*Someone will observe that these are not points of order but points of personal privilege. However, (A) I’ve already used that gag, (B) everything I write is a point of personal privilege and (C) go tell yer mudder she wants you.
We’ll start with an easy one: Jeff Stahler (AMS) offers a comparison between today’s hostile, paranoid streets and the Wild West, but if you put Ned Buntline and the dime novels aside in favor of history, you’ll find that even towns like Tombstone and Abilene that had flare-ups of violence also tended to have laws against open carry, concealed carry and carry in general.
Even Elfego Baca — who made the Earp brothers look like a Brownie troop and was, in the euphemism of the Hollywood Argyles, “a mean motor-scooter and a bad go-getter,” — wound up as an attorney, served in some political positions and was, once things settled down a bit, a good citizen.
More to the point, when he walked around town armed, he was wearing a badge. Cowboys coming in off drives may have wanted to collect their pay and go on a drunk, but first they were required to check their hardware with the local authorities.
I reckon these here fellas would feel out of place because they were the only ones with a lick o’ sense and empty holsters.
Normally, I’d object to Ed Hall’s cartoon about the North Carolina legislature overriding a veto in order to pass a law against women’s right to choose, since it’s yet another variant on Ann Telnaes’s oft-copied 2017 cartoon.
Which it still is, but I’m giving him a pass because the shape of North Carolina on the map makes it irresistible and he did a nice job of mashing up the map and the elephant.
When I went to hunt up Telnaes’s original, I happened across a story about a woman in Texas who copied it for a yard sign in 2018, encouraging people to vote. A Republican politician reported her to the police who confiscated the sign.
In case you thought anti-First Amendment authoritarian crybaby stuff was new.
Speaking of Telnaes — the Elfego Baca of political cartoonists — she hasn’t mellowed out or given up, and here calls out the Republican bullies on their dishonest approach to repression.
Conservatives like to oppose every reform proposal by citing the danger of a “slippery slope,” but they sure did grease the slide on this one, and not only are they not ashamed of themselves, but they’re campaigning proudly about it. Which is, I think, the definition of “shameless.”
The whole world is indeed watching, by the way, and Pat Hudson chimes in from Australia, proving perhaps that sometimes people can clearly from a distance.
We’ll see how the war on women plays to the electorate, and I’m optimistic enough, and realistic enough, to object to Kal Kallaugher (Counterpoint)’s surrender to sagging poll numbers and the call he made in his Facebook comments for Biden to step aside.
I’ll grant you that a lot of people who like Biden only wanted him to serve one term, settle things down after the chaos of the Trump administration, and then step aside. I was one of them.
But the question is, step aside in favor of whom?
I’m not sure it matters, which is the optimistic part, because, assuming Trump is the GOP candidate, I expect Gen Z’s and women to vote against him, no matter who is on the Democratic ticket.
Which is also the realistic part: I don’t expect anyone to vote against Biden who wasn’t going to vote against him anyway.
As for the poll numbers, I’ve lost faith in polls, and not simply because I don’t know how many people — especially those under 40 — answer polls anymore.
I also think that, if the Republicans spend three years telling us how much we hate Biden and progressives keep bemoaning the “fact” that nobody likes him, it’s bound to have an effect when those who do answer polls are asked how they feel about the guy.
Which may be reflected at the polls in 2024, but, at this stage, it’s like wondering how well your parachute was packed after you’ve already stepped out of the plane.
Dick Wright suggests that Robert Kennedy Jr may steal the nomination from Biden. This is probably true somewhere, but I’m trying to focus on the presidential campaign on this planet, and, if you think Ron de Santis managed to tank his candidacy in a hurry, wait until Bobby opens his mouth in front of a national audience.
He’d have a better chance running for the GOP nomination. If nothing else, he’d get the votes of people who think his cousin John-John is hiding in the basement of that pizzeria.
I rarely disagree with David Rowe, and so I’m hoping he’s only commenting on Australian PM Anthony Albanese’s disappointment that Biden canceled his visit there to come home and deal with the pending credit default debacle, not on the decision itself. The priority in this case is unmistakable.
In fact, Australia would do well to hope we get things straightened out, since they would be doubly impacted by a collapse of our economy and the resulting boost to the yuan, China being a closer neighbor in geography but not in philosophy.
My sympathy, rather, is with New Guinea, also cut out of Biden’s itinerary. This was the closest they’d ever had to a presidential visit; even PT 109 was stationed in the Solomons, 1800 km away.
Albanese has had to cancel a dinner; Papua had to cancel a national holiday.
Meanwhile, back in the Mother Country, they’re discovering the value of immigrants, though I think Matt is being a bit harsh in referring to an aversion to back-breaking, exhausting work as “laziness.”
On the other hand, he’s closer to the mark than Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is calling upon Britons to be trained to pick fruit, which is as much respect as she’s offered immigrants in a very long time.
How much classroom time do Brits need to master “Grasp fruit. Do not crush. Put fruit in basket”?
Not that Christian Adams gives his fellow countrymen a lot of credit for good judgement.
There are ways to get harvesting done. In Aroostook County, Maine, school is suspended and everyone goes out into the fields to dig potatoes, and have for years.
Perhaps Suella could offer immigrants a chance to harvest a few berries before she packs them off to Rwanda.
Sigh. I prefer my bad guys to be “bad” in the good sense.
A bit of Coppertone reference in that cartoon too.
While I know that once in the oval office it is harder to acccomplish important things, I have grave (pun intended) concerns over how Biden turned all his campaign promises into lies. Yes, I know tRUMP and company are much worse, but that is just a ‘matter of degree’ of destruction. Rep. Clay Higgins physically assaulting a reporter without consequences makes me literally sick to my stomach. I also am concerned that the ‘no labels party’ with all its money and meaningless promises is attracting a lot of attention and could be a terrible spoiler. Also, Mike is right, “But the question is, step aside in favor of whom?” As we (and so many others) say in our book ‘respect is earned’ and right now there are few earning our respect. While maybe not ready for prime time, many progressives create some hope in my mind.
And, I dig potatoes! (pun intended, I’ve dug new potatoes in the field and really enjoy many potato recipes)
Welcome to the apocalypse. (that’s my new greeting phrase and most people agree)
I’d doubt he turned all his promises into lies. He’s actually accomplished a fair number of them. My statement that many of us hoped he’d be a caretaker president to help settle things down assumed a level of decency and respect from the opposition which, at this point, seems naive. Still, he did what he could. Please provide examples of “lies” he told, rather than promises squelched by opposition forces.
Dear Mike Peterson, I admit in my haste I used an exaggerated ‘figure of speech’ or hyperbole saying ‘Biden turned all his campaign promises into lies’ (as I said: I know that once in the oval office it is harder to accomplish important things,) I am not pushing this just to prove myself correct. I’m sorry that these examples exist. I hope for better results for us all. But, I, and others, have an archive (too big to research in one day) of articles that define many of the betrayals, here are a few:
———–
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bidens-1st-100-days-promises-broken-progress/story?id=77242864
The promise: Create police oversight commission
Status: Not kept
In June, about one week after George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody, Biden vowed to create a national police oversight commission within the first 100 days of his administration, to study paths for police reform.
“We need each and every police department in the country to undertake a comprehensive review of their hiring, their training, their de-escalation,” Biden said in Philadelphia.
The Biden White House, however, frequently highlighted its support for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, passed by the House of Representatives in early March, rather than announcing the creation of the commission.
On April 12, White House Domestic Policy Adviser Susan Rice said the White House was officially scrapping any plans for a commission.
————
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/26/biden-2020-campaign-promises-report-card-00093779
What Biden pledged: “No one needs an AR-15. … I promise you, I will get these weapons of war off the street again and out of our communities.”
What he’s done: Biden oversaw passage of the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in nearly three decades. The only problem: It fell well short of taking the kinds of decisive actions that he pledged to deliver on the campaign trail.
The gun safety law passed in June 2022 made only limited improvements to background checks and did nothing to restrict access to assault weapons. And despite Biden’s promise to ban those weapons in the aftermath of several mass shootings over the last year, he’s made no progress toward convincing Congress to act.
– – –
What Biden pledged: “One thing the Senate and the president can do right away is pass the bill to restore the Voting Rights Act. … If they don’t, I’ve been saying all along, it’s one of the first things I’ll do as president if elected. We can’t let the fundamental right to vote be denied.”
What he’s done: Biden’s attempts to muster momentum for legislation strengthening voting rights fell flat, even after he backed abolishing the filibuster to pass it.
– – – –
4. “No new taxes” for Americans making less than $400,000 – Interview, August 21, 2020
While on the campaign trail, one of Biden’s favorite lines was that anyone making under $400,000 would not pay a penny more in taxes. However, his nearly $2 trillion (many say $5 trillion) Build Back Better Act that just passed the House would undeniably raise direct taxes on many middle class households, something even the left-leaning Tax Policy Center has admitted. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/build-back-better-20-still-raises-taxes-high-income-households-and-reduces-them-others
– – – – –
9. “[I will] end the opioid crisis.” – Biden/Harris campaign website https://joebiden.com/opioidcrisis/
Prior to the pandemic, President Trump had overseen a massive reduction in opioid deaths thanks to targeted enforcement and community intervention. Instead of building on this success, Biden has presided over an all-time high in opioid deaths, in part thanks to open-border policies that have enabled a surge of illegal drugs to flow into the United States. The Texas Department of Public Safety just announced they seized enough fentanyl this year alone at the border to kill 200 million Americans, and border agents say that only about 10 to 15 percent of illegal drugs are actually captured.
————
https://amac.us/bidens-top-ten-broken-promises/
1. “I will shut down the virus, not the economy.” – Campaign Rally in Tampa, Florida, October 29, 2020
In the final months of his campaign, one of Biden’s central campaign promises https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/biden-promises-to-shut-down-the-virus-if-elected-94942277643 was that he was going to get Americans back to work and eradicate COVID-19. Despite Biden lacking any clear plan for how he would accomplish this goal (and while he in fact worked to do the opposite by sowing vaccine hesitancy as a cynical campaign tactic), the mainstream media quickly adopted the narrative as well, insisting that a Joe Biden presidency would mean a “return to normal.”
—————-
https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-backing-of-pipelines-is-a-slap-in-the-face-to-youth-who-voted-for-him/
Biden’s Backing of Pipelines Is a Slap in the Face to Youth Who Voted for Him
President Biden’s blatant hypocrisy on fossil fuel infrastructure is an insult to young people’s intelligence.
By Mariah Clay , Truthout Published May 15, 2023
President Biden calls himself a “climate president.” He calls himself “pro-union,” an advocate for the working class. But that’s all completely incongruent with his support for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which threatens to emit the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 19 million passenger vehicles, 26 coal plants and account for at least 1 percent of all greenhouse gasses from the U.S. energy sector.
————
Points for actually doing a bit of legwork since that’s pretty rare these days, but deductions on most of those for apparently ignoring the most important part of Mike’s request – “rather than promises squelched by opposition forces.”
Nicholas Merrit said: deductions on most of those for apparently ignoring the most important part of Mike’s request – “rather than promises squelched by opposition forces.”
I reply: YES, you and Mike are correct in that so much that could benefit the populace is ‘squelched by opposition forces’. Mike points out: and I must admit that, while his actions send mixed messages and results about clean energy, Biden has done a lot of positive things, too. But, I wish that we had a system where positive, caring officials could be firm in their commitment to society and implement beneficial things in a manner as effective as the dictatorial dirty tricks of the Rtwingnuts. As an explanation, not an excuse, I am old and becoming impatient when I see all the beneficial causes that our organization worked for for decades being destroyed.
Mike, thanks again for your excellent work and for letting me express my sincere concerns here.