Tag:

President Joe Biden

Africa & World

Breaking: Biden drops out, Biden endorses Harris for White House after quitting race

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Joe Biden has announced he is standing down as the Democrat’s nominee for the upcoming US election.

In a statement shared on X, the president said “it is in the best interest of my party” to stand down and “focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term”.

Mr Biden has faced increasing calls in recent weeks to stand down over concerns around his age, health, and ability to run the country

Democrat committee chair promises ‘transparent and orderly’ process

The Democratic National Committee chair has promised a “transparent and orderly process” in selecting its next candidate, following Joe Biden’s decision to step down. 

Jamie Harrison said the Democrats will share more about “next steps and a path forward” shortly.

“The work that we must do now, while unprecedented, is clear,” he added. 

“In the coming days, the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.

“This process will be governed by established rules and procedures of the party. 

“Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail
Africa & World

Exposed: Republican’s Blast Biden’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Global Initiative to Replace Christianity With Atheism, Humanism

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

“Americans rightly discern this as a part of the broader effort on the part of [Biden’s] administration to promote radical, progressive orthodoxy abroad,” Rep. Jim Banks wrote to Biden.

House Republicans are demanding answers from the Biden administration over its “unconstitutional” grant program they say will “promote atheism worldwide.”

Republican Study Committee (RSC) chairman Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.) and 14 of his colleagues penned a letter to Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding clarity about the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor’s (DRL) grant program promoting “humanism” and “atheism” abroad.

“The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was officially titled ‘DRL FY20 IRF Promoting and Defending Religious Freedom Inclusive of Atheist, Humanist, Non-Practicing and Non-Affiliated Individuals,’” Banks and the Republicans wrote on Thursday.

Banks continued that it “is one thing for the Department to be tolerant and respectful of a wide range of belief systems” and “to encourage governments to respect the religious freedom interests of their citizens.”

“It is quite another for the United States government to work actively to empower atheists, humanists, non-practicing, and non-affiliated in public decision-making,” the letter read. “Any such program – for any religiously-identifiable group – in the United States would be unconstitutional.”

The letter went on to question how this grant actually “advances the foreign policy interests of the United States.”

“Were such programs known by the citizens of the target countries, we would expect that local populations, interest groups, and governments would bristle at what any ‘objective observer’ would see as ‘covert’ funding from a foreign power designed to shatter local religious and cultural relationships,” the letter read.

The grant program website states that one to two grants worth up to $500,000 will be used to “combat discrimination, harassment and abuses against atheist, humanist, non-practicing and non-affiliated individuals of all religious communities by strengthening networks among these communities and providing organizational training and resources.”

Banks noted that atheism “is an integral part of the belief system of Marxism and communism.”

“Americans rightly discern this as a part of the broader effort on the part of your administration to promote radical, progressive orthodoxy abroad,” the letter read, concluding with a series of 12 questions for Biden to answer about how the program helps U.S. foreign policy.

Given Biden’s hyper-partisan style of governing, it’s unlikely his administration will even provide answers to the House Republicans.

Read the House GOP letter:

Rep-Jim-Banks-letter-to-President-Biden-Secretary-Blinken-regarding-atheism-grantsDownload

News credit https://yournews.com

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail
Africa & World

Trump vs Biden: Gun violence doubles in Joe Biden’s first year in office

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a US gun violence monitoring group, reported that there were over 5,000 more fatal shootings during Joe Biden’s first year in office compared to Donald Trump’s first year as president.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the United States saw 44,868 gun deaths in Biden’s first year as president.

The total number of murders, justifiable self-defence homicides, and accidental homicides involving firearms were 20,783 in 2021, compared to 15,727 in 2017 when Trump took office. 

This means that in the past few years alone, gun violence has increased by 32 per cent.

It is alarming to note, that there were 693 mass shootings in 2021, up from 348 in 2017. In addition, there were 1,060 deaths or injuries among children, compared to 724 in 2017.

In 2021, there were 24,090 suicides committed using a firearm in the United States. Prior to 2019, no national suicide statistics are available, but the site uses an estimate of 22,000 for previous years.

As of January 21, there had been 2,627 shootings in the United States, of which 1,518 were suicides and 1,109 intentional homicides, including 26 mass shootings and one mass murder. 

Based on the current trend, the United States may end the year with over 19000 killings and 450 mass shootings.

In response to the sharp increase, a school gun control group March For Our Lives (M4OL) has called on Biden to put an end to the bloodshed.

The M4OL group, founded by the survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, stated that Biden has only “tinkered” with gun control measures in his first year in the White House.

Activists from a student-led group said that they were horrified by the escalating epidemic of violence that have continued under his administration.

“As a candidate, the president pledged to end the epidemic of gun violence, but as our leader in the White House, he has simply tinkered at the edges, rather than coordinating a whole-of-government response that treats this crisis like the emergency that it is.”

Taking to Twitter the group said “While @POTUS  has taken welcome and overdue steps to address this epidemic, he has not met the bare minimum of what’s necessary to reverse this trend.”

In its statement, the group noted that 2021 is one of the deadliest years in American history for gun violence, and asked bluntly: “Mr. President, have you done enough?”

Gun violence has become a persistent social issue in the United States without any apparent solution.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that 17 million guns were sold between January 2021 and November 2021. In the first four days of 2022, around 400 Americans were killed in gun violence, according to the GVA. 

In 2018, Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured the same number during a rampage on Valentine’s Day, at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He used a semi-automatic military assault rifle to commit the crime.

In light of the event, more people have called for restrictions on gun ownership and purchasing, with Trump calling on state legislatures to act – where the federal Congress has failed to act for decades. Credit Wion

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail
Africa & World

Trump Says Joe Biden’s Remarks Gave Russia the ‘assent’ on Ukraine

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Donald Trump has accused President Joe Biden of giving Russia the “green light” to invade Ukraine.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, the former president criticized Biden’s remarks during a press conference about the buildup of Russian troops next to the border with Ukraine.

Biden suggested on Wednesday that a “minor incursion” ordered by President Vladimir Putin would result in a softer response from Washington than a full-scale invasion. The comments sparked alarm in Kyiv and were quickly walked back by the White House.

Trump told Fox host Sean Hannity: “Really what he said last night when he said, ‘They may go in, they will go in,’ and he talked about a minor incursion. I said, ‘I don’t believe he said that,’ because that’s like giving them, they use the term ‘green light.’ He was green-lighted.”

He added that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, “could not believe what he heard. He couldn’t believe what he heard, and I couldn’t believe what — it’s whether you are for strong stoppage or not, you’re really telling them ‘You might as well go in.'”

Zelensky tweeted on Thursday that “there are no minor incursions.”

Biden later clarified his remarks, telling reporters that if any “assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.”

He added: “It will be met with [a] severe and coordinated economic response that I’ve discussed in detail with our allies as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin. But there is no doubt—let there be no doubt at all—that if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price.”

During the Fox News interview, Trump also suggested that Biden should be doing more to de-escalate tensions as the number of Russian troops massed at the border nears 130,000.

“You also can’t just talk in terms of sanctions. Sanctions don’t mean too much to Russia. If you want to stop somebody, you are not going to just be talking about sanctions,” Trump said.

“But he really told them ‘Go in.’ I think this is a whole different ball game right now.”

The former president added” “If you look at what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine, what they’ve done at the border, they’ve loaded up with soldiers—that would’ve never happened with me. I had a very good relationship with Putin.”

As fears mount over a potential invasion, an opposition politician from Ukraine has suggested how President Zelensky will respond in the event of conflict.

“I know for sure that those in power, who led the country to a situation with the threat of war, will definitely stand aside or the first convenient plane will leave its borders with their families,” Illia Kyva wrote on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to meet Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva for talks on Ukraine.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail
Africa & World

ECOWAS Ambassador to UN receives new Climate Clock in NYC

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Monday morning, in advance of President Biden’s Earth Day Leaders Summit on Climate, the UN Ambassador of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), which represents 15 African nations, was gifted a handheld climate clock in front of the monumental Climate Clock in Union Square, New York City.

Climate Clock Action

The clock was presented to the UN Ambassador, his excellency Mahama Kappiah, by Jerome Ringo, former chair of the National Wildlife Federation, and currently Goodwill Ambassador to the Pan African Parliament.

Kappiah is the first UN ambassador to receive a climate clock, with the hope that more of these clocks continue to spread throughout the UN. Ringo will be taking more handheld clocks to several African leaders when he travels there later this week.

Ringo stated: “This clock is a call to action. Future solutions are great, but we need NOW solutions. Solutions that create green jobs that can replace the fossil fuel economy.” The moment was celebrated by a significant change in the now famous giant clock: a sign of hope.

Climate Clock Action

The Deadline that has been displayed since it’s launch in September is now joined by a new “Lifeline” that displays the percentage of global energy currently supplied from renewable sources — 12.2 percent, and going up, but it needs to be going up much faster to meet our deadline. For more information on the science behind the clock:  https://climateclock.world/science.

Ringo used the shift in the clock to speak to the different responsibilities that different nations had for meeting our climate deadline. “Africa, like other developing regions who suffer climate impacts from CO2 historically released by industrialized nations, deserves a lifeline.

Climate Clock Action

They need countries like the US, that are the greatest contributors to the problem, to contribute the most to this renewable lifeline that is on the clock. The United States is only 5% of the world’s population but is responsible for 25% of the world’s carbon emissions.”

As President Mohammadu Buhari also took part in the the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, being hosted by the US President Joe Biden, and attended by 40 world leaders.

Also at the event were climate activists Xiye Bastida, Alexandria Villasenor, and Ayisha Saddiqa, many of whom are also receiving clocks and taking them to the Biden Global Leaders summit in Wash. DC on Earth Day.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail
Africa & World

Joe Biden: ‘When I came to the U.S. Senate 120 years ago’

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Speaking on the future of the filibuster at the first press conference of his presidency, President Joe Biden, 78, said he came to the Senate “120 years ago.”

“With regard to the filibuster, I believe we should go back to the position of the filibuster that existed just when I came to the United State’s Senate 120 years ago.”

Biden became a Senator when he was 29 and served for 36 years.

Many top Democrats have argued that the filibuster is a ‘racist’ practice and have advocated for its demise. Republicans, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, say that argument is meant “to justify a partisan power grab in the present.”

Biden has made it a priority to fight the filibuster.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail
Africa & World

Breaking: U.S. President Biden slips, falls three times on Air Force One

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Joe Biden’s ability to effectively govern the world’s most powerful country despite his fragile health was a major topic of concern during the 2020 presidential elections.

President Joe Biden on Friday stumbled and fell three times while trying to board Air Force One out of Washington.

Videos circulating on social media from multiple angles show how Mr. Biden, 78, repeatedly stumbled and then fell completely on the stairs.

Report said he was departing for a programme in Atlanta to meet with Asian American leaders in the wake of recent attacks on a row of spas, during which six Asian women were killed.

Mr. Biden’s stumbles could renew concerns about his failing health. His ability to effectively govern the most powerful country in the world was a major topic of concern during the 2020 presidential elections. He has maintained that his health was not fragile, dismissing former President Donald Trump’s criticism as misguided and misplaced.

Mr. Biden also ridiculed Mr. Trump when the former leader stumbled during a military event in New York in the run up to the election. 

Mr. Biden’s supporters said his fall was not unusual for someone of his age, and a spokeswoman for the White House said the president was in good condition and would proceed with his assignment in Atlanta. 

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestThreadsBlueskyEmail