California labor takes a rare “L” in 2024

• July 30, 2024

California labor unions are finally facing the consequences of their misguided actions. This year alone, several major policy pushes from unions across the state have backfired spectacularly. Now, employees are getting wise and kicking unions out.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – one of the state’ most influential unions – recently fought to pass a controversial $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers. The policy went into effect in April, and already we’re seeing it backfire on employees and business owners. The state has lost thousands of fast food jobs, while year over year growth in the fast-food industry has now slowed to its lowest point since the Great Recession, barring COVID losses in 2020.

Several major chains – including Burger King and In-N-Out Burger – raised prices to offset the higher wages. Many employers had to cut employee hours, and some restaurants, like a San Francisco McDonald’s, say the wage hike is the final nail in their coffin. 

As if a reputation for pushing job-killing labor policies isn’t bad enough, other unions in the state decided to weigh in on Gaza. Spoiler alert: it didn’t end well. 

When protesters across college campuses came out against Israel – destroying school property and setting up encampments in the process – the United Auto Workers (UAW) was one of their biggest supporters. These protesters were disciplined for their actions. In response, thousands of UAW-represented academic workers at University of California campuses across the state went on strike. They demanded amnesty for students who were punished for inciting vandalism and violence.

The strike was shut down by a court order and the UAW’s demands went unmet. The legislature even rejected a bill that would have made some striking workers eligible for unemployment benefits due to concerns over anti-Israel rhetoric coming from protestors. One lawmaker questioned whether “we have a shared understanding of what a strike is,” noting that some protesters “were yelling ‘kill one more’ in reference to the Jews.”

If you’re keeping score, that’s strike two for Golden State labor unions.

The final strike came from the workers themselves, who are increasingly fed up with union antics. Last month, at a Fresenius Medical Care dialysis facility in Orange, CA, healthcare workers came together and kicked out one of the state’s most-powerful labor unions: SEIU-UHW.

Related Articles

What was the tipping point in that election? Maybe it was the union leadership’s support for anti-Israel protests. Maybe it was the allegations of an abusive workplace, brought by the union’s own employees. Or maybe it was the union’s wasteful spending, such as the millions of dollars spent on three failed ballot measures in the past several years. 

Whatever the reasoning, it seems workers are fed up with controversial labor groups who claim to speak for them but don’t share their views or values. It’s possible this latest union rejection could represent a trend for workers across California who are sick of suffering under bad union policies and subpar representation.

One thing is certain: 2024 is shaping up to be a year of reckoning for California’s labor unions and their indefensible agendas.

Tom Manzo is President of the California Business & Industrial Alliance.

​ Orange County Register 

How Republicans helped shape gay activism in America

• July 30, 2024

Mary C. Curtis | (TNS) CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON — When it comes to the political history of gay rights in the United States, a lot of people think they have it figured out.

They assume “one party is wholly committed to LGBTQ rights, and the other is completely opposed. And it’s understandable why a lot of Americans think that way,” says historian Neil J. Young.

But it’s not that simple, Young says. In his recent book, “Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right,” he traces a more complex path from the 1950s to the present day.

Young joined “Equal Time” this month to discuss some of the conservatives who stayed true to their values while working toward same-sex marriage and the end of policies like “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The excerpt below has been condensed and edited. For more, listen to the full podcast.

Q: What did early gay rights activism look like before the Stonewall demonstrations in 1969?

A: I begin my book in the Cold War era, the Lavender Scare, which was when both political parties were really committed to rooting out homosexuals from the federal government and making life difficult for gay persons in this country.

I was surprised to discover that there was an activism among a handful of gay conservatives that’s really important to the advancement of a gay rights movement — or at the time, it was known as the homophile movement.

This story has been told mostly from the left, focusing on folks like Harry Hay, who was the leader of the Mattachine Society. But Dorr Legg and other right-of-center gay men, they were making arguments about limiting federal power, constraining the government, as the pathway to freedom for homosexuals.

Q: Who were some other key gay conservatives?

A: Someone I didn’t know that much about, but is a very important character in the book, is Leonard Matlovich. He was an Air Force sergeant, served three tours of duty in Vietnam, was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart and was seriously injured in combat. He came out of the closet in 1975, and he did this in order to challenge the military’s ban against gay servicepersons.

He teamed up with Frank Kameny, who was a very prominent gay rights activist who was challenging the ban. And Leonard Matlovich was in a lot of ways the perfect poster boy, because he was good-looking, he was really masculine, he was from the South and he had all those military honors.

Kameny thought it was important to show that this isn’t some hippie radical who’s trying to revolutionize American society and destroy the American military. This is a conservative Republican, and he is just fighting for the right to die for his country.

And of course, he doesn’t win his legal battle against the military. But he sets in motion a history that takes several decades to resolve and ultimately leads to the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Q: What were some of the conflicts over tactics and priorities back then?

A: The gay Republican organizations I was looking at, they were all absolutely committed to defeating the Briggs Initiative, or Proposition 6, that’s put on the ballot in 1978 and would have made it illegal for any gay person in the state of California to work in the public school system.

But then after that, what’s next? What are we existing for? One of the ongoing debates was this question of, “Am I a gay Republican, or a Republican gay?”

The group that said they were Republican gays, or Republicans who happened to be gay, were much more conservative in their politics, and they didn’t believe in the notion of gay rights. They said, “That’s not something the federal government can grant me. I just want to be left alone.”

And that’s a conservative principle, right? Stay out of my bedroom, stay out of my wallet, stay out of my business. So they opposed any laws on the books that actively discriminated and they wanted to work to eliminate those laws, but they didn’t want any sort of granting of rights, and they didn’t want any sort of identity-based politics tied to their sexual identity.

Q: Many look at the Ronald Reagan years, and the reaction to HIV/AIDS, as an inflection point.

A: A more tolerant attitude was actually beginning to develop in the nation around homosexuality in the early ’80s. That was almost completely wiped away because of the HIV/AIDS crisis and the way that folks like Pat Buchanan and Gary Bauer, these hard-right conservatives within the Reagan administration, really pumped up a homophobic politics based on fears about the disease, to push back against the gay rights movement more broadly.

And so gay Republicans were caught in the crosshairs of that. They had been huge defenders of Reagan, they were big admirers of him both in ’80 and ’84, but by the late ’80s and into the 1990s, a lot of them who were still living were incredibly disillusioned with the Republican Party.

Q: In the 2000s, the marriage equality movement went from divisive to generally accepted.

A: We saw public attitudes changing so quickly, in such a short period of time. One of the things I found fascinating was that gay conservatives, or the larger terrain of gay men on the right — [including] libertarians and classical liberals and other folks who don’t necessarily even identify with a conservative label — were really fundamental in developing the intellectual argument for same-sex marriage. I’m thinking about people like Andrew Sullivan and Bruce Bawer and Jonathan Rauch.

They were talking about the right to same-sex marriage far before any gay Democrat was. They helped move the needle among enough independents and enough Republicans to make this a consensus position in the nation, and this was their strategy all along.

Q: How is the gay conservative movement evolving now, when we see most Republicans adjusting in the image of Donald Trump?

A: When I was finishing the book to go to press, this was when the “Don’t Say Gay” stuff was happening in my home state of Florida and was spreading across the nation. And gay Republicans have been in a lot of ways big supporters of Ron DeSantis on this, because they believe that it’s very specific, targeted legislation that only has to do with underage children. So I [asked people], “OK, maybe that’s the case for this particular legislation, but are you at all worried about where this is headed? Do you think this is the opening wedge of a broader assault on LGBTQ rights, including same-sex marriage?”

And all of them said, “No, no, no. Marriage is completely safe and protected. It’s written in stone.”

We have to secure progress through ongoing action, not taking it for granted and assuming that it’s just written in stone and can never be overturned. I mean, the Dobbs [decision overturning abortion rights] is a great example of this, and hopefully there won’t be more to come.

___

©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Stephen Nedoroscik waited his whole life for one routine. The US pommel horse specialist nailed it

• July 30, 2024

By WILL GRAVES AP National Writer

PARIS (AP) — Sam Mikulak pulled Stephen Nedoroscik close and tasked the American pommel horse specialist with the impossible.

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s first Olympic medal in 16 years a solitary routine away, Mikulak told the pommel horse specialist that he didn’t need to go all out. That 80% would be good enough, even though Mikulak knew full well that Nedoroscik never does anything — from his sport to solving a Rubik’s Cube — at 80%.

“You have to trick yourself,” said Mikulak, a three-time Olympian turned coach. “You’ve got to make sure you don’t let all the noise get into your head.”

That usually isn’t a problem for the 25-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts. It takes a certain type of single-mindedness to make the choices Nedoroscik has made for the last decade, when he essentially decided to dedicate himself to a single pursuit, focusing on an event that has long been a weakness for the U.S. men’s national team program.

Yes, there is monotony involved. How could there not be?

“I don’t know how I don’t lose my mind,” Nedoroscik said before the Games. “But every day I go into the gym and there’s still something to do. There’s still something to improve.”

Not anymore.

Stephen Nedoroscik, of United States, gets a hug from Paul Juda after last rotation during the men’s artistic gymnastics team finals round at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Proving a point

He drilled his set during qualifying on Saturday to earn a spot on the event finals later in the Games. But Monday night, things were different. Teammates Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda and Asher Hong had put together 17 straight routines without a miss, putting the Americans in position to reach the medal stand for the first time since 2008 in Beijing.

While Nedoroscik had some wiggle room — the U.S. had a fairly healthy lead after Juda and Malone hit their sets before Nedoroscik saluted the judges — he also didn’t want to merely hold on. He wanted to prove a point.

Not just to himself, but to those who wondered if he deserved to be there in the first place.

What followed were 45 seconds of sublime brilliance, with Nedoroscik’s hands traveling from one end of the horse to the other, his legs swooping this way, then that.

A few feet away, his four teammates — and the sizable contingent of US fans inside Bercy Arena — roared as a medal that seemed distant for a program that had finished a distant fifth in each of its last three trips under the rings — drew closer.

By the time Nedoroscik neared his dismount, he knew his job was complete. The celebration began before his feet even hit the mat.

All those years, all those reps, both physical and mental, all the difficult times when he wondered whether to keep going, all the quirks he’s developed along the way — from the non-prescription goggles he sometimes rocks to the chef’s kiss to the camera he occasionally makes — led up to that moment.

And he did not miss, delivering “the exclamation point” with a 14.866 to finish off a performance the U.S. men’s program hopes provides serious momentum heading into the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

“I kind of in that moment was like, ‘All right, let’s run it back and let’s go out there and do our thing,’” Nedoroscik said.

Filling a critical gap

A “thing” that has long been a sore spot for the U.S. in major international competition. The 2012 Olympic team topped qualifying. Then they led off on pommel horse in the finals and saw their medal hopes vanish one mistake at a time.

Related Articles

Nedoroscik understood the history. It’s one of the reasons he gravitated toward pommels. Another is the fact that it requires many things — stamina, strength and creativity chief among them — that he has in spades, particularly that last one.

He describes himself as a “late bloomer” on the event. Those early struggles only helped him press forward.

“Running into trouble on the apparatus early on taught me how to fight, how to stay on, how to really go for that routine,” he said. “And I think that that has stuck with me throughout.”

Unlike other events, which are painstakingly laid out and practiced on end for months if not years, pommel horse allows gymnasts to color outside the lines and make things up as they go on. Miss an element here? Well, maybe you can make it up trying something else later in the routine.

He says the end result is the feeling of “flying through the air,” though it’s more akin to levitation.

More work to be done

Nedoroscik will soar into the event finals Saturday with a chance to put another medal in his carry-on before he heads home. His 15.200 qualifying score tied Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan for the tops among the eight finalists.

He is ready to ride the wave as far as it will take him. Yet whatever happens on Saturday or for the rest of his life for that matter, it will be difficult to top Monday night, when the guy with the curly hair and the glasses that made him the kind of social media sensation only the Olympics provides struck a blow for his sport, his teammates and himself.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” he said while sitting alongside the group that became U.S. men’s gymnastics royalty. “I love you boys.”

​ Orange County Register 

Wanted: Poll workers. Must love democracy

• July 30, 2024

Matt Vasilogambros | (TNS) Stateline.org

This week, a coalition of election officials, businesses, and civic engagement, religious and veterans groups will make a national push to encourage hundreds of thousands of Americans to serve as poll workers in November’s presidential election.

Poll worker demand is high. With concerns over the harassment and threats election officials face, and with the traditional bench of poll workers growing older, hundreds of counties around the country are in desperate need of people who are willing to serve their communities.

On Aug. 1, there will be a social media blitz across Facebook, TikTok, X and other platforms that will encourage Americans to spend a few hours helping democracy. They’re being asked to wake up before sunrise, welcome voters to polling places, hand them a ballot, and make sure the voting process goes smoothly.

Many sites will see long lines and frustrated voters; they may face unexpected problems such as a power outage or a cantankerous voting machine. Nearly all will hand out scores of tiny “I Voted” stickers.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a federal agency that works with election officials to improve the voting process, established the recruitment day in 2020. The commission offers a social media toolkit, full of suggested hashtags and cartoon video snippets, to help local election officials reach potential new workers. There are 100,000 or so polling places across the country, and the agency’s website shows potential workers how to sign up.

“Serving as a poll worker is the single most impactful, nonpartisan way that any individual person can engage in the elections this year,” said Marta Hanson, the national program manager for Power the Polls, one of the leading nonpartisan groups in the recruitment effort.

“Poll workers are the face of our democracy and the face of our elections,” she told Stateline.

Launched in the spring of 2020 during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Power the Polls gathered nonprofits and businesses together to help election workers close the gap left after many poll workers, who tend to be older, decided to no longer serve due to health concerns. Nearly half of the poll workers who served in 2020 were older than 60.

The group’s effort recruited 700,000 prospective poll workers nationwide.

“It is our vision that every voter has someone who looks like them and speaks their language when they show up at the polling place, and that election administrators have the people that they need,” Hanson said.

Polling places still need poll workers. This year Power the Polls is tracking more than 1,835 jurisdictions, spanning all 50 states and the District of Columbia, that the group identified through outreach to election administrators, monitoring local news and working with on-the-ground partners.

Of those jurisdictions, Hanson said, 700 towns and counties have “really, really high needs.”

For example, Boston needs 500 new poll workers by its Sept. 3 primary, while Detroit needs 1,000 more people to sign up before November. In small towns in Connecticut and rural California, officials are desperate to find 20 people to help. Los Angeles County is looking for people who speak one of a dozen languages that are prevalent in the area.

In suburban Cobb County just outside of Atlanta, Director of Elections Tate Fall said recruiting poll workers has been difficult, but not at the level she’s heard about in other communities nationally. Her team has found success at farmers markets, Juneteenth festivals and senior services events.

Among her challenges, she said, is that many of the poll workers who have signed up this year are new and need more training and practice before November. She also worries about reliability.

“It’s just we have a lot of people sign up and then they never mark their availability, or they only want to work in their precinct,” Fall said. “We need people that are a bit more flexible. But overall, we’re doing good.”

Over the past four years, local election officials have been bombarded by misinformation, harassment and threats fueled by the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

To ease voters’ skepticism about ballot security, officials will often welcome them into the elections office and give them a tour.

In Nevada, Carson City Clerk-Recorder Scott Hoen goes a step further by inviting skeptical residents to see the election process firsthand as a poll worker.

“Lo and behold, once they go through the cycle, they understand and they can touch, feel it, see it, know it, understand it, that we run a really good, tight election here in Carson City,” Hoen said. “I think they have a better comfort with me now doing that, teaching them what’s going on.”

In Marion County, Florida, Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox has been worried about people who believe the 2020 election was stolen working as poll workers and potentially disrupting the voting process. But the required training to become a poll worker has alleviated some of that concern.

“We’ve had them, and they actually become some of our advocates in this process,” he said.

Joseph Kirk, the election supervisor for Bartow County, Georgia, said that, beyond learning about the voting system, being a poll worker is just fun.

Kirk tells voters that it’s an opportunity to take a day off work, get paid, meet new people, see the characters of the community and enjoy a good meal, since some poll workers bring in homemade food to share.

And for the high school government students he recruits in their classes, it’s a way to participate in elections as early as 16.

“It’s a community,” he said. “And being part of it is really special.”

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Starbucks online ordering offline for millions as outage strikes app

• July 30, 2024

A Starbucks app outage on Tuesday left customers unable to place a mobile order, delaying caffeine fixes for millions of coffee lovers.

“We’re having trouble with store locations right now,” displayed a message on the Starbucks app seen by CNN about 10:30 am PDT Tuesday. “You can still pay in store, but you’ll have to try again later to order ahead.”

DownDetector, a digital issue monitoring platform, showed the number of problem reports for the app peaking at nearly 1,500 around 9 am EDT.

A customer holds a drink inside a Starbucks coffee shop in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, July 28, 2022.

Issues have been reported across major cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago and Dallas, according to DownDetector’s map.

The outage comes as mobile app and drive-thru orders make up more than 70% of Starbucks sales across approximately 9,500 stores nationwide. Starbucks is also set to report third quarter earnings later today.

The Starbucks app, which introduced its Mobile Order & Pay Feature in 2015, allows users to browse available menu items and place orders for pickup at stores. Other features allow customers to register a Starbucks card on their phone to pay digitally and earn and redeem rewards.

Customers flocked to social media to vent their frustration.

“The Starbucks app not working on my birthday is so rude come on,” wrote X user @syndey_fields1.

“We are currently experiencing a temporary outage with the app,” the company’s customer service X account, @StarbucksCare, wrote. “We are aware of this issue and working quickly to get it resolved.”

Other disgruntled users lamented the timing of the outage as occurring on the same day as a buy one, get one free promotion.

Starbucks was among the slew of companies affected by the worldwide Crowdstrike outage that disrupted digital operations across industries last week. A spokesperson said at the time that the company was experiencing issues with mobile order and pay ahead features.

However it’s unclear if today’s Starbucks technology troubles were related to that original outage or another ongoing outage involving Microsoft’s cloud computing offerings.

CNN has reached out to Starbucks for comment.

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA football: Top 3 storylines to follow in fall camp

• July 30, 2024

It is a transitional season for UCLA football as the Bruins enter the season with a new head coach and offensive coordinator, an apparently established starting quarterback and revamped defensive and offensive lines.

As fall camp gets underway Wednesday, here are the top storylines to watch in Year One for head coach DeShaun Foster.

Clear path for Ethan Garbers

After five years of Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback, the Bruins last season were left trying to fill the role with three different starters. One year later, Dante Moore and Collin Schlee have transferred, leaving the door open for Ethan Garbers to enter the 2024 season as the projected starter.

Garbers completed 98 of 146 passes for 1,136 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions – two against Coastal Carolina in the season opener – but it was his performance in the 35-22 LA Bowl victory over Boise State in December that served as the audition that positioned him at the top of the depth chart throughout the offseason. He went 9 of 12 for 152 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m excited for what this year holds and excited for the opportunities,” Garbers said about his senior season. “I’m just looking at it one day at a time and soaking everything in.”

The senior from Corona del Mar High has been tasked with learning Eric Bieniemy’s West Coast offense.

“Ever since Coach Bieniemy was hired, it hasn’t allowed me to be complacent,” Garbers said. “We are learning a brand new offense that came from the NFL and it’s been a grind.”

Garbers admitted that one of the most difficult things has been understanding the new verbiage for the offensive plays, having gone from only three- or four-word play calls last season to nine- to 10-word sentences.

Will UCLA find a pass rush?

It will take a lot of work to match the production on the defensive side of the ball from the 2023 season. The Bruins lost key playmakers up front like edge rushers Laiatu Latu, Gabriel Murphy and Grayson Murphy.

There’s no returners at the edge position and the Bruins are expected to lean on 6-foot-4, 256-pound redshirt junior transfer Jacob Busic, who started 24 games at Navy, and 6-5, 270-pound redshirt junior Devin Aupiu.

Foster and defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe used the transfer portal to help address the needed depth at the position.

Collins Acheampong could be a wild card for the rush attack after he transferred from Miami (Florida) and enrolled in January. Acheampong didn’t play as a freshman for the Hurricanes in 2023. The 6-foot-7, 270-pound Santa Margarita High grad spent most of the spring at UCLA limited to individual workouts away from the team during practice.

Luke Schuermann arrived in Westwood in June after transferring from Division III Johns Hopkins. The 6-4, 255-pound redshirt senior he was named an AP First Team All-American last season. He had 55 tackles (15.5 tackles for a loss) and 9.5 sacks

Cherif Seye was expected to enroll at UCLA after transferring from Florida A&M as a grad student. He was not listed on the official roster when it was released in late July. He had played in 12 games, recording 22 total tackles (9.5 tackles for a loss) and 4.5 sacks for the Rattlers. It remains unclear if Seye will have an opportunity to still join the program.

Reshuffled offensive line

The offensive line returns three starters but remains a bit of an unknown considering several linemen on the official roster weren’t present during spring camp.

Redshirt junior Alani Makihele and redshirt senior Reuben Unije committed in late April and are expected to come in and compete early for starting roles along the front line.

Makihele, a 6-5, 350-pound redshirt junior, started 11 games in 2023 at left guard but will likely move to the right side. Josh Carlin, a 6-5, 310-pound senior, is expected to move over from right guard to start at center.

Unije started 11 games at right tackle for Houston last season, but the 6-5, 310-pound redshirt senior could fill the void at left tackle this season for the Bruins. Bruno Fina, who started at left tackle last season, announced his decision to enter the transfer portal just three days after Unije’s commitment. Fina has since committed to Duke.

Related Articles

Left guard Spencer Holstege and right tackle Garrett DiGiorgio join Carlin as returning starters on the line. The 6-5, 310-pound Holstege started 31 of 32 games at Purdue before starting another 13 games for the Bruins as a redshirt junior. He briefly entered the transfer portal following the LA Bowl Game before withdrawing his name. DiGiorgio, a 6-6, 310-pound redshirt junior, has started all 26 games over the past two seasons.

Among the offseason changes for the Bruins, offensive line coach Tim Drevno left the program and reunited with Chip Kelly at Ohio State. Foster hired longtime NFL position coach Juan Castillo to lead the offensive line room.

“When (Drevno) left we were sad to see him go but we brought in a new staff … and brought in the right people to make us a good program and get us to do what we need to do this season,” DiGiorgio said.

​ Orange County Register 

The Democratic contest to be Harris’ running mate will likely be decided in the next week

• July 30, 2024

By BILL BARROW and STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press

AMBLER, Pa. (AP) — Democrat Josh Shapiro had a dual message for enthusiastic voters in suburban Philadelphia this week, telling them Kamala Harris belongs in the White House — and then reminding them of all he’s done as governor of battleground Pennsylvania. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, likewise, told voters in Georgia that Harris has the makings of “a great president” — and then highlighted the elections he’s won as a Democrat in Republican territory.

The two governors were demonstrating a time-honored tradition in presidential campaigns: Summertime auditions from vice presidential contenders who walk the line between open self-promotion and loyal advocacy for the potential boss.

Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, appears intent on making a choice that she’s comfortable with personally and that can expand her electoral appeal in a matter of days. Her campaign has been vetting about a dozen potential running mates, according to people familiar with the search process. Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly are seen as among the front-runners, according to the people.

Three people familiar with the vice president’s plans said Tuesday that she and her yet-to-be-named running mate would begin traveling to battleground states next week — suggesting that a decision could be coming soon. The people said they didn’t know who her pick would be or which states Harris could visit. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details that haven’t been made public.

In the meantime, Harris advisers, led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, have been combing through reams of paperwork submitted by potential running mates, while the candidate herself is holding personal conversations with the finalists, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Harris, according to another person familiar with the matter, is seeking someone with executive experience who can also serve as a governing partner. Notions of a so-called short list have not stopped those on the Democrats’ broader national bench from finding the spotlight.

“I’m not going to talk about the interactions I’ve had with the campaign,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared recently on MSNBC. He added, though: “Let’s just say I’m aware that the vetting process is quite an in depth one.” Then he listed his accomplishments, offering that he was the only Midwestern governor to raise his state minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, once held out as an ideal nominee if Biden bailed out, has said, more or less, that she’s not a contender. But she appeared Monday with Shapiro in Pennsylvania and mused on MSNBC last week that “two women on the ticket would be exciting.”

Harris would be the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president. Many Democrats have argued she should balance her ticket both demographically and politically.

Dems’ VP list has notable differences

Shapiro, 51, is among the most popular U.S. governors, winning his 2022 election in a rout over a Trump-endorsed Republican. He’s an outspoken supporter of abortion rights who has won three statewide elections in Pennsylvania. His speaking style draws comparisons to former President Barack Obama. But he has taken flak from the left for his support for Israel’s war on Hamas, a private school voucher program and natural gas infrastructure.

His allies argue that he would help Harris win Pennsylvania, complicating if not blocking Republican Donald Trump’s path to an Electoral College majority.

Like all contenders, Shapiro sidesteps questions about the vetting process and stresses Harris should not be pressured. But he’s mentioned more than once that he’s known her for nearly two decades.

Beshear stands out in a heavily Republican state. During his weekend stop in Georgia, he talked of winning votes in “tough counties” but emphasized liberal bona fides: “I am a proud pro-union governor. I am a proud pro-choice governor. I am a proud public education governor. I am a proud pro-diversity governor.”

Closest in age to JD Vance among the Democrats’ possibilities, Beshear openly mocks Trump’s understudy for presenting himself as a son of Appalachia. “I mean, there’s a county that JD Vance says he’s from in Kentucky – and I won it by 22 points last November,” he said.

Back home in Frankfort recently, Beshear played down the importance of being from a battleground, saying, “About every successful ticket going back to 2000 did not have someone in a swing state.”

Of course, sometimes the spotlight can produce mistakes. Twice in Georgia, Beshear mispronounced Harris’ first name as “Kah-MAH-lah,” rather than the correct “KAH-mah-lah.”

Beshear and Shapiro were both state attorneys general, like Harris, before becoming governors. But their tenures did not overlap considerably with Harris’ service in California. She worked more closely with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper during his days as an attorney general, but Cooper on Monday said he had opted not to be considered for vice president.

Related Articles

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 60, is a favorite of some progressives. He brings an atypical national political resume: He was a non-commissioned Army officer, public school teacher and state high school championship football coach before entering politics. Before being elected governor, he was one of the last white Democrats in Congress to represent a mostly rural, small-town House district — a notable juxtaposition for Harris, the Bay Area Californian.

“She will make the best choice she’s going to,” Walz said Sunday on CNN, a day after Trump held a mass rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota. “One way or another, she is going to win in November, and that’s going to benefit everyone,” Walz said, including “a lot of those folks who were out in St. Cloud with the (former) president.”

Kelly, 60, is the only top contender in Congress. He boasts an impressive military resume and experience as an astronaut. He has strong Latino support locally and solid relationships with Arizona officials along the U.S.-Mexico border. That balance could give him credibility on immigration policy as Republicans frame high numbers of migrant border crossings as a national crisis.

But Kelly has had to shore up his credentials with labor, a key Democratic faction. Kelly changed his position on union-backed legislation known as the PRO Act, which would make it easier to organize workers. He was one of just a handful of Democrats who didn’t co-sponsor the bill, saying at the time he supported the goals but had concerns. Following opposition from labor leaders, Kelly said this month he would vote for the bill if it came up for a vote.

Everyone has an opinion

Harris is expected to announce her pick in time for Democratic delegates to ratify her decision in a virtual nominating vote that could conclude by Aug. 7. Whatever her timetable, the media and campaign circuit is allowing plenty of Democrats additional time in the spotlight.

In the meantime, everyone seems to have an opinion.

Steven Benjamin, the White House director of public engagement, laughed as he told reporters on Air Force One on Monday that his office has received thousands of recommendations from around the country.

Donna Brazile, who managed Democrat Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 and was instrumental in urging Biden to pick Harris in 2020, said the selection process involves “a lot of noise” that underplays the complexity of the decision.

“The most important stage is what the lawyers will do to you,” she said, with a laugh and emphasizing the seriousness. “It’s worse than a dental hygiene check. … Before you get to suitability and other factors, before it gets to political people like me, they’ve done a forensic examination of your life.”

Barrow reported from Cumming, Georgia. Associated Press reporters Zeke Miller and Will Weissert in Washington, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix; and Colleen Long aboard Air Force One contributed.

​ Orange County Register 

The Cheesecake Factory reveals its National Cheesecake Day flavor for 2024

• July 30, 2024

The Cheesecake Factory is introducing a new flavor of cheesecake, Triple Berry Bliss, to mark National Cheesecake Day on Tuesday, July 30.

In addition, members of the chain’s Cheesecake Rewards program can order any slice of cheesecake or layer cake for half price on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Calabasas-based restaurant chain. The offer is for dine-in only and good for every member of the party up to six people, providing at least one member is enrolled in the program.

And The Cheesecake Factory is marking the occasion by introducing a new summer collection at Cake Merch. Items include T-shirts, bucket hats, slides and towels.

Triple Berry Bliss features three layers of cheesecake and vanilla cake laced with three kinds of berries and “a kiss of citrus,” as described on the chain’s website.

As usual for its new flavors, The Cheesecake Factory will donate 25 cents to the relief organization Feeding America for every slice of Triple Berry Bliss sold until National Cheesecake Day 2025 rolls around.

Information: thecheesecakefactory.com

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register