The challenges ahead (Biden's America)

[RoseMorninStar]

(...) the price was so high because he bought a woke turkey.

Heh.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Last night a group of Senate Republicans gave Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville a pretty hard time about all the military promotions he's been blocking, forcing him to publicly object 61 times to the nominations and promotions of various officers, and publicly saying that his efforts were helping China. Earlier today the Senate, by a vote of 95-1, finally approved Admiral Lisa Franchetti to be chief of naval operations (making her the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and General David Allvin as Air Force chief of staff. (The no votes came from Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican of Kansas. Tuberville didn't vote.)

The Senate also approved, by a vote of 86-0, the nomination of Lieutenant General Christopher Mahoney for the second highest position in the Marine Corps. This was pretty urgent because the Marine Corps Commandant suffered a heart attack over the weekend; he'd been effectively doing both jobs. Tuberville said about 15 minutes ago that it's no big deal that the Commandant had been working very long hours: "The guy's gonna work 18-20 hours a day no matter what. That's what we do. I did that for years, because you got to get the job done."

And it's been reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would start the process of getting all of the hundreds of blocked nominations approved as a bloc next week. Republicans were said to be on the fence about changing the rules to allow this, but then about a half-hour ago, the "Senate Cloackroom" Twitter account, which appears to be an official account of Senate Republicans, tweeted "Military Promotions Confirmed by Unanimous Consent: All nominations on the Secretary’s Desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force," suggesting that the process had moved faster than expected. However, I've seen no other reports confirming this, so I think it's a mistake.

[N.E. Brigand]

All but two of the United States' fifty state governors have net positive approval/disapproval ratings, one of those two (Kim Reynolds, Republican of Iowa) has a net neutral rating, and the other (Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Republican of Mississippi, who just won reelection by three points) is only negative by one point.

Americans are happy with their governors.

Edited to add these thoughts by elections analyst Lakshya Jain, who points out that other polls find lower approval ratings for many governors.

[N.E. Brigand]

The Transportation Safety Administration reports that yesterday, Nov. 26, 2023, saw more people flying in the U.S. than any other day in history.

(As Matt Yglesias says, "It's cool that so many people are able to travel despite the rotten economy".)

[N.E. Brigand]

Last April, the FBI raided the home of Emmy-award winning ABC reporter James Gordon Meek. In an October Rolling Stone article that in retrospect seems to have misleadingly riled up some readers with the statement that the raid was "among the first — and quite possibly, the first — to be carried out on a journalist by the Biden administration," it was noted that Meek's colleagues said they hadn't seen or heard from him in six months. I'd like to call your attention to the replies to this tweet that Rolling Stone posted to promote the October story. Almost all of them are in this vein:

--Rendition. Biden’s not so secret police.
--Thought crime. It’s a thing.
--Probably suicided by the FBI.
[...20 similiar comments...]
--Biden's Gestapo is at it again. We have to stop these vile people in November. Freedom depends on it. #AbolishTheFBI #VoteRedToSaveAmerica
--Third world banana republic shit.
--Just like Obama's DOJ and FBI.

Some prominent conservative commentators made similar comments, like Glenn Beck, who said of Meek's situation: "When did we become Saudi Arabia?"

Well, the Dept. of Justice announced today that Meek was arrested last night for "transportation of child pornography." And that's why his home was raided last year. What on earth is President Biden doing, letting the FBI arrest (alleged) pedophiles?

(You won't be surprised to learn that Glenn Beck has tweeted multiple times since this news broke, but none of those tweets mention it.)

Alleged no longer. Meek has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Glenn Beck has said nothing about this on his Twitter feed.

But Elon Musk is suggesting that it proves the insane Pizzagate conspiracy theorists were right.

[N.E. Brigand]

Obviously I don't think much of Elon Musk, but I was amused to see that he wrote yesterday that "Seriously, this is the absolute *best* time in history to have kids!"

There are arguments on both sides, but I incline to the position that Musk is probably right about this in most of the world, including the U.S.

But isn't that statement, in a way, an endorsement of Joe Biden's presidency? If now is the "best time," then three to six years ago when Donald Trump was president was not. (Mind you, there's a case to be made that quality of life in the U.S. during Trump's term pre-Covid was very good too, largely thanks to Trump not getting in the way of Barack Obama's economic policies.)

[N.E. Brigand]

Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said his client would prefer to testify publicly to Rep. James Comer's committee rather than in a closed-door deposition.

Comer has just declined that offer, but he says that Hunter Biden may be invited to testify publicly after the deposition.

To be sure, Comer is correct that a deposition generally provides better results than a public hearing (in which each committee member typically only has five minutes to ask questions and some of them use the opportunity for grandstanding rather than to seek the truth). And Democrats are correct that what Comer really wants is an opportunity for Republicans to selectively leak details of Hunter's testimony that is most favorable to them without. (And these shoes have been on the other feet before.)

I suspect there will be no public hearing in the end, although I think it likely Hunter Biden really was prepared to testify in public if Comer had agreed to it, and now some on the right are a little surprised at Comer's decision. Conservative journalist Miranda Devine expressed confusion at Comer's response, saying "Surely sunlight matters." But she was quickly convinced to back down, citing the argument I mention above.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The great Jamie Raskin has the best response to this.

[N.E. Brigand]

Three notes about the economy during Joe Biden's presidency (data/charts available at the links):

1. Also: "The homeownership rate for young people [age 25-34] is higher now than it was at any point under Trump."

2. And: "In 2008-2010 [i.e., during the Great Recession] people ate out less to save money, while currently they are dining out more than ever."

3. Morning Brew is a daily general interest business newsletter with four million subscribers, so this fact may break through to some independent readers:



Environmentalists will be rightly concerned about that last one, but I think U.S. energy independence will pay off environmentally in the long run.

[N.E. Brigand]

But Biden sucks at managing the economy compared to Mr. Trump. Just ask the polls.

The report indicating 4.9% annualized GDP growth for July-September 2023 was an early estimate. Today a revised number was issued.

it turns out that U.S. GDP actually grew last quarter at an annualized rate of 5.2%.

As Dave Weigel points out at that link, back in 2015, former Florida governor and then-presidential candidate Jeb Bush was roundly mocked for proposing that he could lead the U.S. to 4% annual growth. It hadn't been that high since a four-year stretch 1997-2000, the second half of Bill Clinton's presidency. It never broke 3% during Barack Obama's or Donald Trump's presidencies. it went to 5.95% in 2021, but that was the short-term result of pandemic recovery. In 2022 it reverted to 2%, right where it had been before the pandemic.

To be sure, this is the annual rate for just one quarter. We won't know until late January what the (estimated) rate was for the whole year. Even if this quarter matches last quarter (unlikely), the rate for the year will likely still be under 4%.

[N.E. Brigand]

[Former ABC reporter James Gordon] Meek has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Glenn Beck has said nothing about this on his Twitter feed.

But Elon Musk is suggesting that it proves the insane Pizzagate conspiracy theorists were right.

Wow. This was posted more than five years ago:



As some respondents have now said: not so funny after all.

(Sadly, many other respondents are Pizzagate believers critical of Klippenstein for mocking them.)

[N.E. Brigand]

Smart question today for House Speaker Mike Johnson from Huffington Post reporter Arthur Delaney about the possibility Republicans will impeach President Biden. Noting that the sole improper action that Republicans are Joe Biden alleging has undertaken is that, as vice president in 2015, he pushed for the firing of the (corrupt) Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin, Delaney pointed out that during the first impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, a number of State Dept. officials testified under oath that in taking this step, Joe Biden was merely effectuating official U.S. policy and that not just the U.S. but the European Union and others had demanded Shokin's ouster. (For that matter, key Republican legislators at the time supported the move!) So, Delaney asked Johnson, are you going to refer those officials for perjury? Are you going to bring them back to correct their testimony?

You will not be surprised to learn that Speaker Johnson's response completely ignored those points.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'll put those here as a placeholder. I'm not a huge fan of Rolling Stone's political coverage, but this headline is on the money.

[Frelga]

It is a depressing summary of a century-long life when the first thing millions of people say once it's over is "Finally."

Eta:

Jacobin hated Henry Kissinger so much that they wrote a book-length obituary years ago and commissioned 50,000 copies and just let them sit until the [he] finally died.

20231130_055126.jpg (247.61 KiB) Viewed 7357 times

[N.E. Brigand]

Henry Kissinger outlived Paul Sorvino, who portrayed him in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995), by more than a year.



In middle school, I wrote a book report on a Kissinger biography. It was over my head.

[N.E. Brigand]

China's president, Xi Jinping, sent formal condolences to President Biden following Henry Kissinger's death.

Edited to add: Curiously, condolences were also issued yesterday by the Kuomintang, the leading conservative party in Taiwan, which controlled that nation from the time Chiang Kai-Shek fled there from mainland China in 1947 until 2000 and then again from 2009 to 2016.

[N.E. Brigand]

Are you #$%^*!@ kidding me?

[Frelga]

The economy is good because consumers are stupid is quite a take.

[N.E. Brigand]

Some people are comparing this statement:

Statement from President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on the Passing of Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter
Nov. 19, 2023

First Lady Rosalynn Carter walked her own path, inspiring a nation and the world along the way.

Throughout her incredible life as First Lady of Georgia and the First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn did so much to address many of society’s greatest needs. She was a champion for equal rights and opportunities for women and girls; an advocate for mental health and wellness for every person; and a supporter of the often unseen and uncompensated caregivers of our children, aging loved ones, and people with disabilities.

Above all, the deep love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership, and their humble leadership is the definition of patriotism. She lived her life by her faith.

Time and time again, during the more than four decades of our friendship – through rigors of campaigns, through the darkness of deep and profound loss – we always felt the hope, warmth, and optimism of Rosalynn Carter. She will always be in our hearts.

On behalf of a grateful nation, we send our love to President Carter, the entire Carter family, and the countless people across our nation and the world whose lives are better, fuller, and brighter because of the life and legacy of Rosalynn Carter.

May God bless our dear friend.

May God bless a great American.

To this one:

Statement from President Biden on the Passing of Henry Kissinger
Nov. 30, 2023

I'll never forget the first time I met Dr. Kissinger. I was a young Senator, and he was Secretary of State -- giving a briefing on the state of the world. Throughout our careers, we often disagreed. And often strongly. But from that first briefing -- his fierce intellect and profound strategic focus was evident. Long after retiring from government, he continued to offer his views and ideas to the most important policy discussions across multiple generations. Jill and I send our condolences to his wife Nancy, his children Elizabeth and David, his grandchildren, and all those who loved him.

Well done, President Biden.

[Frelga]

Best comment on Biden's comment.

This is as close to 'always speak good of the dead. He's dead. Good' as you'll ever see from a [normal] President.