August 12, 2024

Monday, August 12, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.

Joe is always busy.

Joe on CBS Sunday Morning.

Why he decided to run and why he decided not to run again. What he feels he achieved. Why we must stop Trump to protect our Democracy.

12 minutes.👇

Join Joe on his bike ride yesterday.

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Kamala needs a BlueSenate. Kamala needs a BlueHouse.

Candidate of the Day. Donate. Volunteer.Share.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Democratic Candidate for Senate from Florida.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is an American politician and academic administrator who served as a U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. She was born in Ecuador, and came to the USA (Miami) when she was 14. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Pitzer College in 1992 and a Master of Arts in international political economy from Claremont Graduate University in 1996.

She is running to beat billionaire Republican Senator Rick Scott, a Trump ally and supporter.

A former governor of Florida, Scott has been Florida’s junior senator since 2018. Scott won his election in 2018 by 10,003. The results were so close that they triggered an automatic recount.

Before entering politics, Scott was chief executive of Columbia/HCA Health Care. During his 10 year tenure, the Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company, which was fined $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history. The company was found guilty of defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997.

Scott also has deep ties to the leaders of Project 2025, including Heritage Foundation President, Kevin Roberts
He is also campaigning to replace Mitch McConnell as the GOP Senate Leader if he is re-elected. (Trump endorses Rick Scott for Republican Senate Leader: “I think Rick Scott would be much better than McConnell. I know McConnell well. His wife, I call her CoCo Chao. I wasn’t sad to see her go. I’m not a fan of McConnell and I am a fan of Rick Scott.”)

Donate to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Candidate for Senate in Florida

Though Ron DeSantis is its governor, and he and his red meat legislators run the state, Florida is showing signs of change. For example, on Thursday, the Miami Herald reported Kamala Harris had taken the lead over Trump in Miami-Dade after Biden’s exit.

Cash- Dash reported, Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) raised $2.2 million in July. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), her opponent, raised just $696,729.

Early voting has begun in Florida.

Let’s bring Debbie Mucarsel-Powell home to the Senate. Donate. Volunteer.Share.

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The more we learn about Tim Walz, the more we admire him.

Tim Walz’s Irish Great-Great-Grandparents Were Just Like Him | Irish America.

This Apple Didn’t Fall Far from the Tree

Whenever someone notable first grabs my attention, I can’t resist climbing the branches of their family tree to see — among other things — whether they might have a bit of Irish ancestry. Such was the case with Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate — as well as governor, teacher, coach, veteran, animal lover, and the dad everyone wishes they had.

It didn’t take long to discover that one of Gov. Walz’s great-grandmothers was named Laura Ellen Sullivan. A surname like Sullivan is a clear signal that you’re Irish-adjacent, and sure enough, her parents, James and Anna (Lacy) Sullivan were immigrants. This translates into Tim Walz’s heritage being 1/8th Irish.

Thanks to the explosion of records the Irish government has made available online over the last decade or so, I swiftly found the baptism record for James Sullivan.

The location? County Wexford. If they’d care to, it’s Ferns that can now add a politician to the newsreader, king, and rugby player on its Wikipedia page. For that matter, there’s a chance Tim Walz is related to one of them — Anne Doyle — as you’ll note in the record above that his mother was a Doyle. For that matter, anyone with Doyle, Sullivan, or Lacy roots in Ferns might be a cousin of some sort.

What were his immigrant ancestors like? A little mucking about in online newspaper collections turned up the obituary for James Sullivan, and I found myself smiling as I read it. Anyone who’s spent much time with newspapers of this era is well aware how praise-heavy they can be — and this one is as over-the-top as they come — but this is the first time I’ve seen the writer protest that it was justified:

“This may sound fulsome and an exaggerated eulogy, but to those who knew “Uncle Jimmie” as he was familiarly known by his friends, it will be considered just and appropriate. After all, the greatest man is he who in his sphere does the most good, and Uncle Jimmie Sullivan was always ready to help a neighbor, and to him a neighbor meant every human being without exception.”

Of course, his family troubled to thank the community and you may recognize a familiar name among them:

And what about Anna Sullivan, Jimmie’s wife?

All the local paper had to say was that “Grandma Sullivan” had died and they all knew. Doesn’t it just figure that Tim Walz’s ancestors were known by everyone as Uncle Jimmie and Grandma Sullivan?

Returning to Jimmie’s obituary, I soaked up more of the writer’s commentary: “He sowed the seeds of kindness, not of hate, he reaped the rich harvest of love, for I know that James Sullivan had not one enemy in all the world, and that is the grandest epitaph that can be written on the tomb of man.” (IrishAmerica.com)

There it was again: kindness.

Sometimes it’s the non-physical traits that get passed down in families that matter most.♦

Register here. Irish Americans for Harris-Walz National Organizing Call.

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Kamala is always busy.

After a week in swing states, the Vice President went to California to refuel the campaign.

What to expect this week.

Vice President Harris told reporters that next week, she will lay out some of her ideas to bring down costs for middle-class families - the first of her rollouts on economic policy.

Endorsements for Harris-Walz come pouring in.

Expect more. Swifties for Kamala launches August 27th.

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Your Daily Reminder.

Trump is a convicted felon.

On May 30th, he was found guilty on 34 felony counts by the unanimous vote of 12 ordinary citizens.

The Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. He will now be sentenced sometime around September 18th.

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Olympics update and farewell.

17 days of unity and excellence ended yesterday.

The women’s marathon started the day.

In past Olympics, the men’s marathon started the last day, followed by the men’s basketball final, But Paris reversed that order, established that “tout le monde regarde le sport féminin.”

The last competition of the Olympics was Women’s Basketball. USA v. France.

TeamUSA Women’s Basketball won the gold in Paris, by a point.

They have now won 61 consecutive Olympic Games.

Previously, the USA won its 7 consecutive Olympic gold medals, by margins of 10, 20 or 30-plus.

42 year old Diana Taurasi has won gold as a member of TeamUSA Women’s Basketball for the last 6 American teams.

Dawn Staley, Olympian herself and most recently the coach of the NCAA National Champions, South Carolina Gamecocks, on the difference between the American team and the French team - “At the end of the day, we had A’ja Wilson. They didn’t.”

The closing ceremonies.

Katie Ledecky, the most decorated women swimmer of all times, and Nick Mead, of TeamUSA Men’s Crew, were America’s flag bearers.

Ledecky, 27 years old, picked up four more medals in Paris — two golds, one silver, and one bronze — amassing an astonishing 14 Olympic medals in an Olympic career that began when she was 15 at the 2012 Olympics.

Mead won a gold medal in the men’s four boat final for the US men’s rowing team. This is the first time American men rowers have done this in the past 64 years. Mead is the first American rower to carry the flag.

The Final Medal count.

The United States and China both finished with 40 gold medals. It's the first time there has ever been a tie for most gold medals at the Summer Olympics.

China took an early gold medal on Sunday as Li Wenwen won the top medal in women's weightlifting (+81kg). The United States followed that with a gold of its own as Jennifer Valente defended her women's omnium title in cycling.

The Americans then secured their 40th gold in the last event of the Olympics in women's basketball. (Source. Yahoo. Sports.)

The next Summer Olympics will take place in Los Angeles in 2028. The weeks will be reversed. Track and Field will open the Games. Swimming will start week two.

One more thing.