The challenges ahead (Biden's America)

[Sunsilver]

And now the head of ARAMCO says world oil stocks are critically low, and any new demands will cause prices to spike. This seems to back Biden's suspicion that OPEC cutting production was in support of Putin and in retaliation to the U.S. supporting Ukraine:

https://ca.yahoo.com/finance/news/world ... 00039.html

[Sunsilver]

Duplicate post

[N.E. Brigand]

Gov. DeSantis says the reason he kidnapped migrants from Texas rather than his own state of Florida is that:

"The problem is we’re not seeing mass movements of them into Florida . . . It’s just coming in onesie-twosies."

The Miami Herald is reporting that one of the people paid by DeSantis's team to help coordinate the (possibly illegal) transportation of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts is himself...

...an immigrant not authorized to work in the U.S.

[N.E. Brigand]

Earlier today, President Biden announced that 22 million Americans have applied for student loan forgiveness under the new program he announced last month.

Tonight, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order temporarily blocking the government from actually forgiving that student debt.

[N.E. Brigand]

Politico reports that one of the Democratic Party's top pollsters finds that voters are actively turned off when Joe Biden and Democrats tout their (many) achievements over the past two years because that "said to the voters that this election is about my accomplishments as a leader and not about the challenges you’re experiencing."

This pollster, Stan Greenberg, is said to be very experienced, so I'm sure he's accurately relaying what focus groups are revealing, and yet: Americans are better off now than they were in many elections during my lifetime, and in each of those elections, I know the party in power cited its achievements. What on earth has changed?

Anyway, Greenberg complains that Democrats aren't addressing Republican attacks on "crime and border and inflation." And those do seem to be issues that voters cite in interviews. I think they are phony issues. Inflation is largely out of governmental control, and it's worse in many other countries than it is in the U.S., and Republicans have no plans to stop it: in fact, Republicans' tax plans if enacted would cause inflation to worsen. I've seen no evidence that the Biden administration isn't managing the U.S. southern border as well as previous administrations -- and unlike the Trump administration, he hasn't lost a few hundred children in the process. And crime is lower than it has been for most of my life. Still, if that's what voters want to hear about, then by all means let Democrats address those issues. Republican aren't really doing so, except to complain.

And then I read the following paragraph and I think that maybe I don't understand what speeches Greenberg finds unpopular:

Greenberg’s advice for Democrats is not to completely ignore the legislation they’ve passed, but to present it as useful remedies for tackling the problems of the future. Tout student debt relief and prescription drug price reforms, but only “in the context of how it is helping them with the cost of living, not as a means of boasting about your accomplishments.”

Those are the kinds of speeches I've heard from Biden and Democrats. Are there other speeches where they mention these achievements without explaining why they are beneficial to Americans?

Finally, Greenberg says that what Democrats really need to do is "revive the expanded child tax credit":

The policy, which provided $3,000 to $3,600 per child for families that made $150,000 per couple or $112,500 per single parent unit, had been a major component of Biden’s Covid-relief package. But it lapsed and talks to renew it have completely stalled. Greenberg urged his fellow party members to push for reviving it in the next few weeks, even if it leads to pushback (questionable as it may be) that the policy is inflationary.

“They’re elites and live in a world of college educated voters who didn’t have it as a lifeline. They think our own base responds to identity politics rather than economics,” he said. “If your goal is to win an economic argument, go on ‘Morning Joe.' If the goal is to win an election, look at the fucking data.”

Wasn't it centrist Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, supposed man of the people, who wouldn't back this extension, while the allegedly elite leftist members of the party like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were fully in favor of it?

[N.E. Brigand]

This commentator is generally glum reading, but she says she's not a cynic but a realist. Here's what she wrote in May 2021:



Not sure what "the memo on Trump and obstruction" refers to. If it's the memo that Bill Barr used to justify find Donald Trump hadn't obstructed justice, it's true that Merrick Garland didn't choose to release that, but then a judge forced the issue. It's not clear if Christopher Wray is investigating "the elites behind the attempted coup" or not. The rest of this has all proved correct to date. There can be process explanations for why any of these things hasn't happened, but I think Kendzior is right to feel that collectively, they give the impression that the powerful from both parties cover for each other.

[River]

Power protects power. Doesn't matter who's in charge or how the nature of the group (after-school clubs, mommy groups, city councils, little companies, global corporations, small countries, big countries, the EU, the UN, etc.). Doesn't even matter how the power is acquired. Power protects power.

[N.E. Brigand]

Reported this morning: the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of by 2.6% in the third quarter of 2022. Prior to this news, analysts had been expecting that number to be 2.3%. This is good news. Are you seeing it reported that way?

As Matt Yglesias said this morning of the New York Times social media push: "This is a real 'all news is bad news' framing":

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's how the U.S. economy has grown (blue solid line) vs. how it was predicted to grow prior to the pandemic (red dashed line):

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's how the U.S. economy has grown (blue solid line) vs. how it was predicted to grow prior to the pandemic (red dashed line):

By contrast, the U.S. economy never fully recovered from the Great Recession of 2008:

[N.E. Brigand]

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has been warned by the Office of Special Counsel that he violated the Hatch Act by retweeting a message from a Democratic activist group that included the sentence, "Get your Democrats Deliver merch today!" Klain had actually deleted the retweet when he was notified that a complaint had been filed, and the White House says he won't do it again.

Fair enough. However:

The complaint against Klain was filed by a Republican group led by Stephen Miller, who was formerly an aide in Donald Trump's White House. "Miller and at least a dozen other former Trump administration officials repeatedly violated that same law, without consequence and with Trump's approval, as part of a 'willful disregard for the Hatch Act,' the Office of Special Counsel found in 2021. The office investigated comments by Trump officials leading into the 2020 presidential election, including at the Republican National Convention, which was held at the White House in a major break from historical norms."

[N.E. Brigand]

It's America while Biden is president, but not sure if there's a better place for it...

In July, the city of St. George, Utah told its city manager, Adam Lenhard he was being removed because:

In May, the HBO program “We’re Here” filmed an episode in St. George, culminating with a drag show at Town Square downtown. Lenhard and his staff approved permits for the program to film in and around the city at the end of May and early June.

Per the Salt Lake Tribune, St. George has agreed to pay Lenhard a settlement of $625,000. That's more than twice his annual salary.

Good.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

An intruder broke into the home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and attacked her 82 year old husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer, injuring him significantly. While no motive has been established, it is reported that the intruder was yelling "where is Nancy" before attacking her husband.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Remember this? (eta: though strangely, I now see that Nancy Pelosi was not included)

In Pennsylvania, at an event where the state's Republican candidate for governor, Doug Mastriano, will appear tomorrow, one of today's presenters showed this image of people who he claims will all be dead withing three months. This is the kind of nuts Republicans are embracing.



I'm having trouble identifying all those expected to be visited by the "Angel of Death." Can anyone help me fill in the gaps (and correct any errors)?

--Top Row: President Joe Biden, Chief Justice John Roberts, Senator Lindsey Graham,* former President Bill Clinton, former TV host Chris Matthews, tech executive Bill Gates, unknown, New York Governor Kathy Hochul

--Middle Row: Vice President Kamala Harris, former TV host Brian Stelter, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, TV host Chris Wallace, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Dr. Anthony Fauci, New York Mayor Eric Adams

--Bottom Row: Senator Chuck Schumer, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congressman Jerry Nadler, TV host Rachel Maddow, unknown, former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams, unknown

[RoseMorninStar]

An intruder broke into the home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and attacked her 82 year old husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer, injuring him significantly. While no motive has been established, it is reported that the intruder was yelling "where is Nancy" before attacking her husband.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

Oh, that is simply horrible.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Big shocker here.

[N.E. Brigand]

Big shocker here.

Some secondhand information I've seen suggests the attacker, like a number of others before him, hold a variety of views on political and cultural issues, some of them rather leftist. Conspiracy theorists are often full horseshoe.

[RoseMorninStar]

The attacker seems to hold antisemitic and homophobic views as well. FB is full of Trump supporters trying to pin this on 'The Left' but I think it's probably more accurate that conspiracy theorists are 'full horseshoe' (although he appeared to support Trump). No clues as yet why he attacked the Pelosi's specifically.

[N.E. Brigand]

This was more than a year ago but, as Matt Yglesias notes, it seems newly relevant:

[N.E. Brigand]

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has been warned by the Office of Special Counsel that he violated the Hatch Act by retweeting a message from a Democratic activist group that included the sentence, "Get your Democrats Deliver merch today!" Klain had actually deleted the retweet when he was notified that a complaint had been filed, and the White House says he won't do it again.

Fair enough. However:

The complaint against Klain was filed by a Republican group led by Stephen Miller, who was formerly an aide in Donald Trump's White House. "Miller and at least a dozen other former Trump administration officials repeatedly violated that same law, without consequence and with Trump's approval, as part of a 'willful disregard for the Hatch Act,' the Office of Special Counsel found in 2021. The office investigated comments by Trump officials leading into the 2020 presidential election, including at the Republican National Convention, which was held at the White House in a major break from historical norms."

And now Republicans are mocking Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for not violating the Hatch Act: