... senators from both parties reach deal to ban congressional stock trading:
'A solution that’s long overdue.'
U.S. senators from both parties announced on Wednesday that they had created a bill that would ban congressional stock trading, an issue so important that Blaze Media created a Blaze Originals documentary — entitled "Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich" — about it earlier this year to put pressure on federal lawmakers and keep our audience in the know.
While theSTOCK Act, passed in 2012, technically requires members of Congress to be more transparent about their stock trades as well as those of their spouse, it has done little to curtail the seemingly rampant shady stock trades from members of both parties that "Bought and Paid For" exposed.
Now, four senators — Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Jon Ossoff of Georgia, and Gary Peters of Michigan and Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri — have developed new legislation with heftier penalties that may finally resolve the problem once and for all.
Their plan is called the ETHICS Act, and if passed, it would prevent members of Congress from buying or selling stock orsimilar investmentsbeginning 90 days after the bill is signed into law. It would further prohibit congressional spouses and other members of their immediate family from purchasing stocks as of March 2027.
Violations of the law would result in a fine of either a month's salary or 10% of each asset's value, whichever is greater.
According to a University of Maryland poll, fully 85% of Americans want to ban stock trades for members of Congress. Between the countrywide consensus regarding the issue and the bipartisan nature of the legislation, supporters of the ETHICS Act are hopeful that it may in fact pass, despite the contentious election season and the failure of similar legislative efforts in the past.
The trailer for "Bought and Paid For" can be seen below. [at the link]
What Obama chose not to do about George Clooney's essay...
After the debate, Obama publicly supported Biden. But what's going on behind the scenes?
Former President Barack Obama reportedly did not stop Hollywood icon George Clooney from going public with his call for President Joe Biden to step aside as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.
On Wednesday, Clooneypublished a candid essayin the New York Times urging Biden to step aside, a decision Clooney said is necessary to "save democracy."
According to Politico's Playbook, Clooney reached out to Obama to give him a "heads-up" that he wanted to share his concerns about Biden and his belief that Democrats are better off if Biden steps aside.
Obama could have asked Clooney to remain silent — but that's not the path he chose.
Meanwhile, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a close friend of Biden, claimed Thursday that Obama's decision not to intervene is consistent with what he is allegedly doing behind the scenes.
"The Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this," Scarboroughsaid.
@patrician The chickens are FINALLY coming home to roost for Joe. Having grown up on my grandparents farm and doing chores, I can understand the meaning of that: it’s getting messier by the day. And Kamala having covered for the Resident for such a long time will have trouble invoking the amendment to have him removed. As much as I love politics, I wouldn’t venture a guess as to how this will work out . Keep looking up!
David Axelrod Disputes Biden Claim ‘No One’, ‘No Poll’ Says He Can’t Win:
David Axelrod, former adviser to former President Barack Obama, disputed President Joe Biden’s claim on Thursday that “no one” and “no poll” is saying he cannot win in 2024.
“If what he said at the end of his presser is true, it sounds like Biden’s team has not been very candidate with him about what the data is showing: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern and his odds of victory are very, very slim,” Axelrod posted on X.
At the end of a press conference on Thursday, Biden claimed that “no one” and “no poll” is saying he could not win against Trump.
However, during the press conference, he mixed up the names of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, calling Harris “Vice President Trump.”
Earlier in the day, he accidentally called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin.”
...Radio Station Says it Agreed to Edit Joe Biden Interview...
A Milwaukee radio station admitted on Thursday to editing an interview with President Joe Biden at the request of his campaign, which they admit fell short of “journalistic interview standards.”
Following the disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump last month, Biden did an interview with popular host Earl Ingram with Civic Media, a talk-radio network based out of Wisconsin. A report later indicated that the Biden campaign requested certain edits from the interview, which the station complied with.
Last week, a radio host based out of Philadelphia “parted ways with her station after interviewing President Biden with questions provided by his campaign, a move prohibited by many newsrooms including her own,” reported NPR.
