August 7—Earning praise from Democratic figures representing such opposing viewpoints as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Manchin, Kamala Harris's choice of Tim Walz as her running mate would appear to be a stroke of genius. Unknown to most Americans prior to getting the nod from Harris, Walz is quickly becoming a hero to the  American Left. As Minnesota's governor he has signed bills providing free breakfast and lunch to all public school students and free college tuition to the children of households with annual incomes less than $80,000 as well as a bill codifying access to abortion. He has been a strong supporter of the green energy transition and in Congress opposed trade deals prejudicial to American workers. TSD has rounded up a few articles further detailing Walz's politics which, in their generality, paint the picture of a solid social democrat. Sarah Smarsh writes in the New York Times that Walz, a rare political animal bridging the worlds of Left politics and rural America, is the kind of candidate that the Democratic Party has needed "for decades." The CNN piece looks at Walz's evolution from centrist to "progressive champion," and E. J. Dionne, columnist at the Washington Post, argues that the "Minnesota Miracle" should "serve as a model for Democrats."

August 6—Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. The sixty-year-old Walz, a National Guard veteran and former teacher, served 12 years in Congress before becoming Minnesota's governor in 2018. As governor he has backed such social democratic priorities as free school meals, expanded paid leave and climate-change remediation.

August 6—In an egregious confluence of money and identity politics, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is investing millions of dollars of outside money to defeat congressional candidates who question Israel's conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

August 5—With the latest polls showing sunbelt states like Georgia, Arizona and Nevada newly in play, the formidable Harris campaign machine is quickly building out operations in those crucial battlegrounds.

August 5—Days after receiving the United Auto Workers endorsement, Kamala Harris has gotten the nod from UNITE HERE, representing 300,000 hospitality workers. Ignoring Trump's election-year bribe of tax-free tips, union president Gwen Mills noted Harris's documented support for union labor and working people. The endorsement comes with a commitment from the union to knock on 3.3 million doors, between now and the November election, in the crucial battleground states.

August 6—A just released CBS poll shows Kamala Harris in an effective dead heat against Donald Trump in the battleground states, with Harris leading in Minnesota and Nevada, Trump ahead in Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina and the two tied in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

August 2—Kamala Harris has received enough delegate votes, in an online process that began only yesterday, to win the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

August 2—The Biden Administration has recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the president of Venezuela after the Maduro regime falisifed last weekend's election results to maintain the socialist dictator in power. Meanwhile Maduro's thugs have ransacked the headquarters of opposition leader Maria Corina Machada, possibly seeking evidence she claims to have showing González winning 80 percent of the votes in the 70 percent of voting tallies Machada's group gained access to. To state the obvious, a key aspect of social democracy is "democracy." TSD stands with those everywhere who are fighting tyranny.

July 31—The Biden Administration Department of Education is attempting to apply new standards to Title IX, a 1972 law requiring equal treatment of male and female students in education programs receiving federal funds (virtually all public schools and universities). The DOE has issed rules requiring that the equal standard be applied not only between male and female but also to LGBQT+ students; states where cultural traditionalists hold sway are fighting the matter in court, arguing that new regulations ranging so far from the intent of the original law should require congressional legislation. TSD questions whether the Democratic Party should be attempting to enforce an interpretation of Title IX which would appear to require schools to allow untransitioned assigned-male-at-birth students to compete in female athletics, students with penises in female showers, and students with vaginas in male showers. Placing itself on the fringe edge of divisive cutlure war issues is not likely to help Democrats win over the great swath of middle voters whom the Left desperately needs if it is to gain the seats necessary to effectuate social democratic priorities.

July 31—Should there be any question as to which political party in America supports the average worker, not to mention union labor? While Teamsters president Sean O'Brien flirts with the Trump camp, Auto Workers chief Shawn Fain has wasted little time getting on the Kamala Harris train toward the White House, expressing his faith that Harris will "stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed."

July 29—Voters of a certain age will remember that Bill Clinton's watchword, as he ran for president in 1992, was "it's the economy, stupid." Many American voters, even among those who are politically engaged, are unaware of the major role the Federal Reserve Bank plays in determining levels of inflation, unemployment and the average citizen's buying power. The central bank raised interest rates to levels unprecedented in this century in an effort to bring pandemic-era inflation under control. Their strategy seems to be working, with inflation looking to soon return to pre-pandemic levels. But keeping interest rates too high for too long can also hamper economic growth, constrict buying power, greatly increase the cost of new mortgages and impede the creation of jobs. In this New York Times guest essay, economist Jen Harris makes the case for a rapid lowering of rates.

July 29—Is America really a democracy, or is ultimate power held by a nine-person, unelected junta that can never be un-elected? If justices strove to merely interpret the founders' intentions, along with relevant statutes, in deciding issues, perhaps the question would be moot. But in the modern age of judicial activism (otherwise known as "living constitutionalism," "loose construction" or, more colloquially, "legislating from the bench") the highest court is in danger of becoming a supreme legislature with no checks and balances and completely unanswerable to the citizen body. The Left has generally applauded loose construction when it has advanced their priorities, as in Roe v. Wade. In light of the Trump Court's recent decisions, however, many of which advance radically new interpretations of constitutional law, President Biden has proposed an 18-year term-limit for Supreme Court justices. The concept has no chance of moving through a divided Congress, but the idea has been broached.

July 26—The march toward social democracy must often contend with factors quite extraneous to the social democracy project itself. Israel's retaliatory war upon Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's October 7 attack on Israel has deeply divided Democrats, with many especially younger voters reluctant to support candidates, such as Joe Biden, who take Israel's side. On the other side is another important Democratic block, the American Jewish community, many of whom support Netanyahu's actions in the zone, which have caused over 39,000 mainly civilian deaths. Will Kamala Harris find a way to square this circle, keeping anti-Israel voters in her camp while maintaining her traditional support for the Jewish state? These articles from AP News and the BBC take a look at the question.

July 29—Determined to continue Venezuela's failed experiment in socialism, Nicolás Maduro is responding to protests over the dictator's rigged victory in last weekend's elections with stonewalling and repression. Venezuela's opposition, which was widely expected to win at the polls, is demanding that precinct voting tallies be made public, a demand backed by multiple world leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. For additional background, the New York Times article asks, "What Happened to Venezuela's Democracy?"

July 24—The U.S. economy, contrary to manifold lies from the Trump campaign, continues to outperform global peers, with a remarkable 2.8 percent annual growth rate clocked in the second quarter and pandemic-era inflation—now down to a 2.7% annual rate— continuing to abate. Consumer spending is robust, fueled by recent wage gains, as is business spending.