THE SHOW NOTES: China's Smokeless War, PAC-12 Collapse, & Rebranding Kamala Harris
Welcome! Joe Biden is losing ground with working-class Black and Latino voters.
Dumbest headline of the day: Racism at heart of US failure to tackle deadly heatwaves, expert warns - The Guardian
HEADLINE: Ron DeSantis: America's economy is decimated. As president, I have a plan to rebuild it. - USA Today
WATCH 1: DeSantis says if the 2024 election is a referendum on Jan. 6 or "what document was left by the toilet at Mar a Lago… We are going to lose."
WATCH 2: Doug Burgum roasts ABC over not covering Hunter Biden.
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PAC-12 Collapse
The collapse of the PAC-12 is officially complete after five schools exited the conference on Friday afternoon starting in 2024. Oregon and Washington announced they were joining the Big Ten while Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah plan to join the Big Twelve after this upcoming year.
Who’s left: The 108-year-old conference is left with just four teams: Cal, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington State.
Why this matters: It’s widely known that universities subsidize their athletic departments with lucrative tv contracts negotiated by the conference. With few conferences interested in the remaining schools, they will likely be forced to join sub-par conferences or simply be unaffiliated. Either option will undoubtedly force schools to cut athletic programs.
The China Problem
US dependence on Chinese drugs is soaring as domestic drug manufacturers are struggling to produce. Drug imports from China were up eightfold from 2022 as the FDA allowed previously unapproved medications to be imported to meet consumer demand.
An American billionaire is funding Chinese propaganda domestically and around the world through hundreds of millions of dollars raised by nonprofits in the United States. No Cold War - a nonprofit claiming to fight climate change and racial discrimination - is lavishly funded by Neville Roy Singham and regularly pushes Chinese disinformation on the global stage. Singham is so closely tied the to Chinese government that The New York Times says “the line between him and the propaganda apparatus (state party) is so blurry that he shares office space — and his groups share staff members.”
Bidenomics
The White House’s new term to signify a rebounding economy thanks to lavish spending from President Biden is failing to gain traction as Americans continue to give the president historically low marks on managing the economy.
Details: The administration is doubling down on the merits of Bidenomics by sending high-level cabinet officials across the country to celebrate the one-year anniversary of signature spending initiatives aimed at prompting an economic rebound according to Politico.
The problem: Surging gas prices, additional rate hikes, labor shortages, and an unprepared labor force have proved to be growing hurdles for the administration’s ability to sell the American voter on the merits of Bidenomics.
Related: The New York Times (paywall) reports that Kamala Harris will take on a “forceful new role” in Biden’s 2024 campaign. However, if you read the story, the Times is quick to point out the myriad of failures Kamala Harris has suffered in her time as Vice President.
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