Robert Kennedy Jr's anti-vaccine group was banned from Facebook and Instagram for spreading misinformation. Here's a look at years of Kennedy's controversial claims.


Travis Clark
Fri, August 19, 2022

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York in 2017 for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.Evan Vucci/AP Images

Facebook and Instagram removed Robert Kennedy Jr's anti-vaccine nonprofit Children's Health Defense.


The group was spreading medical misinformation on the platforms.


Kennedy is a prominent anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist whose claims have been debunked.

Robert Kennedy Jr's anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense was removed by Facebook and Instagram this week after an initial 30-day suspension. Meta, which owns the social platforms, said the group repeatedly violated the company's medical-misinformation policies. In a newsletter email, the group called the decision a "clearly orchestrated attempt to stop the impact we have during a time of heightened criticism of our public health institutions."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Source: The New York Times

This isn't the first time Children's Health Defense, which Kennedy founded, has clashed with Meta. In 2020, it sued Facebook claiming the platform was censoring "valid and truthful speech." It's currently appealing a decision to dismiss the lawsuit.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (C), greets people during an anti-lockdown protest in Berlin, Germany as Michael Ballweg (L), founder of the Querdenker movement, looks on, on August 29, 2020.Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Sources: Vanity Fair and Deadline

Kennedy's personal account was removed from Instagram last year, though his Facebook page (with more than 340,000 followers) and his Twitter account (with nearly 440,000 followers) are still active.

Facebook

Source: New York Times

Kennedy, a former attorney for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has become the most prominent face of the anti-vaccine movement, which has launched countless claims and conspiracy theories that have been debunked.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a "Green Our Vaccines" rally in 2008Paul Morigi/Getty

His vaccine skepticism stretches back to 2005, when he published an article falsely claiming that the mercury-based preservative thimerosal was related to autism in children, which has been refuted by scientific organizations like the CDC.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Sources: Washington Post and Scientific American

Kennedy, the son of the assassinated U.S. attorney general, has doubled down on his anti-vaccine stance since, despite the medical community's pushback. During his Air America radio program in 2011, he claimed that government scientists were covering up a "massive fraud."

Rich Polk/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance

Source: Washington Post

Last year, he published an open letter to President Biden on the Children's Health Defense's online newsletter The Defender, claiming that the COVID-19 vaccines "cause injuries and death" — a mischaracterization in that "injuries" were common side effects like headaches, and that "deaths" were largely unrelated.

President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attend the 44th Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, on December 05, 2021.Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Source: Vanity Fair

Also last year, Kennedy released an online film fueling distrust in the vaccines among communities of color, invoking past medical-related trauma. Scientists and experts have pushed back against its misleading statistics and imagery.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks against legislation to narrow exemptions to state mandated vaccines during a rally at the state Capitol Tuesday, May 14, 2019, in Albany, N.Y.AP Photo/Hans Pennink

Source: NPR

Kennedy has repeatedly attacked the nation's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, including last year in a book that made the baseless claim that Fauci and Bill Gates were profiting from COVID-19 vaccines. He's also accused Fauci, without evidence, of having a financial stake in Moderna, a pharmaceutical company that developed one of the vaccines.

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, testifies during a US Senate Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine Covid-19, focusing on an update on the federal response in Washington, DC, on September 23, 2020.GRAEME JENNINGS/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesMore

Source: New York Times and Newsweek

Earlier this year, Kennedy railed against vaccine mandates at a rally in Washington, saying that they will "make you a slave." He also compared government efforts to mitigate the pandemic's effects to the Holocaust, implying that the US now is worse: "Even in Hitler Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland."

Eric Vitale/Getty Images

Sources: New York Times and CNN

Kennedy's anti-vaccine stance and rhetoric have alarmed his family. In January, after the rally, his sister Kerry tweeted that his "lies and fear-mongering yesterday were both sickening and destructive."

Twitter

Source: Twitter

Canada beats out the US for the most liveable cities in North America – but can you afford to live there?


Dina Al-Shibeeb
Fri, August 19, 2022


Canada beats out the US for the most liveable cities in North America – but can you afford to live there?

If you're looking for the best place to live, you might have to look outside the U.S.

No American cities ranked in the top 10 of the Global Liveability Ranking, a yearly assessment published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Economist’s sister company. The survey ranks 172 cities (previously 140) for their urban quality of life based on factors such as health care and political stability.

No North American cities managed to break the top three with those spots going to Vienna, Copenhagen and Zurich. Three major Canadian cities — Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver — were listed within the top 10.

The survey also breaks down their rankings to look at the best cities in regions, like North America.

Atlanta is the U.S.’s No. 1 city, ranking fifth in North America. Notably, Los Angeles has moved up the ranks to take the 37 spot and Houston took a tumble down the list coming in at 87 this year. Four out of the top five North American cities to live in are in Canada, with Calgary, Alberta ranked as No. 1, followed by Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

However, if you're considering a move up north, know that "liveable" doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be cheaper to live there.

What makes a city liveable?

More than 30 factors related to education, culture, the environment, health care, infrastructure and stability were analyzed. The index’s authors also explained that top cities were chosen by how they rebounded from the pandemic in addition to factoring in stability, good infrastructure and services and enjoyable leisure activities.

“Western European and Canadian cities dominate the top of our rankings,” the report said, citing how everyday life is “almost back to normal in these cities” after achieving high COVID-19 vaccination rates and ending lockdowns. In terms of the U.S.'s presence on the list, Houston was one of the biggest risers in the early 2021 survey after an early lifting of covid restrictions. However, as other cities followed suit, Houston fell 25 spots in the 2022 rankings.
High ranking in spite of the housing affordability problem?

When publishing our report for the five best Canadian cities for housing affordability and job growth, none of the EIU’s picks made the list.

While the large urban hubs — like Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal — offer the most lucrative jobs and career options, they also have some of the most expensive real estate in the nation.

A July 20 Leger survey, commissioned by RE/MAX, revealed that about 64% of Canadians list relocation among the top sacrifices they’d be willing to make to buy affordable homes.

The survey also found that 43% said the high price of real estate in their area was a barrier to entry into the market. Other hurdles include a higher cost of living (35%); a shortfall in salary (24%); market volatility (24%), and rising interest rates (24%).

This explains why the Canadian federal government is providing $1.5 billion Canadian ($1.1 billion U.S.) to extend the Rapid Housing Initiative and create at least 6,000 additional affordable housing units across Canada.

Is there hope with Calgary and Montreal?

When looking at benchmark real estate prices, both Calgary and Montreal are significantly more affordable when compared to Toronto and Vancouver, where prices for a detached home start at around $1 million.

In Montreal, the average home price reached $576,760 in July after a 6% annual increase. The highly-coveted detached homes for Canadian families saw their prices increase by 10% year-over-year to reach $550,000 in Montreal, and a median condo's average price increased by 9% year-over-year to $392,000.

So how about income? According to Statistics Canada, the average income in Montreal for 2020 is $49,600. This is lower than Canada’s national average, of $51,300 in 2020.

Calgary’s benchmark price of real estate reached $581,600 in July, going up 13% higher than levels reported last year. Detached homes in Calgary rose by 9% year-over-year to reach about $637,000 in July, and condos went up 6% to hit $275,000.

Calgary’s average income, meanwhile, is above the national average at $58,500 in 2020.

The issue of income vs housing prices

Vancouver’s benchmark price for detached homes is more than $2 million, representing a 13.4% increase from June 2021. Condo prices in Vancouver rose by 11.4% from July last year to hit a benchmark price of CA$755,000 (roughly $600,000).

With Vancouver’s real estate market being so expensive, one would expect the average income to be higher or even higher than Calgary’s, right?

Not exactly. According to Statistics Canada, the average income in Vancouver equals the national average at $52,600.

For Toronto, the average selling price is about $1.5 million, which remained 5.3% above the June 2021 level. The Greater Toronto Area’s prices for detached homes in July averaged about $1.4 million, semi-detached were about CA$1 million, and condo apartments were about $719,237.

Toronto’s average income too isn’t that much higher than the national average. For 2020, Torontians on average earned $52,700.

For many Americans and Canadians, seeing their country’s home prices outgrowing its income isn’t breaking news.

While all G7 countries have seen their house price-to-income ratio rise over the past year, Canada has one of the highest house price-to-income ratios out of 38 developed countries, according to the latest index from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the ratio index reached a whopping 141.9, meaning, home prices surged at a rate 41.9% faster than incomes since 2015, OECD’s data showed. Meanwhile, the U.S. ratio index was 130.5 in Q4 2021.

What makes Toronto and Vancouver so expensive?

Last year, Ontario received half of all the newcomers to Canada, with the majority aiming to settle in Toronto where all the lucrative job opportunities are.

Known for its picturesque beauty, metro Vancouver also attracts lots of immigrants. It is expected that population growth in British Columbia will once again be driven by immigration this year, when it will welcome a record of more than 70,000 permanent residents.

“Our region continues to grow because we attract people and businesses from all around the world,” said Toronto Regional Real Estate Board CEO John DiMichele in July.

DiMichele also urged policymakers at all levels to build more homes as “housing demand” will “remain strong over the long term.”

WHAT WE HAVE IS; 

MEDICARE FOR ALL, 

A SECURE PROFITABLE PUBLIC PENSION PLAN, 

A NATIONAL EI SYSTEM,

AND A SOCIALIST PARTY FEDERALLY AND PROVINCIALLY THE NDP

IMAGINE THIS A DECADE AGO

USA

Judge orders Brighton to put marijuana proposal to voters


Jennifer Eberbach, Livingston Daily
Fri, August 19, 2022 

Marijuana businesses in Pinckney may make the long held secrecy of pot use a thing of the past.

A Livingston County judge ordered the city of Brighton to allow voters to decide whether recreational marijuana stores can open in the city after the city's clerk rejected signed ballot petitions from a citizen's group earlier this month on a technicality.

The city won't appeal Chief Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty's order to put the question on the Nov. 8 ballot. A motion to appeal Hatty's decision failed in a 4-3 vote after council members went into a closed session to discuss it.

Mayor Pro Tem Jim Bohn said Friday city officials will hold a special meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday to review and approve ballot language.

"We have to comply with putting together ballot language," to submit to the county clerk, Bohn said.

City Clerk Tara Brown said Thursday she had not yet certified the petition because she had not yet received a copy of Hatty's final opinion and was waiting to see how city officials would decide to proceed.

A message seeking further comment was left with Brown Friday morning.

The Say Yes to Brighton Committee circulated ballot petitions to repeal the city's ban on adult-use retail marijuana establishments and allow at least two dispensaries to operate in the city.

The committee successfully collected 746 signatures, enough to get it on the ballot, and submitted petitions to Brown on Aug. 1, according to Livingston County court records.

MORE: Food Truck Fridays in downtown Pinckney expects biggest event yet on Friday

On Aug. 5, Brown notified the committee she had rejected the petitions due to a formatting issue that did not strictly comply with state election law.

The committee sued the city, its elections department and Brown, requesting an emergency hearing.

"Defendants (the city and Brown) are hereby enjoined from printing any ballots for the November 2022 general election that do not include the ballot question proposed by the Say Yes to Brighton Committee," Hatty wrote in an order signed Tuesday.

The city and Brown had an opportunity late Wednesday afternoon to make a case for why Hatty should not rule in the committee's favor at a show cause hearing.

John Janiszewski, an attorney representing Say Yes to Brighton Committee, with Detroit-based law firm Dykema Gossett, said Hatty ruled in the committee's favor at the hearing, upholding the terms of his previous order.

The judge's ruling "compels the city clerk to affirmatively act in a manner consistent with his ruling, meaning they have to certify everything and place the language on the ballot," Janiszewski said.

Messages seeking comment were left Thursday morning with Hatty's office and the city's attorney Michael Homier.

According to the ballot petition, voters would be asked whether to initiate an ordinance in the city that would allow for two adult-use retail marijuana establishments in the city, effective Dec. 1.

The petition language said the dispensaries would be allowed to offer delivery, drive-thru and exterior walk-up windows. The establishments would not be allowed within 800 feet of a public or private grade school or parks larger than 1 acre.
Will proposal make Nov. 8 ballot?

Livingston County Elections Coordinator Joseph Bridgman told the Livingston Daily Thursday that county elections officials are aware of the matter, but had not received any official notification from the city or court.

A message seeking further comment was left with Bridgman Friday morning.

The deadline for ballot language to be certified was Tuesday, and local clerks receiving ballot wording must forward it to the county clerk within two days of receiving it, he said Thursday.

Bridgman said the big question is whether the proposal will make it on the Nov. 8 ballot now that the deadlines have passed.

"At this point, the city hasn't certified it to us to be on the ballot."

Brown said she believes there would time to get it on the Nov. 8 ballot, depending on when the ballots are printed.

"It’s all a tight timeline, we’ll have to investigate that," she said.

In 2018, about 56% of voters in the city supported a state proposal that legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in the state.
Committee calls rejection 'frivolous'

"This is a frivolous attempt to disenfranchise the voters of the City of Brighton and should be rejected by the Court," the committee's attorneys argued in court documents.

Attorneys for the city argued Brown "properly performed her duties" and asked the court to dismiss the suit.

MORE: Howell nonprofit steps in to revive rundown motel in Howell Township

The city and Brown argued that a warning required to appear on ballot petitions was in the wrong place on the petitions.

The warning, which says if a petition circulator does not comply with election law, any signatures they collected will be invalid, appears on the upper right side of the petitions.

The city argued that the petitions were rejected because the warning should have appeared below a checkbox indicating whether the signature collector was paid or a volunteer.

In a letter Brown sent to the committee on Aug. 5, she said the petitions were rejected as "insufficient" due to the formatting issue.

"My job is pretty black and white, it’s to follow the law," Brown said Thursday. "That’s what I have to follow. I have no opinion on the matter, of course, because that's up for the voters to decide and not me."

City officials previously considered lifting the city's ban on marijuana businesses and creating an ordinance that would determine where in the city they could go and other regulations. They ultimately decided to reaffirm the ban.

Bohn said he was in favor of the city creating its own ordinance.

"I think the city needs to try to control their own destiny and have an ordinance," he said. "My view is we should try to get ahead of this and control where these would be best placed."

He said the process for creating an ordinance takes time and likely could not be done before the general election.

"With this one, I believe the train has left the station. It's basically fast-tracked, and we're heading down the home stretch now," he said.

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton ordered to put recreational marijuana proposal to voters

We praise people as ‘Good Samaritans,’ but there’s a complex history behind the phrase

Terry Giles, Professor of Theology, Gannon University
Fri, August 19, 2022 

THE CIONVER

Samaritans celebrate Shavuot atop Mount Gerizim, near the West Bank. Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua via Getty Images

“Good Samaritan” is a label often used to describe someone acting selflessly to benefit others, even if a total stranger.

Some may recognize that the phrase has its origin in a biblical story, one of Jesus’ parables recounted in the Book of Luke, Chapter 10. In this story, a traveler from the Samaritan community, a Middle Eastern ethnic and religious group, happens upon a man who had been robbed and beaten by the side of the road.

The injured man was ignored by two men passing by, both of whom belonged to groups who were religiously respected in Jesus’ Jewish community: a priest and a Levite, a tribe with special religious responsibilities. In contrast, the Samaritan gives first aid to the victim, places him upon his donkey, and transports him to an inn where the beaten man is housed, cared for and fed – with all his expenses paid by the Samaritan traveler.


As a professor of biblical studies who has written about Samaritans, I’ve learned that while most of my students have heard of the “good Samaritan,” fewer are aware of the social and historical realities reflected in the story – much less that the Samaritan community still exists today.

Samaritanism and Judaism share a common origin in ancient Israel, but the rift between the two communities had already been growing for centuries before Jesus’ birth.

The group’s sacred text is its own version of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: what Christians know as the Pentateuch, and Jews call the Torah. The Samaritan center of worship is on Mount Gerizim in the present-day West Bank, instead of Jerusalem, where the Jewish temple stood. The faith has its own priesthood, religious calendar and theology. According to Samaritan belief, a messianic figure called the Taheb will usher in an era of Divine Favor, during which the ark of the covenant will be revealed, and Mount Gerizim will be restored as the only recognized center for worship.

The Samaritan high priest sits in front of Samaritan religious scrolls around 1900. Print Collector/Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Throughout the group’s history – particularly during the first century, the backdrop for the story in the Book of Luke – the Samaritans have often been marginalized and discriminated against by their neighbors. The relationship between ancient Jews and their Samaritan neighbors was hostile, so people listening to the story would have been shocked that the hero was a Samaritan.

Effectively, the parable turns social reality on its head. Those expected to act righteously and model behavior for others to imitate failed where the Samaritan succeeded. The parable challenged social norms and prejudice based simply on ethnic origin, religious affiliation and where people made their home.

‘The Parable of the Good Samaritan,’ painted around 1575, from the Art History Museum in Vienna. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Biblical mentions

The story of the Good Samaritan is not the only time the Samaritan community makes its presence felt in the New Testament literature.

Just one chapter earlier, Luke 9, describes an unwelcome reception Jesus’ disciples receive as they are about to enter a Samaritan village. Jesus and his party are making their way to Jerusalem: an offense to the Samaritans’ belief that Mount Gerizim is the proper place for worship, an issue that often functioned as shorthand for all that separated the two communities.

The villagers therefore choose not to help the travelers on their way. In response, the disciples are ready to call down divine retribution as punishment from heaven. Jesus will have none of it, and rebukes the disciples while leaving the villagers in peace.

The Gospel of John depicts an especially significant conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan. Worn out by a recent journey, he asks a woman to draw water for him at a well. She is rather taken aback, for as the editor of the the chapter explains, Jews don’t mingle with Samaritans. Nevertheless, she does as he requests. Their ensuing conversation mentions major tenets of belief where Samaritanism and Judaism differ, despite their many similarities: their contrasting ideas about prophets, “Messiahs” and where to worship. According to the story, she and many people from the nearby vicinity become followers of Jesus.

Early converts

In fact, it is quite likely the Samaritans were among the first followers of Jesus’ movement.

In the Book of Matthew, Jesus directs his disciples to preach only to the house of Israel, and not to Samaritans or non-Jews, seeming to display an anti-Samaritan bias. The Gospel of John paints quite a different picture, however, first with the account of the Samaritan women at the well.

Later in John, when detractors accuse Jesus of having a demon and being a Samaritan, he only denies the first – seemingly refusing to distance himself from the Samaritans.

The Book of Acts, which describes the start of the Christian church, includes the story of Stephen, who is described as the first martyr among Jesus’ followers. Acts 7 depicts Stephen trying to defend himself against charges of blasphemy, using a text that is at least influenced by Samaritan tradition, if not a version of what will become the Samaritan Pentateuch itself.

The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament also shows Samaritan tendencies, such as referencing heroes from Samaritan tradition.

Despite this important role in the beginning of the Jesus movement, the relationship between Christianity and Samaritanism has not always been positive. The group has often been required to navigate between much larger and more powerful groups, whether they be Jewish, Christian or Muslim. Violence, displacement and conversions – both voluntary and forced – have dramatically diminished the Samaritan community over the centuries.
21st century Samaritans

Today, the Samaritans number somewhere around 1,000 people. Most are in communities outside Tel Aviv and near the West Bank city of Nablus, where they find themselves situated between Israeli and Palestinian cultures and institutions. Most Samaritans hold Israeli citizenship and have Israeli health insurance, but many also attend Palestinian schools, speak Arabic and have both Hebrew and Arabic names.

The small size of the modern Samaritan community makes them easy to overlook. But for those who are willing to listen, the message of the Good Samaritan – a message of kindness, not blinded by nationalistic, religious or ethnic prejudice – resonates as loudly as it ever has.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Terry Giles, Gannon University.

Read more:

Proclaim debt amnesty throughout all the land? A biblical solution to a present-day problem


What the Bible actually says about abortion may surprise you

HOUSING FOR $$$ NOT PEOPLE

Housing market ‘extremely volatile’ with private equity accounting for a third of the sales: Expert

Ronda Lee

Fri, August 19, 2022 

Inflation and recession fears turned a once red hot housing market into a cool down.

Fluctuating mortgage rates dropped below 5% and then up again, with the rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage at 5.22% from 4.99% the week prior.

“Housing used to be a very stable asset class and now it's extremely volatile,” Glenn Kelman, CEO at Redfin, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “One reason is that institutions used to account for about a quarter of the sales, but now it's about a third. You have real estate investment trusts (REITs) all active in the single family home market.”

Redfin analysis showed real estate investors bought 18.4% of homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2021, up from 12.6% a year earlier.

This year has been what some experts have called the worst housing affordability crisis, with many entry level and first-time buyers pushed out of the market.

For homebuyers wondering why it’s harder to win a bid, it may have something to do with the fact that they're not bidding against another family, but instead an institutional investor.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY 14th District) have criticized institutional investors for buying up homes, squeezing out first-time buyers and turning the properties into overpriced rentals.

When institutional investors buy and sell properties, the mindset is different from a traditional homebuyer or seller.

Huntington Beach, CA - April 22: The median home price in Orange Count has reached $1 million for the first time in history. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“An iBuyer is going to price ahead of the market and mark it down every week until it sells [and] makes the market more like the stock market, more volatile, more up and down,” Kelman said. “If you've lived in a house for 30 years and raised your kids there, there's no way you're going to mark it down after two weeks on the market.”

The strategy of private equity and REITs has caused a reduction in home prices, especially in areas that received a pandemic boom from domestic migration due to the ability to work remotely — like Boise, Salt Lake City, and Denver.

The upside is that this liquidation is causing home prices to come down, depending on where you are. If you’re still in the housing market, you may benefit — not good news if you’re selling your home.

“[REITs and iBuyers] are going to liquidate their inventory much faster, and they're the ones causing a correction more than anything,” Kelman said. “It's good when home prices go down.”

Ronda is a personal finance senior reporter for Yahoo Money and attorney with experience in law, insurance, education, and government. Follow her on Twitter @writesronda

‘This is war’: Protester arrested as KC approves change to housing affordability rate


Anna Spoerre, Kevin Hardy
Thu, August 18, 2022

 Kansas City, Missouri, United States


Chaos erupted Thursday at City Hall as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas shouted for his colleagues to keep voting over the chanting of KC Tenants members who overpowered the council meeting.

One leader with the advocacy group was arrested and escorted out of council chambers as dozens of KC Tenants members demonstrated against an ordinance proposed by Lucas that would grow the city’s housing inventory.

Lucas’ proposal eases the requirements for developers to create affordable housing. Opponents have balked at the city’s calculation for affordability, which would classify nearly $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment as affordable. Critics have said this cost doesn’t reflect affordable rent options for most working class Kansas Citians. Others have said the plan was too rushed. An attempt by Councilwoman Andrea Bough, District 6 at-large, to hold the ordinance a week failed.

Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who represents District 3 on the East Side, voted in favor of the ordinance, arguing that it would make way for more homes and a growing middle class in the district.

Robinson grew up in the district where she shared a block with professionals like doctors and a judge. She wants to see that again.

“We need people to come back home to the 3rd District,” she said.

Yet, she acknowledged that the ordinance is not going to improve living situations for those most vulnerable.

“This is not affordability for everyone,” she said. “But it’s affordability for some people, especially middle-class people.”

Maya Neal, a member of KC Tenants, was handcuffed and led out of the Kansas City Council chamber Thursday afternoon after protesters began shouting as city council members debated legislation on affordable housing. About 50 members of the city wide tenant union were on hand to protest the passing of housing legislation despite tenants showing strong opposition to the current definition of affordability.

But Councilman Brandon Ellington, District 3 at-large, noted that the ordinance does nothing to incentivize development in distressed parts of the city.

“This ain’t for the East Side,” he said. “This ain’t for the 3rd District.”

Ellington underscored that all the ordinance does is change the affordability threshold for developers.

“Anything else is theory,” he said.

The ordinance ultimately passed 9-4 before the overwhelming chants of KC Tenants forced council members to prematurely adjourn the meeting and hold over remaining agenda items until next week.

Ellington voted against the ordinance alongside Bough, Councilman Eric Bunch, District 4, and Heather Hall, District 1.

The council also moved legislation putting a $175 million bond issue before voters in November. If approved, the new debt would fund improvements to Bartle Hall, city pools and add $50 million into the city’s affordable housing trust fund. All council members but Ellington voted in favor.
The housing plan

The housing plan will create more lenient affordable housing requirements for private developers seeking city incentives. Under this change, the city will need to set aside fewer affordable units or the cost of units marked affordable will be raised.

Lucas’ legislative package is in response to a measure unanimously approved by council in January 2021 requiring that real estate developers seeking government financial aid include affordable units in most apartment projects, or pay into the housing trust fund. That legislation required one-fifth of the units in most taxpayer-subsidized apartment buildings to be affordable. Half of those had to be affordable to families earning 70% of the area median income and the other half to those earning 30%.

The new proposal changes that. In exchange for incentives, developers will have to set aside one-fifth of their units to those earning 60% of the area median income.

At that rate, the city would deem a one-bedroom apartment that costs $1,172 per month affordable to a single person. A family of three earning about $53,000 per year, for example, would qualify for a subsidized two-bedroom apartment that rents for $1,319 per month.

In the past 18 months, since that legislation passed, no new apartment complexes seeking taxpayer-funded incentives were proposed in Kansas City. Lucas has said he hopes the latest legislation will boost the supply of housing in the city and help slow the rapid rise in rents for people who can least afford it.

“We’re a city that needs to build more housing, and I’m concerned when people aren’t building housing in Kansas City,” Lucas said in an earlier interview. “We need more product to make sure that we can have places for people to live in our city, and I think this is a bold proposal that does that.”

A second piece of the mayor’s legislative package was held Wednesday. That piece, if passed, would fundamentally alter the approval process for projects receiving taxpayer incentives by giving the city manager power to approve standardized incentives for projects, rather than the City Council and economic development boards that now have oversight.

The mayor has said this change would help “fast track” projects, adding that developers have said it’s too difficult to build in Kansas City. Affordable housing advocates have argued that this ordinance would reduce opportunities for debate through public meetings.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas struggled to communicate with City Council members while members of KC Tenants protested Thursday afternoon in council chambers at City Hall. The council left the chamber to continue their meeting elsewhere.

KC Tenants opposes mayor’s plan

KC Tenants has been among the most vocal opposition to the ordinance.

The advocacy group conducted a survey with more than 700 participants who reported earning $2,500 a month, on average, and spending about $1,400 of it on housing expenses.

This comes out to more than half of their monthly earnings.

Those who put more than 30% of their income towards housing are considered cost-burdened, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those who put more than half their income towards housing are considered “severely cost-burdened.” This can affect people’s ability to afford other essential items, like groceries.

In Kansas City, the median cost of rent is $1,326, up 13% since July 2021. In certain ZIP codes, the median rent price is up by 42%. For many, these housing costs are rising much faster than incomes, Michael Frisch, urban planning professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, previously told The Star.

KC Tenants has pointed to inflation as a reason for affordability numbers looking higher than expected.

Tiana Caldwell, an organizer with the group and a member of the city’s health commission, was the sole person arrested Thursday, KC Tenants leaders said.

“I helped to found KC Tenants three and a half years ago and the mayor looked me in the face and promised he would fight for me. Now he’s selling me out,” she said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “They showed me I have to fight to survive. I’ll keep fighting. I’m going to be here and they’re going to have to face me every time. I have no fear. This is war.”

The Star’s Kynala Phillips and Mike Hendricks contributed.

Members of KC Tenants disrupted a City council meeting Thursday afternoon at City Hall. The protesters began shouting as city council members debated legislation on affordable housing. About 50 members of the city wide tenant union were on hand to protest the passing of housing legislation despite tenants showing strong opposition to the current definition of affordability.

Kansas City relaxes rules for housing developers. Here’s what that could mean for rent


Kynala Phillips
Sat, August 20, 2022 

In a heated Thursday meeting, the Kansas City Council voted to relax affordable housing requirements for developers seeking tax incentives from the city, walking back on a set of rules that the council approved unanimously about a year and a half ago.

Passed in a 9-4 vote, the ordinance allows tax incentives to go to developers without the requirement of setting aside “extremely affordable” units for tenants with low incomes. Developers will still have to set aside some units as affordable, but the rent rate for these units is higher: about $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

The ordinance received intense pushback from housing groups, namely the citywide tenant union KC Tenants, but also Kansas City Public Schools because of the way tax breaks for developers affect how much potential property tax revenue will go to city schools.

Kansas City tenants make an average monthly income of $2,500 and pay more than half of that to housing costs, according to early findings from a KC Tenants online survey with 700 respondents. Paying the city-deemed affordable rent of $1,200 for the average survey respondent would still take up nearly half of their income, which the federal government considers a “severe cost-burden.”

This new ordinance was just a piece of a package of housing policies Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas proposed recently. Here’s what it actually means for renters, and how other recent city council decisions could affect rent, too.

What exactly did the city council pass?

The city council passed one piece of a new housing plan, also known as ordinance 220700.

In exchange for tax incentives from the city, the new ordinance requires housing developers to set aside one-fifth—or 20%—of the housing units in a new development as “affordable” for people who are earning 60% of the median family income. The remaining majority of housing units in proposed developments can be market rate.

The council also voted to add a $175 million bond issue for Kansas City voters to decide on in November. If approved, $50 million of that money would go toward the city’s affordable Housing Trust Fund—more on that in a second.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas struggled to communicate with city council members while members of KC Tenants protested Thursday afternoon in council chambers at City Hall. About 50 members of the citywide tenant union were on hand to oppose the passing of housing legislation.

How does the city decide what rent is affordable?

The city calculates what’s considered “affordable” based on the federally-set median family income for the Kansas City metro area. This median income number factors in the incomes of homeowners and renters in both rich and poor areas in the metro, including areas like Johnson County.

For a single person, the area median income is about $68,000. For a family of four, It’s about $98,000.

The city uses this federally-set number to come up with what the income limits and rent caps will be for specially set aside “affordable” apartments in new developments.

Affordable housing advocates criticize this method because they argue that including higher income homeowners and jurisdictions skews the median income higher than what many city tenants actually make. They argue that with this kind of calculation, even rents that are deemed “affordable” by the city are still unaffordable to many Kansas City tenants.

What’s so different about the new affordability rules from the old ones?

The main change is that the city raised the income threshold it will use to calculate what rent is affordable for the specially set aside units in new developments.

Under the newly passed rules, the city will base the rent caps and income limits for affordable apartments on 60% of the median income.

The past requirements included apartments for those making up to 30% of the median income, as well as those making up to 70% of the median income.

That change from the previous rules setting aside apartments for those making 30% of the median income, to the new rules setting aside apartments for those making 60% of the median income, almost doubles the cost of rent that the city now considers affordable.

The mayor’s reasoning for changing these rules is that no developers applied for tax incentives in the first year and a half these affordability rules were in place.

District 3 Councilwoman Melissa Robinson voted in favor of the relaxed requirements, but she acknowledged that the new rules won’t benefit Kansas Citians with lower incomes.

“This is not affordability for everyone,” she said on Thursday. “But it’s affordability for some people, especially middle-class people.”

Last week, Mayor Quinton Lucas unveiled a legislative package that relaxes affordability requirements for developers building new housing in Kansas City.

What do these new rules actually mean for rent?

When developers get money from the city to build new housing, they will need to keep the rent for a certain number of apartments affordable to those making up to 60% of the median income. Then after that, the majority of the units in these new tax-backed developments will be market rate.

According to the city’s calculations, 60% of the median income for a two-person household in the Kansas City metro is about $47,000. One of these set aside affordable one bedroom apartments for that household would have a rent around $1,200.

The benchmark for affordable rent changes depending on the size and income of the household.

A family of four earning around $59,000 per year, for instance, could qualify for a three bedroom apartment with rent around $1,500.

What’s the reason behind the change?

Since those previous regulations were put in place in 2021, the city didn’t get any applications from developers looking to receive tax incentives and build affordable housing. The mayor suggested that relaxing the requirements would encourage developers to break ground throughout the city.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation did receive 31 applications for housing projects looking for tax breaks right before the council passed the 2021 ordinance for affordability regulations. That was the most applications received for projects seeking tax breaks in over three years.

“Unfortunately, since that time we’ve not seen the production of units,” Lucas said during the Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee on Wednesday.
Did the council pass anything else that will affect housing?

Yes, council also voted to put a $175 million bond issue on Kansas City voters’ November ballot.

This money would be coming from a general obligation bond, which is almost like a loan for local governments.

If voters approve the bond, it would put money toward a number of projects in the city.

Those projects include $45 million in repairs to Bartle Hall, $80 million in community center renovations (think swimming pools, playgrounds and other amenities) and $50 million toward the city’s Housing Trust Fund.

City residents voted on a similar GO bond in 2017, which went toward repairing the city’s infrastructure. The $800 million bond will be paid back by way of city taxes, including property taxes.
What is the Housing Trust Fund, and how will the extra money be used?

The Housing Trust Fund is a pot of government money that the city has reserved for helping fund affordable housing projects throughout the city.

Last month, 14 affordable housing projects were approved for $8 million in funding.

The Housing Trust Fund currently does not have close to the amount of money in it that it was designed to have. The fund is made up of $12.5 million of federal COVID relief funds from the American Rescue Plan, and an additional $10.5 million in local money that will be distributed over the next 25 years.

If voters approve the upcoming $175 million bond issue in November, the Housing Trust Fund will receive $50 million, which will put it closer to its intended $75 million budget.

Projects applying to receive money from the trust fund are screened and reviewed by a board of local housing advocates and experts. Those proposals are then sent to the city council for approval.

So what’s next?

The mayor’s original housing plan also included a measure that would fundamentally change the way new development projects getting tax breaks are approved in City Hall by giving the city manager power to approve standardized incentives for projects, rather than the City Council and economic development boards that now have oversight.

The mayor has said this change would help “fast track” projects, adding that developers have said it’s too difficult to build in Kansas City. Affordable housing advocates have argued that this ordinance would reduce opportunities for debate through public meetings.

This piece of the plan was put on hold during Wednesday’s Neighborhood Planning and Development committee meeting, as well as an ordinance that would regulate accessory dwelling units.

The Star’s Kevin Hardy and Anna Spoerre contributed reporting.

This story was republished to change the headline from “Here’s how that could raise rents” to “Here’s what that could mean for rent” because the ordinance only directly changes the rules and raises the rent caps for future developments. It does not directly change current rents in Kansas City development projects.

DeSantis teacher shortage plan: 'Shortcutting the process' won't work, Florida union president says

Seana Smith

·Anchor

Fri, August 19, 2022 at 11:51 AM·3 min read

Tens of thousands of teacher openings are going unfilled as students head back to the classroom across the country, prompting school districts to do everything they can to address the dire teacher shortage.

Florida, which has about 8,000 open teaching positions, is taking an unusual approach to fill the vacancies. The state is allowing military veterans without a bachelor’s degree and no prior experience to apply for a temporary five-year teaching certificate while they finish their bachelor's degrees.

Not everyone is on board with the new plan, though. Teachers' unions across the state are against the idea, warning it will not help solve the long-term staffing issue.

“This doesn't really get at the root of the problem,” Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “We want to make sure that we have fully-trained, fully-credentialed teachers in our classroom with the experience and support they need to teach every child. This idea of shortcutting that process doesn't work. It never has."

Gov. DeSantis speaks at a press conference to discuss Florida's civics education initiative of unbiased history teachings in Sanford, FL, June 30, 2022. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The idea was spearheaded by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who criticized union bosses for "insisting teachers get certain credentials" in a video posted to his Twitter account.

Through his new plan, veterans in the teacher roles are required to pass subject tests and have completed 60 college credits in order to qualify for the certificate.

"I appreciate out veterans," Spar said. "I think we all do, and honor them for the work and service they've done to our country, keeping us safe, and protecting our freedoms."

And while there are veterans that end up working in schools and become teachers through the traditional process, he said, "you can't just say because someone has been in the military or someone has been in a classroom even, that makes them a highly qualified teacher. It takes skill, it takes training, and it takes a desire to be there."

Still, the teacher shortage has reached crisis levels. There are currently 300,000 fewer teachers nationwide compared to before the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as teachers are leaving the profession in droves. A recent survey from the American Federation of Teachers found that 74% of teachers were dissatisfied with their job, up from 41% two years ago.

The main reasons, according to Randi Weingarten, president of the second-largest teachers' union American Federation of Teachers (AFT), are low pay, unsafe working environments stemming from COVID guidelines, and the politicization of education.

For example, the average teacher salary in the U.S. was roughly $66,397 for the 2021-22 school year, which is more than $2,000 less than a decade ago when adjusted for inflation, according to the National Education Association (NEA).

And in Florida specifically, Gov. DeSantis has banned the teaching of critical race theory in classrooms, putting teachers in difficult situations when it comes to discussing TKTK.

"If you're constantly maligning teachers and staff who work in our schools, if you're underpaying them, under-resourcing them, then they're not going to stay," Spar said. "And that's what we're seeing here in the state of Florida."

Seana Smith is an anchor with Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @SeanaNSmith.

Calmes: The little-known Senate race that could make a big difference for Democrats

Jackie Calmes
Fri, August 19, 2022 

Cheri Beasley, North Carolina's former Supreme Court chief justice, is now the state's Democratic nominee for Senate. (Ben McKeown / Associated Press)

If Democrats can keep control of just one chamber of Congress in November’s midterm elections, as many analysts have long predicted, it’s best that the house they’re favored to hold is the Senate.

The Senate has the power over a president’s judicial nominees. God forbid that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell gets another turn at blocking a Democratic president’s picks for the federal bench, and thus ends President Biden’s effort to offset the right-wing tilt to that third branch of government.

All year Democrats have despaired of keeping their House majority, though a few politicos in and out of the party are starting to sound optimistic, given a spate of positive breaks and the backlash against the Supreme Court’s overturning of abortion rights. The Senate, however, has been another story all along: Democrats have been cautiously confident — and Republicans fretful — that they could hold their 50 seats and perhaps even add to them.

To that end, it’s fitting that one of the candidates who could help keep Democrats in power to confirm judges is herself the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Cheri Beasley.

Beasley is running against North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd, a gun store owner who won former President Trump’s endorsement last year. “A lot of you don’t know him well,” Trump said of Budd when he conferred his blessing. “He will fight like hell.”

Fight like hell — just what Trump told the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021. Indeed, after that day’s Capitol rampage, Budd voted against certifying Biden’s election. He said the insurrectionists were “just patriots standing up.”

Trump was right about Budd’s low profile. Beasley, too, isn’t well known. She’s, well, judicious rather than provocative, and he’s been merely a backbench belligerent for Trump in Congress, overshadowed by blowhards like his fellow North Carolinian Madison Cawthorn. That’s one reason this contest hasn’t gotten more national attention.

That should change. If Beasley wins, it would be a Democratic pickup: She and Budd are vying to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard M. Burr.

Beasley, who would be the only Black woman in the Senate if elected, is a proven vote-getter. She was first appointed to the state judiciary in 1999 by a Democratic governor and then twice elected to the district court seat. In 2008 she won election to the state Court of Appeals, defeating an incumbent judge.

Another Democratic governor named Beasley to a vacancy on the state’s Supreme Court in 2012, and two years later she won statewide election to the seat. In 2019, the current Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, appointed her as chief justice. While she lost reelection by just 401 votes in 2020, Beasley still got about 11,000 more votes than Biden received in North Carolina.

The bigger Senate attention-getters have been races in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and, to a lesser extent, New Hampshire, where incumbent Democrats — Mark Kelly, Catherine Cortez Masto, Raphael Warnock and Maggie Hassan, respectively — are fighting to keep their seats. Kelly, Cortez Masto and Warnock all lead in the polls over their weak Trumpist rivals.

Then there’s Wisconsin, where MAGAt conspiracist Sen. Ron Johnson is one of the few Republican incumbents who’s endangered.

Also higher-profile than North Carolina’s Senate contest are the open-seat races in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which feature Democrats with records as populist champions of the working class — Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman — against celebrity converts to Trumpism, bestselling author J.D. Vance in Ohio and TV personality and crudite fancier Mehmet Oz.

As Politico reported Thursday, “Republicans’ hopes of retaking the Senate rest on a slate of Donald Trump's hand-picked nominees. And, across the board, they appear to be struggling.”

Budd has struggled less than the other Trumpian Republicans, yet he still has just a slight lead in the few public polls on the race; Beasley led in a June poll. Analysts call the contest a toss-up. North Carolina is no red state; the governor has been a Democrat for 26 of the last 30 years.

As usual, however, Democrats in North Carolina and elsewhere have a bigger challenge than Republicans in getting their voters out for non-presidential elections, especially those who are young and Black. The party's recent gains may help send more Democrats to the polls — enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, with its healthcare benefits for lower drug costs, insulin price caps for Medicare recipients and Obamacare subsidies; as well as new laws providing care to veterans exposed to toxins and making unprecedented, job-creating investments in the computer chip industry.

As crucial as what Democrats have done is what Republicans are doing to themselves: opposing those popular measures, taking extreme antiabortion positions and keeping the unpopular Trump front and center.

The bombshells from the Jan. 6 House select committee’s hearings have contributed to the party’s stench of antidemocratic extremism. The year’s shooting massacres have turned many voters against pro-gun politicians; Budd voted against the bipartisan gun control law, even as both sitting Republican senators from North Carolina backed it.

Still, inflation remains high and Democrats know an onslaught of well-financed Republican attacks are coming. Beasley, for example, already has weathered false, racially tinged assaults much like those Senate Republicans leveled against Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her confirmation hearing; in each case, Republicans distorted the Black jurists’ records and prior careers as public defenders to paint them as soft on criminals.

But here’s the thing: Jackson won confirmation. And Beasley can win election. It’s indicative of the improved climate for Democrats that they can, in fact, look to a place like North Carolina for a possible Senate win. The state deserves better in the Senate, and so do we.

@jackiekcalmes

Mandela Barnes has a seven-point lead over Sen. Ron Johnson in the Wisconsin Senate race, while Tony Evers and Tim Michels are in a tight contest for governor: poll

John L. Dorman
Sat, August 20, 2022 

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, left, appears at a rally outside the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on July 23, 2022.AP Photo/Scott Bauer

Barnes has a 51%-44% lead over Johnson in the Wisconsin Senate race, per a new Marquette Law poll.


Johnson is running for reelection to a third term, while Barnes hopes to topple the GOP incumbent.


The Wisconsin Senate race remains one of the best Democratic pickup opportunities this year.

Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has a seven-point lead over two-term Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in one of this year's marquee Senate races, according to a new poll conducted by Marquette University Law School.

The survey showed Barnes with 51% support among registered voters in the Badger State, while Johnson received 44% support; three percent of respondents were unsure of which candidate they would support in November.

Among likely voters, Barnes led Johnson 52%-45%.

(A Fox News poll released on Thursday showed Barnes leading Johnson 50%-46% among registered voters.)

In Wisconsin, both Barnes and Johnson are performing well among their respective bases. But the swing state, which has backed Democratic nominees in seven of the last eight presidential contests, has become sharply polarized in other statewide races.

Among the pool of registered voters, Barnes received the support of 95% of Democrats, with 4% of party voters crossing over to back Johnson.

Johnson earned the support of 92% of Republicans, with 7% of GOP voters indicating they would vote for Barnes.

Independents gave a clear edge to Barnes in the latest survey, with the Democratic challenger ahead of Johnson 52%-38%, a significant shift from June, when both men were tied at 41% support among this pivotal voting group.

Voter enthusiasm is quite high among members of both parties. Eighty-three percent of Republicans indicated they will vote with absolute certainty this fall, compared to 82% of Democrats, per the poll. Sixty-six percent of Independents said they are certain to cast a ballot in the upcoming election.

Last week, both Barnes and Johnson performed strongly in their respective Senate primaries.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Johnson has long enjoyed strong support among grassroots conservatives and remains a political ally of former President Donald Trump — making his renomination as the Republican Senate nominee a no-brainer. But Barnes has spent most of the year locked in a competitive primary.

Until last month, Barnes' top challengers were state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, and Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, but all three left the race within the span of two weeks and threw their support behind the lieutenant governor — who since 2019 has been the governing partner of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a state with a GOP-controlled legislature.

Evers, who is running for reelection to a second term, leads GOP gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels 45%-43% among registered voters and 46%-44% among likely voters.

Barnes, a former state lawmaker, has gained a high level of visibility crisscrossing the state to visit localities from his native Milwaukee to rural Bayfield County in his capacity as lieutenant governor.

But despite the polling lead, it won't be easy to topple Johnson, who despite having a 38% favorability rating in the survey, was able to defeat former three-term Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in both 2010 and 2016 and is running for reelection is what could be a strong Republican midterm cycle.

While Barnes has emphasized his plan to expand the Child Tax Credit and touted his support of federal voting rights legislation, Johnson has continually criticized President Joe Biden over the economy and immigration, among other issues.

The race presents a major opportunity for both parties. Trump won the state in 2016, but Biden flipped it back to the Democrats in 2020 — highlighting its political competitiveness.

And in the evenly-divided Senate, where Democrats control the upper chamber by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote, a net gain in seats for the party would give them the breathing room to pass bills without having to receive mandatory buy-in from moderate Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

While Manchin played a key role in crafting the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes record funding for climate initiatives, the lawmaker also single-handedly dismantled the more expansive Build Back Better Act, the now-defunct social-spending package that was backed by most Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Marquette Law School polled 811 registered voters from August 10 through August 15; the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

Biden’s chief of staff says president is comparable to historic predecessors

Martin Pengelly
Fri, August 19, 2022 

Photograph: Caroline Brehman/EPA

In a bullish interview, the White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, compared Joe Biden’s achievements in his first two years in office to historic successes under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson.

Related: ‘Biggest step forward on climate ever’: Biden signs Democrats’ landmark bill

Speaking to Politico, Klain said: “The president has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since [Dwight D] Eisenhower, the most judges confirmed since Kennedy, the second-largest healthcare bill since Johnson, and the largest climate change bill in history.”

Klain’s comments, aimed at voters contemplating the midterm elections, are an indication that Democrats plan to campaign heavily on their accomplishments in the less than two years they have been in power. He also pointed to “the first time we’ve done gun control since President Clinton was here, the first time ever an African American woman [Ketanji Brown Jackson] has been put on the US supreme court.

“I think it’s a record to take to the American people.”

Klain’s references to historical figures chimes with Biden’s own interests. The president has regularly consulted historians, among them Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Beschloss and Eddie Glaude Jr, while Jon Meacham, a biographer of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and George HW Bush, has been a close adviser in shaping Biden’s effort to restore “the soul of the nation” after the presidency of Donald Trump.

Democrats control Congress by narrow margins. Opposition parties commonly do well in the first elections of a presidential term, and Republicans remain favoured to take control of one or both chambers. But legislative successes, most recently the passage of a major domestic and climate crisis spending plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, have given Democrats hope.

One senator, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, pointed to the need to communicate better, writing: “I feel like the media is having a hard time metabolising the fact that this Congress has been historically productive. And acknowledging the size of these accomplishments, and the degree of difficultly – it’s just hard to do accurately without sounding a bit left-leaning.”

There is some indication that Democrats are becoming more popular. They have established polling leads in key Senate races including Arizona, Pennsylvania and Ohio, against Trump-endorsed Republicans who are struggling to attract moderates and independents.

In Kentucky on Thursday, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, seemed to downplay expectations. McConnell said: “I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different – they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.

“Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly.”

In his Politico interview, Klain said: “Elections are choices, and the choice just couldn’t be any clearer right now.

“Democrats have stood up to the big special interests. They stood up to the big corporations and insisted that all corporations pay minimum taxes, stood up to the big oil companies and passed climate change legislation. They stood up to Big Pharma and passed prescription drug legislation. They stood up to the gun industry and passed gun control legislation.

“Things that [Washington DC was] unable to deliver on for decades because the special interests had things locked down, Joe Biden and his allies in Congress have been able to deliver on.”

Asked about the Republican counter-offer, he cited issues Democrats hope can galvanise voters, prominently including attacks on abortion access after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, the ruling which protected the right.

“We have an extreme Maga group in the Republican party that has no real plan to bring down inflation,” Klain said, referring to Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, Make America Great Again. “They obviously want to pass a nationwide ban on abortion. They sided with big pharma. They sided with the climate deniers … most of them sided with the gun lobby.

“And so I think that choice [is] between a party that’s standing up to the special interests and delivering change and … an extreme party, a party that’s talking about … abolishing social security and Medicare every five years.

“The extreme nature of our opponents, whether it’s with regard to democracy or social security, are all part of a movement that is just very different than we’ve seen in recent years in this country.”

Klain said the worst day of the presidency was 26 August 2021, when 13 US service members were killed by a suicide bomb during the evacuation of Kabul.

That, he said, was “just a terrible tragedy and certainly the darkest day”.

Questions have been raised, including by Democrats, about whether Biden is too old to run for a second term. Klain said Biden’s experience – he will turn 80 in November – helped make him an effective leader.

Related: Judge orders DoJ to prepare redacted Trump search affidavit for possible release

Biden, he said, has “a personal history of tremendous, joyous successes and devastating tragedies. And I think that helps moderate his spirit at all times.

“There is nothing I can ever walk into the Oval Office and tell him that’s any bigger than the bigger things he’s already experienced in life. And nothing I could ever tell him is any sadder than the saddest things he’s already experienced in life. And I think that gives him a very level temperament as president.”

Klain was also asked about complaints, particularly from Republicans, that Biden does not maintain a high public profile.

“I don’t think it’s true he’s out there less than his predecessors,” Klain said. “I just think Donald Trump created an expectation of a president creating a shitstorm every single day.”