Bits & Bytes

2024: At Fox News’ GOP Presidential Primary Debate, five of the eight candidates indicated they would vote for Trump if he were to be convicted – i.e., Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, and Ron DeSantis. The three who did not were Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Mike Pence.

CLICK https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/08/24/takeaways-first-2024-republican-primary-debate/ for a summary of other key takeaways from the debate.

• https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/almost-all-gop-candidates-say-they-would-back-trump-if-hes-convicted-5479667

COVID-19: The CDC says the new BA.2.86 variant is different enough from previous variants that it may cause breakthrough infections in the vaccinated and the naturally immune. The variant, which has been found in Israel, the UK, South Africa, and Denmark, has only just reached the United States and that it is not responsible for the recently slight increase in hospitalizations here.

• https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/covid-19-variant.html
• https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/health/cdc-says-new-covid-19-variant-could-cause-infections-in-vaccinated-people-5479388

FLEEING: Over the past several years, banks and big tech firms have fled high-tax, high-regulation Democrat states. According to a new analysis, California and New York have nearly $1 trillion apiece in managed assets, including thousands of high-paying jobs. In addition to sapping the tax revenue Dems rely on, the exodus has created a glut of empty commercial properties.

• https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/new-york-california-each-lost-assets-financial-firms-fled-south

SOUTH CAROLINA: The state’s Supreme Court has upheld the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. In a 4-1 decision, the court said South Carolina’s constitutional protection against “unreasonable invasions of privacy” does not include abortion and that the state law was “within the zone of reasonable policy decisions rationally related to the State’s interest in protecting the unborn.”

• https://www.dailywire.com/news/south-carolina-supreme-court-upholds-6-week-abortion-ban

TRUMP: While the other GOP presidential wannabes debated on Fox News, Tucker Carlson streamed his recent interview with Donald Trump, who blasted the indictments against him, calling them “ridiculous,” “nonsense” and “[expletive],” adding that “maybe there’ll be more.”

CLICK https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/08/23/takeaways-from-trumps-interview-with-tucker-carlson/ for key takeaways from the interview.

• https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/almost-all-gop-candidates-say-they-would-back-trump-if-hes-convicted-5479667