Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 228

January 20, 2025

Kurtenbach: Time is not the Golden State Warriors’ ally. So what are they waiting for?

The Warriors think they have time.

Time to “figure this thing out,” as Steph Curry said last week.

Time to make that big trade that will turn the Warriors into a true playoff team..

Time to decide if Jonathan Kuminga is or isn’t the future of this franchise.

Time to tread water at .500, outside of even the play-in tournament, despite a 12-3 start to the season.

And yet time is the one thing the Warriors surely lack.

For the last few years, the Warriors have operated in wait-and-see mode. Blessed by having Curry in his prime (or at least on the early decline) the Dubs have been able to sweat the small stuff of the NBA — luxury tax avoidance, draft-pick management, two-way contracts, founding a women’s team.

While that stuff is all well and good, they never seemed to get around to finding Curry a true No. 2 — the kind of player necessary to compete.

The time to do it is running out.

Curry, the 11th oldest active player in the league, will turn 37 in less than two months, and Draymond Green is 43 days away from his 35th birthday with some seriously tough miles on the odometer. The Warriors will have to decide in six months whether to give Kuminga a long-term deal, and the NBA’s trade deadline—the Warriors’ last opportunity to make a major move this season— is 18 days away.

Eighteen days.

That’s all the time the Warriors have left.

And what do they have to show for all that time wasted?

A .500 record?

A vague sense of Kuminga’s upside — a byproduct of a solid December (in which the Warriors went 4-9 in games he played)?

Let me ask another way: What are these Warriors good at?

I, like the Warriors, will wait.

Suffice it to say that this team isn’t going to “figure it out” in less than three weeks.

Not with Green injured for at least another week, and Kuminga likely two.

Not with Brandin Podziemski still sidelined and Curry playing with a twisted ankle.

And even if everything was going well, what is there to figure out? These Warriors are not good enough to be a playoff team in the Western Conference. (My, how low have we set the bar these days?)

This team is bad and needs to do something to mix things up before that Feb. 6 trade deadline.

And yet, this team’s urgency to make a move—to do anything—seems to be non-existent. Kerr, Curry, and Green are actively fighting such ideas in the press.

Indeedf, the front office and chief decision makers are following the lead of the Warriors players, who spent 48 minutes on Monday – a game on national television — standing around, waiting for something to happen.

No ball movement. No player movement. No dribble penetration. Just a bunch of standing around the 3-point line.

They were like a bunch of sixth-grade boys at the mixer dance — petrified to do anything.

Yes, the Warriors made a trade already this season — acquiring Dennis Schröder for the expiring contract of the injured De’Anthony Melton and some second-round draft picks.

That was a no-risk trade. Sure enough, it has produced no reward so far.

And sure, Joe Lacob and the rest of the Warriors’ front office have talked a big game, but when push has come to shove — when this team has been tasked with making a trade with risk; with doing something that could give this moribund operation a real shot at overtaking the three other teams in California (a massive ask, I know), they’ve balked.

The Warriors have won nine of their last 27 games and lost to the Celtics by 40 on Monday.

Forty!

They’re a team that depends on Curry playing at an All-NBA level every night to win — a team that needs Buddy Hield, Kuminga, or Andrew Wiggins to step up and be a No. 2 on any given night. (Don’t let the multiple options fool you — the Warriors are as likely to go without a No. 2 for a game as they are likely to have one of those players step up.)

Oh, and Curry doesn’t even play both ends of back-to-backs anymore. He also has games where he’s simply off. The result is a team that loses nearly every game he doesn’t play and splits (at best) the games he plays.

I don’t like the math there.

I wonder what the Warriors’ fabled “models” think.

While Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr’s favorite line this season is that “trades are hard to make,” the more telling quote was given by Lacob to the Hoops Adjacent podcast this past summer, when he said of trades:

“We run analytical models on all that stuff. We will make the deal that makes us better,” Lacob said. “We have an incredibly complex model these guys run about how good we will be, and it’s not everything what the press writes all the time, or what people say on the internet blogs.”

Yes, he’s blaming some computer (and those damned internet blogs) for why Lauri Markannen — or a half-dozen other available All-Stars — isn’t a Dub. Is that the model that says Kuminga and Podziemski are untouchable in a trade?

If so, get a new model.

And yet I imagine those models — which seem intent on maintaining the Warriors’ “mid” status at all costs — are still running.

If the trade deadline passes and the Warriors haven’t done anything to improve, Lacob and Dunleavy will surely suggest that they can make a move in the summer — which, of course, is when the Dubs will be forced to make a decision on Kuminga, who is a restricted free agent. A market-rate deal for him would surely necessitate moving off other salary, a tacit admittance that the team is all-in on the forward moving forward.

Another lost season will be on deck.

So much for maximizing the competitiveness of Curry’s final years.

The good news is that there is still time to do something, anything to salvage this season — a campaign that could easily be the last All-NBA-worthy campaign for Curry and the final effective season for Green.

And it’s a season in which the Clippers and Lakers are the Nos. 5 and 6 seeds in the Western Conference—surely the Warriors, with proper augmentation, can be better than both of those teams.

And surely that’s this team goal, right?

Yet the Warriors seem too afraid to take bold action—to shake up a roster that desperately needs a shakeup.

So will the Warriors realize that time is not their ally before it’s too late?

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 19:09

Trump suspends US foreign assistance for 90 days pending reviews

By MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday temporarily suspending all U.S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.

The order, among many Trump signed on his first day back in office, said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

Consequently, Trump declared that “no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing last week that “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions:

“Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” he said.

The order signed by Trump leaves it up to Rubio or his designee to make such determinations, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are the main agencies that oversee foreign assistance.

Trump has long railed against foreign aid despite the fact that such assistance typically amounts to roughly 1% of the federal budget, except under unusual circumstances such as the billions in weaponry provided to Ukraine. Trump has been critical of the amount shipped to Ukraine to help bolster its defenses against Russia’s invasion.

The last official accounting of foreign aid in the Biden administration dates from mid-December and budget year 2023. It shows that $68 billion had been obligated for programs abroad that range from disaster relief to health and pro-democracy initiatives in 204 countries and regions.

Some of the biggest recipients of U.S. assistance, Israel ($3.3 billion per year), Egypt ($1.5 billion per year) and Jordan ($1.7 billion per year) are unlikely to see dramatic reductions, as those amounts are included in long-term packages that date back decades and are in some cases governed by treaty obligations.

Funding for U.N. agencies, including peacekeeping, human rights and refugee agencies, have been traditional targets for Republican administrations to slash or otherwise cut. The first Trump administration moved to reduce foreign aid spending, suspending payments to various UN agencies, including the U.N. Population Fund, and funding to the Palestinian Authority.

However, the U.S. previously under Trump had already pulled out of the U.N. Human Rights Council, with its financial obligations, and has been barred from funding the the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, by a bill signed by former President Joe Biden last March.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 18:53

Trump signs death penalty order directing attorney general to help states get lethal injection drugs

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a sweeping execution order on the death penalty Monday, directing the attorney general to “take all necessary and lawful action” to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions.

A moratorium on federal executions had been in place since 2021, and only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.

The Trump administration carried out 13 federal executions during Trump’s first term, more than under any president in modern history.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 18:52

Boston blowout sets up ‘make or break’ stretch for Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO — But everyone knows the standings. Everyone knows the situation, the date of the trade deadline.

No matter how much veteran coaches or players like to keep an 82-game marathon in perspective and avoid riding the highs and lows of particular weeks, the Warriors are once again at an inflection point in what has already been a roller-coaster season.

Back at .500 after a 40-point blowout loss to the defending champion Celtics at Chase Center, the Warriors (21-21) have seven straight games in Northern California (six at home) before their next trip. Without both Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga for at least the next week, the Warriors must stay as competitive as possible or risk sinking too far out of the playoff picture to recover.

“We’ll see how we respond to it, if we can take advantage of this stretch,” Steph Curry said postgame. “Tonight was not great – Captain Obvious statement – but just the idea that we can keep ourselves afloat until we get some guys back can kind of make or break our season to be honest. I’ll keep it real.”

The Warriors play at Sacramento before hosting the Bulls on a Wednesday-Thursday back-to-back. Between now and then, they’ll try to flush the Celtics disaster down the toilet (Steve Kerr’s words).

The Bulls game starts a stretch of six straight home games, with the Lakers, Utah and Oklahoma City on a back-to-back, Phoenix and Orlando coming to town. None of those are cakewalk games — if such a thing even exists for the Warriors, who started 12-3 and are since 9-18.

Green has been ruled out for at least the next three games before the medical staff re-evaluates his calf strain next Monday, Jan. 27. Kuminga is set to get re-evaluated this Saturday for his significant ankle sprain. He’s out of the walking boot and putting pressure on his ankle, but a weeks-long absence will likely require a ramp-up period.

The double and triple teams Curry has seen on a nightly basis are only going to get worse as they miss Kuminga and Green — a downhill scoring threat and a playmaking forward whose connection with Curry unlocks the offense in the halfcourt.

After those next seven games, the Warriors only play once more — at Utah — before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. At 21-21, they’re in 11th place in a Western Conference in which fourth and 11th are separated by five games.

Some of the most important power brokers in the organization — Curry, Kerr and Draymond Green — have publicly tipped their hand that the Warriors aren’t planning on cashing in their future first round picks or best young prospects for imperfect, win-now stars who may be available.

But the next stretch could determine whether the franchise thinks it’s even worth upgrading at the margins or shedding salary to get under the luxury tax threshold.

“We’ve been in situations where we’ve had to chase down the stretch after the All-Star break,” Curry said. “Two years of that. It takes a lot out of you. So you have to find a way to stay in the race in the standings. Nobody’s counting game by game, but a six to eight game stretch can kind of define where we are going forward for the rest of the season.”

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 18:21

Billionaires, tech titans, presidents: A guide to who stood where at Trump’s inauguration

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and ALEX CONNOR

The crowded dais in the Capitol Rotunda on Inauguration Day featured four of the world’s five wealthiest men, five U.S. presidents, tech titans and business moguls, and two foreign leaders with prime spots.

President Donald Trump welcomed a mix of traditional, unprecedented and unorthodox guests — from Supreme Court justices to the vice president of China, and the head of TikTok, an app U.S. authorities have flagged as a national security risk, next to the person Trump has chosen to lead the intelligence community.

Scattered throughout were the president’s family members and other familiar faces in Trump’s orbit. Lawmakers mostly sat in front of Trump, watching the new president take the oath of office.

(AP Graphic/Alex Connor)

Show Caption1 of 9

(AP Graphic/Alex Connor)

Expand

Here’s who was up on the dais and who they sat next to.

1. Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok was seated next to Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump has nominated to be the director of national intelligence. Trump intervened this weekend in an attempt to halt a ban on TikTok, which is seen as a potential national security threat. The president has credited the social network with helping him win last year’s election, but the platform faces a ban if the China-based parent company does not find a Washington-approved buyer.

2. Joe Rogan, who is among the world’s most popular podcasters, sat down for a three-hour interview with Trump in the last stretch of the campaign and ultimately endorsed him a day before Election Day. Trump has expressed gratitude to him.

3. A cadre of billionaires and tech titans sat on the same row. They included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. They were seated behind Trump’s wife, Melania, and children, but ahead of several of his Cabinet nominees. Musk, who has grown closer to Trump since the election, was the one sitting closest to Trump. Bernard Arnault, CEO of French magnate LVMH, the biggest seller of luxury goods in the world whose brands include Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, was on the opposite side of the dais.

4. Barron Trump is Trump’s youngest son. He has been credited by the president for his campaign’s online outreach, saying he introduced him to internet personalities he had never heard of before. Barron Trump is now 18 and a freshman New York University business student, but he will have a bedroom in the White House.

5. Kai Trump, one of Trump’s granddaughters, is a social media influencer and avid golfer. Kai Trump is only 17 but has become more popular over the past year, stepping up on stage at the Republican National Convention and briefly speaking at a rally over the weekend. She is the daughter of Donald Trump Jr., who has helped his father with some of his picks and is seen as an enforcer of loyalty in his orbit.

Related ArticlesNational Politics | Trump issues sweeping pardon of 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, including rioters who attacked police National Politics | Trump suspends US foreign assistance for 90 days pending reviews National Politics | Trump signs death penalty order directing attorney general to help states get lethal injection drugs National Politics | Trump orders government not to infringe on Americans’ speech, calls for censorship investigation National Politics | Can he do that? Lawyers and lawmakers debate if Trump has authority to suspend the US TikTok ban 6. Miriam Adelson and John Paulson were among the largest donors to the Trump campaign and got prime seating for the ceremony next to incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Paulson, a billionaire investor, was the host of a Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser that set a single-event record, adding $50.5 million to the campaign last April. Adelson is the co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. She is a major supporter of Trump and, with Zuckerberg, was hosting another inaugural event on Monday.

7. Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, outgoing President Joe Biden were given prime seats as well. All their wives, except for former first lady Michelle Obama, were also seated there. Michelle Obama had previously announced he would be skipping the swearing-in ceremony. She gave no reason.

8. In an unprecedented move, Trump invited foreign leaders to the inauguration, and they also got coveted seats for the ceremony. Argentina President Javier Milei was seated next to Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. They were also next to China’s Vice President Han Zheng, whom President Xi Jinping sent to represent him. The Chinese ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, was also nearby.

Associated Press writers Mark Sherman and Didi Tang contributed to this report from Washington.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 18:04

Report: SF Giants signing former Newark pitching star Joey Lucchesi to minor-league deal

The Giants added some pitching depth by reportedly agreeing to a minor-league deal with former Newark Memorial High and Chabot College standout Joey Lucchesi, who has spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues.

The 31-year-old left-hander’s contract calls for him to earn a spring training invite and $1.5 million if he makes the Giants’ big league roster, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported on Monday.

Lucchesi spent most of the past two seasons pitching for New York Mets’ Triple-A team in Syracuse, earning a 4.57 ERA over 204.2 innings. He made 11 appearances with the Mets since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2023 and had a 3.32 ERA in 57 innings, including going 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA in two spot starts last season.

Lucchesi, who has pitched 394.2 innings in the majors, has a career record of 23-26 with a 4.10 ERA and 388 srikeouts. All but four of Lucchesi’s 81 MLB appearances have come as a starting pitcher.

The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder could provide insurance for a Giants rotation that seems set with aces Logan Webb and Justin Verlander, along with lefties Robbie Ray as well as De La Salle High product Kyle Harrison and righty Jordan Hicks.

Lucchesi could be a left-handed option for a Giants staff that figures to have righties Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp at the top of their rotation fill-ins.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 17:29

Trump orders government not to infringe on Americans’ speech, calls for censorship investigation

By ALI SWENSON

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday ordered that no federal officer, employee or agent may unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen, an early step toward his campaign promise to dismantle what he called government “censorship” of U.S. citizens.

Related ArticlesNational Politics | Trump issues sweeping pardon of 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, including rioters who attacked police National Politics | Trump suspends US foreign assistance for 90 days pending reviews National Politics | Trump signs death penalty order directing attorney general to help states get lethal injection drugs National Politics | Billionaires, tech titans, presidents: A guide to who stood where at Trump’s inauguration National Politics | Can he do that? Lawyers and lawmakers debate if Trump has authority to suspend the US TikTok ban The president’s executive order, issued just hours after he was sworn in to a second term, comes after Trump and his supporters have accused the federal government of pressuring social media companies to take down lawful posts over concerns around misinformation.

The order also instructs the attorney general, in consultation with other executive agency heads, to investigate how federal government actions over the four years of the Biden administration could have infringed on free speech and propose “remedial actions” based on the findings.

Trump’s order, which he signed onstage at Capital One Arena along with a slate of other executive actions, shows how motivated he is to crack down on what he calls the “censorship cartel” on his first day in office.

It’s a winning stance among his supporters, many of whom feel that the federal government has unfairly targeted lawful speech from right-wing voices.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently echoed that accusation, saying senior Biden administration officials pressured his employees to inappropriately “censor” content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Elon Musk, the owner of the social platform X, has accused the FBI of illegally coercing Twitter before his tenure to suppress a story about Hunter Biden.

While former Twitter executives conceded they made a mistake by blocking that story just before the 2020 presidential election, they have adamantly denied that they acted in response to government pressure.

The order does not acknowledge the gravity of harmful online falsehoods, which have increasingly snowballed into real-world threats, harassment and targeted violence. Four years ago, Trump’s own torrent of lies about the 2020 election prompted threats against election officials and culminated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

It’s not yet clear how the order could affect the work that several U.S. agencies do to track false claims that pose threats to U.S. safety or election security, including the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Trump’s order focuses on Americans’ speech. It’s too soon to tell how that will influence the way federal agencies communicate with social media companies about false claims that originate abroad. Many disinformation campaigns from U.S. adversaries, which have targeted voters, are promoted online by American citizens.

Trump has styled himself as a champion of free expression since his first presidency, when he lashed out at the social platform then known as Twitter for posting fact-check labels on his tweets about mail-in ballots.

At the same time, he frequently targets the press, calling journalists the “enemy of the people,” and has threatened to seek retribution against the news media in his second administration, including suggesting that the broadcast licenses of certain television news networks should be pulled.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 17:15

Biden pardons Fauci and Milley in an effort to guard against potential ‘revenge’ by Trump

By COLLEEN LONG and ZEKE MILLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, using the extraordinary powers of his office in his final hours to guard against potential “revenge” by the incoming Trump administration.

The decision by Biden comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has selected Cabinet nominees who backed his election lies and who have pledged to punish those involved in efforts to investigate him.

Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years and was Biden’s chief medical advisor until his retirement in 2022. He helped coordinate the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic an raised the ire of Trump when he refused to back Trump’s unfounded claims. He has become a target of intense hatred and vitriol from people on the right, who blame him for mask mandates and other policies they believe infringed on their rights, even as tens of thousands of Americans were dying.

Mark Milley, who is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 04:21

Trump lacks broad support for key parts of his agenda, new poll finds

By AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX and LINLEY SANDERS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump will start implementing a far-reaching agenda when he takes office for the second time on Monday, but a poll finds that despite his claims of an “unprecedented and powerful mandate,” the incoming Republican president lacks broad support for some of his top priorities.

Just over half of US adults favor eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, but some of his other pledges — like pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, increasing oil drilling on federal lands and imposing new tariffs — are less widely favored.

There is room for opinion to shift on many of the proposals, since a sizable share of Americans hold a neutral view. But some are more clearly unpopular. A majority of U.S. adults, for instance, oppose pardoning most people who participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, indicating that one of the actions Trump has promised to undertake quickly will likely be unwelcome to many Americans.

Here’s what Americans think about some of the major actions that Trump has promised — including some that could start to take effect as early as Monday.

US adults are split on mass deportations, but most support deporting immigrants convicted of violent crime

Trump has long promised to deport millions of people in the country illegally, although he fell far short of this goal in his first term. In his second four years in the White House, though, he has pledged to begin the largest deportation program in U.S. history, which could begin as soon as he’s sworn in.

The poll finds that targeted deportations of immigrants who have been convicted of a crime would be popular, even if they involved immigrants who are in the country legally, but that support doesn’t extend to mass deportations.

About 8 in 10 U.S. adults favor deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of a violent crime – including about two-thirds who are strongly in favor – and about 7 in 10 support deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. legally who have been convicted of a violent crime.

Deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally and have not been convicted of a crime is a much more divisive proposal. US adults are slightly more likely to oppose this policy than to favor it, and only about 4 in 10 are in support.

Nearly half of US adults oppose tariffs on all foreign goods

Tariffs on foreign goods entering the country are one of Trump’s proposed fixes for high food prices and illegal immigration, which are issues that motivated many of his voters in November.

According to the AP-NORC poll, though, almost half of US adults “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose imposing a tariff, also known as an import tax, on all goods brought into the U.S. from other countries. About 3 in 10 are in favor, and about one-quarter are neutral, saying they neither favor nor oppose this policy, which indicates that opinion could move in either direction if the tariffs are implemented.

Republicans are much likelier than Democrats and independents to support broad tariffs, but a significant share — about 4 in 10 — are either opposed or unsure. Just over half of Republicans favor imposing a tariff on all goods brought into the U.S.

Only about 2 in 10 support pardoning most Jan. 6 participants

Trump promised throughout his campaign to issue pardons to many of the more than 1,500 people charged with crimes for their actions related to the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying he would “most likely do it very quickly” in a December interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But even if he doesn’t use his clemency power on behalf of all the rioters, as some of his supporters have suggested, pardoning many of the participants would be an unpopular move.

According to the AP-NORC poll, about 2 in 10 US adults “somewhat” or “strongly” favor pardoning most people who participated in the attack. A much larger share — about 6 in 10 — “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose this move, including half who are strongly opposed, and about 2 in 10 are neutral.

Members of Trump’s own party are divided on the pardons, although they’re more likely to support them overall. About 4 in 10 Republicans favor pardoning many of the Jan. 6 participants, while about 3 in 10 are neutral and about 3 in 10 are opposed.

Eliminating taxes on earnings from tips is especially popular with young adults

A pledge to exclude workers’ tips from federal taxes came up frequently on the campaign trail and was also embraced by Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. And although it could be costly and difficult to enact, it’s one of Trump’s campaign promises with the highest support from Americans overall.

The poll found that just over half of US adults “somewhat” or “strongly” favor eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, while about one-quarter are neutral and about 2 in 10 are opposed.

The proposal is more popular with Republicans than Democrats, and it also has particularly high levels of support with adults under age 30.

US adults are split on whether to increase oil drilling on federal lands

Trump has promised to establish American “energy dominance” in part by boosting oil and gas drilling, including on federal lands.

U.S. adults aren’t so sure about it. The AP-NORC poll found that about one-third of Americans “somewhat” or “strongly” favor increasing oil drilling on federal lands, while about 4 in 10 are opposed. The rest — about one-quarter — say they neither favor nor oppose this move.

Increasing oil drilling is broadly popular with Republicans but not with Democrats or independents.

About half oppose withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement

In his first term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and although President Joe Biden immediately rejoined it upon taking office, Trump has promised to pull out a second time when he takes office.

About half of Americans “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose that action, and even Republicans aren’t overwhelmingly in favor, according to the poll. Only about 2 in 10 US adults “somewhat” or “strongly” in favor of withdrawing from the Paris agreement, while about one-quarter are neutral.

Much of the opposition comes from Democrats, but Republicans display some ambivalence as well. Slightly less than half of Republicans are in favor, while about 3 in 10 are opposed.

More opposition than support for eliminating federal protections for transgender students

A judge recently struck down a rule from the Democratic Biden administration expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students, which Trump had promised to end on his first day, after making anti-transgender themes central to his campaign.

But although there were some signs that his messaging struck a chord with voters, the new poll found that opposition is higher than support for eliminating protections for transgender students under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits any high school or college that receives federal funds from discriminating on the basis of gender.

Almost half of U.S. adults “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose getting rid of these protections, while about 3 in 10 are in favor and the rest are neutral.

About half of Republicans and Democrats oppose eliminating the debt ceiling

As a government shutdown loomed at the end of last year, Trump proposed raising or even eliminating the debt ceiling, a limit set by lawmakers that determines how much the federal government can borrow to pay its existing bills. The issue could reemerge soon if Trump pushes the expensive tax cuts that he promised on the campaign trail.

In general, Trump’s stance isn’t popular, although there’s some room for opinion to shift. About half of U.S. adults oppose eliminating the debt ceiling, while about one-quarter are in favor and about 3 in 10 are neutral.

But in another unusual moment of bipartisan accord, Democrats are only slightly more likely than Republicans to oppose getting rid of the debt ceiling.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,147 adults was conducted Jan. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 04:07

From Beyoncé to Lady Gaga, who else sang the national anthem at presidential inaugurations?

President-elect Donald Trump selected opera tenor Christopher Macchio to perform the national anthem at Monday’s inauguration, at which Carrie Underwood will also perform “America the Beautiful.” Here’s a list of some singers at previous presidential inaugurations:

John F Kennedy, 1961: Contralto Marian Anderson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965: The United States Marine Band performed the national anthem.

Richard Nixon, 1969: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir accompanied by the United States Marine Band performed the national anthem.

Richard Nixon, 1973: Jazz great Ethel Ennis sang the national anthem.

FILE – Lady Gaga performs the National Anthem as President-elect Joe Biden watches during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE – Singer Marian Anderson smiles at the Pierre Hotel in New York, Nov. 28, 1979. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)

FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, right, greets Santita Jackson, left, daughter of Jesse Jackson, center, at a “Rebuild America” conference in Washington, June 13, 1992. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, File)

FILE – Mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne sings on Capitol Hill, January 20, 1993, joined by President Clinton, left, as former President Bush looks on during the inaugural ceremony. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

FILE – Soprano Jessye Norman performs during The Dream Concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Sept. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

FILE – Aretha Franklin performs at the inauguration for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

FILE – Sgt. 1st Class Alvy Powell sings the national anthem before a baseball game in Washington, July 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE – Vice President Mike Pence, center, and President Donald Trump, right, listen to the singing of the national anthem by Jackie Evancho during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Show Caption1 of 8

Expand

Jimmy Carter, 1977: Cantor Isaac Goodfriend, a Holocaust survivor, accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band sang the national anthem.

Ronald Reagan, 1981: Amateur singer Juanita Booker sang the national anthem.

Ronald Reagan, 1985: The United States Marine Band performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Opera singer Jessye Norman also performed.

George Bush, 1989: Staff Sergeant Alvy Powell of the U.S. Army Band sang the national anthem.

Bill Clinton, 1993: Opera singer Marilyn Horne sang the national anthem.

Bill Clinton, 1997: Santita Jackson, the daughter of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the Resurrection Choir sang the national anthem. Jessye Norman also performed.

George W. Bush, 2001: Army Staff Sgt. Alec T. Maly sang the national anthem.

George W. Bush, 2005: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bradley Bennett sang the national anthem. Singers Susan Graham and Denyce Graves also performed.

Barack Obama, 2009: The United States Navy Band Sea Chanters sang the national anthem. Aretha Franklin also performed.

Barack Obama, 2013: Beyoncé performed the national anthem and later said she had lip-synced to a taped track. James Taylor also sang.

Donald Trump, 2017: Jackie Evancho sang the national anthem.

Joe Biden, 2021: Lady Gaga sang the national anthem. Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks also performed.

View more on Jeremy T. Ringfield's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 20, 2025 03:38

← Previous 1 2 … 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 … 495 496 Next →

Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog

Jeremy T. Ringfield's profile
185 followers