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After an interminable delay, President Joe Biden finally took the stage Monday on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, declaring that ‘democracy has prevailed.’ 

Ironically, he handed his party’s nomination to Kamala Harris, a candidate who had earned precisely zero votes – and whose previous bid for the White House imploded well before the first votes were cast.

Four years after setting records by winning more votes than any other U.S. presidential candidate and less than a month after his ‘voluntary’ withdrawal from the presidential race (a contest where he had received more than 14 million votes), Biden delivered a fiery, near hour-long stemwinder before being shuffled aside in every sense of the word. 

Instead of an entire convention to nominate him for a second term, Biden’s speaking slot was the proverbial kiddie table, stretching well past midnight and happening three days before his second-in-command took the stage.

It was an unthinkable series of events prior to the June debate, an ignominious and humiliating ending for a man who has been a fixture in Democratic circles for more than half a century (literally, folks, as Biden would say. He won his first term in the U.S. Senate in 1972 – the same year as Richard Nixon’s landslide reelection). 

Now, his future, ‘holds a presidential library and retirement in Delaware,’ as Axios put it.

Along the way, Biden was subjected to such over-the-top tributes and ‘tears of joy’ (in the words of Sen. Amy Klobuchar) from many of the same people who not long ago were colluding  behind closed doors to kick him to the curb. 

Take former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Weeks after orchestrating the plot that led to Biden’s exit, Pelosi suggested his likeness belonged on Mt. Rushmore. The two have reportedly not spoken since the incident, and the president remains ‘unhappy’ about events, according reporting from the New York Times. Hard to blame him, and not something the ‘We Heart Joe’ sign the former speaker was spotted holding Monday night will make up for.

Speaking of the Gray Lady, after running not one but two separate editorials urging him to step aside, they lauded Biden for putting, ‘the national interest above his own pride and ambition,’ when he heeded their call.

Or his former governing partner, Barack Obama, who, eight years after discouraging his second in command from seeking the presidency against Hillary Clinton in 2016, was said to believe that Biden needed, ‘to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy’ after the June debate.

With friends like these, it’s no wonder the Bidens are jetting off to California rather than sticking around Chicago.

For all the talk about Harris’ ‘joy’ and the Democrats’ momentum, remember this: Joe Biden beat a talented field of candidates in 2020, including the person vying to replace him. The last Harris presidential run was so lackluster she dropped out in December 2019 – more than a month before the first voters were cast.

In that sense, she shares a place in history with Biden, who was forced to withdraw from his first presidential bid in 1988 amid plagiarism allegations after only three months as a candidate. 

As vice president, the early reviews on Harris were rough. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Democratic lawmakers and donors questioned keeping Harris on the ticket’ with Biden.

It took two more tries for Biden to win the big prize, a valuable reminder that running for the highest office in the land is not easy. Only 46 people in American history have accomplished the feat, including the Republican nominee and the man who took the stage last night for the Democrats.

As the festivities kick off in Chicago, Biden can say he kept his promise (albeit unwillingly) about serving as a ‘bridge’ candidate. It’s still an open question about where that bridge leads.

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– Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night where she praised the accomplishments of VP Kamala Harris and highlighted the legal issues of former President Donald Trump.

‘She will fight to lower costs for hard-working families, open the doors wide for good-paying jobs and yes, she will restore abortion rights nationwide,’ Clinton told the crowd at the United Center. ‘As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers. She will never rest in defense of our freedom and safety. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial. And when he woke up, he made his own kind of history. The first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.’

The crowd began chanting ‘lock him up’ in reference to the chants of ‘lock her up’ that often erupted at Trump rallies when he was running against Clinton in 2016 and criticizing her over allegations of corruption and improper handling of classified documents.

Clinton could seen smiling and nodding as the chants continued.

‘Just look at the candidates,’ Clinton said. ‘Kamala cares. Cares about kids and families. Cares about America. Donald only cares about himself.’

Earlier in the evening New York Gov. Kathy Hochul provoked a few cheers from the crowd by quipping that ‘Trump hasn’t spent much time in New York lately, except that is to get convicted of 34 felonies. And that’s just fine with us.’

For her part, Clinton touted Harris’ political resume as a prosecutor in California.

‘On her first day in court, Kamala said five words that still guide her,’ Clinton told the crowd. ‘Kamala Harris for the people. That is something that Donald Trump will never understand. So it is no surprise, is it, that he is lying about Kamala’s record? He’s mocking her name and her laugh. Sounds familiar. But we have him on the run now.’

‘So no matter what the polls say, we can’t let up. We can’t get driven down crazy conspiracy rabbit holes. We have to fight for the truth. We have to fight for Kamala as she will fight for us. Because you know what? It still takes a village to raise a family, heal a country and win a campaign.’

Clinton continued, ‘On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office as our 47th President of the United States.’

Clinton told the crowd that ‘we need to beat back the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to the rule of law and our way of life.’

‘Don’t get distracted or complacent. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Volunteer. Be proud champions for the truth and for the country that we all love.’

In closing, Clinton said that she wants her grandchildren and their grandchildren to ‘know I was here at this moment’ and that ‘we were here’ and ‘with Kamala Harris every step of the way.’

This is our time, America,’ Clinton said. ‘This is when we stand up. This is when we break through. The future is here. It’s in our grasp. Let’s go win it.’

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New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed former President Donald Trump in her DNC speech as a man who would ‘sell’ the U.S. ‘for a dollar’ if he’s re-elected come Election Day. 

‘We have to help [Vice President Kamala Harris] win because we know that Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends,’ Ocasio-Cortez said Monday evening from the convention’s stage at the United Center. 

‘And I, for one, am tired … of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to let working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life. The truth is done. You cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business. To love this country is to fight for its people. All people. Working people. Everyday Americans like bartenders and factory workers and fast food cashiers who punch a clock and are on their feet all day in some of the toughest jobs out there,’ Ocasio-Cortez continued. 

The DNC kicked off on Monday in Chicago, with a handful of high-profile Democrats addressing the convention, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ocasio-Cortez and brief remarks from Harris before her full address on Thursday evening. 

‘I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible President Joe Biden who will be speaking later tonight,’ Harris said of President Biden, adding ‘we are forever grateful to you.’

‘This November, we will come together and declare with one voice as one people, ‘we are moving forward with optimism, hope and faith,” she said.

‘When we fight, we win.’ 

Ocasio-Cortez made similar remarks amid her speech, arguing the country has been presented with a ‘rare and precious opportunity’ with Harris’ run, and that Democrats must ‘pour every ounce’ into ‘making history’ by electing Harris. 

‘Over the next 78 days, we will have to pour every ounce, every minute, every moment into making history on November 5th. But we cannot send Kamala and Tim to the White House alone. Together, we must also elect strong Democratic majorities in the House and in the Senate so that we can deliver on an ambitious agenda for the people,’ she said. 

The DNC has included massive protests from anti-Israel activists who held a march just blocks away from the convention center earlier Monday, demanding Democrats cease funding Israel as the country continues battling Hamas. 

‘We expect just empty phrases, lip service, lies and deception,’ a communist protester told Fox Digital Monday of what he anticpates from President Biden’s anticipated speech Monday evening. 

‘We don’t, you know, necessarily believe the Democrats are capable of doing anything for the Palestinian people,’ the group’s co-founder added.

The protests escalated Monday evening as the convention center began to fill with high-profile elected officials, delegates and supporters of the Harris-Walz ticket. Protesters managed to dismantle at least three panels of fencing surrounding the convention early Monday evening before police detained a handful of protesters.

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CHICAGO — A counterprotester outside the anti-Israel march on the Democratic National Convention told Fox News Digital the event represented ‘Jew hatred’ and that the message will push Jewish voters to support former President Trump in November.

‘It is putrid Jew hatred under the guise of a political movement,’ Anna Steinberg, director of Israel365, told Fox News Digital on the perimeter of the city’s Union Park as anti-Israel protesters were gathering before their march on the DNC on Monday.

Steinberg, a Ukrainian Jewish refugee, told Fox News Digital that she believes the Democratic Party’s position on the war in Gaza will lead to a massive shift in Jewish voters backing Trump.

‘I think the Democratic Party has lost the Jews,’ Steinberg said. ‘I think we’re gone. I think we’re gone. Eighty percent of Jews stayed in Egypt. 80% of Jews supported Obama. We are not voting for the Democrats anymore. We are not. We are done. We are not that stupid. We have broken that trauma cycle. We are done.’

Recent polling in deep-blue New York state suggests that Trump has taken the lead against Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Harris when it comes to Jewish voters, which Steinberg told Fox News Digital is a sentiment she has seen firsthand.

‘More people than I ever thought in my life, Jews have historically voted Democrat … all voted Democrat, they were part of the Democratic Party, they are now voting for Trump, vocally voting for Trump.’ Steinberg said. ‘Thank God, we’ve woken them up.’

Steinberg continued,’ It only took Oct. 7, 12,000 innocent babies, men and women for us to realize the predicament we are in, and we are finally voting for the party that has our back: the Republican Party and President Donald J. Trump.’

Jewish voters have traditionally supported Democrat candidates for decades. According to an analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, Jewish voters have on average supported Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 71% to 26% since 1968.

Jewish voters supported Biden over Trump 68% to 30% in 2020, while in 2016 the same group chose Clinton over Trump by a margin of 71% to 26%.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report.

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Delegates at the Democratic National Convention are set to vote Monday on the Democratic Party’s 2024 policy platform, which includes ‘explicit’ Title IX protections for LGBT students that were just blocked by the Supreme Court. 

The Democratic National Convention released the final 2024 Democratic Party platform Sunday night, after the one created during President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign was eventually scrapped. Vice President Kamala Harris announced her own presidential bid shortly after, generating a need for revisions that would better align with her own policy positions and a new vision for the party. The latest party platform mimics the Biden administration’s attempted rule making on Title IX to widen the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity. 

‘After Friday’s SCOTUS order, the Biden-Harris Title IX rules are in effect in less than 50% of the country — underscoring the flagrant lawlessness of this policy, as well as the deep unpopularity of this issue,’ Nicole Neily, the president and founder of parental rights group Parents Defending Education, told Fox News Digital. ‘Americans agree on relatively little these days, but opposition to progressive gender policies is one of the few issues that transcends racial, political, and socioeconomic lines — so doubling down on this issue is a risky move.’

Matt Sharp, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nonprofit that also focuses on parental rights issues, said the decision to include transgender protections in the Democratic Party’s platform ‘flies in the face of growing opinion’ about expanding the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity.

‘I think it’s really concerning to see the DNC platform sort of keep going down this same path that courts time and time again have pushed back on, have not allowed to move forward, and that ultimately the American public is not in favor of,’ Sharp said.

Sharp pointed out how efforts to redefine sex and sexual discrimination go all the way back to President Barack Obama’s administration. Once Trump took office, he rolled back the rule, but then it was put back in place by Biden. 

‘This has been a continuing pattern for several administrations to push this, but not only are the courts rebuffing it, but that the American public themselves are too, and we’re seeing it through more and more courageous female voices standing up against this,’ Sharp said.

Reed D. Rubinstein, senior vice president at America First Legal, the right-wing legal organization founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, called the move to add protections for transgender students under Title IX ‘old news.’

‘The left has fought this reality for well over a decade — it has repeatedly attempted and repeatedly failed to amend Title IX in Congress. Twice, it has attempted to change the law by administrative fiat. To protect girls’ sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s ‘Dear Colleague’ letter that asserted ‘sex’ and ‘[gender identity’ are coextensive],’ Rubinstein told Fox News Digital in a statement.

‘The Trump administration issued a Title IX rule that survived every single left-wing court challenge. Now, the courts have stopped the Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to rewrite the statute by regulation. But the Supreme Court, unanimously, has made it clear the word ‘sex’ in Title IX does not mean ‘gender identity,’ but rather, biological sex, male or female.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

In addition to Title IX protections for transgender students, the DNC party platform also contains language that states Democrats will continue ‘to relieve the crippling burden of student debt’ in 2024 — another policy effort under Biden that was rolled back by the Supreme Court. The platform blames Republicans for ‘block[ing] our student debt relief.’

The Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration’s plans for student debt cancelation last year, arguing the president stepped outside the bounds of his authority when he announced a plan to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans through executive action.

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The intelligence community said it has observed ‘increasingly aggressive Iranian activity’ during the 2024 election cycle, involving influence operations targeting the American public and presidential campaigns.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said Monday that Iran ‘seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.’ 

‘Iran has furthermore demonstrated a longstanding interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means, including through the use of cyber operations to attempt to gain access to sensitive information related to U.S. elections,’ the agencies said in a joint-statement. ‘In addition to these sustained efforts to complicate the ability of any U.S. administration to pursue a foreign policy at odds with Iran’s interests, the IC has previously reported thatIran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome.’ 

The intelligence community said it has observed ‘increasingly aggressive Iranian activity’ during the 2024 election cycle, specifically involving ‘influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns.’ 

‘This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC attributes to Iran,’ they said. 

The FBI has been investigating Iranian cyber hacking attempts against Trump’s presidential campaign, after Politico began receiving internal Trump campaign documents. 

The Trump campaign said the documents were obtained ‘illegally from sources hostile to the United States,’ who ‘intended to interfere in the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.’ 

Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on Trump’s campaign in June 2024. 

The hack by Iran came ‘after recent reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump around the same time as the Butler, PA tragedy.’ 

‘The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House,’ Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. ‘Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.’

But the intelligence community said it is ‘confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties.’ 

‘Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process. It is important to note that this approach is not new,’ they said. ‘Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.’ 

The agencies stressed that ‘protecting the integrity of our elections from foreign influence or interference is our priority.’ 

‘As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,’ they said. ‘We will not tolerate foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections, including the targeting of American political campaigns.’ 

The intelligence community said it is working closely with its public and private sector partners to ‘share information, bolster security, and identify and disrupt any threats.’ 

‘Just as this activity demonstrates the Iranians’ increased intent to exploit our online platforms in support of their objectives, it also demonstrates the need to increase the resilience of those platforms,’ they said, urging Americans to use strong passwords, official email accounts for official business, updating software, avoiding clicking links or opening attachments from ‘suspicious emails,’ and turning on multi-factor authentication.

The 2024 presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris told Fox News it ‘vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches of our systems.’ 

Iran has long been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also has long threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

In its report, Microsoft stated that ‘foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months due initially to Russian operations, but more recently from Iranian activity.’

The analysis continued: ‘Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns for appearing later in the election season and employing cyberattacks more geared toward election conduct than swaying voters.’

‘Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime — along with the Kremlin — may be equally engaged in election 2024,’ Microsoft concluded.

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In this edition of StockCharts TV‘s The Final Bar, Dave kicks off a five-part series covering ten charts to watch in August 2024, starting with two mega-cap growth stocks testing key resistance levels. Will they power up to new all-time highs into September?

This video originally premiered on August 19, 2024. Watch on our dedicated Final Bar page on StockCharts TV!

New episodes of The Final Bar premiere every weekday afternoon. You can view all previously recorded episodes at this link.

CHICAGO — As the Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday, Vice President Harris called for upping the corporate tax rate as the party’s presidential nominee unveiled her first big ticket proposal to raise revenues.

The Harris campaign confirmed to Fox News that the vice president is proposing to raise the rate that major businesses pay from 21% to 28%, describing it as ‘a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.’

‘As President, Kamala Harris will focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability, and dignity,’ campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.

The move, if it were to become law, would likely raise hundreds of billions of dollars, according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The announcement comes as Harris is beginning to offer details on how she’d govern if she is elected president and how she would try to pay for expensive ideas she proposed last week, including expanding the child tax credit and easing the cost of homeownership and lowering medical debt.

The announcement would also constitute a major rollback of the 2017 tax cuts, the signature domestic legislation passed during former President Trump’s administration that dramatically cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

Trump has pledged to cut taxes if he returns to the White House.

‘Our plan will massively cut taxes,’ Trump said at a campaign event on Monday at a factory in York, Pennsylvania. ‘I gave you the best tax cut in history.’

And he signaled that he would aim to use tariffs against competitors and allies alike by pushing for legislation called the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act.

But the Harris campaign says Trump’s proposed tariffs on overseas goods ‘would punish middle and working class Americans, so he can cut taxes for the richest Americans.’

Portions of the Trump tax cuts sunset at the end of 2025, which will spur a major debate next year over what parts should be extended.

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller pointed to the Harris proposal in a social media post, writing, ‘[B]ye-bye economic growth, new hirings, investment, expansion, onshoring, and so much more!’

The new stance by Harris aligns her with the most recent federal budget proposal by President Biden, which also proposes boosting the corporate tax rate to 28%.

Harris replaced Biden four weeks ago at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket after Biden announced he was ending his re-election bid and supporting his vice president as his successor.

But veteran Republican consultant and strategist Alex Castellanos told Fox News such proposals will do Harris no favors at the voting booth.

‘She does not need the spotlight on her or her policies. She’s been two sides of too many issues. And if she supports raising the corporate tax, that’s a job killer. You don’t need to hurt working people directly. All you need to do is hurt the companies working people work for,’ Castellanos said.

Fox News’ Emily Reynolds contributed to this report.

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Sen. JD Vance of Ohio called out Vice President Kamala Harris for her campaign promise to lower prices ‘on day one,’ despite her current influential role in the White House.

‘We have a country that is being failed by its present leadership,’ Vance said. ‘And don’t let anybody gaslight you here, because Kamala Harris is running around the country and saying that on Day One, she wants to bring the cost of goods and the cost of housing under control.’

Vance held a campaign event in Philadelphia on Monday, where he focused on contrasting the Trump-Vance campaign agenda with that of Harris.

‘She says that on Day One, she wants to make groceries and homes more affordable for American citizens. Well, Kamala Harris, where have you been? Because you’ve been vice president for about 1,300 days.’

‘Day One was three and a half years ago. You should have been doing your job then and not promising to do it now,’ Vance added.

While recently on the campaign trail, Harris said that if elected she would bring down food prices, end price gouging and lower housing costs.

But Vance highlighted the current high prices on electricity, food and gas, saying, ‘This is all because of the policies of Kamala Harris.’

‘This is the person who’s promising that she’s going to fix the very problems that she has been creating for 1,300 days, and now she wants the American people to give her a promotion,’ he told attendees. 

Vance focused on oil and energy as he made a pitch to voters in Pennsylvania, a state that will play a crucial role in determining the 2024 election.

‘We are, first of all, going to unleash Pennsylvania energy workers. We are going to drill, baby, drill. Let’s. We’re going to stop buying energy from tinpot dictators all over the world who hate this country,’ Vance said. ‘We’re going to start buying it from our own land, from our own people, from our own workers. And that’s going to start on Day One of the Trump presidency.’

Vance also said that Harris ‘has got quite the running mate,’ referencing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

‘The closest Tim Walz has ever come to combat is when he let rioters burn Minneapolis to the ground a few years ago,’ Vance said. Walz has faced backlash recently regarding the validity of his status and service in the military.

Vance answered questions from local reporters during the campaign event, after saying, ‘It is disgraceful that Kamala Harris pretends to run for the presidency of the United States, but she refuses to stand before the American people without a teleprompter standing between them. Kamala, what are you so afraid of?’

Vance’s event came on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

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In this StockCharts TV video, Mary Ellen highlights what drove last week’s sharp rally in the markets – posting their largest weekly gains for the year! She takes a close look at retail and cybersecurity stocks setting up for gains, and shares some of the best ways to participate.

This video originally premiered August 19, 2024. You can watch it on our dedicated page for Mary Ellen on StockCharts TV.

New videos from Mary Ellen premiere weekly on Fridays. You can view all previously recorded episodes at this link.

If you’re looking for stocks to invest in, be sure to check out the MEM Edge Report! This report gives you detailed information on the top sectors, industries and stocks so you can make informed investment decisions.