The challenges ahead (Biden's America)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks, N.E.B! I appreciate you taking the time and effort to do that.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

McConnell reportedly has been asking to delay the trial to give the former president's legal team time to prepare. My guess is that he will eventually give up his demand for a written guarantee that the Democrats will never seek to eliminate the filibuster (which there is no way they will agree to) in exchange for an agreement for a short delay in the trial (which many Democrats including President Biden would not mind because it would allow the Senate to focus on other priorities such as confirming Biden's cabinet and addressing Covid relief). But that is pure speculation on my part.

I'd like you to be right, if only so we can have some logical reasoning behind the running of the government.

Well, the delay in the trial part is true. Schumer has announced that they have agreed to start the trial on February 9 (a Tuesday, which is interesting).

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/22/politics ... index.html

We'll see whether that leads to the rest of my prediction coming true.

[N.E. Brigand]

Former Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett endorses Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, saying that without it the economy could enter a "negative spiral."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This article (from the progressive group "Indivisible") specifically states about the organizing resolution "is passed in the form of a simple resolution, which would need to pass by unanimous consent or garner 60 votes."

https://indivisible.org/resource/legisl ... ing-senate

[Inanna]

May I mention how wonderful it was to hear “Dr.” Jill Biden called out in the ceremony? Makes me feel like dropping my “Prof”. Almost.

[N.E. Brigand]

Looking to a possible Biden opponent in four years: a new profile of Sen. Josh Hawley in the Kansas City Star reveals that Hawley has been a reactionary since at least his high school days in the mid-1990s, when he penned student newspaper columns that used the subjects of the Oklahoma City bombing and racist Los Angeles police office Mark Fuhrman, respectively, as springboards to argue in support of militia movements and against political correctness. Hawley's approval rating in Missouri has dropped lately, but his favorability nationally has improved (presumably because more Republicans know who he is now than they did a month ago). Something else that caught my eye:

Hawley’s allies in Missouri believe that he will not only weather the backlash, but that he’ll emerge stronger from it ahead of 2024 when his Senate seat and the presidency will be on the ballot. 'There are (a lot) of Trump flags still flying in this state,' said James Harris, a Jefferson City-based GOP consultant who was involved in Hawley’s 2018 campaign.

While I remember Republicans complaining that Barack Obama was the subject of a cult of personality, I don't remember Obama flags being a thing. Nor Bush flags or Clinton flags or Reagan flags. Certainly I've never seen a Biden flag. But I have seen more than a few Trump flags. I'm not talking about yard signs in the months leading up to the election, or banners at actual campaign events. I'm talking about big flags in people's yards or on mounted on trucks. What is the deal with that?

[RoseMorninStar]

May I mention how wonderful it was to hear “Dr.” Jill Biden called out in the ceremony? Makes me feel like dropping my “Prof”. Almost.

I thought that was pretty wonderful. My teacher/academia friends are over-the-moon.

[Sunsilver]

N.E.B., like you said, it's a cult.

[N.E. Brigand]

An example of the mainstream media's bias in favor of Republicans. This is an actual tweet from ABC News today:

JUST IN: Roughly one-third of the county opposes Pres. Biden's decision to recommit to the Paris Climate Accord and rejoin the World Health Organization, driven by steepened Republican opposition, according to a new @ABC News/Ipsos poll.

Wouldn't a neutral media statement about a poll emphasize the 70% of the public that supports an action rather than he 30% who don't?

(The actual poll finds it's 70%-28% in favor of rejoining the WHO and 65%-34% in favor of rejoining the Paris Accords.)

See also the New York Times' silly attempt to make a micro-scandal out of Joe Biden wearing a Rolex watch, and maybe also their decision to fire an editor Saturday, apparently for tweeting something very mildly positive about Biden. (I say "maybe" because it's not clear why she was fired, although it did follow upon Glenn Greenwald amplifying her otherwise little-read tweet and complaining that it showed the mainstream media was biased in favor of Biden.)

[RoseMorninStar]

Yeah, there are still Turnip flags/banners/signs up around here too.

I believe it was Túrin who once explained why a party cannot deny a candidate from running on a platform (Republican, for example) even though they do not espouse the platform/ideals and cannot be vetted - although I've forgotten his exact response. If the Republican party cannot refuse such a candidate or require they start their own party, the Republican party will be so in name only and become an authoritarian party.

[Inanna]

May I mention how wonderful it was to hear “Dr.” Jill Biden called out in the ceremony? Makes me feel like dropping my “Prof”. Almost.

I thought that was pretty wonderful. My teacher/academia friends are over-the-moon.

Like this one.

[RoseMorninStar]

[N.E. Brigand]

An example of the mainstream media's bias in favor of Republicans. This is an actual tweet from ABC News today:

JUST IN: Roughly one-third of the county opposes Pres. Biden's decision to recommit to the Paris Climate Accord and rejoin the World Health Organization, driven by steepened Republican opposition, according to a new @ABC News/Ipsos poll.

Wouldn't a neutral media statement about a poll emphasize the 70% of the public that supports an action rather than he 30% who don't?

(The actual poll finds it's 70%-28% in favor of rejoining the WHO and 65%-34% in favor of rejoining the Paris Accords.)

I've just read a piece that Josh Marhsall wrote in 2009 about this. He argued that the bias is in favor of power, and the default assumption among the nation's political elite is (or was in 2009) that Republicans are the party of power, a few Democratic interregnums notwithstanding:

But a generation of one party holding the reins selects for certain kinds of journalists in key positions of power, the policy experts at the think tanks who get the journalists calls, the lobbyists who move the most money and so forth. You build up a set of assumptions about what kinds of people and ideas are respectable and which aren’t. Which are old-fashioned, which are ‘cutting edge’ and so forth. Who defines conventional wisdom? In all of these respects, DC remains overwhelmingly wired for the GOP.

Republicans held the White House for 30 of the past 50 years, and for another 8 years the Democratic president, Bill Clinton, famously "triangulated" his positions to appeal to conservative viewpoints (and also probably benefitted from a strong third party candidate in both elections who likely took more votes from his opponents than from himself). So I think Marshall has a point, though by 2024, the official total for Republicans in the White House will be just 26 of the previous 50 years (despite having lost the popular vote in 8 of the previous 12 elections) and 13 of the previous 25 years. If Democrats can hold the White House in four years, then perhaps by 2028 the default assumption among the elite will no longer be that they have to cater to the right.

[N.E. Brigand]

An example of the mainstream media's bias in favor of Republicans. This is an actual tweet from ABC News today:

JUST IN: Roughly one-third of the county opposes Pres. Biden's decision to recommit to the Paris Climate Accord and rejoin the World Health Organization, driven by steepened Republican opposition, according to a new @ABC News/Ipsos poll.

Wouldn't a neutral media statement about a poll emphasize the 70% of the public that supports an action rather than he 30% who don't?

(The actual poll finds it's 70%-28% in favor of rejoining the WHO and 65%-34% in favor of rejoining the Paris Accords.)

Another point to remember about the media and bias is that Fox News, which over the past many years repeatedly is the most viewed news channel in many time slots, is always ignored by conservatives when they claim there's a mainstream bias against them. How do you get more mainsteram than the most popular station? Likewise conservatives control vast swaths of opinion radio. There are two different stations here in Cleveland where all the political commentary is pro-Republican.

Or to take another example of how conservatives pretend they're being silenced: today Senator Josh Hawley (him again!) literally has the entire front page of the New York Post, the nation's seventh largest newspaper (I'm seeing differents lists that place it anywhere from fourth to ninth), touting a new column titled "Time to take a stand against the muzzling of America."

[Maria]

Looking to a possible Biden opponent in four years: a new profile of Sen. Josh Hawley in the Kansas City Star reveals that Hawley has been a reactionary since at least his high school days in the mid-1990s, when he penned student newspaper columns that used the subjects of the Oklahoma City bombing and racist Los Angeles police office Mark Fuhrman, respectively, as springboards to argue in support of militia movements and against political correctness. Hawley's approval rating in Missouri has dropped lately, but his favorability nationally has improved (presumably because more Republicans know who he is now than they did a month ago). Something else that caught my eye:

Hawley’s allies in Missouri believe that he will not only weather the backlash, but that he’ll emerge stronger from it ahead of 2024 when his Senate seat and the presidency will be on the ballot. 'There are (a lot) of Trump flags still flying in this state,' said James Harris, a Jefferson City-based GOP consultant who was involved in Hawley’s 2018 campaign.

While I remember Republicans complaining that Barack Obama was the subject of a cult of personality, I don't remember Obama flags being a thing. Nor Bush flags or Clinton flags or Reagan flags. Certainly I've never seen a Biden flag. But I have seen more than a few Trump flags. I'm not talking about yard signs in the months leading up to the election, or banners at actual campaign events. I'm talking about big flags in people's yards or on mounted on trucks. What is the deal with that?

As a Missourian, I have to say I'm looking forward to the next primary. I fully intend to vote Republican in the primary just so I can vote for whoever is running against Hawley. Then I'll likely vote Democrat in the real election. Missouri lets us do that.

[N.E. Brigand]

According to Gallup, 71% of Americans want transgender people to be able to serve in the military.

Today, Biden has lifted the ban that prevented them from doing so.

Republicans (like Sen. John Cornyn of Texas) are claiming that move shows that despite Biden's claims, he isn't interested in "unifying."

Why would it be unifying to leave in place a ban only supported by 29% of the population?

(Edited to fix typo.)

[elengil]

According to Gallup, 71% of Americans want transgender people to be able to serve in the military.

Today, Biden has lifted the ban that prevented from doing so.

Republicans (like Sen. John Cornyn of Texas) are claiming that move shows that despite Biden's claims, he isn't interested in "unifying."

Why would it be unifying to leave in place a ban only supported by 29% of the population?

What they mean by not being unifying is he's doing Democratic things instead of Republican things. Obviously unification means "Do what we want even though we lost the elections."

[N.E. Brigand]

According to Gallup, 71% of Americans want transgender people to be able to serve in the military.

Today, Biden has lifted the ban that prevented from doing so.

Republicans (like Sen. John Cornyn of Texas) are claiming that move shows that despite Biden's claims, he isn't interested in "unifying."

Why would it be unifying to leave in place a ban only supported by 29% of the population?

What they mean by not being unifying is he's doing Democratic things instead of Republican things. Obviously unification means "Do what we want even though we lost the elections."

Per that 538.com article I cited in the "Echo Chamber" thread:

62% of Democratic voters say that President Biden should work with Congressional Republicans.

But only 38% of Republican voters say that Congressional Republicans should work with President Biden.

Also, Republican lawmakers tend to believe their constituents are more conservative than they actually are.

[elengil]

Yeah, that's not unity if what one side wants isn't compromise but conformity.

Still relevant.

[N.E. Brigand]

It appears that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, both nominally Democratic senators, would rather leave Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in charge of the Senate. They seem both to be terrified of their own party having power.