Joe Biden (D., Socialist)
Biden has said, ‘I am a capitalist’ and ‘I am not a socialist.’ Both statements are false.
By Daniel Henninger
Wonder Land: Biden has said, ‘I am a capitalist’ and ‘I am not a socialist.’ Here's why both statements are false. Images: Image Of Sport/Zuma Press Composite: Mark Kelly
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but someone has to say it: You have to listen to Joe Biden. Ignore what he says at your peril.
It’s easy to make fun of Mr. Biden’s speeches. He walks out, removes his black mask and stares steely-eyed into a teleprompter, reading whatever’s written. The eyes—his and ours—glaze over. But he persists.
Mr. Biden may be political white noise, but do not fall asleep.
Last Thursday, Mr. Biden trundled out to give a speech for his mega-trillion Build Back Better plan. The press says the Biden plan is in trouble with moderate Democrats, which could make or break his presidency, with votes starting next week.
This spending plan may be the whole Biden presidency, but it’s bigger than that. His seemingly run-of-the-mill afternoon speech was a significant statement. It was a public repudiation by Mr. Biden of the U.S. economic system.
Partway through the speech, Mr. Biden felt obliged to assert: “I am a capitalist.” During the campaign he said: “I am not a socialist.” Both statements are false. Joe Biden is not a capitalist. He is a socialist. Democratic progressives don’t like the s-word, which is why they started calling themselves progressives. Bernie Sanders declared himself a socialist so long ago it’s too late to change. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admits to being a democratic socialist. Fact-check scolds argue the s-word has no meaning in the American political context because no one is suggesting state control of the means of production. Be that as it may, listen to Mr. Biden talk about the system we do have.
“Real, sustained economic growth,” Mr. Biden said, is “something we haven’t realized in this country for decades.” He elaborated: “Over the past 40 years, the wealthy have gotten wealthier, and too many corporations have lost their sense of responsibility to their workers, their communities, and the country.”
“The past 40 years” means Mr. Biden’s indictment of the U.S. system includes the Democratic presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. But “40 years” is the giveaway. That’s 1981, the beginning of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
It is hard to overstate progressives’ obsession with the economic legacy of the Reagan presidency. In their endless struggle, Donald Trump was a blip, notwithstanding that the Trump tax cuts and deregulation—twin towers of Reaganomics—coincided with the lowest minority unemployment levels in 50 years accompanied by real wage gains for men and women. The political purpose of the Build Back Better plan is to erase Reaganism forever.
Introducing his budget in May, Mr. Biden said, “It is a budget that reflects the fact that trickle-down economics has never worked.”
“Trickle-down economics” has been 40-year code on the left for the Reagan economic policies, which cut marginal tax rates on income and rates on capital gains. The explicit purpose of the Reagan policies, as articulated routinely by the GOP’s Jack Kemp, was to encourage all participants in the economy to “work, save and invest.”
“Work, save and invest” is a three-word definition of capitalism, which is demonstrably alien now to Mr. Biden’s worldview. At no point in that speech did he acknowledge that the private sector contributes anything positive to the life of Americans.
Adopting Sen. Sanders’s favorite phrase, Mr. Biden repeatedly caricatures “millionaires and billionaires” and the growth in their “wealth” during the pandemic, with no mention of the Federal Reserve’s 0% interest rates that pushed assets into stocks held by billionaires and everyone else.
He says we’ve just had “the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” ignoring the government-ordered lockdown, then claims his government fixed the economy
Rising gas prices are caused by “pandemic profiteers.” He rails against “corporations” a dozen times. In fact, this Biden speech sounds similar to Xi Jinping’s recent attacks on China’s private sector.
The market-led economic growth of the Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton (he signed a bill cutting the capital-gains rate to 20% from 28% in 1997) and Trump years is irrelevant to Mr. Biden’s ideas about a heretofore unseen economy that “benefits everyone.”
Instead, he is the economy. He will “create” new jobs and even new industries. This refers to his proposed billions in subsidies for manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and charging stations, and retrofitting homes and commercial real estate. By government order, current, carbon-intensive industries will disappear.
At a stroke, the Biden plan “lowers the cost” of daycare, child care, elder care, drugs, healthcare and education. All of this—identified without irony as “the cost of living”—is “paid for” by new taxes.
“State control of the means of production” means different things to different people, but I’d say this qualifies as socialism in America. Traditional Democrats wanted to “tame” the economy. Bidenism is replacing it.
Since the Democratic Party’s start nearly 200 years ago, socialism has passed through the party but never defined it. By the time the voting in Congress stops on Build Back Better, we’ll know whether from now on its members should be identified as D. or D-Soc
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Trump and all the members of his family were excoriated for making money off tax payers because Trump was in bed with Putin. This was all an effort to smear Trump so Americans would hate him as many came to do. Of course these smears were proven to be false but the bad mouth effect succeeded because the mass media hated Trump as well. They needed to protect the elite they serve and who protect them. This is what a free press has come to mean and do in America.
Now we come to Hunter and the efforts to root out potential corruption, true corruption, and "we the people" are being thwarted. Why does the mass media sit silent on their pens and at their computers? Again, evidence of what a sham the free press has come to mean in America.
Of course if Hunter's "The Big Man" was a principled president he could resolve this matter but "The Big Man" has proven , over 48 years of "public" service, to be a fraud who prefers to hide in the protection of a cold basement when the political heat rises.
Who Wants to Buy Hunter Biden’s Art?
The Congressman asking that question isn’t getting a response.
By The Editorial Board
President Biden owes the public an explanation of the plan for Hunter Biden’s secret art sales, because Congress isn’t getting any answers. This summer a New York gallerist, Georges Bergès, said he would hold two private exhibitions, starting in September, to market Hunter’s paintings for between $75,000 and $500,000 each.
Mr. Bergès will soon receive a second letter from Rep. James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, who wants to see the ethics rules worked out by the White House. Buyers of the artwork are supposed to be kept confidential, even from Hunter. “We won’t know who they are,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “so there’s no scenario where they could provide influence.”
The gallery is also supposed to reject abnormal bids. “In other words,” Mr. Comer’s new letter to Mr. Bergès says, “you will be the only person responsible for rooting out potential sophisticated, foreign disruptive agents’ access to the White House. That is unacceptable.”
As part of Congress’s oversight, Mr. Comer is seeking copies of “the ethics guidelines, created in conjunction with the White House,” as well as “documents and communications pertaining to setting the prices for Mr. Biden’s art.” He also wants to know who’s buying paintings and attending the showings, if and when they happen. But the odds of a reply are low, since the GOP lacks subpoena power. Mr. Comer made similar requests in a Sept. 7 letter, which went unanswered.
Democrats don’t appear eager to poke into Hunter’s secret art sales. Yet the questions aren’t idle. Who might be quietly preparing $500,000 for Hunter’s bank account? How is the gallery scrutinizing bids? Will the anonymity be kept? What if Russia starts spreading disinformation about who bought what, and for how much?
If President Biden continues to refuse calls for transparency, then the earliest opportunity for a full accounting might be in 2023, which is assuming Republicans take the House back. That provides plenty of time for mischief.
On an art podcast in July, Hunter was asked to respond to critics who are “coming after the prices of the work.” His reply was pithy and entirely in character: “Other than f— ’em?”
Mr. Biden owes the public more, but then Hunter always seems to get a pass from his Dad the President.
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Anti-Semites, who are the voice of the radical Democrat Party screw Israel and endanger peace prospects because Israel must defend itself with Iron Domes or alternatively go on the offensive.
Being a Zionist Hawk I would love to see Israel flatten Gaza, Iran and anyone who seeks to rid the world of this dynamic nation.
The Biden Administration and The Democrat Party are turning against America's allies and will eventually pay a price for being gutless.
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House passes $1 billion measure for Israel's Iron Dome, despite lack of progressive support
Democratic leaders tried to pass the $1 billion funding bill with a voice vote but a request was made for a recorded vote
Despite opposition from progressive lawmakers, the Democratic-led House passed $1 billion of funding for Israel's Iron Dome on Thursday with the help of Republican votes.
Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenhaur, the presiding officer, deemed the bill passed with a simple voice vote but a request was made for a recorded yes or no vote.
The final bipartisan vote was 420-9 with two members voting present. Reps. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-Ill.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voted no. Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) voted present.
The Democrats hold a 220-212 majority in the House.
Ahead of Thursday's vote, Tlaib, a member of the progressive "Squad," tweeted that she will "not support a standalone supplemental bill of $1 billion to replenish the bombs Israel used to commit war crimes in Gaza." Omar also criticized the bill on Twitter.
"Given the human rights violations in Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah, and ever-growing settlement expansion, we should not be ramming through a last-minute $1 billion increase in military funding for Israel without any accountability," she wrote.
South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, who supported the bill, said the legislation was designed to "cover" for the progressive lawmakers who advocated for removing the Iron Dome funding from a continuing resolution that passed the House earlier this week.
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Ex-ambassador calls for rethink on US military aid amid Iron Dome controversy
After funding for Israel’s missile defense cut from US spending bill, Michael Oren says politicization of issue could become a ‘strategic vulnerability’ for Jerusalem
It’s time for Israel to reconsider the military aid that it receives from the United States, Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador in Washington during the Barack Obama administration, told The Times of Israel on Wednesday, after progressive members of the US Congress succeeded in removing Iron Dome funding from a government spending bill.
“I think it’s very important that we begin a process of rethinking and restructuring our aid from the United States, the way the US aids us militarily,” he said.
“It does call for soul-searching and serious long-term strategic thinking.”
Oren, a noted academic and author, said that military aid to Israel being used increasingly as a tool against Jerusalem by left-wing Democrats could be seen as a “strategic vulnerability” for Israel, which could have dangerous consequences for the Jewish state.
Israel’s leaders must consider whether being seen as vulnerable to pressure from American legislators lines up with its attempt to project an image of a powerful, self-sufficient state that can defend itself.
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“There are also costs to US aid,” he said.
Iron Dome in action, on May 13, 2021. (Avichai Socher/IDF)
Oren called for “more cooperative” avenues for US aid to Israel: “For example, the US and Israel could create a joint cyber defense initiative. The United States would actually be shoring up its own security.”
At the same time, he wasn’t optimistic that there would be a major change in Israel’s approach to US aid, citing the Israel Defense Forces’ concerns with securing funding, and figuring aid into its budgeting plans.
“When progressives call for cutting aid, military leaders are thinking about how many bullets we can buy, how many jets we can buy, not the strategic message of Israeli vulnerability,” he said.
It is up to Israel’s non-military leaders to lead the conceptual change, stressed Oren.
The current Memorandum of Understanding on military aid between the US and Israel, signed with the Obama Administration in 2016, ends in 2028.
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, with House impeachment managers, speaks to the press after the Senate voted to acquit former US President Donald Trump, in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 13, 2021. (Alex Edelman/AFP)
Oren also raised the possibility that holding up Iron Dome funding could violate understandings between Israel and the US.
“The US conditioned its aid on Iron Dome [on the condition] that we share the intellectual property of the system,” he explained. “We shared it with the US, and now there is a possibility that we won’t get that support, so there’s a potential violation of our deal with the US.”
Progressive Democrats on Tuesday successfully pressured the party to remove $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from a bill to keep the US government funded.
Oren called the move “a shot across the prow, and a very well-aimed one. ”
“During the Obama period, progressives were much smaller, and less powerful, and also they were afraid to take on Obama,” Oren noted. “Progressives are much more powerful, and they’re not afraid to take on Biden.”
The funds are widely expected to be approved, but at a later date.
The clause approving the $1 billion to restock Israel’s Iron Dome interceptors — crucial to protecting Israeli towns from rocket attacks and which became somewhat depleted during May’s Gaza war — had caused a hangup in the US House of Representatives, as party leaders sought to push forward a bill to raise the debt ceiling.
In this July 15, 2019 file photo, (from left) Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, respond during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Oren also noted that Germany and South Korea receive far greater aid packages than Israel, but that money is couched as part of the US defense budget, not as Foreign Military Financing.
“It has to do with the way the aid is budgeted,” he said.
Since 2011, the US Congress has provided Israel more than $1.5 billion to produce Iron Dome batteries, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. In August 2011, Raytheon and Rafael — which partnered on David’s Sling, a US-Israeli cooperative missile defense development program — announced an agreement to allow Raytheon to market Iron Dome in the US.
In 2014, the US and Israeli governments signed a co-production agreement to enable some portions of the Iron Dome system to be produced in the US.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to pass the budgetary bill by September 30 to keep the government funded through the start of December. She needed all hands on deck to pass it, and could not afford to lose progressive votes because no Republican is willing to support it. Pelosi may have originally calculated that adding the Iron Dome funding would be a way to entice Republicans, but this did not bring any onboard.
A congress member told The Times of Israel that Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Betty McCollum pushed Pelosi to have the Iron Dome funding removed from the spending bill and managed to succeed through mediation by Congresswoman Rosa Delauro.
Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Pramila Jayapal also threatened to vote against the bill if the Iron Dome funding was included, a Congressional aide said.
New York Representative Jamaal Bowman told Bloomberg that the problem was that the Iron Dome provision had been added in at the last minute, and that there had been no proper discussion.
“It’s not about Israel, it’s about, once again, leadership, throwing something on our table last minute and expecting us to decide in five minutes what to do with it, that’s the bigger problem,” Bowman said.
Jacob Magid and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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My number four daughter , Abby, was an outstanding rower at Rollins College's crew team. Perhaps our precious president could take some lessons from her on back "paddling" because, if he intends to begin with Afghanistan, he is also going to need do the same on his mounting number of screw ups:
Joe Biden Staging Desperate Attempts To Save Face In Afghanistan
New reporting indicates that Joe Biden is scrambling to attempt to mitigate the disaster he created in Afghanistan. The Associated Press has indicated that Biden is sending Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley into meetings to salvage the positions and material lost during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. military forces from the war-ravaged country controlled again by the Taliban.
Milley plans to meet with NATO allies in Greece this weekend to enter into agreements for more on-ground basing and intelligence sharing to work together against possible reorganization by terror groups.
The agreements that the White House now finds urgent would provide capabilities the U.S. had and could have preserved indefinitely. Of course, that was before Biden decided to move forward with a no-plan withdrawal after scrapping the plan left for him by President Trump.
Maintaining even a skeleton crew at Bagram would have given the U.S. the capability to maintain reliable and real-time intelligence gathering actions on the ground. It would have also helped avoid being reliant on over-the-horizon drone strikes to handle emergencies. We have already seen how unreliable that strategy can be due to the accidental strike against an Afghan aid worker and several of his children mistaken for an ISIS-K operative.
Instead, we are now left to bargain with countries that undoubtedly have lost significant trust in America’s commitment to maintaining positions gained through great sacrifice and hard work.
The difficulty with over-the-horizon security is that even if it works as promised, it requires surveillance operations conducted from distant Persian Gulf bases that only allow limited operational time over Afghanistan.
If left with working on agreements for staging intelligence-gathering closer to the ground in Afghanistan, the U.S. is looking at some inferior options. Iran, Pakistan, or any of the former member states of the U.S.S.R. that are under the control of Russia and Vladimir Putin are unlikely prospects, indeed.
America may have to get used to doing as best as possible with what Joe Biden leaves for us.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ President "screw up" will not be impeached as long as Pelosi owns The House but at least a few concerned Republicans are sending a shot across Biden's Bow.
Biden In Panic Mode As Impeachment Proceedings Get Underway
A contingent of GOP lawmakers in the House have introduced three impeachment articles against President Biden this week, citing his failed handling of the southern border crisis, his attempt to prolong the federal moratorium against evictions, and his mismanaged military withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Washington Examiner has reported.
Ohio Congressman Bob Gibbs first put forward the articles this Tuesday and was later joined by Congressmen Andy Biggs (from Ariz.), Brian Babin ( from Texas), and Randy Weber (from Texas), who signed as co-sponsors to the bill.
The articles do not have a chance of going forward in the Dem-controlled House and possibly won’t attract a lot of media attention. But Gibbs says the effort is genuine and wants the resolution to at least send a warning to the White House.
“I take this very seriously. I do not think it’s haphazard. I’m not attempting to get media attention for myself,” Gibbs said to the Examiner during an interview. “He has done so much damage to this nation in under nine months, which is very scary.”
“He is not capable of being our commander in chief, and that is obvious by his actions since his first day in January,” the lawmaker said. “Maybe something like this will cause him to think twice before he does some more of this nonsense.”
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