Biden ‘snipes’ at Trump with humor.

President Joe Biden used a mix of light jokes and sharp criticism to repeatedly warn why former President Donald Trump should not win the U.S. presidential election in November.

At a dinner party held at Gridiron, a leading journalists’ club in Washington, D.C., on the 16th, President Biden said that two presidential candidates were confirmed as candidates for each party this week, saying, “One candidate is too old and mentally unfit to be president. “It does,” he said. He then humorously said, “The other one is me.” Recently, rather than trying to avoid the controversy over his advanced age, which is considered his greatest weakness, President Biden is responding head-on through ‘self-torture gags’. President Biden entered the banquet hall after 7 p.m. and began his speech three hours later.

He then joked, “It’s already 6 hours past my bedtime.” He also said, “I hate seeing a friend give up in his prime,” regarding the decision of Republican Mitch McConnell, the 82-year-old leader of the U.S. Senate, to resign from his position in November. He claimed that his 80s were his prime, which sparked controversy about his advanced age.

President Biden then continued to make jokes about former President Trump. “I’m running against the same guy I beat in 2020, but don’t let him know,” President Biden said. “He thinks he’s running against Barack Obama.” This remark was aimed at former President Trump confusing President Biden with former President Obama on several occasions. President Biden also seemed to be mindful of the controversy over former President Trump’s failure to remember his wife Melania’s name, saying, “The other biggest difference between us is that I know what is most precious to me. I’m not going to lose it.”

While explaining his main policy, student loan forgiveness, he said, “Just yesterday a guy who looked defeated came up to me and said, ‘I’m drowning in debt. I’m completely broke.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ “I said, ‘Donald, I can’t help you,’” he explained. It is interpreted that he was criticizing the situation in which former President Trump had to pay hundreds of billions of won in damages and fines due to a series of civil lawsuit losses. President Biden also used the Republican hardliners who were hindering his administration as the subject of his jokes. “I heard that the House Republicans also wanted to speak tonight, but they couldn’t find a speaker,” he said.

It was a mockery of the situation in which the House Republican Party ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy due to infighting, and even the leadership of his successor, Speaker Mike Johnson, was shaken. President Biden also said that the Prime Minister of Ireland, who visited the United States to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, also attended this dinner, and said, “The Prime Minister took one look at Congress and asked for another Guinness.” He pointed out that foreign governments find it frustrating that the Republican Party is trying to impeach him and the Secretary of Homeland Security while blocking the passage of legislation to resolve border issues.

In the second half of the speech, he explained in a serious tone why former President Trump should not be elected. This is a reference to former President Trump’s statement last month that he was targeting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and claiming, ‘security free riding’, saying, “I will encourage them (Russia) to do whatever they want.”

President Biden then introduced Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markalova and Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Kalas, who were also present at the dinner, and emphasized, “We will not give in. They (Ukraine) will not give in, and I will not give in.”

Regarding the media, which President Trump has repeatedly targeted, President Biden said, “You are not the enemy of the people. You are the pillar of every free society.” He also said that the role of a free press has become more important in ensuring that American democracy continues. “We need you. Democracy is at stake and the American people need to know this.”

More than 650 people attended the dinner, including media figures such as Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, Biden administration officials such as Vice President Kamala Harris, and politicians from both parties. President Biden joked, “Jeff is a strong supporter of the media. He is the richest person in the world and that’s despite owning the Washington Post.”

The Washington Post has been unable to avoid losses even after Bezos’ takeover, and has been pursuing a ‘buyout’, which is effectively the equivalent of dismissal, for some employees since last year.

Biden raises $10 million in donations

President Joe Biden showed off his spirit by collecting $10 million in donations in just one day after his ‘fiery’ State of the Union address. According to President Biden’s campaign headquarters on the 10th, more than $10 million in donations poured in in 24 hours after the State of the Union address on the 7th, hitting its own highest.

The Biden campaign said, “We are grateful to the grassroots supporters who contributed more than ever to President Biden’s re-election,” and added, “This State of the Union address will help many of our supporters see who is fighting for them and this election for freedom and democracy.” “I was able to realize the importance of,” he said.

President Biden, who has been unable to overcome his slump in approval ratings due to internal divisions in his support base and concerns about his aging following the Israel-Hamas war, is evaluated as having laid the foundation for a reversal with his outspoken State of the Union speech. In this speech, President Biden sharpened his teeth at former President Donald Trump, who was confirmed as the Republican presidential candidate, and impressed Americans as a strong national leader.

New York Times (NYT) columnist Ezra Klein, who has been advocating for President Biden to step down, even withdrew his demand for his resignation on this day. “If the Biden who gave the State of the Union address last week is the same Biden who will spend the rest of the presidential campaign, the argument that he is not qualified to run for re-election will have no place,” he wrote.

“I hope he does.” It was calculated that President Biden’s State of the Union address was watched by a total of 32.2 million people.

This is an 18% increase from last year, and if the number of viewers watched through online streaming and social media is included, the total number of viewers is expected to increase further. President Biden also collected $42 million in donations last January, far ahead of former President Trump ($8.8 million).

However, in the case of former President Trump, donations to related organizations were not included, and since it was a time when Republican Party donations were dispersed, simple comparisons are difficult. Former President Trump, who was embroiled in numerous lawsuits, is currently using most of his political donations, which are military funds for the presidential election, for judicial expenses.

Shooting at a private party in Arkansas… 2 dead, 4 injured

A shooting occurred at a party in Arkansas, killing three people, including the suspect, and wounding at least four others. According to the Jonesboro Police Department in Arkansas on the 10th, just before 5 a.m., police were dispatched to the scene after receiving a report that multiple shots had been fired inside a building in the area.

Police confirmed that three people, including a man suspected of shooting, were shot dead at the scene, and that four injured people were taken to the hospital and are being treated. The shooting occurred during a private party at an abandoned building in northeast Little Rock, and police are speaking to witnesses at the scene to determine details of the incident.

As a result of the initial investigation, it was confirmed that three of the casualties, including one dead woman and one man, and one injured woman, were acquaintances of the suspect, while the remaining three had no relationship with the suspect.

Police did not disclose how the shooting suspect died. CNN reported that police believe the incident resulted from a domestic conflict.

According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), an American non-profit organization, this incident was the 73rd mass shooting that occurred in the United States this year.

U.S. voters responding to “economic improvement” increased.

U.S. voters believe the economy is improving, but a public opinion poll shows that this perception is not easily translated into favorable votes toward President Joe Biden. According to the results of a poll of 1,500 U.S. voters conducted by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 3rd from the 21st to the 28th of last month (margin of error ±2.5% points), 31% of respondents said they were concerned about the economy over the past two years during President Biden’s term.

He answered that it has improved.

This is a 10-percentage point increase compared to the WSJ poll conducted in December last year. Additionally, the number of respondents who said their financial situation was going well was 43%, up 9 percentage points compared to the survey in December last year.

This suggests that voters’ perception of the U.S. economic situation has improved significantly in recent months. However, although this change in economic awareness is a positive factor for President Biden, there does not seem to be a clear change in public opinion toward the incumbent president.

When the two former and incumbent presidents face off in the upcoming presidential election in November, former President Donald Trump (47%) led President Biden (45%) within the margin of error. Although the gap was narrowed compared to the WSJ opinion poll in December last year (4 percentage points), the amount of change was relatively small compared to the improved perception of economic conditions.

The reason why positive economic perceptions do not lead to a clear increase in the incumbent president’s approval rating is that negative perceptions of rising prices remain.

In fact, despite the significant slowdown in inflation indicators, three-quarters of respondents still believed that the rate of inflation was outpacing the rate of household income growth. The proportion of respondents who said that President Biden is controlling prices properly was 37%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the survey conducted in December last year, but still only about one-third of all respondents.

Furthermore, the WSJ explained that the fact that voters’ interests are focused on immigration issues is also cited as a background. President Biden’s ‘old age risk’ is also the biggest obstacle making it difficult for him to be re-elected. 73% of WSJ survey respondents considered President Biden’s age (81) too old to serve his second term.

On the other hand, 52% of respondents said that former President Trump (77) was too old. Concerns about President Biden’s age also appear in the results of other recently conducted opinion polls.

According to a survey conducted by the New York Times (NYT) and Siena University on 980 registered voters in the United States from the 25th to the 28th of last month, 73% of respondents answered that Biden is too old to properly perform the duties of president.

Among voters who said they supported Biden in the 2020 presidential election, this proportion of responses reached 61%. On the other hand, only 42% of respondents said that former President Trump was too old to properly perform his duties as president.

Supreme Court likely to rule on Trump’s qualifications.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling as early as the 4th on whether former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is suspected of inciting the Capitol riot by his supporters to overturn his presidential election defeat, can be blocked from running for president.

According to AP and Bloomberg News, the Federal Supreme Court announced on its website on the 3rd that it plans to rule on at least one case on the 4th. Because the Federal Supreme Court does not normally announce on which day it will make a ruling on a case, it is unknown which case will be sentenced on that day. However, American media predicted that the Supreme Court may announce its decision on the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that disqualified former President Trump from running, given that it is unusual for the Supreme Court to announce the sentencing date in this way.

Previously, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former President Trump’s name should be removed from Colorado’s primary ballot, believing that former President Trump’s incitement of supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, with claims of ‘election fraud’ was an act of participation in insurrection. This was a ruling applying Article 14, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which stipulates that public officials who have sworn to support the Constitution cannot hold public office again if they participate in rebellion or rebellion.

Former President Trump objected to this and appealed to the Supreme Court. The U.S. media reported that it is unusual for the Supreme Court to announce the sentencing date on the weekend because it is assumed that the Colorado case will be decided. Supreme Court Justices usually announce their rulings from the judge’s bench in court, but the Justices will not appear in court on the 4th. Sentencing details will be posted on the Federal Supreme Court website after 10 a.m.

The American media believed that the election schedule may have influenced the date of the Supreme Court’s ruling. It is an analysis that the Federal Supreme Court may have kept in mind the need to resolve uncertainty surrounding former President Trump’s eligibility to run before ‘Super Tuesday’ on the 5th. On Super Tuesday, presidential primaries will be held in 15 states, including Colorado, where this lawsuit was initiated.

On this day alone, approximately 35% of the total delegates who must receive support to become the Republican Party’s presidential candidate are decided. For this reason, the Colorado Republican Party asked the Supreme Court to decide before Super Tuesday.

If the ruling is made today, the results are expected to apply not only to Colorado but also to other states where similar lawsuits have been filed.

Trump’s ‘fraudulent loan’ fine confirmed to increase.

Former President Donald Trump’s fine for fraudulent lending increased from $355 million to more than $450 million. This is because former President Trump, who announced his intention to appeal, was trying to raise money to deposit the fine, and interest for delay before the ruling was added.

According to the final ruling entered by Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan District Court in New York on the 23rd, former President Trump’s fine increased to at least $454 million, Washington Post (WP), ABC News outlets reported on the 25th.

Reuters reported that this is the existing fine ($355 million) plus interest accrued during the three-month trial. The fines for former President Trump’s eldest son, Trump Jr., and his second son, Eric, also increased from $4 million to $4.7 million (including interest) each.

The interest on all fines, including former President Trump’s, is $114,000 per day, most of which is interest on former President Trump’s fines. This amount continues to accumulate until the fine is paid or deposited. Former President Trump can appeal the ruling within 30 days from the date the final ruling was issued, but to do so, he must deposit the amount equivalent to the fine through cash or bonds.

Separately, former President Trump must pay $83.3 million in damages for defamation to fashion columnist E. Jean Carroll, according to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. This also requires a deposit for appeal. Since most of former President Trump’s assets are tied up in real estate, it is unclear whether he has enough cash for deposit.

In this regard, former President Trump’s lawyer is negotiating with surety companies to provide as few assets as collateral as possible, WP reported. Furthermore, the newspaper reported that former President Trump’s team is considering a plan to share the risk by dividing the fine between several bond companies because the size of the fine is so large.

Guarantee companies that issue bonds required for deposit usually require cash or assets from customers as collateral. However, in the case of former President Trump, there is a risk in using real estate as collateral from the guaranteed company’s perspective. This is because assessing the value of assets may be difficult in a situation where former President Trump was fined for inflating the value of assets.

In addition, former President Trump may need to maintain a certain amount of cash and assets to maintain existing loans, he said, WP said. Although the current loan terms are not known, in the case of former President Trump’s past loan from Deutsche Bank, it was stipulated that if the loan failed to maintain liquidity of $50 million and net assets of more than $2.5 billion, it would be in default.

Tesla, additional video of human-like robot.

Tesla’s humanoid robot ‘Optimus’ has evolved to the point where it can walk like a human. On the 24th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk released a video of ‘Optimus’ walking on his X (old Twitter).

The 1 minute and 18 second video shows this humanoid robot, which resembles a human being, walking around the lab on two legs like a human. Although it seemed a bit hesitant, this robot walked smoothly on its own without relying on people or falling. Musk only posted the title “Optimus strolling around the lab” without any specific mention of the video. This Optimus video was released about a month ago on the 16th of last month. At the time, Musk posted a video of Optimus folding his shirt.

The 31-second video shows Optimus taking a shirt out of a basket with his fingers, spreading it out on a table, and then folding it. This robot is the ‘2nd generation’, an evolved version of ‘Optimus’ that Tesla unveiled in December last year. Tesla introduced at the time that it could walk about 30% faster than before and move five fingers smoothly.

In the video, Optimus stretches out his arms forward, kneels at a 90-degree angle, picks up an egg with his thumb and forefinger, carefully places it on a cooking pot, and dances to the music. Tesla first announced plans to begin developing humanoid robots in 2021 and then unveiled the Optimus prototype in late September 2022.

At the time, Musk held the ‘Tesla AI Day’ event and showed off the Optimus prototype, promising that “robots will create a prosperous future and a future without poverty.” He said, “We will make Optimus a very high-performance robot and mass-produce millions of units,” and that orders can be received for less than $20,000 (approximately 26 million won) within 3 to 5 years.

This video of Musk was posted a day after news broke that big tech companies were investing heavily in Figure AI, a competitor in the humanoid robot field. On the 23rd, Bloomberg News reported that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and NVIDIA are investing in Figure AI. It was reported that they would invest $100 million and $50 million, respectively, in this startup.

Microsoft (MS) and ChatGPT developer OpenAI are also reported to have invested $95 million and $5 million, respectively, in this startup . The news agency reported that venture capital of $25 million, and LG Innotek and Samsung investment organizations also pledged $8.5 million and $5 million, respectively. Figure AI will be founded in 2022 by engineers from Tesla and Boston Dynamics, a robotics company.

It is developing an AI-based robot that looks and moves like a human, and introduced a robot called ‘Figure 01’ in March last year. The goal is to enable it to perform dangerous tasks that humans cannot do and to solve the problem of insufficient labor. As the craze for AI technology grows, competition in the development of humanoid robots has become more intense.

In addition to Optimus and Figure AI, ‘1X Technology AS’ is developing a bipedal robot with ChatGPT, and a Canadian startup Sanctuary AI is developing a humanoid robot called Phoenix.

General hospital without obstetrics and gynecology.

While the number of obstetrics and gynecology clinics is increasing nationwide due to declining birth rates, there are many general hospitals without obstetrics and gynecology departments in rural areas of Virginia, which means that mothers are experiencing great difficulties.

According to the media outlet Axios, there are currently 29 general hospitals in rural areas of Virginia, but 20 of them, or about 70%, do not have obstetrics and gynecology departments to take care of the health of pregnant women or newborns.

For this reason, pregnant women living in rural Virginia must drive an average of 29.2 miles to receive necessary medical services, such as regular checkups, and in Lee County, they must travel more than 66 miles, which is a huge inconvenience.

‘Trump brand’ has a negative impact on real estate values.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 18th that after real estate mogul former President Donald Trump was elected president, the ‘Trump’ brand contributed to lower real estate values. According to reports, real estate brokerage City Realty assessed that the value per unit area of seven Trump-branded condominiums in Manhattan, New York, fell by an average of 23% between 2013 and 2023.

The NYT reported that real estate market research company ATTOM analyzed the results using a different methodology and found that the value per unit area of these buildings fell by an average of 17% during the same period.

Real estate values, which had been on the rise since 2013, peaked in 2016 when former President Trump was elected president and then turned downward. In contrast, City Realty analyzed that the four condominiums in Manhattan that removed the Trump brand logo from their buildings between 2018 and 2019 rose 9% in value between 2013 and 2023, outpacing the average growth rate of the Manhattan condominium market, which rose 8% in the nearby period.

Regarding the results of this analysis, Eric Trump, former President Trump’s second son and the actual executive of the Trump Organization, said in an email response, “Data can be manipulated to tell any story you want, but our building is the most expensive per unit area in the world.” “There is no change in the fact that it is being sold, and this cannot be denied,” he countered. However, looking at the status of high-end condominium transactions in 2023 analyzed by City Realty analysts, the NYT reported that, contrary to Eric Trump’s claims, Trump-branded properties are far from the most expensive properties sold in Manhattan.

The NYT reported that the most expensive Trump-branded property was also ranked 47th among the top 100 properties in Manhattan by transaction amount last year. Previously, former President Trump compared the value of the Trump brand to that of Coca-Cola during a civil trial on fraud loan charges and claimed that the actual asset value was higher than the book value, saying, “I did not even reflect the brand, which is my best asset, in the books.”

On the 16th of February, the Manhattan District Court in New York ruled that former President Trump should pay a fine of $355 million.

Biden criticizes Trump for not helping NATO

President Joe Biden criticized former President Trump, who said he would not help North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies even if they were attacked by Russia if they did not sufficiently cover defense costs. According to Reuters, President Biden said in a statement on the 11th, “My opponent, Donald Trump, has made it clear that if he comes back to power and Russia attacks our NATO allies, he will abandon them and let Russia ‘do whatever it wants.’ “He pointed out.

President Biden emphasized, “The job as commander-in-chief of the military is the ultimate responsibility (of the president), and those who hold the office of president must take this responsibility seriously.” He criticized former President Trump’s remarks as “horrible and dangerous,” calling them a “green light” for Russia to attack not only Ukraine but also Poland and the Baltic countries.

He added, “Sadly, these are predictable comments from a man who, on his first day back in the White House, pledged to be as dictatorial as the dictators he admired.” Earlier, at a rally held in South Carolina the previous day, former President Trump argued that NATO allies should take responsibility for their own security even if Russia attacks, saying, “I will encourage them (Russia) to do whatever they want.”

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is competing with Trump in the Republican presidential primary, also criticized former President Trump’s remarks in a CBS interview that day, saying that he was helping Russian President Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine and murder his political opponents, saying, “We should not take the side of thugs.”

When asked whether she would adhere to NATO’s collective security principle, which states that if one member state is attacked, all member states respond, former Ambassador Haley replied, “Absolutely yes. NATO has been successful for the past 75 years.”