Obama says US 'desperately needs' Biden agenda . . . Former President Barack Obama said President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda, hinging now on a $3.5 trillion rebuilding proposal being fought over in Congress, is something the United States “desperately needs.” In an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, Obama made the case for his former vice president’s economic recovery plan . In particular, he voiced support for higher taxes on the wealthy to prop up government-funded childcare and infrastructure reinforcement against climate change. “I think anybody who pretends that it's a hardship for billionaires to pay a little bit more in taxes so that a single mom gets childcare support or so that we can make sure that our communities aren't inundated by wildfires and floods and that we're doing something about climate change for the next generation — you know, that's an argument that is unsustainable,” Obama said in the interview set to air on Tuesday. Washington Examiner

Democrats see Harris as major player in midterms . . . Democrats expect Vice President Harris to be a major player in revving up the party’s liberal base ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Harris’s allies believe she will play a significant role, both by fundraising and participating in campaign rallies.  Democrats see Harris as uniquely positioned to drive up turnout among young people and women, who they believe will be critical to Democrats retaining their majorities in Congress. Historical trends suggest that Republicans should have an edge in the midterm elections, and Democrats say a strong turnout will be key for the party to keep power. “She is very popular with the base,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who advised President Biden’s campaign. “Between turnout and swing independent women, I would think she would be quite aggressive because of her own appeal and popularity.” The Hill

Pentagon says about 100 Americans still in Afghanistan, exit hampered by Taliban 'unpredictability' . . . An estimated 100 U.S. citizens are still waiting to leave Afghanistan, nearly a month after American troops officially left the country, with the "unpredictability" of the now-ruling Taliban purportedly the wildcard in the departures. "The biggest constraint to the departure of our citizens and others from Afghanistan, of course, remains the Taliban's unpredictability, regarding who is permitted to depart," a senior State Department official Monday told the reporters from Voice of America and other news outlets. Just the News

John Hinckley Jr., who nearly killed Reagan, granted unconditional release . . .  He shot Ronald Reagan and three others. He was declared innocent by reason of insanity. Which brought us to this day. Yes, John Hinckley Jr. can go anywhere he likes and do anything he wants. How do you ever prove someone who was insane enough to try to kill people is fully cured and won’t do it again? From an article published in the Washington Post Monday by Patti Davis, Reagan’s daughter:

Over the years, I have written other columns about John Hinckley, pretty much every time he has lobbied for — and gotten — more freedom. White House Dossier

 

U.S. Asked Russia About Offer of Bases to Monitor Afghan Terror Threat . . . The Pentagon’s top military officer discussed with his Russian counterpart an apparent offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his military’s bases in Central Asia to respond to any emerging terrorist threats in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, raised the subject at the request of President Biden’s National Security Council staff in his meeting last Wednesday with Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the U.S. officials said. Gen. Gerasimov was noncommittal during the Helsinki meeting, the U.S. officials said. A Kremlin spokesman declined to comment. The previously unreported exchange comes as the Biden administration is searching for ways to strengthen its capability to monitor and respond to potential terrorist dangers in Afghanistan now that U.S. forces have left the country. Wall Street Journal

 

 

Sharing my guest appearance speaking about Putin's Plan on Cross Word podcast

 

U.S., Russia to Hold Second Round of Talks in Switzerland After First Attempt Yields Little . . . The United States and Russia will hold their second round of strategic talks in Switzerland later this week, after the first attempt yielded little results, the State Department said Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to resume talks at a summit in June, and the first meeting was held on July 28 in Geneva. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that at the initial talks, the U.S. delegation discussed "the current security environment, national perceptions of threats to strategic stability, prospects for new nuclear arms control, and the format for future strategic stability dialogue sessions." Biden administration's second-ranking diplomat would lead the U.S. delegation to the talks with Russia in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will head an interagency delegation to the gathering. Newsweek

Americans with ‘natural immunity’ seek ways around COVID mandates . . . Vaccine holdouts with some immunity from prior coronavirus infections find themselves in the muddled middle as the nation debates how far to go in mandating the shots, with some employers giving them carve-outs and blue states taking hard lines. Spectrum Health in Michigan is granting exemptions to employees who can show positive antibody tests within the past three months. Major health care systems in eastern Pennsylvania said they will grant yearlong reprieves from their vaccine rules to those who demonstrate natural immunity.

Strict mandates in Washington and New York states require workers to get vaccines, flustering those who say they are already producing antibodies. Objecting workers, Sen. Ron Johnson says, previously infected deserve carve-out. Washington Times

 

Navy SEALs Told They’re Undeployable If They Don’t Get a COVID-19 Vaccine: Lawyers . . . Navy SEALs have been informed by superiors that they won’t be deployed if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine, even if they’re granted a religious or medical exemption, according to lawyers representing the elite special operations troops and a document seen by The Epoch Times. “What they’ve been told is if they apply for a religious accommodation, they will no longer be deployable,” R. Davis Younts, who is representing seven SEALs and is in talks to take on approximately 20 others, told The Epoch Times.
Timothy Parlatore, whose firm represents a number of SEALs and other service members concerned about the vaccines, said his clients have also been given a similar ultimatum.
Some SEALs have even been sent home mid-deployment for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine. Epoch Times

 

Democrats’ massive spending plans will blow up US budget for generations . . . “It’s going to cost nothing,” President Biden said of the Democrats’ massive $3.5 trillion spending binge, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scrambling to pass this week. Don’t believe it. The bill, which aims to move America closer to a European-style social-welfare state, will shorten the fuse on a debt bomb that’s already set to detonate. Last year, lawmakers enacted $3 trillion in (mostly) justified deficit spending for a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Yet the 2021 spending blowout is set to dwarf those costs. Lawmakers have already enacted a $1.9 trillion “stimulus” bill filled with unnecessary items like unemployment benefits that exceed the wages for many available jobs, and bailouts to states already running budget surpluses. The Senate has passed a $550 billion infrastructure bill that is financed mostly with gimmicks. Biden’s 8.4 percent discretionary spending increase would permanently raise the baseline by $1 trillion over the decade. New York Post

 

Mother bear, cub play on North Carolina school's playground . . . A teacher at a North Carolina school captured video of a mother bear and her cub playing on the playground slide outside the building. Betsie Stockslager Emry, a fifth-grade teacher at Isaac Dickson Elementary School in Asheville, said she was leaving the school's campus after the school day last week when she spotted the two bears climbing on the playground equipment. "This made my day," Emry wrote on Facebook. "I love how the mama goes down the big slide and quickly runs to the smaller slide -- only to bear hug the little one as they make it to the bottom." UPI