Republican debate preview: will Chris Christie take down Trump?

Chris Christie campaigning in Iowa in 2016

Next Wednesday, August 23, the Republican National Committee (RNC) of the Republican Party will host its first 2024 presidential primary debate, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To qualify for the debate, candidates need to meet three requirements:

–First, candidates must attract at least 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state. Less popular GOP candidates have used gift card offers, concert tickets and more to reach the threshold.

–Second, candidates must score at least 1% in three national polls that meet the RNC’s requirements, or at least 1% in two national polls and in two polls from separate early voting states.

–Finally, candidates must sign the RNC’s pledge to back the eventual Republican nominee, no matter who wins the primary.

Is this the best Reddit comment ever?

Fox “News” promoting GOP Culture War

One of the positives about the Reddit social media platform is that there are so many “subreddits,” each covering a specific topic, that anyone can either search or browse and then do a deep dive into a particular subject. For example, in the politics area, there are subreddits for folks of all political stripes, and even particular subreddits regarding certain political media outlets. It was in one such subreddit, r/TheMajorityReport (which covers The Majority Report, a progressive daily political talk radio show featuring host Sam Seder), where recently we found what may be the clearest and best comment describing how Republicans practice their cynical politics.

The particular Reddit background discussion leading to the comment concerned the appearance of Ana Kasparian of another political media outlet, The Young Turks, on Fox “News.” Ana is a former progressive who has moved towards the political right. Fox loves to feature such former lefties and use them as tools to bash the Democrats. Here’s the self-explanatory title of the Reddit discussion in question:

Fox News: Progressive journo Ana Kasparian unleashes on left’s obsession with ‘garbage’ identity politics: ‘I’m done’

After the jump, see the great comment that one Reddit user left:

Biden Boom update — the economy continues to gain strength

Lots of this floating around the U.S. economy

Back in December 2021, we published the Biden Boom” story. At the time, we noted how, in less than one year in office, President Joe Biden had already made great strides in the U.S. economy. That included, for example, getting economic growth up and unemployment down from the 2020 Trump Recession caused in large part by Donald Trump‘s failure to act on COVID. At the time, we suggested spreading this good economic news.

Now it’s more than 18 months later, and while Trump is busy begging for donations to defend himself against a growing pile of criminal indictments, President Biden has been busy helping all of us. As a result, the U.S. economy continues to defy the predictions of the doom and gloomers, including many in the mainstream media. This continuing Biden Boom is the great untold story of 2023. For example:

–Unemployment is only 3.6 percent, near the all-time low

–The U.S. has created over 13 million jobs since President Biden took office, which shatters the job creation record for a president’s 4-year term in just two and a half years.

–Inflation, which rose sharply due to the economic rescue steps needed after Trump’s COVID failures, is now down to three percent.

–U.S. Gross Domestic Product (i.e. economic growth) is still going strong at well over 2 percent annually.

–U.S. manufacturing growth has sharply rebounded under President Biden, and according to Axios, “outpaces the rest of the world.”

While all of this good economic news is occurring, a crucial moment took place last Wednesday, when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the Federal Reserve staff no longer forecasts a U.S. recession. This means the U.S. is likely headed for the much sought-after but rare “soft landing” of lowering inflation without causing a recession. Large companies like Caterpillar, reporting very high profits, agree.

Can a Hippie-era song help the Democrats in 2024?

Jefferson Airplane’s 1969 “Volunteers” album

“We Can Be Together” was not Jefferson Airplane‘s most popular song, but it’s one of their most controversial. Released in 1969 as the B-side to the better-known “Volunteers” and included on the album of that name, the song is a hippie call to action in the face of the Vietnam War and other oppressive actions of those in power at the time, including Republican President Richard Nixon. Here are some of the lyrics to “We Can Be Together”:

 

We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent
And young

We should be together
Come on all you people standin’ around
Our life’s too fine to let it die
We should be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is we
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are, we are
And we are very proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall, motherfuckers!
Tear down the wall
Tear down the wall

Is this the greatest political ad ever made?

Several days ago, Progress Action Fund, which “produces & runs ads to defeat Republicans in swing districts,” came out swinging in Ohio with one of the most hard-hitting political ads we’ve ever seen. Here‘s the ad on YouTube (if you can’t view it below, the previous link also goes to to ad), entitled “Ohio Republicans in Your Bedroom”:

This 30-second ad features a scantily-clad couple in bed, kissing and embracing. The woman asks the man if he has a condom. He reaches for one in a drawer, and all of a sudden another hand grabs it away. It’s a scary-looking old man in a suit, who says:

Sorry, you can’t use those…. I’m your Republican Congressman. Now that we’re in charge, we’re banning birth control.

The woman then shouts at the Congressman:

This is our decision, not yours. Get out of our bedroom!

What to do when the media ignore President Biden’s accomplishments?

President Joe Biden

This past Monday, President Joe Biden held an event at the White House where he unveiled a more than $42 billion investment in high-speed broadband internet around the country. According to President Biden, this funding comes from both the American Rescue Plan (signed into law in March 2021) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (signed in November 2021).  The President indicated that the legislation passed thus far included “$25 billion for high-speed Internet in places where it was out of reach, for schools and libraries to help students connect to the internet if they couldn’t do it at home.” Now, says President Biden, the new funding will “be distributed to 50 states, Washington, D.C., and territories to deliver high-speed Internet in places where there’s neither service or it’s too slow.” The breakdown of such funding includes, for example, over $3.3 billion dedicated to Texas, over $1.8 billion to California, and more than $1.1 billion for Florida.

The President’s broadband investment plan is designed to “connect every person in America to reliable high-speed Internet by 2030.” However, President Biden stated that:

[I]t’s not enough to have access. You need affordability in addition to access. That’s why we worked with internet service providers to bring down prices for Americans struggling with internet payments. It’s called the Affordable Connectivity Program. It’s helping 19 million families save around $30 a month on their internet bills, and some save a lot more.

In short, this was a very important announcement about something that improves people’s lives and helps individuals, students, businesses and others conduct their activities more efficiently. It’s great for our economy and will create jobs as well.

However, at least according to a number of people (such as Mastodon user Kailee @skykiss@sfba.social), “[n]ot a single news outlet aired President Biden’s event.” If that is the case, the fault lies in several places, including with the news media, the Biden administration, Democratic leaders in Congress and in the states, and elsewhere.

Titanic submersible missing: is it news?

Submersible vehicle of the type that is now missing

By now, many people know that a submersible vehicle that set out from St. John’s, Newfoundland on Sunday with five people aboard to explore the wreckage of the Titanic went missing after one hour and 45 minutes into its Atlantic Ocean dive. A search operation by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Air Force is underway, with France also sending a ship to assist. This operation is a race against the clock, as the occupants only have about 70 to 96 hours of emergency air supply.  CNN is running a live feed on its website, with updates as they occur. [NOTE: given the potential for fast-changing events here, this blog post is also subject to updates, and therefore may not reflect the latest developments].

While this story is no doubt a human interest story that elicits empathy in many people (though some might scoff at the wealthy privileged occupants who paid $250,000 each for a close-up view of the Titanic), is it really a news story? Does it contain any wider implications for our lives?

Republicans in disarray over Trump indictment? More like a total mess

Chris Christie, causing problems for Donald Trump and the Republicans

Once again, Donald Trump‘s troubles are dominating the political landscape, and the Republican Party. Trump was in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, being arraigned on 37 felony counts involving his theft from the White House, retention and obstruction of justice in hindering the FBI’s retrieval of many boxes of classified documents, most of which were held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. If convicted on many or all of the charges, Trump could spend the rest of his life in prison.

None of this helps the Republican Party, which is trying to gear up for the 2024 elections and does not hold the White House or the U.S. Senate majority. Instead of gaining traction with a 2024 theme, elected Republicans are spending their time explaining how much they support Trump, and there is plenty of disagreement among them.

Chuck Todd out at ‘Meet the Press’: will the propaganda end?

Chuck Todd and Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC, 2018

NBC‘s “Meet the Press” host and moderator Chuck Todd announced on air last Sunday that he is leaving the show. Starting in September, Kristen Welker, NBC News’ co-chief White House correspondent, will take Todd’s place. In his statement, Todd said,“We didn’t tolerate propagandists, and this network and program never will.” Sadly, however, that was far from the case.

In fact, “Meet the Press,” during and before Chuck Todd’s time as host, was known as the place where Republicans came to spread their false talking points with the knowledge that they would not be confronted with many refutations or even pointed follow-up questions. For example, when Dick Cheney was Vice President under George W. Bush, Cheney’s communications director, Cathie Martin, regarded “Meet the Press” as the VP’s “best format” to be able to “control [his] message.” Likewise, Cheney’s Chief of Staff, convicted felon  Irve Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and other government officials could call Todd’s predecessor at “Meet the Press,” Tim Russert, and privately make their political points in the comfort that (a) they would be asked no difficult questions during the call, and (b) anything they said over the phone would automatically be considered off, rather than on, the record, a very weak and enabling form of journalism.

President Biden handles the debt ceiling brilliantly

President Biden may have just saved the country

With the U.S. House of Representatives having passed a bill on Wednesday night to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling, and the U.S. Senate passing the bill late last night, it is now all but certain that a historic Republican-caused default on the U.S. debt has been averted. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill at any time, and to address the nation this evening. While there is plenty of credit to go around, President Biden deserves the most praise for the extreme competence, professionalism and political savvy with which he has handled the issue.

Here is Biden’s statement after Wednesday’sj House vote, with emphasis added:

Tonight, the House took a critical step forward to prevent a first-ever default and protect our country’s hard-earned and historic economic recovery. This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.
This agreement is good news for the American people and the American economy. It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country. And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on.