If you're Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, or any of the hundreds of drones working at NYTimes, The Atlantic, WaPo, etc, I truly don't know how you get up in the morning and go to work. I'm a conservative Republican, but it's a sad state of affairs when the only politician I truly admire is Tulsi Gabbard. Why? Because she has some amount of integrity, which puts her heads and shoulders above her brethren, both in DC and in the media. The Clintonistas and their friends in the media took her out in the campaign, but she'd be a damn sight better than the dim-bulb currently in the White House.
I'm glad you mentioned the ACA. For years I've been asking Democrat friends to defend such crap legislation and every time I get eyerolls and moaning about how they tried, they tried, but those nasty Republicans wouldn't let them pass a good law. When I point out the ACA passed without a single Republican vote, the subject somehow gets changed.
We've reached the stage where they are grabbing everything they can before the whole scam falls apart. Trillions will be printed and doled out based on political considerations, and your savings and labor will be inflated away to nothing.
I'm glad someone else noticed the absurdity of that Ezra Klein piece. Biden is only as "radical" as his corporate backers allow him to be. That means no M4A, no $15 minimum wage, no raising the corporate tax rate to what it was before or closing all the loopholes, no cuts in military spending. Thanks for calling BS, Matt.
Joe Biden is a straight-up neocon, and always has been. From backing every US genocidal "interventionist war" to implementing mass incarceration, advocating to cut Social Security benefits and bombing Syria almost immediately after his election, he's a thinner version of Mike Pompeo. What a cruel joke on the world.
"The dull truth about Biden is that he’s governed, domestically, as a slightly more progressive version of the Obama administration, with a more ambitious bailout, while his foreign policy is a notch or two more hawkish — a wash, overall, though most of the stories about policy continuity from Afghanistan to Iran to Ukraine and beyond, don’t get headlines."
Appreciate this Matt, especially how Team Biden is selling Obama's brand "Hope 2.0". All of these machinations reveal a deep desire to be seen as a working class FDR New Deal President by also holding his promise to elite capital that: "nothing much will change for you".
FDR took on the business community, wealthy billionaires, and was responsible for setting up government to make it work for ordinary people:
Emergency Bank Act 1933 (March)
National Recovery Administration 1933 (April)
Established the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) 1933 (June)
Established the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) 1933
Established the Agricultural Adjustment Association (AAA) 1934
Established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Established the Public Works Administration (PWA)
Established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Established the Social Security Act (SSA) 1935-36
Established the National Labor Relations Act (NLRB) 1936
Established the Housing Act of 1937 (low income families)
Established Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (40hr work week; National Min Wage; No minors)
Established Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (Native American sovereignty)
Established Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) - Discrimination in Defense Industry
Established Glass-Steagall Act - Firewall between Investment/Commercial Lending
Established Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulatory function over Wall Street
Formed the Pecora Commission - Subpoena power and Financial abuse on Trial (Perino)
Anti-trust laws challenging capital's ascendence.
Over his career, Biden has done this (make it appear he is smarter by plagiarizing, make it appear he is your average guy but sell out the left to credit card companies, and talk tough on foreign policy and policing as if he is a conservative but claim the moniker of a progressive).
To use a pandemic as a way to whitewash his image and narrow the playing field to be FDR-esque character ranks up there with some of the worst manipulations of this pandemic moment one could imagine. As Taibbi points out there is so little that links Biden and FDR (except that they occupied the Presidency) that it boggles the mind.
Let me know when Biden uses these kinds of words (like FDR) and then back them up by breaking up the tech monopolies or relieving all student debt -- until then I am just going to remember the words of a true progressive (who also had to be pushed, until several assassination attempts against his life occurred by business interests):
"“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.” - FDR 1936
"We... would rather die on our feet than live on our knees." - FDR 1942
"We must especially be aware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests." - FDR 1941
I don't think all politicians are corrupt, but at a certain point, I just grow exhausted by the realization once you get to *this* point, the once-innocent and altruistic motives seem to be...well, all but gone. I hate that I feel like I'm slipping into cynicism, but optimism seems to be the wrong direction as well. All I feel comfortable doing is continuing to teach my children to be compassionate towards others, and to be discerning. Not sure what else there is to do anymore.
My parents have MSNBC brain and repeat the talking points to me constantly while I sit quietly saying, "I don't really agree" and quoting the Star Wars prequels for a laugh (Obi-Wan: "Oh, I'm not brave enough for politics."). I wish I could send them this article but they wouldn't make it past three paragraphs before their usual apoplectic anger when I attempt bubble-puncture.
What about the fact his son is a meth head/crack addict? Where is the MSM reporting on that? How embarrassing for the US for this man to be in the Oval office.
The media is making Biden in their own image. He’s just a hologram of no importance. The media’s purpose is to project his image so strongly, the American people will never question if he’s real or not, and most importantly, vote democrat.
“The business of the New York journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his race and his country for his daily bread.” — John Swinton, c. 1880
As someone who actually worked on a portion of the border-wall project I will say it was not a worthless endeavor. 35 feet tall, anti-climb plates at the top, grouted steel bollards. Impenetrable it was not, but with miles of fiber optic cable and motion sensing cameras and lights it would allow border patrol to do their job a lot more effectively. The knee-jerk decision by Biden to abruptly end the project meant massive holes, cameras on light poles inactive, and no one to fix them. Laying off hundreds of mostly Latino construction workers, and signaling to the migrants the US was an open-border paradise. Whatever you think of immigration policy this was an extremely stupid, and rash decision. Granted the wall would not have stopped migrants crossing in other areas, but I think the messaging was the worst part.
We don’t know much about Biden’s presidency yet, but it’s crystal clear that every media outfit but Fox News will go back to tonguing the president's balls, while Fox News will now make a 180 degree turn and play the Brave Defender of Democracy.
"The cries of hypocrisy about the non-use of the term “kids in cages” is, I think, overblown, because separating children from families was an intentional aim of the Trump administration — remember, Trump officials were hoping for a lot of media coverage about separated kids, with the specific aim of producing a “substantial deterrent effect.” That was substantially more deranged than any Biden policy. " Ugh... how so? Are we forgetting the people trying to cross the border do so on their own volition?
The illegal immigrants should not be trying to cross the border and to use children and "feelings" to trick Americans into supporting the idea to let them walk right in, stay in $300 / night hotels upon entry (on the taxpayer dime) and get basically a free ride into the country. It's disgusting and shouldn't be encouraged. It's a slap in the face to the legal immigrants over the past 70 years. We SHOULD be looking for any substantial deterrent effect that we can get.
If you're Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, or any of the hundreds of drones working at NYTimes, The Atlantic, WaPo, etc, I truly don't know how you get up in the morning and go to work. I'm a conservative Republican, but it's a sad state of affairs when the only politician I truly admire is Tulsi Gabbard. Why? Because she has some amount of integrity, which puts her heads and shoulders above her brethren, both in DC and in the media. The Clintonistas and their friends in the media took her out in the campaign, but she'd be a damn sight better than the dim-bulb currently in the White House.
I'm glad you mentioned the ACA. For years I've been asking Democrat friends to defend such crap legislation and every time I get eyerolls and moaning about how they tried, they tried, but those nasty Republicans wouldn't let them pass a good law. When I point out the ACA passed without a single Republican vote, the subject somehow gets changed.
This myth started early and won't die.
We've reached the stage where they are grabbing everything they can before the whole scam falls apart. Trillions will be printed and doled out based on political considerations, and your savings and labor will be inflated away to nothing.
Plan accordingly.
"Joe Biden is a shitbag" should have been patently obvious to everyone _before_ the election.
I'm glad someone else noticed the absurdity of that Ezra Klein piece. Biden is only as "radical" as his corporate backers allow him to be. That means no M4A, no $15 minimum wage, no raising the corporate tax rate to what it was before or closing all the loopholes, no cuts in military spending. Thanks for calling BS, Matt.
Joe Biden is a straight-up neocon, and always has been. From backing every US genocidal "interventionist war" to implementing mass incarceration, advocating to cut Social Security benefits and bombing Syria almost immediately after his election, he's a thinner version of Mike Pompeo. What a cruel joke on the world.
Taibbi writes:
"The dull truth about Biden is that he’s governed, domestically, as a slightly more progressive version of the Obama administration, with a more ambitious bailout, while his foreign policy is a notch or two more hawkish — a wash, overall, though most of the stories about policy continuity from Afghanistan to Iran to Ukraine and beyond, don’t get headlines."
Appreciate this Matt, especially how Team Biden is selling Obama's brand "Hope 2.0". All of these machinations reveal a deep desire to be seen as a working class FDR New Deal President by also holding his promise to elite capital that: "nothing much will change for you".
FDR took on the business community, wealthy billionaires, and was responsible for setting up government to make it work for ordinary people:
Emergency Bank Act 1933 (March)
National Recovery Administration 1933 (April)
Established the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) 1933 (June)
Established the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) 1933
Established the Agricultural Adjustment Association (AAA) 1934
Established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Established the Public Works Administration (PWA)
Established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Established the Social Security Act (SSA) 1935-36
Established the National Labor Relations Act (NLRB) 1936
Established the Housing Act of 1937 (low income families)
Established Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (40hr work week; National Min Wage; No minors)
Established Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (Native American sovereignty)
Established Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) - Discrimination in Defense Industry
Established Glass-Steagall Act - Firewall between Investment/Commercial Lending
Established Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulatory function over Wall Street
Formed the Pecora Commission - Subpoena power and Financial abuse on Trial (Perino)
Anti-trust laws challenging capital's ascendence.
Over his career, Biden has done this (make it appear he is smarter by plagiarizing, make it appear he is your average guy but sell out the left to credit card companies, and talk tough on foreign policy and policing as if he is a conservative but claim the moniker of a progressive).
To use a pandemic as a way to whitewash his image and narrow the playing field to be FDR-esque character ranks up there with some of the worst manipulations of this pandemic moment one could imagine. As Taibbi points out there is so little that links Biden and FDR (except that they occupied the Presidency) that it boggles the mind.
Let me know when Biden uses these kinds of words (like FDR) and then back them up by breaking up the tech monopolies or relieving all student debt -- until then I am just going to remember the words of a true progressive (who also had to be pushed, until several assassination attempts against his life occurred by business interests):
"“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.” - FDR 1936
"We... would rather die on our feet than live on our knees." - FDR 1942
"We must especially be aware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests." - FDR 1941
Biden? What a fucking joke. Good work Matt
I don't think all politicians are corrupt, but at a certain point, I just grow exhausted by the realization once you get to *this* point, the once-innocent and altruistic motives seem to be...well, all but gone. I hate that I feel like I'm slipping into cynicism, but optimism seems to be the wrong direction as well. All I feel comfortable doing is continuing to teach my children to be compassionate towards others, and to be discerning. Not sure what else there is to do anymore.
My parents have MSNBC brain and repeat the talking points to me constantly while I sit quietly saying, "I don't really agree" and quoting the Star Wars prequels for a laugh (Obi-Wan: "Oh, I'm not brave enough for politics."). I wish I could send them this article but they wouldn't make it past three paragraphs before their usual apoplectic anger when I attempt bubble-puncture.
My dad's guidance/advice on virtually anything political was "be skeptical."
He was a tough, cynical guy whose father ran numbers from a general store and whose uncles were deeply involved in Pittsburgh politics.
I used to think his viewpoint reflected a Depression childhood. I now think he was 100% right, then, now, and in the future.
What about the fact his son is a meth head/crack addict? Where is the MSM reporting on that? How embarrassing for the US for this man to be in the Oval office.
The media is making Biden in their own image. He’s just a hologram of no importance. The media’s purpose is to project his image so strongly, the American people will never question if he’s real or not, and most importantly, vote democrat.
“The business of the New York journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his race and his country for his daily bread.” — John Swinton, c. 1880
As someone who actually worked on a portion of the border-wall project I will say it was not a worthless endeavor. 35 feet tall, anti-climb plates at the top, grouted steel bollards. Impenetrable it was not, but with miles of fiber optic cable and motion sensing cameras and lights it would allow border patrol to do their job a lot more effectively. The knee-jerk decision by Biden to abruptly end the project meant massive holes, cameras on light poles inactive, and no one to fix them. Laying off hundreds of mostly Latino construction workers, and signaling to the migrants the US was an open-border paradise. Whatever you think of immigration policy this was an extremely stupid, and rash decision. Granted the wall would not have stopped migrants crossing in other areas, but I think the messaging was the worst part.
We don’t know much about Biden’s presidency yet, but it’s crystal clear that every media outfit but Fox News will go back to tonguing the president's balls, while Fox News will now make a 180 degree turn and play the Brave Defender of Democracy.
Same clown show, different year.
The TDS is still strong.
"The cries of hypocrisy about the non-use of the term “kids in cages” is, I think, overblown, because separating children from families was an intentional aim of the Trump administration — remember, Trump officials were hoping for a lot of media coverage about separated kids, with the specific aim of producing a “substantial deterrent effect.” That was substantially more deranged than any Biden policy. " Ugh... how so? Are we forgetting the people trying to cross the border do so on their own volition?
The illegal immigrants should not be trying to cross the border and to use children and "feelings" to trick Americans into supporting the idea to let them walk right in, stay in $300 / night hotels upon entry (on the taxpayer dime) and get basically a free ride into the country. It's disgusting and shouldn't be encouraged. It's a slap in the face to the legal immigrants over the past 70 years. We SHOULD be looking for any substantial deterrent effect that we can get.
What a clown world we live in.