average U.S. movie ticket was $9.16 in 2019. 

Major theatre chains including AMC and Regal Cinemas are planning to offer $3 movie tickets for all major film studios, in every format like IMAX and 4D. Movie goers can see films like “The Invitation,” “Bullet Train,” “Beast” and “Top Gun Maverick,” some of the top performing movies for the last week of August. 

In addition to offering $3 movie tickets, Cinemark Theatres is going further by offering $3 beverages, candy and popcorn. 

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. 

“After this summer’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” said Jackie Brenneman, president of Cinema Foundation, in a press release.  

“We’re doing it by offering a ‘thank you’ to the moviegoers that made this summer happen, and by offering an extra enticement for those who haven’t made it back yet.” 

The coronavirus pandemic devastated the movie industry, with NATO even starting an awareness campaign dubbed #SaveYourCinema that resulted in moviegoers across the U.S. sending over 200,000 letters to Congress asking for more federal relief.  

That’s in addition to the rise of streaming services, where Americans can watch movies and TV shows of their choice from the comfort of their couch.  

It’s a reality the movie industry is attempting to grapple with, as the Motion Picture Association (MPA) admitted in its annual report that the U.S./Canada box office market was $4.5 billion in 2021, a 105 percent increase from 2020, but still significantly lower than 2019.  

In 2021, just under half, 47 percent, of the U.S., Canada population physically went to a movie theater at least once—which is about 168 million people.  

At the same time, MPA found 80 percent of U.S. adults watched movies and shows through traditional TV services and online subscriptions. 

Some media companies are trying to reach viewers in both places, like when Warner Bros. announced it would release the film “Dune” on its streaming service HBO Max at the same time it would also be airing in theatres.  

“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve blasted the decision, writing in an op-ed for Variety, “streaming services are a positive and powerful addition to the movie and TV ecosystems. But I want the audience to understand that streaming alone can’t sustain the film industry as we knew it before COVID.” 

Villeneuve went on to explain that his film was created with the intention of a “big screen experience,” with images and sound meticulously designed to be seen in a movie theater. 

National Cinema Day could help jumpstart the movie industry, enticing moviegoers to visit a theater instead of opting to watch through a paid subscription service.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Republicans blast Biden as ‘divider-in-chief’ after primetime speech

Republicans are blasting President Biden’s prime-time address Thursday evening, which portrayed former President Trump and his supporters as a threat to democracy, casting the speech as condescending and at odds with uniting the country.

“Divider-in-Chief at his finest tonight,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) wrote on Twitter.

“President Biden took to the airwaves tonight to divide this country,” he wrote in a separate tweet. “This ‘state of the American democracy’ speech was just another opportunity to disparage his fellow Americans. Disgraceful.”

The White House had marketed Biden’s speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia as one about “the soul of the nation,” a phrase then-candidate Biden often used during his 2020 presidential campaign. 

On Thursday, Biden used the speech to frame the upcoming midterm elections as a choice about whether the country will slip toward authoritarianism, repeatedly referring to Trump by name and tying his Make America Great Again movement to corrosive, anti-democratic ideas, like unfounded claims of election fraud.

White House officials pushed back strongly against notions that the speech was political, arguing that defending democracy is not a partisan issue.

Biden rounded out the address by touting recent policy wins on issues like police funding and the pandemic, but Republicans quickly rebutted the speech by emphasizing high inflation and crime rates, which have stymied Biden’s approval ratings.

“With all due respect Mr. President, there’s nothing wrong with America’s soul,” tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “The American people are hurting because of your policies. Rampant inflation. Out of control crime. Terrorism on the rise. Broken borders. Stop lecturing & change your policies before it’s too late.”

Graham’s sentiment was echoed by many other Republicans.

“What would help the ‘soul of the nation’ much more than a condescending lecture from President Biden is getting inflation under control instead of actively spending more money to make it worse,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) wrote on Twitter.

Others in the GOP condemned Biden’s increasingly stark criticisms of “MAGA Republicans,” accusing him of factionalizing the country. 

Many of those Republicans who lambasted Biden are speculated to be gearing up for presidential campaigns of their own in 2024, potentially setting up a head-to-head matchup with Biden down the road.

“That was a campaign speech under the guise of a presidential address,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) tweeted.

“Instead of focusing on issues impacting Americans, Biden demonized half the country to distract from his failures,” he continued. “We need leaders who work to make this nation stronger & safer, instead of tearing us apart.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Halley called Biden the most condescending president of her lifetime.

“He’s done nothing to unite the nation,” she tweeted. “Nothing to bring healing. Nothing to alleviate the pain millions of Americans feel everyday. He’s been a divider in chief and come November he must hear from all of us.”

“After much soul searching, President Biden has decided the greatest threat to American values are his political opponents,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote on Twitter.

Multiple Republicans on Twitter shared an image of Biden during the speech with his fists raised in the air in front of Independence Hall, which was lit up red. 

“He came across as a sad, angry, kind of bitter old man here,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told guest host Raymond Arroyo on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle,” before comparing Biden’s appearance to Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise.

Jordan proceeded to lay out a laundry list of what he views as Biden’s policy failures, like annual inflation rates that recently hit roughly 40-year highs, gas prices that in June exceeded $5 per gallon on average and issues at the border.

“I think the nation would like those addressed versus being called extremists and fascists, and have the government now target your freedoms and liberties like we have seen from the Biden administration Justice Department,” Jordan said on Fox News.

Biden had called the “extreme MAGA philosophy” aligned with former President Trump as “like semi-fascism” during a speech last week. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called on Biden to apologize for the remark just prior to his primetime address.

Source: TEST FEED1

White House officials reject criticism Biden speech was 'political'

White House officials on Thursday pushed back against criticism that President Biden’s prime-time speech, in which he warned that former President Trump and his ideology pose a threat to democracy, was overly political in nature, arguing that Biden was simply recognizing the urgency of the issue.

Biden delivered a speech from Independence Hall in Philadelphia in which he said Trump and other so-called “MAGA Republicans” have embraced ideas corrosive to democracy, like denying election results,  spreading conspiracy theories and attacking law enforcement.

But Republicans and some in the media seized on Biden’s criticisms of Trump and his supporters, as well as the Marines stationed behind the president as he spoke, to suggest Biden had given an overtly political speech despite press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisting earlier in the day the remarks would not be.

“Whatever you think of this speech, the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it,” CNN anchor Brianna Keilar, whose husband is in the military, tweeted.

“Like or loathe what he said tonight, it should be noted: The president spoke tonight on the grounds of a national park, flanked by US Marines, and took direct, specific aim at his predecessor and members of the Republican Party,” CBS correspondent Ed O’Keefe tweeted. “Another thing we don’t see everyday.”

Bret Baier, a Fox News anchor, said on air after the speech that it was reminiscent of a convention speech.

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) tweeted that Biden’s speech “was just another opportunity to disparage his fellow Americans. Disgraceful.”

White House officials pushed back strongly against those who suggested the president’s speech was political, arguing the issue of defending democracy is not a partisan issue and that Biden was simply reciting facts about Trump and his supporters.

Andrew Bates, a deputy press secretary at the White House, responded to individual journalists who suggested the speech had political undertones with links from their own news outlets describing threats to U.S. democracy.

“Democracy is not a partisan or political issue,” tweeted deputy press secretary Chris Meagher, responding directly to Keilar’s tweet.

“Many great journalists have reported as fact that the former President & his most loyal supporters in Congress are a threat to democracy. They tried to overthrow an election, including by force,” tweeted Jesse Lee, a communications adviser to the National Economic Council. “The President bluntly described the same facts. It’s not ‘political,’ it’s his duty.”

Biden used his speech to warn that Trump and so-called “MAGA Republicans” who back his views pose a grave threat to the country’s democratic values, echoing a message that he delivered throughout the 2020 campaign.

“As I stand here tonight equality and democracy are under assault,” Biden said. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Ahead of Labor Day, where US airlines rank on reliability this year

Passenger complaints have soared as airlines canceled and delayed flights this year, but reliability has varied between airlines.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) released its latest air travel consumer report late last month, noting that roughly 24 percent of commercial flights between destinations in the United States did not arrive on time in the first half of the year. 

The figure is a 52 percent jump from the same period last year, although carriers operated fewer flights in 2021 as more Americans avoided flying out of concerns of catching COVID-19.

Travel demand has now resurged to levels not seen since before the pandemic, but the airline industry has struggled to meet the influx of passengers, facing issues like staffing shortages, severe weather and high fuel costs. Some airlines have also placed blame on labor shortages at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Here’s how airlines’ on-time arrival percentages ranked during the first six months of 2022:

1. Hawaiian Airlines: 82.14 percent

Hawaiian Airlines beat out other airlines for the top spot, with more than 8 in 10 of its scheduled U.S. flights arriving on time.

The airline is smaller than the other nine included in DOT’s analysis, and Hawaiian also outranked the other carriers last year.

About 91 percent of Hawaiian’s U.S. flights during the first six months of 2021 arrived on time.

“We are proud of our frontline teams and everyone supporting our operations for getting our guests to their destination on time and with aloha, while maintaining our industry-leading punctuality record,” said Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson Alex Da Silva.

2. Delta Air Lines: 80.75 percent

Delta Air Lines and flights operated by regional carriers marketed under the Delta brand were ranked No. 2 in DOT’s report.

Flights operated by Delta itself slightly outpaced the on-time arrival percentage of its regional carriers. Just over 80 percent of U.S. Delta-operated flights arrived on time, about a percentage point higher than its codeshare partners.

Delta has touted its leading record in its promotional appeal to customers, saying on Wednesday it was prepared to carry up to 2.9 million passengers over the upcoming busy Labor Day travel weekend.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming our customers on board for Labor Day weekend,” Allison Ausband, Delta’s chief customer experience officer, said in a statement. “We’ve taken steps this summer to ensure our people have the tools and support they need to deliver on our high standards for reliability, while offering Delta’s signature customer service with warmth and care.”

3. Alaska Airlines: 78.91 percent

Alaska Airlines and its codeshare partners clocked in at No. 3 on the list, with just under 8 in 10 U.S. flights arriving on time during the first half of the year.

Flights branded as Alaska Airlines but operated by its regional partners, Horizon Air and SkyWest Airlines, arrived on time about 81 percent of the time, slightly more often than those operated by Alaska itself.

An Alaska Airlines spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

4. United Airlines: 76.92 percent

United Airlines’ on-time arrival percentage registered about two percentage points below Alaska, with 76.92 percent of U.S. United Airlines-marketed flights arriving on time in the first half of 2022.

The figure marks a dip from the same period in 2021, when 83.47 of the airlines’ marketed flights arrived on time. United similarly ranked No. 4 during that period when compared to the other carriers.

United achieved its highest second-quarter revenue in the company’s history this year, which was also the airline’s first profitable quarter since the start of the pandemic.

A United Airlines spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

5. American Airlines: 76.75 percent

American Airlines, which marketed more flights than any other carrier in the first half of the year, clocked in near the middle of the pack, barely behind United Airlines.

Like United, a slight majority of flights marketed by American Airlines were operated by the carriers’ regional partners.

Those regional carriers’ flights arrived on time 78.01 percent of the time, compared to 75.33 percent of those operated by American Airlines.

Pilot unions at three regional carriers wholly owned by American Airlines — Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines — recently announced contract agreements that include significant pay increases as part of their efforts to attract and retain pilots.

6. Southwest Airlines: 73.87 percent

Just under 74 percent of Southwest Airlines flights arrived on time in the first half of the year, earning the carrier sixth place out of the 10 airlines assessed by DOT.

As the industry faces scheduling snafus in part due to labor shortages, the airline said in a statement that it has grown its full-time equivalent employee base to more than 62,000, which is higher than its number of employees at the end of 2019.

“While on-time performance through June was down, our flight completion factor has recently been among the highest in the industry,” the airline said.

Most other major carriers use a hub-and-spoke system in which airlines concentrate flights in a handful of central airports. But Southwest is one of a few exceptions, instead leveraging a point-to-point strategy that offers direct flights between many smaller airports.

7. Spirit Airlines: 69.31 percent

Roughly 7 in 10 Spirit Airlines flights arrived on time between January and June, placing the low-cost carrier at No. 7 in DOT’s ranking.

When reached for comment, a Spirit Airlines spokesperson pointed to the company’s statement last month indicating its operational performance ranked among the industry best in the two months after Spirit’s peak summer schedule went into effect on June 5.

“These great results are among the best in the industry and are due to the relentless dedication of our Spirit family,” John Bendoraitis, the company’s chief operating officer, said in the statement. “Our team rose to the occasion to serve record numbers of summer travelers and work through industry challenges to deliver a high value experience for our guests.” 

8. Frontier Airlines: 64.50 percent

More than a third of Frontier Airlines flights did not arrive on time, according to DOT.

About 81 percent of Frontier’s flights arrived on time during the first half of 2021.

The airline is one of the country’s smaller commercial carriers, marketing the third-lowest number of flights out of the 10 assessed by DOT, with only Hawaiian and Spirit airlines marketing fewer flights.

A Frontier Airlines spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

9. JetBlue Airways: 62.08 percent

About 62 percent of JetBlue flights arrived on time in the first half of 2022.

JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said 70 percent of the airline’s flights touch the northeast corridor, a congested air traffic region often plagued by severe weather events. The airline was also impacted by air traffic control constraints in April and by sick calls due to the pandemic, he said.

Multiple airlines have placed blame on staffing challenges at air traffic control centers manned by the FAA, which at times have led to delayed flights. The challenges have been especially pronounced in New York and Florida.

“JetBlue has taken a number of steps to improve our operation and reliability, and our completion factor has greatly improved in recent months,” Dombrowski said, noting that the airline now has record levels of staffing following a spring hiring and training push.

“These investments have brought a significant improvement despite continued constraints on the air traffic system in New York and Florida,” he added.

10. Allegiant Air: 61.63 percent

Allegiant Air clocked in at the bottom of DOT’s list, with 61 percent of flights arriving on time. Roughly 74 percent of Allegiant’s flights in the first half of 2021 arrived on time.

The airline said in a statement that some of its crews maxed out on the number of hours they could fly under FAA regulations during the first half of the year, and limited availability of back-up crews caused a number of delays. 

Allegiant, like other airlines, said it also grappled with crews being out of service due to COVID outbreaks and faces an “unprecedented” labor shortage.

“We are actively working to mitigate it by offering extra incentives to attract and retain employees, including higher wages, bonuses, work schedule flexibility and more,” the airline said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden to hecklers at Philadelphia primetime speech: ‘They’re entitled to be outrageous’

President Biden on Thursday responded to the hecklers during his prime-time speech in Philadelphia, saying that a democracy allows them to protest.

“They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy,” the president said in the middle of his remarks.

Protesters yelled from outside of the Independence National Historical Park: “Let’s go, Brandon” and “F Joe Biden.” The phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” quickly became a political slogan adopted former President Trump’s base after a TV commentator mistakenly interpreted a crowd chanting of “f— Joe Biden” as “Let’s Go Brandon,” in support of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown.

Biden’s speech on Thursday was centered around warning that Trump and Republicans aligned with him are threats to the country. It was framed beforehand as remarks about “the soul of the nation.” 

Biden also snapped back at those yelling during his remarks, saying, “good manners is nothing they’ve ever suffered from,” according to Reuters White House reporter Jeff Mason. 

The president emphasized in his remarks the danger of MAGA-aligned Republicans, arguing that they cast doubt on election results, spread conspiracy theories, attack law enforcement, do not respect the Constitution and have blind loyalty for Trump. 

Biden has had other interruptions during speeches throughout his presidency. In July, the president was interrupted by Manuel Oliver, the father of mass shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, during an event at the White House.

Biden responded, “let him talk, let him talk” when Oliver appeared to suggest that the bipartisan gun control bill did not go far enough.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden: Trump’s influence on Republicans ‘a threat to this country’

President Biden on Thursday warned that former President Trump and Republicans aligned with him pose “a threat to this country,” in a political primetime speech that frequently referred to his predecessor and some of his GOP supporters as a danger to democracy.

Biden tied Trump and other so-called “MAGA Republicans” to corrosive ideas like casting doubt on election results, spreading conspiracy theories and attacking law enforcement.

“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault,” Biden said in an address from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Developing.

Source: TEST FEED1

CHIPS won’t be enough; America will need more to stave off China’s technological challenge

On Aug. 9, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act. The bill  provides  $52 billion to support semiconductor manufacturing through subsidies and tax credits while providing $200 billion to support scientific research in emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. The bill is the final product in a long line of negotiations  designed  to beef up the United States’ manufacturing and technological capacity in preparation for competition with China.  

In Washington, both parties have heralded the CHIPS and Science Act as a major win. President Biden  called  it a bill to ensure “the world’s leading innovation happens in America.” Many Senate Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), also  supported  the bill, even over the vocal opposition of many right-wing members of the conference. In an ever-divided Washington caught in bitter infighting, the CHIPS and Science Act has managed to sneak through with surprising bipartisan backing. 

Washington, however, should be careful of celebrating too soon. The CHIPS and Science Act is an excellent step in the right direction — but for America’s investments in science and technology to end here would be a major mistake. While the $280 billion package will greatly  boost  America’s domestic research and semiconductor manufacturing capacity, it alone will likely be insufficient to sustain the United States’ technological advantage through decades of competition with an increasingly powerful China. 

In 2018, China announced the Made in China 2025 (MIC 2025) Initiative. Made in China 2025 was a state-led effort to  invest  billions into key emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals while boosting China’s domestic high-tech manufacturing until 70 percent of China’s critical technology parts are sourced domestically. In essence, Made in China 2025 was Beijing’s attempt to reach for global technological leadership,  bypassing  the technological edge long held by the United States and its allies. 

The launch of Made in China 2025 prompted immense global alarm from companies and governments worldwide, many of whom fear the consequences of China gaining a technological edge over the United States. Military analysts  fear  that a technologically-rejuvenated Chinese military might take bolder, more aggressive steps against Taiwan or in the South China Sea, increasing the risk of miscalculation. Companies  worry  that Chinese government investments in scientific research would strengthen domestic Chinese technology firms, giving them a technological and commercial advantage to outcompete American firms in China and abroad. Many policymakers also  fear  that the use of new Chinese technology products in American or allied systems might lead to potential cyberattacks or espionage. 

The backlash to Made in China 2025  prompted  Beijing to stop using the term, but while China abandoned the plan’s semantics, Beijing never  abandoned  the plan itself. Since 2018, China has continued to prime the pump, investing billions into high-tech manufacturing,  including  an enormous $1.4 trillion announced in 2020. Beijing is also busy  increasing  its annual funding for scientific research and development, which now ranks just below the United States in terms of its gross annual funding for scientific research.  

Aside from financial capital, Beijing is also eager to expand its advantages in human capital and data collection. China has a population four times the United States and  graduated  far more STEM PhDs than the United States in the last several years. Beijing is also keen to  recruit  senior scientists of Chinese origin via its Thousand Talents Program, which provides funding for such researchers to leave the West and return to China. It has also used China’s vast surveillance apparatus to  collect  enormous amounts of data, enabling it to make significant leaps in machine learning and computer vision research. Together, these efforts highlight China’s drive to gain global technological primacy, which risks severe technological, economic, and political consequences for the West. 

Against this challenge, the CHIPS and Science bill alone is inadequate. Through financial metrics alone, the bill’s science funding pales compared to the huge investments China continues to make each year. Furthermore, the bill’s focus on semiconductors, while laudable, leaves out the raw materials used to  make  semiconductors and other key critical technology components — rare-earth elements. Supply chains for rare earth elements  are  heavily dependent on China, reflecting a major national security risk as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise. 

Thus, for the United States and its allies to sustain their technological lead through decades of competition with China, important reforms are needed. From a financial perspective, America must increase its investments in scientific research in emerging technologies like biotechnology and artificial intelligence. Grant applications in such fields  are  already highly competitive, and such an increase could support a new wave of researchers to bolster American innovation. America’s leaders should also use subsidies and tax credits to boost domestic production of the key rare-earth minerals used in technology products. Such efforts  would  help secure American technology supply chains when tensions with Beijing make traditional supply chains from China far riskier. 

America’s leaders must also try to match China’s advantages in human capital and data collection. From a human capital perspective, the United States  must  take steps to overhaul its broken immigration system, especially by  expanding  available visas for high-skilled immigration and  simplifying  regulations for international students studying in the United States to become American citizens. Many of these international students are  educated  at top universities paid for by American taxpayers and eagerly want to stay — but America’s bureaucratic and ever-backlogged  immigration system threatens to drive these high-skilled immigrants and their scientific talent abroad, enriching other nations instead of the United States. America’s leaders should also foster partnerships between research institutions and technology companies to expand researchers’ access to data while  investing  in the development of Privacy-Preserving (PP) technologies to ensure such data collection does not compromise individuals’ privacy. 

Of course, the CHIPS and Science Bill is still a valuable piece of legislation. But sustaining America’s technological advantage is a marathon, not a sprint. The United States must make the reforms needed for it to compete for decades to come — otherwise, the CHIPS and Science Act might be remembered as little more than a band-aid for a gaping wound. 

Sergio Imparato is a Lecturer on Government at Harvard University, where he teaches Grand Strategy in International Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy. He is the author of “The Sovereign President” (Pisa University Press, 2015; in Italian), a study on the personalization of presidential politics in foreign affairs. Sarosh Nagar is a researcher in the Department of Government at Harvard University. His research analyzes the role of development assistance and economic interdependence in American and Chinese foreign policy in Asia. His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and magazines, including the Harvard International Review, the Journal of the American Medication Association (JAMA) Oncology, the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, and more.

Source: TEST FEED1

McCarthy calls on Biden to apologize for ‘semi-fascism’ remark

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called on President Biden to use a prime-time speech to apologize for a remark calling “MAGA” philosophy “semi-fascism.”

“President Biden has chosen to divide, demean and disparage his fellow Americans. Why? Simply because they disagree with his policies. That is not leadership,” McCarthy said in a prebuttal speech to Biden’s planned address from the president’s hometown of Scranton, Pa., Thursday evening.

“When the President speaks tonight at Independence Hall, the first lines out of his mouth [should] be to apologize for slandering tens of millions of Americans as fascists.”

McCarthy’s speech came just ahead of a primetime speech from Biden on Thursday night in Philadelphia, Pa., which the White House said he will use to warn that “MAGA forces are determined to take this country backward.”

In a fundraiser last week, Biden said that the “extreme MAGA philosophy” in the wing of the Republican party aligned with former President Trump is “like semi-fascism.”

The speech comes as midterm campaign season kicks into high gear, and the Republican minority leader is stepping into the spotlight as he eyes the Speaker’s gavel.

But though McCarthy once predicted that 2022 could be even more of a Republican wave than 2010, when Republicans won 63 seats in the House, the environment is different now. Democrats have seen a spike in Democratic voter enthusiasm and some Republicans have tempered expectations about the midterm elections this year.

While midterm elections have traditionally been a referendum on the party in power in the White House, Democrats have aimed to frame this year’s as a choice between their party and an extreme, pro-Trump wing.

In his speech, McCarthy aimed to re-frame the election as a statement about total Democratic control of Washington.

“Democrats control every committee in Congress responsible for our nation’s safety, our prosperity, our education and our government oversight. They are in charge of every federal agency responsible for law enforcement, for drug enforcement, for Homeland Security, for our border security,” he said. “Are you better off? What has two years of one-party Democrat rule in Washington given us?”

And he tried to flip Democrats’ script about extremism.

Listing immigration policy changes made by the Biden administration that he said went around Congress and a planned boost to the IRS workforce, as well as saying the White House “colluded” with big tech, McCarthy said: “That is an assault on democracy.”

He did not avoid the topic of Trump, whose Florida home the FBI raided last month in an operation to recover classified documents and presidential records.

“Joe Biden and a politicized Department of Justice launched a raid on the home of his top political rival, Donald Trump,” McCarthy said, repeating, “That is an assault on democracy.”

In a twist on Biden’s 2020 campaign tagline on a “battle for the soul of the nation,” McCarthy asserted that Biden is the one who has damaged the nation’s “soul.”

“​​In the past two years, Joe Biden has launched an assault on the soul of America, on its people, on its laws, on its most sacred values. He has launched an assault on our democracy, his policies have severely wounded America’s soul, diminished America’s spirit, and betrayed America’s trust,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy hit on many familiar themes for Republicans, dinging Biden and Democrats for high gas prices, a migration surge on the U.S.-Mexico border, inflation and supply chain issues.

He also took aim at the Biden administration’s “heavy-handed COVID policies,” saying that vaccine mandates put in place by Democrats meant “firing our military heroes and our first responders,” and saying that school closures “erased 20 years of progress in reading and math proficiency.”

Also appearing with McCarthy at the event was Jim Bognet, a Republican challenging incumbent Rep. Matt Cartwright (D) in Pennsylvania’s competitive 8th Congressional District, who echoed McCarthy’s outrage at Biden’s “semi-fascism” remark.

“We’re mad that Joe Biden came here and called us fascist. I want to remind folks, a Bernie Sanders supporter is the one who took a shot at [House Minority Whip] Steve Scalise and other Republican congressmen. And we just had a crazy person go to Virginia and try to murder – murder – [Supreme Court Justice] Brett Kavanaugh, because they didn’t agree with a Supreme Court decision. That is extremist,”  Bognet said.

Source: TEST FEED1