Nation's Largest Police Union Endorses Trump

 by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times,

Former President Donald Trump gained the endorsement of the national Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), America’s biggest and oldest police union, on Sept. 6.

“During his time in the White House, we had a partner and a leader. Today, Mr. President, we stand with you,” FOP President Patrick Yoes said at the group’s meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 6.

“We have your back, and we’re committed to work tirelessly for your election.”

The national FOP has endorsed candidates from both major political parties over the years but has favored Trump during all three of his presidential runs.

After Yoes introduced Trump, the Republican presidential nominee drew frequent applause from the FOP as he described steps he intends to take to bolster police, pursue stricter penalties for serious crimes, and crack down on illegal immigration.

Because Harris is a former California prosecutor and Trump is awaiting sentencing Nov. 26 for business-records offenses in a controversial New York case, some of her supporters have characterized the race as “the prosecutor versus the felon.” Following the FOP endorsement, the Republican Party was branding the former president and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), as “The Pro-Police Ticket.”

The 377,000-member FOP joins the International Union of Police Associations, the National Association of Police Organizations, and “numerous local, state, and police advocacy groups” in endorsing Trump rather than his opponent, Trump campaign senior adviser Bob Paduchik told reporters during a pre-announcement phone call.

How Union Decided Endorsement

Based on votes from all 46 of its state lodges, the FOP chose Trump instead of Harris after considering policy positions of both candidates.

Trump met with an FOP committee, “but no similar meeting was granted” by Harris’ campaign, the FOP said in a news release.

In addition, Trump answered a questionnaire from the FOP, while Harris’ campaign responded with a letter “describing some of their positions on criminal justice and police labor issues,” the FOP said.

Since Aug. 6, when Harris announced she had selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, the Harris-Walz team has given few specifics about their policy positions. The pair also have largely ignored reporters’ questions at campaign stops and have given no formal news conferences.

During that timeframe, the Trump-Vance team has given dozens of interviews and held numerous news conferences.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, talks to reporters after walking over from looking at Air Force Two, Vice President Kamala Harris' plane, at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wis. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

FOP president Yoes lauded Trump for his “true, genuine commitment to advancing policing in this country... at a time when it wasn’t a political battleground.”

He commended Trump for championing a historic criminal justice reform policy and countering efforts to “defund the police.”

Attendees of the FOP meeting greeted Trump with a standing ovation as he began a 50-minute speech.

“America’s cities are under siege,” he said, noting that a trio of police officers suffered gunshot wounds in Milwaukee on the eve of the FOP meeting.

Trump blames policies that he said allow illegal immigration, decreased funding for police, prosecution of police officers for doing their jobs, and misplaced enforcement and prosecution efforts.

Trump said that people like him are targeted for alleging election improprieties while violent criminal suspects are allowed to be released for low or no bond, and many avoid meaningful punishment.

This creates a climate in which “the law-abiding citizen is forced to live in fear and in danger,” he said, adding, “We don’t have to live this way...and when I’m president of the United States, we’re not gonna take it anymore.” The crowd responded with another standing ovation.

Crime Pledges

If he wins reelection, Trump pledged to take numerous anti-crime, pro-police measures.

He called for a return to “proven crime-fighting methods,” such as allowing officers to stop-and-frisk people suspected of crimes.

Trump also cited principles of the “broken-windows theory,” the notion that eliminating disorder and blight in neighborhoods may improve the overall environment and discourage crime.

Federal authorities under Trump would work with local agencies to form a task force “to dismantle the gangs, street crews and criminal networks,” he said, adding that he would deploy the U.S. Navy for “a full blockade on [drug] cartel activity.”

Trump also said he would support “mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years for illegal alien gang members caught committing gun crimes, drug-trafficking crimes, or acts of violence—or we’ll send them back to their country with the assurance that they’ll be put in prison.”

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants wait in line to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

In addition, Trump pledged: “I will make their home countries pay for the cost of their imprisonment through reduced foreign aid and high tariffs...the days of foreign nations dumping their criminals into America are over.”

The former president repeated his past promises to restore funding to police agencies, indemnify police officers against unfair legal action for doing their jobs, seal the U.S.-Mexico border, and conduct the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history.

Trump also said he would push for a mandatory 10-year prison term for “anyone guilty of human smuggling,” along with a life sentence for those guilty of trafficking children and the death penalty for drug dealers and “anyone who kills a police officer.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nations-largest-police-union-endorses-trump

Bicara Therapeutics aims for up to $828 million valuation in U.S. IPO

 Bicara Therapeutics said on Friday it is seeking a valuation of up to $828 million in its initial public offering in the United States, as new listings continue to flock the markets.

The company, backed by global alternative asset management firm TPG and Indian biopharmaceutical firm Biocon, is aiming to raise $211.8 million by selling about 11.8 million shares priced between $16 and $18 apiece, it said in a regulatory filing.

Capital markets have turned the corner in 2024 with the second half expected to be more stronger than the first. A possible interest rate cut this month and strong market rally has increased the number of companies waiting in the pipeline that are seeking to go public.

Boston-based Bicara is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops therapies to improve outcomes for cancer patients.

The company plans to list its common stock on Nasdaq under the symbol "BCAX".

Morgan Stanley and TD Cowen are among the lead underwriters for the IPO

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bicara-therapeutics-aims-828-million-112503893.html

Renault CEO says sector could face billions in fines as EV sales slow

 Europe's autos industry could face fines of 15 billion euros ($17.4 billion) for carbon emissions due to slowing demand for electric vehicles, Renault CEO Luca de Meo said on Saturday.

Automakers face tougher EU CO2 targets in 2025 as the cap on average emissions from new vehicles sales falls to 94 grams/km from 116 g/km in 2024.

"If electric vehicles remain at today's level, the European industry may have to pay 15 billion euros in fines or give up the production of more than 2.5 million vehicles," de Meo told France Inter radio.

"The speed of the electric ramp-up is half of what we would need to achieve the objectives that would allow us not to pay fines," de Meo, who is also president of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), said of the sector.

Exceeding CO2 limits can lead to fines amounting to 95 euros per excess CO2 g/km multiplied by the number of vehicles sold.

That could result in penalties of hundreds of millions of euros for large carmakers.

"Everyone is talking about 2035, in 10 years, but we should be talking about 2025 because we are already struggling," he said.

"We need to be given a little flexibility. Setting deadlines and fines without being able to make that more flexible is very, very dangerous."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/renault-ceo-says-sector-could-111655887.html

Ukraine long-range strikes into Russia won't be a game changer, U.S. says

 U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cautioned on Friday there was "no one capability" that would turn the war in Ukraine in Kyiv's favour after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to let his forces use its long-range weapons to strike Russia.

At a regular meeting of Ukraine's allies at Ramstein U.S. Air Base in Germany, Zelenskiy repeated his plea for Western nations to supply more long-range missiles and lift restrictions on using them to hit targets such as airfields inside Russia.

Austin said Washington and its allies would continue to give strong support to Ukraine in fighting Russia's invasion, announcing another $250 million in U.S. security assistance.

But, questioned by reporters, the Pentagon chief pushed back on the idea that allowing deep strikes inside Russia with Western weapons would be a game-changer.

He said Russia had already moved aircraft that launch glide bombs into Ukraine beyond the range of U.S.-supplied ATACM missiles.

"There's no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign," Austin told reporters at the end of the meeting.

He also said Ukraine had capabilities of its own - such as drones - to hit targets inside Russia that were beyond the reach of ATACM and British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

"There are a lot of targets in Russia - big country, obviously," Austin said. "And there's a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other things to address those targets."

Among other donations, Germany pledged to supply an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv, while Canada said it planned to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months.

Zelenskiy made his first appearance at a Ramstein meeting at an important moment in the 2-1/2-year-old war.

Ukrainian forces have made a surprise offensive into Russia's Kursk region even as Russian forces focus on seizing the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, a logistics hub for Kyiv's war effort.

"We need to have this long-range capability not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on Russian territory, yes, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace," Zelenskiy said, in remarks that drew support from countries including Baltic nations Lithuania and Estonia.

'RED LINES'

Zelenskiy has long pushed back against allies who have supplied long-range weapons but told Kyiv they cannot use them deep inside Russia for fear of instigating a direct conflict between the West and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

In his remarks on Friday at Ramstein, Zelenskiy said: "Russia's attempts to draw red lines simply do not work."

The talks in Germany came as Americans prepare for a November presidential election that could have major implications for Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, has promised to stand with Ukraine.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, has vowed to resolve the Ukraine war immediately on taking office with possible peace talks that might require Kyiv to cede territory. Trump and many of his supporters are skeptical of the billions of dollars in aid Biden's administration has poured into Ukraine's war effort.

At Ramstein, Austin gave statistics on the toll the war has taken on Russian forces, estimating more than 350,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded. He said Ukrainian forces have sunk, destroyed, or damaged 32 Russian Navy vessels and pushed Russia's Black Sea Fleet further east.

Zelenskiy said that about 6,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in Ukraine's Kursk offensive.

"Today we control an area of more than 1,300 square kilometres in the Kursk region and this includes 100 settlements," Zelenskiy said, adding that a large part of that territory was abandoned by Russian troops.

But Moscow has also been pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in some of its largest attacks since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,

"The number of air defence systems that have not yet been delivered is significant," Zelenskiy said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-presses-long-range-strike-093030382.html

US Food Insecurity Surged Under Biden/Harris Admin

During the pandemic year of 2020, food insecurity had already ticked up in the United States.

Now, the inflation crisis under the Biden-Harris administration has intensified this issue even more. It was especially families with children that suffered during Covid-19 as school lunches disappeared and they have been hardest hit again in 2022 and 2023.

As Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, the USDA just published its latest report on the issue, showing that last year, almost 18 percent of households where children lived were food insecure, up from 17.3 percent in 2022 and 12.5 percent in 2021. The negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic as well as the inflation crisis on food security still stayed behind those of the Great Depression between 2008 and 2011, however.

Looking at all household, 13.5 percent were classified as food insecure by the USDA most recently, defined as experiencing difficulty to meet basic food needs in the span of one year, including the inability to buy enough food, buy balanced meals or eat regular portion sizes as well as skipping meals, experiencing hunger and worry about food. In 2021, this share had been 10.2 percent.

While the share of food-insecure households rose in the U.S. in 2023, so did the share of adults living in them - from 13.5 percent to 14.3 percent. The share of U.S. children living in a food-insecure household rose as well from 18.5 percent to 19.2 percent. However, according to the USDA, it was often the adults in food-insecure households who restricted food intake, while attempting to shield children – especially younger ones – from negative effects.

Household with children number around 36 million in the U.S., around 27 percent of all households, while children themselves make up around 22 percent of U.S. residents at 72 million.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/us-food-insecurity-surged-under-bidenharris-admin

Trust in Doctors and Hospitals Plummets

 A new paper in JAMA analyzes survey respondents in the US over the period of time right after the Covid pandemic started in April 2020 and through early 2024. It reveals a significant decline in trust in physicians and hospitals, dropping from 71.5% in April 2020, to 40.1% in January 2024. Lower trust levels were strongly associated with reduced likelihood of receiving Covid-19 vaccinations and boosters. Total shocker, right?

Association Between Individual Sociodemographic Features and Trust in Physicians and Hospitals in Ordinal Regression Models in Spring and Summer 2023

One incredibly interesting part of this study was the revealing of the open-text responses that survey respondents gave for their lack of trust. From the supplement, here are the top 4 themes why patients have lost trust. 

1. Financial Motives Over Patient Care: This theme includes perceptions of healthcare as primarily profit-driven, where financial incentives outweigh patient welfare. Respondents believe that decisions are made based on profitability rather than the best interests of patients.

2. Poor Quality of Care and Negligence: Responses that mention experiences of neglect, inadequate care, misdiagnosis, or dismissive attitudes from healthcare providers fall under this category. This also includes perceptions of healthcare professionals not listening or taking patient concerns seriously. 

3. Influence of External Entities and Agendas: Here, the focus is on the belief that decisions in healthcare are unduly influenced by pharmaceutical companies, government entities, or other external powers. This includes suspicions of dishonesty or withholding information for nonmedical reasons. 

4. Discrimination and Bias: Responses indicating experiences or beliefs that healthcare providers exhibit bias, discrimination, or lack of cultural competency. This can include racial discrimination, gender bias, or insensitivity to patient backgrounds.

Another interesting analysis in the supplement was the inclusion of political affiliation. The tendency for Republicans and Independents to have lower trust overall than Democrats should not surprise anyone, as the polarization of vaccines, masks, and lockdowns made it clear that the left was in favor of doing anything at all in the name of combating Covid, no matter the cost.

As we witnessed firsthand in 2020 and 2021, and even today, the condescension, overt political motivations, and outright derision directed at those who were rationally skeptical of a brand-new vaccine, masks, and the extreme and harmful lockdown policies by medical practitioners and hospital systems have finally led to an inevitable consequence: the public simply does not trust them anymore. And not by a small margin—there has been a massive swing from majority trust to majority distrust. For anyone who was paying attention, this is not shocking.

For my part, I hope that the practitioners we truly need to rely on when we require medical care see this as a wake-up call and understand just how much damage they have done to their long-term doctor-patient relationships. Now, instead of starting from a place of trust, they are starting from a deficit. This is not just bad for their careers; it’s bad for the patients.

Josh Stevenson lives in Nashville Tennessee and is a data visualization expert who focuses on creating easy to understand charts and dashboards with data. Throughout the pandemic, he has provided analysis to support local advocacy groups for in-person learning and other rational, data-driven covid policies. His background is in computer systems engineering & consulting, and his Bachelor’s degree is in Audio Engineering. His work can be found on his substack “Relevant Data.”

https://brownstone.org/articles/trust-in-doctors-and-hospitals-plummets/

The American Classroom Is More Broken Than You Think

 

Editor's Note

America’s public schools, the institutions in which the competence and worldview of the next generation take shape, constitute perhaps the single most important theater in a cold civil war. Whoever controls the schools controls the future. This is why Critical Race Theory, transgender ideology, and other political intrusions into the classroom have become political flashpoints in the last few years. Jonah Davids argues, however, that the problem goes much deeper — that the entire structure of American schooling no longer lends itself to proper education. As children return to the classroom and their parents prepare for the ballot box, the consequences of that failure and the will to correct it will both be put to the test.

For those who follow politics and current events, it should be evident that something has gone wrong with America’s public K-12 schools. A recent Pew Poll found that over half of Americans believe public education is heading in the wrong direction, with 69% of those concerned saying that schools are not spending enough time on academics and 54% saying that teachers are bringing their political views into the classroom.

These concerns of the public are well-founded. Math and reading scores are at their lowest in decades. Eighty percent of recent high-school graduates report being taught Critical Race Theory concepts in school such as “America is a systemically racist society” and “White people have unconscious bias that negatively affects non-white people.” Sexually explicit LGBTQ+ books line the shelves of school libraries, with parents who request their removal smeared as transphobic book banners akin to Nazis.

For conservatives, the solution seems simple: Get rid of Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ+ ideology in schools, and education will go ‘back to normal.’ While this is a step in the right direction, things are not so simple. This is because the foundations of public education in America — instruction, curriculum, management, discipline — have dramatically eroded over the last few decades. 

Not long ago, the purpose of school was understood to be the education of students, and deviations from that purpose were regarded with suspicion. Teachers stood at the blackboard and taught from textbooks while students sat at their desks, took notes, and answered when called upon. Students were expected to be punctual and well-behaved, and to master the material given to them. Teachers were expected to be professional, knowledgeable, and impartial. 

Things have changed. Now, many teachers — particularly for lower grades — act more as facilitators than instructors. Students pick what books they want to read, often choosing the latest graphic novel or football magazine over more substantive material. In place of history, high schoolers research whatever latest political controversy interests them most. Personal essays have replaced academic papers. In lieu of textbooks, many teachers use lower-quality online resources and software. Second-hand PowerPoints have replaced original lesson plans. Rarely do students receive traditional instruction, rote practice, or much of anything resembling a classic education.

Teachers who want to focus on teaching find their time eaten away by other required activities: paperwork and reporting to comply with state and federal mandates; professional development sessions to inform them of the latest educational policies and practices; diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings; teacher evaluation and improvement programs; and checking in on students’ mental health on a daily basis. Today, the median American teacher spends just half of her weekly work hours actually teaching.

The behavioral issues students are bringing into classrooms are another source of distraction. Problems such as chronic absenteeism, in-class meltdowns and temper tantrums, verbal and physical fights, and cursing at and threatening teachers are all up post-COVID, and the traditional approaches to discipline that schools once employed to deal with these disturbances have been heavily discouraged and made legally precarious. A Harris Poll of public school teachers last year found that 74% listed “student behavior and discipline issues” as a top challenge, beating out “pay” (65%) and “teacher turnover” (42%). As one teacher wrote in the New York Post: 

Ask anyone who has worked in some of America’s failing public schools and nearly all of them will tell you the same thing: The biggest problem isn’t the quality of the teachers. It’s the behavior of the kids; angry, disruptive, disrespectful kids whose behavior is out of control.

Student mental health has also reached a new low. The number of teens, particularly teen girls, who show signs of depression, self-harm, and suicidality has risen over the last decade, and 73 percent of parents now say their child would benefit from mental health counseling. Some blame social media, others the breakdown of the family, still others the expansion of the mental health industry itself. But with nearly half of U.S. high-school students saying they don’t enjoy life, it is clear that something major has gone wrong. 

To deal with student mental and behavioral health issues, schools have adopted quasi-therapeutic programs premised on the baseless idea that students cannot learn or behave until their underlying trauma and emotional issues are surfaced and dealt with. Social-Emotional Learning, or SEL, injects a cocktail of faux-therapy and far-left ideology into daily routines and coursework. It now takes up 8 percent of teachers’ time on average. Restorative justice programs function similarly: teachers use their class time to pass a totem around and probe students with questions about their negative emotions and family issues. Timeouts, suspensions, and expulsions are replaced with therapy and dialogue between victims and perpetrators.

Make no mistake, the COVID-19 pandemic rattled schools with forced closures, mask and vaccine mandates, and remote learning. But the seeds of America’s public education crisis were planted long before. Unchecked idealism expressed in the form of government mandates has brought us to this point. The more education decisions made by politicians, bureaucrats, and consultants, the lower the quality of education has gotten.

The challenge for conservatives who want to reform public education is not just to excise far-left ideas from the American school system but to restore that system to its former glory. To do this, they will have to confront not just bad ideas but bad laws, bad policies, bad programs, and bad pedagogy. Their message must be that the purpose of the public education system is not to solve societal problems, not to conduct mass experiments, not to therapize students, but to educate them.

Jonah Davids is a research fellow at Maine Policy Institute, an analyst at The America Fund, and the author of the Substack newsletter Mental Disorder.

https://tomklingenstein.com/the-american-classroom-is-more-broken-than-you-think/