Trump rally set for Aurora, Colo., after mixed reports on Tren de Aragua gang
Although it is not considered a battleground state, former President Donald Trump is making a campaign stop in Colorado. The Colorado Sun reported that Trump will hold a rally in Aurora on Friday, Oct. 11, to talk about immigration. The stop is also listed on the Trump campaign website.
The rally comes amid claims by Trump that the city has been taken over by a Venezuelan gang whose members are in the country illegally. The former president said that if he wins the election, he will implement a mass deportation plan that will include Aurora.
In July 2024, the Aurora Police Department posted on X that it had arrested two confirmed members and two suspected members of the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, or TdA, for their alleged involvement in a shooting at an Aurora apartment complex. Their arrests thrust the topic of illegal immigration into the national spotlight, which is also a major issue in the presidential campaign.
The Aurora Police Department released a statement saying “based on our initial investigative work, we believe reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated.” However, the controversy has continued.
Republican Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman is welcoming the Trump visit on Friday, saying he believes it will give the city an opportunity to change the narrative.
Polls show Donald Trump is behind Vice President Kamala Harris in Colorado by double digits in the race for the White House.
The Trump rally is set for 1 p.m. at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center, near Denver International Airport.
Presidential race tight with 4 weeks left until election
Four weeks from today Americans head to the polls for Election Day 2024. By all accounts, it is an extremely close race for president with the result likely to be determined by a handful of states.
A new poll, released by Reuters on Tuesday, Oct. 8, of just over 1,000 registered voters, shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a 46% to 43% lead over former President Donald Trump. However, the poll also has some good news for Trump as respondents view him as stronger than Harris on the economy and immigration.
Real Clear Politics has Harris up by two points nationally, 49% to 47%, with the race boiling down to eight toss-up states. Those states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. A total of 103 electoral votes are at stake in those states.
Trump has repeatedly said that Pennsylvania is the key to victory with 19 electoral votes. Harris predicted in Michigan last week that she would win but said it’s going to be tight.
Harris is doing interviews on Tuesday on such shows as “The View.” Trump is planning to head to Pennsylvania for appearances in Scranton and Reading on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
Mexico’s president to deliver security plan after newly elected mayor killed
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to present her strategy to confront the country’s security problems Tuesday, Oct. 8. The country’s first woman president — inaugurated less than a week ago — is reportedly going to present a plan that will highlight law and order amid the growing violence linked to drug cartels and organized crime.
Arcos is the latest politician to be murdered in the country, with 37 candidates assassinated leading up to Mexico’s most recent elections this past June.
Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s already hard-hit west coast
Hurricane Milton, which strengthened to a Category 5 storm, spins closer to southwest Florida. And it’ll cost you a little more for a chance at the big Mega Millions jackpot. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.
Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s already hard-hit west coast
Still reeling from Hurricane Helene, Florida’s west coast is hunkering down once again as Hurricane Milton barrels that way. As of early Tuesday morning, Oct. 8, it was a Category 4 storm.
The storm intensified to a major Category 5 hurricane Monday before being downgraded. Still, it threatens to bring torrential rain to already-soaked and flooded parts of the Sunshine State.
The National Hurricane Center said people on Florida’s west coast should expect “devastating hurricane force winds” and life-threatening storm surges. Some predictions call for 15 feet of storm surge.
Evacuations have already been ordered in some parts of the state, including the Tampa Bay area. Residents in some areas have been told first responders are not expected to risk their lives to try to save those who do evacuate in time.
Less than 24 hours after the world marked one year of war in the Middle East, Israel exchanged deadly strikes with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Hezbollah has been striking Israel since its war with Hamas began as a show of solidarity for the other Iran-backed militant group, but the deadly violence has escalated significantly in recent weeks, with the killings of top Hezbollah leaders.
Trump, Harris commemorate anniversary of Oct. 7 terror attacks
As the 2024 presidential campaign heads into the final four weeks, both candidates marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
On Monday morning, Republican nominee former President Donald Trump visited the New York gravesite of a renowned rabbi in the Orthodox Judaism community, leaving a stone atop the headstone, a traditional Jewish custom.
Trump later held a remembrance ceremony at his golf club in Miami, which included Jewish community leaders, Holocaust survivors and Republican lawmakers.
“October 7 was not just the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, it was not just the worst terror attack since 9/11, it was an attack on humanity itself,” Trump said. “It was a hideous, incredible cruelty. It was chilling savagery. It was a demonic delight and the destruction of innocent life. On October 7, it seemed as if the gates of hell had sprung open and unleashed their horrors onto the world. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff helped plant a pomegranate tree outside the VP’s residence in Washington, D.C., dedicating it to the 1,200 people killed a year ago in Israel — including 46 Americans.
https://twitter.com/VP/status/1843457053966193110
“So, in this moment, on the one-year commemoration of October 7, what is asked of us?” Harris said. “What is asked of us? First and foremost, I believe that we must never forget. I will never forget October 7 and the world must never forget. What is asked of us? We must work to ensure nothing like the horrors of October 7 can never happen again. And on this solemn day, I will restate my pledge to always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself, and that I will always work to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people here and around the world.”
Later Tuesday, Vice President Harris will continue her media blitz with stops at “The View,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “The Howard Stern Show.” On Wednesday, former President Trump is scheduled to hold two rallies in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Mexican mayor killed less than a week after taking office
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to present her strategy to confront the country’s security problems Tuesday. The country’s first woman president — inaugurated less than a week ago — is reportedly going to present a plan that will highlight law and order amid the growing violence linked to drug cartels and organized crime.
Arcos is the latest politician to be murdered in the country, with 37 candidates assassinated leading up to Mexico’s most recent elections this past June.
Google ordered to open app store after anti-trust ruling
The ruling comes in the wake of a jury verdict last year in favor of Fortnite game maker Epic Games, which found Google was illegally blocking competition.
Mega Millions raising ticket prices, improving odds to win
If you play the lottery, get ready to shell out more money for a chance at that mega jackpot. Mega Millions announced some big changes to its lottery game — including an increase in ticket prices.
Starting in April, tickets will cost $5 per play, more than double the current price of $2. It’ll be the game’s second price increase since 2002.
Mega Millions said this is all part of its “mega” overhaul, which will see improved odds of winning the jackpot and bigger jackpots more often.
Since launching more than 20 years ago, Mega Millions — which is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands — has seen six $1 billion winners.
Elon Musk offers $47 incentive for swing state voters to sign petition. Is it legal?
Elon Musk is asking his followers on X to sign a petition supporting the Constitution, and in return, earn some cash. The petition was started by America PAC, a pro-Trump group founded by Musk.
“Earn $47 for every person you refer to sign the petition if they’re in a swing state,” Musk posted on X. “The goal is to get 1M voters in swing states to show support for free speech & right to bear arms.”
Federal law prohibits paying or offering to pay someone to vote or register to vote, but it is legal to pay people to encourage others to vote. It is also legal to compensate individuals who gather signatures for petitions, although some states have laws making it illegal for campaigns to pay based on reaching a target number of signatures.
America PAC is based in Texas, where there are no specific laws regarding pay-per-signature compensation, making Musk’s financial incentive legally valid for garnering more signatures.
The petition is described as pledging support for the First Amendment and Second Amendment, which grant freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.
The petition is only open to registered voters in swing states, and the line for the $47 referral credit is located just above the “Sign Petition” portion.
If half of the 1 million signature goal comes from referrals, the financial incentive would cost America PAC more than $23 million.
This push comes at a crucial time as campaigns for former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris ramp up in these battleground states. Recent polls show a tight race, with Harris leading Trump by just 3.4 percentage points, 49.8% to Trump’s 46.4%.
Harris and Trump both make national debt worse, ‘especially Trump’
Policies proposed by former President Donald Trump would add more than twice as much to the national debt as policies proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a bipartisan analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The middle estimate for Harris’ plans is that they increase the debt by $3.5 trillion through 2035, whereas Trump’s middle estimate adds $7.5 trillion.
On the low end of the range, Harris adds nothing while Trump adds $1.45 trillion. On the high end, Harris’ proposals have the ability to add $8.1 trillion while Trump’s tops out at $15.15 trillion.
“The bottom line is that we are already adding tremendously to the national debt under current law, and both candidates would make that even worse, especially President Trump,” Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director at CRFB, said.
The national debt today is nearly $35.7 trillion. It currently costs more than $1 trillion in interest payments to maintain the current debt load.
We don’t endorse a particular candidate and we didn’t go in this trying to come up with a particular outcome. This is just the math.
Marc Goldwein, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Straight Arrow News interviewed CRFB’s Goldwein for more information about the group’s economic analysis of both candidates. The following has been edited for clarity. Watch the full interview in the video above.
Simone Del Rosario: Why should voters care about the debt?
Marc Goldwein: Look, debt is eating our income growth. Debt is what causes inflation, what causes high interest rates and what causes interest payments to now be the second largest government program, larger than defense, larger than Medicare, and leaving less room for us to invest in just about anything else.
Simone Del Rosario: Your middle estimates for both candidates show that Harris would add about $3.5 trillion to the debt over the next decade while Trump would add $7.5 trillion in debt. What are the policies that are specifically adding to the debt for these two different candidates?
Marc Goldwein: For Vice President Harris, it’s [the] extension of some parts of the tax cuts from 2017, it’s a very big child tax credit, and then it’s a bunch of spending on everything from paid leave to childcare to long-term care to preschool, partially paid for with taxes on the rich and on corporations.
For President Trump, it’s mostly just a lot of tax cuts. We have a full extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, getting rid of the cap on the SALT deduction, no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security benefits. And then on top of that, deportations and higher spending on defense; again, partially offset, mainly with tariffs, but in neither case are those offsets covering the costs.
Simone Del Rosario: Do your tariff estimates also include that 60% tariff on China?
Marc Goldwein: We do. Our central estimate assumes that there’s a 10% universal tariff. It’s 60% on China, and in addition, there’s some retaliatory tariffs on a one-off basis. But the important thing with these tariffs is, if they work as intended, they will reduce trade, and so they don’t raise as much revenue as you might think, just taking 10% of all of our imports, for example.
Marc Goldwein: That’s right, the tariffs could pay for some of the tax cuts, but they’ll barely cover the no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime. They aren’t going to cover the $8 trillion-plus of tax cuts that President Trump is proposing.
Simone Del Rosario: And then, on the other hand, Marc, there is no guarantee that a potential President Harris would get those tax hikes on the rich that she’s looking for.
Marc Goldwein: That’s right. Look, in both the cases, these are highly speculative, because we’re analyzing what they’re calling for, not what will actually happen. In the real world, these offsets are hard. It’s hard to get taxes on the rich, taxes on corporations, tariffs, lower drug prices. It’s also hard to get some of the spending. So these are not predictions of what will happen. These are estimates of what would happen if the candidate’s plans were enacted in full.
Simone Del Rosario: So what should voters do with this information?
Marc Goldwein: They should demand offsets. Look, a debt is just tax on future generations. It’s a huge burden in terms of slower income growth, higher interest rates, higher inflation. And we need the candidates to be paying for their promises, and if they can’t, we need those promises to be scaled way back.
Simone Del Rosario: What aren’t you hearing from the candidates that you wish you were hearing at this point in the race?
Marc Goldwein: Social Security is nine years from insolvency. I’m not hearing a plan from either candidate to prevent that 21% across-the-board cut that’s scheduled to happen under current law.
Simone Del Rosario: And peel back the curtain for me a little bit and just explain how you guys went about this analysis. I assume it took you a very long time to do so.
Marc Goldwein: We went painstakingly through both candidates websites, through their platforms, through their speeches. We talked to the campaign staff, we looked at news articles, and we tried to discern what are official campaign policies, how do we interpret them, and how much do they cost? And each step of the way, we need to make a lot of choices, which is why we have a low-cost estimate and a high-cost estimate reflecting the range of possibilities, along with our central estimate.
I have to give credit to [my] amazing staff that put many, many, many hours into this over the last year, estimating every last policy, including policies that didn’t even make it to the finish line because they were rejected or because they were policies from the Biden campaign that didn’t make it over to the Harris campaign. But it’s an incredible amount of work and I recommend you checking out the report at CRFB.org. It’s pretty lengthy, but we have a short summary at the front that I think gives all the most important details.
Simone Del Rosario: Here at Straight Arrow News, we’re about unbiased, straight facts. We like to bring nonpartisan information to people so that they can decide for themselves as they get ready to vote in this upcoming election. How should people interpret these findings? Are they at all partisan?
Marc Goldwein: Look, we don’t endorse a particular candidate and we didn’t go in this trying to come up with a particular outcome. This is just the math. We looked at the candidate’s plans and this is what we think they would add to the debt.
You then need to weigh that against the benefits of whatever the candidates are offering. So one voter might say, sure they add a trillion dollars to the debt, but it’s for this very important policy; or sure they balance the budget, neither of them do, but let’s say they did, but they do in this awful way.
So fiscal policy, how much they add to the debt, should be just one consideration among many. I happen to think it’s a pretty darn important one because our debt is headed to the largest share of the economy it’s ever been. We’re heading to record levels of debt and I do fear we have a debt crisis on the horizon if we don’t do something.
But you need to vote based on what matters most to you, and this information is just meant to inform your decision, not to dictate it.
Simone Del Rosario: I want to thank you and your team for your analysis. We rely on you guys often to get the straight facts when it comes to how these policies impact our debt and our country. So thank you so much, Marc.
Voting access expanded in Florida counties impacted by Hurricane Helene
Monday, Oct. 7, marks the final day to register to vote in Florida. Due to the active hurricane season, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implemented changes to facilitate voting for impacted Floridians.
Many residents face distractions from the election as some counties are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, while others are preparing for Hurricane Milton, now a Category 5 storm expected to hit the Tampa Bay area by Friday, Oct. 11.
The Florida Supervisors of Elections alerted the governor to significant disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene, including damage to many early voting sites and polling locations, which has displaced voters and made poll workers unavailable.
In response, DeSantis issued an executive order allowing election supervisors in 10 affected counties to adapt their voting procedures. This includes establishing additional in-person voting centers, adding new locations for vote-by-mail drop boxes and permitting ballots to be mailed to temporary addresses at a voter’s request.
DeSantis assured the public that the security of the election will not be compromised by these changes.
“If there’s a polling place that’s been destroyed, you have the ability to set up a different site, provide proper notice, and follow all the rest of state law,” DeSantis said during a press conference. “This will ensure that residents impacted by this storm, who may be displaced, still have the ability to vote in November’s election.”
This is not the first time Florida has granted flexibility to elections officials following a major storm; similar adjustments were made after Hurricane Michael in 2018 and Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Both presidential candidates to court Hispanic voters in separate town halls
The presidential candidates have now agreed to appear in separate town halls on the major Spanish-language network Univision. Vice President Kamala Harris will appear this Thursday, Oct. 10, in the battleground state of Nevada. Former President Donald Trump will be on next Wednesday, Oct. 16, in Miami.
Latinos have grown at the second fastest rate of any racial or ethnic group when it comes to eligible voters since the 2020 election, according to Pew Research.
There are now 36.2 million Hispanics who are able to vote in the upcoming presidential election. That figure is an increase of 12% from 32.3 million in 2020.
The voting block is extremely important in the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada that have a large Latino or Hispanic population. Arizona has 11 electoral votes, while Nevada has six.
Pew Research, from the 2020 election, shows that Joe Biden garnered 59% of the Hispanic vote while Donald Trump had 38%. A recent poll found similar numbers possible this election cycle, with Harris leading Trump by a 57% to 39% margin.
Researchers found the top five issues for Hispanic voters are the economy, health care, violent crime, gun policy and immigration.
Why Wisconsin is so important in the upcoming presidential election
Former President Donald Trump was in Wisconsin on Sunday, Oct. 6, underscoring how important the state is to winning the election. Trump won there in 2016. However, Joe Biden flipped it back to the Democrats column in 2020.
Approximately 80% of Wisconsinites are white. So with Wisconsin viewed as a state that lacks diversity, both presidential candidates are looking to appeal to the white working class voter.
A recent Emerson College and The Hill poll shows the key issues in Wisconsin are the economy, threats to Democrats, immigration and health care. All were in the double digits in terms of poll percentages.
Trump hit on the economy at his rally, saying he would end inflation on day one of his administration and “make America affordable again.”
Wisconsin is part of the Democrats so-called blue wall. Democrats believe if Vice President Kamala Harris can win Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, she will win the presidential election.
The RealClearPolitics average of polling shows Harris up by .8% in Wisconsin, 49% to Trump’s 48.2%. In other words, margins between the two are razor thin.
US cybersecurity chief reassures voters the election will be secure
The head of a top federal agency for election security is insisting the upcoming presidential election in the United States will be secure and not affected by any foreign interference. She made those statements in a lengthy interview with The Associated Press (AP).
Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told the AP, there is no way American adversaries, such as Russia or Iran, will be able to alter the results.
“Malicious actors, even if they tried, could not have an impact at scale, such that there would be a material effect on the outcome of the election,” Easterly said.
She added that it is important to understand that the machines that Americans will use to cast ballots are not connected to the internet, which makes it difficult for malicious foreign actors to impact how votes are cast and counted.
In September, federal prosecutors charged three Iranian operatives with hacking the Trump campaign. In addition, the Biden administration seized more than two dozen fake websites and charged two Russian state media employees with crimes.
Easterly said her agency works with elections officials to disseminate accurate information, and there are layers of security to make sure the information is accurate.
Her remarks come after U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, from the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter to the agency to take steps to deal with election misinformation and disinformation.
Easterly also noted that her office is now working with elections officials from states impacted by Hurricane Helene so that voters there have a chance to cast their ballots in the upcoming election.