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Georgia Voters Weigh Choices Ahead of Biden-Trump Debate in Atlanta

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Georgia Voters Weigh Choices Ahead of Biden-Trump Debate in Atlanta

(CTN News) – Joe Biden and Donald Trump were separated by just under 12,000 votes when they last appeared on the Georgia ballot. Four years later, the rivals are ready to debate this week in Atlanta, vying for a percentage of Georgia voters who might swing the presidential race.

Some of these disproportionately powerful voters live in Alpharetta, an Atlanta suburb where new subdivisions are popping up, helping to turn this traditionally Republican stronghold purple. Kerry Webster, reading a novel on a poolside chair in the sun at Alpharetta’s Wills Park Pool, is the type of voter Biden and Trump must persuade.

Webster expresses dissatisfaction with her presidential choices. Even though she voted for Trump in 2020, he has since been convicted on 34 criminal counts and is facing additional charges, including in Georgia.

A grand jury accused Trump just a few miles from the debate stage for attempting to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.

“He’s a con man. “He’s not really a good person—he’s really not,” Webster stated. “But the economy was better, and Biden, I don’t know if he does a lot for us, hate to say.”

However, Webster does not intend to watch Thursday’s discussion. Despite residing in a state and a suburban town that helped decide the election in 2020, she feels unmotivated about her alternatives and wonders if her vote really matters.

Prasad and Mansi Vichare keep an eye on their children splashing nearby while a DJ plays Taylor Swift on loop and older children jump off a towering diving board for prizes. The Vichares identify themselves politically independent. Even though they want to vote, they believe arguments are largely ineffective.

“To be honest, they’re a waste, but that’s just my opinion,” Prasad told the crowd. “I’m indifferent,” said Mansi, who believes the candidates simply tell people what they think they want to hear. “I feel like it’s somewhat fake, and so I don’t know if it’s really that helpful.”

Madalyn Ford, a few lounge chairs away, is concerned that some voters have not fully understood the stakes.

Ford claims she has voted for both Republicans and Democrats, but never Trump. At 73, she is concerned about the United States, which her grandchildren will inherit, and she promises not to miss the debate.

“This is really important for Biden,” Ford predicted. “He should obtain a decent night’s sleep. I don’t think he has dementia, but he’s old and this is critical.”

Polls indicate that Biden has increased support among older voters, particularly women. But support from younger voters of color, who have traditionally been Democrats’ bread and butter, appears to be waning.

Deanna McKay, a millennial, has questioned whether her vote matters. McKay voted for Trump in 2016, and Biden in 2020. She says she’ll watch the debate with an open mind.

“Socially Biden, but financially Trump, and that’s kind of a tough place to be,” she told me. “But it’s a little frustrating because these aren’t the two candidates I would choose.”

McKay says she is most concerned about affordable housing and reproductive rights. She did not directly blame Trump for overturning Roe v. Wade, despite his three Supreme Court nominees that secured a conservative majority.

The Trump campaign built its first Georgia field office this month, in a neat brick facility 20 miles south of Atlanta that shares space with an insurance agency. On a recent weekday, staff members encouraged supporters to see the campaign’s first field office, grab coffee and doughnuts, and sign up to volunteer.

Ben Carson, Trump’s secretary of housing and urban development, flew to Georgia for the grand opening and used an analogy to highlight the choices that voters would face in November.

“Would you rather have the surgeon who has a bad bedside manner but saves everybody, or the one with a very sweet personality who kills everybody?” Carson asked. “Which one would you take?”

The Trump campaign claims to have over a dozen field offices in Georgia. However, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has expressed concern that the campaign’s ground game may be lacking.

“This year, it will be clearer than ever that Georgians are ready to help send their state’s sixteen electoral votes to the GOP column this fall,” said Henry Scavone, the Republican National Committee’s Georgia communications director, in a statement.

Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992

In 2020, Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992. However, Republicans captured almost all statewide offices in the subsequent midterm elections. The only exception was Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, who was re-elected in a runoff that year.

Democrats still feel Georgia is winnable and view a strong ground effort as critical to securing additional victories. The Biden team plans to organize 200 events in Georgia ahead of the debate, hoping to capitalize on the national limelight and the two candidates’ side-by-side perspectives.

Jonae Wartel, the Biden campaign’s senior adviser in Georgia, believes establishing a presence nationwide, rather than simply in the Democratic bastion of metro Atlanta, is a major component of the campaign’s Georgia plan. The campaign claims it has 14 Georgia field offices and will have 100 employees by the end of the week.

“Right here in our backyard, the world is going to be watching how President Biden is fit to lead us into another four-year administration and Donald Trump is continuing to be a threat,” Wartel tells me. “That contrast will be on full show. It is the campaign’s responsibility to take advantage of this.”

Vice President Harris said she has flown to Georgia so frequently that people have begun to joke about her living there.

“I said maybe!” she recently quipped at a Juneteenth block party to commemorate the launch of a coordinated campaign office in Atlanta.

“We will never allow anyone to take away our authority or silence us. “That’s what this election is about,” Harris told the gathering as they ate BBQ and snow cones. “The people of Georgia are going to make the decision, and the decision will be four more years.”

Voter Val Acree stated unequivocally that she supports Biden and Harris. However, she is concerned about the coming months.

“I’m very nervous,” Acree admitted. “There’s a lot of disinformation and disengagement out there, so I’m doing everything on my part that I can to get people engaged.”

That’s why Acree says she’ll be watching Biden and Trump debate just a few miles away.

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Millennials in Canada Have Turned their Backs on Justin Trudeau

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Millennials are increasingly distancing themselves from Trudeau
Millennials are increasingly distancing themselves from Trudeau - CBC Image

Justine Trudeau and his Liberal Party are currently engaged in a fierce battle for second place against Jagmeet Singh’s socialist NDP, as both parties find themselves trailing by 20 points behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

A recent poll indicates that 38% of Canadians consider Trudeau to be the most ineffective leader the nation has encountered in over fifty years. An impressive 47% of Canadian Millennials indicated they would support Poilievre if an election were to take place today, while nearly half of all Canadians express a desire for an election to be called this year.

Pierre Poilievre’s strong appeal among young voters can be attributed primarily to economic factors: soaring inflation, a pressing cost-of-living crisis, and the challenge of housing affordability are pushing many away from the Liberals, who have held power for nearly nine years.

According to UnHeard, Millennials are increasingly distancing themselves from Trudeau due to his stringent measures aimed at controlling the internet to combat alleged disinformation, as well as his climate change initiatives, notably the carbon tax.

protest in downtown Toronto against mass immigration took place on Canada Day

Protest in downtown Toronto against mass immigration on Canada Day – TNC Image

An increasing number of Canadians are becoming aware of Trudeau’s ineffective policies and his approach to mass immigration. This past summer, there was significant outrage among parents of teenagers and young adults as they observed their children remaining at home without jobs.

The primary concern stemmed from the fact that most low-skilled and entry-level positions were being filled by unskilled, temporary foreign workers, predominantly from India.

There has been a notable rise in criminal activities linked to international students and unvetted temporary residents who are becoming involved with Punjabi gangs in Canada, contributing to a surge in auto thefts nationwide.

Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives are actively seeking to alter Trudeau’s approach to mass immigration and prioritize the construction of more housing should they come into power.

Significantly, Pierre Poilievre is perceived as more trustworthy than Trudeau, with over half of Canadians characterizing Poilievre as “open and honest about his actions, decisions, and intentions,” while only 39% share that sentiment regarding Trudeau.

The characteristics in question may shed light on Poilievre’s favorable polling, particularly among younger voters and women, who have historically leaned towards the Liberals or the NDP rather than the Conservatives.

The Liberal Party’s support has dwindled to an estimated 7% of Canadians, revealing a significant number of disillusioned voters eager for transformation. Poilievre is emerging as the type of leader that resonates with the desires of many Canadians.

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U.N. Special Rapporteur Calls on Thailand’s Banks to Cut-Off Myanmar Junta

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UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews speaks during a press conference after a meeting with Thailand's Parliamentary Committee

The U.N special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar has said the Bank of Thailand, commercial banks, and the anti-money laundering office are working on measures to stop the Myanmar Junta from acquiring weapons through Thailand’s banking system.

Tom Andrews the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said that some banks commercial in Thailand had aided Myanmar Junta’s by facilitating transactions that supplied military equipment to the Junta through the international banking system.

He called on the Bank of Thailand and financial institutions to do more to stop Myanmar’s junta acquiring weapons which they use on civilians to maintain power.

The special rapporteur was in Bangkok to address a parliamentary committee on security, he called on the Thai government to stop financial transactions that help supply weapons to Myanmar’s junta in line with a plan promoted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that sets out an end to violence as a first step toward peace.

In his 2023 report “The Billion Dollar Death Trade,” Andrews noted that Singapore had implemented a clear policy opposing the transfer of weapons to Myanmar.

Thailand's Banks

Thai Baht – File Image

Thailand’s Banks Lacked Clear Policy

As a result, exports of weapons and related materials from Singapore-registered entities using the formal banking system dropped from almost U.S. $120 million in fiscal year 2022 to just over $10 million over the next 12 months.

However, he said Thailand had no explicit policy position opposing weapons transfer to the Myanmar Junta, which saw exports from Thai-registered entities more than double in 2023, from just over $60 million to nearly $130 million.

He called on Thai Government to conduct a thorough investigation into transfers as Singapore had done into its companies’ dealings.

Andrews told the the committee that five Thai commercial banks and Thai-based companies were assisting Myanmar’s junta obtain weapons, dual-technology items and jet fuel, enabling Military Junta to conduct atrocities against the people.

But said he had found no evidence that the Thai government was involved or was aware of the transactions or that Thai commercial banks had knowledge.

Thailand's Banks

Photo courtesy of The Nation

Banks Condemn Myanmar Junta Violence

Meanwhile representatives from Thailand’s central bank, anti-money laundering office and the commercial banks named in the report were also present at the parliamentary meeting at government house in Bangkok.

A representative of the Bank of Thailand said officials were working with the commercial banks and the anti-money laundering office to make sure that enhanced oversight was properly practiced.

The Thai Bankers Association that was also at the parliamentary meeting said it did not have the means to investigate and monitor such irregularities beyond Thailand’s borders.

Mr. Pongsit Chaichatpornsuk, a Thai Bankers Association representative told the committee that If government security agencies tell us, we will stop transactions. We don’t support arms procurement by Myanmar Junta or any military government to violate human rights.

Thailand, which shares a long border with Myanmar and hosts many thousands of refugees fleeing conflict there, has tried to promote dialogue between Myanmar’s military rulers and opposition forces but no progress has been made.

This Article was first published in RFA

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People Rushing Sign Online Petition to Impeach South Korea’s President Crash Site

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South Korea's President

The Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea said in a statement that an online petition calling for South Korea’s President Mr. Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment crashed due to the enormous number of individuals attempting to sign the petition. Saying the National Assembly would resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Since the petition was launch on the National Assembly’s website on June 20, more than 811,000 people have signed it. The petition urges Parliament to introduce legislation to impeach President Yoon on the grounds that he is unfit for office.

Late on June 30, National Assembly Speaker Mr. Woo Won-shik issued an apology for the disturbance and stated that Parliament would take action to protect the public’s fundamental rights.

People attempting to access the petition on July 1 experienced delays of up to four hours. At one point, an error message indicated that more than 30,000 individuals were waiting to access the site.

South Korea’s Parliament Hesitant

The online petition accuses Yoon of corruption, escalating the risk of conflict with North Korea, and endangering South Koreans’ health by failing to prevent Japan from leaking treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant.

By law, Parliament must assign every petition signed by more than 50,000 people to a committee, which will then decide whether to put it to a vote in the assembly.

However, the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in Parliament, is hesitant to turn the petition into an impeachment bill, according to media reports, with a spokesperson stating that the party has yet to address the topic.

The Parliament can impeach a president with a two-thirds majority. The Constitutional Court then deliberates the motion and decides whether to remove or reinstall the president.

Meanwhile, on Monday Reuters reported North Korea criticized a joint military exercise performed this month by South Korea, Japan, and the United States, according to official media, saying such drills demonstrate the three nations’ alliance has evolved into “the Asian version of NATO”.

On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale combined military drills named “Freedom Edge” featuring navy destroyers, fighter fighters, and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, with the goal of strengthening defenses against missiles, submarines, and air strikes.

The drill was designed at a three-way meeting at Camp David last year to boost military cooperation amid concerns on the Korean peninsula caused by North Korea’s weapons testing.

Pyongyang will not overlook the strengthening of a military bloc led by the United States and its allies, and it would respond aggressively and decisively to defend regional peace, according to North Korea’s foreign ministry, as reported by KCNA.

 

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