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HALPERIN SAYS: Thank you for your encouragement and generosity.
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THREE QUEENS
HALPERIN SAYS: I purposefully did not include the grandchildren drama.
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THREE 9/11S
Americans are remembering 9/11 with moments of silence, readings of victims’ names, volunteer work and other tributes 21 years after the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.
Victims’ relatives and dignitaries will convene Sunday at the places where hijacked jets crashed on Sept. 11, 2001 — the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Other communities around the country are marking the day with candlelight vigils, interfaith services and other commemorations. Some Americans are joining in volunteer projects on a day that is federally recognized as both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
When Jill Biden realized that terrorists had attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001, her husband, Joe, wasn’t the only loved one whose safety she worried about.
Biden recalled being “scared to death” that her sister Bonny Jacobs, a United Airlines flight attendant, was on one of the four hijacked airplanes that were flown into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people.
After learning that her sister was safe at her Pennsylvania home, “I went straight to Bonny’s house,” Biden told The Associated Press on Saturday as she and her sister remembered that day.
On Sunday, Jill Biden, now the first lady, will mark the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by delivering remarks at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania — accompanied by Jacobs.
(h/t John Ellis’ essential reading Substack)
HALPERIN SAYS: Please tell younger people about the meaning of that day for all of us.
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THREE UKRAINES
Senior Ukrainian officials stepped up intelligence sharing with their American counterparts over the summer as they began to plan the counteroffensive that allowed them to make dramatic gains in the northeast in recent days, a shift that allowed the United States to provide better and more relevant information about Russian weaknesses, according to American officials.
The stunning rout of Russian forces by Ukraine’s flash counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region does not, on its own, signal a decisive shift in the war to Ukraine’s advantage.
Russia still occupies extensive Ukrainian territory, including the cities of Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson, and Russian troops still control Putin’s coveted “land bridge” to Crimea, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014. And on Saturday afternoon, Russia immediately began to pummel the reclaimed territories with a fierce barrage of high-powered missiles.
But the Ukrainian campaign has cut enemy supply lines, revealed disarray in the Russians’ ranks, electrified Ukrainians, forced occupying authorities to flee and infuriated Kremlin boosters.
As Russian forces hastily retreated in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday in one of their most embarrassing setbacks of the war, President Vladimir V. Putin was at a park in Moscow, presiding over the grand opening of a Ferris wheel.
“It’s very important for people to be able to relax with friends and family,” Mr. Putin intoned.
The split-screen contrast was stunning, even for some of Mr. Putin’s loudest backers. And it underscored a growing rift between the Kremlin and the invasion’s most fervent cheerleaders. For the cheerleaders, Russia’s retreat appeared to confirm their worst fears: that senior Russian officials were so concerned with maintaining a business-as-usual atmosphere back home that they had failed to commit the necessary equipment and personnel to fight a long war against a determined enemy.
“You’re throwing a billion-ruble party,” one pro-Russian blogger wrote in a widely circulated post on Saturday, referring to the Putin-led celebrations in Moscow commemorating the 875th anniversary of the city’s founding. “What is wrong with you? Not at the time of such a horrible failure.”
HALPERIN SAYS: It still appears that no one is going to win this war until we see what happens with energy and facts on the ground in the winter.
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THREE TRUMPS
Members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol are returning to work to plan a new round of televised hearings expected later this month, hoping to recapture the public’s attention after Congress’s August break.
One focus of the hearings is likely to be the concerns among cabinet officials about then-President Donald Trump’s actions during and after the riot by his supporters, including any discussions about possibly using the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to try to remove him from power. Under the amendment, a majority of the cabinet, with the vice president, can temporarily unseat the president if they find him unable to discharge his duties.
A dark joke has begun circulating among lawyers following the many legal travails of former President Donald J. Trump: MAGA actually stands for “making attorneys get attorneys.”
Over six years and nine major investigations by Congress, the Justice Department and local prosecutors, as Mr. Trump has managed to avoid removal from the presidency and indictment, it has become clear that serving as one of his lawyers is a remarkably risky job — and one that can involve considerable legal exposure. Time after time, his attorneys have been asked to testify as witnesses to potential crimes — or evaluated as possible criminal conspirators themselves.
While the consequences his lawyers faced were extraordinary when Mr. Trump was in the White House, the dangers have only intensified since he left office and have become increasingly acute in recent weeks, as the former president has come under scrutiny in two different Justice Department investigations and has been forced yet again to find lawyers willing to represent him.
HALPERIN SAYS: Barring the unexpected, we now have a pretty good idea of what Joe Biden’s role in and message for the midterms will be; we have NO idea about what twists and turns await us in the September, October, and November installments of “Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride.”
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THREE MIDTERMS
U.S. consumer-price inflation showed signs of moderating in August for the second straight month, though the decrease was uneven across sectors and it remains unclear whether the slowdown will continue.
Gasoline prices fell sharply in August, airfares dropped and used cars and hotels ebbed, while rent increases also gave hints of slowing, according to private firms that track such data.
Still, food prices continued to soar this past month and prices for a range of goods and services remained much higher than a year earlier, the figures show.
The path of inflation could influence looming decisions by the Federal Reserve about how high to lift interest rates. Inflation could also shape midterm elections as voters assess their pocketbooks.
Looking ahead to a government inflation report to be released on Tuesday, many Wall Street analysts estimate the Labor Department’s overall consumer-price index was unchanged or dropped in August from July. If so, it would mark the second straight month of slower inflation since annual inflation surged to a four-decade high in June.
“There have been a lot of victories and President Biden is delivering on things that matter to people,” said Ron Galperin, the Los Angeles city controller and a DNC member. “He has been very energetic. I think what he has proven is age is not an impediment.”
Mr. Galperin added: “You know 80 is the new 60….”
Mr. Biden is lining up events this month to support Democrats, including a Sept. 18 DNC fundraiser alongside New York City Mayor Eric Adams and one next week for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, his first fundraiser of the year in support of a gubernatorial candidate.
Essential reading: Vice President Harris’ speech to the Democratic National Committee Saturday was one of her very best in her current job, laying out the stakes for the midterms in passionate, clear terms, boldly making her points, with comfort and energy (at least on paper; I didn’t watch the actual delivery). You should read the whole thing.
HALPERIN SAYS: Despite these positives for Team Blue, the reality is that, based on the latest polling and reporting, Republicans could well take the House, hold their four endangered Senate seats (OH, PA, NC, and WI), and win as many as four or five Democratic-held Senate seats. That outcome would beat current expectations by a country mile and have massive implications for 2023, 2024, and beyond.
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THREE SPORTS
HALPERIN ASKS: Who was ex-FLOTUS visiting on the Upper West Side???