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Biden to campaign in Midwest after clinching Democratic nomination
© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to reporters upon his return to Washington, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., March 11, 2024, REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden heads to the political battleground state of Wisconsin on Wednesday after clinching the Democratic Party’s nomination, where he will focus on securing the votes of suburban women, Black voters and Latinos across the Midwest.
Biden’s campaign issued a new video entitled “Let’s Go” after voters in Georgia helped the 81-year old incumbent president secure the last of the 1,968 delegates needed for the nomination, teeing up what would be the first U.S. presidential rematch in nearly 70 years.
Biden has sharpened his attacks in recent weeks on former President Donald Trump, 77, and what he called Trump’s “campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that threatens the very idea of America”.
In Milwaukee, Biden will again tout his administration’s economic policies – although that strategy has failed to persuade many likely voters thus far – and open the campaign’s local headquarters before moving on to Michigan on Thursday.
The White House said Biden would announce $3.3 billion in projects in 40 states to reconnect communities divided by highways decades ago, using funding from both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
That includes $36 million for a project along Milwaukee’s 6th St. to widen sidewalks, add safe bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes, and install green infrastructure to prevent sewage from spilling into the Milwaukee River, it said.
His visit is part of a month-long “I’m on board” blitz by top administration officials aimed at rallying supporters in each of the seven battleground states that could decide the 2024 election. In the past week, Biden has already been in Pennsylvania, Georgia and New Hampshire.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who campaigned in Colorado on Tuesday, visited Wisconsin last week to trumpet White House economic policies and talk about apprenticeship programs and “good-paying union jobs.”
“Now, the general election truly begins, and the contrast could not be clearer,” Harris said in a statement on Tuesday.
Wisconsin is a politically important state that the Biden team wants to win in November to get to the 270 state electoral votes required to be reelected. Biden won the state of nearly six million people in 2020 by less than 1% of votes; in 2016 Wisconsin supported Republican nominee Trump.
Organizers say they expect hundreds of pro-Palestinian marchers to protest Biden’s visit to Milwaukee over his response to Israel’s war on Gaza, which was sparked by the Oct. 7 attack of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, that killed some 1,200 people.
More than 30,000 people in Gaza have been killed as a result of Israel’s military response, according to Palestinian authorities, and the war has angered some of Biden’s core group of voters, including young people and left-leaning progressives.
By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the discussions.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to withdraw, probably on Day One or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health (NS:) Law.
The Financial Times was first to report on the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump’s longstanding criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major U.S. health agencies including the CDC and FDA.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
Trump has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect U.S. contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred Reuters to comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Dec. 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the U.S. time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a U.S. withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
“The U.S. would lose influence and clout in global health and China would fill the vacuum. I can’t imagine a world without a robust WHO. But U.S. withdrawal would severely weaken the agency,” Gostin said.
U.Today – MicroStrategy has made headlines again by purchasing 5,262 BTC for approximately $561 million at an average price of $106,662 per BTC. The company now holds a staggering 444,262 BTC, accumulated at a total cost of approximately $27.7 billion, with an average purchase price of $62,257 per BTC.
Despite impressive returns of 47.4% since the beginning of the quarter and 73.7% since the beginning of the year, skepticism about the company’s strategy is growing.
It is believed that to sustain its purchases, MicroStrategy raises capital through methods such as issuing convertible and corporate bonds, securing credit lines and selling shares.
This cycle appears to operate as follows: shares are sold to acquire the cryptocurrency, and the rising price per BTC increases asset value, enabling further loans, which are then reinvested in more purchases.
Some observers warn that a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price or MicroStrategy’s stock could trigger a cascade effect. A sharp fall in MSTR shares would weaken the collateral backing its loans, potentially leading to forced asset sales, including BTC.
This scenario could exert downward pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market, as the company holds 2.2% of the global Bitcoin supply now.
Thus, while some view Michael Saylor’s approach as a bold bid to cement the cryptocurrency’s role in the financial system, others see it as unsustainable. History offers a cautionary note: in 2000, MSTR shares surged to $333 before plummeting 99%, a collapse that took 24 years to recover from.
National homebuilder ranked No. 12 on inaugural list ranking companies based on trust
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — With a longstanding reputation for trust, national homebuilder and land developer Taylor Morrison (NYSE:) (NYSE: ™HC) has been recognized by Forbes on their inaugural list of the Most Trusted Companies in America. The homebuilder ranked No. 12 out of 300 companies across all industries.
“There are few things more powerful than trust and it’s something we strive to earn amongst all company stakeholders, from our customers to our team members, our shareholders, and our local communities,” said Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer. “To be included on this esteemed list in its inaugural year is especially meaningful and these awards are important reminders of the relationships we’re building across all aspects of our business.”
Fueled by hundreds of millions of data points, the Most Trusted Companies in America list combines data on a wide range of factors across four categories: employee trust, customer trust, investor trust and media sentiment. The ranking was created in partnership with research companies HundredX, Signal AI and Glassdoor.
Taylor Morrison also earned the No. 67 spot on Forbes’ inaugural America’s Best Companies list. The ranking is Forbes’ most comprehensive company ranking to date and factored in ratings for financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, cybersecurity, sustainability, companies’ remote work policies, media coverage and more. Forbes’ America’s Best Companies list assessed more than 60 metrics across 11 primary categories to identify which organizations excel across the board. Of the more than 2,000 U.S.-based publicly traded companies that were eligible, only 300 qualified for each list.
In addition to being named among the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America by Forbes, Taylor Morrison holds several additional accolades including being named on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies and America’s Greenest Companies lists, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For list, the American Opportunity (SO:) Index, America’s Most Trusted ® Home Builder for nine years, Hearthstone’s 2021 BUILDER Humanitarian Award, and inclusion on the Fortune 500 list since 2021.
About Taylor Morrison
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and developers. We serve a wide array of consumers from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury and resort lifestyle homebuyers and renters under our family of brands”including Taylor Morrison, Esplanade and Yardly. From 2016-2024, Taylor Morrison has been recognized as America’s Most Trusted ® Builder by Lifestory Research. Our long-standing commitment to sustainable operations is highlighted in our annual Sustainability and Belonging Report.
For more information about Taylor Morrison, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.
CONTACT:
media@taylormorrison.com
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