Today Hamas released 11 more hostages into Israel; in exchange, Israel released 33 Palestinians from prison. Both sides have agreed to extend the truce for two days and to continue the exchanges. Hamas has committed to releasing an additional 20 women and children, and if the past pattern holds, Israeli releases will be three times that number.
Is anyone else super impressed with Antony Blinken, and the job he is doing? Selecting great people for the various jobs in the administration is probably the most important thing a president can do, along with the willingness to rely on them! A stark contrast to Trump!
One of my concerns is: are there more of us who research and can see our hands in front of our faces? Or are there more stubborn and blind to any other way of thinking type people who won't even look at other ideas. Similar to those women who want to ban books but never even read them.
I've been thinking the very same thing, Margaret. Blinken is constantly crossing time zones and you have to wonder whether he's able to function, but function he does, at optimum level. I also marvel at Biden. He has kept a brutal schedule since his inauguration, in defiance of his right wing detractors. This is remarkable for an 81-year-old.
As someone who spent 36 years shooting back and forth in and out of different time zones, it is hard at any age. Forget age and focus on character and purpose.
Jean, although I've never traveled for my profession, at 80 I've traveled internationally for many years, and you're correct - it's never easy. When you consider that the weight of the world is on the shoulders of these exceptional people, their ability to cope proves that they are truly national treasures
Tim, if we're able to maintain our sanity through the '24 election, it will be interesting to finally see just how "accurate" the polls are, especially since even MSM is using them as their guiding light when discussing Biden's chances of winning. If they put more effort into reporting the enormous work Biden has expended and success he's had in righting this ship of state, while perhaps alluding to the malfeasance that most GOP politicians have exhibited, the pollsters would be singing a different tune.
It is remarkable for any age to be able to function because one strives for excellence . When surrounded with vulgar blather, as we are with social media too often, one tends to start heading for the “drain”. In other words, we feel washed up and wrung out!!!
That’s funny....for all the rhetoric the definitive opposition rants about , repeats incessantly, boring the airwaves with or concocting new BS I’d think far many more would realize the grating GOP gasping grifts. Good Gracious🤦♀️
Thank you Heather..marvelous .
Share folks . It’s the works of truth , words of progress, leadership , teamwork.
Patricia, I do share this letter everyday which often tells us of all the good things that Biden and his team are doing. The Atlantic, btw, had an article yesterday how this quiet competence may cost Biden the election. So we all should be shouting his achievements from the rooftops. And there was yesterday's news about how many billions people spent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Today is Giving Tuesday, so please support, if you can, your favorite charities and causes.
I think I will start sending copies of Heather's letters to the producers of PBS Newshour! During their Monday night politics segments they only seem to be able to harp on Biden's age. So exasperating!
I give them grief everytime, am a sustainer, and I keep touting the BLUE MESSAGE, it needs frequency on the airwaves, there’s something EVERY DAY TO BE PROUD OF and Biden’s Team is consciously working miracles.
Don’t underestimate the power WE have here either...keep it up folks ..winning team🥰
Yes, I'm weary of the polling talk on PBS Politics Monday- think I'll skip it for a while. Let's hear about issues, policy & results, contrasted with the Other Party.
A stat they quoted last night was that 50% of Democrats think Joe Biden has the stamina and mental fitness to be president. 90% of Republicans think Trump has the stamina, etc. Seemed strange, because Trump’s committed base is much less than 90%.
Until MAGA-minded voters value constructive government and that operates on facts more than destructive government that operates on bamboozling voters with lies and name calling, little can be done to encourage MAGA voters to see the light. But then, MAGA voters have agency: they can reject the lies. If only they would take on their agency.
This is OUR / MY taxes gladly given. AND,I am supporting many on this ship of success. I am so proud of the work Biden and this BLUE team do....not only do we ADMIT our mistakes but doggedly stay the course towards progress. Every. Move.
May I add, President Biden, Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkin, and members of the administration are working on a path to peace for the Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in their own states with respect and honor.
Thank you Byan Sean McKown for adding the work of CIA Chief, William J. Burns, on this plan of peace.
'William J. Burns, the C.I.A. head, and David Barnea, who leads the Mossad, Israel’s spy service, are scheduled to meet with officials in Qatar, which has been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas.' (NYTimes)
Less marginalized in the youth vote , they are savvy , there’s amazing minds yet untouched in populations of such. This white supremacy has been a plague for a longtime , so many cultures, amazing differences, amazing attributes and wealth in their own diversity ...it’s really beginning to be recognized -the youth of today brings that strongly to front page ( thanks , kids😉) .
Being taken back in time by poisoned pens is ALSO THEIR undoing ...remains to be seen how many see the light...the ‘theys’ have tried throwing the baby out with the bath water ...we lent them an ear ..the message is clear...
Also, being a gay white male with his education is not even close to representing the marginalized, definitely not women or people of color so let’s not pretend that it is. Pete also has always struck me as a Republican. But he isn’t insane and so obviously markets himself as a moderate conservative Democrat.
The ONGOING slate BOLDLY emphasizes DEMOCRATIC politicians- winning working warriors of amazing fortitude . BRAVO! STAND PROUDLY! THANK YOU🫶☮️
They are displaying the principles of peace, progress, positively pushing for solutions, shoring up the areas having shown weakness under years of horrific odds , and successfully bringing *togetherness* FOR THE PEOPLE, FOR OUR WORLD🤝✌️👏
We know now who undermines, their false flags ,hatred still spewing loudly , divisive tactics to undo- their money thrown down dark spirals of mired pits.
I am grateful for this.
It is a lesson unfortunately needed ...seen now for what it brought ...
At this point Tina - it is imperative that a ticket with the right platform (regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation) have the max chances of winning the vote. If the American voting public (at least the side that actually employs pragmatic evidence-based thinking) is happiest with a certain make-up of its prospective leaders, so be it. If it ends up being two white guys, so be it. I would rather it was not so. I want women in there, personally. But what I really want is to erase this current anti-democratic, science-denialist political nightmare entirely. It's an existential risk.
Don’t mansplain I’ve been on the earth long enough to know that that is veiled sexism and racism. Maybe you are aren’t aware of that. BTW don’t happen to be a white male? I thought so.
Please don't. I am a man, but that doesn't mean this is mansplaining or that I am sexist. I do my best not to be. I am a white person; that doesn't mean I am racist. I do my best not to be. I'll say it again - I would like to see a woman on the ticket. But Hillary lost - not by much - but lost. And look what it got us - the most appalling and damaging administration in our history. And the damages continue and are in danger of becoming far worse if he gets re-elected. Many many people did not vote for Hillary (I did BTW, with gusto) because they did not think a woman should be a president. A very stupid notion - but that is the way it was. Had Bernie (a white male) been in there, things might have been different. My whole point is that at this point, the danger of losing an election to these cretin fascist people on the far right is far far greater than the make-up of our candidates. Get people on the ballot who the experts and the polls say will get the most votes. Period. BTW - this is all moot IMO. I think a ballot with more diversity is the right answer anyway and will prove more popular.
The weakness of the Democratic Party recently has been letting "perfection be the enemy of the good" as Robert Hubbell put it. More to the point is a quote from Rebecca Solnit: "I think of voting as a chess move, not a Valentine."
A good chess player is looking ahead to the move after this move...and maybe the move after that.
"...with all of the amazing intelligent women and people of color in politics these days." Agree 100%. But being a political superstar doesn't mean you will get the most votes. To get the most votes means recognizing the electorate, warts and all.
Ok James, I'll bite. My wife is an intensive care nurse who had direct experience with Covid patients throughout the pandemic, and was up on all things Covid and all things vaccines. Pretty easy for her to tell BS from good info. Plus- unlike the many conspiracy theorists out there, I chose to trust the CDC's information as opposed to more unqualified sources. So did my wife. Not Trump BTW, and for that he should burn in hell for eternity.... First - and so many people do not understand this - Covid was a new disease. Some similarities to past viruses, but new nonetheless. The medical science community did not have all the answers immediately, and had to learn as time went by. All the while faced with dire urgency, as hoards of people were dying. That would be why some things were tried and ended up not effective, and why the science changed course sometimes. No reason to think something nefarious was happening. Vaccine efficacy - was very effective in cutting down deaths and severe symptoms. At no time were vaccines claimed to prevent catching the virus; only to reduce symptoms. Same with boosters. Why do people think CDC was lying about that? Natural immunity - don't know what you mean. Catch Covid, survive, and then have natural immunity? Well yes, at least for a time until the virus mutated enough to beat the immunity. Nobody disputes that. The danger of course was catching it at all - the sick person might not survive to gain natural immunity. Hence the push to get vaccinated. Myocarditus in young men - rare, but a thing. And, it tended to self-resolve in fairly short order. I believe that was listed as a potential side effect early on. Was there a cover-up? I don't remember one. Mask efficacy - masks were always effective to a certain degree. As for many airborne diseases, masking up reduces the chance for spread. During those days, the virus was spreading like wildfire. A host of measures put in place helped limit the spread - social distancing, masking up, hand washing, etc. Made sense then, and continues to.
So James - where was the science denial in all that? You have it backwards. The science denial came from those who were being financially or politically hurt by the restrictions. Or would otherwise benefit from denying or twisting scientific findings. Just like a whole host of inconvenient truths that our science community comes up with as they simply do their jobs - which is to better understand the world we live in. It goes on and on and on. CO2 levels and global warming. Tobacco and its link to cancer. Evolution versus creationism. CFC's and the ozone layer. Many other egregious examples..
No, the post claimed that Republicans were science deniers. I was refuting the claim.
You couldn't find a leftist between 2020-2022 on TV who with sanctimony, claimed they believed in science. Now they've all run away and pretended like it never happened. Its disgraceful.
I'm not sure what bubble you live in, people Jayanta Bhattacharya and Alex Berenson
who challenged government orthodoxy on COVID were suspended and banned from
Twitter and other social media platforms at the request of the Biden Administration.
Be clear the government was wrong in virtual wrong on every claim they made:
1) The Vaccine - was never tested before it was deployed. Pzifer admitted it.
2) The Vaccine never stopped transmission
3) The booster not only didn't work, they weakened the immune system.
4) Mask don't work. Cochrane Study debunked the mask claim
It was all a lie. Anyone who disputed it was censored, silenced, and potentially fired from their
job.
As climate change it a joke. CO2 is .04% of the atmosphere. Its risen approx .01%.
How much of climate is made man v cyclical? Every prediction has been wrong.
Its become a political football not a scientific one.
I don't believe the elites believe a word of it. They fly around in private jets and live in mansions
that produce tremendous amounts of CO2.
China and India produce 80% of the world's Co2. When they lower their usage then we can reduce ours until then its just a suicide mission on our economy.
Evolution is a terrible explanation for the origin of the universe. Intelligent seems like a much more plausible cause.
Any successful leader surrounds themselves with can-do people, good communicators and negotiators, people that aren’t looking for glory but to get a job done. Antony Blinken is a great example. Trust among those can-do people enable the entire team to deliver results more quickly because they don’t have to keep double checking on everyone in the organization to assure “everyone is doing their job”. Sounds easy but it’s a culture that takes time to build. President Biden’s “age issue” has built or has identified that network of can-do types over many years of service to this, our country. It is NOT a liability but a valuable strength. Professor Heather Cox Richardson is the one that quietly informs us of those people and processes. The corporate media does not! I think it’s incumbent on each of us to repeat the story. This newsletter and also that of Simon Rosenberg (Hopium) are the ingredients and instructions on what works to accomplish what I think all of us appreciate so much because it is so lacking in our newsrooms.
I would add to that list the "Columbia Journalism Review". The first time I saw this publication was yesterday and it was through a link from one of the LFAA newsletter commenters. I think this publication is very informative with very good articles. Check them out.
I have been thinking that for awhile, how impressed I am with Blinken. I just pray nothing happens to him, he looked so tired last week to me anyways. He is working so hard and does his job so well. President Biden really had good sense to pick him for the great job he is doing. Such responsibility Mr Blinken has!
Sec Blinken has reestablished statemenship to this department. Pompous Pompeo (trump late) was a blowhard goon emasculates by trumps undermining diatribes.
Oh but didn't trump promise he'd hire only the best people?!?!?!
Oh, no, he lied about that too!!!!
; ) ;) ;)
And if he gets the chance again he really will hire the best sycophants, autocratic, vile (I'm looking at you Stephen Miller, Mr. Wannabe Himmler!) repulsive, crooked individuals he can find under any number of rocks!
He is an Aries. Infinite well of energy. He was MADE for what he is doing. I am certain that it actually infuses him with energy to do his job and do it well
Who besides Hamas is advocating genocide? Hamas’ written charter is to kill all Jews everywhere, not just Jews in Israel. Btw, not all Israelis are Jewish.
Hamas is no different than every other jihadist terrorist organization, al Quada, Boko Haram, etc etc. 9/11, various bombings all over the world. Many that were tortured and slaughtered and kidnapped on Oct 7 were not Israelis at all. Note too that there was a ceasefire on Oct 6.
Being ready to kill perhaps 2,000,000 people is not genocide? Read Theodore Henzl's commentary - the founding writing of Zionism. No, all Israelis are not Jewish. See Christmas Lutheran Church - Bethlehem; Church of the Redeemer - Jerusalem; Al Aqsa - Jerusalem; St. George Episcopal Cathedral - Jerusalem; Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza; etc. etc. They all existed well before Israel. Then you might read up on the civil rights and voting rights of the members of those institutions.
Dream on. I suppose that's why Biden and company want to change the laws to give Israel unlimited access to American weapons stockpiles - so Hamas can practice genocide on Israel?
The mainstream media definitely needs to start promoting all the good that is happening in our economy and on the world stage and stop making fun of Pres Biden’s age.
Age brings us all down eventually, but chronological age is less meaningful than some other measures while we live. Take emotional maturity, which can be a big deal, especially as responsibility increase upon one’s shoulders. Biden seems like an “adult in the room”. Trump? Well, you saw the Trump blimp, but seriously, what does he say? What does he do? What is his demeanor? Would you really want to trust him to watch your dog?
Well how about mental clarity? Productivity? Again results may vary. What are Trump’s accomplishments? Not just the FUBAR stuff, but accomplishments; problems solved, beneficial actions initiated? Looks like Trump’s left back in the playpen on that score as well. The stakes are high, the challenges are daunting, the future of generations to come may be saved or lost on our watch, or at least on the basis of upcoming decisions. Who is doing anything useful to solve it? Could that be “The News”?
How did the Republicans work us into this defensive posture? Look at Congress. Look at his opponent. Lots of aging politicians. Now look at what President has accomplished.
I invite people to get off the ropes about President Biden's age.
Yes. He is old. Now let's talk about what he has done at home for the American people and Internationally.
I appreciate the sentiment and I agree. But to the fascists who want to destroy Biden, Democracy and the voters in 2024 that would still be viewed as defensive hair splitting.
MAGA faithful are locked in a paralysis of thinking by dynamics. Orwell modeled how it works, but there are plenty of real world examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group) . It is actually very important that we evaluate those to whom we trust critical social responsibilities by their evidence-based fitness, not age, sex, race, disability, etc., and speak what we believe to to true to whoever might hear it. Successful social movements have generally faced daunting resistance at their inception. Perseverance furthers.
I get so tired of everyone talking about Biden’s age with no comparison to Trump’s. He’s 77 only 3 years younger and an old man too! Age is no indication of mental sharpness and productivity. The MSM, et al need to let that go.
When people tell me that he is "too old", I tell them that if that is the only thing they can come up with against him, that is a pretty shallow argument. Unfortunately, people don't want to read.
Then it is up to us to point out the accomplishments of the Biden Administration. We should have the kitchen table facts at the ready. Such as inflation was zero between September and October.
I don't think that Biden's age is irrelevant, and health becomes more iffy it that territory of life, but Trump is in that place too, and seems to lead a more risky lifestyle. Moreover, in film of young Trump, while he was creepy even then, seemed to display a noticeably more articulate man than I see today; and that's not saying much about the quality of his rhetoric in either case.
Apart from awkward moments that pale in comparison to many "huh?" events in Reagan's presidency, which the press was inclined to dismiss as charming, Biden seems sharper than the average elected official, especially on the "GOP" side of things. I wish Biden were younger, but it's not a deal breaker, especially in current circumstances. In fact I find Biden saying and supporting some of the things I hoped I would hear from any president for many years.
Nature tends to be utilitarian. I suspect that one of the reasons we live so much longer than our childbearing peak is to watch the kids as grandparents while the parents work, but also to provide continuity of knowledge, which we as a species pass so successfully by pedagogy in the bulk of human generations before print and technical media. We as sentient beings remain, I think, the richest medium for certain sorts of human and cultural knowledge that, I think, is not fully translatable to books and digital storage. I don't think we are being trained for that, however, and I don't think we are exploring it thoroughly enough. There are still a place for "elders" even as our means and styles of communication change rapidly. There is also a seemingly overlooked potential in more deliberately including the fresh perspective of youth.
We have come a long way in life expectancy through discovery of antibiotics ,vaccines, and safe cleanup cautions. Good practical progress. But then the family unit took unprecedented clout as manufacturing manipulation made ghost towns by job availability scarce. Those too poor to move now care for their grandchildren en masse as further corporate intent sanctioned drug abuse and the demise of middle class.
Can we train a population to care ? Or is survival after the only recourse -which is definitely utilitarian. Has the quality of life been replaced by greed , pollution overlooked for profit margins, and truth turned into conspiracy theories on top of lies.
We have one more election to test this American Dream .
I could not agree more JL. My mother passed away two years ago at the age of 90. Her physical body had slowed down, but her mental acuity had not. Age is a number and each of us age differently. Let us respect and honor the life a
person lives not the number of their years. As you said, JL, the number can bring with it great knowledge and wisdom.
I’m reminded of a quip I read (while in college) in a Reader’s Digest while standing in a grocery line once: “I’m surprised at how much smarter my Dad got when I was away at college”. It did not escape my internal irony that I’d had that thought myself. I had to take myself down a couple pegs.
I was the recipient of that with my nephew who told me mid way through his sophomore year who said of his mother/my sister that he’d always thought she wasn’t smart, but realized how much she knew after he learned more.
My mother-in-law was much more blunt: “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill”.
You've got to watch that treachery though. I think the root of all science, surely wisdom, is knowing how tentative and uncertain our state if knowing appears to be. Ever, and it's easy to overestimate when you've come a long way fast. Also when seeing what doofuses we adults can be, but before bearing the specific slings and arrows of being one.
That said, the kid at the Emperor's New Clothes parade had the right idea. He/she would be lucky, though, if those around him, perhaps even the parents, didn't hush, him/her up. It takes courage and luck to remain authentic.
If we learn from it, which we can do and do do from birth, but what do we OBSERVE? My experience is that one can be very clever and/or learned, but not so observant, and one can be, is virtually forced to be observant in early youth. An acquaintance who has been the head of astrophysics at Columbia, has spoken about teaching curious fourth graders vs undergrad freshmen at Columbia, many of who are just there because they have to be the get the degree, and make no bones about saying so. What happens to that natural curiosity? Does it just decline with age or are we as a society failing to cultivate it? My guess is mostly the latter. The demonstrable importance of what we notice is tautologically important, clever or not.
Also what we notice arguably impacts our internal quality of life. And what is important? The scientific method can help us explore and sort that one but not answer in our stead. I think it helps to compare notes while sorting. I strongly suspect the wisdom requires this.
Yes, I don't want the reader to confuse the Former Guy with genuine, developmentally appropriate children, even those with a "mean streak". However, a childish emotional makeup, in particular, a invariably and radically self-centered one in an adult body, is a problem. If devoid of conscience or empathy, can make for a malicious sociopath. QED
You may recall the laser-like hate stare of schoolgirl Greta Thunberg directed to His Orangeness some years back. Greta has proved that chronological age and emotional maturity are not always linked, and that one can be angry and still be an "adult in the room".
How has the growth of mega-corporations and the demise of anti-trust affected our society from a "big picture" view? That the Tyrannosaurus in the room that seem to draw only sideward glances.
Yes! Between career lobbyists & the Citizens United ruling corporations have become de facto rulers. It’s their lobbying that enabled weakening anti-trust measures among other anti people, anti climate legislation. (Offshoring for example)
I learned yesterday for the first time that threats to the judge and clerk in Trump’s New York State Civil Trial were mostly anti-Semitic in nature, including death threats. This is consistent with Trump’s constant attacks on progressive American Jews.
The Jewish Library Project’s “Shootings Targeting American Jews” (1999 to the Present) listed nine such incidents and all but two involved far-right extremists.
FBI Director Wray has reported that right-wing extremists threats against American Jews have increased dramatically.
Alas, watching 24-hour news channels would lead one to believe that progressive college students pose the greatest anti-Semitic threat.
Americans need to know that Trump is stoking anti-Semitic violence against Americans Jews and has gone so as to file with the courts motions to say he has a right to do so. The threat to American Jews is a far-right attack and its leader is Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
The historic union between progressive American Jews, Black and Brown people needs to be preserved if we are to defeat American fascism. The Democratic Party and President Biden can’t win in November 2024 without it.
"Trump is stoking anti-Semitic violence against American Jews" is a fact because it plays to his base. Remember Charlottesville in 2017? The marchers were shouting "Jews will not replace us?" This brought me out of my chair! What? That's Klan talk. It makes no difference is the equivalent of the Second Coming, the racists, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes will support their "Glorious Leader" because "he is them." What I think we need to realize is that we're actually at war with an enemy that wants to destroy our democracy. We need to fight like hell. I'm 83 and I do wish that we Dems had a younger person as POTUS candidate. That having been said, I am leading the charge here to grow the various clubs. At this point, it isn't the reality that counts on the national scene, but rather what is perceived. I fear that we will have another Ruth Bader Ginsburg experience.
Ginsburg’s seat was at risk of being coopted by McConnell’s willingness to do anything to block a Supreme Court replacement going to a progressive.
She would have had to give up her seat pre 2015 to ensure a Democratic president and controlled senate would name and confirm a progressive replacement.
McConnell held up Obama’s nomination of Garland to fill Scalia’s seat. He then rushed Barrett to fill Ginsburg seat. In between, Justice Kennedy negotiated (against all rules) his former clerk, Kavanaugh, to replace him in a deal with Trump who had a questionable lending relationship with Kennedy’s son who was an executive at Duetsche Bank.
It was incredibly unseemly and had the hands of Leonard Leo and conservative billionaires puling stings.
Let’s re-elect Biden instead of assuming a replacement is more feasible.
Biden is by far the best president of my lifetime, which began during the first summer of the Eisenhower ADministration. He has demonstrated the ability to handle himself the way a LeMans competitor handles a race car. He'll do fine.
I wish you had watched me rake leaves the other day, load them into bins, carry those to a growing mountain of leaves I’d raked while a man across the way in his 60s used machines: a vacuum, blower etc. I smiled my way along using all the muscles & joints as well as my brain in the sun and bracing air. So far I’d guess this brain and body are humming along just fine.
Ageism!?!
‘Have you noticed how others say:’Good to keep moving’ as you age?!?
I want to tell them to look in the mirror.
Joe Biden’s amazing.
Not a former dancer as I was, but an expert as a leader in this s troubled world.
I urge all of us over the side of 60, to use our entire bodies ...not just legs (or brain) to stay as well, effective and happy as Biden appears to be.
I am with you, Samm. No one comes close to guessing my age. I shoot under my age at times on a difficult golf course and had my 8th hole-in-one the other day. But, that's you and me. I know many who are younger and are on the verge of being feeble. Age is relative. It's the masses and their concerns and conceptions that concern me.
What happens, if midway through the campaign, say next June or July, Biden dies. Can Kamala Harris (who was my first choice) win the day? I have my doubts. I think that Biden has knocked the ball out of the ballpark. But, I have these concerns.
Once again, the fear of what “might” happen should not interfere with the support of what Biden’s leadership is demonstrating now
“Any candidate” could suddenly die. Biden’s current health is not in question, only the possibility that his mental acuity might decline because of “agism” concerns fostered by MAGA media spilling over into the NYT and WAPO
I See no current evidence of any mental decline at the moment. Quite the opposite
My concern is both - Biden's age and Kamala's lack of Charisma. Made more so because I agree with you that Biden will probably not replace her. My guess is that Biden's Republican opponent will be Nikki Haley and she could unite the Republican Party. The hope would be that the MAGA/KKK group would be so disappointed in TFG not running that they'd stay home and not vote. Compound all of that with the failure of the Democratic Party to find someone who really knows how to run the organization. We Dems need a really, really good propaganda machine in place to counter the disinformation and misinformation disseminated by the likes of Fox, OAN, Alex Jones and Newsmax.
Biden is very unlikely to die. He's a very youthful 81, with an unusually quick mind, whether he's in Israel, in Ukraine, or in China, and regardless of how many time zones he's crossed.
If he were at all compromised, his family, with whom he is very close, would certainly tell him that running again is a bad idea, and he would assuredly listen to them, and drop out of the race.
What's really weird too is that Voldemort's favorite child married an American Jew and they are raising their children in the Jewish faith...just another contradiction in the orange menace.
I'm sick of hearing how boomers are killing the housing market for young adults. Try Wallstreet whores buying up entire neighborhoods. Oil companies are dancing over their mammoth profits. Corporations are making bank off our backs. Whatever happened to boycotts. What if for one day no one bought gas? What if we boycotted that $7.00 box of cereal? Call these companies and bitch. It's about the whores of greed. Nice to know cigarette companies applied their same pathology to our food chain when they owned them. Addictive foods that take years off our lives. It's all feels so predatory.
That's a tough nut to crack, but generally corporations are massive structures to enrich self serving minorities under the aegis of freedom loving capitalism. Not that many benefits don't flow therefrom.
My term is ‘rogue capitalism’! In theory, competition should neuter price gouging. Today, any competitor is bought out or price badgered into bankruptcy! Consider, the ‘Zon’ was recently sued because the small reseller has to agree that it will not sell at a lower price on any other media platform!
Capitalism is a theory, in practice it has gone rogue!
Typically called "supply and demand", across the board in the market economy ethos. When does profit maximization become "greed"? I'm putting Simon Rosenberg on a watch list just the same. Thanks.
Well Frank we are here with corporate greed run amok. Corporations are seeing triple digit profits. They are supporting the Fascist Republicans and are influencing the media in tilting towards constant anti-Biden "reporting".
The good news? We keep winning!
Here is real deal on how elections have been going:
The DailyKos special election tracker has Democrats outperforming 2020 results by 7.6 points over 25 races across the US this year. Amazing!
A recent 538 analysis found in a broader set of elections Democrats were outperforming the partisan lean of the district by 10 points. Today 538 published an update, Democrats have been winning big in special elections: that could bode well for them in the 2024 election. It includes this passage: “It’s also the latest example of Democrats outperforming in a special election, a trend that could be a harbinger of a very good year for Democrats in 2024. This New Hampshire district is 6 percentage points more Republican-leaning than the nation as a whole, according to a weighted average of the 2020 and 2016 presidential results in the district.* Yet Rafter won by 12 points — an 18-point Democratic overperformance above their partisan baseline.”
This year Democrats also flipped the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, winning by 11 points and getting all the way to 56%: we flipped 2 Republican leaning cities, Jacksonville and Colorado Springs; and we won the August Ohio ballot initiative 57-41. In 2022 we got to 59% in CO, 57% in PA, 55% in MI and 54% in NH. We keep performing at the upper end of what’s possible.
On Twitter today prominent GOP strategist Chris Wilson, sharing the NH results, wrote: “Precursor to what would occur should Trump be the GOP nominee. Republicans will be wiped out in 2024.”
In addition to Simon Rosenberg's great data, real polling, real election results, Georgia Fisanick is an excellent number cruncher, situational analyst and covering a broad spectrum of what we are dealing right now in this phase of the insurrection.
Trying to convince voters that there're a prey to false consciousness is not, shall we say, a winning political message. And really, it's laughable to imagine that the media can persuade the American people that Bidenomics is full of wonders and marvels. Every trip to the supermarket or the gas pump refutes that puerile happy talk.
This is a great article (gifted) about Joe Biden from 2020. I would sent it to those who need bolstering as well as the book it cites: Young Joe Biden ‘Wild Stallion’ - the book is What it Takes
Someone must be earning a whole lotta money off the Israel-Gaza conflict… I’m wondering who it is. Netanyahu himself? War isn’t about religion, it’s about money; religion is only an excuse (as is skin colour, language, or favourite soccer club).
Also please, can somebody put a sock in Gym Jordan? His “cases” are worse than the worst of reality-tv shows. It’s getting really old hat now, and I can’t believe that anyone would believe anything of those charades…
I agree, especially about this getting really old hat. I never liked Trump to begin with and I am tired of hearing about him. Much more interested in learning about the positive and productive achievements of the Biden Administration.
It's no small disconnect to see the GOP caucus in the House swing against foreign aid when every defense appropriation flows directly from the treasury into the accounts of defense contractors across America and then on to their stockholders, many of whom are the millions of 401k account holders across America. The Ukraine and Israel conflicts will provide a massive boost to that industry and are a secret boon to the branches of the military, who have been able to clear out their inventory of older munitions and machines and make way for newer, fancier and far more expensive replacements. The only disappointment for them will be a shift away from multi-million dollar hardware and towards cheap little drones that carry 1.5kg incendiary payloads that can stop a tank, as well as aquatic and submarine drones that can sink ships without risking a single attacker's life. Flying video cameras and precision munitions have seen their stock in trade skyrocket, while heavy equipment, high priced fighter jets and attack helicopters are becoming more like chopped liver by comparison.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." -Eisenhower
Forgive me if I lack confidence in the GOP House caucus to hold up this piece of wisdom as the basis of domestic policy. After all, it's them who believe the constitution included assault weapons in the second amendment, originalists as they claim to be...
Also heralded the rise of ever more powerful nuclear weaponry, along with every other administration. Remember the crazy hide under your school desks drills back in the 50s/60s... and beyond? The rich were building themselves ginormous survival facilities, setting up residence in places like New Zealand etc.
I recall crouching under tables and "desks", in the '50's anyway. Scant protection it seemed. I recall the CONELRAD symbols on the radio dial. The nukes are still out there. We tiptoed through four years of Trump's access.
As a kid i read Canticle for Leibowitz, On the Beach, among other after global nuclear war apocalyptic tales, mainly in the sci-fi genre. And of course, belatedly, James Cameron's Terminator fantasy. I used to think this kind of danger was less so, but over the past several years, not so less so - Putin's nuclear dare-you stuff, Iran (Israelis made a habit of murdering their nuclear scientists), North Korea, and more... and there remains a possible though unlikely accidental war. And, some evangelicals still put in for nuclear war being part of End Times. I still remember two Baptist ladies i knew quite well who in the 70s were calling for End Times, by which time i had long wandered from my Baptist roots. I'm thankful my mother, who was unorthodox but played the piano etc in the local church, poo pooed the idea all her Catholic friends were going to Hell. As long as people like Pence don't have the possibility of getting close enough to the nuclear trigger, right? But isn't it worrisome that several millions of Baptists can routinely look upon the rest of humanity and consider them destined to a spiritual version of nuclear annihilation, courtesy of the Wrath of God? Time to stop, Monarch Legacy of Monsters episode coming up :)
J L, this marvelously prescient quote from Ike (aka the last "good" Republican) can and should be expanded to encompass the fundamental engines of progress in our democracy, those engines which balance (harness?) the extraordinary creativity and drive of capitalism (dare I say self-interest or just plain old greed?) with those of the pursuit of freedom and the general welfare of the people, by the people and for the people? ...BALANCING the interests of corporations and entrepreneurs with those of everyone else.
There is a dictionary difference between self-interest and greed insofar as balance. It's not greed unless it deprives others. "Greed is good" was a line in a cautionary tale about Wall Street, but the plutocrats embraced it as a motto. It only began to fade in the Great recession.
We all pursue self-interest, but some speak of "enlightened self-interest" which I see in terms of extending ones sense of concern beyond ones own self-serving impulse. The baby needs changing, you want to keep sleeping, but you care about a baby's welfare. Or give aid to a man who fell among robbers, beaten and left nearly dead. Or you care that polar bears are losing their habitat. You are elated when thing go well for others not even in your cohort. That's exactly what the modern "GOP" isn't.
As for capitalism, I think the devil is in the details. I'm a fan of Elizabeth Warren who has said, if I recall, that she is "a capitalist to my bones", and I see free enterprise as one of our basic freedoms. But also the right to create public services, especially when they are vital. And it seems to me that "we the people" get to make the rules for commerce, just as for anything else that goes on in our society and impacts other people.
Well, talk abt that on in the opening decade of the Cold War when in fact spending on nuclear was going out of sight. Even with limited disarmament, we're still in collective overkill x 10 or maybe better.
armed drones have been quite the upset, kinda like a Kalishnakov automatic rifle. Be nice when weapons aren't the "goto" but sadly political actors stimulate production, and hey aren't corporations supposed to "make money" in any case? And... US official military doctrine is global dominance, "just in case".... USA is also the world's largest arms exporter, by far. Long story here...
“House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) joined members of the Florida congressional delegation today to view an expansion project at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law although Johnson voted against it.”
Hypocritically or not, Johnson's support of the Sarasota Airport expansion says the Infrastructure Bill is good policy. Lying about it to your constituents however, is not. Good luck with that, Mike.
Li’ll Mikey is jumping on the bandwagon like most of the repubs who voted against that Law who are now boasting about the federal funds brought to their district!
Peter: Unfortunately in the FL source Heather provides they don't mention that important point. It's up to us to spread it far and wide every time it happens.
I suspect Speaker Johnson chose Sarasota, now a hub of right-wing activists( Michael Flynn, Charlie Kirk+++), for a reason and voters welcomed him with open arms and cheers for the airport expansion.
I suppose we could all be shocked and amazed as the nation swings into primary season, but it seems to me that the lines are becoming more clearly drawn on both candidates AND policy proposals for 2024. We have a Democratic president eager to build on momentum established in the first half of his first term and a Republican candidate and former president likely to get the nod from the GOP who is unfit by any definition to return to office, whose platform is increasingly to tear down any number of institutions upon which we have relied to provide stable governance over the last 50+ years in the US and around the world. I believe the status quo will probably prevail for the next 12 months. Biden will continue to do the difficult and thankless work of the presidency, particularly in the international arena and will be battered at every possible point by the opposing party and a disgraced national media that continues to insist that the election is a horse race between legitimate parties and candidates. TFFG will continue to spit every manner of venom as loudly as he can, whether or not he lands behind bars. I'm convinced he'll lose in a general election, but we'll all suffer serious heartburn until it's finally over. Other minor party candidates for the office will generate a little smoke, but no fire. The real drama will occur amongst the 1/3 of senators and 100% of the House whose positions are on the ballot. That portion of the election will tell us whether the electorate is really paying attention and whether a majority of voters who are NOT MAGAts will make themselves heard at the election.
"Biden will continue to do the difficult and thankless work of the presidency, particularly in the international arena and will be battered at every possible point by the opposing party and a disgraced national media that continues to insist that the election is a horse race between legitimate parties and candidates."
"The real drama will occur amongst the 1/3 of senators and 100% of the House whose positions are on the ballot. That portion of the election will tell us whether the electorate is really paying attention and whether a majority of voters who are NOT MAGAts will make themselves heard at the election."
You have nailed the situation precisely! I would just add one thing--the horserace and false equivalency reporting by the formerly center and liberal media still has influence with the NOT MAGAts. It is a huge issue that has to be emphasized. Many people who follow LFAA are well aware, but the average voter is not. We have to make that a talking point in the run-up to the election.
Hasn’t TFG sang this song before? About Obamacare? I seem to recall a lot of noise about a ‘big, beautiful healthcare plan’ that would be better than Obamacare and the ‘best healthcare plan ever.’
Well? We’re still waiting. You know why we’re still waiting, of course. There ain’t no such thing. He has yet to pull it out of his ass.
Once a liar and a fraud, always a liar and a fraud.
As pressure on him increases, Trump is playing hard to his base, promising on Saturday, for example, that he was “seriously looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more popularly known as Obamacare. He suggested the law should be overturned.
Can anyone name a successful program proposed by the GOP that was successful?
In the snarkish vein, Nixon and the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, specifically articulating marijuana, LSD, and heroin as Schedule One (punishable at the highest felony level) to target specifically the “hippies” (perceived as progressive Democrats) and the urban Black population, primarily to rid them of strong, Charismatic leaders.
I have always thought that a two-state solution was the only thing that made sense, and I see Blinken is quoted, “…and a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own….” The elephant in the room is that Israel has done just about everything to hobble any two-state pathway. The proliferation of Israeli settlements and the concentration-camp-like setting that is Gaza make it hard to believe that Israel considers a two-state outcome a viable option.
I would like to see some kind of linkage between any weapons the US provides with some concrete demonstration that the Geneva Conventions still apply.
Netanyahu is totally opposed to the two state solution and Israel is in serious violation of many of the 151 provisions of the 4th Geneva Convention which SUPPOSEDLY protects non combatants…lawyers in my family tell me that Israel totally ignores the Geneva Conventions and their behavior in the West Bank is in violation of the UN requirements…in major ways. I used to be pro Israeli but what is happening to 2/3s of the very poor Palestinians in Gaza is a huge human rights criminal ACT…..and I’m no longer pro Israeli.
I would ask how Hamas came to be. It is my understanding that Hamas is in response to horrible conditions imposed upon native Palestinian citizens within Gaza (late 80’s I think) by men who had a goal of eliminating Israel’s attempts to eradicate Palestinian settlements in Gaza. Is Hamas a reasonable alternative? No. Is Israel’s attempt to annihilate the Palestinian people reasonable? No. Opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza is not anti-Semitic any more than opposing the violence of Hamas is anti-Palestinian.
And Ally the Oakland California City Council just posted a unanimous legislative opposition to the Israeli behavior with a number of Jewish voters opposed to Israel’s behavior…included in the oposition.
Tracy,….have you READ THE 151 , 4TH Geneva Convention rules…do you have any clue at all just how bad Israel has acted…..Israel has committed an enormous number of truly hateful crimes against humanity…over 4 thousand dead Palestinian children over 12,000dead and very very poor palestinians in Gaza alone …..1 million 750 thousand displaced and homeless very poor Gaza’s…every single one of these stats and so bloody more are enormous violations of basic human decency….im not saying Israel shouldn’t it defend itself..it has a duty too…but NOT THIS WAY….
So Israelb is the only country not allowed to win a war? Can you imagine any other country tolerating rape and murder indiscriminatel why are there not protests about the thousands killed in Syria? No let’s blame the Jews
Tracey, you say "no occupier in the West Bank" yet we hear in near daily news of the atrocities of the growing number of increasingly armed Jewish settlers there upon and against the indigenous Palestinian population, quite likely worse than a formal "occupier" which would presumably be bound by some formal set of laws or regulations.
Tracey, the West Bank is not controlled by Hamas, but rather by the Palestinian Authority. It’s Gaza that is run by Hamas. They are not the same, and lumping them together impedes thinking about real solutions, including a two state solution.
No, just a minority faction in Israel is against a two state solution. They just happen to be part of the coalition that's in power. The majority of Israelis want a separation between the populations. That occurred in Gaza when Israel dismantled Israeli settlements there and left. That has yet to occur in the West Bank.
I especially appreciate your comment…we are being ‘force fed’ Netanyahu right wing agenda…in Israel there are lots of other folks who don’t reflect that and are more amenable to a two state agenda….
Sherman, if you're writing online the ellipse (...) to the lower write of your message gives you access to an edit of your posting after it has been made.
Can’t edit on mobile devices ... yet. I read my morning substacks on m iPad as it’s difficult to move my 27” iMac from my office to the breakfast table every day. 😎
Edited to add: I can edit when I view in a web-browser (as I'm doing right now) but I can't edit in the iOS Substack app I use on my iPad.
Well , Netanyahu and the portion of the Israeli populace that operate by that old farmers motto (I din’t want much, just my land, and my neighbor’s land.) think a two state solution would be a disaster.
Weapons of war are a commodity needing no hedge. No fair market controls for them. Always a bull market it seems. Just endless manufacture and endless buying. Why oh why is it ok to make, not only profit, but unlimited profit on weapons of war? Shouldn’t it be shameful? Yes, money is the incentive for the Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine wars. No doubt. The only time it is de rigueur to be pro life is apparently when it keeps women in their place, denying them power over their bodies. After humans have been born it is acceptable to sacrifice them to generate wealth and corner the market on privilege. It is mind boggling.
A bridge may be expensive, but it connects communities and commerce. It gives back. A bomb is expensive, and it explodes. I don't think we can give up military defense entirely, but apart from the fact that war is mass murder on the very largest scale, you would think one would want to blow up as little money as you possibly could.
Revenue from defense contracts has become sort of like the revenue drug companies make from chronic medical conditions. Once someone is on Lipitor, they're generally on it for life. Antibiotics treat acute conditions; after a 1 or 2 week course, you're done - where's the profit in that? That a large portion of our economy has become dependent on war being a chronic condition says a great deal about possible policy decisions and how they are manipulated. As awful as they are, wars are really acute in nature, that is time limited. How do we manage this reality with our current defense industry's dependence on chronic warfare?
When Bush got us into Afghanistan their GDP was so low it was unmeasurable. And when we walked away 20 years later, it was barely measurable, still in the bottom 20%.
But, as Eisenhower warned, "Beware the military industrial complex."
I don't see that the US and Europe have any choice but to support Ukraine and if the MIC profits from the war, so be it. But remember, what we are spending in Ukraine is less than 3% of the annual US defense budget, plus Biden chose to not have our sons and daughters sent home in body bags, PTSD and missing limbs.
If the Gaza-Israel conflict was due to money, it would be easily solved. "Money is the root of all evil" is bullshit propagated by those who use religion for power and profit.
More deeply, the conflict arises from two populations that have become ignorant about each other, each deeply believing its destiny is tied to the same piece of land. One side was tied to Western institutions and benefitted from the new world that rose after WW-2, while the other side was stuck in pre-Enlightenment feudal culture and got left behind. That's an unfair situation for the Palestinians (an understatement..) that the Biden administration is trying to engage Arab countries to help fix. Note, those Arab countries were stuck in pre-enlightenment feudal modes when they formed mid-1900's, so they were part of the problem. Now after 70 years, they may have progressed enough to be part of the solution.
In the meantime Netanyahu's coalition has got to go.
No, don't blame money for everything. Money can be used for good or for evil depending on how it's used.
What I meant to write was: thank you for your cogent comment today. There is a weird cognitive dissonance about the “pro-life” talk. And how true to recognize that “weapons of war are a commodity needing no hedge”. If we followed the money, we would possibly find the prolonging of the Ukraine/Russia conflict, and the Israel/Hamas conflict intentional, for exactly the reason of getting through the “old supply of weapons” and purchasing the new/updated weapons. War has changed in how it is fought in the age of AI. What better way of disposal of those out dated, aged systems, and munition than to farm them out to a needy cause and take the tax write off? I am pro-Ukraine. I am anti-Hamas. I am anti-Netanyahu. But the mechanizations of the House gop to -at best- slow-walk funding for Ukraine, and criticize Biden’s diplomacy efforts to stabilize the area in Israel, leave me thinking, the prolonged destructive route both conflicts are taking, is calculated to maximize weapon needs.
I wasn't sure where to insert this Paul Krugman gift newsletter. So here goes.
Voters may feel one way, but the economy itself feels fine
Author Headshot
By Paul Krugman
Opinion Columnist
Ten finance guys are drinking in a bar. Nine of them are Masters of the Universe — wheeler-dealers who make many millions of dollars every year. The tenth is what Gordon Gekko, in the movie “Wall Street,” called a “$400,000-a-year working Wall Street stiff.”
Then the stiff leaves for a while, maybe to answer a call of nature. When he leaves, the average income of the guys still in the bar shoots up, because he’s no longer dragging that average down; when he comes back, the average drops again. But these fluctuations in the average don’t reflect changes in anyone’s income.
Why am I telling you this story? Because it’s most of the story of wages in the U.S. economy since Covid-19 struck. In 2020 the average wage of workers who still had a job shot up, because those who were laid off were disproportionately low-wage service workers. Then, as people resumed in-person shopping, started going to restaurants and so on, growth in average wages was held down because those low-wage workers were being rehired. You need to look through these “compositional effects” to figure out what was really happening to earnings as that played out.
Until recently I thought everyone — well, everyone following economic issues — knew this. (Assuming that people know more about the numbers than they actually do is an occupational hazard for nerds who become pundits.) But lately I’ve been seeing even mainstream news organizations publish charts that look like this:
FRED
And these charts are accompanied by commentary to the effect that real wages generally rose under Donald Trump but have generally fallen under Joe Biden, which in turn is supposed to explain why Americans are feeling so negative about the economy.
But that’s not what these charts actually tell us. Mostly they reflect the working stiff temporarily leaving the bar, then coming back.
There are wage measures that try to adjust for changes in the mix of workers, like the Atlanta Fed’s wage growth tracker. If we use this measure instead of average wages, the picture looks like this:
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Bureau of Labor Statistics
The spurious wage surge of 2020 is gone, as is the wage stagnation of early 2021. It’s still true that wages lagged behind inflation in 2021 and 2022, but they have run well ahead of inflation this year.
Even this view of economic performance, however, misses some of the temporary distortions caused by the pandemic. Prices of many commodities were very low in 2020 — the price of oil briefly went negative! — not because policy was good but because the world economy was flat on its back, depressing demand. These prices surged as the economy recovered, and there were also large but temporary disruptions to supply chains — remember all those ships waiting for someplace to unload their cargoes?
Oh, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought war to one of the world’s major food-producing areas.
In the end, it’s basically a fool’s errand to try and compare economic performance before and after the White House changed hands; there was just too much crazy stuff going on. What we can say, with considerable certainty, is that while prices have gone up a lot since the pandemic began, most workers’ wages have risen significantly more:
FRED
OK, at this point one runs into a buzz saw of criticism. I am regularly assured by correspondents that economists’ measures of inflation are meaningless, because they exclude food and energy. No, they don’t; economists often use measures of “core” inflation for analytical purposes, but the Consumer Price Index, which is what I’m using here, includes everything.
Or I’m told that real people know that inflation is still running hot, whatever the government numbers may say. Actually, the American Farm Bureau Association, a private group, tells us that Thanksgiving dinner cost 4.5 percent less this year than last. Gasbuddy.com, another private group, tells us that prices at the pump are down more than 30 percent since their peak last year. Neither turkeys nor gas prices are good measures of underlying inflation, but both show that the narrative of inflation still running wild is just not true.
Sorry, folks, but “immaculate disinflation” — rapidly falling inflation without a recession or a big rise in unemployment — is actually happening. The 2021-22 inflation surge definitely rattled Americans after decades of relative price stability, and I’m not here to lecture people about their feelings. But I guess I am here to lecture journalists about using statistics. Presenting misleading numbers that seem to justify public opinion is actually an act of disrespect: Voters have a right to their feelings, but journalists have a duty to present the facts, as best we can understand them.
And while the public’s negative view of the economy is a major puzzle, acknowledging that puzzle is no reason to soft-pedal the evidence that the U.S. economy is currently doing very well — indeed, much better than even optimists expected a year ago.
Today's piece continues to make it clear. Joe Biden and his administration continues to focus on governing well (fixing the supply chain, constructing roads and bridges) while demonstrating that good governing is also good politics.
Applying this vision to the conflict in Gaza is harder. Blinken's guidelines:
1. no forcible displacement of Palestinians
2. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism
3. No reoccupation of Gaza
4. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza.
5. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.
6. no terrorist threats ... from the West Bank.
7. Gaza unified with the West Bank
8. Palestinian-led government under the Palestinian Authority
9. Sustained mechanism for reconstruction
10. A pathway for 2 states, with security, freedom opportunity, and dignity in each,
Is it conceivable that an American-led international effort could impose? could ensure? could elicit? such a circumstance. Would the US participate in the cost (financial and political) of achieving these goals which ultimately would make Palestine and Israel into normal neighbors. Would the international community be willing to share in the cost? Would American Republicans cooperate in such an effort?
Thank you for this update. Great news about the supply chain. Meanwhile, I’m watching Caddo Parish Louisiana for the one-vote win by the Democrats in the Sheriff’s race. House Speaker Mike Johnson must have his knickers in a twist watching it also.
We call it a supply chain, but it's really a highly interactive network. And who is going to chart and monitor that whole system? Suppliers may do some of it, to the extent it directly affects their business, but they are definitely not paid to worry about the whole thing. That's the job of government.
Since many of them live in states that did not expand their Medicaid systems, far fewer than needed. That is one reason why the poorest county in ME has a higher life expectancy than the richest county in SC.
I love how, near the end, Heather Cox Richardson notes "Trump is playing hard to his base."
While she might have meant his riling up his guaranteed voters (millions, who love being riled up), she might rather intend, or allow also to stand, how the vulgarian in him plays hard to a vulgarity as base as any in American history.
Brazen he is in this vulgarity, exulting in the stochastic violence his hatreds and divisiveness incur.
Meanwhile, the U.S. billionaire classes assiduously seek more for themselves -- at the expense of the tens of millions of the former working classes all poisoned since the billionaires offshored the millions of working-class jobs.
It's as if the worst of Putin, his worst priests and oligarchs, the most greedy of Chinese communist cadres, the most murderous of Saudi royals, and the most rancorous of Modi, Netanyahu, Erdogan, Duterte, Bolsonaro, and Orban nationalists all combine in one base U.S. thug.
Left vs Right... governance vs grievance... rationality vs irrationality... sanity vs insanity... truth vs lies... superego vs id... democracy vs authoritarianism... pluralism vs racism... women's rights vs patriarchy... peace vs violence... wisdom vs ignorance... the common good vs the 1%... "It is the foundation of Western Civilization to face facts. If the facts inconvenience the beliefs, too bad for the beliefs."
As i read this evenings Letter and your reminder that “since 2021, when Biden took office”..... i said to myself, Biden has done so much, created so many initiatives/committees/bills etc that I can hardly believe its just since 2021. I think of the daily torment of Trump preCovid and postCovid and I shudder. Its a nightmare. And Blinken.... truly a most gallant Sec of State. Very proud of this administration. They are unstoppable. TY HCR for your inclusion of the CO judges ruling or position. That was lost in todays MSMs coverage.
I am reminded of January 20, 2021. I was getting ready to leave Hawaii with my in-laws* and (because of being on HST) got to watch most of the inauguration as we were packing up. One of the last things I saw was Joe Biden “going to work” at the White House. By the time we arrived at SeaTac, the mask requirements had been restored.
Damn, this post is long on Biden and short on chump. Maybe because Biden has been working his arse off to get stuff done. Big stuff. And short on chump because he wants to kill the actual ACA and rename it the “trump Miracle Act.” Tell the tale MSM.
Yeah, this infrastructure and supply chain efforts are a 'really big deal' . The school I work with has an elevator out of service for lack of parts. I'm glad to hear Biden continues to work on this because it's still a problem. Biden and his Administration are actually doing work. The MAGA Repubs continue to Showboat. I'm not saying all Repubs are bad and it's good to hear some are actually calling Trump out by name. And yes, I'm glad Biden and Bernie et al, are pushing for a two state solution while giving aid to innocent Palestinians.
Is anyone else super impressed with Antony Blinken, and the job he is doing? Selecting great people for the various jobs in the administration is probably the most important thing a president can do, along with the willingness to rely on them! A stark contrast to Trump!
AJB & HCR, classmates - Harvard ’84
40th Reunion - 2024 Would like to hear those two on a panel discussion
HCR may be just famous enough and having the ear of the Biden administration that this might not be beyond the realm of possibility!
Joe's readin' her book. (DJT would be using it as a plate for his cheeseburger)
Getting an unofficial plug from Biden! Class. Much better than Goya beans on the Resolution desk! trump has no class.
lol Bill ~
I loved the shot of Biden holding "Democracy Awakening" His face said it all.
Wouldn’t that be something!
Truly from day 1 of Biden’s admin he has had his admin ‘on the ground’ producing positive outcomes around the world.
Impresses me. I do all I can consistently to share these amazing contributors
Me too Patricia. I have 13 envelopes to the NYTimes Board Directors waiting to go to the post office. I know- old tech - but old is beautiful !
Thank You 🫶!!!!!!
Compare Biden's team to Trump's revolving door of clueless and corrupt sycophants.
One of my concerns is: are there more of us who research and can see our hands in front of our faces? Or are there more stubborn and blind to any other way of thinking type people who won't even look at other ideas. Similar to those women who want to ban books but never even read them.
I'm in awe, frankly. The flying alone would do me in.
I've been thinking the very same thing, Margaret. Blinken is constantly crossing time zones and you have to wonder whether he's able to function, but function he does, at optimum level. I also marvel at Biden. He has kept a brutal schedule since his inauguration, in defiance of his right wing detractors. This is remarkable for an 81-year-old.
Nancy,
As someone who spent 36 years shooting back and forth in and out of different time zones, it is hard at any age. Forget age and focus on character and purpose.
Jean, although I've never traveled for my profession, at 80 I've traveled internationally for many years, and you're correct - it's never easy. When you consider that the weight of the world is on the shoulders of these exceptional people, their ability to cope proves that they are truly national treasures
I have trouble doing CT to CA
Remarkable particularly in contrast with Trump’s well known limited time at work on matters other than his re-election and golf!
Tim, if we're able to maintain our sanity through the '24 election, it will be interesting to finally see just how "accurate" the polls are, especially since even MSM is using them as their guiding light when discussing Biden's chances of winning. If they put more effort into reporting the enormous work Biden has expended and success he's had in righting this ship of state, while perhaps alluding to the malfeasance that most GOP politicians have exhibited, the pollsters would be singing a different tune.
81 years YOUNG!
81 is the new 77.
Nancy,
It is remarkable for any age to be able to function because one strives for excellence . When surrounded with vulgar blather, as we are with social media too often, one tends to start heading for the “drain”. In other words, we feel washed up and wrung out!!!
That’s funny....for all the rhetoric the definitive opposition rants about , repeats incessantly, boring the airwaves with or concocting new BS I’d think far many more would realize the grating GOP gasping grifts. Good Gracious🤦♀️
Thank you Heather..marvelous .
Share folks . It’s the works of truth , words of progress, leadership , teamwork.
I’m so proud to be a part of. 🫶🥰☮️❤️
Patricia, I do share this letter everyday which often tells us of all the good things that Biden and his team are doing. The Atlantic, btw, had an article yesterday how this quiet competence may cost Biden the election. So we all should be shouting his achievements from the rooftops. And there was yesterday's news about how many billions people spent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Today is Giving Tuesday, so please support, if you can, your favorite charities and causes.
I think I will start sending copies of Heather's letters to the producers of PBS Newshour! During their Monday night politics segments they only seem to be able to harp on Biden's age. So exasperating!
I give them grief everytime, am a sustainer, and I keep touting the BLUE MESSAGE, it needs frequency on the airwaves, there’s something EVERY DAY TO BE PROUD OF and Biden’s Team is consciously working miracles.
Don’t underestimate the power WE have here either...keep it up folks ..winning team🥰
Yes, I'm weary of the polling talk on PBS Politics Monday- think I'll skip it for a while. Let's hear about issues, policy & results, contrasted with the Other Party.
A stat they quoted last night was that 50% of Democrats think Joe Biden has the stamina and mental fitness to be president. 90% of Republicans think Trump has the stamina, etc. Seemed strange, because Trump’s committed base is much less than 90%.
Trump's Base should BE committed.
There’s NOTHING to believe coming from the MAGA crowd. Period.
Until MAGA-minded voters value constructive government and that operates on facts more than destructive government that operates on bamboozling voters with lies and name calling, little can be done to encourage MAGA voters to see the light. But then, MAGA voters have agency: they can reject the lies. If only they would take on their agency.
I look at them all as MAGATs feeding on the body of America.
When those historically in power (White Christians) realized they are in decline, they are no longer interested in constructive government.
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/24/1214278131/all-democracies-are-fragile-here-are-the-early-signs-of-civil-war-at-home-and-ab
Excellent link; thank you.
Some keep the name and throw out the morals - CHINOS. As a species we can talk, but I'm not sure we are the smartest.
True believer MAGA voters are beyond help. It's other voter we should try to reach
Michele, I read that article by Tom Nichols. It was very depressing.
I saw the headline and refused to read it because I knew I would be depressed.
That’s what I thought too—but then I remembered he has his own plane. I could handle having my own plane …
This is OUR / MY taxes gladly given. AND,I am supporting many on this ship of success. I am so proud of the work Biden and this BLUE team do....not only do we ADMIT our mistakes but doggedly stay the course towards progress. Every. Move.
What mistakes have they admitted to?
The border?
Afghanistan?
Ukraine war?
The economy?
Inflation?
Use of the FBI against political opponents?
The open border?
Which one?
May I add, President Biden, Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkin, and members of the administration are working on a path to peace for the Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in their own states with respect and honor.
CIA Chief ALAN BURNS, the "3rd Principal if you will, is in Qatar now to talk with a Mossad Rep
Thank you Byan Sean McKown for adding the work of CIA Chief, William J. Burns, on this plan of peace.
'William J. Burns, the C.I.A. head, and David Barnea, who leads the Mossad, Israel’s spy service, are scheduled to meet with officials in Qatar, which has been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas.' (NYTimes)
Exclamation mark.
Recommend: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/24/1214278131/all-democracies-are-fragile-here-are-the-early-signs-of-civil-war-at-home-and-ab
Interesting to know what the CIA is watching for. At least abroad anyway.
Fascinating and troubling.
I believe his name is William Burns.
The wee hours on the West Coast no excuse. Danka
I thought Jared did this? ; ()
LOL.
😝😝😝
Presidential candidate Blinken with Vice Presidential candidate Buttigieg 2028 ... though lacking diversity, these two are a dynamic duo!
☮️
Remember Buttigieg is gay. There’s a marginalized community!
Less marginalized in the youth vote , they are savvy , there’s amazing minds yet untouched in populations of such. This white supremacy has been a plague for a longtime , so many cultures, amazing differences, amazing attributes and wealth in their own diversity ...it’s really beginning to be recognized -the youth of today brings that strongly to front page ( thanks , kids😉) .
Being taken back in time by poisoned pens is ALSO THEIR undoing ...remains to be seen how many see the light...the ‘theys’ have tried throwing the baby out with the bath water ...we lent them an ear ..the message is clear...
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
I’m a lesbian, I still don’t want two white men as the ticket. No
Also, being a gay white male with his education is not even close to representing the marginalized, definitely not women or people of color so let’s not pretend that it is. Pete also has always struck me as a Republican. But he isn’t insane and so obviously markets himself as a moderate conservative Democrat.
Obviously every gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation cannot be represented by two people. Go for the very best!!
The ONGOING slate BOLDLY emphasizes DEMOCRATIC politicians- winning working warriors of amazing fortitude . BRAVO! STAND PROUDLY! THANK YOU🫶☮️
They are displaying the principles of peace, progress, positively pushing for solutions, shoring up the areas having shown weakness under years of horrific odds , and successfully bringing *togetherness* FOR THE PEOPLE, FOR OUR WORLD🤝✌️👏
We know now who undermines, their false flags ,hatred still spewing loudly , divisive tactics to undo- their money thrown down dark spirals of mired pits.
I am grateful for this.
It is a lesson unfortunately needed ...seen now for what it brought ...
💙💙VOTE OUT ALL THOSE COMPLICIT💙💙
No more white men only tickets, no thank you.
At this point Tina - it is imperative that a ticket with the right platform (regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation) have the max chances of winning the vote. If the American voting public (at least the side that actually employs pragmatic evidence-based thinking) is happiest with a certain make-up of its prospective leaders, so be it. If it ends up being two white guys, so be it. I would rather it was not so. I want women in there, personally. But what I really want is to erase this current anti-democratic, science-denialist political nightmare entirely. It's an existential risk.
Don’t mansplain I’ve been on the earth long enough to know that that is veiled sexism and racism. Maybe you are aren’t aware of that. BTW don’t happen to be a white male? I thought so.
Please don't. I am a man, but that doesn't mean this is mansplaining or that I am sexist. I do my best not to be. I am a white person; that doesn't mean I am racist. I do my best not to be. I'll say it again - I would like to see a woman on the ticket. But Hillary lost - not by much - but lost. And look what it got us - the most appalling and damaging administration in our history. And the damages continue and are in danger of becoming far worse if he gets re-elected. Many many people did not vote for Hillary (I did BTW, with gusto) because they did not think a woman should be a president. A very stupid notion - but that is the way it was. Had Bernie (a white male) been in there, things might have been different. My whole point is that at this point, the danger of losing an election to these cretin fascist people on the far right is far far greater than the make-up of our candidates. Get people on the ballot who the experts and the polls say will get the most votes. Period. BTW - this is all moot IMO. I think a ballot with more diversity is the right answer anyway and will prove more popular.
Yes, but.
The weakness of the Democratic Party recently has been letting "perfection be the enemy of the good" as Robert Hubbell put it. More to the point is a quote from Rebecca Solnit: "I think of voting as a chess move, not a Valentine."
A good chess player is looking ahead to the move after this move...and maybe the move after that.
And a ticket with two white men is NOT right. Not with all of the amazing intelligent women and people of color in politics these days.
I want a black woman president. Just look at what those 2 black female judges are doing to Trump. Tough, smart, fearless.
Damn right Judith. If only enough people would vote for either of them. The country would benefit greatly to say the least.
"...with all of the amazing intelligent women and people of color in politics these days." Agree 100%. But being a political superstar doesn't mean you will get the most votes. To get the most votes means recognizing the electorate, warts and all.
Science denying? Which one?
You mean the people who lied about the COVID vaccine efficacy? Booster efficacy? Natural immunity? Myocarditis in young men? Mask efficacy?
Then tried to cover and shadow ban anyone who disputed their bogus claims?
Ok James, I'll bite. My wife is an intensive care nurse who had direct experience with Covid patients throughout the pandemic, and was up on all things Covid and all things vaccines. Pretty easy for her to tell BS from good info. Plus- unlike the many conspiracy theorists out there, I chose to trust the CDC's information as opposed to more unqualified sources. So did my wife. Not Trump BTW, and for that he should burn in hell for eternity.... First - and so many people do not understand this - Covid was a new disease. Some similarities to past viruses, but new nonetheless. The medical science community did not have all the answers immediately, and had to learn as time went by. All the while faced with dire urgency, as hoards of people were dying. That would be why some things were tried and ended up not effective, and why the science changed course sometimes. No reason to think something nefarious was happening. Vaccine efficacy - was very effective in cutting down deaths and severe symptoms. At no time were vaccines claimed to prevent catching the virus; only to reduce symptoms. Same with boosters. Why do people think CDC was lying about that? Natural immunity - don't know what you mean. Catch Covid, survive, and then have natural immunity? Well yes, at least for a time until the virus mutated enough to beat the immunity. Nobody disputes that. The danger of course was catching it at all - the sick person might not survive to gain natural immunity. Hence the push to get vaccinated. Myocarditus in young men - rare, but a thing. And, it tended to self-resolve in fairly short order. I believe that was listed as a potential side effect early on. Was there a cover-up? I don't remember one. Mask efficacy - masks were always effective to a certain degree. As for many airborne diseases, masking up reduces the chance for spread. During those days, the virus was spreading like wildfire. A host of measures put in place helped limit the spread - social distancing, masking up, hand washing, etc. Made sense then, and continues to.
So James - where was the science denial in all that? You have it backwards. The science denial came from those who were being financially or politically hurt by the restrictions. Or would otherwise benefit from denying or twisting scientific findings. Just like a whole host of inconvenient truths that our science community comes up with as they simply do their jobs - which is to better understand the world we live in. It goes on and on and on. CO2 levels and global warming. Tobacco and its link to cancer. Evolution versus creationism. CFC's and the ozone layer. Many other egregious examples..
No, the post claimed that Republicans were science deniers. I was refuting the claim.
You couldn't find a leftist between 2020-2022 on TV who with sanctimony, claimed they believed in science. Now they've all run away and pretended like it never happened. Its disgraceful.
I'm not sure what bubble you live in, people Jayanta Bhattacharya and Alex Berenson
who challenged government orthodoxy on COVID were suspended and banned from
Twitter and other social media platforms at the request of the Biden Administration.
Be clear the government was wrong in virtual wrong on every claim they made:
1) The Vaccine - was never tested before it was deployed. Pzifer admitted it.
2) The Vaccine never stopped transmission
3) The booster not only didn't work, they weakened the immune system.
4) Mask don't work. Cochrane Study debunked the mask claim
It was all a lie. Anyone who disputed it was censored, silenced, and potentially fired from their
job.
As climate change it a joke. CO2 is .04% of the atmosphere. Its risen approx .01%.
How much of climate is made man v cyclical? Every prediction has been wrong.
Its become a political football not a scientific one.
I don't believe the elites believe a word of it. They fly around in private jets and live in mansions
that produce tremendous amounts of CO2.
China and India produce 80% of the world's Co2. When they lower their usage then we can reduce ours until then its just a suicide mission on our economy.
Evolution is a terrible explanation for the origin of the universe. Intelligent seems like a much more plausible cause.
Now that, is funny.
Any successful leader surrounds themselves with can-do people, good communicators and negotiators, people that aren’t looking for glory but to get a job done. Antony Blinken is a great example. Trust among those can-do people enable the entire team to deliver results more quickly because they don’t have to keep double checking on everyone in the organization to assure “everyone is doing their job”. Sounds easy but it’s a culture that takes time to build. President Biden’s “age issue” has built or has identified that network of can-do types over many years of service to this, our country. It is NOT a liability but a valuable strength. Professor Heather Cox Richardson is the one that quietly informs us of those people and processes. The corporate media does not! I think it’s incumbent on each of us to repeat the story. This newsletter and also that of Simon Rosenberg (Hopium) are the ingredients and instructions on what works to accomplish what I think all of us appreciate so much because it is so lacking in our newsrooms.
I would add to that list the "Columbia Journalism Review". The first time I saw this publication was yesterday and it was through a link from one of the LFAA newsletter commenters. I think this publication is very informative with very good articles. Check them out.
A decade ago I subscribed and was very satisfied. I got more on my plate and let it lapse. Yes, I recommend CJR!
YES!!!👏 Say it loudly my brothers , my sisters.
💙💙BLUE TSUNAMI💙💙’24...onward compadres ✌️
Yes, I'd vote for Blinken for POTUS in a heartbeat.
I have been thinking that for awhile, how impressed I am with Blinken. I just pray nothing happens to him, he looked so tired last week to me anyways. He is working so hard and does his job so well. President Biden really had good sense to pick him for the great job he is doing. Such responsibility Mr Blinken has!
Sec Blinken has reestablished statemenship to this department. Pompous Pompeo (trump late) was a blowhard goon emasculates by trumps undermining diatribes.
As has MANY of these current and shinning leaders..amazing words Louis ..thank you🙌
A stark contrast to almost everything.
Oh but didn't trump promise he'd hire only the best people?!?!?!
Oh, no, he lied about that too!!!!
; ) ;) ;)
And if he gets the chance again he really will hire the best sycophants, autocratic, vile (I'm looking at you Stephen Miller, Mr. Wannabe Himmler!) repulsive, crooked individuals he can find under any number of rocks!
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COM0LICIT OUT💙💙
He also was going to bring us the BEST health care system! It was only 2 weeks away at one point!
I was just thinking, Blinken has got to be exhausted......
I'm exhausted just watching and reading what they all are accomplishing!! So impressive.
He has young children, one is four or five. He plays in a rock band and sings.
He is an Aries. Infinite well of energy. He was MADE for what he is doing. I am certain that it actually infuses him with energy to do his job and do it well
Blinken suggested that his name be spelled A. Blinken, which he suggested we read aloud. Then he laughed. Another reason to like this fellow.
And he can rock!
https://youtu.be/NZ5-pgpIITo?si=X0ZtHh7xz8CP7ZTS
Stark contrast with Mike "Pompous" Pompeo!!
Isn't he the one who keeps aiding and abetting attempted genocide in Gaza? Are we supposed to be impressed by that?
Read more
Heather says ,”don’t feed the trolls”..thanks Dave😉
“A crumb of cheese causes indigestion and visits from ghosts”
🧀
Who besides Hamas is advocating genocide? Hamas’ written charter is to kill all Jews everywhere, not just Jews in Israel. Btw, not all Israelis are Jewish.
Hamas is no different than every other jihadist terrorist organization, al Quada, Boko Haram, etc etc. 9/11, various bombings all over the world. Many that were tortured and slaughtered and kidnapped on Oct 7 were not Israelis at all. Note too that there was a ceasefire on Oct 6.
Being ready to kill perhaps 2,000,000 people is not genocide? Read Theodore Henzl's commentary - the founding writing of Zionism. No, all Israelis are not Jewish. See Christmas Lutheran Church - Bethlehem; Church of the Redeemer - Jerusalem; Al Aqsa - Jerusalem; St. George Episcopal Cathedral - Jerusalem; Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza; etc. etc. They all existed well before Israel. Then you might read up on the civil rights and voting rights of the members of those institutions.
Nah! Actually trying to eradicate the genocidal policies used by both combatants!
Dream on. I suppose that's why Biden and company want to change the laws to give Israel unlimited access to American weapons stockpiles - so Hamas can practice genocide on Israel?
The mainstream media definitely needs to start promoting all the good that is happening in our economy and on the world stage and stop making fun of Pres Biden’s age.
Age brings us all down eventually, but chronological age is less meaningful than some other measures while we live. Take emotional maturity, which can be a big deal, especially as responsibility increase upon one’s shoulders. Biden seems like an “adult in the room”. Trump? Well, you saw the Trump blimp, but seriously, what does he say? What does he do? What is his demeanor? Would you really want to trust him to watch your dog?
Well how about mental clarity? Productivity? Again results may vary. What are Trump’s accomplishments? Not just the FUBAR stuff, but accomplishments; problems solved, beneficial actions initiated? Looks like Trump’s left back in the playpen on that score as well. The stakes are high, the challenges are daunting, the future of generations to come may be saved or lost on our watch, or at least on the basis of upcoming decisions. Who is doing anything useful to solve it? Could that be “The News”?
How did the Republicans work us into this defensive posture? Look at Congress. Look at his opponent. Lots of aging politicians. Now look at what President has accomplished.
I invite people to get off the ropes about President Biden's age.
Yes. He is old. Now let's talk about what he has done at home for the American people and Internationally.
Older, not old in all too many important characteristics needed in a world leader!
I appreciate the sentiment and I agree. But to the fascists who want to destroy Biden, Democracy and the voters in 2024 that would still be viewed as defensive hair splitting.
MAGA faithful are locked in a paralysis of thinking by dynamics. Orwell modeled how it works, but there are plenty of real world examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group) . It is actually very important that we evaluate those to whom we trust critical social responsibilities by their evidence-based fitness, not age, sex, race, disability, etc., and speak what we believe to to true to whoever might hear it. Successful social movements have generally faced daunting resistance at their inception. Perseverance furthers.
I get so tired of everyone talking about Biden’s age with no comparison to Trump’s. He’s 77 only 3 years younger and an old man too! Age is no indication of mental sharpness and productivity. The MSM, et al need to let that go.
Plus he's a real creep. A demonstrably dangerous one.
When people tell me that he is "too old", I tell them that if that is the only thing they can come up with against him, that is a pretty shallow argument. Unfortunately, people don't want to read.
Then it is up to us to point out the accomplishments of the Biden Administration. We should have the kitchen table facts at the ready. Such as inflation was zero between September and October.
I don't think that Biden's age is irrelevant, and health becomes more iffy it that territory of life, but Trump is in that place too, and seems to lead a more risky lifestyle. Moreover, in film of young Trump, while he was creepy even then, seemed to display a noticeably more articulate man than I see today; and that's not saying much about the quality of his rhetoric in either case.
Apart from awkward moments that pale in comparison to many "huh?" events in Reagan's presidency, which the press was inclined to dismiss as charming, Biden seems sharper than the average elected official, especially on the "GOP" side of things. I wish Biden were younger, but it's not a deal breaker, especially in current circumstances. In fact I find Biden saying and supporting some of the things I hoped I would hear from any president for many years.
The respect for ELDERS has sustained many cultures, wisdom takes many long roads to develope.
The usefulness of wise council couldn’t be more clear today.
The bleating bray of one upmanship ...never won .
Nature tends to be utilitarian. I suspect that one of the reasons we live so much longer than our childbearing peak is to watch the kids as grandparents while the parents work, but also to provide continuity of knowledge, which we as a species pass so successfully by pedagogy in the bulk of human generations before print and technical media. We as sentient beings remain, I think, the richest medium for certain sorts of human and cultural knowledge that, I think, is not fully translatable to books and digital storage. I don't think we are being trained for that, however, and I don't think we are exploring it thoroughly enough. There are still a place for "elders" even as our means and styles of communication change rapidly. There is also a seemingly overlooked potential in more deliberately including the fresh perspective of youth.
We have come a long way in life expectancy through discovery of antibiotics ,vaccines, and safe cleanup cautions. Good practical progress. But then the family unit took unprecedented clout as manufacturing manipulation made ghost towns by job availability scarce. Those too poor to move now care for their grandchildren en masse as further corporate intent sanctioned drug abuse and the demise of middle class.
Can we train a population to care ? Or is survival after the only recourse -which is definitely utilitarian. Has the quality of life been replaced by greed , pollution overlooked for profit margins, and truth turned into conspiracy theories on top of lies.
We have one more election to test this American Dream .
I hope to see trust in it restored.
It seems to me that Democrats have taking something of an overly defensive posture since Reagan. What do we stand for?
I could not agree more JL. My mother passed away two years ago at the age of 90. Her physical body had slowed down, but her mental acuity had not. Age is a number and each of us age differently. Let us respect and honor the life a
person lives not the number of their years. As you said, JL, the number can bring with it great knowledge and wisdom.
and something even more valuable, which is EXPERIENCE.
I’m reminded of a quip I read (while in college) in a Reader’s Digest while standing in a grocery line once: “I’m surprised at how much smarter my Dad got when I was away at college”. It did not escape my internal irony that I’d had that thought myself. I had to take myself down a couple pegs.
I was the recipient of that with my nephew who told me mid way through his sophomore year who said of his mother/my sister that he’d always thought she wasn’t smart, but realized how much she knew after he learned more.
My mother-in-law was much more blunt: “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill”.
oh definitely, yes.
You've got to watch that treachery though. I think the root of all science, surely wisdom, is knowing how tentative and uncertain our state if knowing appears to be. Ever, and it's easy to overestimate when you've come a long way fast. Also when seeing what doofuses we adults can be, but before bearing the specific slings and arrows of being one.
That said, the kid at the Emperor's New Clothes parade had the right idea. He/she would be lucky, though, if those around him, perhaps even the parents, didn't hush, him/her up. It takes courage and luck to remain authentic.
If we learn from it, which we can do and do do from birth, but what do we OBSERVE? My experience is that one can be very clever and/or learned, but not so observant, and one can be, is virtually forced to be observant in early youth. An acquaintance who has been the head of astrophysics at Columbia, has spoken about teaching curious fourth graders vs undergrad freshmen at Columbia, many of who are just there because they have to be the get the degree, and make no bones about saying so. What happens to that natural curiosity? Does it just decline with age or are we as a society failing to cultivate it? My guess is mostly the latter. The demonstrable importance of what we notice is tautologically important, clever or not.
Also what we notice arguably impacts our internal quality of life. And what is important? The scientific method can help us explore and sort that one but not answer in our stead. I think it helps to compare notes while sorting. I strongly suspect the wisdom requires this.
Your comment about being “left back in the playpen” is unkind and unfair to children who are so much more mature than the Pretender President.
Yes, I don't want the reader to confuse the Former Guy with genuine, developmentally appropriate children, even those with a "mean streak". However, a childish emotional makeup, in particular, a invariably and radically self-centered one in an adult body, is a problem. If devoid of conscience or empathy, can make for a malicious sociopath. QED
You may recall the laser-like hate stare of schoolgirl Greta Thunberg directed to His Orangeness some years back. Greta has proved that chronological age and emotional maturity are not always linked, and that one can be angry and still be an "adult in the room".
Repubs need “frontmen” so they can pass their corporate policies while we fight over culture issues. The news is part of the corporate group.
How has the growth of mega-corporations and the demise of anti-trust affected our society from a "big picture" view? That the Tyrannosaurus in the room that seem to draw only sideward glances.
Yes! Between career lobbyists & the Citizens United ruling corporations have become de facto rulers. It’s their lobbying that enabled weakening anti-trust measures among other anti people, anti climate legislation. (Offshoring for example)
FUBAR, googled, ok! Think ill take the new series in on Netflix.
I learned yesterday for the first time that threats to the judge and clerk in Trump’s New York State Civil Trial were mostly anti-Semitic in nature, including death threats. This is consistent with Trump’s constant attacks on progressive American Jews.
The Jewish Library Project’s “Shootings Targeting American Jews” (1999 to the Present) listed nine such incidents and all but two involved far-right extremists.
FBI Director Wray has reported that right-wing extremists threats against American Jews have increased dramatically.
Alas, watching 24-hour news channels would lead one to believe that progressive college students pose the greatest anti-Semitic threat.
Americans need to know that Trump is stoking anti-Semitic violence against Americans Jews and has gone so as to file with the courts motions to say he has a right to do so. The threat to American Jews is a far-right attack and its leader is Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
The historic union between progressive American Jews, Black and Brown people needs to be preserved if we are to defeat American fascism. The Democratic Party and President Biden can’t win in November 2024 without it.
"Trump is stoking anti-Semitic violence against American Jews" is a fact because it plays to his base. Remember Charlottesville in 2017? The marchers were shouting "Jews will not replace us?" This brought me out of my chair! What? That's Klan talk. It makes no difference is the equivalent of the Second Coming, the racists, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes will support their "Glorious Leader" because "he is them." What I think we need to realize is that we're actually at war with an enemy that wants to destroy our democracy. We need to fight like hell. I'm 83 and I do wish that we Dems had a younger person as POTUS candidate. That having been said, I am leading the charge here to grow the various clubs. At this point, it isn't the reality that counts on the national scene, but rather what is perceived. I fear that we will have another Ruth Bader Ginsburg experience.
Ginsburg’s seat was at risk of being coopted by McConnell’s willingness to do anything to block a Supreme Court replacement going to a progressive.
She would have had to give up her seat pre 2015 to ensure a Democratic president and controlled senate would name and confirm a progressive replacement.
McConnell held up Obama’s nomination of Garland to fill Scalia’s seat. He then rushed Barrett to fill Ginsburg seat. In between, Justice Kennedy negotiated (against all rules) his former clerk, Kavanaugh, to replace him in a deal with Trump who had a questionable lending relationship with Kennedy’s son who was an executive at Duetsche Bank.
It was incredibly unseemly and had the hands of Leonard Leo and conservative billionaires puling stings.
Let’s re-elect Biden instead of assuming a replacement is more feasible.
I still want to know what was behind Kennedy’s resignation.
Biden is by far the best president of my lifetime, which began during the first summer of the Eisenhower ADministration. He has demonstrated the ability to handle himself the way a LeMans competitor handles a race car. He'll do fine.
Richard, we’re contemporaries.
I wish you had watched me rake leaves the other day, load them into bins, carry those to a growing mountain of leaves I’d raked while a man across the way in his 60s used machines: a vacuum, blower etc. I smiled my way along using all the muscles & joints as well as my brain in the sun and bracing air. So far I’d guess this brain and body are humming along just fine.
Ageism!?!
‘Have you noticed how others say:’Good to keep moving’ as you age?!?
I want to tell them to look in the mirror.
Joe Biden’s amazing.
Not a former dancer as I was, but an expert as a leader in this s troubled world.
I urge all of us over the side of 60, to use our entire bodies ...not just legs (or brain) to stay as well, effective and happy as Biden appears to be.
I am with you, Samm. No one comes close to guessing my age. I shoot under my age at times on a difficult golf course and had my 8th hole-in-one the other day. But, that's you and me. I know many who are younger and are on the verge of being feeble. Age is relative. It's the masses and their concerns and conceptions that concern me.
I’m with you Richard.
I like your use of the word ‘concern’.
There’s such balance in that.
No wonder you landed a hole in one.
Wow 🤩
I mentioned the other day that Mandela became President of South Africa at 76, and served for 5 years after that. I doubt his age was mentioned.
Richard, have the accomplishments of the last few years by Biden Adm led you to believe in a comparison of Biden to Ginsberg? If so, how?
If not, your fear of what is not known should not overcome the facts in play now
What happens, if midway through the campaign, say next June or July, Biden dies. Can Kamala Harris (who was my first choice) win the day? I have my doubts. I think that Biden has knocked the ball out of the ballpark. But, I have these concerns.
Once again, the fear of what “might” happen should not interfere with the support of what Biden’s leadership is demonstrating now
“Any candidate” could suddenly die. Biden’s current health is not in question, only the possibility that his mental acuity might decline because of “agism” concerns fostered by MAGA media spilling over into the NYT and WAPO
I See no current evidence of any mental decline at the moment. Quite the opposite
So, your real concern is Kamala Harris, not Joe Biden. She was a necessary VP candidate the first time around, but now not so much.
However, cannot see J. Biden and his Brain Trust replacing her as VP candidate this time around.
My concern is both - Biden's age and Kamala's lack of Charisma. Made more so because I agree with you that Biden will probably not replace her. My guess is that Biden's Republican opponent will be Nikki Haley and she could unite the Republican Party. The hope would be that the MAGA/KKK group would be so disappointed in TFG not running that they'd stay home and not vote. Compound all of that with the failure of the Democratic Party to find someone who really knows how to run the organization. We Dems need a really, really good propaganda machine in place to counter the disinformation and misinformation disseminated by the likes of Fox, OAN, Alex Jones and Newsmax.
Biden is very unlikely to die. He's a very youthful 81, with an unusually quick mind, whether he's in Israel, in Ukraine, or in China, and regardless of how many time zones he's crossed.
If he were at all compromised, his family, with whom he is very close, would certainly tell him that running again is a bad idea, and he would assuredly listen to them, and drop out of the race.
What's really weird too is that Voldemort's favorite child married an American Jew and they are raising their children in the Jewish faith...just another contradiction in the orange menace.
We, as voters, need to promote all that President Biden has done. We should have salient facts at our ready; not rely on the biased clickbait media.
For example:
There was zero inflation between September and October
Prices increased only 2.1% over the past 12 months.
Inflation is a global phenomenon, due to COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that it is lower here in the US than any other G7 country.
People MUST read Simon Rosenberg. You can find him at Substack on his Hopium.
Mr. Rosenberg is a political strategist, data expert and election genius.
He has every bit of information you need to use in normal everyday conversation to fight the malaise and disinformation of American voters right now.
Price gouging by corporations making record profits is also an element of high prices masking as inflation.
Yes it is. And we need to point that out. Presidents don't set prices.
It all comes down to greed.
I'm sick of hearing how boomers are killing the housing market for young adults. Try Wallstreet whores buying up entire neighborhoods. Oil companies are dancing over their mammoth profits. Corporations are making bank off our backs. Whatever happened to boycotts. What if for one day no one bought gas? What if we boycotted that $7.00 box of cereal? Call these companies and bitch. It's about the whores of greed. Nice to know cigarette companies applied their same pathology to our food chain when they owned them. Addictive foods that take years off our lives. It's all feels so predatory.
Say it over and over again! Corporate price gouging is well evidenced by their record profits!
That's a tough nut to crack, but generally corporations are massive structures to enrich self serving minorities under the aegis of freedom loving capitalism. Not that many benefits don't flow therefrom.
My term is ‘rogue capitalism’! In theory, competition should neuter price gouging. Today, any competitor is bought out or price badgered into bankruptcy! Consider, the ‘Zon’ was recently sued because the small reseller has to agree that it will not sell at a lower price on any other media platform!
Capitalism is a theory, in practice it has gone rogue!
It's really not. Use data. Simon Rosenberg has a graph on his Substack Hopium on prices. It's in a graph. The data is all there. We need to use it.
Typically called "supply and demand", across the board in the market economy ethos. When does profit maximization become "greed"? I'm putting Simon Rosenberg on a watch list just the same. Thanks.
Well Frank we are here with corporate greed run amok. Corporations are seeing triple digit profits. They are supporting the Fascist Republicans and are influencing the media in tilting towards constant anti-Biden "reporting".
The good news? We keep winning!
Here is real deal on how elections have been going:
The DailyKos special election tracker has Democrats outperforming 2020 results by 7.6 points over 25 races across the US this year. Amazing!
A recent 538 analysis found in a broader set of elections Democrats were outperforming the partisan lean of the district by 10 points. Today 538 published an update, Democrats have been winning big in special elections: that could bode well for them in the 2024 election. It includes this passage: “It’s also the latest example of Democrats outperforming in a special election, a trend that could be a harbinger of a very good year for Democrats in 2024. This New Hampshire district is 6 percentage points more Republican-leaning than the nation as a whole, according to a weighted average of the 2020 and 2016 presidential results in the district.* Yet Rafter won by 12 points — an 18-point Democratic overperformance above their partisan baseline.”
This year Democrats also flipped the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, winning by 11 points and getting all the way to 56%: we flipped 2 Republican leaning cities, Jacksonville and Colorado Springs; and we won the August Ohio ballot initiative 57-41. In 2022 we got to 59% in CO, 57% in PA, 55% in MI and 54% in NH. We keep performing at the upper end of what’s possible.
On Twitter today prominent GOP strategist Chris Wilson, sharing the NH results, wrote: “Precursor to what would occur should Trump be the GOP nominee. Republicans will be wiped out in 2024.”
Source: Rosenberg
And how much travel over the weekend $$$ and how much shopping on black friday$$$ and how much more shopping yesterday $$$.
More like greedflation.
I’ll ck Rosenberg out. Thanks.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe is doing a fabulous job promoting all the good in contrast with fascist wanna be behavior. Kudos to them!
When im in the mood, a great goto place for a morning Rant.
Just saw this article by Robert Reich relating to the media.
https://www.alternet.org/trump-and-the-media/
Thanks, just signed up, for the free version.
Hope springs eternal, doesn't it...
In addition to Simon Rosenberg's great data, real polling, real election results, Georgia Fisanick is an excellent number cruncher, situational analyst and covering a broad spectrum of what we are dealing right now in this phase of the insurrection.
She is on Substack at View From the Porch.
We need an organized campaign to contact the MSM about it’s poor coverage of Biden and his accomplishments.
Grr. Dictation! It’s “its” in comment.
Don't hold your breath that the MSM will do any such thing. I'm amazed that Face the Nation hosted Rep. Buck.
And since the corporate media does not shine a light on the good deeds of this administration, we must!
That is so true: let's stop talking about candidates' age and start talking about their competence and track records.
WE CAN FILL THAT VOID TERRI, thanks for making that clear 👏👏 it’s definitively a PART OF THE OPPOSITION’S TACTIC.
🗣️Be that said loudly!!!!
It’s their pocketbooks they’re most interested in ...I don’t need to emphasize how effective boycotts were AND STILL YET CAN BE!
We have different motive ...☮️🎶🥰🤝
Trying to convince voters that there're a prey to false consciousness is not, shall we say, a winning political message. And really, it's laughable to imagine that the media can persuade the American people that Bidenomics is full of wonders and marvels. Every trip to the supermarket or the gas pump refutes that puerile happy talk.
This is a great article (gifted) about Joe Biden from 2020. I would sent it to those who need bolstering as well as the book it cites: Young Joe Biden ‘Wild Stallion’ - the book is What it Takes
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/opinion/joe-biden-2020-1988-what-it-takes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.B00.HQE_.utxIT4mGUbd9&smid=url-share
Someone must be earning a whole lotta money off the Israel-Gaza conflict… I’m wondering who it is. Netanyahu himself? War isn’t about religion, it’s about money; religion is only an excuse (as is skin colour, language, or favourite soccer club).
Also please, can somebody put a sock in Gym Jordan? His “cases” are worse than the worst of reality-tv shows. It’s getting really old hat now, and I can’t believe that anyone would believe anything of those charades…
I agree, especially about this getting really old hat. I never liked Trump to begin with and I am tired of hearing about him. Much more interested in learning about the positive and productive achievements of the Biden Administration.
I wouldn't take my eye off him or his demagogic ramblings, but yes, what's on the journalistic road less traveled by? It could make a big difference.
It's no small disconnect to see the GOP caucus in the House swing against foreign aid when every defense appropriation flows directly from the treasury into the accounts of defense contractors across America and then on to their stockholders, many of whom are the millions of 401k account holders across America. The Ukraine and Israel conflicts will provide a massive boost to that industry and are a secret boon to the branches of the military, who have been able to clear out their inventory of older munitions and machines and make way for newer, fancier and far more expensive replacements. The only disappointment for them will be a shift away from multi-million dollar hardware and towards cheap little drones that carry 1.5kg incendiary payloads that can stop a tank, as well as aquatic and submarine drones that can sink ships without risking a single attacker's life. Flying video cameras and precision munitions have seen their stock in trade skyrocket, while heavy equipment, high priced fighter jets and attack helicopters are becoming more like chopped liver by comparison.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." -Eisenhower
Forgive me if I lack confidence in the GOP House caucus to hold up this piece of wisdom as the basis of domestic policy. After all, it's them who believe the constitution included assault weapons in the second amendment, originalists as they claim to be...
Good info. Eisenhower was admired and w good reason. He lead us to victory and into Long Term PEACE internationally.
Also heralded the rise of ever more powerful nuclear weaponry, along with every other administration. Remember the crazy hide under your school desks drills back in the 50s/60s... and beyond? The rich were building themselves ginormous survival facilities, setting up residence in places like New Zealand etc.
I recall crouching under tables and "desks", in the '50's anyway. Scant protection it seemed. I recall the CONELRAD symbols on the radio dial. The nukes are still out there. We tiptoed through four years of Trump's access.
As a kid i read Canticle for Leibowitz, On the Beach, among other after global nuclear war apocalyptic tales, mainly in the sci-fi genre. And of course, belatedly, James Cameron's Terminator fantasy. I used to think this kind of danger was less so, but over the past several years, not so less so - Putin's nuclear dare-you stuff, Iran (Israelis made a habit of murdering their nuclear scientists), North Korea, and more... and there remains a possible though unlikely accidental war. And, some evangelicals still put in for nuclear war being part of End Times. I still remember two Baptist ladies i knew quite well who in the 70s were calling for End Times, by which time i had long wandered from my Baptist roots. I'm thankful my mother, who was unorthodox but played the piano etc in the local church, poo pooed the idea all her Catholic friends were going to Hell. As long as people like Pence don't have the possibility of getting close enough to the nuclear trigger, right? But isn't it worrisome that several millions of Baptists can routinely look upon the rest of humanity and consider them destined to a spiritual version of nuclear annihilation, courtesy of the Wrath of God? Time to stop, Monarch Legacy of Monsters episode coming up :)
He had shortcomings all of us do, but I think more than self his country loved, which cannot be said of all of our past leaders.
J L, this marvelously prescient quote from Ike (aka the last "good" Republican) can and should be expanded to encompass the fundamental engines of progress in our democracy, those engines which balance (harness?) the extraordinary creativity and drive of capitalism (dare I say self-interest or just plain old greed?) with those of the pursuit of freedom and the general welfare of the people, by the people and for the people? ...BALANCING the interests of corporations and entrepreneurs with those of everyone else.
There is a dictionary difference between self-interest and greed insofar as balance. It's not greed unless it deprives others. "Greed is good" was a line in a cautionary tale about Wall Street, but the plutocrats embraced it as a motto. It only began to fade in the Great recession.
We all pursue self-interest, but some speak of "enlightened self-interest" which I see in terms of extending ones sense of concern beyond ones own self-serving impulse. The baby needs changing, you want to keep sleeping, but you care about a baby's welfare. Or give aid to a man who fell among robbers, beaten and left nearly dead. Or you care that polar bears are losing their habitat. You are elated when thing go well for others not even in your cohort. That's exactly what the modern "GOP" isn't.
As for capitalism, I think the devil is in the details. I'm a fan of Elizabeth Warren who has said, if I recall, that she is "a capitalist to my bones", and I see free enterprise as one of our basic freedoms. But also the right to create public services, especially when they are vital. And it seems to me that "we the people" get to make the rules for commerce, just as for anything else that goes on in our society and impacts other people.
And yes, BALANCES and checks.
Joe is doing his best to channel the wisdom of Ike!
Well, talk abt that on in the opening decade of the Cold War when in fact spending on nuclear was going out of sight. Even with limited disarmament, we're still in collective overkill x 10 or maybe better.
armed drones have been quite the upset, kinda like a Kalishnakov automatic rifle. Be nice when weapons aren't the "goto" but sadly political actors stimulate production, and hey aren't corporations supposed to "make money" in any case? And... US official military doctrine is global dominance, "just in case".... USA is also the world's largest arms exporter, by far. Long story here...
Not sure what equities you are referring to but the growth this year in the NYSE has been primarily the mega techs or magnificent 7 as they are called
hmm...better let someone else manage your retirement funds.
I'm sure the contractors are lining up to rebuild Gaza.
Hamas
Hamas and Netanyahu are both on their way out.
Let’s hope so.
Hoping no one notices...
“House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) joined members of the Florida congressional delegation today to view an expansion project at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law although Johnson voted against it.”
Hypocritically or not, Johnson's support of the Sarasota Airport expansion says the Infrastructure Bill is good policy. Lying about it to your constituents however, is not. Good luck with that, Mike.
Typical.
Li’ll Mikey is jumping on the bandwagon like most of the repubs who voted against that Law who are now boasting about the federal funds brought to their district!
10000% THIS 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼
Peter: Unfortunately in the FL source Heather provides they don't mention that important point. It's up to us to spread it far and wide every time it happens.
Just typical of the Repugnant Republicans.......
How typically MAGAt-like: repulsive little worm Johnson stepping right up to take credit where none is due.
I suspect Speaker Johnson chose Sarasota, now a hub of right-wing activists( Michael Flynn, Charlie Kirk+++), for a reason and voters welcomed him with open arms and cheers for the airport expansion.
I suppose we could all be shocked and amazed as the nation swings into primary season, but it seems to me that the lines are becoming more clearly drawn on both candidates AND policy proposals for 2024. We have a Democratic president eager to build on momentum established in the first half of his first term and a Republican candidate and former president likely to get the nod from the GOP who is unfit by any definition to return to office, whose platform is increasingly to tear down any number of institutions upon which we have relied to provide stable governance over the last 50+ years in the US and around the world. I believe the status quo will probably prevail for the next 12 months. Biden will continue to do the difficult and thankless work of the presidency, particularly in the international arena and will be battered at every possible point by the opposing party and a disgraced national media that continues to insist that the election is a horse race between legitimate parties and candidates. TFFG will continue to spit every manner of venom as loudly as he can, whether or not he lands behind bars. I'm convinced he'll lose in a general election, but we'll all suffer serious heartburn until it's finally over. Other minor party candidates for the office will generate a little smoke, but no fire. The real drama will occur amongst the 1/3 of senators and 100% of the House whose positions are on the ballot. That portion of the election will tell us whether the electorate is really paying attention and whether a majority of voters who are NOT MAGAts will make themselves heard at the election.
"Biden will continue to do the difficult and thankless work of the presidency, particularly in the international arena and will be battered at every possible point by the opposing party and a disgraced national media that continues to insist that the election is a horse race between legitimate parties and candidates."
"The real drama will occur amongst the 1/3 of senators and 100% of the House whose positions are on the ballot. That portion of the election will tell us whether the electorate is really paying attention and whether a majority of voters who are NOT MAGAts will make themselves heard at the election."
You have nailed the situation precisely! I would just add one thing--the horserace and false equivalency reporting by the formerly center and liberal media still has influence with the NOT MAGAts. It is a huge issue that has to be emphasized. Many people who follow LFAA are well aware, but the average voter is not. We have to make that a talking point in the run-up to the election.
Let’s be sure to thank Biden and his team for all their good work! Send a few postcards to the President!
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
100% agreed, but even quicker and easier, send an email!
Email is nice too but a physical postcard is very meaningful
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/more-progress
Robert Hubbell has a great point by point take down of Nate Cohn's defense of the highly flawed NYTimes/Siena polling on the presidential election.
For more on the issue of bias reporting in the formerly "media of record" and other relevant links on this issue:
https://georgiafisanick.substack.com/p/leverage-points-for-an-unbiased-media
https://georgiafisanick.substack.com/p/from-the-horses-body-part
Delighted that someone has spoken out against that absurd NY Times poll that reverberated all over the media!
Georgia Fisanick has provided both talking points and a strategy for maximizing their use. Thank you for sharing.
Once the land lines became more or less obsolete, polling is at best, a crap shoot.
Plus, if Biden was polling ahead of Trump people would stay home and the media would struggle to sell advertising.
Hasn’t TFG sang this song before? About Obamacare? I seem to recall a lot of noise about a ‘big, beautiful healthcare plan’ that would be better than Obamacare and the ‘best healthcare plan ever.’
Well? We’re still waiting. You know why we’re still waiting, of course. There ain’t no such thing. He has yet to pull it out of his ass.
Once a liar and a fraud, always a liar and a fraud.
As pressure on him increases, Trump is playing hard to his base, promising on Saturday, for example, that he was “seriously looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more popularly known as Obamacare. He suggested the law should be overturned.
Can anyone name a successful program proposed by the GOP that was successful?
Other than the Interstate system by Eisenhower.
In the snarkish vein, Nixon and the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, specifically articulating marijuana, LSD, and heroin as Schedule One (punishable at the highest felony level) to target specifically the “hippies” (perceived as progressive Democrats) and the urban Black population, primarily to rid them of strong, Charismatic leaders.
Gary, surely one has to consider Reagan's programs for "trickle-down economics" as huge successes and boons for corporations and the ultra wealthy!
Well, billionaires do need their grass clipped and the decks washed, no?
Touche'
He’ll announce his alternative during Infrastructure Week.
My first reaction--this shite again?
AMEN Maria! 'Twere it ever thus!
I have always thought that a two-state solution was the only thing that made sense, and I see Blinken is quoted, “…and a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own….” The elephant in the room is that Israel has done just about everything to hobble any two-state pathway. The proliferation of Israeli settlements and the concentration-camp-like setting that is Gaza make it hard to believe that Israel considers a two-state outcome a viable option.
I would like to see some kind of linkage between any weapons the US provides with some concrete demonstration that the Geneva Conventions still apply.
Netanyahu is totally opposed to the two state solution and Israel is in serious violation of many of the 151 provisions of the 4th Geneva Convention which SUPPOSEDLY protects non combatants…lawyers in my family tell me that Israel totally ignores the Geneva Conventions and their behavior in the West Bank is in violation of the UN requirements…in major ways. I used to be pro Israeli but what is happening to 2/3s of the very poor Palestinians in Gaza is a huge human rights criminal ACT…..and I’m no longer pro Israeli.
a two state solution is impossible because Hamas wants to eradicate Jews.
Remember, there is no Occupier in the West Bank. It’s run by Hamas and has been since 2006.
I would ask how Hamas came to be. It is my understanding that Hamas is in response to horrible conditions imposed upon native Palestinian citizens within Gaza (late 80’s I think) by men who had a goal of eliminating Israel’s attempts to eradicate Palestinian settlements in Gaza. Is Hamas a reasonable alternative? No. Is Israel’s attempt to annihilate the Palestinian people reasonable? No. Opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza is not anti-Semitic any more than opposing the violence of Hamas is anti-Palestinian.
And Ally the Oakland California City Council just posted a unanimous legislative opposition to the Israeli behavior with a number of Jewish voters opposed to Israel’s behavior…included in the oposition.
BOTH SIDES are just plain guilty …
Tracy,….have you READ THE 151 , 4TH Geneva Convention rules…do you have any clue at all just how bad Israel has acted…..Israel has committed an enormous number of truly hateful crimes against humanity…over 4 thousand dead Palestinian children over 12,000dead and very very poor palestinians in Gaza alone …..1 million 750 thousand displaced and homeless very poor Gaza’s…every single one of these stats and so bloody more are enormous violations of basic human decency….im not saying Israel shouldn’t it defend itself..it has a duty too…but NOT THIS WAY….
So Israelb is the only country not allowed to win a war? Can you imagine any other country tolerating rape and murder indiscriminatel why are there not protests about the thousands killed in Syria? No let’s blame the Jews
Tracey, you say "no occupier in the West Bank" yet we hear in near daily news of the atrocities of the growing number of increasingly armed Jewish settlers there upon and against the indigenous Palestinian population, quite likely worse than a formal "occupier" which would presumably be bound by some formal set of laws or regulations.
Tracey, the West Bank is not controlled by Hamas, but rather by the Palestinian Authority. It’s Gaza that is run by Hamas. They are not the same, and lumping them together impedes thinking about real solutions, including a two state solution.
Concentration camp like setting?
Hamas has controlled the place since 2006. Blame them.
OK, just open air prison then. Better?
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/war-is-not-abstracted-anymore
2 million work and take part in Israeli education and life those that are left have Hamas as their elected officials
Jibber Jabber on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIZmms_TSG0
Edit: …it makes it seem like Israel considers the two-state outcome a non-starter.
I think it's no secret that Israel believes a two state solution would be an unmitigated disaster from their perspective.
No, just a minority faction in Israel is against a two state solution. They just happen to be part of the coalition that's in power. The majority of Israelis want a separation between the populations. That occurred in Gaza when Israel dismantled Israeli settlements there and left. That has yet to occur in the West Bank.
I especially appreciate your comment…we are being ‘force fed’ Netanyahu right wing agenda…in Israel there are lots of other folks who don’t reflect that and are more amenable to a two state agenda….
Sherman, if you're writing online the ellipse (...) to the lower write of your message gives you access to an edit of your posting after it has been made.
Can’t edit on mobile devices ... yet. I read my morning substacks on m iPad as it’s difficult to move my 27” iMac from my office to the breakfast table every day. 😎
Edited to add: I can edit when I view in a web-browser (as I'm doing right now) but I can't edit in the iOS Substack app I use on my iPad.
Maybe you need an update? Use my iPad every morning and the edit function is there.
In my experience in comes and goes with Apple products.
Same here, does not work on my iPad. It used to, but doesn’t anymore.
I forgot the “y” in my, but I can’t fix it until I get on my iMac.
Thanks for that. I was on my iPad, and didn’t notice the feature. I just successfully edited my comment.
Well , Netanyahu and the portion of the Israeli populace that operate by that old farmers motto (I din’t want much, just my land, and my neighbor’s land.) think a two state solution would be a disaster.
What would change from the 1990s when Clinton thought they were close to a deal?
Weapons of war are a commodity needing no hedge. No fair market controls for them. Always a bull market it seems. Just endless manufacture and endless buying. Why oh why is it ok to make, not only profit, but unlimited profit on weapons of war? Shouldn’t it be shameful? Yes, money is the incentive for the Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine wars. No doubt. The only time it is de rigueur to be pro life is apparently when it keeps women in their place, denying them power over their bodies. After humans have been born it is acceptable to sacrifice them to generate wealth and corner the market on privilege. It is mind boggling.
A bridge may be expensive, but it connects communities and commerce. It gives back. A bomb is expensive, and it explodes. I don't think we can give up military defense entirely, but apart from the fact that war is mass murder on the very largest scale, you would think one would want to blow up as little money as you possibly could.
But the money keeps coming, sort of like magic. Cheney knew that. Ike warned against it.
Revenue from defense contracts has become sort of like the revenue drug companies make from chronic medical conditions. Once someone is on Lipitor, they're generally on it for life. Antibiotics treat acute conditions; after a 1 or 2 week course, you're done - where's the profit in that? That a large portion of our economy has become dependent on war being a chronic condition says a great deal about possible policy decisions and how they are manipulated. As awful as they are, wars are really acute in nature, that is time limited. How do we manage this reality with our current defense industry's dependence on chronic warfare?
The war in Afghanistan cost the US $300 million a day according to Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2021/08/16/the-war-in-afghanistan-cost-america-300-million-per-day-for-20-years-with-big-bills-yet-to-come/?sh=36b47347f8dd
When Bush got us into Afghanistan their GDP was so low it was unmeasurable. And when we walked away 20 years later, it was barely measurable, still in the bottom 20%.
But, as Eisenhower warned, "Beware the military industrial complex."
I don't see that the US and Europe have any choice but to support Ukraine and if the MIC profits from the war, so be it. But remember, what we are spending in Ukraine is less than 3% of the annual US defense budget, plus Biden chose to not have our sons and daughters sent home in body bags, PTSD and missing limbs.
If the Gaza-Israel conflict was due to money, it would be easily solved. "Money is the root of all evil" is bullshit propagated by those who use religion for power and profit.
More deeply, the conflict arises from two populations that have become ignorant about each other, each deeply believing its destiny is tied to the same piece of land. One side was tied to Western institutions and benefitted from the new world that rose after WW-2, while the other side was stuck in pre-Enlightenment feudal culture and got left behind. That's an unfair situation for the Palestinians (an understatement..) that the Biden administration is trying to engage Arab countries to help fix. Note, those Arab countries were stuck in pre-enlightenment feudal modes when they formed mid-1900's, so they were part of the problem. Now after 70 years, they may have progressed enough to be part of the solution.
In the meantime Netanyahu's coalition has got to go.
No, don't blame money for everything. Money can be used for good or for evil depending on how it's used.
What I meant to write was: thank you for your cogent comment today. There is a weird cognitive dissonance about the “pro-life” talk. And how true to recognize that “weapons of war are a commodity needing no hedge”. If we followed the money, we would possibly find the prolonging of the Ukraine/Russia conflict, and the Israel/Hamas conflict intentional, for exactly the reason of getting through the “old supply of weapons” and purchasing the new/updated weapons. War has changed in how it is fought in the age of AI. What better way of disposal of those out dated, aged systems, and munition than to farm them out to a needy cause and take the tax write off? I am pro-Ukraine. I am anti-Hamas. I am anti-Netanyahu. But the mechanizations of the House gop to -at best- slow-walk funding for Ukraine, and criticize Biden’s diplomacy efforts to stabilize the area in Israel, leave me thinking, the prolonged destructive route both conflicts are taking, is calculated to maximize weapon needs.
MLRGRMI, you make a good point.
I wasn't sure where to insert this Paul Krugman gift newsletter. So here goes.
Voters may feel one way, but the economy itself feels fine
Author Headshot
By Paul Krugman
Opinion Columnist
Ten finance guys are drinking in a bar. Nine of them are Masters of the Universe — wheeler-dealers who make many millions of dollars every year. The tenth is what Gordon Gekko, in the movie “Wall Street,” called a “$400,000-a-year working Wall Street stiff.”
Then the stiff leaves for a while, maybe to answer a call of nature. When he leaves, the average income of the guys still in the bar shoots up, because he’s no longer dragging that average down; when he comes back, the average drops again. But these fluctuations in the average don’t reflect changes in anyone’s income.
Why am I telling you this story? Because it’s most of the story of wages in the U.S. economy since Covid-19 struck. In 2020 the average wage of workers who still had a job shot up, because those who were laid off were disproportionately low-wage service workers. Then, as people resumed in-person shopping, started going to restaurants and so on, growth in average wages was held down because those low-wage workers were being rehired. You need to look through these “compositional effects” to figure out what was really happening to earnings as that played out.
Until recently I thought everyone — well, everyone following economic issues — knew this. (Assuming that people know more about the numbers than they actually do is an occupational hazard for nerds who become pundits.) But lately I’ve been seeing even mainstream news organizations publish charts that look like this:
FRED
And these charts are accompanied by commentary to the effect that real wages generally rose under Donald Trump but have generally fallen under Joe Biden, which in turn is supposed to explain why Americans are feeling so negative about the economy.
But that’s not what these charts actually tell us. Mostly they reflect the working stiff temporarily leaving the bar, then coming back.
There are wage measures that try to adjust for changes in the mix of workers, like the Atlanta Fed’s wage growth tracker. If we use this measure instead of average wages, the picture looks like this:
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Bureau of Labor Statistics
The spurious wage surge of 2020 is gone, as is the wage stagnation of early 2021. It’s still true that wages lagged behind inflation in 2021 and 2022, but they have run well ahead of inflation this year.
Even this view of economic performance, however, misses some of the temporary distortions caused by the pandemic. Prices of many commodities were very low in 2020 — the price of oil briefly went negative! — not because policy was good but because the world economy was flat on its back, depressing demand. These prices surged as the economy recovered, and there were also large but temporary disruptions to supply chains — remember all those ships waiting for someplace to unload their cargoes?
Oh, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought war to one of the world’s major food-producing areas.
In the end, it’s basically a fool’s errand to try and compare economic performance before and after the White House changed hands; there was just too much crazy stuff going on. What we can say, with considerable certainty, is that while prices have gone up a lot since the pandemic began, most workers’ wages have risen significantly more:
FRED
OK, at this point one runs into a buzz saw of criticism. I am regularly assured by correspondents that economists’ measures of inflation are meaningless, because they exclude food and energy. No, they don’t; economists often use measures of “core” inflation for analytical purposes, but the Consumer Price Index, which is what I’m using here, includes everything.
Or I’m told that real people know that inflation is still running hot, whatever the government numbers may say. Actually, the American Farm Bureau Association, a private group, tells us that Thanksgiving dinner cost 4.5 percent less this year than last. Gasbuddy.com, another private group, tells us that prices at the pump are down more than 30 percent since their peak last year. Neither turkeys nor gas prices are good measures of underlying inflation, but both show that the narrative of inflation still running wild is just not true.
Sorry, folks, but “immaculate disinflation” — rapidly falling inflation without a recession or a big rise in unemployment — is actually happening. The 2021-22 inflation surge definitely rattled Americans after decades of relative price stability, and I’m not here to lecture people about their feelings. But I guess I am here to lecture journalists about using statistics. Presenting misleading numbers that seem to justify public opinion is actually an act of disrespect: Voters have a right to their feelings, but journalists have a duty to present the facts, as best we can understand them.
And while the public’s negative view of the economy is a major puzzle, acknowledging that puzzle is no reason to soft-pedal the evidence that the U.S. economy is currently doing very well — indeed, much better than even optimists expected a year ago.
Mary Ellen Spicuzza, Thank you for your cogent
Well said, Mary Ellen!
Today's piece continues to make it clear. Joe Biden and his administration continues to focus on governing well (fixing the supply chain, constructing roads and bridges) while demonstrating that good governing is also good politics.
Applying this vision to the conflict in Gaza is harder. Blinken's guidelines:
1. no forcible displacement of Palestinians
2. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism
3. No reoccupation of Gaza
4. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza.
5. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.
6. no terrorist threats ... from the West Bank.
7. Gaza unified with the West Bank
8. Palestinian-led government under the Palestinian Authority
9. Sustained mechanism for reconstruction
10. A pathway for 2 states, with security, freedom opportunity, and dignity in each,
Is it conceivable that an American-led international effort could impose? could ensure? could elicit? such a circumstance. Would the US participate in the cost (financial and political) of achieving these goals which ultimately would make Palestine and Israel into normal neighbors. Would the international community be willing to share in the cost? Would American Republicans cooperate in such an effort?
Important questions indeed.
Answer to your last question--NO
Thank you for this update. Great news about the supply chain. Meanwhile, I’m watching Caddo Parish Louisiana for the one-vote win by the Democrats in the Sheriff’s race. House Speaker Mike Johnson must have his knickers in a twist watching it also.
We call it a supply chain, but it's really a highly interactive network. And who is going to chart and monitor that whole system? Suppliers may do some of it, to the extent it directly affects their business, but they are definitely not paid to worry about the whole thing. That's the job of government.
Thank you Heather.
I would love to know the percentage of MAGA's that have their health insurance covered under the Affordable Care Act.
Be safe. Be well.
No, they will never have Obamacare, just the ACA.
lol-can’t handle the name but accept the benefits. Sheesh....
There is no Dana, only Zuul. -the Ghost Busters.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😆😆😆😆😆
Since many of them live in states that did not expand their Medicaid systems, far fewer than needed. That is one reason why the poorest county in ME has a higher life expectancy than the richest county in SC.
And completely unaware that the ACA and Obamacare are the same thing.
I love how, near the end, Heather Cox Richardson notes "Trump is playing hard to his base."
While she might have meant his riling up his guaranteed voters (millions, who love being riled up), she might rather intend, or allow also to stand, how the vulgarian in him plays hard to a vulgarity as base as any in American history.
Brazen he is in this vulgarity, exulting in the stochastic violence his hatreds and divisiveness incur.
Meanwhile, the U.S. billionaire classes assiduously seek more for themselves -- at the expense of the tens of millions of the former working classes all poisoned since the billionaires offshored the millions of working-class jobs.
It's as if the worst of Putin, his worst priests and oligarchs, the most greedy of Chinese communist cadres, the most murderous of Saudi royals, and the most rancorous of Modi, Netanyahu, Erdogan, Duterte, Bolsonaro, and Orban nationalists all combine in one base U.S. thug.
Yep, how ugly can one human be. Worshipping this cretin requires no working brain cells. Just suspending any rational thought.
Base and base as described. Could well be some intentionally excellent wordsmithing on the part of the Professor or unintended but accurate delivery.
Left vs Right... governance vs grievance... rationality vs irrationality... sanity vs insanity... truth vs lies... superego vs id... democracy vs authoritarianism... pluralism vs racism... women's rights vs patriarchy... peace vs violence... wisdom vs ignorance... the common good vs the 1%... "It is the foundation of Western Civilization to face facts. If the facts inconvenience the beliefs, too bad for the beliefs."
You nailed it.
As i read this evenings Letter and your reminder that “since 2021, when Biden took office”..... i said to myself, Biden has done so much, created so many initiatives/committees/bills etc that I can hardly believe its just since 2021. I think of the daily torment of Trump preCovid and postCovid and I shudder. Its a nightmare. And Blinken.... truly a most gallant Sec of State. Very proud of this administration. They are unstoppable. TY HCR for your inclusion of the CO judges ruling or position. That was lost in todays MSMs coverage.
I am reminded of January 20, 2021. I was getting ready to leave Hawaii with my in-laws* and (because of being on HST) got to watch most of the inauguration as we were packing up. One of the last things I saw was Joe Biden “going to work” at the White House. By the time we arrived at SeaTac, the mask requirements had been restored.
Moving forward from “the day before one”.
Damn, this post is long on Biden and short on chump. Maybe because Biden has been working his arse off to get stuff done. Big stuff. And short on chump because he wants to kill the actual ACA and rename it the “trump Miracle Act.” Tell the tale MSM.
Yeah, this infrastructure and supply chain efforts are a 'really big deal' . The school I work with has an elevator out of service for lack of parts. I'm glad to hear Biden continues to work on this because it's still a problem. Biden and his Administration are actually doing work. The MAGA Repubs continue to Showboat. I'm not saying all Repubs are bad and it's good to hear some are actually calling Trump out by name. And yes, I'm glad Biden and Bernie et al, are pushing for a two state solution while giving aid to innocent Palestinians.