Quelle Surprise: Much of the Funding Against Europe's 'Far-Right' Came From NGO's

Curious: DNC Announces Last Call for Any Harris Competitors

President Joe Biden on Wednesday night gave a short speech to the American people from the Oval Office just days after he announced that he's leaving the 2024 presidential race.Biden — who sounded slightly short of breath and stumbled over his words at times — said the "best way forward" is to "pass the torch to a new generation" and let "new voices, fresh voices" and "younger voices" to lead the country.Biden — who on Sunday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president — waited until the end of his speech to mention Harris, calling her "tough" and "capable." Biden also said while his performance during his first term in office "merits a second term," he decided to put aside "personal ambition.""It's not about me," he added, "it's about you."Biden also said he'd spend the next six months "doing my job as president" — and then spent the most of the remainder of his address talking about what he saw as his accomplishments.Biden — who on Sunday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president after announcing that he's dropping out — waited until the end of his Oval Office address to mention Harris, calling her "tough" and "capable." He noted that the choice in November's election "is up to you."Speaking of Harris, it was reported Monday that she likely has secured enough delegates to become the Democratic nominee.Biden had been facing growing pressure from Democrats to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump last month. Following Biden's announcement that he's dropping out the race, Republicans across the country called on Biden to resign if he can't complete his campaign.What's more, Biden on Monday did little to beat back concerns about his health during an apparent phone call to Harris campaign headquarters during which his voice sounded strained, weak, and stumbling. Biden also has been recovering from another bout of COVID-19, according to the White House. In addition, rumors began swirling on social media Monday that in Las Vegas last week, Biden perhaps suffered an even more severe medical emergency than previously thought.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Court Dismisses Defamation Case Brought by 'Mary Poppins of Misinformation'

POLITICO: 'Republicans POUNCE' on Pro-Hamas Protesters Burning US Flags

The U.S. military said on Wednesday that it had intercepted two Russian and two Chinese military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, although they stayed in international airspace.

Ahead of President Biden’s first address in the Oval Office since announcing he was dropping out of the presidential race, the North American Aerospace Defense Command Public Affairs (NORAD) says it sent out fighter jets to intercept two Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers off the coast of Alaska. In a press release from NORAD, the agency confirmed that they detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the...

President Joe Biden, speaking to the nation from the Oval Office Wednesday evening, framed his decision to step aside from the 2024 presidential race as a matter of saving democracy. “I revere this office. But I love my country more,” Biden said in a rare speech that marked the beginning of the closing chapter of his presidency and half-century in public service. “It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in defense of democracy, which is at stake – and is more...

When my uncle was elected President, I recognized what a highly privileged position I would be in. I would have some access to the White House. And as long as that was true, I wanted to make sure I used that access for something positive. I was eager to champion something my wife, Lisa, and I were deeply passionate about, something we lived every day: the challenges for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

When taking on a daunting task, such as buying a house, starting a new career, or making a significant personal change, the most important thing is to establish one’s priorities to get the job done.It makes sense to tackle the hard part first, but often, we get hung up on the smaller, easier tasks that prevent us from taking on the issue that could make or break the project. That’s when great thinkers use the “monkey and pedestal” analogy to decide where to place their time and energy.The analogy is simple: If you’re going to create a show in which a monkey stands on a pedestal and recites Shakespeare, it’s best to first focus on teaching the monkey to memorize “Romeo and Juliet” rather than work on building the perfect pedestal.If the monkey can’t do Shakespeare, then there’s no point in building the pedestal. "Tackle the monkey first. Don't use up all your resources on the easy stuff,” Astro Teller, captain of Alphabet X, Google’s special project division, said, according to Inc. So, if you are looking to buy a house, it’s best first to arrange a down payment because, without that, it doesn’t matter if you’ve found the best neighborhood or have chosen a real estate agent. If you are starting a new career, ensuring you are qualified for the next step and have proper credentials and experience is more important than searching for your dream company.In other words, don’t waste your resources on the low-hanging fruit.“Low-hanging fruit is, by definition, pedestal building, offering the illusion of progress rather than any real ground gained toward reaching an ultimate goal,” side hustle guru Steven Imke writes on his blog. “What makes them low hanging is the fact they are easy, and you already know how to do it. Building pedestals means spending time, money, and other resources on things that don’t bring you closer to the question of whether you can achieve what you are striving for.”On his blog, Teller explains that Alphabet spent a lot of time working on a project to turn seawater into carbon-neutral fuel. The team got to work on the monkey, determining whether they could make their fuel cost competitive. Unfortunately, the team couldn’t do it, so the project was abandoned. But, if the team had started working on distributing the fuel for the first few years and then turned its focus on how to make it cost-effective, they would have wasted tons of resources to get little in return.The California high-speed rail project is an example of failure to focus on the monkey. Annie Duke, author of "Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away," shared the California high-speed rail project story on The Brainy Business podcast as an example of what can happen when we pay too much attention to the pedestal and not the monkey. The project, which began in 2008, is to create a high-speed rail from San Francisco in the north of the state to San Diego in the south. The problem? They started working on track in the state's interior instead of focusing on the real problem, figuring out how to build track through two mountain ranges south of Silicon Valley and north of Los Angeles."Around 2015, they're like, 'Oops, wait. There are these big mountain ranges that seems like a really big problem for completing the line.' They now estimate the budget to be somewhere around $80 billion," nearly four times the original estimate, she says. In the meantime, California is still building the track in the state's interior while it figures out whether it's even possible to build through the mountain ranges. Or, in terms of this conversation, focusing on the low-hanging fruit.The monkey and the pedestal analogy may seem like a warning against attempting anything too complicated. But at its core, it’s all about getting the hard part done first, and then once that’s achieved, all you have to worry about is the low-hanging fruit or the things you probably know how to do already. Do the hard part first, and then it’s smooth sailing until you achieve your goal.