In Tempe, Arizona, today, President Joe Biden spoke at the dedication ceremony for a new library, named for the late Arizona senator John McCain, who died in 2018. Biden used the opportunity not only to honor his friend, but to emphasize the themes of democracy and to call out those who are threatening to overturn it. While Biden has made the defense of American democracy central to his presidency, he has never been clearer or more impassioned than he was today.
A thrilling speech from a wise man. But President Biden did not name the puppet masters hiding behind the MAGA front--the billionaire oligarchs who fund the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society and the 70+ other conservative organizations behind their Project 2025 manifesto to turn America into an authoritarian state and destroy democracy.
As long as those billionaires like Koch are not publicly outed the people being revved up by the MAGA hate rhetoric will never be able to see how they are being conned.
"We never hide from history." Oh, how the GOP has decompensated since McCain wrote those words. Now they're ALL about hiding history. It is pathetic.
And then, today, when AOC demonstrated how the Republicans on the committee had submitted fabricated "evidence" to misrepresent the truth. It was like the biblical story of Susannah and the Elders—the truth revealed to all in the most damning way.
How can one not feel the emotions of his speech? He honored his friend who he didn’t agree with a lot of the time, politically, but they managed to forge respect for one another. A handshake meant something then. We are existing in one of those most tumultuous times of our lives. One thing is certain though, we must find a way back to having real negotiations, real conversations with those who feel differently than we do. We have to collectively fight against the autocracies who wish to take away our rights. Now is a ripe time.
This country IS created on "blood and soil". It was stolen from Indigenous People and built on genocide. MAGA people are simply expressing the nihilistic hatred that has been present in leadership in this country since George Washington betrayed his treaty w the Oneida after they rescued him and his army from freezing and starving to death. Biden I think is the most effective and strongest President in our history. I hope he and his people will turn the course of history away from the psychopathy of the Republican Party.
Thank you for posting so much of this speech. President Biden seems to be doing all he can to be a uniter of people and a defender of democracy. I wish him longevity and continued clarity of vision.
Joe Biden is exactly the president we need in this grave moment. And every day up to election 2024 and thereafter. This was the absolute pinnacle of his presidency thus far; a speech to be quoted for ages to come. Now we must gather our frayed nerves and jagged edges and get out the vote to keep him in office to purge these fascists from our government. We must fight on every front possible and in any way our individual situations allow. So let’s do this America! We have a battered country that needs healing and active participation by all people who value FREEDOM.
‘Ever since debt was invented in ancient Sumer, there have probably been people enriching themselves through bad investments. The trick is to make these investments using other people’s money.’
‘Suppose, for example, that a wheeler-dealer uses borrowed funds to make risky investments in New Jersey casinos. If the investments somehow end up making money, he can pocket the profits. But if the investments fail, he may — if he’s been tricky about the wording in his loans or manages to persuade his creditors not to go after his other assets — be able to walk away and leave other people holding the bag. That is, it’s heads he wins, tails the creditors lose.’
‘He may also be able to siphon off some of the borrowed money, say by having the casinos pay him or businesses he owns large sums for various services before they go bust.’
‘As readers may have guessed, this isn’t a hypothetical example. It is the story of Donald Trump’s New Jersey casino empire, a venture ending in multiple bankruptcies that was a disaster for outside investors but appears to have been quite profitable for Trump.’
Hey, most NYC voters knew the CONMAN for what he was and is. Who is more obvious than D.J. Trump? What we, New Yorkers, don’t get is why so many Americans have taken the bait. Those are some ‘exceptionals’!
What fools they are, when not far worse!
‘Trump declared on social media that “my Civil Rights have been taken away from me” and that he borrowed money from “sophisticated Wall Street banks” that presumably wouldn’t have been easily deceived by fraud. If you know anything about Wall Street’s attitudes toward Trump, that’s a real hoot.'
'For years, only one major Wall Street player, Deutsche Bank, was willing to deal with him at all, leading to much puzzlement about that bank’s motives. And eventually Deutsche Bank also pulled the plug, citing concerns about his financial claims. Trump did manage to pay off that debt, although it’s a mystery where he found the cash. But as I just explained, getting lucky is no excuse for fraud.’
‘What’s remarkable about Engoron’s finding that Trump committed large-scale fraud (it’s now a ruling, not a mere accusation) is what it says about the man who became president and the voters who supported him.’ (Paul Krugman, NYTimes) See gifted link below.
That’s a Gettysburg Address if I ever heard one. My God, so powerful in its entirety. Biden has a talent pool of writers but I’m sure he had compositional inclusion.
What a wonderful speech! The question is, how many people will hear it? How many will heed it? The challenge is to inspire people to get out and vote for democracy.
Some very powerful stuff - “Democracy is not a partisan issue. It’s an American issue.” “We can’t take democracy for granted.” Thank you for encapsulating an important speech.
Biden speaks like FDR, not Reagan or the GOP, he speaks like Lincoln, not the southern slavers or the northern Indian killers. It is time we lived up to the best we can be not the worst we have been.
A magnificent speech from a leader whose vision and humility elevate him above these perilous times. Thank God we, the people, saw him and chose him. Now we need to accept his invitation to be our better selves.
But we are faced today with other news that chills my soul: Putin said yesterday that Russia will "achieve its goals in Ukraine by 2025". I believe the only way Ukraine loses this war is if the West withdraws its support. And as long as Joe Biden leads our county and moderate progressives balance, if not control, the Congress, the United States will stand by the defense of democracy in Ukraine.
Ukraine is not some country struggling to become democratic. Ukraine made that choice in the hard fought election that brought Zelensky to the Presidency. Ukraine has chosen democracy already, we are defending it, defending our friends in the Bread Basket of the World, against autocracy.
But between now and 2025 is an election, one that appears to be heading for a showdown between Joe Biden and a despicable personification of man's inhumanity to man. Why does Putin think that by/in 2025 the tide will turn in his direction? He is backing Trump, and he will back Trump with the desperation of a paranoid leader with his back against the wall. He, Putin, needs Trump in power.
The American people wisely rejected Trump once, even in the face of a mammoth disinformation campaign that has been proven to have been rooted in Russia. I think the disinformation influx to which we are about to be subjected will make those prior efforts look like a primary school exercise.
This time, the Russian influence has another weapon--the anti-government contingent currently serving (serving only themselves) in Congress--which this week, led by Jim Jordan, took steps to destroy the efforts of the Department of Justice to combat dis-information. It was the occasion of Garland's testimony at the Capitol.
Here is a moment where we all can do as Professor Richardson urges: talk to everyone we can. Write our Congressmen. Be suspicious of what you read on line and research sites and posts before responding, reposting, or forwarding them.
If Garland is alarmed already by what DOJ knows, imagine the lurking behemoth still shrouded in secrecy. Putin cannot win in an open fight in Ukraine, and is moving the fight underground once again. We must be aware of who is pulling the strings, and cut them with our voices and our votes.
September 28, 2023
Please tell me again how this man is in Cognitive decline? Bravo Biden.
A thrilling speech from a wise man. But President Biden did not name the puppet masters hiding behind the MAGA front--the billionaire oligarchs who fund the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society and the 70+ other conservative organizations behind their Project 2025 manifesto to turn America into an authoritarian state and destroy democracy.
As long as those billionaires like Koch are not publicly outed the people being revved up by the MAGA hate rhetoric will never be able to see how they are being conned.
I listened, and when I re-read excerpts from tonight's Letters, it still brought my eyes to misting.
God I can only hope enough people also have that reaction and vote, and vote hard.
"We never hide from history." Oh, how the GOP has decompensated since McCain wrote those words. Now they're ALL about hiding history. It is pathetic.
And then, today, when AOC demonstrated how the Republicans on the committee had submitted fabricated "evidence" to misrepresent the truth. It was like the biblical story of Susannah and the Elders—the truth revealed to all in the most damning way.
Wow, that's a blockbuster of a speech by President Biden! It needs to be spread far and wide.
". . . America is still a place of possibilities, a beacon for the world, a promise realized—where the power forever resides with ‘We the People.’”"
How can one not feel the emotions of his speech? He honored his friend who he didn’t agree with a lot of the time, politically, but they managed to forge respect for one another. A handshake meant something then. We are existing in one of those most tumultuous times of our lives. One thing is certain though, we must find a way back to having real negotiations, real conversations with those who feel differently than we do. We have to collectively fight against the autocracies who wish to take away our rights. Now is a ripe time.
This country IS created on "blood and soil". It was stolen from Indigenous People and built on genocide. MAGA people are simply expressing the nihilistic hatred that has been present in leadership in this country since George Washington betrayed his treaty w the Oneida after they rescued him and his army from freezing and starving to death. Biden I think is the most effective and strongest President in our history. I hope he and his people will turn the course of history away from the psychopathy of the Republican Party.
Thank you for posting so much of this speech. President Biden seems to be doing all he can to be a uniter of people and a defender of democracy. I wish him longevity and continued clarity of vision.
Joe Biden is exactly the president we need in this grave moment. And every day up to election 2024 and thereafter. This was the absolute pinnacle of his presidency thus far; a speech to be quoted for ages to come. Now we must gather our frayed nerves and jagged edges and get out the vote to keep him in office to purge these fascists from our government. We must fight on every front possible and in any way our individual situations allow. So let’s do this America! We have a battered country that needs healing and active participation by all people who value FREEDOM.
❤️🇺🇸🌎🕊️🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
‘Ever since debt was invented in ancient Sumer, there have probably been people enriching themselves through bad investments. The trick is to make these investments using other people’s money.’
‘Suppose, for example, that a wheeler-dealer uses borrowed funds to make risky investments in New Jersey casinos. If the investments somehow end up making money, he can pocket the profits. But if the investments fail, he may — if he’s been tricky about the wording in his loans or manages to persuade his creditors not to go after his other assets — be able to walk away and leave other people holding the bag. That is, it’s heads he wins, tails the creditors lose.’
‘He may also be able to siphon off some of the borrowed money, say by having the casinos pay him or businesses he owns large sums for various services before they go bust.’
‘As readers may have guessed, this isn’t a hypothetical example. It is the story of Donald Trump’s New Jersey casino empire, a venture ending in multiple bankruptcies that was a disaster for outside investors but appears to have been quite profitable for Trump.’
Hey, most NYC voters knew the CONMAN for what he was and is. Who is more obvious than D.J. Trump? What we, New Yorkers, don’t get is why so many Americans have taken the bait. Those are some ‘exceptionals’!
What fools they are, when not far worse!
‘Trump declared on social media that “my Civil Rights have been taken away from me” and that he borrowed money from “sophisticated Wall Street banks” that presumably wouldn’t have been easily deceived by fraud. If you know anything about Wall Street’s attitudes toward Trump, that’s a real hoot.'
'For years, only one major Wall Street player, Deutsche Bank, was willing to deal with him at all, leading to much puzzlement about that bank’s motives. And eventually Deutsche Bank also pulled the plug, citing concerns about his financial claims. Trump did manage to pay off that debt, although it’s a mystery where he found the cash. But as I just explained, getting lucky is no excuse for fraud.’
‘What’s remarkable about Engoron’s finding that Trump committed large-scale fraud (it’s now a ruling, not a mere accusation) is what it says about the man who became president and the voters who supported him.’ (Paul Krugman, NYTimes) See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/opinion/donald-trump-fraud-case.html?unlocked_article_code=LLYQHqw6BBq86-qH4zhpe4w5vWh0Yzcnm34EYzg2-ou9N1LjL_JPAKXMxmS4GbX9hRBR8IEDk1GPdYoIJnQbDyJYGPi21fApapl2iiszYBSNG8xS5LmtfF2VcRChs_nfdSH7q9GqFv3zZ21Wxh-eDOCvV9Q-k1ekA-xFooC7-GvaNIeTbXnrR0PvAyAvkrhnNF50xaaW8w9fQutFbcbPn8kIUnd3Ce8nfNJhpIR--7WAk51EKO4M7vkvlYdJI_hQREKvhU4XdS3T0alArdXa9PeuHnjiEO6O_7hA6b6rxUBDjd3HnzJnkAtPcpy7lq-Lgb5wYfAYv7QbyZCBTm0zCuQ&smid=url-share
That’s a Gettysburg Address if I ever heard one. My God, so powerful in its entirety. Biden has a talent pool of writers but I’m sure he had compositional inclusion.
Good show.
What a wonderful speech! The question is, how many people will hear it? How many will heed it? The challenge is to inspire people to get out and vote for democracy.
Some very powerful stuff - “Democracy is not a partisan issue. It’s an American issue.” “We can’t take democracy for granted.” Thank you for encapsulating an important speech.
A marvelous, inspiring speech. And yet, what will the mainstream press have to say about it?? I shudder to think.
Biden speaks like FDR, not Reagan or the GOP, he speaks like Lincoln, not the southern slavers or the northern Indian killers. It is time we lived up to the best we can be not the worst we have been.
A magnificent speech from a leader whose vision and humility elevate him above these perilous times. Thank God we, the people, saw him and chose him. Now we need to accept his invitation to be our better selves.
But we are faced today with other news that chills my soul: Putin said yesterday that Russia will "achieve its goals in Ukraine by 2025". I believe the only way Ukraine loses this war is if the West withdraws its support. And as long as Joe Biden leads our county and moderate progressives balance, if not control, the Congress, the United States will stand by the defense of democracy in Ukraine.
Ukraine is not some country struggling to become democratic. Ukraine made that choice in the hard fought election that brought Zelensky to the Presidency. Ukraine has chosen democracy already, we are defending it, defending our friends in the Bread Basket of the World, against autocracy.
But between now and 2025 is an election, one that appears to be heading for a showdown between Joe Biden and a despicable personification of man's inhumanity to man. Why does Putin think that by/in 2025 the tide will turn in his direction? He is backing Trump, and he will back Trump with the desperation of a paranoid leader with his back against the wall. He, Putin, needs Trump in power.
The American people wisely rejected Trump once, even in the face of a mammoth disinformation campaign that has been proven to have been rooted in Russia. I think the disinformation influx to which we are about to be subjected will make those prior efforts look like a primary school exercise.
This time, the Russian influence has another weapon--the anti-government contingent currently serving (serving only themselves) in Congress--which this week, led by Jim Jordan, took steps to destroy the efforts of the Department of Justice to combat dis-information. It was the occasion of Garland's testimony at the Capitol.
Here is a moment where we all can do as Professor Richardson urges: talk to everyone we can. Write our Congressmen. Be suspicious of what you read on line and research sites and posts before responding, reposting, or forwarding them.
If Garland is alarmed already by what DOJ knows, imagine the lurking behemoth still shrouded in secrecy. Putin cannot win in an open fight in Ukraine, and is moving the fight underground once again. We must be aware of who is pulling the strings, and cut them with our voices and our votes.
Here is one of many articles that appeared this week. A simple Google search for "Disinformation action under Republican attack" yields many more. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/23/online-misinformation-jim-jordan/