Austin, TX
Biden pivoting to his legacy with speech at LBJ Presidential Library
President Joe Biden, who belatedly opted against seeking reelection, will pay a visit on Monday to the library of the last president to make the same difficult choice, more than a half-century ago.
Biden’s speech Monday at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, is designed to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, enacted under President Lyndon Johnson. While there, he’ll call for changes to the Supreme Court that include term limits and an enforceable ethics code for justices, as well as a constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity.
But the visit has taken on very different symbolism in the two weeks it took to reschedule it after Biden had to cancel because he got COVID-19.
The speech, originally set for July 15, was once seen by the White House as an opportunity for Biden to try to make a case for salvaging his sinking presidential campaign — delivered in the home district of Representative Lloyd Doggett, the 15-term congressman who was the first Democratic lawmaker to publicly call for Biden to step aside.
Two weeks later, the political landscape has been reshaped. Biden is out of the race. Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely Democratic nominee. And the president is focused not on his next four years, but on the legacy of his single term and the future of democracy.
No American incumbent president has dropped out of the race as late in the process as did Biden. Johnson announced he would not seek reelection in March of 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War.
Biden has drawn a lot of comparisons to Johnson of late. Both men spoke to the nation from the Oval Office to lay out their decisions. Both faced pressure from within their own party to step aside, and both were ultimately praised for doing so.
But their reasons were very different. Johnson stepped away in the heat of the war and spoke at length about his need to focus on the conflict. Biden, 81, had every intention of running for reelection until his shaky June 27 debate performance ignited fears within his own party about his age and mental acuity, and whether he could beat Republican Donald Trump.
Biden has called Trump a serious threat to democracy, particularly after the ex-president’s efforts in 2020 to overturn the results of the election he lost and his continued lies about that loss. The president framed his decision to bow out of the race as motivated by the need to unite his party to protect democracy.
“I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation,” Biden said in his Oval Office address. “Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. And that includes personal ambition.”
Biden decided to seek the presidency in 2020 after witnessing the violence at a 2017 “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where torch-wielding white supremacists marched to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, chanting “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
Biden said he was horrified by Trump’s response, particularly when the Republican told reporters that “you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
During his presidency, Biden has often put equity and civil rights at the forefront, including with his choice for vice president. Harris is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to have the job. She could also become the first woman elected to the presidency.
Biden’s administration has worked to combat racial discrimination in the real estate market, he pardoned thousands of people convicted on federal marijuana charges that have disproportionately affected people of color and provided federal funding to reconnect city neighborhoods that were racially segregated or divided by road projects, and also invested billions in historically Black colleges and universities.
His efforts, he has said, are meant to push the country forward — and to guard against efforts to undermine the landmark legislation signed by Johnson in 1964, one of the most significant civil rights achievements in U.S. history.
The law made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It was designed to end discrimination in school, work and public facilities, and barred unequal application of voter registration requirements.
Johnson signed the act five hours after Congress approved it, saying the nation was in a “time of testing” that “we must not fail.” He added: “Let us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our nation whole.”
Eight years later, Johnson convened a civil rights symposium bringing together those who fought for civil rights to push for more progress.
“The progress has been too small; we haven’t done nearly enough,” he said in 1972 during the symposium. “Until we overcome unequal history, we can’t overcome unequal opportunity … There is still work to be done, so let’s be on with it.”
Biden has said he is “determined to get as much done” as he can in his final six months in office, including signing major legislation expanding voting rights and a federal police bill named for George Floyd.
“I’ll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose,” Biden said from the Oval Office. “I’ll keep calling out hate and extremism, make it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period.”
Later Monday, Biden will also travel to Houston to pay his respects to the late Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who died July 19 at age 74.
Austin, TX
Austin Shower Glass Expands Custom Shower Glass Services to Meet Growing Demand in Austin, TX
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Austin’s continued population growth and ongoing residential development have contributed to increased demand for modern interior upgrades, including custom glass installations. Austin Shower Glass serves this demand by delivering professional shower glass solutions tailored to the needs of homeowners across the area.
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About Austin Shower Glass
Austin Shower Glass is an Austin, Texas-based company specializing in custom shower glass installation, shower glass replacement, and modern glass solutions for residential spaces. The company focuses on delivering high-quality, precision-based installations designed to enhance both functionality and design.
Media Contact
Company Name: Austin Shower Glass
Contact Person: Stefan F.
Email: Send Email
Phone: +17374653141
Address:12600 Hill Country Blvd R-275
City: Bee Cave
State: Texas
Country: United States
Website: https://austinshowerglass.com/
AUSTIN, Texas — Camp Mystic on Thursday halted plans to reopen this summer on the Texas river where floodwaters killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors, backing down in the face of outraged families and investigations that accused the all-girls Christian camp of dangerous safety and operational deficiencies.
The decision, a striking reversal of the camp owners’ determination to reopen, follows weeks of testimony in court hearings and legislative investigations. Those hearings laid bare the camp’s lack of detailed planning for a flood emergency, reliance on poorly trained staff and missed chances for an evacuation that came too late as floodwaters ripped through the camp over the July 4 weekend last year.
“We never imagined a world without our daughters, and no decision made now can change that,” Matthew Childress, father of 18-year-old counselor Chloe Childress who died, said in a statement.
The camp’s owner, Dick Eastland, also died in the flooding.
“No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July’s tragedy,” Camp Mystic said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed Thursday that the camp has withdrawn its application.
The decision was praised by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who opposed the camp’s reopening while investigations were ongoing.
“I am thankful to hear that, today, the Eastland family withdrew their application,” Patrick said in a statement. “Given the tragic circumstances, this is the correct decision to protect Texas campers and to allow time for all investigations to be completed.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has not weighed in publicly on whether the camp should reopen, noted in a statement Thursday that the result of ongoing investigations into Camp Mystic by the Department of State Health Services and the Texas Rangers “will be made public as soon as possible.”
The families of the victims packed the court and legislative hearings, often wearing “Heaven’s 27” pins with photographs of their daughters. They listened to the details of missed flood warning signs, the descriptions of the flood and the decision to leave the girls in their cabins until it was too late. The testimony included video of the raging floodwaters as a girl repeatedly screamed for “help!” somewhere in the distance.
Edward Eastland, one of the camp directors and a member of the Eastland family that owns and operates the 100-year-old camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River, offered a tearful public apology to the victims’ families on Tuesday.
“We tried our hardest that night. It wasn’t enough to save your daughters,” Eastland said, with the victims’ families sitting behind him. “I’m so sorry.”
Still, Camp Mystic seemed determined to reopen. Camp officials invited journalists and lawmakers to review safety improvements at the camp, promised that no camp activities would take place in the low-lying area that was devastated and impressed that hundreds of families wanted to return, underscoring how special a place it was for generations of Texans.
A least 850 campers signed up to return this year. Reports that so many families were prepared to send their daughters back this summer caused divisions within the close-knit community of Mystic alumni.
All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
Texas health regulators have said they are investigating hundreds of complaints against the camp’s owners. The Texas Rangers are also looking into allegations of neglect, according to the Texas Department of Safety, although the scope of the state’s elite investigations unit was not immediately clear.
The camp, established in 1926, did not evacuate as the storm rolled in and was hit hard when the river rose from 14 feet to 29.5 feet within 60 minutes.
Vertuno and Murphy write for the Associated Press. Murphy reported from Oklahoma City.
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