Hopefully, the effective governing that President Biden has done, and will continue to do as much as possible, will overshadow the screeching lies and faux issues of the feckless Republicans. He has truly been the leader we needed at an inflection point.
Taking Elizabeth's comment further, feckless is the correct definition of today's Republican:
"lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible".
Take McCarthy's call that they want to "strengthen" SS & Medicare. Really? By raising it's qualifying age to 70 when the life expectancy of a white male in the US just dropped 3 yrs to 73 so, you get your SS for just 3 years? This isn't just feckless,...it's criminal.
I've posted this before but, the statistics are staggering. The US is behind all the leading nations whose numbers have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. If you are of African, Hispanic or Native American heritage your drops are even worse at 4, 4.2 and 6.6 yrs respectively.
The details are in the link below and are worth the read but, what the GOP wants to do is goose us all at both ends by taking away an ave of 5 yrs on the front end at a time when 3 yrs are reduced on the back end. They remove an ave of 8 yrs of the benefits you paid for.
BK, thank you for the statistics on the recent drop in life expectancy, particularly for white males. Stunning reversal for an overwhelmingly wealthy country.
But don’t talk about Universal Health Care!!! At least not within earshot of white Republican males in Congress. (Say Obamacare and watch their blood pressure rise instead)
YW. To me, morally it's staggering but, academically it's also fascinating as it is the rural, white populations in the red states that voted for tfg that have and continue suffer the steepest declines with, as you note, men taking the biggest hit. Additionally, these are the states that have rejected any expansion of additional aid for health care benefits to their own populations. It's a case study field day for academia to show how whole groups can be so easily trained by politicians and their media to vote by using hatred, racism, violence and other ideologies. Yet, it is these very things that are causing them shorter lives, staying uneducated and in poverty. They trade hate for votes and it is essentially what HCR is saying they are doing at the federal level. No governance,... just hate.
Over the last decade Iowa votes blood red. The GQP holds the government trifecta. In the first 2 weeks of the current session GQP lawmakers ignored the protests of thousands of Iowans and passed a school voucher law that will funnel millions away from already cash starved public schools and award them to private schools purportedly to give all Iowa parents control over their children's education.
Here in NH, we have a Repub Quadrafecta-we have an elected Executive Council that works on okaying state contracts. All 4 branches of state government are red and there's a fair number of the legislature that are ultra libertarian; that group is called the Free State Project and hide, calling themselves Republicans. They went so far last year to put a secession bill up to a vote (they lost 323 to 13.) We also have a voucher bill that passed and diverts public education monies to private/religious schools and home schoolers. There was a great deal of opposition to the voucher bill, but just as happened in Iowa, the legislature did NOT listen to their constituents. In NH, a goodly amount of Public Ed money comes from property taxpayers-minimal state funding. That voucher program was initially budgeted for $130K in 2020; now over $8 million within two years. These voucher plans were created by A.L.E.C. Here's an overview of that group for those not familiar with it.: https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_%26_Education
It appears that this class of red state Americans are simply too lazy to be informed or educated. Going to school required “homework” that they’re not interested in doing
Why read the book when you can skim the Cliff Note version from Breitbart or watch a Fox Entertainment movie?
It is amazing that they make no connection between their woes and the party of death. Here in Oregon, the rural areas scream all the time about the libs in the Willamette Valley. The new governor is visiting all the counties in Oregon the first year and she is starting with those who didn't vote for her. I don't know what kind of epiphany has to happen before they see the light.
Years ago when I started my teaching career in a rural town east of Salem, kids could quit school and make more than we were working in the timber industry. That is no longer true. Now we have something that began by calling itself Timber Unity (not sure what they call themselves now) which constantly stirs up the base. And thanks to redistricting we are now stuck in red districts for the Oregon legislature. No one ran against our new wacko rep because it isn't worth the time or the money. I wrote someone in.
Yes they ARE criminals and it is unconscionable that the wealthiest nation in the world denies its citizens universal healthcare.Meanwhile these”criminals” are enjoying taxpayer-funded Cadillac style healthcare plans.The same thing goes for the Covid vaccines.They cry that making people get these shots is infringing on their”Freedoms “ but I would bet every member of Congress and their families were first in line to get each vaccine as they were rolled out.
The screamers are always first in line when there is something that they want from the government. How much of the COVID money went to fraudsters, for example. And then we have one of the best fraudsters of all serving in Congress, Rick Scott.
BK At 89 I have benefitted from Social Security for 24 years. The Republicans can prove that actuarially I have exceed my normal lifetime benefits.
It seems reasonable that the Republicans would want to terminate my Social Security benefits (‘lived too damn long’) and jack up eligibility to 70 to stop folks from supping at the government trough without working long enough. (Actually, I was a professor until age 80–paid ‘old age’ minimal compensation.)
Meanwhile, Republicans insist on retaining ‘carried interest,’ which permits a number of quasi-entrepreneurs to defer their compensation on which they pay capital gains rather than income taxes and on which they pay no Social Security fees.
Also, isn’t Medicare an unwarranted benefit for a person of my age? Sharply curbing my medical benefits could accelerate my ‘expiration’ date, which also seems a Republican priority.
24 years in SSA & a Professor until 80? Think you may qualify for Social Security Emeritus status very soon but, sorry no extra credit for educating the next Generations.
Byran My ‘extra credit’ comes from the people I have been privileged to give a lift on my shoulders and watch them run. Last week I heard (for the first time) from a person I helped in 1960 and 63 years later he persevered to say thanks and catch up. Ditto with a student who came up while I was lunching with my wife to tell me what a difference I had made to her 20 years ago and how she is describing my teaching techniques to a retired West Point grad who wishes to become a history teacher.
I find it a joy to give and then watch the acorns grow into oaks. AND to remember all those who provided me a helping hand when I needed it.
Keith, it is heart-warming and validating to hear from folks whose lives you touched. You really never know…just doing “your thing” and doing your best can impact folks in ways you never know. One of several instances over the years that floored & validated me, a few years back-maybe in 2018–I was in a local hardware store waiting for my purchase to be rung up, and a woman ahead of me asked….”didn’t you work at the HSU Financial Aid Office?”. Yes, I replied. She said thank you for all the help you gave me. You’re welcome, I replied. Then asked when did you graduate…..1985, was her reply. Wow….you just never know when doing your best to fulfill your heart-felt chosen profession will impact others & how long it will stay with them. I was gobsmacked and grateful for the acknowledgement—that she remembered so many years later was astounding to me. To me that’s the whole idea & always was in my 40+ years at it….make a positive difference in people’s lives…..a real right livelihood!
Unfortunately the US economic model is predicated on more and more people eating more and more of ever worsening quality food, resulting in ever poorer health outcomes. When this meets the effects of an extravagantly expensive healthcare system, those are the results to be expected on the national level.
I’m interested in your source for reduced male life expectancy. I’d like to read and save that source. Excellent addition to this well written article. Thanks!
There were/are many links on recent life expectancy (LE) drops in general so, you have to go through some of them to get specifics. This one from Harvard gives the specific difference between LE for women (79.1) and men (73.2) the gap of which had according to other articles been narrowing but, recently increased due to (one of several reasons) more men falling to COVID than women.
Just Google "Recent Life Expectancy Drops in the US" and you can find more, plus some links have other links within them that take one to deeper dives. Good Luck!
Feckless: what a wonderful word. If you remember, some years ago, Samantha Bee called Ivanka trump a “feckless c**t”. I’ll never forgot the meaning of that word again.
I share you sentiment "will overshadow the screeching lies and faux issues of the feckless Republicans"
However, one thing that is not working, initiated by President Biden, with the best of intentions, is economic sanctions against Russia. Much like economic sanctions have not worked in most cases of their use by the United States, if we are honest.
Gift link, below, from NY Times showing how the rest of the world can (today) step up when the US levers sanctions (unlike days gone by). I mean, some of that is good news because other countries that formerly had economies a small fraction of the size of the US now CAN step up. Good for the folks in those countries for sure.
But, the bad new is: We only hurt Europe and ourselves with sanctions, not, so much, Russia. We HELP other, non-western countries develop trade with Russia as Russia replaces Europe and the US for needed goods.
screeching lies are definitely bad. Sometimes, however, so is the truth. I hate to say this, but, maybe attempting to fight a war without fighting a war is, umm, not possible?
Mike, that's an important read. Thanks for the link. My take away is twofold. First, our "ally" Turkey once again undermines democracy. Makes me crazy. But second, just because Putin is finding workarounds to sanctions doesn't mean they were wrong to do (as you said). He is still an international pariah.
This is a really tough situation. But I believe in the long run that the Oligarchs who are Putin's puppets are also his enablers. It's hard for me to believe that as the Russians continue to fail on the battlefield and the uber rich robber barons yachts are confiscated and/or banned from ports, that these enablers won't become weary of a war that gains them nothing but social ostracization and inconvenience.
The deal struck by Putin with the Oligarchs (captains of industry) is that they fund his political games and his dachas while they are given monopolistic control and the world as a playground. If their finances are hurt, social isolation continues and they are deprived of their island vacations, this deal may sour.
I could be grasping at straws here. But dictators always peter out in the end. Their promises become hollow and their military adventures fail. I see echoes of Mussolini who was removed from office by the very fascists who put him there - as his African adventures collapsed and Italy was shamed by failure. Putin is failing. That won't stand for long....
Sometime I would like to hear (or read) a deeper discussion of how to fight against authoritarian governments that engage in warfare (troop-invasion based, cyber) and are bent, as Russia is, on taking out a country and its people? Like others, I question how effective or predictable use of pressures like sanctions can have in stopping wars? Have their use merely delayed the inevitable of democracy’s troops on the ground? By what measure do democracies use to say we must unite with our forces, not just materiale and prayers, to stop evil? Is this where we are at? Playing an intellectual game of give them guns until at some point the country in defense is so obliterated that besides its geographic proximity to other nations, it is no longer worth trying to recapture and reconstruct? I want sanctions to not merely deter, but actually make Russia, in this case, conclude that the cost of regaining (their idea) the Ukraine is untenable. How long before the will is gone, the wheat is unharvestable, the male population is decimated, a next generation is lacking in it cultural memories and ability to re-establish a once venerable and vibrant Euro nation, and the authoritarian aggressor has proven to be victorious over the intellectual dwaddling of the free-world? And, no. I do not want our nation's young fighting on someone elses soil, even European, or dying for their national crisis. No more wars, please. But, when is the stalemate of soft-responses to authoritarian power both seen as ineffectual, at best giving great support for our weapons -industrial complex, and too late? It is Tuesday and I worry.
I hear you Fred. But sometimes we need to flip the view. How would we look...how would we feel...if we didn't at least try to punish Putin financially? Wouldn't that send a message of tacit approval.
I think the trap we all fall into is this. It takes more than one action to create change. Just sanctions wouldn't work, obviously. But sanctions can hurt in subtle ways that MSM doesn't find scintillating enough to report. Things like key electronic components for armored vehicles being N/A.
Sanctions, sending effective weapons, pulling together with Europe...it all adds up over time to stymie.
Thanks for the Substact article. It is helpful to hear how leadership is playing out. Poland has taken the stand we'd like to see among other allies, fiscally, militarily (supplies), and as humanitarian resource for refugees. Your points about combined effects of sanctions that disrupt supplies and warfare capacity I agree with. Getting democracies to collaborate and push the cart of options equally causes one to remember how wont cats, Democrats, and diverse cultures are to being herded. The curve of devastation in Ukraine has gone on so long, I'm feeling like the cavalry will be called in too late and require extreme measures to win on behalf of the Ukrainian people that a reborn democracy in that country and Russia will have a slimmer chance of happening. I remember our hopes that economic competition would allow nations to grow without engaging in wars of aggression, existing nations could continue and arms races avoided. Treaties and economic pacts could keep autocratic nations (leaders) from infringing upon others. What if warfare by sanction + doesn't work? What then? Questions I have roiling about in my head. Maybe, as you suggest, Bill, these are not the profitable ones to rely upon or frame in figuring our how lasting peace can be achieved instead of avoidance of war or direct conflict. Thanks.
Morning Mike, see Professor Paul Krugman on all these topics. As a Post-Grad, Paul was part of a Team that was flown into Portugal to tackle all sorts of "trade issues" as well as other Macro & Micro realities. Got an important conference call this am or I would do the Work. Salud
Thanks for the article. To date, economic sanctions have rarely had the desired effect of causing the collapse of a regime. My paternal grandfather was from Havana, so sanctions were often part of family conversations. In this case, perhaps a strategy to buy time? Putin does seem internationally weakened. For how long, and at what final cost? In the meantime, we are again in a cold war style proxy war. Not a sound position, I agree.
I hope so too, but it will have to be when they see and experience the actual roads, bridges, reliable electricity, etc., because they aren't going to hear about it. Or at least they aren't going to hear anything positive about it while watching Fox news, reading Druge Report, listening to Neal Bortz, or going on Truth Social.
Bolsonaro must go. As a Floridian, I can testify to the fact that our quota of fascists, dictators, and dictator wannabes is more than satisfied.
Truly hoping people see and hear the truth of how this administration is actually accomplishing things for we, the people versus the incessant “blah blah” from the GOP.
Thx, Jen. “I can testify to the fact that our quota of fascists, dictators, and dictator wannabes is more than satisfied,” may just be the sentence of the week!
And I can testify that Colorado’s quota of fascists, dictators, and dictator wannabes is far too low! Our SuperMax Hotel is waiting with open arms to welcome them one and all😎
It's interesting that Florida has been a destination of choice for well over a century for ex Latin American leaders who've needed to make a hasty exit from their countries and they have generally been welcomed for their largesse thanks to their long suffering home populations. Let's see how this one goes.
I was in the car yesterday listening to Sirrius radio and heard Pres Biden on 2 stations, CNN and local NPR, touting the accomplishments re Amtrak and the tunnel (can’t remember which one). He was so enthusiastic and hopeful about improving the lives and safety of commuters, the number of which has exploded over the years.
Nope. The media is about profit. The media is about whatever will generate clicks.
It's up to us as voters to provide cogent facts and spur intelligent discourse in this Country.
When someone talks about inflation we should know the following:
"Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year decreased further to 59.2% in December 2022 from 65.0% in November 2022.
Similarly, the Food inflation decreased further to 59.3% in December 2022 from 69.8% in November 2022, while Non-Food inflation decreased to 59.0% in December 2022 from 60.4% in November 2022." Daily News January 2023
What media? If it weren't for Substack newsletters written by trusted journalists etc the truth would be very hard to find these days. Not sure why I still pay for a NYT subscription.
NYT has many articles of interest, at least to me, which have nothing to do with politics, U.S. or world, or Ukraine. The way to find them is to go to the home page and browse the headlines. However, I also do find NYT articles on politics and government informative even when I disagree with the perspective they may present.
Let's ship Bolsonaro and Trump to Russia along with DeSantos, Abbott, Bannon, McCarthy, Taylor Green, Gaetz, Boebert and the list goes on and on! A seized oligarch yacht could pick up the pack. No amenities, bare bone supplies (but each issued a gun for personal protection as their 2nd amendment right!), and the night sky as a navigational tool . . . . 🙄
Trump seems to like warm weather. Brazil would be a good place for him to hide. Perhaps we can arrange a convenient trade. We keep Bolsonaro. They get our "problem". Then we can both arrange their futures.
Also without the script. A person I know, professor at a local university, was invited to participate in one of the Survivor programs. He quit after two episodes, he was disgusted by the requirement to adhere to a script directing how participants would behave and interact.
Ms. Schaefer, loved the wry sarcasm--thank you for the entirely truthful and sad (but comical nonetheless) remark! As was posted by another commenter: "Sentence of the week!".
It’s great to think about putting Bolsonaro behind bars, but what about our OWN ex-president who is running free with a thousand crimes for which he is not being prosecuted....
Great that Biden is touting his accomplishments and calling out the nay-sayer Repugnants. They are the most useless humans I have ever seen in my 73 years. I stand ready to fight them to the finish, whatever that may be.
It's interesting that a month ago when Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin who was filmed collapsing and nearly died, the country came together and cared for his cause.
A week ago now when regular citizen Tyre Nichols was filmed collapsing and DID die, only half of the country cared and came together for his cause.
I agree. Perhaps, and I’m just putting this out there, half the country hasn’t heard of Tyre Nichols. I don’t listen to FOX, but I’m going to bet he’s not the TOP story on their platform. Damar, collapsed on a nationally broadcast NFL game. Hard to miss even for folks who couldn’t care less about sports. What happened to Tyre has been happening for so long to young men who are POC, the desensitization by the media to such horrific crimes and our own under reaction over and over is in many places either no longer newsworthy, not reported on at all, and above all and most obviously the murder of a black man by “law” enforcement is acceptable because racism is so deeply clung to in not just parts of our country where there are Republican strongholds, but by all of us expecting courts to hold “law” enforcement accountable. When they do not (often), there’s a complete failure of the legal system to enforce laws to protect citizens from police who believe they have carte blanche, it will continue. Only and/or when irrefutable video evidence is presented is there even a possibility of criminal conviction of these murders by “law” enforcement.
Lastly, we do not expect anyone to die on a nationwide televised sporting event, but beat to death on the street by police? We’re used to that. Been happening for a couple hundred years here. We can’t outfit police fast enough with video equipment for both their protection and ours. When media starts to question every death at the hands of police, they’ll find many times police are protecting others or themselves, and other times more questions then answers will need further investigating. It will take time, perseverance and downright stubbornness to correct this as best we can.
We are the Boomers that are blamed for this debacle through the past 4 decades. Bad on us for that but ,as a septegenarian myself I remember the days of our protest against the very things you have enumerated here. With our voting numbers we an do better. So Lets Talk in the open as well as here on my favorite Substac with Heather. I am now a paid subscriber. Its worth the small contribution my SS allows me to contribute to a truthful forum. Thanks everyone for your encouraging posts.
Yes, we worked for most of the same causes and made same progress. When we started, 80% to 90% of white Americans thought the oppression of the rest of America was just fine. Now it’s down to roughly 60%. Furthermore, only about a third of us were on board. A big majority of the white working class of all ages, then and now, viciously opposed our efforts.
I've been reading Borowitz's "Profiles in Ignorance" and it really is appalling just how ignorant (and arrogant about his ignorance) was Reagan (AND Dubya--who was also startlingly ignorant and swaggeringly proud of it into the bargain).
President Biden and the fantastic men and women working with him are working hard to rebuild our crumbling foundations...not just here but throughout the world....God bless you Blinken!
The Palestinians were given a place to live many years ago . They should not be going through this conflict again It is about power....not faith. Who do you think you are fooling as families and homes are destroyed.
I thought the God we worshiped taught us to love. forgive and peacefully work out our differences??? As world leaders how much more could be accomplished if we truly respected one another....if you really loved the people you were given the opportunity to lead???
Thank you President Biden for working with others Thank you Blinken for really believing in the ideal of peace and cooperation. I wish it were not so hard! Thank you!!!!
Love that Blinken guy, Emily! Here he is on Stephen Colbert last May 2022. He is a great voice for this country's accomplishments since Biden has taken office. And he plays well in a band, too!
Blinken was a guest on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me several weeks ago and he was hilarious! In addition to being an accomplished diplomat, he is a musician, calling his genre “Dad Rock”. The episode showed the humanity of a man who shoulders so much responsibility.
Linda- You wrote “It's baffling how little press President Biden receives for his speeches.“
I agree! Why aren't Biden’s accomplishments covered more by the press? I’m beginning to think I’ve misunderstood the WaPo tag line “Democracy Dies in the Dark”.
The press is mostly owned by far right media corporations. And its going to get worse. These gop jokers are planning to use their vast resources from Heritage Foundation , Koch Bros and who ever else is contributing to keep them in power, in order to maintain their power.
I have seen several articles about what Moonves said regarding Trump and his campaign.
I thought the sentiment Moonves revealed was irresponsible then and I still think the hunger for money and power (on behalf of his company, I must suppose) that was overtly displayed in that admission is quite revolting.
I know, I know...he's a CEO and that's what they are "supposed" to do...but what about his responsibility to the country? Moonves made it clear that any concern for what drump's candidacy and the potential disaster of a drump presidency might mean to the country is 'not in his lane'. Whatever happened to qualms of conscience?
Conscience seems to be unevenly distributed in human societies, but lack of conscience (recall the sunset of the McCarthy (Joe) era vs the openly consistent shamelessness on the part of Republicans, while not entirely new, seems to me to have increased dramatically with the election of Ronald Reagan, an acolyte of "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits" Milton Friedman. My recollection is that Moonves lost his position due to allegations of sexual harassment. He at least was frank about the course that most other CEOs seem to follow.
Morning, Linda! I agree with you, but it just so happens, I read in WaPo about Biden's visit to the Baltimore tunnel right before reading about it from Heather. Here's the article:
Good morning Lynell ! Thank you for the article. Our local news covered about 2 lines of that story. They did so only because Syracuse is wrestling with the "approved not approved" Rte 81 Infrastructure deal. What a mess.
The rail system from Baltimore to Washington has always fascinated me. What a great first step in showing the Country an efficient link between commuting Cities. We have spent many a day at Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor.
Good point. But let's think about what Americans like to watch on TV. How many of the shows are about the positive achievements of somebody who works hard?
We are gluttons for stories about evil. The nastier it is the better it sells.
Capitalism has played to our dark side. And it is profitable.
I don’t know that it capitalism itself . Im thinking these people are greedy , evil. Their greatest priorities, money and power and it goes back as far as we can look . White men w power . It affects an area of their brain mimics addiction . Frontal lobe , hippocampus.
Republicans as a group are attempting to concentrate power in the very wealthy, for the very wealthy who they aspire to be and many of them are.
There are two sides to private enterprise and capitalism, one which has to do with creative exchange of goods and abilities and one that has to do with unlimited growth. I suspect there are businesses, especially small businesses, a restaurant, a mechanic, whatever, who you would genuine morn if the person retired or the business closed. We are social and interdependent beings. And not all "essential" businesses are small, or could be. Yet there are beautiful flowers (stay with me) that are regarded as "weeds" or noxious invasives. Why? Because they take over. And that's true of tyrannical political power, and true of monopolies. Democracy, which is easily lost without persistent renewal, is a protocol to keep power reasonably equitable. "Anti-trust" and a host of regulations responding to the abuses and corruption of the "Gilded Age" appeared to increase social justice and the general lot of a great many citizens for decades, and then we let well financed plutocratic propaganda sweep much of it away. Inflation? Well there is this: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/31/exxon-profits-2022-western-oil-industry-record . Where did all that money come from?
I think the proclivity to zone out about what is meaningful and fascinated what is aberrant. Think of the threat of terrorism (that remains present) vs the threat of climate change. That seems to be human nature, yet don't we all have responsibilities to tell the truth, especially if our full-time, professional job is information gathering and dissemination? Lies can kill; they can, and they do, and are doing so as we speak.
TC, I live in CA too, and I think you should reconsider your Okiefornia use. An "Okie" saved my life once upon a time, and I find them generally to be honest helpful people whom I can count on.
Though I do have an idea for an ad that could run in a broad swath from Modoc and Siskiyou counties south to Kern, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties: a count-up of the first fourteen Speaker ballots, interspersed with stills of Kevin looking (shall we say) pained and a still of a different historical branding iron or pair of gelding tongs, followed by a list of legislation that hasn't even been acted on in the House because the folk riding Kevin are too busy chasing bogeyfolk.
Doesn't that depend on who you are? I wonder if they would be so honest and helpful to people of a darker persuasion. Or wearing a turban, or Yarmulke.
Yes, I definitely preferred the inestimable Nancy Pelosi, from the great State of California, as Speaker. (I know CA is a giant and very diverse state but what a difference a few hundred miles make. 🤬)
Yes, David, like common sense and decency? Empathy? The milk of human kindness? A drop of courage? The difference between right and wrong? Like THOSE things? I’m sure I’m missing a lot, but this was for starters.
I sorely miss Gene Wilder's characters when Gene delivered his deadpan quips with a twinkle in his eyes, eg: Gene after Frankenstein stormed violently out of his house: "But, I was going to serve espresso".
Efficiency is paramount in these days of acrimony over the debt ceiling. Please save taxpayer money by sending Bolsonaro and Santos home to Brazil on the same plane.
Hard to deny the Trump/Eastman playbook to attempt to overthrow democracy was imitated in Brazil with a similar unachieved goal. Bolsonaro may be the only person planning to "be a tourist" in the USA - the rest of the world is being warned about the extreme violence prevalent throughout the mainland with more guns than people, daily mass shootings, and systemic racism.
Rather than the GOP & Fox propaganda of "open borders," the Biden/Harris administration is demonstrating the adage "if your tub is overflowing, first turn off the spigot." By identifying and addressing some of the causes of immigration, they are attempting to "fight with one hand tied behind their backs" as the GOP continues to complain but not cooperate to address a broken system that obviously needs reform.
Similarly, the disingenuous claims that nothing can be done to reduce gun violence or police brutality as the body count continues to climb and more hashtags mount demonstrate the GOP is incapable of governing and instead are a big part of the underlying problem. The GOP also appears deaf to the keening of grieving families.
And these are things Democrats who are running in 2024 should say. Call out the lies, fear mongering & show power points if need be to show the reality of what has been done to date. Facts.
Yes Margaret! FACTS ASAP. EARLY AND OFTEN! It's incredible that a traitor who planned and executed a coup against his own administration now has twitter and facebook privileges and intends to run again for president. He should be booted out of the country and take bolsonaro and the feckless crybabies who asked for presidential pardons with him. Tfg has plenty of other homes around the world to live in.
If only… they all should read “Words That Work,” Frank Luntz wrote it for repubs. They read it and followed every word. Hey Dems, it will work for you too…. You can skip the Goebbels stuff though. Except that it’s OK to accuse the repubs of what THEY do. Dems wouldn’t be in this mess if they had mentioned the plans to gut SS and Medicare before the last election. Joe did, at the last minute. One wonders…
Exactly, Margaret! It's so frustrating that the Dems, who are certainly more united than the Lies & Propaganda Party, seem to fail at messaging. There's plenty for them to talk about.
Repubs will never address immigration (what better sledge to beat Dems with), and guns are their logo. The majestic elephant has been replaced by the assault rifle on a blood red background. We know who they are.
Biden may well go down as the best President since FDR. But he's doing badly on immigration, and that threatens us in the '24 elections. To wit:
"By blatantly disregarding federal workplace enforcement laws, Mayorkas has also encouraged more crimes, specifically letting employers who illegally hire unlawfully present aliens to continue their illegal employment practices. American workers are the big losers in the alliance between unscrupulous employers and their alien employees. In November 2022, government data showed that 1.9 million more legal and illegal immigrants were employed than in 2019. During the same period, 2.1 million fewer Americans were working."
Immigration News | Joe Guzzardi | Substackhttps://joeguzzardi.substack.com Jan 23
And in the Washington Post Jan 24, Ruy Teixeira warned that:
"Less well-understood is Democrats’ emerging weakness among non-White working-class voters. Between 2012 and 2020, Democrats’ advantage among these voters declined by 18 points, with a particularly sharp shift in 2020 and among Hispanics. VoteCast data indicates that Democrats’ margin among non-White working-class voters declined 14 points between 2020 and 2022."
Important that President Biden was in Baltimore celebrating the bipartisan infrastructure law. A huge and successful investment for the people, for jobs, the economy, traffic control, the future. And built with Union Labor. Biden and the Democrats must continue to inform and use their megaphones and billboards to show the citizens of America bipartisan negotiations and governing work. The Democrats get it done. While the repubs waste precious time and resources on investigations, obstruction, abortion, debt, crime and more that would continue without them. Sometimes it seems we are stuck in rerun mode, the Democrats build and the repubs tear down.
Sad to note that Biden's speeches are getting so little press. Hope the State of the Union gets the point across. It definitely needs to be a barn burner but I bet the Republicans will pull some kind of disrespectful stunt that will take the focus.
I just hate the concept of the minority party rebuttal speech. We have one president, one SotU speech. It's a privilege of the office. The senators can talk all day, every day in their chamber. In fact, they can bring back a true filibuster and break records in how long they talk. The House can play sandbox politics all they want. On that one day, there's only one speech in which I'm interested...
I’m proud to say I’ve voted in every election since turning of age, watched every SOTU speech and NEVER watched a rebuttal speech - even when it was a D.
Course y’all know the rebuttal was created by republicans right? No surprise there….
We can post parts of Heather's newsletters with credit to her everywhere. Use pieces to entice your local papers to print it. Post piece on social media as the header to the complete newsletter which will encourage others to read and to follow her.
I post constantly in the comments sections of newspapers with HCR's work and others. I don't get into the sniping and name calling (on both sides) and instead post such things as where the Infrastructure Bill is making a real difference, inflation facts etc.
Facts are so useful, and yet, in political discussions, often in very short supply. Thanks for doing that. I try to when ever I can. It is a sway to avoid losing my temper!
I thought that too. Good. Biden will be able to deliver his speech without interruption, unless the GOP thinks it's time for another insurrection stunt.
T L, you are 100% correct on that. In school, if we spoke out of turn, we were censured to teach us that manners matter. These ignorant, grandstanding know-nothings should be expelled for disrespectful behavior (not to mention behind bars for their insurrectionist activities!).
I can't see Kev wielding the same power of sweet sarcasm at the back of Biden's head...the visual just doesn't pencil out...McCarthy is a buffoon of his own making and Biden is the one in charge. With TFG and Pelosi, it was the other way around.
Yes,I agree with you.I was thinking the other day that Republicans will probably throw out another big smokescreen a la Donald Trumps playbook right before the State of the Union address.Hope I’m wrong...
Tourists from Brazil receive 30day visas. Never heard of >30 given to anyone else as tourist. However, Bolsonaro (or "Bozo" as opposition calls him in Brazil) is in FL and has the Orange Supreme around the corner, but I hope he is kicked out of the US, sooner the better.
I cannot prove this but based on track record of his actions (or lack thereof) while President of Brazil, and how he played "mini-me" of the Orange one, he came here because he knew what was going to happen on 08Jan in Brazil. In this context, FL seems a safe haven and nurturing ground to his alter ego, unfortunately.
This is such good news about Biden taking tours of the progress of his various projects that are beginning to unfold. Positive stuff the American people will feel for some time to come. It's hard to build things up but easy to tear stuff down. The supremacists continue to drag their fingernails across the chalkboard while Biden is giving the average citizen what is needed in order to move forward. Thank you for your observations Dr Richardson.
My wife & I debate constantly about whether or not there are enough commonsense fact based Americans to keep our Ship of State from capsizing as too many race to the top deck rails looking for the sea monsters and edge of the flat earth that their leaders and media tell them about.
Am reading Steve Pinker's book "Enlightenment Now: The case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress". And hoping for some hope. The book promises some optimism with endless data that life on the planet is improving, that we simply have too many ignoring the progress and wishing for times that are provably worse. Pinker's thesis also seems to be that entropy is toward chaos, and that all human improvement to organize life for the better has been the terrific effort to push back on chaos with order through understanding and intelligent improvement, project by project. But that ordering effort can also be pursued by creating myths which of course does more for the myth makers.
Biden clearly stands on the side of reason leading to actual progress. Republicans with their new poster child, George Santos, falls on the side of myth making.
Pinker reminds us that Sam Rayburn, former Democratic House Leader in the 1950s, once said "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one." Can enough Americans distinguish between jackasses and carpenters?
Living in a deep red, predominantly rural state as I do, most of my contact is with neighbors, all of whom, even now, are died in the wool Trumpies. When I venture out, my indicators are the number of anti-Biden yard signs, inflammatory bumper stickers and violent / profane decals in the back windows of pickup trucks. it’s hard to imagine the Archie Bunker types, standing at either end of highway construction sites with the SLOW / STOP signs as being swayed by more exposure to the likelihood that they owe their very job, such as it is, to “Joe’s” wasteful communist infrastructure act. Most will stop for a six pack on their way home, arriving just in time to tune in Tucker Carlson on Fox. I’m not wanting to disparage the people propping up the signs; at least they’re trying to make a go of it. I’m pointing out that we don’t stand a chance of making any headway with most of rural America, about half of our voters, until we stop the Fox News miscreants, the Clear Channel AM nazis, intent on poisoning the minds of these poor folk for a buck.
That is the ultimate question, with Goebbels redux betting that sanity can be “trumped.”
BTW, old definition of trumpery, n. Deceive, fraud. From tromper To deceive, cheat. Anything calculated to deceive by false show, externally splendid, but of little value, things worn out and of no value, useless trifles. It is way past time for the shitshow to exit the political stage. Rayburn’s quote means that the fight has been a long one. FDR and HST knew too, way before trumpery was a thing.
thanks as always for a level-headed, clear view of our world today. While fraught with dis-ease at so many levels of our government and our society, there remains the steadfast undercurrent of common sense and reasonableness that must be the foundation of our way forward.
I'm not sure all those Republican congressmen and congressmen have consulted their actuarials regarding Social Security and Medicare. The burden of these entitlement programs are particular to their rules, but also the population demographic, which changes from year to year. the Medicare python has stretched to swallow the baby-boomer pig, pretty much has it handled, since 1964, the last birth-year of the boomers plus 65 years of age adds up to 2029, the last boomer year to enter Medicare eligibility. Each subsequent cohort will be smaller, both from the size of the class (each subsequent year's births began declining) and attrition (those who didn't make it to 65). Then, there's the death rate. Longevity in America was increasing, but took a major hit (800,000 excess deaths in the senior cohort over actuarial predictions) in addition to some leveling in the longevity benefits of advancing health care and technology. We largely kicked smoking as a society a while back (down to 15% of adults), so there isn't much more longevity benefit to beat out of that horse. We have the capacity to use early detection and prevention in cancer and heart disease to increase longevity, but our lack of a true health care SYSTEM where everyone gets those services hampers our ability to prevent premature death due to the dominant diseases of advancing age. We can't leverage these advances when many don't, won't or can't participate. More deaths benefits both Medicare and Social Security, since the primary benefits stop and spousal/survivor benefits are reduced. A decreasing birthrate either has already or will soon begin to reduce the entry rate in these programs. The impact of COVID on the health care system itself will have a negative effect on longevity as access to care will be impacted by mass defection from the industry by veteran caregivers who are abandoning ship. Medicare could become far more efficient if it were engineered to assist the advanced elderly with regard to what they really want, rather than simply extending life; focus instead on social independence and care security, rather than high tech medical intervention at very advanced ages. The other obvious solution to solvency, increasing contribution rates, is off the agenda of the GOP because it means taxation. Our societal conversation needs to be more about living well in advanced age rather than living increasingly longer. There are plenty of ways to favorably impact the cost of these systems other than restricting access, but sadly, such innovations require some investment rather than simply spending cuts. Our GOP isn't in the mood to talk investment. Their mantra is less taxes, even less spending, stop worrying about the marginalized and least secure sectors of our society. Why this somehow is sucessfully twisted into a populist message that appeals to the less educated caucasian MAGA adherents defies me, but then I basically don't get irrationality as a world view. It's gonna be a season of silly non-dialogue over there in the district. I'm actually more interested in the minority agenda and their ability to coax the most moderate in the GOP to cross the isle and co-sponsor more reasonable legislation.
“Most moderate in the GOP.” First there is no “grand Old Party.” Second, do you have a plan to ferret them out. They are well-hidden and scared to show their faces, cowards ALL. Otherwise, good points.
I’m out in the cheap seats, right field bleachers on this, but reps sit adjacent to one another, sit on committees together, occupy adjacent offices, etc. their voting records are public. Most of them arise from state level government or similar backgrounds, also with public records.
Perhaps she commented after you posted. I copy/pated the EXCELLENT post from BK above. The links are worth the read to add and address some of what you refer to!
See below. from BK:
Taking Elizabeth's comment further, feckless is the correct definition of today's Republican:
"lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible".
Take McCarthy's call that they want to "strengthen" SS & Medicare. Really? By raising it's qualifying age to 70 when the life expectancy of a white male in the US just dropped 3 yrs to 73 so, you get your SS for just 3 years? This isn't just feckless,...it's criminal.
I've posted this before but, the statistics are staggering. The US is behind all the leading nations whose numbers have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. If you are of African, Hispanic or Native American heritage your drops are even worse at 4, 4.2 and 6.6 yrs respectively.
The details are in the link below and are worth the read but, what the GOP wants to do is goose us all at both ends by taking away an ave of 5 yrs on the front end at a time when 3 yrs are reduced on the back end. They remove an ave of 8 yrs of the benefits you paid for.
Thank you for this overview. I learned so much. Baby-Boomer pigs didnt work in isolation. Commerce and manufacturing helped. Recently went to a large antique center that had mostly middle america stuff from 1960’s and 70’s. If i didn’t see 100 devil egg trays, i didn’t see one. Who made all these and who bought them? This is why the Gen X/Z ers consume less.
Nathan K, thank you ....great information....a lot to ponder.....solutions are not simple but we must keep working hard to improve. To much time and energy spent on lesser things! Thank you again!!!!
Hopefully, the effective governing that President Biden has done, and will continue to do as much as possible, will overshadow the screeching lies and faux issues of the feckless Republicans. He has truly been the leader we needed at an inflection point.
Taking Elizabeth's comment further, feckless is the correct definition of today's Republican:
"lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible".
Take McCarthy's call that they want to "strengthen" SS & Medicare. Really? By raising it's qualifying age to 70 when the life expectancy of a white male in the US just dropped 3 yrs to 73 so, you get your SS for just 3 years? This isn't just feckless,...it's criminal.
I've posted this before but, the statistics are staggering. The US is behind all the leading nations whose numbers have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. If you are of African, Hispanic or Native American heritage your drops are even worse at 4, 4.2 and 6.6 yrs respectively.
The details are in the link below and are worth the read but, what the GOP wants to do is goose us all at both ends by taking away an ave of 5 yrs on the front end at a time when 3 yrs are reduced on the back end. They remove an ave of 8 yrs of the benefits you paid for.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-u-s-just-lost-26-years-worth-of-progress-on-life-expectancy/
https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low
BK, thank you for the statistics on the recent drop in life expectancy, particularly for white males. Stunning reversal for an overwhelmingly wealthy country.
But don’t talk about Universal Health Care!!! At least not within earshot of white Republican males in Congress. (Say Obamacare and watch their blood pressure rise instead)
Gobsmackingly feckless, the whole lot of ‘em! 😎
YW. To me, morally it's staggering but, academically it's also fascinating as it is the rural, white populations in the red states that voted for tfg that have and continue suffer the steepest declines with, as you note, men taking the biggest hit. Additionally, these are the states that have rejected any expansion of additional aid for health care benefits to their own populations. It's a case study field day for academia to show how whole groups can be so easily trained by politicians and their media to vote by using hatred, racism, violence and other ideologies. Yet, it is these very things that are causing them shorter lives, staying uneducated and in poverty. They trade hate for votes and it is essentially what HCR is saying they are doing at the federal level. No governance,... just hate.
And that they're uneducated is no accident since the Republicans eschew funding education.
Over the last decade Iowa votes blood red. The GQP holds the government trifecta. In the first 2 weeks of the current session GQP lawmakers ignored the protests of thousands of Iowans and passed a school voucher law that will funnel millions away from already cash starved public schools and award them to private schools purportedly to give all Iowa parents control over their children's education.
That is just criminal, IMO.
Here in NH, we have a Repub Quadrafecta-we have an elected Executive Council that works on okaying state contracts. All 4 branches of state government are red and there's a fair number of the legislature that are ultra libertarian; that group is called the Free State Project and hide, calling themselves Republicans. They went so far last year to put a secession bill up to a vote (they lost 323 to 13.) We also have a voucher bill that passed and diverts public education monies to private/religious schools and home schoolers. There was a great deal of opposition to the voucher bill, but just as happened in Iowa, the legislature did NOT listen to their constituents. In NH, a goodly amount of Public Ed money comes from property taxpayers-minimal state funding. That voucher program was initially budgeted for $130K in 2020; now over $8 million within two years. These voucher plans were created by A.L.E.C. Here's an overview of that group for those not familiar with it.: https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_%26_Education
It appears that this class of red state Americans are simply too lazy to be informed or educated. Going to school required “homework” that they’re not interested in doing
Why read the book when you can skim the Cliff Note version from Breitbart or watch a Fox Entertainment movie?
Feckless indeed
Would there even be Cliff Notes -- Breitbart and Fox would simply be substituting a different book.
It is amazing that they make no connection between their woes and the party of death. Here in Oregon, the rural areas scream all the time about the libs in the Willamette Valley. The new governor is visiting all the counties in Oregon the first year and she is starting with those who didn't vote for her. I don't know what kind of epiphany has to happen before they see the light.
Years ago when I started my teaching career in a rural town east of Salem, kids could quit school and make more than we were working in the timber industry. That is no longer true. Now we have something that began by calling itself Timber Unity (not sure what they call themselves now) which constantly stirs up the base. And thanks to redistricting we are now stuck in red districts for the Oregon legislature. No one ran against our new wacko rep because it isn't worth the time or the money. I wrote someone in.
Even more so, as they ride the tax payer paid gravy train with Cadillac style health care.
Uh-oh. Living on borrowed time !
BK, they ARE criminals…..thank you for taking the comment further….
Yes they ARE criminals and it is unconscionable that the wealthiest nation in the world denies its citizens universal healthcare.Meanwhile these”criminals” are enjoying taxpayer-funded Cadillac style healthcare plans.The same thing goes for the Covid vaccines.They cry that making people get these shots is infringing on their”Freedoms “ but I would bet every member of Congress and their families were first in line to get each vaccine as they were rolled out.
The screamers are always first in line when there is something that they want from the government. How much of the COVID money went to fraudsters, for example. And then we have one of the best fraudsters of all serving in Congress, Rick Scott.
"Our Wotld in Data", thank you BK, stunning data.
BK At 89 I have benefitted from Social Security for 24 years. The Republicans can prove that actuarially I have exceed my normal lifetime benefits.
It seems reasonable that the Republicans would want to terminate my Social Security benefits (‘lived too damn long’) and jack up eligibility to 70 to stop folks from supping at the government trough without working long enough. (Actually, I was a professor until age 80–paid ‘old age’ minimal compensation.)
Meanwhile, Republicans insist on retaining ‘carried interest,’ which permits a number of quasi-entrepreneurs to defer their compensation on which they pay capital gains rather than income taxes and on which they pay no Social Security fees.
Also, isn’t Medicare an unwarranted benefit for a person of my age? Sharply curbing my medical benefits could accelerate my ‘expiration’ date, which also seems a Republican priority.
24 years in SSA & a Professor until 80? Think you may qualify for Social Security Emeritus status very soon but, sorry no extra credit for educating the next Generations.
Byran My ‘extra credit’ comes from the people I have been privileged to give a lift on my shoulders and watch them run. Last week I heard (for the first time) from a person I helped in 1960 and 63 years later he persevered to say thanks and catch up. Ditto with a student who came up while I was lunching with my wife to tell me what a difference I had made to her 20 years ago and how she is describing my teaching techniques to a retired West Point grad who wishes to become a history teacher.
I find it a joy to give and then watch the acorns grow into oaks. AND to remember all those who provided me a helping hand when I needed it.
Keith, it is heart-warming and validating to hear from folks whose lives you touched. You really never know…just doing “your thing” and doing your best can impact folks in ways you never know. One of several instances over the years that floored & validated me, a few years back-maybe in 2018–I was in a local hardware store waiting for my purchase to be rung up, and a woman ahead of me asked….”didn’t you work at the HSU Financial Aid Office?”. Yes, I replied. She said thank you for all the help you gave me. You’re welcome, I replied. Then asked when did you graduate…..1985, was her reply. Wow….you just never know when doing your best to fulfill your heart-felt chosen profession will impact others & how long it will stay with them. I was gobsmacked and grateful for the acknowledgement—that she remembered so many years later was astounding to me. To me that’s the whole idea & always was in my 40+ years at it….make a positive difference in people’s lives…..a real right livelihood!
Barbara Kudos for a well-deserved gobsmacked.
Well said. 🙏
Yes, the Republican want to put us not out to pasture but bury us in the pasture…6’ under!
Always a $ calculation. A fetus will be a worker bee. Old or disabled people are money pits.
Ya don't even have to read the article. The charts say all! As does "feckless"
BK - thank you for the links, very interesting.
Unfortunately the US economic model is predicated on more and more people eating more and more of ever worsening quality food, resulting in ever poorer health outcomes. When this meets the effects of an extravagantly expensive healthcare system, those are the results to be expected on the national level.
I’m interested in your source for reduced male life expectancy. I’d like to read and save that source. Excellent addition to this well written article. Thanks!
Scientific American had the best charts and overview so, posted that one above:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-u-s-just-lost-26-years-worth-of-progress-on-life-expectancy/
Our World in Data had a good overview of the US compared to other countries:
https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low
There were/are many links on recent life expectancy (LE) drops in general so, you have to go through some of them to get specifics. This one from Harvard gives the specific difference between LE for women (79.1) and men (73.2) the gap of which had according to other articles been narrowing but, recently increased due to (one of several reasons) more men falling to COVID than women.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-life-expectancy-in-the-us-is-falling-202210202835
Just Google "Recent Life Expectancy Drops in the US" and you can find more, plus some links have other links within them that take one to deeper dives. Good Luck!
I dont know what "ave" is.
short for "average", Sandra. Just to save space on the length of text.
Wow! I thought it meant "hail", as in "Ave Maria". (Just to be clear: being sarcastic.)
thx!
Feckless: what a wonderful word. If you remember, some years ago, Samantha Bee called Ivanka trump a “feckless c**t”. I’ll never forgot the meaning of that word again.
Carmen,
I share you sentiment "will overshadow the screeching lies and faux issues of the feckless Republicans"
However, one thing that is not working, initiated by President Biden, with the best of intentions, is economic sanctions against Russia. Much like economic sanctions have not worked in most cases of their use by the United States, if we are honest.
Gift link, below, from NY Times showing how the rest of the world can (today) step up when the US levers sanctions (unlike days gone by). I mean, some of that is good news because other countries that formerly had economies a small fraction of the size of the US now CAN step up. Good for the folks in those countries for sure.
But, the bad new is: We only hurt Europe and ourselves with sanctions, not, so much, Russia. We HELP other, non-western countries develop trade with Russia as Russia replaces Europe and the US for needed goods.
screeching lies are definitely bad. Sometimes, however, so is the truth. I hate to say this, but, maybe attempting to fight a war without fighting a war is, umm, not possible?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/business/economy/russia-sanctions-trade-china-turkey.html?unlocked_article_code=UOuCiU5uRJt6LXH-XL2auL-kBlegB259TIuokC-OzcqZQbIihokSGgktsx2aAnaysmikW-YseCo67yJgyrfDeNreHa5KYa6h4RviWt9e7vVBt6Ub5ZeMWCR0ixTZhOvs8ovtywH1GEbHqY40q5bH6PaSUvQJXYbCQbu_xTuHqTlmchhOnC77aylKokohrAv-9ua3kSK121ckCsi_zs7q3-xPdXC4juAtWOHyvLQAP_FU7nIJqSbL-1OBemtARE4tJ3zMVkBY_g2cpomc121jMrirk0jgvKCvFz5SjZYdF4MG7Z1znk3apN7cBrzWCWzWPOoYrR9jlEFqcqmhlJ9-xT0OpF5DfnIRbIT8r3wRh-vUBf87Gk8&smid=share-url
Mike, that's an important read. Thanks for the link. My take away is twofold. First, our "ally" Turkey once again undermines democracy. Makes me crazy. But second, just because Putin is finding workarounds to sanctions doesn't mean they were wrong to do (as you said). He is still an international pariah.
This is a really tough situation. But I believe in the long run that the Oligarchs who are Putin's puppets are also his enablers. It's hard for me to believe that as the Russians continue to fail on the battlefield and the uber rich robber barons yachts are confiscated and/or banned from ports, that these enablers won't become weary of a war that gains them nothing but social ostracization and inconvenience.
The deal struck by Putin with the Oligarchs (captains of industry) is that they fund his political games and his dachas while they are given monopolistic control and the world as a playground. If their finances are hurt, social isolation continues and they are deprived of their island vacations, this deal may sour.
I could be grasping at straws here. But dictators always peter out in the end. Their promises become hollow and their military adventures fail. I see echoes of Mussolini who was removed from office by the very fascists who put him there - as his African adventures collapsed and Italy was shamed by failure. Putin is failing. That won't stand for long....
Sometime I would like to hear (or read) a deeper discussion of how to fight against authoritarian governments that engage in warfare (troop-invasion based, cyber) and are bent, as Russia is, on taking out a country and its people? Like others, I question how effective or predictable use of pressures like sanctions can have in stopping wars? Have their use merely delayed the inevitable of democracy’s troops on the ground? By what measure do democracies use to say we must unite with our forces, not just materiale and prayers, to stop evil? Is this where we are at? Playing an intellectual game of give them guns until at some point the country in defense is so obliterated that besides its geographic proximity to other nations, it is no longer worth trying to recapture and reconstruct? I want sanctions to not merely deter, but actually make Russia, in this case, conclude that the cost of regaining (their idea) the Ukraine is untenable. How long before the will is gone, the wheat is unharvestable, the male population is decimated, a next generation is lacking in it cultural memories and ability to re-establish a once venerable and vibrant Euro nation, and the authoritarian aggressor has proven to be victorious over the intellectual dwaddling of the free-world? And, no. I do not want our nation's young fighting on someone elses soil, even European, or dying for their national crisis. No more wars, please. But, when is the stalemate of soft-responses to authoritarian power both seen as ineffectual, at best giving great support for our weapons -industrial complex, and too late? It is Tuesday and I worry.
I hear you Fred. But sometimes we need to flip the view. How would we look...how would we feel...if we didn't at least try to punish Putin financially? Wouldn't that send a message of tacit approval.
I think the trap we all fall into is this. It takes more than one action to create change. Just sanctions wouldn't work, obviously. But sanctions can hurt in subtle ways that MSM doesn't find scintillating enough to report. Things like key electronic components for armored vehicles being N/A.
Sanctions, sending effective weapons, pulling together with Europe...it all adds up over time to stymie.
I am particularly inspired by Poland.
https://open.substack.com/pub/dianefrancis/p/polands-moral-leadership?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android
Thanks for the Substact article. It is helpful to hear how leadership is playing out. Poland has taken the stand we'd like to see among other allies, fiscally, militarily (supplies), and as humanitarian resource for refugees. Your points about combined effects of sanctions that disrupt supplies and warfare capacity I agree with. Getting democracies to collaborate and push the cart of options equally causes one to remember how wont cats, Democrats, and diverse cultures are to being herded. The curve of devastation in Ukraine has gone on so long, I'm feeling like the cavalry will be called in too late and require extreme measures to win on behalf of the Ukrainian people that a reborn democracy in that country and Russia will have a slimmer chance of happening. I remember our hopes that economic competition would allow nations to grow without engaging in wars of aggression, existing nations could continue and arms races avoided. Treaties and economic pacts could keep autocratic nations (leaders) from infringing upon others. What if warfare by sanction + doesn't work? What then? Questions I have roiling about in my head. Maybe, as you suggest, Bill, these are not the profitable ones to rely upon or frame in figuring our how lasting peace can be achieved instead of avoidance of war or direct conflict. Thanks.
I hope you are right Bill. Thanks for thoughtful reply.
Morning Mike, see Professor Paul Krugman on all these topics. As a Post-Grad, Paul was part of a Team that was flown into Portugal to tackle all sorts of "trade issues" as well as other Macro & Micro realities. Got an important conference call this am or I would do the Work. Salud
Thanks for the link Mike. It is very discouraging to see what is happening. It really shows a distinct global division. Is there no stopping Putin?
Thanks for the article. To date, economic sanctions have rarely had the desired effect of causing the collapse of a regime. My paternal grandfather was from Havana, so sanctions were often part of family conversations. In this case, perhaps a strategy to buy time? Putin does seem internationally weakened. For how long, and at what final cost? In the meantime, we are again in a cold war style proxy war. Not a sound position, I agree.
I hope so too, but it will have to be when they see and experience the actual roads, bridges, reliable electricity, etc., because they aren't going to hear about it. Or at least they aren't going to hear anything positive about it while watching Fox news, reading Druge Report, listening to Neal Bortz, or going on Truth Social.
My bottom line w Biden is please please please no deals with these saboteurs.
I hope its a secure plan to not negotiate w terrorists
Bolsonaro must go. As a Floridian, I can testify to the fact that our quota of fascists, dictators, and dictator wannabes is more than satisfied.
Truly hoping people see and hear the truth of how this administration is actually accomplishing things for we, the people versus the incessant “blah blah” from the GOP.
Thx, Jen. “I can testify to the fact that our quota of fascists, dictators, and dictator wannabes is more than satisfied,” may just be the sentence of the week!
And I can testify that Colorado’s quota of fascists, dictators, and dictator wannabes is far too low! Our SuperMax Hotel is waiting with open arms to welcome them one and all😎
It's interesting that Florida has been a destination of choice for well over a century for ex Latin American leaders who've needed to make a hasty exit from their countries and they have generally been welcomed for their largesse thanks to their long suffering home populations. Let's see how this one goes.
It's up to us not the media to keep informed about what the Biden Administration is doing and let people know. Facts beat culture wars any day.
I was in the car yesterday listening to Sirrius radio and heard Pres Biden on 2 stations, CNN and local NPR, touting the accomplishments re Amtrak and the tunnel (can’t remember which one). He was so enthusiastic and hopeful about improving the lives and safety of commuters, the number of which has exploded over the years.
I thought that was what the media was for
Nope. The media is about profit. The media is about whatever will generate clicks.
It's up to us as voters to provide cogent facts and spur intelligent discourse in this Country.
When someone talks about inflation we should know the following:
"Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year decreased further to 59.2% in December 2022 from 65.0% in November 2022.
Similarly, the Food inflation decreased further to 59.3% in December 2022 from 69.8% in November 2022, while Non-Food inflation decreased to 59.0% in December 2022 from 60.4% in November 2022." Daily News January 2023
This is the stuff I use in comments.
What media? If it weren't for Substack newsletters written by trusted journalists etc the truth would be very hard to find these days. Not sure why I still pay for a NYT subscription.
NYT has many articles of interest, at least to me, which have nothing to do with politics, U.S. or world, or Ukraine. The way to find them is to go to the home page and browse the headlines. However, I also do find NYT articles on politics and government informative even when I disagree with the perspective they may present.
Marj, I cancelled my NYT sub and then received multiple offers to "come back"... I
settled on $1/ month then $1.89 for 2 years. I get to "gift " 10 articles a month; data that is " fit to ... " email.
Ha, ha! If only....
Let's ship Bolsonaro and Trump to Russia along with DeSantos, Abbott, Bannon, McCarthy, Taylor Green, Gaetz, Boebert and the list goes on and on! A seized oligarch yacht could pick up the pack. No amenities, bare bone supplies (but each issued a gun for personal protection as their 2nd amendment right!), and the night sky as a navigational tool . . . . 🙄
And let them (or make them) ship out at the height of hurricane season...
With a hole in the hull
Thanks for the chuckle!
Trump seems to like warm weather. Brazil would be a good place for him to hide. Perhaps we can arrange a convenient trade. We keep Bolsonaro. They get our "problem". Then we can both arrange their futures.
A survivor episode in the Amazon but without the "safety" of a camera crew - the visual of him in the maze is not a reality any of us could deal with!
Also without the script. A person I know, professor at a local university, was invited to participate in one of the Survivor programs. He quit after two episodes, he was disgusted by the requirement to adhere to a script directing how participants would behave and interact.
Ms. Schaefer, loved the wry sarcasm--thank you for the entirely truthful and sad (but comical nonetheless) remark! As was posted by another commenter: "Sentence of the week!".
Bolsonaro is a stain on any landscape in the US.
Salud, Jen.
🗽
Absolutely, true! And hi from North Port!
Absolutely right.
It’s great to think about putting Bolsonaro behind bars, but what about our OWN ex-president who is running free with a thousand crimes for which he is not being prosecuted....
Great that Biden is touting his accomplishments and calling out the nay-sayer Repugnants. They are the most useless humans I have ever seen in my 73 years. I stand ready to fight them to the finish, whatever that may be.
Elizabeth IIer. criminals like Bolsonaro and Donald Trump vs the treatment of Tyre Nichols.
It's interesting that a month ago when Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin who was filmed collapsing and nearly died, the country came together and cared for his cause.
A week ago now when regular citizen Tyre Nichols was filmed collapsing and DID die, only half of the country cared and came together for his cause.
I agree. Perhaps, and I’m just putting this out there, half the country hasn’t heard of Tyre Nichols. I don’t listen to FOX, but I’m going to bet he’s not the TOP story on their platform. Damar, collapsed on a nationally broadcast NFL game. Hard to miss even for folks who couldn’t care less about sports. What happened to Tyre has been happening for so long to young men who are POC, the desensitization by the media to such horrific crimes and our own under reaction over and over is in many places either no longer newsworthy, not reported on at all, and above all and most obviously the murder of a black man by “law” enforcement is acceptable because racism is so deeply clung to in not just parts of our country where there are Republican strongholds, but by all of us expecting courts to hold “law” enforcement accountable. When they do not (often), there’s a complete failure of the legal system to enforce laws to protect citizens from police who believe they have carte blanche, it will continue. Only and/or when irrefutable video evidence is presented is there even a possibility of criminal conviction of these murders by “law” enforcement.
Lastly, we do not expect anyone to die on a nationwide televised sporting event, but beat to death on the street by police? We’re used to that. Been happening for a couple hundred years here. We can’t outfit police fast enough with video equipment for both their protection and ours. When media starts to question every death at the hands of police, they’ll find many times police are protecting others or themselves, and other times more questions then answers will need further investigating. It will take time, perseverance and downright stubbornness to correct this as best we can.
I thought the same as you, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all work together!!!
Using the example Beau gives in this clip, I am speculating that if questioned, it would be said that Hamlin is "one of the good ones"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKV8yXqoKiM
Love Beau! Been watching him for years!
Wow Miselle, thanks for the introduction to Beau. Seems I have a lot of catching up to do on his messages.
Jeanne, you will love all his messages. Same person who introduced me to HCR did so for Beau.
We are the Boomers that are blamed for this debacle through the past 4 decades. Bad on us for that but ,as a septegenarian myself I remember the days of our protest against the very things you have enumerated here. With our voting numbers we an do better. So Lets Talk in the open as well as here on my favorite Substac with Heather. I am now a paid subscriber. Its worth the small contribution my SS allows me to contribute to a truthful forum. Thanks everyone for your encouraging posts.
Yes, we worked for most of the same causes and made same progress. When we started, 80% to 90% of white Americans thought the oppression of the rest of America was just fine. Now it’s down to roughly 60%. Furthermore, only about a third of us were on board. A big majority of the white working class of all ages, then and now, viciously opposed our efforts.
Swords at 100 paces.
Thank you Heather.
It's baffling how little press President Biden receives for his speeches.
Is it caused by poor directive from the White House or censoring from the press? Both?
He makes me think of the co-worker you rarely hear from, but gets his/her job done everyday.
Be safe. Be well.
It was saddening to hear the press constantly gush about "The Great Communicator" Ronald Reagan. Even when I was a child, he gave me the creeps.
I've been reading Borowitz's "Profiles in Ignorance" and it really is appalling just how ignorant (and arrogant about his ignorance) was Reagan (AND Dubya--who was also startlingly ignorant and swaggeringly proud of it into the bargain).
Dubya - not knowing his right hand from his left.
Glory, and his evil lives on.
President Biden and the fantastic men and women working with him are working hard to rebuild our crumbling foundations...not just here but throughout the world....God bless you Blinken!
The Palestinians were given a place to live many years ago . They should not be going through this conflict again It is about power....not faith. Who do you think you are fooling as families and homes are destroyed.
I thought the God we worshiped taught us to love. forgive and peacefully work out our differences??? As world leaders how much more could be accomplished if we truly respected one another....if you really loved the people you were given the opportunity to lead???
Thank you President Biden for working with others Thank you Blinken for really believing in the ideal of peace and cooperation. I wish it were not so hard! Thank you!!!!
Love that Blinken guy, Emily! Here he is on Stephen Colbert last May 2022. He is a great voice for this country's accomplishments since Biden has taken office. And he plays well in a band, too!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/antony-blinken-stephen-colbert-late-show_n_62860205e4b05c3afec51a67
Blinken was a guest on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me several weeks ago and he was hilarious! In addition to being an accomplished diplomat, he is a musician, calling his genre “Dad Rock”. The episode showed the humanity of a man who shoulders so much responsibility.
Thanks, Marg. I never would have known!
Love the name of his band, ABLinken!
Indeed !!! The hypocrisy, greed and narcisitic behavior is an affront to all who embrace "Faith" inthe hpe of a more evolved humanity.
Linda- You wrote “It's baffling how little press President Biden receives for his speeches.“
I agree! Why aren't Biden’s accomplishments covered more by the press? I’m beginning to think I’ve misunderstood the WaPo tag line “Democracy Dies in the Dark”.
I really miss Jan Psaki!!!!
Yes. She's an MSNBC contributor now, but she was an outstanding press secretary.
The press is mostly owned by far right media corporations. And its going to get worse. These gop jokers are planning to use their vast resources from Heritage Foundation , Koch Bros and who ever else is contributing to keep them in power, in order to maintain their power.
Most of Media has been bought out or sold out.
MSM has followed Fox down the rabbit hole. Happened a while back.
Because a corporation will ALWAYS follow the money regardless of where it may slither.
Most of our major media outlets are owned by corporations...
If you have not seen this, it explains a lot:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464/
I have seen several articles about what Moonves said regarding Trump and his campaign.
I thought the sentiment Moonves revealed was irresponsible then and I still think the hunger for money and power (on behalf of his company, I must suppose) that was overtly displayed in that admission is quite revolting.
I know, I know...he's a CEO and that's what they are "supposed" to do...but what about his responsibility to the country? Moonves made it clear that any concern for what drump's candidacy and the potential disaster of a drump presidency might mean to the country is 'not in his lane'. Whatever happened to qualms of conscience?
Conscience seems to be unevenly distributed in human societies, but lack of conscience (recall the sunset of the McCarthy (Joe) era vs the openly consistent shamelessness on the part of Republicans, while not entirely new, seems to me to have increased dramatically with the election of Ronald Reagan, an acolyte of "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits" Milton Friedman. My recollection is that Moonves lost his position due to allegations of sexual harassment. He at least was frank about the course that most other CEOs seem to follow.
Yeah- I finally cancelled both WaPo and NYT this past year.
Maybe WaPo's new tagline should be "We will HELP Democracy die in the Dark...."
Exactly my thought. I see them as enablers.
CNN is right there too imho.
Morning, Linda! I agree with you, but it just so happens, I read in WaPo about Biden's visit to the Baltimore tunnel right before reading about it from Heather. Here's the article:
https://wapo.st/3Hlz8W3
Good morning Lynell ! Thank you for the article. Our local news covered about 2 lines of that story. They did so only because Syracuse is wrestling with the "approved not approved" Rte 81 Infrastructure deal. What a mess.
The rail system from Baltimore to Washington has always fascinated me. What a great first step in showing the Country an efficient link between commuting Cities. We have spent many a day at Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor.
That whole Inner Harbor/Camden Yards area is very cool!
Morning, Lynell! Thanks for the link.
Thanks for the thanks, Ally!
What can compete with the Fox non-stop blather of lies, at 90 decibels. The MSM could, if they would…
Good point. But let's think about what Americans like to watch on TV. How many of the shows are about the positive achievements of somebody who works hard?
We are gluttons for stories about evil. The nastier it is the better it sells.
Capitalism has played to our dark side. And it is profitable.
I don’t know that it capitalism itself . Im thinking these people are greedy , evil. Their greatest priorities, money and power and it goes back as far as we can look . White men w power . It affects an area of their brain mimics addiction . Frontal lobe , hippocampus.
Republicans as a group are attempting to concentrate power in the very wealthy, for the very wealthy who they aspire to be and many of them are.
There are two sides to private enterprise and capitalism, one which has to do with creative exchange of goods and abilities and one that has to do with unlimited growth. I suspect there are businesses, especially small businesses, a restaurant, a mechanic, whatever, who you would genuine morn if the person retired or the business closed. We are social and interdependent beings. And not all "essential" businesses are small, or could be. Yet there are beautiful flowers (stay with me) that are regarded as "weeds" or noxious invasives. Why? Because they take over. And that's true of tyrannical political power, and true of monopolies. Democracy, which is easily lost without persistent renewal, is a protocol to keep power reasonably equitable. "Anti-trust" and a host of regulations responding to the abuses and corruption of the "Gilded Age" appeared to increase social justice and the general lot of a great many citizens for decades, and then we let well financed plutocratic propaganda sweep much of it away. Inflation? Well there is this: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/31/exxon-profits-2022-western-oil-industry-record . Where did all that money come from?
I think the proclivity to zone out about what is meaningful and fascinated what is aberrant. Think of the threat of terrorism (that remains present) vs the threat of climate change. That seems to be human nature, yet don't we all have responsibilities to tell the truth, especially if our full-time, professional job is information gathering and dissemination? Lies can kill; they can, and they do, and are doing so as we speak.
Cancel Bolsonaro's visa and expel him.
Quiverin' Qevin (R-Okiefornia) hasn't got the brains to find his ass with both hands on a clear day with a two hour advance notice.
TC, I live in CA too, and I think you should reconsider your Okiefornia use. An "Okie" saved my life once upon a time, and I find them generally to be honest helpful people whom I can count on.
Not to mention that the Armenians and the Basques have as long histories in those parts as the Okies do.
Though I do have an idea for an ad that could run in a broad swath from Modoc and Siskiyou counties south to Kern, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties: a count-up of the first fourteen Speaker ballots, interspersed with stills of Kevin looking (shall we say) pained and a still of a different historical branding iron or pair of gelding tongs, followed by a list of legislation that hasn't even been acted on in the House because the folk riding Kevin are too busy chasing bogeyfolk.
And Portuguese
Yes, indeed, Portuguese!
Doesn't that depend on who you are? I wonder if they would be so honest and helpful to people of a darker persuasion. Or wearing a turban, or Yarmulke.
Yes, to both sentences, TC. Thank you.
Yes, I definitely preferred the inestimable Nancy Pelosi, from the great State of California, as Speaker. (I know CA is a giant and very diverse state but what a difference a few hundred miles make. 🤬)
Probably a few other things he can't find either, TC.
Yes, David, like common sense and decency? Empathy? The milk of human kindness? A drop of courage? The difference between right and wrong? Like THOSE things? I’m sure I’m missing a lot, but this was for starters.
Are you referring to the Schwanschtuker? Where are Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman when we need them so desperately?
Marty Feldman Marty Feldman https://g.co/kgs/FyXFXg
1982 so sad.
Gene Wilder died a few years after his incredible wife Roseanne Roseannadanna. OMG. We need them all, you are right, Nathan!
Ah, Gilda….the real deal
I sorely miss Gene Wilder's characters when Gene delivered his deadpan quips with a twinkle in his eyes, eg: Gene after Frankenstein stormed violently out of his house: "But, I was going to serve espresso".
I think they are both dead….
You put much too kind a face on qevin’s abilities.
Kevin needs a plexiglass bellybutton to see!
Efficiency is paramount in these days of acrimony over the debt ceiling. Please save taxpayer money by sending Bolsonaro and Santos home to Brazil on the same plane.
Hard to deny the Trump/Eastman playbook to attempt to overthrow democracy was imitated in Brazil with a similar unachieved goal. Bolsonaro may be the only person planning to "be a tourist" in the USA - the rest of the world is being warned about the extreme violence prevalent throughout the mainland with more guns than people, daily mass shootings, and systemic racism.
Rather than the GOP & Fox propaganda of "open borders," the Biden/Harris administration is demonstrating the adage "if your tub is overflowing, first turn off the spigot." By identifying and addressing some of the causes of immigration, they are attempting to "fight with one hand tied behind their backs" as the GOP continues to complain but not cooperate to address a broken system that obviously needs reform.
Similarly, the disingenuous claims that nothing can be done to reduce gun violence or police brutality as the body count continues to climb and more hashtags mount demonstrate the GOP is incapable of governing and instead are a big part of the underlying problem. The GOP also appears deaf to the keening of grieving families.
And these are things Democrats who are running in 2024 should say. Call out the lies, fear mongering & show power points if need be to show the reality of what has been done to date. Facts.
Yes Margaret! FACTS ASAP. EARLY AND OFTEN! It's incredible that a traitor who planned and executed a coup against his own administration now has twitter and facebook privileges and intends to run again for president. He should be booted out of the country and take bolsonaro and the feckless crybabies who asked for presidential pardons with him. Tfg has plenty of other homes around the world to live in.
If only… they all should read “Words That Work,” Frank Luntz wrote it for repubs. They read it and followed every word. Hey Dems, it will work for you too…. You can skip the Goebbels stuff though. Except that it’s OK to accuse the repubs of what THEY do. Dems wouldn’t be in this mess if they had mentioned the plans to gut SS and Medicare before the last election. Joe did, at the last minute. One wonders…
One wonders.... Every day!
Exactly, Margaret! It's so frustrating that the Dems, who are certainly more united than the Lies & Propaganda Party, seem to fail at messaging. There's plenty for them to talk about.
Repubs will never address immigration (what better sledge to beat Dems with), and guns are their logo. The majestic elephant has been replaced by the assault rifle on a blood red background. We know who they are.
Biden may well go down as the best President since FDR. But he's doing badly on immigration, and that threatens us in the '24 elections. To wit:
"By blatantly disregarding federal workplace enforcement laws, Mayorkas has also encouraged more crimes, specifically letting employers who illegally hire unlawfully present aliens to continue their illegal employment practices. American workers are the big losers in the alliance between unscrupulous employers and their alien employees. In November 2022, government data showed that 1.9 million more legal and illegal immigrants were employed than in 2019. During the same period, 2.1 million fewer Americans were working."
Immigration News | Joe Guzzardi | Substackhttps://joeguzzardi.substack.com Jan 23
And in the Washington Post Jan 24, Ruy Teixeira warned that:
"Less well-understood is Democrats’ emerging weakness among non-White working-class voters. Between 2012 and 2020, Democrats’ advantage among these voters declined by 18 points, with a particularly sharp shift in 2020 and among Hispanics. VoteCast data indicates that Democrats’ margin among non-White working-class voters declined 14 points between 2020 and 2022."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/24/biden-weakness-workingclass-voters/
You're welcome Janet.
Important that President Biden was in Baltimore celebrating the bipartisan infrastructure law. A huge and successful investment for the people, for jobs, the economy, traffic control, the future. And built with Union Labor. Biden and the Democrats must continue to inform and use their megaphones and billboards to show the citizens of America bipartisan negotiations and governing work. The Democrats get it done. While the repubs waste precious time and resources on investigations, obstruction, abortion, debt, crime and more that would continue without them. Sometimes it seems we are stuck in rerun mode, the Democrats build and the repubs tear down.
On your last sentence. I respectfully disagree. We make progress while shoveling their manure. It's definitely a slow and painful process.
Run mode, for most of my long life…
Sad to note that Biden's speeches are getting so little press. Hope the State of the Union gets the point across. It definitely needs to be a barn burner but I bet the Republicans will pull some kind of disrespectful stunt that will take the focus.
I just hate the concept of the minority party rebuttal speech. We have one president, one SotU speech. It's a privilege of the office. The senators can talk all day, every day in their chamber. In fact, they can bring back a true filibuster and break records in how long they talk. The House can play sandbox politics all they want. On that one day, there's only one speech in which I'm interested...
I’m proud to say I’ve voted in every election since turning of age, watched every SOTU speech and NEVER watched a rebuttal speech - even when it was a D.
Course y’all know the rebuttal was created by republicans right? No surprise there….
Agree, Nathan, 100%.
Hear Hear !!! I'm All Ears.
We can post parts of Heather's newsletters with credit to her everywhere. Use pieces to entice your local papers to print it. Post piece on social media as the header to the complete newsletter which will encourage others to read and to follow her.
I post constantly in the comments sections of newspapers with HCR's work and others. I don't get into the sniping and name calling (on both sides) and instead post such things as where the Infrastructure Bill is making a real difference, inflation facts etc.
It's up to us to spread the word.
Facts are so useful, and yet, in political discussions, often in very short supply. Thanks for doing that. I try to when ever I can. It is a sway to avoid losing my temper!
Dont be surprised if the entire freedumb caucus boycotts the SOTU speech.
I thought that too. Good. Biden will be able to deliver his speech without interruption, unless the GOP thinks it's time for another insurrection stunt.
Good--they don't belong in the Chambers with real adults.
T L, you are 100% correct on that. In school, if we spoke out of turn, we were censured to teach us that manners matter. These ignorant, grandstanding know-nothings should be expelled for disrespectful behavior (not to mention behind bars for their insurrectionist activities!).
I hope so.
The media will focus on outbursts from the GOP ilk, along with Kevin's antics while Biden is delivering his speech.
Count on it
There will be payback for Pelosi’s “special” clap and tearing up her copy of the speech.
I can't see Kev wielding the same power of sweet sarcasm at the back of Biden's head...the visual just doesn't pencil out...McCarthy is a buffoon of his own making and Biden is the one in charge. With TFG and Pelosi, it was the other way around.
and coward. Buffoon and coward.
"sweet sarcasm"
Oh, indeed it was. And priceless.
I wonder....
Yes,I agree with you.I was thinking the other day that Republicans will probably throw out another big smokescreen a la Donald Trumps playbook right before the State of the Union address.Hope I’m wrong...
I’m sure kevin will rip up the speech.
Tourists from Brazil receive 30day visas. Never heard of >30 given to anyone else as tourist. However, Bolsonaro (or "Bozo" as opposition calls him in Brazil) is in FL and has the Orange Supreme around the corner, but I hope he is kicked out of the US, sooner the better.
It’s only a matter of time before he winds his way to maralago.
And Tallahassee, to the Governor’s mansion!!
Zelita Morgan, the tragedy is that Bolsonaro came HERE to the USA," the land of the free and the home of the brave" foe assylum?????
I cannot prove this but based on track record of his actions (or lack thereof) while President of Brazil, and how he played "mini-me" of the Orange one, he came here because he knew what was going to happen on 08Jan in Brazil. In this context, FL seems a safe haven and nurturing ground to his alter ego, unfortunately.
Let’s make a deal: we’ll keep Bolsonaro if Brazil takes OUR American wannabe dictator, tax evader, small-handed faux news manipulator!
Only in lock up
Of course!
This is such good news about Biden taking tours of the progress of his various projects that are beginning to unfold. Positive stuff the American people will feel for some time to come. It's hard to build things up but easy to tear stuff down. The supremacists continue to drag their fingernails across the chalkboard while Biden is giving the average citizen what is needed in order to move forward. Thank you for your observations Dr Richardson.
My wife & I debate constantly about whether or not there are enough commonsense fact based Americans to keep our Ship of State from capsizing as too many race to the top deck rails looking for the sea monsters and edge of the flat earth that their leaders and media tell them about.
Am reading Steve Pinker's book "Enlightenment Now: The case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress". And hoping for some hope. The book promises some optimism with endless data that life on the planet is improving, that we simply have too many ignoring the progress and wishing for times that are provably worse. Pinker's thesis also seems to be that entropy is toward chaos, and that all human improvement to organize life for the better has been the terrific effort to push back on chaos with order through understanding and intelligent improvement, project by project. But that ordering effort can also be pursued by creating myths which of course does more for the myth makers.
Biden clearly stands on the side of reason leading to actual progress. Republicans with their new poster child, George Santos, falls on the side of myth making.
Pinker reminds us that Sam Rayburn, former Democratic House Leader in the 1950s, once said "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one." Can enough Americans distinguish between jackasses and carpenters?
Living in a deep red, predominantly rural state as I do, most of my contact is with neighbors, all of whom, even now, are died in the wool Trumpies. When I venture out, my indicators are the number of anti-Biden yard signs, inflammatory bumper stickers and violent / profane decals in the back windows of pickup trucks. it’s hard to imagine the Archie Bunker types, standing at either end of highway construction sites with the SLOW / STOP signs as being swayed by more exposure to the likelihood that they owe their very job, such as it is, to “Joe’s” wasteful communist infrastructure act. Most will stop for a six pack on their way home, arriving just in time to tune in Tucker Carlson on Fox. I’m not wanting to disparage the people propping up the signs; at least they’re trying to make a go of it. I’m pointing out that we don’t stand a chance of making any headway with most of rural America, about half of our voters, until we stop the Fox News miscreants, the Clear Channel AM nazis, intent on poisoning the minds of these poor folk for a buck.
You describe our world, “inside the beltway” should pay attention.
That is the ultimate question, with Goebbels redux betting that sanity can be “trumped.”
BTW, old definition of trumpery, n. Deceive, fraud. From tromper To deceive, cheat. Anything calculated to deceive by false show, externally splendid, but of little value, things worn out and of no value, useless trifles. It is way past time for the shitshow to exit the political stage. Rayburn’s quote means that the fight has been a long one. FDR and HST knew too, way before trumpery was a thing.
thanks as always for a level-headed, clear view of our world today. While fraught with dis-ease at so many levels of our government and our society, there remains the steadfast undercurrent of common sense and reasonableness that must be the foundation of our way forward.
I'm not sure all those Republican congressmen and congressmen have consulted their actuarials regarding Social Security and Medicare. The burden of these entitlement programs are particular to their rules, but also the population demographic, which changes from year to year. the Medicare python has stretched to swallow the baby-boomer pig, pretty much has it handled, since 1964, the last birth-year of the boomers plus 65 years of age adds up to 2029, the last boomer year to enter Medicare eligibility. Each subsequent cohort will be smaller, both from the size of the class (each subsequent year's births began declining) and attrition (those who didn't make it to 65). Then, there's the death rate. Longevity in America was increasing, but took a major hit (800,000 excess deaths in the senior cohort over actuarial predictions) in addition to some leveling in the longevity benefits of advancing health care and technology. We largely kicked smoking as a society a while back (down to 15% of adults), so there isn't much more longevity benefit to beat out of that horse. We have the capacity to use early detection and prevention in cancer and heart disease to increase longevity, but our lack of a true health care SYSTEM where everyone gets those services hampers our ability to prevent premature death due to the dominant diseases of advancing age. We can't leverage these advances when many don't, won't or can't participate. More deaths benefits both Medicare and Social Security, since the primary benefits stop and spousal/survivor benefits are reduced. A decreasing birthrate either has already or will soon begin to reduce the entry rate in these programs. The impact of COVID on the health care system itself will have a negative effect on longevity as access to care will be impacted by mass defection from the industry by veteran caregivers who are abandoning ship. Medicare could become far more efficient if it were engineered to assist the advanced elderly with regard to what they really want, rather than simply extending life; focus instead on social independence and care security, rather than high tech medical intervention at very advanced ages. The other obvious solution to solvency, increasing contribution rates, is off the agenda of the GOP because it means taxation. Our societal conversation needs to be more about living well in advanced age rather than living increasingly longer. There are plenty of ways to favorably impact the cost of these systems other than restricting access, but sadly, such innovations require some investment rather than simply spending cuts. Our GOP isn't in the mood to talk investment. Their mantra is less taxes, even less spending, stop worrying about the marginalized and least secure sectors of our society. Why this somehow is sucessfully twisted into a populist message that appeals to the less educated caucasian MAGA adherents defies me, but then I basically don't get irrationality as a world view. It's gonna be a season of silly non-dialogue over there in the district. I'm actually more interested in the minority agenda and their ability to coax the most moderate in the GOP to cross the isle and co-sponsor more reasonable legislation.
“Most moderate in the GOP.” First there is no “grand Old Party.” Second, do you have a plan to ferret them out. They are well-hidden and scared to show their faces, cowards ALL. Otherwise, good points.
I’m out in the cheap seats, right field bleachers on this, but reps sit adjacent to one another, sit on committees together, occupy adjacent offices, etc. their voting records are public. Most of them arise from state level government or similar backgrounds, also with public records.
GOP is a convenient acronym.
Yes it is, but so not fitting for this iteration of the party.
Perhaps she commented after you posted. I copy/pated the EXCELLENT post from BK above. The links are worth the read to add and address some of what you refer to!
See below. from BK:
Taking Elizabeth's comment further, feckless is the correct definition of today's Republican:
"lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible".
Take McCarthy's call that they want to "strengthen" SS & Medicare. Really? By raising it's qualifying age to 70 when the life expectancy of a white male in the US just dropped 3 yrs to 73 so, you get your SS for just 3 years? This isn't just feckless,...it's criminal.
I've posted this before but, the statistics are staggering. The US is behind all the leading nations whose numbers have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. If you are of African, Hispanic or Native American heritage your drops are even worse at 4, 4.2 and 6.6 yrs respectively.
The details are in the link below and are worth the read but, what the GOP wants to do is goose us all at both ends by taking away an ave of 5 yrs on the front end at a time when 3 yrs are reduced on the back end. They remove an ave of 8 yrs of the benefits you paid for.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-u-s-just-lost-26-years-worth-of-progress-on-life-expectancy/
https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low
Thank you for this overview. I learned so much. Baby-Boomer pigs didnt work in isolation. Commerce and manufacturing helped. Recently went to a large antique center that had mostly middle america stuff from 1960’s and 70’s. If i didn’t see 100 devil egg trays, i didn’t see one. Who made all these and who bought them? This is why the Gen X/Z ers consume less.
That items from 60s and 70s are antiques 🤯
Nathan K, thank you ....great information....a lot to ponder.....solutions are not simple but we must keep working hard to improve. To much time and energy spent on lesser things! Thank you again!!!!
"Actually governing is a lot harder than talking about it."
A lot harder and a lot more work. Republicans offer only stagecraft where what is sorely needed is statecraft.
Thanks for the synopsis Heather. Hope you are still enjoying your travels.