On February 4, 2021, in a speech at the State Department, President Joe Biden talked about the importance of diplomacy and the different actions he had taken in the two weeks since taking office.
Yes, Heather, this was a wonderful interview you did with Secretary of State Blinken. You had him explain in clear detail how Biden's foreign policies are making America great again, in contrast with Trump's MAGA policies that will do exactly the opposite!
I am glad this forum is largely giving President Biden the breathing room he needs. He has earned the dignity of making up his own mind. If he does not retire, I will enthusiastically vote for the President. I trust him. He is kind and he has a moral rudder. That is more than enough for me.
🤝
If the President decides to retire, I will respect him for his integrity. I trust him. If he chooses to step down, I would prefer to see President Biden resign, so Vice President Harris's being the incumbent President can off-set the chaos following changing horses in the middle of the rapids.
😇
What I am fed up with, however, is the piling on that is taking place. It is undignified and it gives the President far too little credit. What I see is ego on parade by many of the detractors, or should I say ego playing the fiddle -- demonstrating intellectual virtuosity, to be sure -- while our Republic burns. 😳😠🖕
This! However, in my deep disrespect for the shallow reasoning power and limited decision-making ability of many of our fellow citizens, I fear that the damage has been done and the Best President in my 8 decades has been made unelectable. I fully understand and respect President Biden's viewpoint here, but fear he cannot escape those few early minutes of his raspy, mumbling, empty-eyed performance at that "debate". The Convicted Felon will run that tape endlessly and that is what the smooth-brained folk will see. Sad!
Were I an advisor to President Biden and he chose to 'keep calm and campaign on' -- wish I could remember who said that in this forum -- my advice for the next debate would be for the President to take ear plugs and put them in when Trump spoke and then answer the question without reference to Trump's fire-hose of scheiße. By the way, ¡clever moniker! ⚖️🤔🤝😇🗽
Agree Miss Anne. It seemed to me, that President Biden might just have been taken aback.., as in 'incredulous' as to what on earth he might utter that could even possibly take command of that moment of shear insanity,on a stage in front of the entire world. What(??) could the President possibly say.., in the face of such a lunatic predicament. Given a few micro-moments my military-mind could have come up with something , just like you, but we don't walk in Joe Biden's shoes.., we don't carry the burden he carries 24/7. We owe him a distinct apology for ever-sticking him in this untenable jam. What in hell ails us?
Still, Biden has been known to cuss a bit sometimes, but a loud "What the FUCK!" live on camera might have been his stumbling point. He just could not say that out loud and he paid the price.
Yeah.., whewwww!! like wtf alright. This is sure not the time to be replacing Joe ferr crissakes. Typical libtard behavior. Thanks for your comment Ransom.
I don't believe that. It's not the first few minutes of the debate that are hard to escape, it's the relentless emphasis of and commentary on them by pundits who claim to be pro-democracy but seem to be clueless about how hard it is to change candidates this late in a campaign.
Have you heard of "relational organizing"? It's a fancy name for voters letting their friends, relatives, neighbors, etc., know who they're supporting in an election. It's powerful, and I've seen firsthand how effective it can be. DON'T GIVE UP YOUR POWER TO THE PUNDITS! Phone, text, and/or email people you know to tell them why you're supporting Biden-Harris.
You can’t discuss politics these days with people other than with those known to you to be “on the same side”. I grew up in a communist state and that was the exact situation there, other than that one might end up in prison when criticising the government.
Very important perspective. Thanks. I'd add a couple of observations. I live in a small town surrounded by other small towns. If you've been here a while, you know your friends' parents, kids, neighbors, employers, employees, and/or friends. That tends to make one cautious about expressing strong opinions about anything. The other thing is that when we "discuss politics" except at the most local level, what we "know" usually comes third- or fourth-hand from sources that may or may not be reliable. On some level we're talking about belief and faith. Facts are secondary. Discussing politics also has something in common with discussing sports teams, and you *know* how likely most fans are to switch their allegiance from one team to another!
Exactly Susanne, and tell everyone to read and share Lucian Truscott's post of Saturday afternoon. Everyone needs to keep that in mind and share LOUDLY!
Yes I think instead of a competent hardworking dedicated yet fallible human being we wanted Batman. Our addiction to drama, reality tv and super heroes will do us in
God bless Heather Cox Richardson, because every time I feel like we're being crushed from all sides she gives us one more reason to continue the fight.
Emphasis on “ this administration “of which Antony Blinken is only one of many competent, hardworking, dedicated and devoted to democracy people enlisted by President Biden. Now imagine an interview with anyone from Trump’s administration or possible next administration. I am voting not just for Biden Harris. I am voting for the team they put together, what they stand for and what they will accomplish in our future.
I agree with Gjay Among others in this thread. Congressmen, Who hold the power of the purse, and whose diverse fuse were “Marshalled” by Biden to pass legislation of extraordinary long-term impact, must speak out to applaud the legislative record record of the last four years. In contrast, Trump‘s short term, actions, of immediate effect, caused long-term damage to tax revenues, inflation, the national debt and the influence of the dollar. Such contrasts must be mentioned, time it again in the next three months. James Hawley.
👍👍 Yes; great spotlight by Laura M and yourself !! That is exactly a great difference to emphasize - the team assembled that carries out the leadership tasks of the office of the POTUS, who in this case we are fortunate to have Biden-Harris. A side-by-side comparison of this administration's cabinet, to the junk drawer cabinet OiD had is quite telling.
The ADMINISTRATION it is. It works 24/7. even if the POTUS needs a few hours of sleep at night. They wake him for the answer. That is what competence means.
Biden’s foreign policies and team has long been one of my favorite things about this administration and one of my biggest motivations for supporting the reelection of President Biden.
Thank you so much. The Biden administration has done amazing things because he has an amazing team! That’s true leadership. Surround yourself with experts not ass kissers.
I have to believe statesmen like Secretary Anthony Blinken and Historians like Heather Cox Richardson are going to lead us out of this darkness created by Putin, Xi, orban, trump and his criminal cronies.
John Muir’s said: “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” The new mind set that could change the world. Even if President is lying in bed, barely able to speak, he will give outstanding direction to he staff and thus move the country forward.
Imho, Biden/Harris is one of the best administrations in the history of this country. Sec. Blinken is just one example of the excellent team they have built. There are many reasons to re elect them.
Agreed. I like the suggestion someone (probably one of this group or Jay Kuo’s) that the Biden/Harris campaign get all of the cabinet members busy barnstorming across the country to talk about achievements and plans, and to show the competence of this administration. They could also use the opportunity to contrast (or possible campaign with?) members of Cheetolini’s cabinet who have seen the light and realize what a danger he is. Mentioning the former administration’s convicted members might help as well.
And in 1963, in his letter from Birmingham City Jail, Martin Luther King wrote, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." That's the quote that came to my mind as I watched this video.
Yes, the wise prescience of people like Martin Luther King, 30 years before we looked back and see the blue dot earth suspended in the blackness of space, and realized we are all part of one.
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” 🤩🤗
Yes! Christy posted,: "Chief Seattle: 'Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.'”
Curtis Mayfield > If There's Hell Below We're All Gonna Go > Mother Earth has got to be ready to smack the sh!t outta humans again, only Fire this time, cause the water didn't work.
There are so many caring and capable people working hard everyday to try to make the world better for everyone; trying to keep us all safe, peaceful, healthy, and free.
Yet, there are people who have always obstructed those goals due to their lust for power and money.
Right now, in America, under Republican policies, a rapist has more legal protections than a pregnant woman. But that shouldn’t be a surprise as the man they nominated for president is a sexual predator.
I'm very much looking forward to hearing the full interview.
By the way, I was on a Zoom call today with several former Ambassadors and State Department Soviet/Russia experts. They bemoaned the fact that the number of people in the Department who were involved in Russian affairs had diminished significantly over the past few years, to the point that it was embarrassing how few there were in relation to past times.
If accurate, this would be very embarrassing indeed, considering the challenges we are currently facing from Putin's Russia.
Penny.., "billboards" I'm for that. They are smack dab In-your-face and you can't hit the clicker and turn them off. Put stuff on them that the (R)ss-holes will read. HAHAHAA.. Does it need to be gtrue?? Hell No!! the (R)ss-holes won't know the difference and will run with it. Let's sow some dis-information within the (R)ss-hole ranks. Just like the Big-Media does to us with those tabloid-level distortion loaded headlines in WAPO and FAUX News. Then after the election be sure to get that blight off the highways. Billboards - build em! Make the (R)ss-holes choke.., they are such a stupid bunch, they'll blow themselves up. Billboards, no cheaper way to get the message out.
Weren't a lot of people in the State Department dismissed or otherwise made to leave the State Department when Trump was president? I seem to remember his focus on doing that very thing.
Many state department people at various levels of employment were discharged. We did not have ambassadors to a number of countries. This was all done at the beginning of the Trump administration.
There is a big turnover of political appointees at the beginning of every administration. I'm not aware of major firings of career personnel in 2017, although if Trump comes in for a second term he has signed on to a plan to fire most career personnel government-wide and replace them with political appointees, the so-called "Schedule F."
"Just weeks into the administration, however, came a series of blows for Foggy Bottom. In February, the administration sacked several senior career diplomats without naming their successors. That sent a chilling effect throughout the department’s senior ranks: They could be next.
Not too long after, the White House rolled out a proposed budget that called for drastic cuts of up to 31 percent to State Department funding and even included language to suggest folding the U.S. Agency for International Development into State. Although lawmakers from both parties quickly pushed back and indicated that the budget request was dead on arrival, the spending plan sent a clear message from the White House about how it prioritized the State Department — it didn’t."
They were quite up front with their stated intention to destroy the administrative state. Very frustrating that so few folks in powerful positions took him seriously
Definitely! And in fact they are even more up front about it and doubled down on it. If only people will hear it and not deny the truth to themselves. At least there is more attention being paid to it now
The way it works is that if you sack career diplomats, you remove them from their current assignment, but they are still employed by the State Department and can seek new positions until their time-in-class expires. So, removing a senior official from an assignment does not mean that person is removed from the Department, unless he/she chooses to retire.
"More than six months into the Trump presidency, career diplomats worry that the administration’s assault on the State Department will cause lasting damage to the workforce.
Tillerson’s controlling front office — and its focus on squeezing the budget — threatens to slow the hiring and assignment of new foreign service officers to positions around the world. All the while, numerous top career officials with decades of experience have quit, leaving a vacuum of talent and institutional knowledge in their wake.
While the State Department hemorrhages its own talent, it has also cut itself off from new talent by ending several distinguished fellowship programs to recruit top university graduates during its redesign.
The cumulative effect of a marginalized State Department, coupled with a freeze on hiring and budget pressures, could mean the next generation of diplomats will wither on the vine, current and former officials warn."
He’s said it out loud so many times he sounds like a broken record. Why the media doesn’t focus on that instead of Biden struggling to overcome a lifelong stutter which they try to use to make him look confused and inept is really difficult to rationalize.
Republicans have traditionally been hostile to the State Department, which they have viewed as a den of liberals (it isn't). Some Democratic administrations haven't been much better. Under Trump, State Department numbers declined by .7%, or a little less than two-tenths of a percent per year. Of course, if a new Trump administration puts Project 2025 into place, this will, in theory at least, politicize not just the State Department, but the entire federal government. https://ourpublicservice.org/blog/how-the-state-department-workforce-changed-under-the-trump-administration/
Schedule F is a return to the "spoils system." I think it was Andrew Jackson who said regarding government appointments, "To the victor belong the spoils." Over time the Civil Service came into being because people realized that expertise and fairness was needed to administer a growing country. The radical right wants to take America back to before the Revolution. I guess you could say they are George III's revenge 250 years too late.
As a beneficiary of the Foreign Service exam system, you can imagine what my attitude is toward appointing unqualified political hacks to positions they don't deserve. Qualified hacks, maybe, but in moderation as in the past.
Putin locks up any US citizen that walks on his hallowed ground out of vengeance for our support to Ukraine. How is it possible to have any type of relationship? Quite sure Biden talked about his current relationship with the mass murderer, Putin during his presser last night.
It's a little more complicated than that, but you are correct in thinking that Putin's treatment of US citizens is much more hostile than past Russian/Soviet rulers. You have to go back to Stalin to see a period where Americans were arrested simply for being American. During the Cold War, Americans were sometimes taken hostage to trade for Soviet spies who had been arrested, but simply imprisoning Americans willy-nilly, as Putin does, was not policy (determined by the Party, not the KGB). Under Yeltsin, there was a brief period in which arrests of Americans for any reason dipped significantly, as the KGB had been abolished, and its successor organizations were reconstituting themselves. Under Putin, former KGB officers, not politicians, are effectively in control of the state, and one result is that the restraints on arresting people for imagined crimes have been removed. Americans are sometimes being used as trade bait, but more often than not they are being arrested just for reporting too perceptively (Evan Gershkovich) or because Americans are specially targeted.
It’s a challenge to not succumb to exaggeration in this current climate and I very much appreciate your dose of history and factual information, but the point of my comment is that it’s quite dangerous for any American to be on Russian territory at this time.
Don't fret James, I haven't been frequenting any ofd my 'sources' as of late, but I can assure you The Soviet Intelligence community (err.., ah the FSB) is in place and at work. President Obama saw some of them off, but the ones we would never recognize are busy. And, their unknowing families are enjoying all the niceties we work so hard to provide as good human beings. They live right next door. Are they friends with EMpty Greene..? Nah, she's too stupid. But, they are friends with people who like money... cash money. Rock on.
Many voters would consider this topic arcane. But it's extraordinarily important in the big picture, especially as Russia and China, along with smaller authoritarian countries, work feverishly to subjugate their citizens while disrupting the world order with wars, terrorism, and other acts of violence. So thank you professor for digging into it. Looking forward to part two with Secretary Blinken.
Wow! Thank you so much for this enlightening conversation with Secretary Blinken! I’m so looking forward to part 2! I will recommend it to my friends—we all need to understand what and how important the work is that the Biden administration is doing in the world.
Watching this makes it clear how important it is to keep MAGA away from the seats of power here in the US. It is critical to beat every Maga republican at the ballot box & while I hate to say this if they won't accept the results of a fair election then we will have to fight for it.
I listened to Tony Blinken, his quiet voice, the intelligence in how he spoke, his explanations making it easy for an average person like me to understand how this diplomacy works & then tried to imagine a Heritage expert in that interview & I shuddered to think about it.
It's a shame there aren't more average people in the US that would take 20 minutes of their screen time or video game time, or "reality" TV time & listen to why this approach to dealing with the world is so important. Mistakes made, certainly, but infinitely less mistakes than if we become what Project 2025 is yearning for. The last thing this world needs is a Christo-fascist state with nuclear weapons that believes in the "Rapture" & is hankering for the end times.
It seems like a fantasy, but I remember a sound bite of the Oklahoma governor saying that the state should require teaching the Old and New Testament of the Christian Bible as a way of teaching American history to young citizens. Back in the day, my college required a course to study that culturally important book, but the course varied widely, from literary assessment of the various authors, to archaeological discovery of original documents. Absolutely no mention of Revolutionary or Civil War or the Trail of Tears that drove aboriginal tribes to Oklahoma...
Seems to me if a majority of people feel as though they have some belief system or an adherence to a particular religion that making a course on comparative religious texts would achieve a well rounded education of how different cultures face the moral decisions they make. THAT would be a beneficial way to look at religion as part of a system of living within a culture. If these religious fundamentalists are so enamored in believing religious texts you'd think they'd be all over studying the Koran or the religious equivalent of the Judeo-Christian Bible of other belief systems They could go into that class thinking, "I'll show them who god really is!" And maybe they could come away with a new perspective on religion in general.
Heather, please, make a point by point, numbered list of what Trump supporters will lose if Trump is re-elected; something that can be posted anywhere and everywhere.
Every single time a Cabinet member in President Biden's Administration speaks I am in awe of their intelligence, capability and their service to this Country.
And every single cabinet member Trump installed was put there to deconstruct the administrative state. He even told us what they were doing. The difference between the two administrations are extreme opposites.
None of them are going to take a stand for Democracy. They are unwilling to give power to we the people and believe power should be concentrated in the minds and hands of white men.
Barr has always been a despicable scumwad. He briefly pulled his head out to acknowledge that the 2020 election did not have massive fraud, but he is FAR to cowardly and hypocritical to actually stand for good.
His letter to the bloviated turd asking for the AG job was all about the ascendancy of complete executive power, and as a Christian Dominionist he is all about using that power to rule over everyone else with his own pretend moral standards which have zero to do with the teachings of Christ
In the pre-MAGA days it used to be said that foreign policy stopped at the water's edge. In sort of proof that that is no longer the case, just look at how the GOP has been undermining US Gov't policy. Especialy as it relates to Israel and Ukraine. When the Speaker of the House invites Israel's leader to speak to the chamber, on his party's behalf, with no evidence of deference to the White House, you know beyond doubt that the GOP has cheapened our foreign policy. Petty soon, they'll be inviting Putin.
Inviting Putin, if not getting their orders directly or indirectly from him.
This post cold war “rise of authoritarianism”, IMO, is a wave of conservative control that is championed by the .1 or less of our society who are threatened by a spirit of shared power with the majority of the population. As the general population becomes more aware, and educated, a segment of the uber-rich who control jobs, politicians and who manipulate and unduly influence so much of our economy, become fearful that our sheer numbers may somehow curtail their avaricious lifestyle though fair personal taxation, fair corporate taxation, corporate regulation, and increase worker representation.
This mind-set of control is far from new in history; however, this present wave of wealthy, conservative influence has been growing in power for at least the last 45 years. Money has been flowing into elections backing a brand of conservative politics that can only be described as a political coup. A systematic take-over aimed at striping away rights we presently enjoy that are also presently guaranteed by our Bill of Rights and our Constitution allowing them to fulfill a jaded dream of power over people and transfer more and more power from the people to a relatively minuscule segment of our society.
This is true. It is also why 2010's Citizens United ruling will go down as one of the most harmful decisions in Supreme Court history. Opening up the floodgates of private and corporate capital to buy influence with politicians has had the expected consequences. For the buyers of influence, Trump's 2017 were a 5 star success. Now their Project 2025 shows their ambitions for the next 4 years if Trump wins.
Well we know now that everything these conservative extremists have accused the rest of us are the things they themselves are doing. Robert’s has apparently always been part and parcel of their “deep state” from the beginning. People trying to make the world just a little bit better just don’t see these power control freaks coming until the damage is done sadly.
And this is why we need to keep this administration
Exactly. That was my first thought.
Yes, Heather, this was a wonderful interview you did with Secretary of State Blinken. You had him explain in clear detail how Biden's foreign policies are making America great again, in contrast with Trump's MAGA policies that will do exactly the opposite!
I am glad this forum is largely giving President Biden the breathing room he needs. He has earned the dignity of making up his own mind. If he does not retire, I will enthusiastically vote for the President. I trust him. He is kind and he has a moral rudder. That is more than enough for me.
🤝
If the President decides to retire, I will respect him for his integrity. I trust him. If he chooses to step down, I would prefer to see President Biden resign, so Vice President Harris's being the incumbent President can off-set the chaos following changing horses in the middle of the rapids.
😇
What I am fed up with, however, is the piling on that is taking place. It is undignified and it gives the President far too little credit. What I see is ego on parade by many of the detractors, or should I say ego playing the fiddle -- demonstrating intellectual virtuosity, to be sure -- while our Republic burns. 😳😠🖕
This! However, in my deep disrespect for the shallow reasoning power and limited decision-making ability of many of our fellow citizens, I fear that the damage has been done and the Best President in my 8 decades has been made unelectable. I fully understand and respect President Biden's viewpoint here, but fear he cannot escape those few early minutes of his raspy, mumbling, empty-eyed performance at that "debate". The Convicted Felon will run that tape endlessly and that is what the smooth-brained folk will see. Sad!
Were I an advisor to President Biden and he chose to 'keep calm and campaign on' -- wish I could remember who said that in this forum -- my advice for the next debate would be for the President to take ear plugs and put them in when Trump spoke and then answer the question without reference to Trump's fire-hose of scheiße. By the way, ¡clever moniker! ⚖️🤔🤝😇🗽
I think that came from Hitchhikers guide to the Universe.
¡Thank you, Jen!
Dating yourself, Jen?
I date myself all of the time. Hell, no one else will. 😉
Ditto Ned
Agree Miss Anne. It seemed to me, that President Biden might just have been taken aback.., as in 'incredulous' as to what on earth he might utter that could even possibly take command of that moment of shear insanity,on a stage in front of the entire world. What(??) could the President possibly say.., in the face of such a lunatic predicament. Given a few micro-moments my military-mind could have come up with something , just like you, but we don't walk in Joe Biden's shoes.., we don't carry the burden he carries 24/7. We owe him a distinct apology for ever-sticking him in this untenable jam. What in hell ails us?
Still, Biden has been known to cuss a bit sometimes, but a loud "What the FUCK!" live on camera might have been his stumbling point. He just could not say that out loud and he paid the price.
Yeah.., whewwww!! like wtf alright. This is sure not the time to be replacing Joe ferr crissakes. Typical libtard behavior. Thanks for your comment Ransom.
I don't believe that. It's not the first few minutes of the debate that are hard to escape, it's the relentless emphasis of and commentary on them by pundits who claim to be pro-democracy but seem to be clueless about how hard it is to change candidates this late in a campaign.
Have you heard of "relational organizing"? It's a fancy name for voters letting their friends, relatives, neighbors, etc., know who they're supporting in an election. It's powerful, and I've seen firsthand how effective it can be. DON'T GIVE UP YOUR POWER TO THE PUNDITS! Phone, text, and/or email people you know to tell them why you're supporting Biden-Harris.
You can’t discuss politics these days with people other than with those known to you to be “on the same side”. I grew up in a communist state and that was the exact situation there, other than that one might end up in prison when criticising the government.
Very important perspective. Thanks. I'd add a couple of observations. I live in a small town surrounded by other small towns. If you've been here a while, you know your friends' parents, kids, neighbors, employers, employees, and/or friends. That tends to make one cautious about expressing strong opinions about anything. The other thing is that when we "discuss politics" except at the most local level, what we "know" usually comes third- or fourth-hand from sources that may or may not be reliable. On some level we're talking about belief and faith. Facts are secondary. Discussing politics also has something in common with discussing sports teams, and you *know* how likely most fans are to switch their allegiance from one team to another!
Exactly Susanne, and tell everyone to read and share Lucian Truscott's post of Saturday afternoon. Everyone needs to keep that in mind and share LOUDLY!
Yes I think instead of a competent hardworking dedicated yet fallible human being we wanted Batman. Our addiction to drama, reality tv and super heroes will do us in
I hope you saw Biden's talk in MIchigan.
Yeah.. here we have itr: When the going gets tough.., the tough are left holding the bag. And, right now, the 'wind bag' is trying to take charge.
Ouch Miss; I haven't heard that insult for a while.... 😳
Ditto!
👍
You are right Laura; One of many reasons.
Republicans don't have a Hoochie Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbOg5XX9Ud0
I love that video! Thanks for the reminder of how multi dimensional Anthony Blinken is.
🎼
🎵 No they do not Daniel ! I love that talent display ! Add one more reason to be amazed by this guy..
Blinkin is worth every penny we are paying him. He should take his axe with him wherever he goes. GET DOWN!!
🎵🎼🎵 !!!
God bless Heather Cox Richardson, because every time I feel like we're being crushed from all sides she gives us one more reason to continue the fight.
Yes, and it helps that we have a few others too. Lucian Truscot IV fills the bill quite well to, as much as I love and appreciate Heather.
Emphasis on “ this administration “of which Antony Blinken is only one of many competent, hardworking, dedicated and devoted to democracy people enlisted by President Biden. Now imagine an interview with anyone from Trump’s administration or possible next administration. I am voting not just for Biden Harris. I am voting for the team they put together, what they stand for and what they will accomplish in our future.
I agree with Gjay Among others in this thread. Congressmen, Who hold the power of the purse, and whose diverse fuse were “Marshalled” by Biden to pass legislation of extraordinary long-term impact, must speak out to applaud the legislative record record of the last four years. In contrast, Trump‘s short term, actions, of immediate effect, caused long-term damage to tax revenues, inflation, the national debt and the influence of the dollar. Such contrasts must be mentioned, time it again in the next three months. James Hawley.
👍👍 Yes; great spotlight by Laura M and yourself !! That is exactly a great difference to emphasize - the team assembled that carries out the leadership tasks of the office of the POTUS, who in this case we are fortunate to have Biden-Harris. A side-by-side comparison of this administration's cabinet, to the junk drawer cabinet OiD had is quite telling.
The ADMINISTRATION it is. It works 24/7. even if the POTUS needs a few hours of sleep at night. They wake him for the answer. That is what competence means.
Biden’s foreign policies and team has long been one of my favorite things about this administration and one of my biggest motivations for supporting the reelection of President Biden.
👍
Once again you tie past present and possible futures together in a coherent vision. Thank you so much for you hard work and focused attention.
Thank you so much. The Biden administration has done amazing things because he has an amazing team! That’s true leadership. Surround yourself with experts not ass kissers.
The Biden administration is serious about governing and helping ordinary people make progress.
🤣 say Mindi!
I have to believe statesmen like Secretary Anthony Blinken and Historians like Heather Cox Richardson are going to lead us out of this darkness created by Putin, Xi, orban, trump and his criminal cronies.
Ugh, that string of names...
Thank you for reiterating the light and the darkness as I see it.
then go elsewhere.
Why don't you just pick up, move to Russia,.
and take tRump and his other MAGA goons with you, vIcki?
Why answer? they speak another language.
You live in Canada and I’m pretty sure Anne was referring to the list of trump and cronies. What is your problem?
They can show us the path, but it is up to us to take that path and bring light with us wherever we go.
I would go so far as to say it is up to us to MAKE the path and take good care of it 😍
Just came across this 🤩🤩😍😍
https://open.substack.com/pub/stephaniejones2/p/are-you-a-thermometer-or-a-thermostat?r=2xpfg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
John Muir’s said: “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” The new mind set that could change the world. Even if President is lying in bed, barely able to speak, he will give outstanding direction to he staff and thus move the country forward.
Imho, Biden/Harris is one of the best administrations in the history of this country. Sec. Blinken is just one example of the excellent team they have built. There are many reasons to re elect them.
Agreed. I like the suggestion someone (probably one of this group or Jay Kuo’s) that the Biden/Harris campaign get all of the cabinet members busy barnstorming across the country to talk about achievements and plans, and to show the competence of this administration. They could also use the opportunity to contrast (or possible campaign with?) members of Cheetolini’s cabinet who have seen the light and realize what a danger he is. Mentioning the former administration’s convicted members might help as well.
Great idea!
And in 1963, in his letter from Birmingham City Jail, Martin Luther King wrote, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." That's the quote that came to my mind as I watched this video.
Yes, the wise prescience of people like Martin Luther King, 30 years before we looked back and see the blue dot earth suspended in the blackness of space, and realized we are all part of one.
Even when I focus on it, I get the sense that I barely appreciate how special this blue dot is.
IMHO, Chief Seattle said it the best:
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” 🤩🤗
Thanks for this wonderful quote! We all need more John Muir and MLK.
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Thanks for this wonderful quote! We all need more John Muir and MLK.
Yes! Christy posted,: "Chief Seattle: 'Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.'”
Curtis Mayfield > If There's Hell Below We're All Gonna Go > Mother Earth has got to be ready to smack the sh!t outta humans again, only Fire this time, cause the water didn't work.
LOL
Dems Deliver as does Professor Heather Cox Richardson. Many thanks, Professor!
There are so many caring and capable people working hard everyday to try to make the world better for everyone; trying to keep us all safe, peaceful, healthy, and free.
Yet, there are people who have always obstructed those goals due to their lust for power and money.
Right now, in America, under Republican policies, a rapist has more legal protections than a pregnant woman. But that shouldn’t be a surprise as the man they nominated for president is a sexual predator.
Agree with militant contempt.
I'm very much looking forward to hearing the full interview.
By the way, I was on a Zoom call today with several former Ambassadors and State Department Soviet/Russia experts. They bemoaned the fact that the number of people in the Department who were involved in Russian affairs had diminished significantly over the past few years, to the point that it was embarrassing how few there were in relation to past times.
If accurate, this would be very embarrassing indeed, considering the challenges we are currently facing from Putin's Russia.
G.dammit. These kinds of things should be put in political t.v. ads and billboards. Important information.
Penny.., "billboards" I'm for that. They are smack dab In-your-face and you can't hit the clicker and turn them off. Put stuff on them that the (R)ss-holes will read. HAHAHAA.. Does it need to be gtrue?? Hell No!! the (R)ss-holes won't know the difference and will run with it. Let's sow some dis-information within the (R)ss-hole ranks. Just like the Big-Media does to us with those tabloid-level distortion loaded headlines in WAPO and FAUX News. Then after the election be sure to get that blight off the highways. Billboards - build em! Make the (R)ss-holes choke.., they are such a stupid bunch, they'll blow themselves up. Billboards, no cheaper way to get the message out.
Weren't a lot of people in the State Department dismissed or otherwise made to leave the State Department when Trump was president? I seem to remember his focus on doing that very thing.
Many state department people at various levels of employment were discharged. We did not have ambassadors to a number of countries. This was all done at the beginning of the Trump administration.
Same with Trump's gutting of EPA experts on Climate Change
And dumping the entire system designed to identify the potential for a pandemic BEFORE it becomes one …
There is a big turnover of political appointees at the beginning of every administration. I'm not aware of major firings of career personnel in 2017, although if Trump comes in for a second term he has signed on to a plan to fire most career personnel government-wide and replace them with political appointees, the so-called "Schedule F."
"Just weeks into the administration, however, came a series of blows for Foggy Bottom. In February, the administration sacked several senior career diplomats without naming their successors. That sent a chilling effect throughout the department’s senior ranks: They could be next.
Not too long after, the White House rolled out a proposed budget that called for drastic cuts of up to 31 percent to State Department funding and even included language to suggest folding the U.S. Agency for International Development into State. Although lawmakers from both parties quickly pushed back and indicated that the budget request was dead on arrival, the spending plan sent a clear message from the White House about how it prioritized the State Department — it didn’t."
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/31/how-the-trump-administration-broke-the-state-department/
They were quite up front with their stated intention to destroy the administrative state. Very frustrating that so few folks in powerful positions took him seriously
Still the case, sad to say
Definitely! And in fact they are even more up front about it and doubled down on it. If only people will hear it and not deny the truth to themselves. At least there is more attention being paid to it now
The way it works is that if you sack career diplomats, you remove them from their current assignment, but they are still employed by the State Department and can seek new positions until their time-in-class expires. So, removing a senior official from an assignment does not mean that person is removed from the Department, unless he/she chooses to retire.
"More than six months into the Trump presidency, career diplomats worry that the administration’s assault on the State Department will cause lasting damage to the workforce.
Tillerson’s controlling front office — and its focus on squeezing the budget — threatens to slow the hiring and assignment of new foreign service officers to positions around the world. All the while, numerous top career officials with decades of experience have quit, leaving a vacuum of talent and institutional knowledge in their wake.
While the State Department hemorrhages its own talent, it has also cut itself off from new talent by ending several distinguished fellowship programs to recruit top university graduates during its redesign.
The cumulative effect of a marginalized State Department, coupled with a freeze on hiring and budget pressures, could mean the next generation of diplomats will wither on the vine, current and former officials warn."
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/31/how-the-trump-administration-broke-the-state-department/
Continuing thanks Roxanna ~
That is all part of what Donnie plans to ditch…
He’s said it out loud so many times he sounds like a broken record. Why the media doesn’t focus on that instead of Biden struggling to overcome a lifelong stutter which they try to use to make him look confused and inept is really difficult to rationalize.
Thank you Roxanna ~
Republicans have traditionally been hostile to the State Department, which they have viewed as a den of liberals (it isn't). Some Democratic administrations haven't been much better. Under Trump, State Department numbers declined by .7%, or a little less than two-tenths of a percent per year. Of course, if a new Trump administration puts Project 2025 into place, this will, in theory at least, politicize not just the State Department, but the entire federal government. https://ourpublicservice.org/blog/how-the-state-department-workforce-changed-under-the-trump-administration/
This is one of the really scary parts of Project 2025 among many others!!! Vote Blue!
Schedule F is a return to the "spoils system." I think it was Andrew Jackson who said regarding government appointments, "To the victor belong the spoils." Over time the Civil Service came into being because people realized that expertise and fairness was needed to administer a growing country. The radical right wants to take America back to before the Revolution. I guess you could say they are George III's revenge 250 years too late.
As a beneficiary of the Foreign Service exam system, you can imagine what my attitude is toward appointing unqualified political hacks to positions they don't deserve. Qualified hacks, maybe, but in moderation as in the past.
Yeah... maybe we'll get Betsy DeVos back in the "new" Re-education Agency.
Project 2025. We didn't know about it then. It explains so much.
Probably with a focus on Russia experts since they likely knew of the Cheetolini crime family’s shady dealings with Putin and his oligarchs.
Sure. They were canned because they didn't tow the party line or read The Enquirer.
Putin locks up any US citizen that walks on his hallowed ground out of vengeance for our support to Ukraine. How is it possible to have any type of relationship? Quite sure Biden talked about his current relationship with the mass murderer, Putin during his presser last night.
It's a little more complicated than that, but you are correct in thinking that Putin's treatment of US citizens is much more hostile than past Russian/Soviet rulers. You have to go back to Stalin to see a period where Americans were arrested simply for being American. During the Cold War, Americans were sometimes taken hostage to trade for Soviet spies who had been arrested, but simply imprisoning Americans willy-nilly, as Putin does, was not policy (determined by the Party, not the KGB). Under Yeltsin, there was a brief period in which arrests of Americans for any reason dipped significantly, as the KGB had been abolished, and its successor organizations were reconstituting themselves. Under Putin, former KGB officers, not politicians, are effectively in control of the state, and one result is that the restraints on arresting people for imagined crimes have been removed. Americans are sometimes being used as trade bait, but more often than not they are being arrested just for reporting too perceptively (Evan Gershkovich) or because Americans are specially targeted.
It’s a challenge to not succumb to exaggeration in this current climate and I very much appreciate your dose of history and factual information, but the point of my comment is that it’s quite dangerous for any American to be on Russian territory at this time.
That is correct. The State Department has a "Do Not Travel" notice on Russia, but plenty of people still have the attitude that "it can't happen to me," or they are unaware of the dangers of travel there. In my opinion, no one should be traveling to Russia under current circumstances unless they have diplomatic immunity. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/russia-travel-advisory.html#:~:text=Do%20not%20travel%20to%20Russia,and%20the%20possibility%20of%20terrorism.
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I saw it on YouTube yesterday.
Don't fret James, I haven't been frequenting any ofd my 'sources' as of late, but I can assure you The Soviet Intelligence community (err.., ah the FSB) is in place and at work. President Obama saw some of them off, but the ones we would never recognize are busy. And, their unknowing families are enjoying all the niceties we work so hard to provide as good human beings. They live right next door. Are they friends with EMpty Greene..? Nah, she's too stupid. But, they are friends with people who like money... cash money. Rock on.
Many voters would consider this topic arcane. But it's extraordinarily important in the big picture, especially as Russia and China, along with smaller authoritarian countries, work feverishly to subjugate their citizens while disrupting the world order with wars, terrorism, and other acts of violence. So thank you professor for digging into it. Looking forward to part two with Secretary Blinken.
Wow! Thank you so much for this enlightening conversation with Secretary Blinken! I’m so looking forward to part 2! I will recommend it to my friends—we all need to understand what and how important the work is that the Biden administration is doing in the world.
Heather Cox Richardson: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing an interview of Secretary Blinken.
I can think of no one more knowledgeable to interview the Secretary of State than you.
Thank you, thank you!
Watching this makes it clear how important it is to keep MAGA away from the seats of power here in the US. It is critical to beat every Maga republican at the ballot box & while I hate to say this if they won't accept the results of a fair election then we will have to fight for it.
I listened to Tony Blinken, his quiet voice, the intelligence in how he spoke, his explanations making it easy for an average person like me to understand how this diplomacy works & then tried to imagine a Heritage expert in that interview & I shuddered to think about it.
It's a shame there aren't more average people in the US that would take 20 minutes of their screen time or video game time, or "reality" TV time & listen to why this approach to dealing with the world is so important. Mistakes made, certainly, but infinitely less mistakes than if we become what Project 2025 is yearning for. The last thing this world needs is a Christo-fascist state with nuclear weapons that believes in the "Rapture" & is hankering for the end times.
Be careful what you wish for, Magats.
Many MAGAts will likely find that the rapture will leave them behind. Indeed, they had better be careful what they wish for.
It seems like a fantasy, but I remember a sound bite of the Oklahoma governor saying that the state should require teaching the Old and New Testament of the Christian Bible as a way of teaching American history to young citizens. Back in the day, my college required a course to study that culturally important book, but the course varied widely, from literary assessment of the various authors, to archaeological discovery of original documents. Absolutely no mention of Revolutionary or Civil War or the Trail of Tears that drove aboriginal tribes to Oklahoma...
Seems to me if a majority of people feel as though they have some belief system or an adherence to a particular religion that making a course on comparative religious texts would achieve a well rounded education of how different cultures face the moral decisions they make. THAT would be a beneficial way to look at religion as part of a system of living within a culture. If these religious fundamentalists are so enamored in believing religious texts you'd think they'd be all over studying the Koran or the religious equivalent of the Judeo-Christian Bible of other belief systems They could go into that class thinking, "I'll show them who god really is!" And maybe they could come away with a new perspective on religion in general.
Heather, please, make a point by point, numbered list of what Trump supporters will lose if Trump is re-elected; something that can be posted anywhere and everywhere.
Oh I’m so excited to see this! 💙💞 Great job! 🥰🥰
Every single time a Cabinet member in President Biden's Administration speaks I am in awe of their intelligence, capability and their service to this Country.
And every single cabinet member Trump installed was put there to deconstruct the administrative state. He even told us what they were doing. The difference between the two administrations are extreme opposites.
And yet. Forty out of 44 of his former Cabinet have spoken out against him.
It would be nice if they started speaking out publicly and repeatedly.
They just don’t want to publicly be connected with his vileness. They have no problem supporting it behind closed doors
Barr says he’ll still vote for the orange turd.
Bolton will write in anyone.
None of them are going to take a stand for Democracy. They are unwilling to give power to we the people and believe power should be concentrated in the minds and hands of white men.
Barr has always been a despicable scumwad. He briefly pulled his head out to acknowledge that the 2020 election did not have massive fraud, but he is FAR to cowardly and hypocritical to actually stand for good.
His letter to the bloviated turd asking for the AG job was all about the ascendancy of complete executive power, and as a Christian Dominionist he is all about using that power to rule over everyone else with his own pretend moral standards which have zero to do with the teachings of Christ
https://jesspiper.substack.com/p/some-will-say-i-am-advocating-for/comments
In the pre-MAGA days it used to be said that foreign policy stopped at the water's edge. In sort of proof that that is no longer the case, just look at how the GOP has been undermining US Gov't policy. Especialy as it relates to Israel and Ukraine. When the Speaker of the House invites Israel's leader to speak to the chamber, on his party's behalf, with no evidence of deference to the White House, you know beyond doubt that the GOP has cheapened our foreign policy. Petty soon, they'll be inviting Putin.
Inviting Putin, if not getting their orders directly or indirectly from him.
This post cold war “rise of authoritarianism”, IMO, is a wave of conservative control that is championed by the .1 or less of our society who are threatened by a spirit of shared power with the majority of the population. As the general population becomes more aware, and educated, a segment of the uber-rich who control jobs, politicians and who manipulate and unduly influence so much of our economy, become fearful that our sheer numbers may somehow curtail their avaricious lifestyle though fair personal taxation, fair corporate taxation, corporate regulation, and increase worker representation.
This mind-set of control is far from new in history; however, this present wave of wealthy, conservative influence has been growing in power for at least the last 45 years. Money has been flowing into elections backing a brand of conservative politics that can only be described as a political coup. A systematic take-over aimed at striping away rights we presently enjoy that are also presently guaranteed by our Bill of Rights and our Constitution allowing them to fulfill a jaded dream of power over people and transfer more and more power from the people to a relatively minuscule segment of our society.
This is true. It is also why 2010's Citizens United ruling will go down as one of the most harmful decisions in Supreme Court history. Opening up the floodgates of private and corporate capital to buy influence with politicians has had the expected consequences. For the buyers of influence, Trump's 2017 were a 5 star success. Now their Project 2025 shows their ambitions for the next 4 years if Trump wins.
Well we know now that everything these conservative extremists have accused the rest of us are the things they themselves are doing. Robert’s has apparently always been part and parcel of their “deep state” from the beginning. People trying to make the world just a little bit better just don’t see these power control freaks coming until the damage is done sadly.
For the next 40 years
Helsinki