Since taking office, the Biden administration has focused on using diplomacy in foreign affairs and has used it to solve global issues by strengthening regional partnerships. On Friday, President Biden hosted the first leaders’ summit for the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP). Biden announced the creation of APEP in June 2022 to establish a forum positioned to improve the economies of countries in the western hemisphere, with the idea that stronger economies will be able to address economic inequality, bolster supply chains, and “restore faith in democracy by delivering for working people across the region.”
For the first time in a while there seems to be some pretty comprehensive thinking going on on the Federal level. That seems far more significant and "newsworthy" than most of the nonsense I see in "the news".
When I am out and about and engaged with people in my surroundings it feels like no one reads anything of any consequence anymore. Hard to find anyone informed about the current crisis in the House Speakership. Strongly pro reproductive choice friends who can’t get past the stinking thinking of “Biden’s too old”! They will not spend the time to read this and understand the consequences for our world’s future. Folks have become so accustomed to being fed constant nonsense “bites”, the neural pathways in their brains no longer process nuance and thought. 😢. The human mind is such an undeveloped resource for good.
I believe the Biden cognitive click bites have died down a bit, due to, I think, the number of really serious verbal gaffs of Trump. You have to admit, he is starting to sound like a cranky ol' Grandpa mumbling and crabbing away at the dinner table.
I suggest forwarding some of the YouTube clips from Brian Tyler Cohen. He makes a good point when he's said that when people question whether Joe can do the job, the proof is that he is doing it NOW.
You have every reason to bemoan people's lack of critical thinking. Look no further than that criminal behemoth throwing a tantrum in the courtroom as if a toddler in romper room is the Republican front runner. My mind cannot digest....
They think they want a strongman. He is, among other things, a real wuss. Judge Engoron is so mean! Letitia James is so Black! It’s Eric’s fault! Some strongman.
( I loved it when the Judge, in the first trial, said in Trump’s world “Square Footage is Subjective.”)
Representative democracy cannot really operate without a well-enough informed electorate. Maintaining competent and reasonably unbiased sources of trustworthy and actionable information is a super-challenge, but the "magic of the marketplace" alone won't solve it for us. We need to be thinking hard about improving the quality of societal discussion and discouraging patent lies and liars, if only with social disapproval. As is essential to any delivery of "liberty and justice for ALL) (emphasis mine) we need to be as hard on liars in our own ranks as on opponents.
Biden seems to me like the most forward-thinking president we have had in decades. So far he is proving up to the challenge. I worry about his health at his age, as I worry about my own, but so far so good. I have lost friends younger than I to unexpected illness, and do believe there need to be thoroughly though out contingency plans if Biden becomes disabled. Biden has done some things that I am troubled by, but I also see a comprehensive departure, at least a reasonable launch of one, away from that plutocratic momentum of "Chicago School" "Reaganomics". I also would (should I live so long) welcome a much younger president were the right person to appear.
Yeah, the "soundbite" mentally reminds me of rationale for Orwell's "Newspeak". It seems that the thinkers, grass roots and otherwise, exhibited and exhibit a capacity for "long chain" thinking, and thinking in 3D (or after Einstein, 4D). I am grateful for my own education and I married a (professional life) life-long school teacher of excellent reputation and skills, yet my personal opinion is that overall, we don't stretch the thinking skills of children (and adults) nearly enough, preferring to emphasize "quiz show" like recall.
Yes, all very true. I’m sure Kamala would be a good prez but I think the fact that she’s a women may play against her considering how many misogynistic people we have, including women. Hopefully not the majority. I’m afraid someone may suggest that speaker Johnson run for prez if for some reason Trump doesn’t. That would be a complete horror show. But if we believe in cycles that The Fourth Turning Or that Ray Dalio speaks of we are still in for a rough ride.
And as always, there is no end to seeing the orange melon popping up - all the news bits manage to get HIS 15 minutes in (which is 15 more than I want) Yet cut off AG James at the end of his "testimony"!
Absolutely! And giving Democracy Awakening as gifts! Plus just the value of just bringing the risk of losing our democracy into as many conversations as possible can’t be overstated
AND, I no longer count on The NY Times or the WaPo for information Re: Palestine. I read Heather and learn from youtube and Al Jazeera , which is pretty depressing.
Sadly, all too true. I have many friends who have just quit reading the news because it is full of far too many lies and early conclusions. I am disgusted with the whole "Biden is too old" story line. Trump is around 3 years younger and in HORRIBLE physical shape in comparison. I wish the big news reporters would stop with the completely untrustworthy polls until next summer.
Oh yes. So true. American are oblivious. I think our collective character no matter how oblivious ultimately carried the day in our past history. I fear it will be our undoing now.
Todays focus is Ohio and Virginia whether the trends continue, Dems winning! 🙌👍🤞
The underlying currents -to turn nations towards the carpetbaggers, autocratic regimes associated with control, corruption and circus communes. Window treatments if you don’t cooperate.
Progress is about hearing different approaches, new ideas , willing countries buy on ...instead of the old goat head bumping dam mentality. Will “shoring up “ the areas/putting heads together on the whys behind their population’s displacement work?
Togetherness..?
While back at the circus -who still wants to defund, cry fouls, inflate their worth/competency-NO whispers of what to do ,to fix , except burn it all down and side with the long time troublemakers..noting ...the areas of most chaos is where you find them ..those troublemakers ..stirring up the poisonous crew- loyal losers continuing ‘link the liars’ club!
Yes, Frederick. My biggest trigger issue since I was a teenager was women's rights, and abortion and reproductive rights are a huge part of it. I have been pleasantly surprised and buoyed to find it is also a huge trigger for the vast majority of the voting population. So, here we go! It has been the best "get out the vote" method anyone could have thought of! I cringe when I think of the women in states that already simply don't have that right and will continue to see other rights disappear, too. I wish I could help more!
Honestly, it should be everyone's trigger - it IS the initial push to remove rights - not only from women but other(!) minorities.
Reading Popular Information this am about the Cop City mess just really ticks me off. We do not require our police depts. to be more "military" - we need community engagement! The whole "defund" the police was a bad description of the intention & allowed the naysayers to use that description. Too often that is the end result for Democrats - somehow doesnt affect the Repubs - they just keep on shouting & lying - to seemingly, no downside.
Deborah, one of my husband's Native American relatives was confronted in South Dakota about abortion this week. There is some kind of petition going. He got told that not only had she signed it, but she had helped gather signatures. She was a R, now a feisty D as she has watched what the Rs become the party of death and of course, there is also the Gnome in South Dakota.
It's the season to put away childish things, some of them for substantial sentences. Meanwhile, always follow the money. Who gets the booty and who gets the shaft.
Thank you HCR for highlighting Biden’s successes, which are manifold. How to get MSM to do this as well is the problem of the day. Hoping to see more blue today.
I couldn't agree more. I watched a little CNN yesterday, and they seemed a little preoccupied with how frustrated Judge Engoron was. Regardless of his ability to deal directly face to face with that pathological liar, I don't think the testimony showcase will have much of an effect on the judgement.
Other than to underline again and again that, at long last, Trump is thoroughly unrepentant, with absolutely no sense of decency. Were I a judge, that would matter.
Well I think you're right considering the fact that 🤥is unrepentant. I think the judge might be able to consider that. But I think he needs to show that his decision is not personal or political. Don't get me wrong. I know that we're talking about a monster that is somehow able to appear to be a martyr to his base.
It has come to my attention that perjury can result in civil charges being pressed against the perjurer. I don't know how likely that would be. He certainly did contradict himself while being questioned yesterday. I'm looking forward to the decision.
When I read this today, I thought "Gee, this sounds really important and complicated, and I don't know very much about this." That made me think that maybe one of the reasons President Biden's numbers aren't any higher is that he's been a grown-up in the room about foreign affairs, but it doesn't make the news, so ordinary folks trying to live their lives have no idea why this matters so much. Dem's have to get better at presenting the "what's in it for me" aspect of these larger, more complex issues.
It appears to me it’s ‘what’s in it for us’ , the general consensus based on fact is we make major advances for WE THE PEOPLE , them getting bennies too, while they pass tax breaks, the interstate WAS wonderful have to give Ike credit , but few other accolades .
Too few ( I agree ) hear, know, or research the good news . This business of paying attention is not a common thread. Maybe because we trusted more? The attention spans are so much shorter? I give up! .....JK
The US "mainstream media" is no friend of this country. I find myself going to
Deutsche Welle (DW), BBC, Al Jezeera, and the Guardian. Remember when the TV camera focused on an empty stage waiting for Trump to show up and speak. How many times a day do the networks use the word "Trump." No wonder he leads in the polls. I had not heard of one of the groups of nations until HCR today.
3) Was there pushback to Trump’s claim inflation was eating the country alive? Americans just spent $12 billion dollars on Halloween, up from $10 billion last year. (Oh, wait. The price of Halloween merchandise is up, too.)
But maybe inflation is not eating the country alive after all? We just expect prices to return to what they used to be.
Train news at last! How many Americans in the Midwest know that its smalll towns were once linked by rails and that Amtrak runs on some of them between Charlottesville,VA, and Chicago?
I remember when the village I grew up in had rail service - remember riding to Oneonta with my aunt when I was small - obviously a LOOONG time ago. It was really fun. Glad someone is doing some thing somewhere.
We’re still learning. Planes get us there faster, but they pollute and trains can run on recycled steam or be electrified. Dreaming of return of ocean liners, slower, but more interesting. (Aha! As I wrote that realized that perhaps a berth on a cargo vessel might get me back across the Atlantic!)
Thank you for responding. My husband’s grandfather was a PRR (“Railroad to the World”) engineer, resulting in his being a lifelong rail fan and builder of HO scale railroads. He had maps of the Midwest lines which we followed on a 1990 trip from Richmond to Chicago. His enthusiasm for the French TGV (“Train Grande Vitesse) and his hope to see similar safe high speed rail in America led him to communicate with Amtrak to upgrade their east coast service, especially while the old PRR catenaries were still standing. His expertise was put to use by the PRRT&HS as a writer for the organization’s quarterly.
My dad was a railway mail carrier, sorting mail between St. Paul and Des Moines (I think). Later, after we moved to California, my sister and I rode that same route to visit our older sister. I love train travel! So glad for the improvements that will provide that experience for many others.
My husband remembers when he could catch a train as a kid to go see his grandparents off in a different area of Michigan, and when the fathers of his schoolmates would commute to factories in a different direction. Riding trains in Europe is a delight. Too bad so much money is spent making it hard to do here.
If you get to Poland, be sure to ride the EU paid-for train that is basically TGV. I rode it Bialystok-Warsaw. Maybe Tusk will get a similar train Warsaw-Berlin. That would cut hours off Paris-Warsaw and get Poland more of the western tourism it so richly deserves.
Yes, and all the news had on yesterday were polling numbers. We were so irritated, we turned it off. But good news does not get clicks, so let's focus on death star instead. His tirade in the courtroom also got plenty of news as well. They should be focusing on the good things the Biden administration is doing as well as signs of death star's senile and toddler outbursts.
I so agree with you. I've been asking for quite some time why we don't hear about bringing manufacturing to those countries where people are fleeing to bolster their economies. I had no idea that the administration has been quietly working on this concept! And that's the problem--QUIETLY. The Biden administration needs to get in gear and vociferously blast their accomplishments from the rooftops....
I didn't realize how much was going on since the news is a bout trump. What did someone say? He sucks the oxygen out of the room. Lets cut rail safety. Of course it would be in blue states. Republicans discriminated against blue states during the pandemic. I'm surprised republicans screamed how there was a derailment ( they had 3 of their own). Wouldn't this help them? Wait, as I said before, this is a lot about blue states.
Thank goodness, dump’s base will not determine the outcome of the next election. A refreshing report today, Heather, focusing on solutions and actual work being done in this hemisphere to help stem the flood of immigration to the US. I was impressed so many Americans are employed by the governments involved in the effort to create local opportunities in countries which desperately need them to stop the violence driving so many to leave. I hope now, at almost 5 am in Maine or the east coast where you may be writing, that you will turn in and get some peaceful sleep. Thank you!
The outcome of the next presidential election is very much in doubt and Trump’s base--while not expanding--will certainly play a crucial role. The arcane Electoral College, coupled with Biden’s low popularity and the increasing threat that the most radical Trumpublican supporters simply won’t accept the outcome, should their boy not win, have us on the edge of armed civil conflict.
Since, Dave, we are “armed” with the truth, I will head into the conflict at my voting booth. There is already so much violence, it’s hard to imagine anything worse. We must not be fearful. There are far more of “us” than “them”.
The issue is not whether we outnumber Trump’s fervent admirers, but rather whether the voting process allows for the majority to prevail. The Electoral College isn’t the only problem. Voter suppression is a considerable threat, as is voter apathy. Add to that the right-wing radicals who do not accept the legitimacy of the last election, and will not accept the next, if Trump loses. That group, BTW, includes the new Speaker of the House.
The electoral college and gerrymandering, there continues to be strong push-back on efforts to monitor gerrymandering thus the electoral college will remain under the rug, so to speak.
Oh, it could be way worse. Just ask the Congress men and women who feared for their lives in the Capitol. Yes, our votes are extremely important, but “they” are the ones with all the weapons and just waiting for their corrupt leader to give the signal. Don’t become complacent.
Rep. Jackie Speier was shot five times and left for dead on a runway in Guyana when she was an aide Rep. Leo Ryan. Ryan, who was investigating the Jonestown cult, was murdered. About 40 years later, Speier hid on the floor of the House of Representatives, again fearing for her life, as Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol. Cultists follow their leader’s instructions, whether in South America or in D.C.
Hard as that is to believe AND it might not be true given that the election is way off and polls are done by calling a home phone number which almost nobody has anymore, EXCEPT old people like me, BUT, the news is reporting Biden behind now.
Polls dependent on "home phone number" do not poll young people. None of them have "home phone number" to call.
I agree, the polls are unreliable and the election is a ways away. But it’s the voting process itself that concerns me. Bit by bit, Democracy is being nibbled away and the vast majority of Americans are either too busy just trying to make ends meet, disinterested in the process, or too obsessed with the most salacious parts of pop culture, to notice.
One of my bigger monthly contributions is to Democracy Docket. I recommend it highly. They've recently been able to add legal staff due to people supporting them. It's still a surprisingly small group supporting them, though. I qualify as one of those small donors but we can add up when we all participate.
That worries me, too. The voter suppression activity on the right is often unconstitutional, but stopping it may take too long. I'm sure MAGAs know that and are using it.
Mike, in thinking about messengering, at the moment any Democrat Thrust now may be stale come next Sept, losing impact on voter’s. Do you think it possible that a comprehensive information campaign may begin next August addressing key voter concerns with line by line Biden accomplishments that address what voters say is important to them?
“Hello American Voters, you say you want a strong economy? This is what WE did (content displayed). This is what THEY want (content displayed; notice who delivers and who doesn’t”
Ten second ads, bombarding the masses in spite of the media’s demonstrated lack of coverage
The American public no longer wants to Think. It votes based on Feeling.
"A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think." --Clem Whitaker of Campaigns Inc, AKA The Lie Factory.
"Make it personal. Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent, invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average American doesn't want to be educated, he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.' "
-- Jill Lepore writing in her history book "These Truths" about the successful strategy of Campaigns Inc, the first political marketing firm that also successfully tanked universal healthcare efforts in California.
"It votes based on Feeling." Ultimately, so do I. So do all of us. If I feel threatened (as with women's rights being taken away), that feeling not only sends me to the polls (I've always voted) it makes me tell other people about it, about how I feel and why. We can connect the dots, people. We can be authentic about our own fears to those around us. "What are you afraid of?" is a question therapists ask to help people get insights into why they behave the ways that they do. Greedy people, for example, are greedy for a reason (or many reasons), but when they can see what they are afraid of not having, or what they might be losing, it goes beyond money or power. Basically, I think most people want acceptance, acknowledgement, and respect. That's it. Play with that idea.
Possibly the more effective as campaign would hammer away at who really supports Trump. Introduce Trump's "forgotten man" base to the oligarchs and billionaires who truly stand to gain from a second Trump term, and how the little people Trump calls his base of support will actually be forgotten when the ultra rich retake power.
Pull the curtain back on the people running Trump and the Republicans at all levels while also showing how Democrats have the people's interests at heart and have demonstrated that priority over the entirety of Biden's term.
Educate voters instead of dishing out propaganda. Treat the people as if they are intelligent, and you might find out that they are.
Re “intelligent” people, I used to think that was the case. Now I’m not convinced there are enough of them, but if “educating” = enlightening them to current efforts by Biden Adm, I think thats what my aten Seconds is about
Yes. And guess what? We can band together and get some of this done. How about a Go Fund Me for political ads like this? It's not my strength, but for someone who knows how to do this, I bet we can raise the money. Personally, I love and support The Lincoln Project, and they target their ads to "the others" to shame them, so I don't use it for my own circles of friends and acquaintances because it's too "in your face" for me personally to retain credibility as a thoughtful thinker. So, we don't need to duplicate that approach but I like your idea, Dave. Let's do that (and I mean, would you spearhead that project?)
Mike S, thank you for your simple-sounding explanation of how polls are conducted. It's no wonder the polls don't make any sense. One would think no-one would trust numbers coming out of such an anachronistic (mid-20th century?) process for gauging what any given percentage of "likely voters" are likely to do. It would be fascinating to see some actual research about what determines who answers their land-line anymore, why they do and what impels them to take the time to answer questions on a survey, let alone how the pollers formulate the wording of their questions.
Mike, neither my sons nor their wives have ever been polled. They’re in their 30s, I’m in my 70s. I gave up a land line when I no longer needed it for internet service. I occasionally get a mail-in poll, but never about political candidates. It’s more than just the “younger than us”.
Mike, Beau of the Fifth Column has a recent good clip about polls. He noted that at this point in the election cycle, in 2015, guess who was leading the polls?
Mike S, I've posted this months (years?) ago, I will do it again for people who might not have seen it.
In 2020, I did TONS of polls. There are several websites I am aware of, but the one I was entertaining myself with during COVID is Surveyjunkie.com. You actually are PAID to do surveys. Trust me, you won't get rich on them--they generally pay point that equal anything form 15 cents to a buck for answering a poll. You can then trade in your points for gift cards or cash deposited into a bank account. Some people like to do computer games, I liked to do this.
You will be asked qualifying questions and if you meet the demographic they are looking for, and they haven't already exceeded the number they want, you will be picked. There is a lot of political polls, polls about new products, polls about services (a lot on banking) and phone companies.
I wish I could recall the name of the book, (this will be vague, sorry) but I read a recent book about numbers. One section talked about bias in polls. I was amazed to see the very questions I had answered, not realizing the bias which was obvious after it was explained to me!
One in particular has been in the news and I frequently answered it: Is the country going in the wrong direction?
A MAGA might say YES, as they are upset with Biden, with liberals, with trans people, whatever.
I would say YES, because I am upset with book banning, the SCOTUS, reproductive rights being stripped away, voter suppression.
WHO funded that poll, and how will they use that information? See what I mean?
I agree, I don't think many people answer phones. Even the internet polling will select people--I discovered that once I hit 65, I was frequently immediately eliminated when I typed in my age. (Ageism!)
“ I set out to analyze FiveThirtyEight’s collection of 400+ primary polls from the past year, closely inspecting their results and methodologies. It didn’t take long to realize that poll participants were actually reached a variety of ways.”
It was interesting to me that of voters who said Biden and Trump were both too old, they favored Biden by about 60%. The ones who don’t see Trump as old puzzle me. (Oh, but he is a “fighter.” Bluster must count as putting up a fight.)
I would love to know how the questions are formulated. That's critical to understanding the answers. In my forties I attended community college. In one class, many of us had answers that were marked wrong and it was strictly because of the way questions were phrased. Long discussion with our instructor, and our tests were corrected.
All your concerns are legit and I agree it is frightening. But the polls are two things.
First they are meaningless because they don't involve a true slice of the electorate. I have seen no evidence that the polls use a large enough survey or that they reach a true representation of the voters. Do you know anyone who has ever been surveyed? And how did that happen? A land line? If the "polls" meant anything Hillary would be wrapping up her second term in office.
Second, they are motivating. It's possible this early warning shot across the bow will redouble our efforts to achieve a Blue Trifecta.
And at the risk of being too optimistic, the GQP and their new White Nationalist Fascist House leader are in the process of giving us a boatload of campaign weapons. The more extreme and dysfunctional they are, the better it is for us. Sadly, the nation must suffer first.
I don't think we should worry one hoot what Radical Racist Republicans think. We can hope that many of them will stay home next November as they watch their hero continue to relentlessly rant nonsense - perhaps from a jail cell. And there are way more of us than them. Two whole generations lean to our values. To help with that visit www.turnup.us.
When push comes to shove, on November 5, 2024 I believe that Americans will choose any Democrat over any Republican for POTUS based on the theft of women's autonomy and the Republican corruption that is being revealed daily. The Mike Johnson rotten onion is being peeled back. Trump's wealth is being revealed as a myth and it's about to be reduced real soon by a judge in NYC who he is attacking. You can't fix stupid.
Well, Bill, I certainly hope you are right. But, again, I’m concerned that this will not be a “fair fight” b/c the election process itself has been corrupted. In my estimation, the real “villains” in the drift toward authoritarian rule are the Republican Party enablers who whisper their discontent with Trump in off-the-record comments but are sniveling cowards when asked to speak out publicly. The “true believers” will not be turned by logic or facts. They are angry sycophants who love how Trump voices their hate.
It's my decent hope that the "true believers", while loud, will prove to be a small minority when votes are cast, and that their lasting legacy will be to motivate the majority to protect their mandate and the country's interests by coming to the polls in large numbers. If that happens, we will have three loudmouths, and the polls and news reports that overrepresent them, to thank.
I recently read of one problem with all polling is the folk who would change many statistics are the same people who ignore those telephone calls from anonymous sources who often are the pollers
I would be surprised if as many as 1/4 of the HCR group were ever polled and even less volunteer to be polled.
It’s impossible to devise any method of getting any cross section of American Views as a result. I suspect the result is the suggestion a thug could resume destroying Democracy.
All said, true. But, the lingering reality coming from the ineptitude of the Mike's pals is the growing feeling of confidence brewing within that Democrats will be blamed for failure of government going into November because they will not vote for legislation to reduce debt, regardless of the poison pills such legislation contains. Nothing like disarray to get voters to through the bums (majority party) out in a presidential election year. Project 2025 will rise from the rubble of America this cast of crypto-nihlists are bent upon yielding through these means.
My 40 year old son keeps saying, "Biden is too old!!!" He doesn't understand what REAL leadership looks like. I told him that he he wanted to have any rights at all, come 2024 he'd damn well better vote blue. Joe Biden is a decent person. He is not a mentally ill criminal, who has less integrity than a gnat. This upside down world we have now can make a person crazy!
Maybe you should get your son to watch HCR's interview at the LBJ library. It's on You Tube, and she makes the point that Biden has performed spectacularly for an "old man." He is the only US president to have gone into a war zone, and he's gone into two! (I don't know if your son is nervous about Kamila, but yesterday, I saw Stacy Abrahms speak about the prejudice against her as a Black woman, and I have to wonder if she doesn't have a point.)
It’s our culture! An 80 year old Scorsese gets praised for his lively create juices that produced “Killers of the Flower Moon,” while a younger much more involved and active President gets stereotyped as “too old.”
Texas is a mirror of USA, the GQP strongly controls the rural vote and strongly influences the exurban & suburban vote through fear, lies and conspiracy while the DNC strongly controls the urban vote.
The GQP is in power and doing everything they can to remain there. The Democrats and Independents need to register, educate, support and vote in order to take back at least a VOICE in the government.
If women is those countries had access to a termination * of an unwanted pregnancy and they weren't brain washed and controlled by their religion, there would be better economies and less young people with no jobs.
*....I wish they would stop using the term "abortion" ...it's has negative connotations: like an ugly thing...or, a completely wrong thing.
AND, BTW: I didn't desire, ask for or approve a personal substack!
Judith, I’m trying to respond to your question about my comment generally about Blinken’s recent attempted negotiations for humanitarian pauses, decreased pummeling so that hostages might be released and humanitarian aid allowed to pass into Gaza. You linked Consortium News 📰 and I asked if it were MSM; that was a knee jerk response, so sorry if I offended. Just wondered about validity as it was quite negative to our current administration. Thinking further, more likely to be junk news if MSM owned by the wealthy seeking profit not truth. So difficult to trust sources; believe you said another you were paying for presumably in quest for truth not clickbait. Truth in news reporting should be free as it once was but is no longer. Like everything else it’s about the 💰💰💰. If I am putting in thoughts not yours, please forgive. Writing from memory as cannot locate original post in threads.
BTW:....I am not offended by anything. ....... I pay for many news sources...the NY Times since early '90's when I got it delivered to my door in NYC. Now, I throw $$ at many news sources, because it's my "religion"; I believe journalism saves us. It has come to my attention, given I only paid attention to art and theater, books, that the powers that be are lying to us and ripping us off. You mentioned the "wealthy" I think it's un-American to be wealthy....they should be taxed to get a large part of that wealth back into the GD system. They only got it because they were lucky to be in the USA....or, like many in other countries: crooks and/or corrupt.
The Article was "quite negative to our current administration"...You betcha! Our current administration is saying what is politically expedient. The real truth does not matter. oh well, "Civilians always suffer in a "war", which this is not. This is bombing a concentration camp/prison...... I started studying this with Norman Finkelstein, then Ilan Pappe...and on and on. Those 2 are enough but I will continue to learn about this...I have Jimmy Carter's book Palestine, Peace or apartheid", my local English language library. ( living in Merida, Mexico. ) It's been most of my every waking hour. My X says, 'you can't do anything about it; you can't change anything". That does not mean I can't learn everything about it. I am amazed at how many don't know ...anything....it takes a lot of time and interest to begin to form a coherent opinion. 1000 little pieces so far. I am combining what I have recently learned with experiences over the last 60 years to form what I think about Israel. I'll just say this: it's predictable.
Journalism as your religion. I understand that. There are many sources I do not trust; many within Substack that I do. The impotence to do anything other than learn, share what you find and know is frustrating. We all should be better informed about the Mid East but I fear many don’t take the effort to learn more. The conflict caught me completely off guard when as you say, it was predictable. It’s been brewing forever. I noted too in the things I read, it is precisely bombing a concentration camp of innocents who have no exit. Apparently there are terrorists taking cover among civilians and that is truly heinous. I hope you will share some of those thousand pieces and your experience with those of us who do care and want to know more. In whatever way suits you. I can barely wrap my head around the pain those caught in the fray must be feeling. I read and saw a photo of a journalist who was reporting on an attack in a supposed safe area, one to which he and his family had moved to as instructed, where, unknown to him, his entire family was wiped out, Aljazeera I think. The heartbreak on his face was one of those photos that will stay with me
forever. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, another very tragic night. 💔🕊️
Currently, we are out of the country (6 hours ahead of EST or DST-whatever), but the first thing I do every morning is to read "Letters from an American" and many of the comments. It is usually in my email when I get up. When it isn't, I get a bit worried that Heather has finally said ENOUGH! I don't know how you do it everyday. Some days it is so frightening that I can barely read it. Thankfully, we don't get the "news" stations over here so I don't have to be bombarded with their version of the news.
I really would like all the news stations to start talking about the accomplishments by the Biden Administration, by how he is an adult and acts like one, that he is using diplomacy and respect for other nations instead of trying to be the bully in the world and he isn't crying about someone being mean to him or that he is a victim. THAT is what I would like...
Thank you once again, Heather Cox Richardson! You are a knowledgeable and calm voice in the whirlwind of chaos that that jackass has unleashed on our country.
In Heather's latest political talk an excellent idea emerged. The Biden campaign and other supporters should start putting out ads showing actual workers who are benefitting from the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPs, the Infrastructure Act and so on. The media are only focussing on the horse race and are not showing how this administration's legislation is actually making a difference for workers/voters.
YES! I was skimming the comments and about to add this exact thought. Much more effective to have real people telling authentic stories about how they are starting to benefit, rather than dry announcements of a billion dollars here or there--very hard to tie those billions back to your growing grocery bills.
News organizations giving us news? Most exist only to get clicks and page views now. 40 seconds on President Biden’s job numbers last week; 4 minutes on somebody painting a humongous pumpkin with Taylor Swift’s likeness. We’re doomed.
"Whether or not it will work—he hardly sounded like a strong man while he was complaining that the judge was being mean to him—he was playing to his political base."
How can he not be wearing out his welcome? His obnoxiousness ceased to be a novelty long, long ago.
The greatest pleasure for me was to watch Wreck confess criminal mens rea, his guilty mind & criminal mens actus, his guilty acts, repeatedly. My observation of tfg's testimony was confirmed this am by ex-Prosecutors the am and his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen & certainly not missed by Judge Engoron.
The cable news in the US is broken. Where I currently live I have access to three US news outlets. CNN, Bloomberg and Fox. Fox requires and additional fee and I find nothing they present of interest. However, I was not aware of the APEP conference through watching either CNN or Bloomberg. The best example of the nature of the current reporting several weeks ago there was an extremely positive report of the success of Biden's economic programs. CNN gave a brief statement about the report and then went on to focus on what seemed to me several discussions that included a number of Republican talking points. I then turned on BBC International and they had a segment that was more than ten minutes outlining the total economic package and how effective it was. The other day I took a piece of paper and made four headings: Biden, Trump, Republican talking points, Democratic talking points. At the end of about one hour and half I looked at the check marks. Trump and Republican talking points and actions dominated the programming.
I remember shortly after the Rowe Vs. Wade decision a group of anti-abortion group activists became active. I remember seeing several early demonstrations and there were more cameras and news outlets than demonstrators. At that time there were comments about how TV and cable news sources were looking for "action" to fill their programs as a partial justification of their overwhelming presence. I remember thinking that at that time we are facing a much different problem and that is by giving too much focus on what one could say is minority opinions we end up legitimizing those opinions and as the ones sought are more bizarre or outside the mainstream this focus makes these opinions to the mainstream. This means that soon they are beyond rational criticism.
We have now allowed the hot media such as television, radio and the internet to dominate the information cycles and we have not developed any real standards to hold them to reality checks which means that we are moving from facts to fantasy to guide us and our decisions. This is an issue that does need more discussion and understanding.
"We have now allowed the hot media such as television, radio and the internet to dominate the information cycles and we have not developed any real standards to hold them to reality checks which means that we are moving from facts to fantasy to guide us and our decisions."
Correct and an excellent comment. When the first amendment was put in place, cable news did not exist AND the cultural capitalistic imperative to lie to make money commercially did not exist.
But, all of that said, the real problem is not cable news. The real problem is a bunch of Americans with the time to sit on ass all day long watching those lies. I cannot remember when I ever had time to sit around watching cable news EXCEPT waiting for a delayed airplane at the airport.
The real root cause is: Americans just sit on ass consuming stuff on cable news because they have too easy lives.
Don’t know about the “too easy lives.” In my assisted-living facility, they’d have recently begun having Fox on the communal TV about all day. Getting ready to raise hell.
I hate Rupert and his smug comment about wanting the country's leaders to answer the phone when he calls. I do think he like the arse-licking from those who love the taste of green. Chump is a devotee.
So many old people here are magats, I speak my mind every chance I get. So embarrassing that old folks are so stupid. We're supposed to be wise elders. Not sycophants
The DNC needs to partner with the Lincoln Project to develop a ton of ads on Fox News. A variety of styles, using people that the core audience likes, who talk about what's important to them with the punch line of vote Democratic for these positions if you agree.
PS - while I will vote for Joe over Don, I will be peeved that the DNC and the RNC both offered up the same choice in 2024 as 2020. I'd love to see a younger candidate (Pete, Gretchen, go down the list) as I believe that ANYONE can beat Trump (maybe even Joe, but he's not knocking it out of the park, is he?). Does the DNC run the same risk as 2016 when they stuck with Hillary with the theory the Joe can beat Trump?
As a radically moderate independent I'd like a different candidate.
PS to the DNC, if it comes down to Joe v Nikki, I'll swing. She's a political tool but she's sane, younger, capable of leading.
Be careful and think hard before you pull that R lever. The president is a counterweight to the entire legislative branch. Without a veto-proof Democratic majority in both houses, don't expect a blue wave to get anything done with any Republican in the White House. Want voting rights? Anti-gerrymandering laws? Electoral college reform? Expansion of the House and/or the Supreme Court? Not gonna happen with a Republican president. And you'd better hope Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson stay health for another five years at least, because no Republican president will nominate a centrist, much less a left-of-center jurist.
You can rest assured that sanity in the White House will be balanced by craziness in the House of Representatives, and while Mitch McConnell will probably never give up the crown he earned as the nation's greatest obstructionist, the potential for crazy in the Senate is even greater, as Tommy Tuberville has demonstrated.
Republicans have gotten where they are by convincing a large swath of voters that Democrats in power will destroy democracy, and they will do everything they can to prevent it, up to and including destroying democracy themselves. Electing a Republican president, no matter who, will advance their cause.
Until the Republican party stops seeing Democrats as a sworn enemy and returns to the idea that compromise is necessary for effective government, no Republican can be trusted in the presidency, no matter how the media tries to paint them as "centrist", "sane" and "reasonable".
So a couple of White House releases, trade journals, Voice of America, and one story in Reuters. vs. wall to wall coverage of Trump disrespecting the judge and clerk and prosecutors in his fraud trial. I remember back when I was a kid listening to Walter Cronkite in the good old days when the fairness doctrine was in place and you heard the actually important news. Biden and Harris have come up with a regional plan that goes a long way to a lasting fix for the issue of migration in this country and it gets no in depth coverage except for here.
The Republicans have their national debt clock. Maybe Democrats need a display the counts the number of human beings that could be positively affected by Biden's foreign policy initiatives, or clocks in every state that shows the number of jobs created, under Democratic initiatives or real time graphs showing the increase in median wage. Anything to get the message out there.
Biden’s positive foreign policy initiatives are being dwarfed by his blunders, specifically Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Gaza. I fear he is very susceptible to making decisions, as are most politicians, based on how they affect election viability, especially during wartime. That has the potential for disaster, see Carter and the failed rescue mission.
On the domestic front, I’ve seen one excellent Biden ad, referencing how he has helped black farmers via the legislation passed already in Biden’s term. If the focus is GOP bad/ Biden good, many will tune out. His campaign team needs a mountain of those ads that are targeted specifically to certain groups (young/minorities/) that connect emotionally, but outside the typical political ad. Policy, without the wonk, without preaching.
Biden’s problem is his refusal to actually be FDR, instead of faking it. He has Team Blue locked up, just as much as Trump has his base. The key in a climate of election shenanigans, populist frustration, apathy, etc, is to prevent a deluge of third party voters and/or sit at homes. We’ll see.
How long do you have? I gave you two huge ones on the foreign policy front; Ukraine and Gaza.
Domestically, his attempt to deal with student debt was a disaster, his campaign promise to support a health care/public option turned out to be a joke, his labor bonafides took a hit with the railroad strike issue, and on and on.
He has, to his credit, done good work on anti-trust, but much of the good he accomplishes with the economy he undercuts by not addressing real issues causing economic anxiety. I’ve linked below a critique by a Biden supporter who describes the problem well; he has good intentions, but can’t escape listening to the wrong advisors in the swamp. Matt Stoller, who writes a lot on antitrust, has echoed this as well.
We provoked Russia into invading Ukraine, assisting a Ukrainian coup of a democratically elected government in 2014, and undermining attempts to reach negotiated settlements from the uprisings resulting from the coup, both before and after Russia’s invasion. We wrecked Ukraine to bleed Russia. Gaza is a genocide, and we are giving tacit support to Israel to perpetrate it, instead of threatening to pull the plug on military aid to stop it.
Biden made a stupid decision on student debt, playing politics instead of pursuing the most logical path to debt relief. This from an article back in June in The American Prospect by David Dayden:
“The first thing to be said is that this is not Plan B as much as it is Plan A. Four years ago, when the Prospect first suggested that presidents have the authority to cancel student debt without further congressional approval, that was based on the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), and the statutory language enabling the secretary of education to “compromise, waive, or release any title, claim, lien, or demand” on student debtors. It also specifically authorizes the department to waive equity claims, compromise “a debt in any amount,” and modify “any provision of a loan note.”
The White House instead used the HEROES Act of 2003, a law that gave the secretary the ability to “waive or modify” statutory or regulatory provisions to keep borrowers financially harmless from a national emergency like the pandemic. Because Donald Trump used this very statute to pause collection of student loan payments, the White House thought it might entice conservative justices.
In other words, it was about political tactics as much as the law, but it didn’t work. In terms of legal language, the HEA argument is clearly stronger.”
Finally, on health care, Biden showed his cards during the campaign when said he would veto, if elected, a Medicare For All bill should Congress even pass one. He championed a public option as an alternative, then dropped that like a hot potato after the election. He caved to Big Pharma during negotiations on drug pricing. He, simply put, is like most politicians in that his fealty to corporate donors and capital often supersedes that of doing right by the people. He is no FDR. Not even close.
It’s why we are in the box we are in. Walter was replaced by Rupert, and our MSM followed him down the money trail. I’m beyond sick of seeing the orange menace on tv, switched to music
CBS management's goal was to succeed by living up to the "Tiffany network" name and the legacy of Edward R. Murrow. Even without the Fairness Doctrine, I suspect they would have continued to tell the truth. Rupert's goal is to make money, pure and simple. I have no idea what his actual politics are, but I am quite sure his actual politics don't factor into his business decisions.
The news business is just one more example of the financialization of all business, especially in the USA. Companies used to be established to make what profit they could by manufacturing products for customers; today, they do whatever they can to make the largest possible amount of money for investors. Car companies cut their mainstream products so they can produce more high-margin trucks and SUVs that no one can afford. Companies buy up other companies, close them down and sell them off for parts. And news organizations measure success by sensationalism-driven "engagement", a standard that used to apply only to supermarket rags like the National Enquirer and Weekly World News.
Given the choice between satisfying customers and satisfying investors, the investors will win every time, and the people who rely on products, whether they be cars, food, clothing or news, will lose.
MSM seems to be modeling after The National Enquirer these days. You are right all around. But CBS has been my biggest disappointment. Survivor just made trash programs the goal, not a fringe show. Now it’s just such “entertainment” everywhere. That, and the “foxification” of tv news is why I don’t watch much anymore. Even PBS had that mental case, RFKJr on last night. He is incoherent. Enough, but I’m still pissed about the Mnuchin sell-off of Sears.
You're absolutely right. Even the NYT updates to yesterday's Trump trial wasn't much better than CNN coverage. Journalism isn't what it used to be. Dan Rather has a thing or two to say on the subject in his Substack letter Steady. Thank you for your efforts.
Yes he is. And Dan is 92. I never thought of that in terms of how that helps Joe before. But that's not to say that Joe at 80 hasn't proven that in his own career and life and more importantly, the current administration. On the other hand, not that I should ever compare myself to either of them, I know I've lost a couple of steps at 70. As long I have crossed that line I should say that I think a lot of people misjudge Joe because of his lifelong battle with stuttering. I know from personal experience that it's not what it appears to be, having had a stuttering problem for a while when I was 7.
As usual you present a striking contrast between the steady-as-you-go hand of President Biden and VP Harris and the totally outrageous actions of this current House of Representatives and its porn monitored Speaker. The trumpublicans aren’t in any way serious about anything except derailing our Constitutional system of government. We had better wake up and realize the mortal danger we are in if they and their insane leader prevail.
I have fell in love of how Biden administration solves international diplomacies and problems stemming from migration. Though it takes time to rebuild an economy, Biden can set a foundation that will ignite economic revolutions for prosperity in the carrebean countries. This diplomatic approach will attempt to accomplish the following;
Responsibility-Sharing. APEP aims to strengthen the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection. This approach encourages diplomatic collaboration and burden-sharing, fostering stronger ties between countries in the region.
Addressing Root Causes. By focusing on the prosperity and security of countries from which migrants originate, this approach involves diplomatic efforts to work with these nations. It can enhance diplomacy by promoting partnerships and cooperation in addressing issues like economic development, security, and human rights in those countries.
Reducing Pressure to Migrate. Diplomatic initiatives that improve conditions in migrants' home countries can lead to decreased migration pressures. This can positively impact relations between nations as they work together to create solutions that benefit all parties.
Alternative to Border-Centric Policies. APEP offers an alternative to solely relying on border-focused policies, which can sometimes strain diplomatic relations. By concentrating on addressing the root causes, it provides a diplomatic avenue for resolving migration challenges.
His diplomatic policies are majorly sustainable and done in good faith. I think this is the future precedent of the international relations.
I applaud President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s initiatives to provide a Latin American continent approach to the issues of economic development and the sustained tidal wave of immigration.
As a Foreign Service Officer, I served in Chile 1966-1969 before the Allende administration. Since then I have followed US-Latin American relations from afar.
I do not conclude that the US is viewed positively in much of Latin America. Our involvement in Central America, from the 1950s and the Reagan period, had made the situation in these troubled countries significantly worst. As a strategic concern, Latin America has not been a high US priority for many years. The Chinese have been active, especially in South America.
I see no ‘solution’ to the millions of people who are desperate to seek a better life in the United States. Europe is facing a similar situation where migrants risk their lives to get to Europe.
Sadly, even were there a bipartisan commitment to address the ‘migrant issue,’ I see no viable solution. The tidal wave of desperate migrants will continue. Relatively few immigrants are legally permitted under our existing immigration laws. We can’t even pursue a common sense resolution of the DACA individuals—human beings who were brought to the US as youngsters and have been thoroughly vetted as fine folks.
As I reflect on the US and Latin America, I consider the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary woefully outmoded.
I hope for some mutual self interest amelioration in this relationship, recognizing that the US often has been prepotente (overbearing) in dealing with Latin America.
Going back to William McKinley's bellicose campaign to "Christianize" the former colonial properties of Spain, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Phillipines, Catholic countries all. William Randolph Hearst in his day was a more urbane version of Rupert Murdoch, proclaiming all too successfully that "You give me a headline, I'll give you your war", as the Maine sunk mysteriously in Havana harbor.
To "control" the Filipino fighters across the vast archipelago, who somehow didn't quite see the wisdom of shucking their Spanish overlord for an American one, we developed the Colt 45.
Mark Twain was a great wit, but he was deadly serious when he stated that due to our invasion and occupation of the Phillipines, the American flag should be replaced with the Jolly Roger.
Daniel The US had troops occupying about 5 Caribbean countries in the 1930s. Bay of Pigs. CIA-organized ‘army’ in Honduras. Reagan and the Contras. Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. Years ago I read a book and American and Latin America: THE SHARK AND THE SARDINES. (Not complimentary to US).
And General Pershing took 11,000 troops into Mexico to seek to capture our one=time buddy Pancho Villa. He failed ignominiously.
Yup! Wilson used the excuse of Germany to extract Pershing’s soldiers, who were in danger of being badly mauled by the Mexicans. Invading another country is often not a walk in the park.
"Sadly, even were there a bipartisan commitment to address the ‘migrant issue,’ I see no viable solution."
Correct, and, at least in my view, the reason there is no viable solution is the human population has exceeded or is near exceeding, in many places now, the "carrying capacity" of the local resources available. The Catholic church's mantra against birth control has done the population there no favors at all.
Reason: In closed environmental systems the population growth of the dominant species in that closed environment ALWAYS follows a known (to biologists) trajectory.
That trajectory: Somewhat flat for a while, then exponential population growth then?
Sudden massive die off as the carrying capacity (available resources) of the closed system is exhausted.
Keith, google a graph of the human population. You will see where we are on the curve.
Yep, something not far from Right before the massive die off. Jared Diamond's excellent book "Collapse", especially the last Chapter dealing with Iceland and the population collapse there describes these events from a historical view.
MIke S---I just read your comment and my brain went "!!!!!!"
I have stated this thought to my husband. The problem here is TOO MANY PEOPLE on Earth. I feel like Mother Nature has tried to prune the population at times: think of the Black Plague. Got the numbers down a bit, then, here we go again. HIV. Ebola. COVID. This time, however, mankind had the science to thwart her attempts. One can have a lively debate about COVID, we won't go there.
Now, I have wondered why there is so much fear and so much violence in the world? Our frequent commenter, Sandy Lewis, has made very good points about the microbiome and much recent science is showing that gut health has a major impact on illnesses from cardiac to mental.
Is it the number of chemicals/additives in our food? It's difficult to find any processed foods without them. Maybe there is a cumulative impact of a lifetime of these foods.
Donning the tinfoil hat here, I've even wondered if radio waves have something to due with the amount of mental illness. I've tried to think of WHAT is different NOW, compared to say 1900? Why are people so prone to instantaneously go from zero to 100 when something upsets them?
What nature couldn't do with viruses, we seem to be doing to ourselves. All the gun deaths! Be it from an upset person with an automatic weapon, an angry person with a handgun seeking revenge, or a depressed person wanting OUT--there goes another life.
When I was in my microbiology classes in med tech school, we would see agar plates of bacteria reach colony collapse. Many people hear that term and think bees, which is true, but I think of the bacteria. Humans seem on the verge of colony collapse.
Mike I read that 60% of the population growth to 2050 will be in Africa, where desiccation is again occurring. What a disbalance between the well-to-do, population-decline countries and elsewhere.
This is just an off-shoot of this discussion of human population, but could someone explain why these fanatical evangelicals are anti birth control? The vast majority are not Catholics. THEY don’t have huge families. They don’t back any kind of government to support the average working family. A very few decades ago there was constant talk about over-population; having more than two or three children was definitely looked down upon. Population did decrease for a while, so much so that we closed down schools right here in Southern California. There weren’t enough children in community to keep open. The high school where I taught for 33 of my 49 years in education, closed the local middle school feeder and put them on our campus. ( The irony here is that they sold off the property to builders who put in two-story, multi-bedroom homes and guess what? Suddenly those homes filled with children and we became a very over-crowded campus.) Now the big program is PRO-LIFE equaling no birth control or abortion. A real, we’ll thought out plan for the future of America.
Glad to read about all the behind-the-scenes diplomacy. Off to vote this morning in local election with fingers crossed. Next year is very close, and I cannot bear feeling the way I did in 2016. Hope springs eternal though that reason will prevail.
It does seem an investment in the countries of origin of the migrating people makes more sense than walls or border patrols. People will seek opportunity and political stability. I can't imagine how many will need to leave Gaza after recent events. Thank you for your efforts.
I have truly been impressed by the varied and creative approaches that the Biden/Harris administration has been taking to try to help begin (or resume) to solving some of our nation’s economic and structural problems. And fortunately [or unfortunately] these are programs and approaches that their administration are taking would be lost to me if it were not for the professor’s Letters from an American! Yesterday, (Monday, 11/06/2023) I struggled through the process of adjusting my mind around the horrendous NYT/Sienna College early presidential poll results, but today i that I have finally wrapped my mind around them - somewhat - and now I’m looking forward to seeing - hopefully pleasantly pleasing election results in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. It is still a long way to the November 2024 presidential election and the goal should be expand the coattails of the Biden/Harris team toward achieving a supermajority in the House and the Senate so as to facilitate passage and enactment of some nonstructural and economic legislation and aim toward gun control, voting rights and some other key legislative areas. Thank You Heather!
I have been thoroughly disgusted with the reporting incessantly on The NY Times / Siena polling from this past Sunday I believe. Delighted to hear Beau’s take that this far out, it might be useful in strategy but otherwise nothing to take as anywhere near predictive of election outcome. THANK YOU for the link! 🔗 With so much tragedy in our world 🌎 now, it takes very little to move me to tears about our collective futures. A bit of rational thinking is helpful. 😊
“Vice President Kamala Harris took the lead in “diplomatic efforts to address root causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras,” and in July 2021 she released a report on strategies to slow migration from the region.”
We need more of this! It has appeared to become quiet after her visit and this report. The issue is not Mexico, it is these mentioned countries. If we were to address this, maybe we should be helping Mexico with their border control at the southern part of their country. Working close with Mexico to create a border with camps there.
I would have to assume the Mexican government would have much concern if we somehow stop the flow of immigrants at our border. These Central Americans will be still flowing into Mexico.
Btw, I have seen first hand the nationality of these families and I can assure you they are not Mexican descents. In the shelter that I volunteer at, it is Central American families. And I assume they have gone through hell to make it here.
So help the source and limit the exposure they have to go through getting here.
And we should be so Grateful to be born in this country so help others in need. And stop screaming at judges for something you have already been found guilty of. Provide the money you owe the government to help these people, instead of your golf courses, resorts, and porn stars.
The last time I remember the US attempting to address root causes of migration from Central American countries was under the Carter administration. It was essentially a 1970s version of the Biden/Harris plan, which was promptly cancelled by Reagan one he took office. It's high time we had one to take its place!
Thank you, Dr. Heather, for focusing on President Biden's diplomatic efforts in foreign affairs and offering solutions and aid towards resolving some of the border and immigration issues. It is unfortunate that we are still burdened by tfg and his thuggish buffoonery in the courts and it is also mind-boggling that he is the leading candidate for the Rethugs.
“Republicans have before the House a bill to cut more than 64%—about a billion dollars—out of Amtrak, as well as other significant parts of the country’s passenger rail system “.” The House Republicans are trying to prevent the improvements from taking place. They appear worried that their constituents will see progress in infrastructure in the next year and realize just how the Democrats and Biden’s administration are making things better for the “average Joe and Jane”.
Thank you for your steady voice in these times of trouble.
Thank you for your report on diplomacy. That is so important and too often downplayed in the press. Same for infrastructure programs.
For the first time in a while there seems to be some pretty comprehensive thinking going on on the Federal level. That seems far more significant and "newsworthy" than most of the nonsense I see in "the news".
When I am out and about and engaged with people in my surroundings it feels like no one reads anything of any consequence anymore. Hard to find anyone informed about the current crisis in the House Speakership. Strongly pro reproductive choice friends who can’t get past the stinking thinking of “Biden’s too old”! They will not spend the time to read this and understand the consequences for our world’s future. Folks have become so accustomed to being fed constant nonsense “bites”, the neural pathways in their brains no longer process nuance and thought. 😢. The human mind is such an undeveloped resource for good.
Truly my greatest and daily anguish.
Mine, too. Take heart, Christy.
I believe the Biden cognitive click bites have died down a bit, due to, I think, the number of really serious verbal gaffs of Trump. You have to admit, he is starting to sound like a cranky ol' Grandpa mumbling and crabbing away at the dinner table.
I suggest forwarding some of the YouTube clips from Brian Tyler Cohen. He makes a good point when he's said that when people question whether Joe can do the job, the proof is that he is doing it NOW.
The DeSantis campaign video ties it all together very nicely. Now if only people will pay attention. (Not that I support the Florida "cowboy."
You have every reason to bemoan people's lack of critical thinking. Look no further than that criminal behemoth throwing a tantrum in the courtroom as if a toddler in romper room is the Republican front runner. My mind cannot digest....
They think they want a strongman. He is, among other things, a real wuss. Judge Engoron is so mean! Letitia James is so Black! It’s Eric’s fault! Some strongman.
( I loved it when the Judge, in the first trial, said in Trump’s world “Square Footage is Subjective.”)
Say it again for those in the back: "The human mind is such an undeveloped resource for good." 😞
Representative democracy cannot really operate without a well-enough informed electorate. Maintaining competent and reasonably unbiased sources of trustworthy and actionable information is a super-challenge, but the "magic of the marketplace" alone won't solve it for us. We need to be thinking hard about improving the quality of societal discussion and discouraging patent lies and liars, if only with social disapproval. As is essential to any delivery of "liberty and justice for ALL) (emphasis mine) we need to be as hard on liars in our own ranks as on opponents.
Biden seems to me like the most forward-thinking president we have had in decades. So far he is proving up to the challenge. I worry about his health at his age, as I worry about my own, but so far so good. I have lost friends younger than I to unexpected illness, and do believe there need to be thoroughly though out contingency plans if Biden becomes disabled. Biden has done some things that I am troubled by, but I also see a comprehensive departure, at least a reasonable launch of one, away from that plutocratic momentum of "Chicago School" "Reaganomics". I also would (should I live so long) welcome a much younger president were the right person to appear.
Yeah, the "soundbite" mentally reminds me of rationale for Orwell's "Newspeak". It seems that the thinkers, grass roots and otherwise, exhibited and exhibit a capacity for "long chain" thinking, and thinking in 3D (or after Einstein, 4D). I am grateful for my own education and I married a (professional life) life-long school teacher of excellent reputation and skills, yet my personal opinion is that overall, we don't stretch the thinking skills of children (and adults) nearly enough, preferring to emphasize "quiz show" like recall.
Yes, all very true. I’m sure Kamala would be a good prez but I think the fact that she’s a women may play against her considering how many misogynistic people we have, including women. Hopefully not the majority. I’m afraid someone may suggest that speaker Johnson run for prez if for some reason Trump doesn’t. That would be a complete horror show. But if we believe in cycles that The Fourth Turning Or that Ray Dalio speaks of we are still in for a rough ride.
And as always, there is no end to seeing the orange melon popping up - all the news bits manage to get HIS 15 minutes in (which is 15 more than I want) Yet cut off AG James at the end of his "testimony"!
Send all these articles anyway. You never know, perhaps a seed will be planted:
Absolutely! And giving Democracy Awakening as gifts! Plus just the value of just bringing the risk of losing our democracy into as many conversations as possible can’t be overstated
AND, I no longer count on The NY Times or the WaPo for information Re: Palestine. I read Heather and learn from youtube and Al Jazeera , which is pretty depressing.
Sadly, all too true. I have many friends who have just quit reading the news because it is full of far too many lies and early conclusions. I am disgusted with the whole "Biden is too old" story line. Trump is around 3 years younger and in HORRIBLE physical shape in comparison. I wish the big news reporters would stop with the completely untrustworthy polls until next summer.
Oh yes. So true. American are oblivious. I think our collective character no matter how oblivious ultimately carried the day in our past history. I fear it will be our undoing now.
Todays focus is Ohio and Virginia whether the trends continue, Dems winning! 🙌👍🤞
The underlying currents -to turn nations towards the carpetbaggers, autocratic regimes associated with control, corruption and circus communes. Window treatments if you don’t cooperate.
Progress is about hearing different approaches, new ideas , willing countries buy on ...instead of the old goat head bumping dam mentality. Will “shoring up “ the areas/putting heads together on the whys behind their population’s displacement work?
Togetherness..?
While back at the circus -who still wants to defund, cry fouls, inflate their worth/competency-NO whispers of what to do ,to fix , except burn it all down and side with the long time troublemakers..noting ...the areas of most chaos is where you find them ..those troublemakers ..stirring up the poisonous crew- loyal losers continuing ‘link the liars’ club!
It’s gotten so old🤦♀️
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
🗣️COME ON Dems...!
OHIO/VIRGINIA 🙌
Patricia, you posted the news of the year, actually, for me. THIS election day.
Equally as important as OH and VA are the governors races in KY and MS - yes, even Mississippi has a decent chance to elect a DEMOCRAT as governor!
If we win, these results can be THE antidote to the depressing Republican agenda - and forebode victory in 2024
Yes!!🙌 Hear Hear Voters 💙Let it be BLUE
Yes, Frederick. My biggest trigger issue since I was a teenager was women's rights, and abortion and reproductive rights are a huge part of it. I have been pleasantly surprised and buoyed to find it is also a huge trigger for the vast majority of the voting population. So, here we go! It has been the best "get out the vote" method anyone could have thought of! I cringe when I think of the women in states that already simply don't have that right and will continue to see other rights disappear, too. I wish I could help more!
Honestly, it should be everyone's trigger - it IS the initial push to remove rights - not only from women but other(!) minorities.
Reading Popular Information this am about the Cop City mess just really ticks me off. We do not require our police depts. to be more "military" - we need community engagement! The whole "defund" the police was a bad description of the intention & allowed the naysayers to use that description. Too often that is the end result for Democrats - somehow doesnt affect the Repubs - they just keep on shouting & lying - to seemingly, no downside.
Deborah, one of my husband's Native American relatives was confronted in South Dakota about abortion this week. There is some kind of petition going. He got told that not only had she signed it, but she had helped gather signatures. She was a R, now a feisty D as she has watched what the Rs become the party of death and of course, there is also the Gnome in South Dakota.
Oh Deborah, you spoke to the ❤️ of the matter ->
women's rights and reproductive freedom! End there, full stop.
Need we mention the operation which no one chooses, but can be a necessity bore out of women's rights and reproductive freedom!
(imho)
WIN it IS!
OHIO
VIRGINIA
KENTUCKY
WOHOO SUPER JOB Y’All 👏
It's the season to put away childish things, some of them for substantial sentences. Meanwhile, always follow the money. Who gets the booty and who gets the shaft.
Agreed but Foreign Affairs are not “sexy” enough to distract from the circus 🎪 we seem to be living in.
Thank you HCR for highlighting Biden’s successes, which are manifold. How to get MSM to do this as well is the problem of the day. Hoping to see more blue today.
JL,
I couldn't agree more. I watched a little CNN yesterday, and they seemed a little preoccupied with how frustrated Judge Engoron was. Regardless of his ability to deal directly face to face with that pathological liar, I don't think the testimony showcase will have much of an effect on the judgement.
Other than to underline again and again that, at long last, Trump is thoroughly unrepentant, with absolutely no sense of decency. Were I a judge, that would matter.
Well I think you're right considering the fact that 🤥is unrepentant. I think the judge might be able to consider that. But I think he needs to show that his decision is not personal or political. Don't get me wrong. I know that we're talking about a monster that is somehow able to appear to be a martyr to his base.
It has come to my attention that perjury can result in civil charges being pressed against the perjurer. I don't know how likely that would be. He certainly did contradict himself while being questioned yesterday. I'm looking forward to the decision.
When I read this today, I thought "Gee, this sounds really important and complicated, and I don't know very much about this." That made me think that maybe one of the reasons President Biden's numbers aren't any higher is that he's been a grown-up in the room about foreign affairs, but it doesn't make the news, so ordinary folks trying to live their lives have no idea why this matters so much. Dem's have to get better at presenting the "what's in it for me" aspect of these larger, more complex issues.
It appears to me it’s ‘what’s in it for us’ , the general consensus based on fact is we make major advances for WE THE PEOPLE , them getting bennies too, while they pass tax breaks, the interstate WAS wonderful have to give Ike credit , but few other accolades .
Too few ( I agree ) hear, know, or research the good news . This business of paying attention is not a common thread. Maybe because we trusted more? The attention spans are so much shorter? I give up! .....JK
Voting 💙 , long runs seem the better game/gain.
The US "mainstream media" is no friend of this country. I find myself going to
Deutsche Welle (DW), BBC, Al Jezeera, and the Guardian. Remember when the TV camera focused on an empty stage waiting for Trump to show up and speak. How many times a day do the networks use the word "Trump." No wonder he leads in the polls. I had not heard of one of the groups of nations until HCR today.
GOP="Greater Overall Poverty."
Please take a look at “Blinken’s Humiliation” by Joe Lauria in Consortiumnews.com for another dimension of the quality of our diplomatic efforts.
Do you trust “Consortium News” as a mainstream media outlet of facts?
well, now I'm paying for that news source also....Facts: Yes, But, mainstream media? why?
Downplayed? It's not covered at all in most media. Instead, we have continued focus on "polls."
It's as if the media has the entire country poll dancing.
On the other hand, the Biden Administration makes me proud to be an American. I haven't felt that way in years.
1) Terrific pun! Thank you!
2) Agree about the Biden Administration.
3) Was there pushback to Trump’s claim inflation was eating the country alive? Americans just spent $12 billion dollars on Halloween, up from $10 billion last year. (Oh, wait. The price of Halloween merchandise is up, too.)
But maybe inflation is not eating the country alive after all? We just expect prices to return to what they used to be.
It’s all a shell game...we’re smarter than that. Vote Blue, go Joe!
Train news at last! How many Americans in the Midwest know that its smalll towns were once linked by rails and that Amtrak runs on some of them between Charlottesville,VA, and Chicago?
I remember when the village I grew up in had rail service - remember riding to Oneonta with my aunt when I was small - obviously a LOOONG time ago. It was really fun. Glad someone is doing some thing somewhere.
Just as I remember “riding the rails” in electric street cars in Richmond, Virginia.
Yes - isnt "progress" wonderful?
We’re still learning. Planes get us there faster, but they pollute and trains can run on recycled steam or be electrified. Dreaming of return of ocean liners, slower, but more interesting. (Aha! As I wrote that realized that perhaps a berth on a cargo vessel might get me back across the Atlantic!)
I remember the passenger trains in the Midwest.
Thank you for responding. My husband’s grandfather was a PRR (“Railroad to the World”) engineer, resulting in his being a lifelong rail fan and builder of HO scale railroads. He had maps of the Midwest lines which we followed on a 1990 trip from Richmond to Chicago. His enthusiasm for the French TGV (“Train Grande Vitesse) and his hope to see similar safe high speed rail in America led him to communicate with Amtrak to upgrade their east coast service, especially while the old PRR catenaries were still standing. His expertise was put to use by the PRRT&HS as a writer for the organization’s quarterly.
My dad was a railway mail carrier, sorting mail between St. Paul and Des Moines (I think). Later, after we moved to California, my sister and I rode that same route to visit our older sister. I love train travel! So glad for the improvements that will provide that experience for many others.
My husband remembers when he could catch a train as a kid to go see his grandparents off in a different area of Michigan, and when the fathers of his schoolmates would commute to factories in a different direction. Riding trains in Europe is a delight. Too bad so much money is spent making it hard to do here.
If you get to Poland, be sure to ride the EU paid-for train that is basically TGV. I rode it Bialystok-Warsaw. Maybe Tusk will get a similar train Warsaw-Berlin. That would cut hours off Paris-Warsaw and get Poland more of the western tourism it so richly deserves.
Yes, and all the news had on yesterday were polling numbers. We were so irritated, we turned it off. But good news does not get clicks, so let's focus on death star instead. His tirade in the courtroom also got plenty of news as well. They should be focusing on the good things the Biden administration is doing as well as signs of death star's senile and toddler outbursts.
I so agree with you. I've been asking for quite some time why we don't hear about bringing manufacturing to those countries where people are fleeing to bolster their economies. I had no idea that the administration has been quietly working on this concept! And that's the problem--QUIETLY. The Biden administration needs to get in gear and vociferously blast their accomplishments from the rooftops....
I didn't realize how much was going on since the news is a bout trump. What did someone say? He sucks the oxygen out of the room. Lets cut rail safety. Of course it would be in blue states. Republicans discriminated against blue states during the pandemic. I'm surprised republicans screamed how there was a derailment ( they had 3 of their own). Wouldn't this help them? Wait, as I said before, this is a lot about blue states.
Thank goodness, dump’s base will not determine the outcome of the next election. A refreshing report today, Heather, focusing on solutions and actual work being done in this hemisphere to help stem the flood of immigration to the US. I was impressed so many Americans are employed by the governments involved in the effort to create local opportunities in countries which desperately need them to stop the violence driving so many to leave. I hope now, at almost 5 am in Maine or the east coast where you may be writing, that you will turn in and get some peaceful sleep. Thank you!
The outcome of the next presidential election is very much in doubt and Trump’s base--while not expanding--will certainly play a crucial role. The arcane Electoral College, coupled with Biden’s low popularity and the increasing threat that the most radical Trumpublican supporters simply won’t accept the outcome, should their boy not win, have us on the edge of armed civil conflict.
Since, Dave, we are “armed” with the truth, I will head into the conflict at my voting booth. There is already so much violence, it’s hard to imagine anything worse. We must not be fearful. There are far more of “us” than “them”.
The issue is not whether we outnumber Trump’s fervent admirers, but rather whether the voting process allows for the majority to prevail. The Electoral College isn’t the only problem. Voter suppression is a considerable threat, as is voter apathy. Add to that the right-wing radicals who do not accept the legitimacy of the last election, and will not accept the next, if Trump loses. That group, BTW, includes the new Speaker of the House.
The electoral college and gerrymandering, there continues to be strong push-back on efforts to monitor gerrymandering thus the electoral college will remain under the rug, so to speak.
Nice recent outcome in ND.
Oh, it could be way worse. Just ask the Congress men and women who feared for their lives in the Capitol. Yes, our votes are extremely important, but “they” are the ones with all the weapons and just waiting for their corrupt leader to give the signal. Don’t become complacent.
Rep. Jackie Speier was shot five times and left for dead on a runway in Guyana when she was an aide Rep. Leo Ryan. Ryan, who was investigating the Jonestown cult, was murdered. About 40 years later, Speier hid on the floor of the House of Representatives, again fearing for her life, as Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol. Cultists follow their leader’s instructions, whether in South America or in D.C.
Thank you for this information.
Dave,
"The outcome of the next presidential election is very much in doubt"
Yes, new polls out show Trump leading Biden by as much as 10 points in all swing states.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/05/politics/trump-leads-biden-in-key-swing-states-new-polling-finds/index.html
Hard as that is to believe AND it might not be true given that the election is way off and polls are done by calling a home phone number which almost nobody has anymore, EXCEPT old people like me, BUT, the news is reporting Biden behind now.
Polls dependent on "home phone number" do not poll young people. None of them have "home phone number" to call.
I agree, the polls are unreliable and the election is a ways away. But it’s the voting process itself that concerns me. Bit by bit, Democracy is being nibbled away and the vast majority of Americans are either too busy just trying to make ends meet, disinterested in the process, or too obsessed with the most salacious parts of pop culture, to notice.
Dave,
"or too obsessed with the most salacious parts of pop culture, to notice."
Yes, back in Ben Franklins day the "salacious parts of pop culture" WERE politics. Hence his foray into printing.
And, everyone had to READ to comprehend which is a more through process of consuming information.
One of my bigger monthly contributions is to Democracy Docket. I recommend it highly. They've recently been able to add legal staff due to people supporting them. It's still a surprisingly small group supporting them, though. I qualify as one of those small donors but we can add up when we all participate.
Mark Elias and his team are wonderful!!
That worries me, too. The voter suppression activity on the right is often unconstitutional, but stopping it may take too long. I'm sure MAGAs know that and are using it.
Mike, in thinking about messengering, at the moment any Democrat Thrust now may be stale come next Sept, losing impact on voter’s. Do you think it possible that a comprehensive information campaign may begin next August addressing key voter concerns with line by line Biden accomplishments that address what voters say is important to them?
“Hello American Voters, you say you want a strong economy? This is what WE did (content displayed). This is what THEY want (content displayed; notice who delivers and who doesn’t”
Ten second ads, bombarding the masses in spite of the media’s demonstrated lack of coverage
“Ten Seconds For Democracy”, it shall be known as
The American public no longer wants to Think. It votes based on Feeling.
"A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think." --Clem Whitaker of Campaigns Inc, AKA The Lie Factory.
"Make it personal. Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent, invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average American doesn't want to be educated, he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.' "
-- Jill Lepore writing in her history book "These Truths" about the successful strategy of Campaigns Inc, the first political marketing firm that also successfully tanked universal healthcare efforts in California.
Brilliant post. Thanks.
"It votes based on Feeling." Ultimately, so do I. So do all of us. If I feel threatened (as with women's rights being taken away), that feeling not only sends me to the polls (I've always voted) it makes me tell other people about it, about how I feel and why. We can connect the dots, people. We can be authentic about our own fears to those around us. "What are you afraid of?" is a question therapists ask to help people get insights into why they behave the ways that they do. Greedy people, for example, are greedy for a reason (or many reasons), but when they can see what they are afraid of not having, or what they might be losing, it goes beyond money or power. Basically, I think most people want acceptance, acknowledgement, and respect. That's it. Play with that idea.
Possibly the more effective as campaign would hammer away at who really supports Trump. Introduce Trump's "forgotten man" base to the oligarchs and billionaires who truly stand to gain from a second Trump term, and how the little people Trump calls his base of support will actually be forgotten when the ultra rich retake power.
Pull the curtain back on the people running Trump and the Republicans at all levels while also showing how Democrats have the people's interests at heart and have demonstrated that priority over the entirety of Biden's term.
Educate voters instead of dishing out propaganda. Treat the people as if they are intelligent, and you might find out that they are.
Re “intelligent” people, I used to think that was the case. Now I’m not convinced there are enough of them, but if “educating” = enlightening them to current efforts by Biden Adm, I think thats what my aten Seconds is about
Have you read "The Persueders," by Anand Giridharadas? Excellent book on effective messaging.
"The Persuaders"
Sandy. You can edit your post by clicking on the 3 horizontal dots just below and to the right of your post.
Yes. And guess what? We can band together and get some of this done. How about a Go Fund Me for political ads like this? It's not my strength, but for someone who knows how to do this, I bet we can raise the money. Personally, I love and support The Lincoln Project, and they target their ads to "the others" to shame them, so I don't use it for my own circles of friends and acquaintances because it's too "in your face" for me personally to retain credibility as a thoughtful thinker. So, we don't need to duplicate that approach but I like your idea, Dave. Let's do that (and I mean, would you spearhead that project?)
My “spearheading” reach is extremely limited, but I’ll ponder what it would take flesh out
I wonder about that 'home phone' polling... my land line (which is really VOIP now) only gets calls from telemarketers. Never had.one pollster call.
Mike S, thank you for your simple-sounding explanation of how polls are conducted. It's no wonder the polls don't make any sense. One would think no-one would trust numbers coming out of such an anachronistic (mid-20th century?) process for gauging what any given percentage of "likely voters" are likely to do. It would be fascinating to see some actual research about what determines who answers their land-line anymore, why they do and what impels them to take the time to answer questions on a survey, let alone how the pollers formulate the wording of their questions.
Yep. My 25 year old twins and zero of their friends have ever been “polled”.
Mike, neither my sons nor their wives have ever been polled. They’re in their 30s, I’m in my 70s. I gave up a land line when I no longer needed it for internet service. I occasionally get a mail-in poll, but never about political candidates. It’s more than just the “younger than us”.
I also gave up my landline and I'm in my eighties.
Mike, Beau of the Fifth Column has a recent good clip about polls. He noted that at this point in the election cycle, in 2015, guess who was leading the polls?
BEN CARSON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBs2tgfVRpE
This doesn't mean we don't have our work cut out for us, but as Beau says, its too far out.
Ben who??? LOL
Mike S, I've posted this months (years?) ago, I will do it again for people who might not have seen it.
In 2020, I did TONS of polls. There are several websites I am aware of, but the one I was entertaining myself with during COVID is Surveyjunkie.com. You actually are PAID to do surveys. Trust me, you won't get rich on them--they generally pay point that equal anything form 15 cents to a buck for answering a poll. You can then trade in your points for gift cards or cash deposited into a bank account. Some people like to do computer games, I liked to do this.
You will be asked qualifying questions and if you meet the demographic they are looking for, and they haven't already exceeded the number they want, you will be picked. There is a lot of political polls, polls about new products, polls about services (a lot on banking) and phone companies.
I wish I could recall the name of the book, (this will be vague, sorry) but I read a recent book about numbers. One section talked about bias in polls. I was amazed to see the very questions I had answered, not realizing the bias which was obvious after it was explained to me!
One in particular has been in the news and I frequently answered it: Is the country going in the wrong direction?
A MAGA might say YES, as they are upset with Biden, with liberals, with trans people, whatever.
I would say YES, because I am upset with book banning, the SCOTUS, reproductive rights being stripped away, voter suppression.
WHO funded that poll, and how will they use that information? See what I mean?
I agree, I don't think many people answer phones. Even the internet polling will select people--I discovered that once I hit 65, I was frequently immediately eliminated when I typed in my age. (Ageism!)
“ I set out to analyze FiveThirtyEight’s collection of 400+ primary polls from the past year, closely inspecting their results and methodologies. It didn’t take long to realize that poll participants were actually reached a variety of ways.”
https://medium.com/@hassen.morad/addressing-the-landline-only-polling-myth-473dbb6d46bd
Interesting, Kathy! Thanks for sharing this!
It was interesting to me that of voters who said Biden and Trump were both too old, they favored Biden by about 60%. The ones who don’t see Trump as old puzzle me. (Oh, but he is a “fighter.” Bluster must count as putting up a fight.)
It's been way to early to depend on those horse race polls. We need a shorten versions of the election cycle.
I would love to know how the questions are formulated. That's critical to understanding the answers. In my forties I attended community college. In one class, many of us had answers that were marked wrong and it was strictly because of the way questions were phrased. Long discussion with our instructor, and our tests were corrected.
All your concerns are legit and I agree it is frightening. But the polls are two things.
First they are meaningless because they don't involve a true slice of the electorate. I have seen no evidence that the polls use a large enough survey or that they reach a true representation of the voters. Do you know anyone who has ever been surveyed? And how did that happen? A land line? If the "polls" meant anything Hillary would be wrapping up her second term in office.
Second, they are motivating. It's possible this early warning shot across the bow will redouble our efforts to achieve a Blue Trifecta.
And at the risk of being too optimistic, the GQP and their new White Nationalist Fascist House leader are in the process of giving us a boatload of campaign weapons. The more extreme and dysfunctional they are, the better it is for us. Sadly, the nation must suffer first.
I don't think we should worry one hoot what Radical Racist Republicans think. We can hope that many of them will stay home next November as they watch their hero continue to relentlessly rant nonsense - perhaps from a jail cell. And there are way more of us than them. Two whole generations lean to our values. To help with that visit www.turnup.us.
When push comes to shove, on November 5, 2024 I believe that Americans will choose any Democrat over any Republican for POTUS based on the theft of women's autonomy and the Republican corruption that is being revealed daily. The Mike Johnson rotten onion is being peeled back. Trump's wealth is being revealed as a myth and it's about to be reduced real soon by a judge in NYC who he is attacking. You can't fix stupid.
Well, Bill, I certainly hope you are right. But, again, I’m concerned that this will not be a “fair fight” b/c the election process itself has been corrupted. In my estimation, the real “villains” in the drift toward authoritarian rule are the Republican Party enablers who whisper their discontent with Trump in off-the-record comments but are sniveling cowards when asked to speak out publicly. The “true believers” will not be turned by logic or facts. They are angry sycophants who love how Trump voices their hate.
It's my decent hope that the "true believers", while loud, will prove to be a small minority when votes are cast, and that their lasting legacy will be to motivate the majority to protect their mandate and the country's interests by coming to the polls in large numbers. If that happens, we will have three loudmouths, and the polls and news reports that overrepresent them, to thank.
Great and encouraging message Bill. Thanks!
“You can't fix stupid“ Ah a Ron White fan I see. 😃
“White Nationalist Fascist House leader” I prefer the title “Fascist Theocratic House leader”.
I recently read of one problem with all polling is the folk who would change many statistics are the same people who ignore those telephone calls from anonymous sources who often are the pollers
I would be surprised if as many as 1/4 of the HCR group were ever polled and even less volunteer to be polled.
It’s impossible to devise any method of getting any cross section of American Views as a result. I suspect the result is the suggestion a thug could resume destroying Democracy.
All said, true. But, the lingering reality coming from the ineptitude of the Mike's pals is the growing feeling of confidence brewing within that Democrats will be blamed for failure of government going into November because they will not vote for legislation to reduce debt, regardless of the poison pills such legislation contains. Nothing like disarray to get voters to through the bums (majority party) out in a presidential election year. Project 2025 will rise from the rubble of America this cast of crypto-nihlists are bent upon yielding through these means.
My 40 year old son keeps saying, "Biden is too old!!!" He doesn't understand what REAL leadership looks like. I told him that he he wanted to have any rights at all, come 2024 he'd damn well better vote blue. Joe Biden is a decent person. He is not a mentally ill criminal, who has less integrity than a gnat. This upside down world we have now can make a person crazy!
Maybe you should get your son to watch HCR's interview at the LBJ library. It's on You Tube, and she makes the point that Biden has performed spectacularly for an "old man." He is the only US president to have gone into a war zone, and he's gone into two! (I don't know if your son is nervous about Kamila, but yesterday, I saw Stacy Abrahms speak about the prejudice against her as a Black woman, and I have to wonder if she doesn't have a point.)
Great suggestion, thanks!
It’s our culture! An 80 year old Scorsese gets praised for his lively create juices that produced “Killers of the Flower Moon,” while a younger much more involved and active President gets stereotyped as “too old.”
Jenn. Biden is too old.
That said, so is Trump.
They seem to be the majority in Texas and, no doubt, elsewhere.
Texas is a mirror of USA, the GQP strongly controls the rural vote and strongly influences the exurban & suburban vote through fear, lies and conspiracy while the DNC strongly controls the urban vote.
The GQP is in power and doing everything they can to remain there. The Democrats and Independents need to register, educate, support and vote in order to take back at least a VOICE in the government.
Thought that would happen when chump was no longer behind the presidential podium. Thanks to traitor MCCarthy, it didn’t
If women is those countries had access to a termination * of an unwanted pregnancy and they weren't brain washed and controlled by their religion, there would be better economies and less young people with no jobs.
*....I wish they would stop using the term "abortion" ...it's has negative connotations: like an ugly thing...or, a completely wrong thing.
AND, BTW: I didn't desire, ask for or approve a personal substack!
Judith, I’m trying to respond to your question about my comment generally about Blinken’s recent attempted negotiations for humanitarian pauses, decreased pummeling so that hostages might be released and humanitarian aid allowed to pass into Gaza. You linked Consortium News 📰 and I asked if it were MSM; that was a knee jerk response, so sorry if I offended. Just wondered about validity as it was quite negative to our current administration. Thinking further, more likely to be junk news if MSM owned by the wealthy seeking profit not truth. So difficult to trust sources; believe you said another you were paying for presumably in quest for truth not clickbait. Truth in news reporting should be free as it once was but is no longer. Like everything else it’s about the 💰💰💰. If I am putting in thoughts not yours, please forgive. Writing from memory as cannot locate original post in threads.
BTW:....I am not offended by anything. ....... I pay for many news sources...the NY Times since early '90's when I got it delivered to my door in NYC. Now, I throw $$ at many news sources, because it's my "religion"; I believe journalism saves us. It has come to my attention, given I only paid attention to art and theater, books, that the powers that be are lying to us and ripping us off. You mentioned the "wealthy" I think it's un-American to be wealthy....they should be taxed to get a large part of that wealth back into the GD system. They only got it because they were lucky to be in the USA....or, like many in other countries: crooks and/or corrupt.
The Article was "quite negative to our current administration"...You betcha! Our current administration is saying what is politically expedient. The real truth does not matter. oh well, "Civilians always suffer in a "war", which this is not. This is bombing a concentration camp/prison...... I started studying this with Norman Finkelstein, then Ilan Pappe...and on and on. Those 2 are enough but I will continue to learn about this...I have Jimmy Carter's book Palestine, Peace or apartheid", my local English language library. ( living in Merida, Mexico. ) It's been most of my every waking hour. My X says, 'you can't do anything about it; you can't change anything". That does not mean I can't learn everything about it. I am amazed at how many don't know ...anything....it takes a lot of time and interest to begin to form a coherent opinion. 1000 little pieces so far. I am combining what I have recently learned with experiences over the last 60 years to form what I think about Israel. I'll just say this: it's predictable.
Journalism as your religion. I understand that. There are many sources I do not trust; many within Substack that I do. The impotence to do anything other than learn, share what you find and know is frustrating. We all should be better informed about the Mid East but I fear many don’t take the effort to learn more. The conflict caught me completely off guard when as you say, it was predictable. It’s been brewing forever. I noted too in the things I read, it is precisely bombing a concentration camp of innocents who have no exit. Apparently there are terrorists taking cover among civilians and that is truly heinous. I hope you will share some of those thousand pieces and your experience with those of us who do care and want to know more. In whatever way suits you. I can barely wrap my head around the pain those caught in the fray must be feeling. I read and saw a photo of a journalist who was reporting on an attack in a supposed safe area, one to which he and his family had moved to as instructed, where, unknown to him, his entire family was wiped out, Aljazeera I think. The heartbreak on his face was one of those photos that will stay with me
forever. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, another very tragic night. 💔🕊️
Currently, we are out of the country (6 hours ahead of EST or DST-whatever), but the first thing I do every morning is to read "Letters from an American" and many of the comments. It is usually in my email when I get up. When it isn't, I get a bit worried that Heather has finally said ENOUGH! I don't know how you do it everyday. Some days it is so frightening that I can barely read it. Thankfully, we don't get the "news" stations over here so I don't have to be bombarded with their version of the news.
I really would like all the news stations to start talking about the accomplishments by the Biden Administration, by how he is an adult and acts like one, that he is using diplomacy and respect for other nations instead of trying to be the bully in the world and he isn't crying about someone being mean to him or that he is a victim. THAT is what I would like...
Thank you once again, Heather Cox Richardson! You are a knowledgeable and calm voice in the whirlwind of chaos that that jackass has unleashed on our country.
In Heather's latest political talk an excellent idea emerged. The Biden campaign and other supporters should start putting out ads showing actual workers who are benefitting from the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPs, the Infrastructure Act and so on. The media are only focussing on the horse race and are not showing how this administration's legislation is actually making a difference for workers/voters.
I think that is a MARVELOUS idea!
I actually saw one ad for Biden last night saying just what you promote!
Who sponsored it? I'd like to know.
YES! I was skimming the comments and about to add this exact thought. Much more effective to have real people telling authentic stories about how they are starting to benefit, rather than dry announcements of a billion dollars here or there--very hard to tie those billions back to your growing grocery bills.
News organizations giving us news? Most exist only to get clicks and page views now. 40 seconds on President Biden’s job numbers last week; 4 minutes on somebody painting a humongous pumpkin with Taylor Swift’s likeness. We’re doomed.
Derek,
Speaking of Taylor Swift: I saw her movie event from the LA "grand colosseum" with my two kids and my wife recently.
She is a very good actress and definitely spent time training with some strippers someplace.
But, if she ran for President, she would carry all 50 states. Young people would all vote for her. My daughter would vote for her.
Not so much my son. But, who knows. He might change his mind when he sees someone under 80 years old running.
"Whether or not it will work—he hardly sounded like a strong man while he was complaining that the judge was being mean to him—he was playing to his political base."
How can he not be wearing out his welcome? His obnoxiousness ceased to be a novelty long, long ago.
JL,
"How can he not be wearing out his welcome?"
I would offer a fairly simple answer: Americans love to hate.
Even me. It gives me great pleasure to hate on Trump.
Mike, for me, I get great pleasure seeing Bullies upended. Justice
My fear is that “Justice is becoming quaint; a luxury of a previous era”
Dave,
If we, you and me were black we would know that there never was justice in America.
Sounds like a book title
“The Categories of Justice; Relativity in America”
The greatest pleasure for me was to watch Wreck confess criminal mens rea, his guilty mind & criminal mens actus, his guilty acts, repeatedly. My observation of tfg's testimony was confirmed this am by ex-Prosecutors the am and his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen & certainly not missed by Judge Engoron.
The cable news in the US is broken. Where I currently live I have access to three US news outlets. CNN, Bloomberg and Fox. Fox requires and additional fee and I find nothing they present of interest. However, I was not aware of the APEP conference through watching either CNN or Bloomberg. The best example of the nature of the current reporting several weeks ago there was an extremely positive report of the success of Biden's economic programs. CNN gave a brief statement about the report and then went on to focus on what seemed to me several discussions that included a number of Republican talking points. I then turned on BBC International and they had a segment that was more than ten minutes outlining the total economic package and how effective it was. The other day I took a piece of paper and made four headings: Biden, Trump, Republican talking points, Democratic talking points. At the end of about one hour and half I looked at the check marks. Trump and Republican talking points and actions dominated the programming.
I remember shortly after the Rowe Vs. Wade decision a group of anti-abortion group activists became active. I remember seeing several early demonstrations and there were more cameras and news outlets than demonstrators. At that time there were comments about how TV and cable news sources were looking for "action" to fill their programs as a partial justification of their overwhelming presence. I remember thinking that at that time we are facing a much different problem and that is by giving too much focus on what one could say is minority opinions we end up legitimizing those opinions and as the ones sought are more bizarre or outside the mainstream this focus makes these opinions to the mainstream. This means that soon they are beyond rational criticism.
We have now allowed the hot media such as television, radio and the internet to dominate the information cycles and we have not developed any real standards to hold them to reality checks which means that we are moving from facts to fantasy to guide us and our decisions. This is an issue that does need more discussion and understanding.
"We have now allowed the hot media such as television, radio and the internet to dominate the information cycles and we have not developed any real standards to hold them to reality checks which means that we are moving from facts to fantasy to guide us and our decisions."
Correct and an excellent comment. When the first amendment was put in place, cable news did not exist AND the cultural capitalistic imperative to lie to make money commercially did not exist.
But, all of that said, the real problem is not cable news. The real problem is a bunch of Americans with the time to sit on ass all day long watching those lies. I cannot remember when I ever had time to sit around watching cable news EXCEPT waiting for a delayed airplane at the airport.
The real root cause is: Americans just sit on ass consuming stuff on cable news because they have too easy lives.
Don’t know about the “too easy lives.” In my assisted-living facility, they’d have recently begun having Fox on the communal TV about all day. Getting ready to raise hell.
Go for it! We stopped staying in Days Inn, because we had to watch it while we ate our free breakfast.
Have tried to ditch any place that worships Rupert
Please do!!!
Go get them!!
I hate Rupert and his smug comment about wanting the country's leaders to answer the phone when he calls. I do think he like the arse-licking from those who love the taste of green. Chump is a devotee.
Just change the channel to C-span, or the weather Channel. That was what my mom used to like to have on during her last years...
I do both (well Book tv), stream Colbert, Daily Show. And PBS, although gov’t cuts make them as ad-laden as any.
Power to your hell-raising!
Go for it!
So many old people here are magats, I speak my mind every chance I get. So embarrassing that old folks are so stupid. We're supposed to be wise elders. Not sycophants
The DNC needs to partner with the Lincoln Project to develop a ton of ads on Fox News. A variety of styles, using people that the core audience likes, who talk about what's important to them with the punch line of vote Democratic for these positions if you agree.
PS - while I will vote for Joe over Don, I will be peeved that the DNC and the RNC both offered up the same choice in 2024 as 2020. I'd love to see a younger candidate (Pete, Gretchen, go down the list) as I believe that ANYONE can beat Trump (maybe even Joe, but he's not knocking it out of the park, is he?). Does the DNC run the same risk as 2016 when they stuck with Hillary with the theory the Joe can beat Trump?
As a radically moderate independent I'd like a different candidate.
PS to the DNC, if it comes down to Joe v Nikki, I'll swing. She's a political tool but she's sane, younger, capable of leading.
Be careful and think hard before you pull that R lever. The president is a counterweight to the entire legislative branch. Without a veto-proof Democratic majority in both houses, don't expect a blue wave to get anything done with any Republican in the White House. Want voting rights? Anti-gerrymandering laws? Electoral college reform? Expansion of the House and/or the Supreme Court? Not gonna happen with a Republican president. And you'd better hope Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson stay health for another five years at least, because no Republican president will nominate a centrist, much less a left-of-center jurist.
You can rest assured that sanity in the White House will be balanced by craziness in the House of Representatives, and while Mitch McConnell will probably never give up the crown he earned as the nation's greatest obstructionist, the potential for crazy in the Senate is even greater, as Tommy Tuberville has demonstrated.
Republicans have gotten where they are by convincing a large swath of voters that Democrats in power will destroy democracy, and they will do everything they can to prevent it, up to and including destroying democracy themselves. Electing a Republican president, no matter who, will advance their cause.
Until the Republican party stops seeing Democrats as a sworn enemy and returns to the idea that compromise is necessary for effective government, no Republican can be trusted in the presidency, no matter how the media tries to paint them as "centrist", "sane" and "reasonable".
You know of what you speak. Keep it up.
Nikki is chump lite, WTH
WOW! I just googled APEP to try to understand why I wasn't even aware of it and I am a news junky.
The only coverage listed during the last week was:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/11/03/fact-sheet-president-biden-hosts-inaugural-americas-partnership-for-economic-prosperity-leaders-summit/
https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/americas-adviser-dodd-apep-might-not-have-survived-another-delay
https://www.reuters.com/world/with-an-eye-toward-china-biden-meet-latin-leaders-economics-migration-2023-11-03/
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-to-meet-latin-leaders-on-economics-migration/7340333.html
https://internationaltradetoday.com/news/2023/11/06/APEP-Declaration-Calls-for-WTO-Trade-Facilitation-Implementation-2311060009
So a couple of White House releases, trade journals, Voice of America, and one story in Reuters. vs. wall to wall coverage of Trump disrespecting the judge and clerk and prosecutors in his fraud trial. I remember back when I was a kid listening to Walter Cronkite in the good old days when the fairness doctrine was in place and you heard the actually important news. Biden and Harris have come up with a regional plan that goes a long way to a lasting fix for the issue of migration in this country and it gets no in depth coverage except for here.
The Republicans have their national debt clock. Maybe Democrats need a display the counts the number of human beings that could be positively affected by Biden's foreign policy initiatives, or clocks in every state that shows the number of jobs created, under Democratic initiatives or real time graphs showing the increase in median wage. Anything to get the message out there.
Biden’s positive foreign policy initiatives are being dwarfed by his blunders, specifically Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Gaza. I fear he is very susceptible to making decisions, as are most politicians, based on how they affect election viability, especially during wartime. That has the potential for disaster, see Carter and the failed rescue mission.
On the domestic front, I’ve seen one excellent Biden ad, referencing how he has helped black farmers via the legislation passed already in Biden’s term. If the focus is GOP bad/ Biden good, many will tune out. His campaign team needs a mountain of those ads that are targeted specifically to certain groups (young/minorities/) that connect emotionally, but outside the typical political ad. Policy, without the wonk, without preaching.
Biden’s problem is his refusal to actually be FDR, instead of faking it. He has Team Blue locked up, just as much as Trump has his base. The key in a climate of election shenanigans, populist frustration, apathy, etc, is to prevent a deluge of third party voters and/or sit at homes. We’ll see.
What do you consider to be his blunders?
How long do you have? I gave you two huge ones on the foreign policy front; Ukraine and Gaza.
Domestically, his attempt to deal with student debt was a disaster, his campaign promise to support a health care/public option turned out to be a joke, his labor bonafides took a hit with the railroad strike issue, and on and on.
He has, to his credit, done good work on anti-trust, but much of the good he accomplishes with the economy he undercuts by not addressing real issues causing economic anxiety. I’ve linked below a critique by a Biden supporter who describes the problem well; he has good intentions, but can’t escape listening to the wrong advisors in the swamp. Matt Stoller, who writes a lot on antitrust, has echoed this as well.
https://www.levernews.com/bidenomics-failed-its-inflation-test/
Why are Ukraine and Gaza blunders?
Student debt relief attempt a disaster? How?
Healthcare work a joke? Really? How?
We provoked Russia into invading Ukraine, assisting a Ukrainian coup of a democratically elected government in 2014, and undermining attempts to reach negotiated settlements from the uprisings resulting from the coup, both before and after Russia’s invasion. We wrecked Ukraine to bleed Russia. Gaza is a genocide, and we are giving tacit support to Israel to perpetrate it, instead of threatening to pull the plug on military aid to stop it.
Biden made a stupid decision on student debt, playing politics instead of pursuing the most logical path to debt relief. This from an article back in June in The American Prospect by David Dayden:
“The first thing to be said is that this is not Plan B as much as it is Plan A. Four years ago, when the Prospect first suggested that presidents have the authority to cancel student debt without further congressional approval, that was based on the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), and the statutory language enabling the secretary of education to “compromise, waive, or release any title, claim, lien, or demand” on student debtors. It also specifically authorizes the department to waive equity claims, compromise “a debt in any amount,” and modify “any provision of a loan note.”
The White House instead used the HEROES Act of 2003, a law that gave the secretary the ability to “waive or modify” statutory or regulatory provisions to keep borrowers financially harmless from a national emergency like the pandemic. Because Donald Trump used this very statute to pause collection of student loan payments, the White House thought it might entice conservative justices.
In other words, it was about political tactics as much as the law, but it didn’t work. In terms of legal language, the HEA argument is clearly stronger.”
Finally, on health care, Biden showed his cards during the campaign when said he would veto, if elected, a Medicare For All bill should Congress even pass one. He championed a public option as an alternative, then dropped that like a hot potato after the election. He caved to Big Pharma during negotiations on drug pricing. He, simply put, is like most politicians in that his fealty to corporate donors and capital often supersedes that of doing right by the people. He is no FDR. Not even close.
On Gaza - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRn5wTaoT6c
It’s why we are in the box we are in. Walter was replaced by Rupert, and our MSM followed him down the money trail. I’m beyond sick of seeing the orange menace on tv, switched to music
CBS management's goal was to succeed by living up to the "Tiffany network" name and the legacy of Edward R. Murrow. Even without the Fairness Doctrine, I suspect they would have continued to tell the truth. Rupert's goal is to make money, pure and simple. I have no idea what his actual politics are, but I am quite sure his actual politics don't factor into his business decisions.
The news business is just one more example of the financialization of all business, especially in the USA. Companies used to be established to make what profit they could by manufacturing products for customers; today, they do whatever they can to make the largest possible amount of money for investors. Car companies cut their mainstream products so they can produce more high-margin trucks and SUVs that no one can afford. Companies buy up other companies, close them down and sell them off for parts. And news organizations measure success by sensationalism-driven "engagement", a standard that used to apply only to supermarket rags like the National Enquirer and Weekly World News.
Given the choice between satisfying customers and satisfying investors, the investors will win every time, and the people who rely on products, whether they be cars, food, clothing or news, will lose.
MSM seems to be modeling after The National Enquirer these days. You are right all around. But CBS has been my biggest disappointment. Survivor just made trash programs the goal, not a fringe show. Now it’s just such “entertainment” everywhere. That, and the “foxification” of tv news is why I don’t watch much anymore. Even PBS had that mental case, RFKJr on last night. He is incoherent. Enough, but I’m still pissed about the Mnuchin sell-off of Sears.
Georgia,
You're absolutely right. Even the NYT updates to yesterday's Trump trial wasn't much better than CNN coverage. Journalism isn't what it used to be. Dan Rather has a thing or two to say on the subject in his Substack letter Steady. Thank you for your efforts.
Love Steady, Dan is proof that old can still do the job.
Yes he is. And Dan is 92. I never thought of that in terms of how that helps Joe before. But that's not to say that Joe at 80 hasn't proven that in his own career and life and more importantly, the current administration. On the other hand, not that I should ever compare myself to either of them, I know I've lost a couple of steps at 70. As long I have crossed that line I should say that I think a lot of people misjudge Joe because of his lifelong battle with stuttering. I know from personal experience that it's not what it appears to be, having had a stuttering problem for a while when I was 7.
As usual you present a striking contrast between the steady-as-you-go hand of President Biden and VP Harris and the totally outrageous actions of this current House of Representatives and its porn monitored Speaker. The trumpublicans aren’t in any way serious about anything except derailing our Constitutional system of government. We had better wake up and realize the mortal danger we are in if they and their insane leader prevail.
They are quite serious and persistent about grabbing absolute power without regard for legality or ethics.
Go to Tom Nichols' piece in the Atlantic this morning, "Trump Plots Against His Enemies" :
(https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/11/trump-plot-military-election/675922/?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20231107&lctg=60efc63232b5c50f73177ab0&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily)
Here, Nichols has voiced my principal anxieties about what begins to look too much like America's slide into
collective dementia
*
Begins to look like?
Begins?
*
The fact that many other States are far further gone offers no reassurance; it shows only that collapse is worldwide.
Now in the midst of wars, destruction and confusion, now is the time to get down to work looking forward to a new and very different world.
*
All, all of a piece throughout;
Thy chase had a beast in view;
Thy wars brought nothing about;
Thy lovers were all untrue.
'Tis well an old age is out,
And time to begin a new.
I have fell in love of how Biden administration solves international diplomacies and problems stemming from migration. Though it takes time to rebuild an economy, Biden can set a foundation that will ignite economic revolutions for prosperity in the carrebean countries. This diplomatic approach will attempt to accomplish the following;
Responsibility-Sharing. APEP aims to strengthen the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection. This approach encourages diplomatic collaboration and burden-sharing, fostering stronger ties between countries in the region.
Addressing Root Causes. By focusing on the prosperity and security of countries from which migrants originate, this approach involves diplomatic efforts to work with these nations. It can enhance diplomacy by promoting partnerships and cooperation in addressing issues like economic development, security, and human rights in those countries.
Reducing Pressure to Migrate. Diplomatic initiatives that improve conditions in migrants' home countries can lead to decreased migration pressures. This can positively impact relations between nations as they work together to create solutions that benefit all parties.
Alternative to Border-Centric Policies. APEP offers an alternative to solely relying on border-focused policies, which can sometimes strain diplomatic relations. By concentrating on addressing the root causes, it provides a diplomatic avenue for resolving migration challenges.
His diplomatic policies are majorly sustainable and done in good faith. I think this is the future precedent of the international relations.
I applaud President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s initiatives to provide a Latin American continent approach to the issues of economic development and the sustained tidal wave of immigration.
As a Foreign Service Officer, I served in Chile 1966-1969 before the Allende administration. Since then I have followed US-Latin American relations from afar.
I do not conclude that the US is viewed positively in much of Latin America. Our involvement in Central America, from the 1950s and the Reagan period, had made the situation in these troubled countries significantly worst. As a strategic concern, Latin America has not been a high US priority for many years. The Chinese have been active, especially in South America.
I see no ‘solution’ to the millions of people who are desperate to seek a better life in the United States. Europe is facing a similar situation where migrants risk their lives to get to Europe.
Sadly, even were there a bipartisan commitment to address the ‘migrant issue,’ I see no viable solution. The tidal wave of desperate migrants will continue. Relatively few immigrants are legally permitted under our existing immigration laws. We can’t even pursue a common sense resolution of the DACA individuals—human beings who were brought to the US as youngsters and have been thoroughly vetted as fine folks.
As I reflect on the US and Latin America, I consider the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary woefully outmoded.
I hope for some mutual self interest amelioration in this relationship, recognizing that the US often has been prepotente (overbearing) in dealing with Latin America.
Prepotente indeed, Keith.
Going back to William McKinley's bellicose campaign to "Christianize" the former colonial properties of Spain, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Phillipines, Catholic countries all. William Randolph Hearst in his day was a more urbane version of Rupert Murdoch, proclaiming all too successfully that "You give me a headline, I'll give you your war", as the Maine sunk mysteriously in Havana harbor.
To "control" the Filipino fighters across the vast archipelago, who somehow didn't quite see the wisdom of shucking their Spanish overlord for an American one, we developed the Colt 45.
Mark Twain was a great wit, but he was deadly serious when he stated that due to our invasion and occupation of the Phillipines, the American flag should be replaced with the Jolly Roger.
Daniel The US had troops occupying about 5 Caribbean countries in the 1930s. Bay of Pigs. CIA-organized ‘army’ in Honduras. Reagan and the Contras. Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. Years ago I read a book and American and Latin America: THE SHARK AND THE SARDINES. (Not complimentary to US).
And General Pershing took 11,000 troops into Mexico to seek to capture our one=time buddy Pancho Villa. He failed ignominiously.
11,000 and he didn't catch him?!!
Yup! Wilson used the excuse of Germany to extract Pershing’s soldiers, who were in danger of being badly mauled by the Mexicans. Invading another country is often not a walk in the park.
"Sadly, even were there a bipartisan commitment to address the ‘migrant issue,’ I see no viable solution."
Correct, and, at least in my view, the reason there is no viable solution is the human population has exceeded or is near exceeding, in many places now, the "carrying capacity" of the local resources available. The Catholic church's mantra against birth control has done the population there no favors at all.
Reason: In closed environmental systems the population growth of the dominant species in that closed environment ALWAYS follows a known (to biologists) trajectory.
That trajectory: Somewhat flat for a while, then exponential population growth then?
Sudden massive die off as the carrying capacity (available resources) of the closed system is exhausted.
Keith, google a graph of the human population. You will see where we are on the curve.
Yep, something not far from Right before the massive die off. Jared Diamond's excellent book "Collapse", especially the last Chapter dealing with Iceland and the population collapse there describes these events from a historical view.
More on population growth in closed systems.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2030022
MIke S---I just read your comment and my brain went "!!!!!!"
I have stated this thought to my husband. The problem here is TOO MANY PEOPLE on Earth. I feel like Mother Nature has tried to prune the population at times: think of the Black Plague. Got the numbers down a bit, then, here we go again. HIV. Ebola. COVID. This time, however, mankind had the science to thwart her attempts. One can have a lively debate about COVID, we won't go there.
Now, I have wondered why there is so much fear and so much violence in the world? Our frequent commenter, Sandy Lewis, has made very good points about the microbiome and much recent science is showing that gut health has a major impact on illnesses from cardiac to mental.
Is it the number of chemicals/additives in our food? It's difficult to find any processed foods without them. Maybe there is a cumulative impact of a lifetime of these foods.
Donning the tinfoil hat here, I've even wondered if radio waves have something to due with the amount of mental illness. I've tried to think of WHAT is different NOW, compared to say 1900? Why are people so prone to instantaneously go from zero to 100 when something upsets them?
What nature couldn't do with viruses, we seem to be doing to ourselves. All the gun deaths! Be it from an upset person with an automatic weapon, an angry person with a handgun seeking revenge, or a depressed person wanting OUT--there goes another life.
When I was in my microbiology classes in med tech school, we would see agar plates of bacteria reach colony collapse. Many people hear that term and think bees, which is true, but I think of the bacteria. Humans seem on the verge of colony collapse.
Perhaps the climate change will do it.
Mike I read that 60% of the population growth to 2050 will be in Africa, where desiccation is again occurring. What a disbalance between the well-to-do, population-decline countries and elsewhere.
I agree with this comment having read the noted book . Recently though I have seen
reports of population decline in Europe, North America, and Japan. So given that the trajectory is dire , people and some nations are taking notice.
This is just an off-shoot of this discussion of human population, but could someone explain why these fanatical evangelicals are anti birth control? The vast majority are not Catholics. THEY don’t have huge families. They don’t back any kind of government to support the average working family. A very few decades ago there was constant talk about over-population; having more than two or three children was definitely looked down upon. Population did decrease for a while, so much so that we closed down schools right here in Southern California. There weren’t enough children in community to keep open. The high school where I taught for 33 of my 49 years in education, closed the local middle school feeder and put them on our campus. ( The irony here is that they sold off the property to builders who put in two-story, multi-bedroom homes and guess what? Suddenly those homes filled with children and we became a very over-crowded campus.) Now the big program is PRO-LIFE equaling no birth control or abortion. A real, we’ll thought out plan for the future of America.
Glad to read about all the behind-the-scenes diplomacy. Off to vote this morning in local election with fingers crossed. Next year is very close, and I cannot bear feeling the way I did in 2016. Hope springs eternal though that reason will prevail.
It does seem an investment in the countries of origin of the migrating people makes more sense than walls or border patrols. People will seek opportunity and political stability. I can't imagine how many will need to leave Gaza after recent events. Thank you for your efforts.
I have truly been impressed by the varied and creative approaches that the Biden/Harris administration has been taking to try to help begin (or resume) to solving some of our nation’s economic and structural problems. And fortunately [or unfortunately] these are programs and approaches that their administration are taking would be lost to me if it were not for the professor’s Letters from an American! Yesterday, (Monday, 11/06/2023) I struggled through the process of adjusting my mind around the horrendous NYT/Sienna College early presidential poll results, but today i that I have finally wrapped my mind around them - somewhat - and now I’m looking forward to seeing - hopefully pleasantly pleasing election results in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. It is still a long way to the November 2024 presidential election and the goal should be expand the coattails of the Biden/Harris team toward achieving a supermajority in the House and the Senate so as to facilitate passage and enactment of some nonstructural and economic legislation and aim toward gun control, voting rights and some other key legislative areas. Thank You Heather!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBs2tgfVRpE
This video from Beau OTFC may cheer you up about the NYT polling data. It certainly cheered me up yesterday!!!
I have been thoroughly disgusted with the reporting incessantly on The NY Times / Siena polling from this past Sunday I believe. Delighted to hear Beau’s take that this far out, it might be useful in strategy but otherwise nothing to take as anywhere near predictive of election outcome. THANK YOU for the link! 🔗 With so much tragedy in our world 🌎 now, it takes very little to move me to tears about our collective futures. A bit of rational thinking is helpful. 😊
Thank you!
“Vice President Kamala Harris took the lead in “diplomatic efforts to address root causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras,” and in July 2021 she released a report on strategies to slow migration from the region.”
We need more of this! It has appeared to become quiet after her visit and this report. The issue is not Mexico, it is these mentioned countries. If we were to address this, maybe we should be helping Mexico with their border control at the southern part of their country. Working close with Mexico to create a border with camps there.
I would have to assume the Mexican government would have much concern if we somehow stop the flow of immigrants at our border. These Central Americans will be still flowing into Mexico.
Btw, I have seen first hand the nationality of these families and I can assure you they are not Mexican descents. In the shelter that I volunteer at, it is Central American families. And I assume they have gone through hell to make it here.
So help the source and limit the exposure they have to go through getting here.
And we should be so Grateful to be born in this country so help others in need. And stop screaming at judges for something you have already been found guilty of. Provide the money you owe the government to help these people, instead of your golf courses, resorts, and porn stars.
JB
The last time I remember the US attempting to address root causes of migration from Central American countries was under the Carter administration. It was essentially a 1970s version of the Biden/Harris plan, which was promptly cancelled by Reagan one he took office. It's high time we had one to take its place!
Thanks for the reminder. And basically nothing changed including Iran and hostages.
Thank you, Dr. Heather, for focusing on President Biden's diplomatic efforts in foreign affairs and offering solutions and aid towards resolving some of the border and immigration issues. It is unfortunate that we are still burdened by tfg and his thuggish buffoonery in the courts and it is also mind-boggling that he is the leading candidate for the Rethugs.
Rest well!
“Republicans have before the House a bill to cut more than 64%—about a billion dollars—out of Amtrak, as well as other significant parts of the country’s passenger rail system “.” The House Republicans are trying to prevent the improvements from taking place. They appear worried that their constituents will see progress in infrastructure in the next year and realize just how the Democrats and Biden’s administration are making things better for the “average Joe and Jane”.
It sounds like Biden’s immigration policy needs a catchphrase. How about “supply-side immigration” to contrast with walls and expulsions?