by Lauren McGaughy, The Texas Newsroom ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox . Reporting Highlights Winning Record: In the Texas Capitol, where the vast majority of bills fail to pass, all but three of Elon Musk’s public priorities became law this legislative session. Company Gains: Musk’s wins include laws that will benefit companies like SpaceX and Tesla. Playing the Long Game: Musk has steadily invested his personal and professional capital in Texas over more than a decade. Most of his businesses are now headquartered here. These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. Elon Musk was pleading. It was April 2013, and Musk stood at a podium in a small committee room in the basement of the Texas Capitol. The Tesla CEO asked the legislators gathered before him to change state law, allowing him to bypass the state’s powerful car ...
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Joe Biden At least 61 members of Congress submitted a letter to the US president expressing concern with his mental state. US President Joe Biden must pass a cognitive exam or abandon the 2024 presidential race, 61 Republican members of the House of Representatives demanded on Thursday in an open letter to the commander-in-chief. “The United States’ national security relies on a cognitively sound Commander in Chief, and it is evident that you do not fit that bill,” the letter stated, citing the concerns of the American public – 57% of voters don’t think Biden is “mentally fit” to lead the country, according to one recent poll – and the president’s own refusal to address those concerns in the first three years of his term. Led by Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House doctor, the letter’s signatories urged Biden to “submit to a clinically validated cognitive screening assessment and make those results available to the public” or retire a...
Joe Biden US President Joe Biden has formally announced his 2024 re-election bid, a move that had been widely expected for months. The announcement comes despite opinion polls showing that most voters, including a majority of fellow Democrats, did not want the 80-year-old to seek a second term. In a video statement released on Tuesday, Biden touted his new campaign as a fight for democracy in the US. He said his pledge to fight “ for the soul of America ,” which was the core message of his 2020 run, remains valid. “ The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer ,” Biden said in the address. “ I know what I want the answer to be and I think you do too. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election .” The video comes exactly four years after the launch of Biden’s previous presidential campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris joins him on the ticket again. The announcement puts Bid...
President Biden, PM Albanese and PM Sunak on the AUKUS Partnership PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It’s an honour — honour to be here to welcome Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Sunak. And it’s my honour to welcome you both to the United States as we take the next critical step in advancing the Australia, U.S., UK partnership — AUKUS. It’s an unusual name, “AUKUS,” but it’s a powerful entity. Video Below You know, when our countries first announced AUKUS 18 months ago, I’m not at all sure that anyone would have believed that — how much progress we’d be able to make together and how quickly we’d accomplish it. And I want to thank the members of all our teams who helped bring us to this pivotal moment sitting here in front of us. Thank you all very much. Secretary Austin; Secretary of the Navy Del Toro — (applause) — thanks for letting us come to your house; Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gilday — where are you, Admiral? There you are....
Joe Biden Surprise Visit, Meets President Zelensky As the world prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, I am in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong. Today, in Kyiv, I am meeting with President Zelenskyy and his team for an extended discussion on our support for Ukraine. I will announce another delivery of critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems, and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments. And I will share that later this week, we will announce additional sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine. Over the last year, the Unit...
Joe Biden Photo YouTube Joe Biden Inflation in America is continuing to come down, which is good news for families and businesses across the country. Today’s data confirm that annual inflation has fallen for seven straight months. Inflation for food at the grocery store came down again last month. Gas prices are down about $1.60 from their peak last year. And real wages for working Americans are up over the last seven months, delivering welcome breathing room for American families. We are seeing this progress even as unemployment remains at its lowest level since 1969 and job growth remains resilient. There is still more work to do as we make this transition to more steady, stable growth, and there could be setbacks along the way. That is why my unwavering focus is on continuing to lower costs for families, rebuild our supply chains, and invest in America. Right now, because of the Inflation Reduction Act we passed last year, we are lowering prescription drug costs, health c...
FTX Failed crypto exchange was a money laundering op Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, allegedly laundered billions of dollars through Ukraine by setting up his company as the central clearinghouse for all crypto donations to Kiev’s war effort, according to the Gateway Pundit. Democratic politicians sending aid to Ukraine would see their money come back in the form of donations through FTX, the outlet claimed. FTX launched crypto donation platform Aid for Ukraine in March, setting itself up as the central clearing house for all cryptocurrency donations to Kiev’s war effort. While the exchange was supposed to route those donations to the National Bank of Ukraine, the report suggests it funneled at least some of the money back to the US through political donations. Bankman-Fried was the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party for the midterms, pouring some $38 million into candidates’ coffers in 2022 alone. The Ukrainian government had alread...
Declaration on U.S.-Pacific Partnership White House Press Release: We—the governments of Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and the United States of America—meet on the occasion of the first-ever U.S.- Pacific Islands Summit, held at the White House in Washington, D.C. from 28-29 September 2022. Forged by shared history, sacrifice, and values, our partnership has contributed to prosperity, peace, and security in the Pacific Islands, the United States, and the world for generations. Today, in the face of a worsening climate crisis and an increasingly complex geopolitical environment, we recommit ourselves to working together in genuine partnership to address the mounting challenges of our time. First, we resolve to strengthening our partnership. We share a vision f...