“Build Back Better” Agenda

An Amazing Week For Joe Biden And Democrats!

Ronald 1 Comment

The past week has been an amazing time for Joe Biden and the Democrats!

Many are saying it is the best week of Joe Biden’s Presidency, and accomplished by “Reconciliation”, meaning just on a party line vote in the US Senate.

All Democrats were finally united, and Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie breaking vote against united Republican Party opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act, taking action on climate change, taxes, and health care.

While this is much less than the proposed “Build Back Better” proposals of a year ago, it is still seen as a major piece of legislation, and many observers have declared that, along with earlier legislation, it makes Joe Biden in many ways the most accomplished President on passage of major bills since Lyndon B. Johnson!

But also, in the past week, there was major job growth of more than a half million, double what was expected, and the job losses in the pandemic have now been totally wiped out!

The veterans health care legislation, to deal with exposure by millions of veterans to burn pits during their military service, finally was passed after a temporary reversal by many Republicans, but forced by criticism to reverse their negative votes.

Also, the successful elimination of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri by action of the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan was a significant action, for which the President gains kudos.

Also, gas prices have dropped for six weeks, and more than a dollar over that period, so in many areas below $4 a gallon.

And finally, the decision of Kansas voters to insure abortion rights remain in their state constitution is a major victory that will have an effect on the fight to overcome the Supreme Court’s horrendous decision in Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24!

Joe Biden’s State Of The Union Address Inspiring And Motivational On Ukraine And Domestic Agenda!

Ronald Leave a comment

President Joe Biden gave an inspiring and motivational speech last night, with his first State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress.

Biden made clear of our commitment to help Ukraine short of a direct intervention, since Ukraine is not part of NATO.

But US troops and equipment is right next to the Russian border in Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, and if Vladimir Putin sends his Russian troops into any of these NATO nations, automatically, the US is in war, which could include nuclear potential!

Biden also emphasized the need for the remainder of his domestic agenda, the “Build Back Better” bill, although he did not use that term.

This speech demonstrated without question that Joe Biden has command of the facts and details, and is perfectly able to make smart and sensible judgments, despite right wing talk radio and Fox News Channel and other right wing cable sites claiming otherwise.

In a time of danger, America and the world are fortunate to have Joe Biden at the helm of leadership!

Pure Lies And Mistruths About Joe Biden’s Cognitive Abilities From Right Wing Media And Trumpites!

Ronald 1 Comment

Right wing news media, including Fox News Channel, OANN, and Newsmax; and numerous talk show hosts on these channels, and Trumpites as well, have been spreading lies and mistruths about President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities.

The claim made is that Biden has Alzheimers or some other form of Dementia, and that he is unfit to serve as President.

Considering the mental instability displayed by Donald Trump for the past six and a half years since he announced his campaign for President, this is an indication of the psychological trick of “projection”, claiming that one’s own shortcomings are actually those of a rival.

Joe Biden has been outstanding in his public speeches and his recent press conference, and shows command of the material he has to master.

Biden has handled the Ukraine Crisis well, up to this point, and has accomplished major domestic reforms, despite having a 50-50 Senate.

Leaving Afghanistan was never going to be an easy proposition, but one must recall that Donald Trump made an agreement to withdraw in May 2021, not August 2021, and without any participation in the withdrawal process by the Afghan government, only with the Taliban. So who gives Trump and his minions the ability to criticize what was perpetrated by Trump himself?

Considering the pressures Joe Biden has faced on so many issues at the same time, he has accomplished a great first year record, and there is still hope for some kind of further “Build Back Better” legislation.

And the influence on the judicial branch has been very significant in the first year, and now, Biden will have a very important Supreme Court nominee soon, that will honor the reputation of the Supreme Court, which has lost a lot of its stature, due to the horrendous appointments of Donald Trump, that have undermined the dignity of the Supreme Court.

So while Joe Biden is not perfect, but who is, his cognitive abilities, and his public and private actions show every indication of a continuation of a great four year term in the White House!

First Year In Oval Office Under Most Presidencies Problematical, And Joe Biden Better Than Many!

Ronald 7 Comments

One could argue that Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal in the first year, while often having disappointments and shortcomings.

Two major pieces of legislation were accomplished (The American Rescue Plan, and the Physical Infrastructure legislation), and the only reason why the Build Back Better bill and voting rights have failed to be accomplished is the opposition of two Democrats–Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema–and the reality of an equally divided Senate for only the third time in American history!

While inflation has become a major problem, the stock market dramatically rose, more jobs were created in the first year of a Presidency than any other administration, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a very low rate.

There are still the issues of the COVID 19 Pandemic, and the disaster of Afghanistan withdrawal, but the first issue was unpredictable as the worst health crisis in a century, and the second would have been the same result had Donald Trump stayed on as President, since he had made a deal with the Taliban without Afghanistan government involvement, to leave in May 2021, NOT as occurred in August 2021!

So some disappointing developments in the first year of a Presidency are not unique to the 46th President!

When one looks back at other Presidencies, it is actually quite common that the first year of a Presidency is a learning curve, and does not reflect on whether such Presidents will be, in the long run, successful, and also have the possibility of successful reelection.

The following Presidents had very successful first years—Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H. W. Bush!

Three Presidents had what could be described as mixed records in the first year in office–Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

The following Presidencies in the 20th and 21st century were far from successes in their first year:

Harry Truman 1945
John F. Kennedy 1961
Richard Nixon 1969
Gerald Ford 1974-1975
Jimmy Carter 1977
Ronald Reagan 1981
Bill Clinton 1993
Donald Trump 2017

Among these eight Presidents, four—Truman, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton–won reelection.

So it is not time to say that Joe Biden will fail to succeed, as he already has in many respects, and it is not time to say he cannot win reelection fo a second term!

The Major Goals For 2022: Accountability For Donald Trump, Voting Rights Insured, And Biden Agenda Accomplished!

Ronald Leave a comment

As the year 2021 comes to an end, the major goals for 2022 are clear!

First, there MUST be accountability for the sins and crimes of Donald Trump and his seditionist supporters of January 6, and that includes proper punishment for the Congressmen and Senators who supported Trump during and after the attack on the US Capitol. So the Republican Party must be purged of its treasonous elements, and expulsion and prosecution must occur!

Second, voting rights must be insured, by changing the filibuster, as voting is the most basic right every American citizen has, other than freedom and liberty itself!

Third, the Joe Biden Agenda, as expressed in the Build Back Better bill, must be passed, maybe in modified form, but essential for the promotion of the middle class and the poor!

Despite the many challenges Joe Biden faces in 2022, this author and blogger senses that the US Senate will go majority Democratic, and that the House of Representatives, after reapportionment of seats, and even with the sin of gerrymandering, is likely to be evened out in such a way that the Democratic Party has a good chance of retaining the House majority. To allow the seditionist, treasonous majority of the House Republicans to gain control, and whitewash the US Capitol Insurrection, would be true destruction of democracy, and every decent person must resist that to the extreme degree during this upcoming year!

The year also brings the continued danger of the COVID 19 Pandemic; high inflationary pressures; continued climate change and global warming challenges; and the mental health crisis facing the nation.

And threats of war and bloodshed create a massive challenge as well, particularly regarding Russia and Ukraine, and China and Taiwan.

So there will be plenty to worry about and write about in the next year, and I wish the best to all my readers in the new year 2022!

Joe Manchin May Have Destroyed The “Build Back Better” Legislation Altogether!

Ronald Leave a comment

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin may have destroyed the “Build Back Better” legislation altogether.

Manchin went on Fox News Channel on Sunday to say that he cannot accept the legislation, after months of toying with different versions.

This caused an appropriately harsh reaction from President Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, and many members of the Democratic Party in both houses of Congress.

It is hoped that some aspects of the proposed legisation can be salvaged separately, but sadly, this is the result of having a 50-50 Senate, and if Manchin were to become a Republican, as some suggest, it would simply put the Republicans in total control under Mitch McConnell!

Voting Rights Takes Precedent Over The “Build Back Better” Bill!

Ronald 1 Comment

A major aim of the Biden Presidency has been to promote “social infrastructure” through the “Build Back Better” legislation.

However, it has been tied up in process due to the opposition of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema Of Arizona, and it is now clear that it cannot be accomplished before the end of this year, sadly.

But the aim now is to promote the guarantee of Voting Rights, preventing Republicans from destroying the suffrage rights of millions of Americans, so the push is on to make certain that the basic and fundamental right to vote is insured.

It is a crucial battle for the survival of democracy, and it can be accomplished by “reconcilation”, as long as there are 50 votes, and it is hoped possibly one or two Republican Senators, such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska or Susan Collins of Maine, will cross the aisle if it determines the basic prevention of the loss of voting rights!

Fingers are crossed that this can be accomplished!

“Build Back Better” Social Infrastructure Legislation Passes The House of Representatives!

admin Leave a comment

Congratulations are due to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, and the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives on successfully passing the “Build Back Better” Social Infrastructure legislation by a vote of 220-213, after a disgraceful eight and a half hour rampage speech by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and the refusal of any House Republicans to support legislation which makes life better for millions of Americans!

The legislation, once it gains approval of the US Senate with some modifications certain, will do the following:

Affordable Child Care
Child Tax Credits
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Universal PreKindergarten
Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits
Medicaid Home and Community Based Services
Raise State and Local Tax Deduction Cap
Medicare Hearing Benefits
Affordable Housing
Immigration Reform
Clean Energy and Climate Resilience
Climate Related Tax Breaks
Spending on Higher Education
A Corporate Minimum Tax on Large Corporations
A Tax Surcharge Targeting the Wealthiest Americans, over $25 million and over $10 million.

The New “McCarthyism”: Kevin McCarthy’s Ambitions To Be Speaker Require Being Subservient To Donald Trump!

admin 8 Comments

California Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican Minority Leader, is desperate to become Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress (2023-2024).

This requires him being subservient to Donald Trump, and McCarthy will stop at nothing to promote himself, and in the process conduct himself as a charlatan, a man without common decency and any ethical principles!

McCarthy will do anything and everything to support Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, and the rest of the traitors and seditionists who were complicit in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, leading to the death of five people, and the physical and mental harm done to more than 140 US Capitol police!

McCarthy will lie incessantly through his teeth, displaying no sense of morality, and throws good people, such as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and a small band of other House Republicans, “under the bus”, so to speak!

He has just set a record for more than an eight and a half hours speech overnight on the floor of the House of Representatives, putting on a performance for the extremist right wingers in his caucus, and displaying every bit of poison and hate imaginable!

He calls for the defeat of the Build Back Better bill of President Joe Biden and the Democrats, which would improve the lives of millions of Americans!

There is only one conclusion about Kevin McCarthy!

That is, that Kevin McCarthy should be roundly condemned by all decent people as the leader of the new “McCarthyism”, possibly worse if successful in his quest than his namesake, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, seven decades ago!

Kevin McCarthy is willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way on his mission to become a demagogue, and if bad luck occurs, easily the worst, most dangerous Speaker of the House in 234 years of the history of the House of Representatives!

And finally, ironically, there are indications that the disgraced, twice impeached, two time popular vote loser of the Presidency, Donald Trump, is working to undermine McCarthy’s hope to be Speaker, and would wish Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, who is even more unprincipled and dangerous, to become Speaker of the House in 2023!

Even if one is not “religious”, God Help Us! 🙁

Right Wing Propaganda Attempts To Portray Joe Biden And Kamala Harris As Disasters, When Much Has Been Accomplished!

admin 2 Comments

Right Wing propaganda, whether the Republican Party, Fox News Channel, OANN, Newsmax, or various interest groups that promote domestic terrorism and white supremacy, is working incessantly to portray President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as disasters.

This is all designed to advance the cause of a Republican Congress and state government domination by partisan gerrymandering, as well as whitewash and avoiding responsibility for support of the “Big Lie” of Donald Trump and his criminal backers who incited the January 6, 2021 Insurrection on the US Capitol!

One would think that Donald Trump and Mike Pence accomplished so much in office that was positive for the American people and nation, when exactly the opposite is the truth!

Trump did great harm in so many areas of domestic and foreign policy, and the only “winner” was the extremely wealthy, who gained a massive tax cut which added greatly to the national debt, without improving the daily lives of the American people!

Mike Pence proved how much of a sycophant he was, a person supposedly “religious”, “devout”, “moral and ethical”, when he was simply a total hypocrite, with his promotion of hatred, division, and narrow mindedness. He had to be convinced by, of all people, former Vice President Dan Quayle, to follow the Constitution on January 6, 2021, and uphold the Electoral College vote that Joe Biden had won the Presidency.

Pence will go down in history as one of the absolutely worst, most disgraceful Vice Presidents in American history!

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal, including providing relief to the American economy through the American Rescue Plan, a total of $1.9 trillion in the spring of 2021. The Physical Infrastructure legislation, providing $1.2 trillion to rebuild roads, bridges, airports rail systems, broadband, environmental cleanup, and electric vehicle, is being signed into law today by President Biden.

Also, Biden has changed the harsh policy toward refugees promoted by Trump, and cracked down on the abuses of Immigration and Customs Enforcement toward innocent children.

Additionally, Biden returned America to the Paris Climate Accords, and reversed the action of Trump cutting down the Bears Ear National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and he restored protection of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

Biden has taken strong action on vaccinations and masking, and brought about a commitment to combating the COVID 19 Pandemic, after Trump minimized the crisis and promoted false solutions. And Biden has not allowed renegade governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott to stop necessary action to protect the American people during this pandemic!

The “Build Back Better” Social Infrastructure legislation, held up by moderate Democrats, hopefully will be accomplished soon, as it should be, but with Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema or Arizona, and some in the House of Representatives causing problems, no certainty at this moment, but important for the future of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and the nation at large.

Biden withdrew US military forces from Afghanistan, an action that was promoted by Donald Trump, who wanted to remove them in May 2021, rather than the actual time frame of August 2021. It was a tough decision, but America had been in Afghanistan for 20 years, and most Americans knew it was time to leave.

The NATO nations and others have seen a massive change in American foreign policy by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, restoring our good relations with our allies.

Kamala Harris has been more in the background, but Vice Presidents historically have not been in the forefront so early in an administration, and if one looks back at Mike Pence, for instance, who recalls him playing a leading role in the first year of Donald Trump’s Presidency, or really ever?

This negative portrayal of Harris simply is the reaction of having a mixed race woman a heartbeat away from the Presidency, when she has excellent credentials, were she to have to assume the Presidency!