RFK Jr. drops out, backs Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Friday he was suspending his long-shot presidential campaign and endorsed former president Donald Trump.

Kennedy, whose political ambitions have been disowned by much of the rest of the famous family, is polling around 2 to 5 percent, according to recent polls.

His candidacy has been controversial as he expressed doubt about the usefulness of vaccination – including for COVID-19 – and revealed that at one time he had a dead worm inside his brain and that he had dumped the body of a bear cub in New York’s Central Park.

He later joined Trump on stage at a rally in Phoenix, where he listed issues of  free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on children” are what drove him, he said, to leave the Democratic Party, run as an independent and finally “throw my support to President Trump.”

Because of the lateness in the election calendar, Kennedy’s name will still appear on the ballot in several states. 

Secret Service agents reassigned

Five U.S Secret Service agents have been reassigned to “administrative duties” as part of an investigation into the July 13 attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump.

The agents are not discharged and will still be paid. Four of the agents were from the Service’s Pittsburgh office – the incident took place in Butler, Pennsylvania – and one from Trump’s personal security detail.

Ten days after the attempted assassination, Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her post.

The Service is conducting an internal investigation and there are other official inquiries being made.

Interest rates about to drop?

The Federal Reserve may soon cut interest rates. Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday in a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that “the time has come for policy to adjust” the rates as inflation had declined to an annual average of 2.5 percent.

He expressed his confidence that as the economy grows inflation is on its way to 2 percent, a goal of the Federal Reserve.

An interest rate cut in September could have an effect on the presidential campaign, as inflation and management of the economy is a major issue for many voters.

Weather: A slow warm-up

Temperatures in our West Orange County area will climb modestly over the weekend and then begin a decline into the new week. The forecast for Saturday’s afternoon high is 77 with an overnight low of 62. Sunday will heat up a bit to 81 (62) and again on Monday to 82 (64) before declining to 81 (62) on Tuesday. Skies will be partly cloudy.

Great Thoughts

“A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good.”

–– Niccolo Machiavelli