Mar 8·edited Mar 8Liked by David Thornton, Jay Berman
Thank you David for this thoughtful objective analysis. Perhaps no one better than you Steve and Jay have come to understand the challenges of monetizing the internet. Virtually everyone with any credibility has compromised themselves by finding a way to make a buck off what they write or say.
I've stayed with you all these years because what you (all three) write isn't based on making subscribers happy (and selling subscriptions), but with sharing your thoughts irrespective of how readers take them. That's impressive to me. I often told people i write more for myself than anyone who may read it. It helps me better understand who and what i am.
I was surprised when i awoke and one of you hadn't pounded out your thoughts so i posted in yesterday's thread my take. I'll cut and paste it here in a bit. Nothing earth shattering, but after the watch last night one significant chord was struck and i loved it.
I also saw a comment on the Bulwark this morning on irony of the Republican response coming from the state of Alabama (think IVF) and more significantly from a young woman sitting in her kitchen. That immediately struck a note as i just saw a film clip of Lt Gov Mark Robinson (SC) telling women that they belonged at home in the kitchen. Irony indeed.
Again, thanks for the purity of a site where it isn't driven by appeasing readers, but better understanding what matters to the three of you.
I am really and sincerely struggling to understand your take and defense of Biden. Sure there was Afghanistan that it appears we can all agree was horrendous and would have been handled differently by anyone else. But what about the border? What about the growing and extreme level of homelessness and drug addiction happening in our country? Why is he and his government encouraging and supporting it? Don’t these people—these fellow citizens—deserve a chance at personal dignity and success, rather than being enabled to live destructive and hopeless lives as we are doing now? What about the climate crap that is being exaggerated and forced upon us by those looking for more control, more power and more money? What about the mandates and the shutdowns that had people of conscience loosing there jobs and/or businesses, while also ostracizing them and undermining the middle class? What about the break down of law and order and the resulting shortage of police officers overall and across the country? What about the undermining of our Justice system? What about the double standard he and his administration have demonstrated between the BLM protestors and the Jan 6 protestors? We did not get the truth about Jan 6 and as a journalist that has had the integrity to go underground here on Substack, I am shocked that you seem to believe that we have. What about the growing censorship and threat to free speech democrats are clearly in support of and actively pursuing? You no doubt saw what was discovered with the Twitter files, as well as what happened to Michael Shellenburger and Matt Taibbi—the reason I subscribed to Racket News—when they went before Congress about it. What about the clear bias and interference the media plays in support of Biden and his agenda? How is that the way of democracy or more accurately, the way of our Constitutional Republic? What about all the DEI/CRT garbage creating evermore national division, not to mention wrecking havoc with everyday American lives, while also compromising our military enrollment AND our already compromised educational system? What about the trans issue that he and his cohorts have made front and center, while willingly using and putting children at risk and denying a platform for or the truth about detransitioners?
And no, I don’t care what adults do in that regard in the least. But I do care that it is being perpetrated onto children, often times despite and with disregard to their parents and the truth! What about the breakdown of meritocracy supposedly for the sake of diversity? You don’t think that that is going to set us back or have disastrous effects on all our education, science, the medical profession, our government, our law and so on? What about his sanctioning of reverse racism—racism against white people? What about his blatant disregard for the Constitution in that regard? What about the sexualization of our children in school and the sexual books being presented to young children there? What about the “use” of the FBI AND CIA? What about all the unrest he has helped to create across the globe? There are sources--to include RFK Jr, who I trust way more than Biden OR Trump, that say that in the beginning Zelensky was set to talk peace with Putin. Then Biden spoke to Boris Johnson who then spoke to Zelensky and told him no. If true--along with Seymour’s Hersh’s claim that Biden ordered the destruction of Nord Steam 2 and so much else—Biden and his administration is both creating and escalating the uncertainty here and abroad. All of this—and no doubt more—is happening under and/or being sanctioned by this man and his administration. And no matter how I look at it, I fail to see Ukraine ever winning. I cannot rationalize in my mind or heart the amount of taxpayer money being used to fund that war or the amount of taxpayer money being expended on and being given to illegals at the expense of our own citizenry, our own country, our infrastructure and our American values. In short, I cannot conceive of anyone—save perhaps Bernie Sanders—doing worse overall than Biden on both foreign and domestic issues! I am no fan of Trump, but I don’t think even he could have made the mess of things that Biden and his administration have made. And I simply cannot figure out what you are seeing or not seeing or what I could possibly be missing? 🤷♀️
There’s a lot to unpack there but my answer is that a lot of your assumptions aren’t correct. Biden gets blamed for a lot of stuff that predates him and a lot of stuff that isn’t his fault.
To single out immigration, the problem has been around for decades, increased under Trump with a drop off during pandemic, and increased again under Biden. Biden is correct that Congress needs to act. It’s not a matter of enforcing current laws, which have played a large part in creating the mess.
To be sure, Biden has made mistakes, but he his problems are more on the order of typical presidential problems rather than destroying our foundational institutions and fomenting insurrections.
I am having to do this in multiple parts as it be wordy... In my observation and thinking ...
Homelessness is way more a symptom of drug addiction, than a housing problem as those in power would have us believe. Maybe watch “Seattle is Dying” and you can hear it by their own admission. I lived in Wa for over 20 years. It was incredibly disheartening to watch Seattle, Olympia and Portland, all be destroyed by lax and enabling policies. Policies that encourage dependency rather than encouraging individual empowerment and dignity. Homelessness has also become BIG MONEY, so I can’t see that we can hope for the truth or any real solutions on that front anytime soon. Instead, the lack of affordable housing will continue to be the claim, despite the fact that when one is an addict like we are seeing on our streets, one cannot function or work to afford any kind of housing, not even affordable housing. Plus, when given free housing like they did in Seattle, they destroyed it and then demanded more.
Drug addiction is indeed a health issue—both for the individual and for the public. Sadly, I don’t share your perception that the Dems would be happy to get funding in place in order to treat it. Mostly, because if they really wanted to do anything about it, they would start by closing the border in a noble attempt to STOP the additional influx of evermore drugs into our country and making the problem even worse. And I would really like to know where this special money tree is that the Dems—as well as the Republicans—seem to have access to and continuously gather from. I call it the taxpayer tree.
I agree that the border has been an issue for decades. And it is at it’s worse now under Biden. Not only did he undo everything that had been done to help secure the border under his predecessor—not everything orange man did was bad—Biden rolled out the red carpet and actually invited people to come to our country intentionally making it worse. And he continues to do just that, while blaming the other party and refusing to do what could and should be done to start. And my guess would be that the reform bills you speak of had unacceptable riders attached and/or didn’t do much to fix the issue, but rather an attempt to speed the “letting in” process up.
I’ll assume you are joking when you ask “what mandates I am speaking of?” I thought that had already been made pretty clear—to include the lack of efficacy, while our government stills insists on pushing it. You know like the 8000 soldiers that were kicked out of the military because they refused to take a novel/experimental vaccine. The many nurses that quit for the same reason, creating a nursing shortage. And the people who lost their jobs, their businesses and/or their right to choose what went into their bodies. It’s out there. And to claim that we have recovered from it, is simply denial and a lie. At the least those claims are skewed and we would all do well to recognize that.
I never said climate change isn’t real. I said it is being overblown at the whim of the rich and the powerful. They are trying to do something the country and the world doesn’t have the infrastructure to support and isn’t ready for. I see it as putting the cart before the horse and it is being done despite the effects on normal everyday people. As I see it, these solutions are more about money and power than anything born out of real concern and purpose. And yes, some places didn’t have a winter this year and some places are having a hell of a winter this year. Of course we humans have had an impact. Cause and effect is indeed real. But America is and has done more than it’s fair share around this issue. Plus there is the unavoidable truth that nature has and will always play a mostly unpredictable part. I have listened to much better ideas than what is currently being pushed upon us.
If we want to pretend that we can trust statistics in general or around crime—especially statistics provided by the FBI that has made false claims in the past, plus sought to dub white suburban mom’s domestic terrorists for simply wanting to know and/or stop what some teachers and schools are wanting to teach “their” children—I just can’t. Out of control immigration and new lax on crime policies in certain states are seeing whole cities actively being destroyed, even abandoned, over theft, property crime—which is in fact up—destruction and lack of safely. And to try and blame it on the cops is baffling. I know cops in Seattle who say they would love to be able to do their jobs, except that their hands are often tied. There are also shortages of cops because they have been so publicly demonized and marginalized. Who wants to become a cop when they are taunted, spit on and assaulted without any repercussions for the perpetrators and with little support from higher ups. Also fueling the shortage is the loss of those who refused to be forced to take a mandated emergency vaccine. Did you know that up until a recent reversal, Seattle cops weren’t even being allowed to pursue an individual for a crime? And you want to blame the cops.
I see cities like San Fransisco, Oakland, Portland, Philadelphia, Chicago, NYC, Seattle, Denver, LA, DC and more placing criminals above victims and businesses and I find it sad and untenable. A new and mostly “blue” phenomenon and without the intervention, but instead the encouragement and sanction of the federal government, if just by their silence in regards to it. Newsom was willing and able to clean up San Fransisco for the visit of Xi Jinping proving that it can be done if the will is there, while also proving who he values more. Biden is showing us a similar stance with the border—that illegal immigrants are more important to him and his party than American Citizens are. Even to the point of trying to stop states from protecting their own borders and their own citizenry for themselves. We are truly living in backwards times.
As for BLM and J6—big ass double standard! First, the BLM riots were allowed to continue in a truly destructive vein for 9 full months with very few people, if any, ever being held accountable for breaking laws. Plus it was essentially backed by and supported by our government who were posting bail for some of these people AND at a time when churches and other venues were forced to shut down. And if anyone believes that people with very little in the way of weapons could have overthrown the government on that day—and if anyone thinks we got the whole truth and nothing but the truth around it in general—then I don’t get that either. The effects of 9 months of “mostly peaceful protests” can still be seen and felt in many of the places that were hit, while people and journalists on the other side of the aisle continue to be rounded up and charged with anything, but insurrection.
I don’t understand your take that the twitter files was a nothing burger. It was a conscious assault on free speech. It was censorship perpetrated by our own government against its own citizens. And it was election interference. No matter the size or the scope, that knowledge should matter to all Americans and to both sides!
Your opinion in regards to the media around Trump vs Biden has me again baffled. But ok.
I absolutely do think that DEI/CRT is divisive. Making everything about race and gender can’t help, but be that way. And to call me biased and a bigot without knowing me and because I see it that way, says way more about you than me. How is it that a civilized society such as ours and what we call the west, have devolved to the point where insult, name calling and attack have replaced intellectual discourse? It’s basic psychology really. When you teach one race that they are oppressive and another that they are victims, that is not only divisive, it is cruel in that it undermines the individual’s sense of self and ability to succeed. The DEI/CRT as it is being taught and implemented is destructive and not working. And there are those on both sides and from within multiply races saying so. But heck, DEI, just like homelessness is now a huge money maker, so we won’t see any backtracking or adjustments being made there anytime soon either.
We will just continue down the reverse racism pathway blindly and at the detriment of everyone and our pluralistic society.
So much in life is nuanced, especially life’s problems and political issues. All people from all races experience hardship, set back and pain. Throughout time all people and all races have been used and abused. And dumbing things down and/or focusing only one one variable— particularly race—is not only in my regressive, it is destructive. You make someone a victim and raise their victimhood up only makes things worse for that individual and the society in which we live. You make some people, and especially children, believe they are oppressors, you create intense guilt and perhaps perhaps even paralysis around their own self acceptance and motivation. No one in the present is guilty of or should be made to pay for a past that they were not a part of. Especially because no society, no tribe, no country and no person is perfect and/or hasn’t had to grow their awareness and make efforts to be better and to evolve. Some societies even devolve and have to start again—the middle east for example. And To pretend otherwise is futile, and in my mind, nuts.
Unrest can be found in our cities, at our borders and across the globe. The orange man actually did manage to keep us out of any war during his time. And now here we are supporting a war that in my mind cannot be won, while being paid for by us.
I admire your trust and confidence in what you are being told and that you know Kennedy’s thoughts. I wish I shared your assuredness, but the media plus our government—to include both sides—have shown themselves to be anything, but trustworthy. But that’s me.
I understand that asylum is a legal immigration process. I also believe that all “newcomers” should be required to go through the proper channels and ports in order to make and prove that claim. And lets be honest, how do we know that even most of these people are seeking real or true asylum. As I see it, many are simply coming because they have been invited as well as to get out of where they are. Just look how some are behaving. Unfortunately and much like DEI and homelessness, it has also become a big money maker mostly for a lot of dark minded people willing to exploit and use people—even children—for their own profit.
Why is no one concerned about that? And why are so many in power choosing to look the other way? The response from Biden has pretty much been to blame the other side, when with the flick of an executive order he could fix it until we can come up with some enacted real reform. Too many of these people have simply become pawns to be profited upon and politically used. And that to me is both sad and disgusting!
As for the big orange man—he is not in power now. I don’t need to refresh my memory, mostly because the media and Biden himself will continue to do that for me. He will continue to beat the drum of criticism for Trump, January 6 and Roe vs Wade right up until election day. Mostly because he hasn’t got much else to brag about.
Here the topic was and is Biden and what he has or hasn’t done during his own term as President. And it was about his SOTU address, which was bipartisan, attacking, shrill and much more a campaign speech, than a State of the Union address. I don’t see the Union as doing well, especially under Biden’s leadership. Period. Anything inherited, was and still is his job to fix. And defending him in that way and flippantly saying that the problem has been around for decades, is to me not a defense and a weak rational.
Homelessness is a symptom of us not building enough housing to meet demand, causing prices/rents to rise. That's far more to do with local policies restricting where and what can be built.
Drug addiction is a health issue: Dems would be more than happy to get funding in place to help treat it - but that's typically a non-starter for some reason.
The border has been an issue for decades, and the numerous reform bills that might have helped have thus far all been blocked in the House (starting from 2013).
What mandates are you speaking of?
Some places basically didn't have winter this year, but do continue on about how climate change isn't real.
Crime has dropped a great deal the last couple of years. You should look that up. One counter-example though:SF recalled the DA that wanted to reduce policing, and yet the police are still not performing their duties. At some point, you have to blame the police for failing to do their jobs.
Dunno what breakdown of law and order you're talking about: do you mean 2020? That'd be under Trump.
When you talk BLM and J6 you have to remember that - with the exception of the Federal building in Portland - any riots that occurred involved local/state policies and not Federal. And more importantly - none of the post-BLM protests riots involved the attempted overthrow of the government.
Lol, the Twitter files. That's great, thanks for reminding me of that nothing burger.
If anybody has been getting support from the media, it's Trump: they ignore his absolutely bonkers rantings and word salad all the damn time - 'cause they want a horse race, and likely want him back in office as he's good for ratings. Biden is too boring for them.
That you think diversity, equity, and inclusion are divisive speaks far more to your biases and bigotry. The kind of thinking that a black person is incapable of doing X job and thus only gets their job because of DEI is abhorrent, and those that think so need to stop blaming everybody else for their failures in life.
What unrest was *created* by Biden? Show specific actions that involved say the overthrowing of a local government, like we used to do during the Cold War.
There was no shit at peace early on: the ask from Russia in April 2022 was total capitulation/surrender. RFK Jr. is not trustworthy, but vote for him if you feel like it.
Highly recommend you exit your information silo.
Asylum is a legal immigration process. If you want to only involve going through ports of entry, and making it harder to claim - get the bipartisan border bill passed.
I think your memory is very short, and you'd do well to review all of the crazy crap that happened under Trump's administration.
I'm pretty sure at least one or perhaps all three of you will be sharing your thoughts regarding last nights State of the Union will be coming soon. Looking forward to it. I actually watched the entire speech and was surprised in both tone and content. In speeches, i love great spacing and timing and it's a rare knack or trait to be able to use them well. Like Obama or hate him, he was a craftsman with his words and modulation. Joe is Joe and in some ways that's endearing as well.
I was disappointed when i opened my email this morning and saw EE's header. Something about a drug addled screaming old man. Sorry i didn't open or even save it, but Eric often fails to impress me with his thoughts.
On the other hand, there's a quality i appreciate more than most from the leader of the free world: Self-deprecating humor. The ability to laugh at one's own foibles has always made me cheer. Reagan, Bush, Clinton and now Joe Biden all were willing to laugh at and with themselves. It's odd when the most serious job in the world comes with the realization that some things are just fun/funny is an awesome trait.
i can't help think back to the 2011 press corps dinner when Obama made trump the butt of his jokes. I often think that was why trump ran in 2016. The simple truth is if you can't laugh at yourself, you are taking yourself way too serious.
Honestly, I think Biden's foreign policy id bad and disastrous for America.
I'm of firm opinion and there's ample evidence to back up my opinion that Biden's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal was what prompted Putin to accelerate the buildup of troops at Ukraine's border. Putin saw Biden as a weak President, and took advantage of this.
Biden was polling over 50% before Afghanistan, and his polling numbers haven't recovered since then. It shoes how bad his decision was.
Have you forgotten about the Houthi rebels? Recently the US launched aerial strikes and that failed to deter the Houthis. In fact, since then, they sunk some ships and attacked another one that may have killed crew members.
Since US Navy's founding, her primary mission has been to guard the maritime trade and freedom of navigation on the seas. This is vital to our economy and shipping trade in that region.
The continued Houthi attacks will have a serious impact on shipping costs and this will be reflected in increased pricing of certain items in coming months. This Aldi places pressure on Egypt's budget as 40% of revenues come from Suez canal tolls. One way or another, Egypt could face its breaking point soon.
So far, Biden's leadership in terms of foreign policy is ineffective and our foes will take note of that.
We can disagree. I don’t think Biden’s foreign policy has been perfect by any means, but at the same time I don’t think every world event revolves around who is in the Oval Office. If Putin thought Biden was weak and wouldn’t react, he miscalculated.
The Houthi attacks are still a work in progress. I don’t think we’re done.
Wow….i guess an old man yelling and not falling down or getting confused is the low bar needed to celebrate Joe’s performance. Not what I would call SOU speech; but if you feel everything is Trump’s fault you’ve just got to love Joe’s performance and content.
Still lying about Jan. 6th, I see, David. What a shame. And your take on Biden's SOTU delivery is dumbfounding. Makes me wonder what speech you were watching. Biden lied, was very shrill, and even took a threatening tone at times. None of this behavior makes for a good speech, unless one is a partisan. Are you, David?
I’ll acknowledge that some of what Biden said wasn’t factual. I won’t defend those remarks, but this piece wasn’t meant to be a fact check. Most of the major outlets have that covered.
You said "he sent supporters to attack Congress..." He did no such thing, and I will continue to call you out every time you spread that lie. I read every word of the transcript of the speech Trump gave that day and you cannot point to ONE syllable that suggests anything of the sort, so stop it. Full disclosure, I am a nevertrumper, have been since he came down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for President. Actually, even before that I said I would never vote for him if he were to run. Btw, your fact check mentions nothing concerning Jan. 6th...
He literally called the mob to DC, pointed them towards the Capitol, and told them, “We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore.”
It’s also relevant that he didn’t intervene to halt the insurrection for hours.
You're supposed to be a writer, and you don't know exaggeration and hyperbole when you see and read it? Furthermore, by your standards, Chuck Shumer and Nancy Pelosi should be sitting in a jail cell right now.
One comment about being peaceful doesn’t overcome months of demagoguery.
Trump supporters tell us Trump is a plain speaker who means what he says until his words get him in trouble. I see no evidence that he didn’t mean what he said here. Neither did the insurrectionists.
The article you cited from ABC News is replete with lies as well. It says "deadly attack on the US Capitol." One person died and that was Ashley Babbitt, a PROTESTOR. Furthermore, talk about ill-advised rhetoric! You are still calling them insurrectionists. How can there be an insurrection without weaponry? Yes, a handful of people used what they could as a weapon, and of course they should pay the price, but to lay all of it on Donald Trump is just preposterous and I think you know it. You continue to spout the leftist lies and distortions instead of the truth, and it is shameful.
Come on David. People act on their own volition. Capitol rioters were mostly trespassers. No one made them do it. BLM rioters were far worse and did far more damage, but no one made them do it.
BLM rioters were excused because powerful people decided a criminal on drugs should be made into a hero. Capitol rioters were prosecuted because powerful people hate the orange menace and seize on any opportunity to show how deep that hate is.
Thank you David for this thoughtful objective analysis. Perhaps no one better than you Steve and Jay have come to understand the challenges of monetizing the internet. Virtually everyone with any credibility has compromised themselves by finding a way to make a buck off what they write or say.
I've stayed with you all these years because what you (all three) write isn't based on making subscribers happy (and selling subscriptions), but with sharing your thoughts irrespective of how readers take them. That's impressive to me. I often told people i write more for myself than anyone who may read it. It helps me better understand who and what i am.
I was surprised when i awoke and one of you hadn't pounded out your thoughts so i posted in yesterday's thread my take. I'll cut and paste it here in a bit. Nothing earth shattering, but after the watch last night one significant chord was struck and i loved it.
I also saw a comment on the Bulwark this morning on irony of the Republican response coming from the state of Alabama (think IVF) and more significantly from a young woman sitting in her kitchen. That immediately struck a note as i just saw a film clip of Lt Gov Mark Robinson (SC) telling women that they belonged at home in the kitchen. Irony indeed.
Again, thanks for the purity of a site where it isn't driven by appeasing readers, but better understanding what matters to the three of you.
I am really and sincerely struggling to understand your take and defense of Biden. Sure there was Afghanistan that it appears we can all agree was horrendous and would have been handled differently by anyone else. But what about the border? What about the growing and extreme level of homelessness and drug addiction happening in our country? Why is he and his government encouraging and supporting it? Don’t these people—these fellow citizens—deserve a chance at personal dignity and success, rather than being enabled to live destructive and hopeless lives as we are doing now? What about the climate crap that is being exaggerated and forced upon us by those looking for more control, more power and more money? What about the mandates and the shutdowns that had people of conscience loosing there jobs and/or businesses, while also ostracizing them and undermining the middle class? What about the break down of law and order and the resulting shortage of police officers overall and across the country? What about the undermining of our Justice system? What about the double standard he and his administration have demonstrated between the BLM protestors and the Jan 6 protestors? We did not get the truth about Jan 6 and as a journalist that has had the integrity to go underground here on Substack, I am shocked that you seem to believe that we have. What about the growing censorship and threat to free speech democrats are clearly in support of and actively pursuing? You no doubt saw what was discovered with the Twitter files, as well as what happened to Michael Shellenburger and Matt Taibbi—the reason I subscribed to Racket News—when they went before Congress about it. What about the clear bias and interference the media plays in support of Biden and his agenda? How is that the way of democracy or more accurately, the way of our Constitutional Republic? What about all the DEI/CRT garbage creating evermore national division, not to mention wrecking havoc with everyday American lives, while also compromising our military enrollment AND our already compromised educational system? What about the trans issue that he and his cohorts have made front and center, while willingly using and putting children at risk and denying a platform for or the truth about detransitioners?
And no, I don’t care what adults do in that regard in the least. But I do care that it is being perpetrated onto children, often times despite and with disregard to their parents and the truth! What about the breakdown of meritocracy supposedly for the sake of diversity? You don’t think that that is going to set us back or have disastrous effects on all our education, science, the medical profession, our government, our law and so on? What about his sanctioning of reverse racism—racism against white people? What about his blatant disregard for the Constitution in that regard? What about the sexualization of our children in school and the sexual books being presented to young children there? What about the “use” of the FBI AND CIA? What about all the unrest he has helped to create across the globe? There are sources--to include RFK Jr, who I trust way more than Biden OR Trump, that say that in the beginning Zelensky was set to talk peace with Putin. Then Biden spoke to Boris Johnson who then spoke to Zelensky and told him no. If true--along with Seymour’s Hersh’s claim that Biden ordered the destruction of Nord Steam 2 and so much else—Biden and his administration is both creating and escalating the uncertainty here and abroad. All of this—and no doubt more—is happening under and/or being sanctioned by this man and his administration. And no matter how I look at it, I fail to see Ukraine ever winning. I cannot rationalize in my mind or heart the amount of taxpayer money being used to fund that war or the amount of taxpayer money being expended on and being given to illegals at the expense of our own citizenry, our own country, our infrastructure and our American values. In short, I cannot conceive of anyone—save perhaps Bernie Sanders—doing worse overall than Biden on both foreign and domestic issues! I am no fan of Trump, but I don’t think even he could have made the mess of things that Biden and his administration have made. And I simply cannot figure out what you are seeing or not seeing or what I could possibly be missing? 🤷♀️
There’s a lot to unpack there but my answer is that a lot of your assumptions aren’t correct. Biden gets blamed for a lot of stuff that predates him and a lot of stuff that isn’t his fault.
To single out immigration, the problem has been around for decades, increased under Trump with a drop off during pandemic, and increased again under Biden. Biden is correct that Congress needs to act. It’s not a matter of enforcing current laws, which have played a large part in creating the mess.
To be sure, Biden has made mistakes, but he his problems are more on the order of typical presidential problems rather than destroying our foundational institutions and fomenting insurrections.
I am having to do this in multiple parts as it be wordy... In my observation and thinking ...
Homelessness is way more a symptom of drug addiction, than a housing problem as those in power would have us believe. Maybe watch “Seattle is Dying” and you can hear it by their own admission. I lived in Wa for over 20 years. It was incredibly disheartening to watch Seattle, Olympia and Portland, all be destroyed by lax and enabling policies. Policies that encourage dependency rather than encouraging individual empowerment and dignity. Homelessness has also become BIG MONEY, so I can’t see that we can hope for the truth or any real solutions on that front anytime soon. Instead, the lack of affordable housing will continue to be the claim, despite the fact that when one is an addict like we are seeing on our streets, one cannot function or work to afford any kind of housing, not even affordable housing. Plus, when given free housing like they did in Seattle, they destroyed it and then demanded more.
Drug addiction is indeed a health issue—both for the individual and for the public. Sadly, I don’t share your perception that the Dems would be happy to get funding in place in order to treat it. Mostly, because if they really wanted to do anything about it, they would start by closing the border in a noble attempt to STOP the additional influx of evermore drugs into our country and making the problem even worse. And I would really like to know where this special money tree is that the Dems—as well as the Republicans—seem to have access to and continuously gather from. I call it the taxpayer tree.
I agree that the border has been an issue for decades. And it is at it’s worse now under Biden. Not only did he undo everything that had been done to help secure the border under his predecessor—not everything orange man did was bad—Biden rolled out the red carpet and actually invited people to come to our country intentionally making it worse. And he continues to do just that, while blaming the other party and refusing to do what could and should be done to start. And my guess would be that the reform bills you speak of had unacceptable riders attached and/or didn’t do much to fix the issue, but rather an attempt to speed the “letting in” process up.
I’ll assume you are joking when you ask “what mandates I am speaking of?” I thought that had already been made pretty clear—to include the lack of efficacy, while our government stills insists on pushing it. You know like the 8000 soldiers that were kicked out of the military because they refused to take a novel/experimental vaccine. The many nurses that quit for the same reason, creating a nursing shortage. And the people who lost their jobs, their businesses and/or their right to choose what went into their bodies. It’s out there. And to claim that we have recovered from it, is simply denial and a lie. At the least those claims are skewed and we would all do well to recognize that.
I never said climate change isn’t real. I said it is being overblown at the whim of the rich and the powerful. They are trying to do something the country and the world doesn’t have the infrastructure to support and isn’t ready for. I see it as putting the cart before the horse and it is being done despite the effects on normal everyday people. As I see it, these solutions are more about money and power than anything born out of real concern and purpose. And yes, some places didn’t have a winter this year and some places are having a hell of a winter this year. Of course we humans have had an impact. Cause and effect is indeed real. But America is and has done more than it’s fair share around this issue. Plus there is the unavoidable truth that nature has and will always play a mostly unpredictable part. I have listened to much better ideas than what is currently being pushed upon us.
If we want to pretend that we can trust statistics in general or around crime—especially statistics provided by the FBI that has made false claims in the past, plus sought to dub white suburban mom’s domestic terrorists for simply wanting to know and/or stop what some teachers and schools are wanting to teach “their” children—I just can’t. Out of control immigration and new lax on crime policies in certain states are seeing whole cities actively being destroyed, even abandoned, over theft, property crime—which is in fact up—destruction and lack of safely. And to try and blame it on the cops is baffling. I know cops in Seattle who say they would love to be able to do their jobs, except that their hands are often tied. There are also shortages of cops because they have been so publicly demonized and marginalized. Who wants to become a cop when they are taunted, spit on and assaulted without any repercussions for the perpetrators and with little support from higher ups. Also fueling the shortage is the loss of those who refused to be forced to take a mandated emergency vaccine. Did you know that up until a recent reversal, Seattle cops weren’t even being allowed to pursue an individual for a crime? And you want to blame the cops.
I see cities like San Fransisco, Oakland, Portland, Philadelphia, Chicago, NYC, Seattle, Denver, LA, DC and more placing criminals above victims and businesses and I find it sad and untenable. A new and mostly “blue” phenomenon and without the intervention, but instead the encouragement and sanction of the federal government, if just by their silence in regards to it. Newsom was willing and able to clean up San Fransisco for the visit of Xi Jinping proving that it can be done if the will is there, while also proving who he values more. Biden is showing us a similar stance with the border—that illegal immigrants are more important to him and his party than American Citizens are. Even to the point of trying to stop states from protecting their own borders and their own citizenry for themselves. We are truly living in backwards times.
As for BLM and J6—big ass double standard! First, the BLM riots were allowed to continue in a truly destructive vein for 9 full months with very few people, if any, ever being held accountable for breaking laws. Plus it was essentially backed by and supported by our government who were posting bail for some of these people AND at a time when churches and other venues were forced to shut down. And if anyone believes that people with very little in the way of weapons could have overthrown the government on that day—and if anyone thinks we got the whole truth and nothing but the truth around it in general—then I don’t get that either. The effects of 9 months of “mostly peaceful protests” can still be seen and felt in many of the places that were hit, while people and journalists on the other side of the aisle continue to be rounded up and charged with anything, but insurrection.
I don’t understand your take that the twitter files was a nothing burger. It was a conscious assault on free speech. It was censorship perpetrated by our own government against its own citizens. And it was election interference. No matter the size or the scope, that knowledge should matter to all Americans and to both sides!
Your opinion in regards to the media around Trump vs Biden has me again baffled. But ok.
I absolutely do think that DEI/CRT is divisive. Making everything about race and gender can’t help, but be that way. And to call me biased and a bigot without knowing me and because I see it that way, says way more about you than me. How is it that a civilized society such as ours and what we call the west, have devolved to the point where insult, name calling and attack have replaced intellectual discourse? It’s basic psychology really. When you teach one race that they are oppressive and another that they are victims, that is not only divisive, it is cruel in that it undermines the individual’s sense of self and ability to succeed. The DEI/CRT as it is being taught and implemented is destructive and not working. And there are those on both sides and from within multiply races saying so. But heck, DEI, just like homelessness is now a huge money maker, so we won’t see any backtracking or adjustments being made there anytime soon either.
We will just continue down the reverse racism pathway blindly and at the detriment of everyone and our pluralistic society.
So much in life is nuanced, especially life’s problems and political issues. All people from all races experience hardship, set back and pain. Throughout time all people and all races have been used and abused. And dumbing things down and/or focusing only one one variable— particularly race—is not only in my regressive, it is destructive. You make someone a victim and raise their victimhood up only makes things worse for that individual and the society in which we live. You make some people, and especially children, believe they are oppressors, you create intense guilt and perhaps perhaps even paralysis around their own self acceptance and motivation. No one in the present is guilty of or should be made to pay for a past that they were not a part of. Especially because no society, no tribe, no country and no person is perfect and/or hasn’t had to grow their awareness and make efforts to be better and to evolve. Some societies even devolve and have to start again—the middle east for example. And To pretend otherwise is futile, and in my mind, nuts.
Unrest can be found in our cities, at our borders and across the globe. The orange man actually did manage to keep us out of any war during his time. And now here we are supporting a war that in my mind cannot be won, while being paid for by us.
I admire your trust and confidence in what you are being told and that you know Kennedy’s thoughts. I wish I shared your assuredness, but the media plus our government—to include both sides—have shown themselves to be anything, but trustworthy. But that’s me.
I understand that asylum is a legal immigration process. I also believe that all “newcomers” should be required to go through the proper channels and ports in order to make and prove that claim. And lets be honest, how do we know that even most of these people are seeking real or true asylum. As I see it, many are simply coming because they have been invited as well as to get out of where they are. Just look how some are behaving. Unfortunately and much like DEI and homelessness, it has also become a big money maker mostly for a lot of dark minded people willing to exploit and use people—even children—for their own profit.
Why is no one concerned about that? And why are so many in power choosing to look the other way? The response from Biden has pretty much been to blame the other side, when with the flick of an executive order he could fix it until we can come up with some enacted real reform. Too many of these people have simply become pawns to be profited upon and politically used. And that to me is both sad and disgusting!
As for the big orange man—he is not in power now. I don’t need to refresh my memory, mostly because the media and Biden himself will continue to do that for me. He will continue to beat the drum of criticism for Trump, January 6 and Roe vs Wade right up until election day. Mostly because he hasn’t got much else to brag about.
Here the topic was and is Biden and what he has or hasn’t done during his own term as President. And it was about his SOTU address, which was bipartisan, attacking, shrill and much more a campaign speech, than a State of the Union address. I don’t see the Union as doing well, especially under Biden’s leadership. Period. Anything inherited, was and still is his job to fix. And defending him in that way and flippantly saying that the problem has been around for decades, is to me not a defense and a weak rational.
Namaste 🕊️
Heckuva lot of "what abouts" in there...
Homelessness is a symptom of us not building enough housing to meet demand, causing prices/rents to rise. That's far more to do with local policies restricting where and what can be built.
Drug addiction is a health issue: Dems would be more than happy to get funding in place to help treat it - but that's typically a non-starter for some reason.
The border has been an issue for decades, and the numerous reform bills that might have helped have thus far all been blocked in the House (starting from 2013).
What mandates are you speaking of?
Some places basically didn't have winter this year, but do continue on about how climate change isn't real.
Crime has dropped a great deal the last couple of years. You should look that up. One counter-example though:SF recalled the DA that wanted to reduce policing, and yet the police are still not performing their duties. At some point, you have to blame the police for failing to do their jobs.
Dunno what breakdown of law and order you're talking about: do you mean 2020? That'd be under Trump.
When you talk BLM and J6 you have to remember that - with the exception of the Federal building in Portland - any riots that occurred involved local/state policies and not Federal. And more importantly - none of the post-BLM protests riots involved the attempted overthrow of the government.
Lol, the Twitter files. That's great, thanks for reminding me of that nothing burger.
If anybody has been getting support from the media, it's Trump: they ignore his absolutely bonkers rantings and word salad all the damn time - 'cause they want a horse race, and likely want him back in office as he's good for ratings. Biden is too boring for them.
That you think diversity, equity, and inclusion are divisive speaks far more to your biases and bigotry. The kind of thinking that a black person is incapable of doing X job and thus only gets their job because of DEI is abhorrent, and those that think so need to stop blaming everybody else for their failures in life.
What unrest was *created* by Biden? Show specific actions that involved say the overthrowing of a local government, like we used to do during the Cold War.
There was no shit at peace early on: the ask from Russia in April 2022 was total capitulation/surrender. RFK Jr. is not trustworthy, but vote for him if you feel like it.
Highly recommend you exit your information silo.
Asylum is a legal immigration process. If you want to only involve going through ports of entry, and making it harder to claim - get the bipartisan border bill passed.
I think your memory is very short, and you'd do well to review all of the crazy crap that happened under Trump's administration.
I'm pretty sure at least one or perhaps all three of you will be sharing your thoughts regarding last nights State of the Union will be coming soon. Looking forward to it. I actually watched the entire speech and was surprised in both tone and content. In speeches, i love great spacing and timing and it's a rare knack or trait to be able to use them well. Like Obama or hate him, he was a craftsman with his words and modulation. Joe is Joe and in some ways that's endearing as well.
I was disappointed when i opened my email this morning and saw EE's header. Something about a drug addled screaming old man. Sorry i didn't open or even save it, but Eric often fails to impress me with his thoughts.
On the other hand, there's a quality i appreciate more than most from the leader of the free world: Self-deprecating humor. The ability to laugh at one's own foibles has always made me cheer. Reagan, Bush, Clinton and now Joe Biden all were willing to laugh at and with themselves. It's odd when the most serious job in the world comes with the realization that some things are just fun/funny is an awesome trait.
i can't help think back to the 2011 press corps dinner when Obama made trump the butt of his jokes. I often think that was why trump ran in 2016. The simple truth is if you can't laugh at yourself, you are taking yourself way too serious.
Honestly, I think Biden's foreign policy id bad and disastrous for America.
I'm of firm opinion and there's ample evidence to back up my opinion that Biden's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal was what prompted Putin to accelerate the buildup of troops at Ukraine's border. Putin saw Biden as a weak President, and took advantage of this.
Biden was polling over 50% before Afghanistan, and his polling numbers haven't recovered since then. It shoes how bad his decision was.
Have you forgotten about the Houthi rebels? Recently the US launched aerial strikes and that failed to deter the Houthis. In fact, since then, they sunk some ships and attacked another one that may have killed crew members.
Since US Navy's founding, her primary mission has been to guard the maritime trade and freedom of navigation on the seas. This is vital to our economy and shipping trade in that region.
The continued Houthi attacks will have a serious impact on shipping costs and this will be reflected in increased pricing of certain items in coming months. This Aldi places pressure on Egypt's budget as 40% of revenues come from Suez canal tolls. One way or another, Egypt could face its breaking point soon.
So far, Biden's leadership in terms of foreign policy is ineffective and our foes will take note of that.
We can disagree. I don’t think Biden’s foreign policy has been perfect by any means, but at the same time I don’t think every world event revolves around who is in the Oval Office. If Putin thought Biden was weak and wouldn’t react, he miscalculated.
The Houthi attacks are still a work in progress. I don’t think we’re done.
Non-sequitur: y'all see Trump received a donation from one of the investors in TikTok, and now is supporting TikTok remaining a Chinese company?
As long as you pay or flatter him enough, you can get him to do what you want.
I haven’t seen this, but he definitely needs the money.
I think PJ O'Rourke's quote re Hillary in 2016 applies as well to Biden in 2020 and now in 2024 as it did in 2016:
“She’s wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters.”
(for those who think both Biden and Trump are wrong)
Wow….i guess an old man yelling and not falling down or getting confused is the low bar needed to celebrate Joe’s performance. Not what I would call SOU speech; but if you feel everything is Trump’s fault you’ve just got to love Joe’s performance and content.
Still lying about Jan. 6th, I see, David. What a shame. And your take on Biden's SOTU delivery is dumbfounding. Makes me wonder what speech you were watching. Biden lied, was very shrill, and even took a threatening tone at times. None of this behavior makes for a good speech, unless one is a partisan. Are you, David?
I’ll acknowledge that some of what Biden said wasn’t factual. I won’t defend those remarks, but this piece wasn’t meant to be a fact check. Most of the major outlets have that covered.
OTOH I haven’t said anything dishonest about J6.
https://www.factcheck.org/2024/03/factchecking-bidens-state-of-the-union/
You said "he sent supporters to attack Congress..." He did no such thing, and I will continue to call you out every time you spread that lie. I read every word of the transcript of the speech Trump gave that day and you cannot point to ONE syllable that suggests anything of the sort, so stop it. Full disclosure, I am a nevertrumper, have been since he came down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for President. Actually, even before that I said I would never vote for him if he were to run. Btw, your fact check mentions nothing concerning Jan. 6th...
He literally called the mob to DC, pointed them towards the Capitol, and told them, “We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore.”
It’s also relevant that he didn’t intervene to halt the insurrection for hours.
It’s what he wanted.
He also said, "demonstrate peacefully and patriotically". Words have meanings that can't be changed by speculating on motives and intent.
You're supposed to be a writer, and you don't know exaggeration and hyperbole when you see and read it? Furthermore, by your standards, Chuck Shumer and Nancy Pelosi should be sitting in a jail cell right now.
One comment about being peaceful doesn’t overcome months of demagoguery.
Trump supporters tell us Trump is a plain speaker who means what he says until his words get him in trouble. I see no evidence that he didn’t mean what he said here. Neither did the insurrectionists.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/president-trump-dozen-capitol-rioters-trumps-guidance/story?id=75757601
The article you cited from ABC News is replete with lies as well. It says "deadly attack on the US Capitol." One person died and that was Ashley Babbitt, a PROTESTOR. Furthermore, talk about ill-advised rhetoric! You are still calling them insurrectionists. How can there be an insurrection without weaponry? Yes, a handful of people used what they could as a weapon, and of course they should pay the price, but to lay all of it on Donald Trump is just preposterous and I think you know it. You continue to spout the leftist lies and distortions instead of the truth, and it is shameful.
Come on David. People act on their own volition. Capitol rioters were mostly trespassers. No one made them do it. BLM rioters were far worse and did far more damage, but no one made them do it.
BLM rioters were excused because powerful people decided a criminal on drugs should be made into a hero. Capitol rioters were prosecuted because powerful people hate the orange menace and seize on any opportunity to show how deep that hate is.
I’m deleting this. This is a civil space. We don’t allow insulting terms.