Tropical storm Debby has claimed at least four lives in Florida as of Monday morning.

Usha Vance said she has grown a “thick skin” in the face of media attacks in the weeks since her husband, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), was tapped as former President Donald Trump’s running mate. The vice presidential candidate’s wife, 38, spoke about her husband during an interview at their Ohio home that aired on Monday. Fox News’s Ainsley Earhardt asked Vance how she handles the negative press around her husband. “Well that can be hard,” Vance responded. “Sometimes I don’t see it all, and sometimes I do see it and I look at it and think well, this is not the JD I know. This is not accurate. And other times it might spawn discussions or thoughts about what we should do next or how we should live.”   Usha Vance Speaks Out On 'Childless Cat Lady' Controversy pic.twitter.com/OrJAS4xcQE — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 5, 2024   “But I think we’ve been doing this now for a little while, and I’ve gotten kind of accustomed to it and grown a bit of a thick skin,” she said. “I just try to not let it affect the way that I live.” One of those controversial headlines involved Vance saying the U.S. is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies” who are “miserable” in their own lives and want to make the rest of the country miserable, specifically calling out Vice President Kamala Harris. “What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country,” Vance remarked. “And sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder, and we should be asking ourselves why is that true? What is it about our leadership and the way they think about the world that makes it so hard sometimes for parents?” Asked what she would say to women offended by that comment, Vance invited them to “look at the real conversation that he’s trying to have and engage with it and understand for those of us who do have families, for the many of us who want to have families and for whom it’s really hard, what can we do to make it better? What can we do to make it easier to live in 2024?” Vance also discussed her feelings around a trans-identifying friend of the family sharing decade-old emails from Vance with the media. “It is hard to know that sometimes politics comes in the way of friendships,” she said. “It is hurtful, and it is sad.” WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI Vance added that people have speculated a lot about both her and her husband, but she does not want to do the same to them. She expressed her optimism about another Trump presidency. “If I didn’t feel that the ticket, the Trump Vance ticket was able to do some real good for the country then I wouldn’t be here supporting him. JD wouldn’t have done this,” she said. Vance met her husband while both were studying at Yale Law School. They have been married for 10 years and share three young children. She said they plan to “let them have their lives as children, which I think they really deserve” as well as “let them spend lots of time with their father, and if that’s sometimes seen by other people, great.” As the couple remains in the spotlight, Vance said she wanted Americans to know her husband is a “real person,” a “wonderful father,” and her “best friend.” “He is funny. He has all sorts of dorky interests,” she said. “You look at the news sometimes and you just see this caricature of a human, and he’s a really good person.”  

Less than a week before the U.S. stock markets took another tumble on Monday, President Joe Biden said he wanted his accomplishments to include curing the economy. A reporter asked Biden what he wanted his “legacy” for Gen Z to entail during the early hours of last Tuesday morning. Biden replied, “That I’ve cured the economy — and the environment and a few other small things.” REPORTER: "What do you want your legacy for Gen Z to be?" BIDEN: "That I cured the economy. And the environment. And a few other small things." (His "legacy" will be his obvious cognitive decline — which Kamala covered up. Scandal of the century!) pic.twitter.com/SMsXKVfljw — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 30, 2024 The comment generated renewed attention as the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indexes plummeted in what The Wall Street Journal called a “global selloff” during the morning hours on Monday after stocks also dropped last Friday amid concerns about a recession. “He cured the economy in the same way he cured Stage IV dementia,” Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro quipped on X. He cured the economy in the same way he cured Stage IV dementia https://t.co/CJysJxmn0g — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 5, 2024   Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross similarly mocked Biden, saying, “Cured the economy the same way he ended cancer.” Biden pledged during his 2020 campaign to “cure cancer” elected. The White House has touted a “Cancer Moonshot” program but has not yet delivered on Biden’s lofty promise. Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs compared Biden’s comment to one by his national security adviser declaring last year the Middle East region was “quieter” than it had been in two decades — a little more than a week before Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel. “It’s not just that the policy is bad, it’s that they are SO sure it’s good. Remarkable hubris,” Heinrichs said. “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” Jake Sullivan, days before the Iran-backed Hamas attack. "I cured the economy." Joe Biden, days before market panic. It's not just that the policy is bad, it's that they are SO sure it's good.… https://t.co/u3DZUoHwZ9 — Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) August 5, 2024 A couple of weeks ago, Biden ended his re-election campaign as fellow Democrats urged him to drop out after a fumbling debate performance spurred concerns about his mental capacity and electability. Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed as his successor, recently clinched the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Some of her political foes have begun to spread the “KamalaCrash” hashtag. In response to a clip of Biden making his comment about the economy last week, Fox News contributor Guy Benson asked, “Does Kamala Harris agree with Joe Biden that their policies ‘cured the economy’?” Does Kamala Harris agree with Joe Biden that their policies “cured the economy”? https://t.co/EKFyQM4CeY — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 5, 2024 Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said in a post to X that Harris “must immediately—without a script—explain her economic policies.” He added, “If she can’t answer a single question, she can’t handle the job.” Kamala must hold a press conference or resign. If she can’t answer a single question about an economic emergency she can’t be VP or POTUS. https://t.co/nOKXxe4zSg — Stephen Miller (@StephenM) August 5, 2024 Former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller said in a response to Cotton, “Kamala must hold a press conference or resign. If she can’t answer a single question about an economic emergency she can’t be VP or POTUS.”

Multiple people, including a teenage boy, are dead after Hurricane Debby made landfall in Florida Monday, bringing torrential rain, flooding, and devastating winds.  The small town of Steinhatchee was hit around 7:00 a.m. local time with 80-mile-per-hour winds. The storm then moved from the Big Bend coast of Florida through northern parts of the state before it was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm.  This is the second time in less than a year that Steinhatchee has been hit by a hurricane, as Hurricane Idalia first made landfall about 20 miles away on August 26, 2023. “Two in less than a year is pretty bad,” local resident Chris Williams told the Associated Press. “You do everything you can possibly do to prepare. And when you’ve done that, clean up and put it back together and move forward.” Hundreds of thousands throughout Florida and Georgia are without power, and there is widespread flooding and other risks. Four people have already been reported dead due to storm conditions.  Law enforcement in Levy County announced that a tree fell on a mobile home there, killing a 13-year-old boy.  “Our thoughts and prayers are with this family as they deal with this tragedy,” said the Levy County sheriff’s office. “We encourage everyone to use extreme caution as they begin to assess and clean up the damage. Downed powerlines and falling trees are among the many hazards.” A truck driver was also killed after the vehicle ended up in a bypass canal off of Interstate 75 in Hillsborough County.  “We send our condolences to the driver’s family,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Even the harshest conditions didn’t stop our deputies working swiftly in this tragic situation.” WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI Two other people were killed Sunday night after a 38-year-old woman in Dixie County lost control of her vehicle “due to the inclement weather and wet roadway,” leading to her death and also killing a 12-year-old boy. A 14-year-old boy was also in the vehicle and hospitalized after the accident.  Portions of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas are expected to be inundated with rain. Florida officials are warning that floods could be a danger for days after the storm passes. Florida Division of Emergency Management executive director Kevin Guthrie said Monday that the chance of flooding “is probably going to be here for the next five to seven days, maybe as long as 10 days depending on how much rainfall we get.” Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis told people not to drive through flooded areas. “When the water rises, when you have streets that can be flooded, that’s hazardous,” he said. “Don’t try to drive through this. We don’t want to see traffic fatalities adding up.” About 272,000 customers are without power in Florida, and 24,000 have lost power in Georgia. 

Former President Donald Trump is locked in a dead heat with Vice President Kamala Harris in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, a new poll has found. The poll of 600 likely voters in the Keystone State, taken by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, found that there are very few undecided voters and that Trump and Harris are tied. When voters were asked who they would vote for in a head-to-head matchup between the Republican and Democratic candidates, both garnered 48 percent of the vote. Just 4 percent said that they were undecided. Pennsylvania carries 19 Electoral College votes, making it a particularly important state as Trump and Harris compete to see who can earn 270 votes, the minimum needed to win the presidency. The two major candidates were still tied when likely voters in Pennsylvania were given the option to offer their support to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or candidates from other parties. Trump and Harris both garnered 45 percent when voters were given a full ballot, while RFK Jr. received 4 percent of the vote and “other” garnered 2 percent. Trump does, however, hold a significant advantage when likely voters were asked if they approved of the performance of both of the candidates in office. While 51 percent said that they approved of Trump’s performance as president, just 43 percent said that they approve of the job Harris has done as vice president. Only 41 percent said that they approve of President Joe Biden’s performance in office. The poll also asked likely voters about various messages about Harris in order to gauge their ability to persuade voters, finding that messaging on the economy, immigration, and crime could be the most effective. “If you knew that each of the following were TRUE about Kamala Harris, please tell me whether it would make you MORE likely or LESS likely to vote for her for President,” the poll asked respondents before listing off the different messages about the presumptive Democratic nominee. The highest share of “persuadable voters” said their decision would be impacted when told “Kamala Harris has called for raising trillions of dollars in new taxes through higher income taxes and payroll taxes” and “as D.A., Kamala Harris granted probation to a dangerous illegal immigrant felon who upon release went on to kill a father and his two sons.” When presented with the information, 68 percent and 67 percent of persuadable voters said that their decision as to who they would vote for would be impacted, respectively. Another 63 percent of persuadable voters said that their decision would be impacted when told that Harris supported policies that “led to the record high inflation and rising prices that we have now for groceries, housing and gas prices,” while 61 percent said that their vote would be impacted when it was explained to them that “Kamala Harris supports abolishing ICE, the agency that arrests and deports rapists and murders.” The poll comes after Harris suddenly replaced Biden as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, seemingly in response to widespread concern about Biden’s health. Harris is now set to officially become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee this month, with the Democratic National Convention starting on Monday, August 19th. 

The Olympics are over for Simone Biles, and she’s leaving Paris as the most decorated American gymnast of all time. Simone led her team to gold in the all-around competition and took gold in the individual all-around competition and the individual vault. Her final day of competition didn’t end in gold medals, but she is still a star. Simone earned a silver medal in the individual floor exercise behind Rebecca Andrade of Brazil. She struggled in the individual balance beam event and took a disappointing fall, leaving her in fifth place. Watch Simone’s floor routine here. While it may not have been a fairytale ending, Simone Biles reminded us why she is a role model. @simonebilesowens aayyyyeeee team final lets get it !!!!! ♬ Where Them Girls At – Megan Thee Stallion Jordan Chiles took third in floor exercise, and the two Americans flanked Rebecca during the medal ceremony. The two women bowed down to Rebecca in a moment of recognition for the gold medal winner and the sport of gymnastics. After the gymnastics events ended, Simone addressed the press at a news conference, People reported. “Today has been absolutely wild. I’ve been out on that floor so many times competing, so obviously exhaustion and all of that sets in, but we still had to go out and compete one more time today. And it’s such an honor to compete with these girls on both the beam and on the floor.” Simone admitted that her final two events weren’t the greatest. But she is leaving Paris with a huge sense of accomplishment. “At the end of the day, whoever medaled, medaled, and that’s what’s so exciting because you just never know with gymnastics,” she said. “I’m not very upset, or anything, about my performance at the Olympics. I’m actually very happy, proud, and even more excited that it’s over, the stress of it.” Simone Biles Is Truly The Greatest She became the most decorated gymnast in United States history when she won gold in the team all-around competition on August 1. Since then, she’s racked up two more gold medals and a silver, giving her a total of ten. Not too shabby. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Simone Biles Closes Her Historic Olympic Run With A Silver Medal appeared first on InspireMore.