Election spoiler? How Biden allies hope to stop RFK Jr

 Haunted by election spoilers of the past, President Joe Biden's Democratic allies have mobilized against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., intent on stopping his independent presidential bid from dooming Democrats in November.

On the 2024 campaign trail, Biden has ignored Kennedy, the anti-vaccine activist and son of deceased liberal icon Robert F. Kennedy, as he focuses solely on Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee.

But behind the scenes, the Democratic National Committee recently hired a team of attorneys, led by Dana Remus, Biden's former White House counsel, to monitor Kennedy's efforts to get his name on ballots of key battleground states before upcoming spring and summer qualifying deadlines.

And the DNC has expanded operations to paint Kennedy as a radical conspiracy theorist, rejected even by his family, whose campaign serves one purpose: boosting Trump's chances. Democrats are convinced much of the electorate isn't aware of Kennedy's controversial positions and theories or that he's boosted financially by a Trump Super PAC's largest donor.

"We're not taking anything for granted. No one wants to see what happened in 2000 and 2016 happen this time around, so we're putting pieces in place early," said Matt Corridoni, a DNC spokesman.

Trump: 'If I were a Democrat, I'd vote for RFK Jr.'

Seven months from the election, Kennedy has the support of 11.7% of likely voters, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. That doesn't make him a serious contender to win the election. But Kennedy's current double-digit standing is more than enough to swing outcomes in battleground states.

Democrats still blame Green Party nominee Jill Stein in 2016 for taking progressive votes away from Hillary Clinton, potentially costing Clinton Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to Trump. In 2000, consumer rights advocate Ralph Nader won more than 97,000 votes in Florida, significantly greater than the margin of George W. Bush's victory over Al Gore in the state that gave Bush his victory.

"Any amount of shift, any amount that that RFK takes from either candidate, is a danger to them and could, in fact, flip the election," said Bernard Tamas, a political science professor at Valdosta State University and author of "The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties."

"If I was working for the Biden campaign, I would take it very seriously because you don't know what's going to happen with him. The numbers will probably drop a lot," Tamas said. "But you just don't know. It's an enormous uncertainty."

Whether Kennedy takes more votes away from Biden than Trump − or whether it's about the same from both − has been debated among political observers. Kennedy is also facing increasing attacks from Trump's Super PAC, MAGA Inc., which has labeled Kennedy a radical far-left liberal in a push to pull progressive voters from Biden.

Trump's allies believe that the multiple independent or third-party candidates in the race help Trump's chances, and are seeking to elevate their campaigns, the New York Times reported this week.

"If I were a Democrat, I'd vote for RFK Jr. every single time over Biden because he's frankly more in line with Democrats," Trump said in a video released by his campaign Thursday. "I do believe that RFK Jr. will do very well, and I do believe he's going to take a lot of votes away from crooked Joe Biden."

Voters view Biden, Trump more negatively than Kennedy

Kennedy initially launched a Democratic primary challenge against Biden before switching to an independent run last year.

Also threatening to peel off voters from Biden are left-leaning activist Cornel West, who is running as an independent, and Stein, who like 2016 is running as the Green Party's nominee. For now, the DNC is focused primarily on Kennedy, whose fundraising and organization far exceed the campaigns of West and Stein.

Democrats believe Kennedy's polling is inflated by his famous last name − arguably the most iconic brand in Democratic politics − and from avoiding heavy scrutiny until recently. Historically, third-party candidates perform better in polling than in elections, particularly months away from the start of voting.

Polling regularly finds Americans view Kennedy, who many say they know little about, more favorably than Biden and Trump. A Marquette University Law School poll last week found 60% of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Biden and 56% an unfavorable view of Trump, but only 39% view Kennedy unfavorably. Thirty percent of respondents said they hadn't heard enough about Kennedy to form an opinion.

Democrats see the unfamiliarity as an opening to define Kennedy and keep him from siphoning independent and Democratic voters from Biden.

Mobile billboards funded by the DNC − featuring doctored photos of Kennedy and his newly named running mate, Nicole Shanahan, wearing red "Make America Great Again" hats − followed Kennedy at fundraisers in Florida last week.

"MAGA's spoiler candidate," a DNC ad placed in La Opinión, a Spanish-language newspaper based in Los Angeles., warned ahead of a March 30 "Viva Kennedy" event targeting Hispanic voters.

In cable television appearances, Democrats are increasingly flagging Kennedy's long trail of conspiratorial statements — that COVID-19 was "ethnically targeted" to attack certain ethnicities, his uncertainty of the government's explanation of the 9/11 attacks, and his warnings that the U.S. has been collecting DNA from Russia and China to create "ethnic bioweapons."

And they are highlighting Kennedy's considerable financial backing from Trump donors. The largest donation, $20 million, to Kennedy's main Super PAC, American Values 2024, came from Timothy Mellon, an 81-year-old Republican megadonor from Wyoming. Mellon has also donated $15 million to MAGA Inc., the 2024 election, the most of any donor to Trump's Super PAC.

A 'spoiler for both,' Kennedy campaigns says

In a statement, Kennedy press secretary Stefanie Spear said the campaign is "planning on being a spoiler for both President Biden and President Trump."

"We also plan to be a spoiler for the war machine, Wall Street, Big Ag, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Energy, and the corporate media," Spear said. “If Americans are ever going to escape the hammerlock of the two parties and their corrupt backers, now is the time to do it. These are the two most unpopular candidates in living memory.”

Over the past week, Democrats seized on comments made by Kennedy in a CNN interview calling Trump a bigger threat to democracy than Biden and remarks from a Kennedy campaign consultant from New York who said her “No. 1 priority" is defeating Biden. The campaign said Wednesday it terminated the contract of the consultant, Rita Palma, for "misrepresentation."

The scale of the DNC's anti-Kennedy operation − and whether the party will spend vastly more resources to pay for television ads − is still unclear. It could depend on whether Kennedy is successful in qualifying for the ballots in the six to eight battleground states that could decide the election.

Solidly red Utah is the lone state where Kennedy has officially qualified to run as an independent for the 2024 election, though his campaign has touted collecting enough signatures in several others. Laws to qualify to run for president vary by state − and the team of lawyers hired by the DNC intend to scrutinize Kennedy's efforts.

"We're going to make sure that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is playing by the rules," Corridoni said.

Besides the DNC, several members of the Kennedy family have also raised alarm about their relative's bid. In a showing of support for Biden, dozens of members of the late John F. Kennedy's family visited the White House last month to celebrate St. Patrick's Day − with Robert F. Kennedy a notable absence.

Kennedy has found traction in 2024 election polling in part because of the vast number of voters known as the "double haters"− those who dislike Biden and Trump. Polling has found double haters make up between 15% and 20% of the electorate.

A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll taken in March found 44% of double haters currently back various third-party candidates led by Kennedy, who drew support from 21% of these voters. Trump led Biden among double haters 25%-18% in the poll. Stein had the backing of 7% of double haters, while West was supported by 6%.

But Tamas, an expert on third parties in the U.S., said independent or third-party runs that gain traction − most notably Ross Perot, who won 19% of the vote nationally in 1992 − tend to tap into discontent from blocs of voters who feel underrepresented. They often zero in on a singular theme. For Perot, it was economic populism.

Tamas questioned whether Kennedy's candidacy has the right ingredients to take off given the hodgepodge of issues he discusses.

At the same time Kennedy touts his environmentalism credentials in appeal to left-leaning votes, for example, he questions medical experts about vaccines and COVID while promising to "seal the border to illegal immigration."

"Since he's not defining himself, chances are the Democrats and Trump are going to do a pretty good job of defining him for him," Tamas said, arguing that Kennedy probably isn't as big a threat as he looks in polls.

"But − and this is a giant but − since 2000, these elections have been so close that it really is only going to take a shift of maybe 1% or 2% of the vote to potentially flip the election," Tamas said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/04/12/bidens-allies-stop-rfk-jr-election-spoiler/73203434007/

Let’s Be Honest: The Economy Is NOT Doing Well

 by Connor O'Keeffe via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The American economy is not all right. But to see why, you need to look beyond the dramatic numbers we keep seeing in the headlines and establishment talking points.

Take, for instance, the latest jobs report. For the third month in a row, the American economy added significantly more jobs than most economists had been expecting—a total of 303,000 for March. On its face, that’s a good number.

But as Ryan McMaken laid out over the weekend, things don’t look as strong when you dig into the data. For instance, virtually all the jobs added are part-time jobs. Full-time jobs have actually been disappearing since December of last year. In fact, as McMaken highlighted, “The year-over-year measure of full-time jobs has fallen into recession territory.”

Also, most of these new part-time jobs are going to immigrants, many of whom are in the country illegally. There has been zero job creation for native-born Americans since mid-2018. While immigrants are not harming the economy by working, the scale of new foreign-born workers has papered over the employment struggles of the native-born population.

Further, government jobs accounted for almost a quarter of those added—way above the standard ten to twelve percent. Just like with government spending and economic growth, government hiring boosts the official jobs number while draining the actual, value-producing economy.

Some economists, like Daniel Lacalle, argue that the U.S. economy is already experiencing a private-sector recession but that government spending and hiring are propping up the official data enough to hide it.

A recession is inevitable, thanks to the last decade of interest rate manipulation by the Federal Reserve—and especially to its dramatic actions during the pandemic. The recession-like conditions in full-time jobs is further evidence that Lacalle is right.

But jobs numbers are only part of the story. The stock market has been fluctuating a lot recently, not because of changing consumer needs or the adoption of some new technology, but based on what Federal Reserve officials are saying about what the central bank will do this year.

At the same time, prices are still high. And they continue to rise at a rate that frustrates even some of President Joe Biden’s biggest economic cheerleaders. Our dollars are worth about 20 percent less than they were four years ago, with no prospect of that trend reversing. That hurts.

But instead of addressing this economic pain, much less their role in creating it, members of the political class are still pretending everything is great. They’re even gearing up to make things worse by, for example, sending even more of our money to the Ukrainian government. All to prolong a war it’s losing, not because of a lack of money, but because of a lack of soldiers.

And at home, President Biden is scrambling to put the brakes on energy production and to transfer money from the working class to his base of college graduates, all before he’s up for reelection in November.

Predictably and appropriately, the establishment’s head-in-the-sand economic strategy is coinciding with a notable decrease in support for the Democrats—the establishment’s preferred party these days. President Biden is behind in the polls in six of the seven swing states and is losing support from working-class and nonwhite voters.

The political establishment and its preferred candidates deserve to lose support, not only for failing to acknowledge America’s economic problems but for causing them in the first place.

From Mises.org

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/lets-be-honest-economy-not-doing-well

US high schoolers want financial education, but many schools don't offer

 A recent survey by Intuit found that U.S. high school students want to learn about personal finance in schools but that many lack access to such courses at school, while parents may be reluctant to teach their children about financial literacy.

Intuit's Financial Education survey found that 85% of U.S. high school students said they're interested in learning about financial topics at school and that 95% of those who currently receive a financial curriculum find it helpful.

"Ultimately, what we learned is that 81% of students said they really try to discuss financial topics with their parents, but parents typically aren't necessarily comfortable for a variety of reasons in having those types of conversations with their kids," Dave Zasada, VP of education and corporate responsibility at Inuit, told FOX Business in an interview.

"It might be that they're not financially savvy themselves, which would align with national data around financial literacy rates in adults," Zasada said, pointing to data that found just 34% of adults can pass a basic financial literacy quiz. "But also, we find that 88% of parents feel financial education should actually be taught in schools."

"I think what we have found in talking with kids and doing the survey and talking to parents is that the consensus is if they're going to get it from one source, and for it to be a reputable source, it's most likely that kids will want to get that while they're in school and ideally taking a personal finance course," he added.

Financial terms that were the most misunderstood by students were stocks and bonds (53%), 401(k) and retirement (45%) and taxes (28%). The top three things high school students wanted to know about managing their finances were how to become wealthy (43%), how to save money (40%) and how to avoid debt (37%).

"A really high percentage of students were interested in those particular topics, but they also just simply want to understand the basic terms – they want to be able to speak the language," Zasada noted. "The vast majority of students can't speak that language by the time they walk across the graduation stage and are ready to start making some personal financial decisions that are going to impact them long-term."

While students may lack access to financial literacy education at school or at home, the survey found that about one-in-five are turning to social media. It found that just 19% of students turned to social media platforms for information about personal finance and that of those who do, 59% said they're not always sure that they can distinguish accurate financial advice from bad or inaccurate advice.

Intuit offers a free financial education platform that was launched in September. Zasada said it provides about 150 hours of content across two courses – one focused on personal finance and the other on entrepreneurial finance.

"It's customizable, very plug and play for a teacher. If a teacher wants to use our content for a whole course they can, and if they want to just dip in and focus on taxes during tax season they can just pull that information out," he said.

"We don't just focus on trying to help kids become financially literate, we try to help them become financially capable and confident as well," Zasada said. "We do that by, first, helping them to speak the language – understanding terms and concepts." 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/us-high-schoolers-want-financial-education-many-schools-dont-offer-it-survey

Bayer's patent for blood thinner Xarelto invalid, UK court rules

 Bayer's patent covering its best-selling blood thinner Xarelto is invalid, London's High Court ruled on Friday in a blow to the German drugmaker.

The company's blockbuster Xarelto drug generated nearly $4.1 billion in revenue in 2023, according to research firm Statista.

Bayer's attempts to replace Xarelto were thrown into doubt last year when it aborted a large late-stage trial testing a new anti-clotting drug due to lack of efficacy.

Its European patent over once-daily rivaroxaban, with a brand name of Xarelto, has now been declared invalid following legal challenges brought by Sandoz and other rival manufacturers.

Judge Richard Hacon said Bayer's patent was invalid because of the lack of an "inventive step" in developing the drug.

Friday's decision paves the way for other drug makers to launch generic versions of rivaroxaban, though Bayer said it would be seeking to block such attempts pending any appeal.

"We are seeking permission to appeal this decision and seeking interim injunctive relief to prevent the launch of 10mg, 15mg and 20mg generic rivaroxaban products," a Bayer spokesperson said in a statement.

"We believe in the validity of our patent as confirmed by the decision of the European Patent Office in 2021 and we continue to be committed to protecting our intellectual property."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bayers-patent-blood-thinner-xarelto-142612204.html

US biotech executive sentenced to 7 years in jail for COVID test fraud

 The chief executive of a U.S. biotechnology company that falsely promised investors it could produce a quick and accurate COVID-19 test was sentenced to seven years' in jail on Friday, the Justice Department said.

Keith Berman, 70, of Westlake Village, California, pleaded guilty last December to securities fraud totaling around $28 million.

The Justice Department said that from February through December 2020, Berman falsely claimed his Decision Diagnostics company had developed a 15-second test to detect COVID-19 in a finger prick sample of blood when, in reality, no such test existed.

"Berman defrauded investors to profit from the pandemic," Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in a statement.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had sued the company and Berman in December 2020.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-biotech-executive-sentenced-7-221844918.html