Buttiegieg Urges Stronger Rail Safety

Facing growing criticism from Democrats as well as Republicans over slow White House response to a February 3 derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw Sunday urging him to support stronger rail safety standards, The Hill reports. The derailment earlier this month resulted in the pileup of 150 freight cars, 20 of them carrying cargoes of hazardous materials.

Republicans have suggested the derailment in a rural, politically “red” region in Ohio has been treated indifferently by the Biden administration.

Last Friday White House officials said they would welcome Congressional action to beef up safety standards for trains carrying hazardous materials, according to Roll Call. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Railroad Administration and Department of Health and Human Services are waiting for a report from the National Transportation Safety Board on the derailment.

•••

What do you think? Go to the Comments section in this column, or the one in the right column if that’s how you lean, or email editors@thehustings.news and type “for the left column” or “for the right column” in the subject line.

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Biden in Poland

(President Biden was in discussions in Warsaw with Polish President Andzrej Duda to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank Tuesday. Biden was scheduled to address the Polish people later Tuesday (per The Guardian). PICTURED: Biden with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on the U.S. president’s surprise visit Monday.)

TUESDAY 2/21/23

Putin’s National Address – Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking in his scheduled annual address blamed NATO and the U.S. for starting the war with Ukraine, which hits its first anniversary Friday. Putin said Russia is “suspending” participation in the latest nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. (NPR)

--TL

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Biden in Kyiv

MONDAY 2/20/23

UPDATE – Russian President Vladimir Putin “thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided,” President Biden said during his surprise visit to Kyiv Monday. “He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.”

Revealing more details of the meeting Monday afternoon, the White House said the president met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team for “an extended discussion on our support for Ukraine.”

“I will announce another delivery of critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments,” Biden said. “And I will share that later this week, we will announce additional sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine. Over the last year, the United States has built a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific to help defend Ukraine with unprecedented military, economic and humanitarian support – and that will endure.”

Surprise Visit: President Biden left for Europe a day earlier than announced to make his surprise visit to Kyiv and meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskyy Monday (per BBC and NPR), and military and intelligence services. Biden announced a half-billion dollars of additional aid to the country in the week of the first anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

“One year later, Kyiv stands, Ukraine stands. And Democracy stands.”

Biden left Kyiv later Monday local time, reportedly by train, to travel Warsaw for a previously announced meeting with Polish President Andzej Duda and other NATO leaders to in part discuss further support for Ukraine's defense against Russia.

Congressional Calendar: The House and Senate are not in session this week (per Ballotpedia).

•••

Fox News Gonna Be Fox ‘News’ – Yeah, Dominion Voting Systems’ filing in Delaware State Court in its $1.6-billion lawsuit last week was all over the damn place by the weekend, including even Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, a fellow Murdoch property. As a refresher, the lawsuit is about the part of the Donald J. Trump “Big Lie” that accused Dominion voting machines of being able to automatically flip votes for the ex-president in favor of votes for the real winner, Joe Biden.

ICYMI, here are a few of the many standout conversations outlined by The Hill …

Viktor Orbån’s Number One Fanboy, Tucker Carlson, to Laura Ingraham: “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane.”

Ingraham back to Carlson: “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy (Trump attorney Giuliani).”

Despite Carlson’s antipathy for Powell and Giuliani, he and fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity tried to pressure network execs to fire White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich for fact-checking a tweet from Trump pursuing claims against Dominion.

Carlson to Hannity: “Please get her fired. Seriously … What the fuck? I’m seriously shocked … It needs to stop immediately [.] Like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

Hannity to Carlson: “I’m 3 strikes. [Chris, now of CNN] Wallace shit debate [.] Election night disaster [.] Now this BS? Nope. Not going to fly. Did I mention Cavuto?”

According to Dominion attorneys’ filing, Fox execs were “not pleased” with White House correspondent Kristin Fisher’s fact-checking of a Nov. 19, 2020 Powell/Giuliani press conference. Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton allegedly called Fisher and said she needed to do a better job of “respecting our audience,” according to The Hill’s wrapup. Fox News appears to have been more concerned with competition from Newsmax than about truthiness.

About That Election Night ‘Disaster’: Refers to Fox News’ “early” call of Arizona for Joe Biden. Political Editor Chris Stirewalt, otherwise proud of the election night count algorithm he helped develop for Fox News that could beat competing networks was fired over the call, and went on to testify in the second hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol.

Upshot: In real journalism, “respecting our audience” means telling the truth.

•••

Carter in Hospice – Former President Jimmy Carter, 98, has chosen to forego additional medical attention and will receive hospice care at home. Carter is America’s oldest living former president. He served from 1977 to 1981.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Graham Backs Biden on Ukraine

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) praised President Biden’s dangerous, surprise trip Monday to Kyiv, Ukraine, The Hill reports.

Biden’s visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “the right signal to send at the right time,” Graham said.

Meanwhile, The Hill reports, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said that Biden is neglecting domestic problems with his trip to Ukraine and Poland.

“We have a lot of problems accumulating here in our country that he is neglecting.”

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Michigan GOP Sticks with Trump

Michigan’s Republican Party chose pro-Trump election denier Kristina Karamo over another pro-Trump election denier, Matthew DePerno, to be its leader going into the 2024 elections, Michigan Radio reports. This despite a fairly thorough rejection of MAGA hats in favor of Democratic candidates in last November’s midterms.

Karamo lost her bid to become Michigan secretary of state last November to Democrat Jocelyn Benson by 14 points, while DePerno lost to Democrat Dana Nessel by just eight points (both Democrats were incumbents).

Two moderate Michigan Republicans who did not make it to the midterms had something to say about their party’s inability to free itself from the grip of the 45^th president, ahead of Saturday’s leadership vote, The New York Times reports.

“In our state, this civil war is benefitting no one but the Democrats,” said former Republican Rep. Peter Meijer, who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6^th Capitol insurrection and was defeated in last year’s primary, with some help from the Democratic Party. “Part of what the Republican Party in the state of Michigan needs to get back to is being a broad tent. To me, the fundamental challenge is, how do you build trust in the state party after losses like we saw in November?”

“Sadly, it looks like they want an encore,” said former Rep. Fred Upton, another of the Republicans who voted in favor of Trump’s second impeachment. Unlike Meijer, Upton announced his retirement before he could be primaried by a Trump acolyte in 2022.

•••

What do you think? Go to the Comments section in this column, or the one in the left column if that’s how you lean, or email editors@thehustings.news and type “for the right column” or “for the left column” in the subject line.

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Much Ado About an Unknown Something

By Ken Zino

The report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as a section where the grand jurors expressed unease that some witnesses may have lied under oath in the partial report released Thursday by Fulton County, Georgia, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney confirmed what is already publicly known. A crime regarding an allegation of election fraud has likely been committed. The Grand jury found by unanimous vote that no widespread fraud was committed.

There isn’t enough here for me to comment on, so I’ll have to wait for the widely expected indictments. Like detective Sam Spade throughout most of The Maltese Falcon, we know that people are lying. We still don’t know how many people in this pending case shot to kill American Democracy. Interesting coincidences – in both cases there is an overweight man (described in Dashiell Hammett’s classic detective novel with a politically incorrect epithet for his physical appearance), a lying blonde, and perfidious relatives.

Any recommendations on who should or should not be prosecuted will remain secret for now to protect his or her due process rights, McBurney wrote in the opinion ordering the skimpy release (just four of its nine pages were released) today. The cast of characters who testified over several months include clear Trump supporters – disbarred attorney Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. There are Georgia politicians, starting at the top with Gov. Brian Kemp. How about the 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were its “duly elected and qualified” electors?

So, I await Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to say something to the effect that I don’t care who loves you, I’m not going to play the sap for you. The stuff that dreams are made of?

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What is Left

Write to us about ...

•Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), 89, will not seek re-election in 2024. California Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff have already announced they will run for the Democratic nomination for her seat.

•Coverage and analysis of President Biden’s State of the Union address, plus commentary by Ken Zino, “Biden’s Strategy Wins,” this column and Stephen Macaulay, “Say Goodbye, Joe,” in the right column.

•As Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the traditional opposing-party response to Biden’s State of the Union address (right column), Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) gave a response on behalf of the progressive Working Families Party (this column).

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Georgia Grand Jury Prescribes Perjury Charges

The 24-member Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating Donald J. Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 electoral votes recommends the Fulton County district attorney’s office pursue indictments against one or more individuals it believes have committed perjury under oath. Among the 75 witnesses who gave testimony during the eight-month investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis were Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it. The grand jury recommends that the district attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Four of nine pages of the grand jury report were released Thursday under order by Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.

The grand jury also found that “no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that would result in overturning that election” … Nowhere to find 11,780 votes to flip for Trump.

Four of the grand jury report's nine pages have been released. You can read them here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23683579-ga-special-purpose-grand-jury-report

--Edited and compiled by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Whoosh. . . Fizzle

By Stephen Macaulay

Small-town Fourth of July celebrations often have a case where during the fireworks at the end of the day a rocket goes up and rather than exploding into a visual rendition of John Phillips Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” there is a disappointing fizzle.

And for some people, that is the effect of the partial release of the findings of the Fulton County special grand jury looking into whether Donald Trump and his minions unlawfully interfered with the results of the 2020 presidential election.

No one should be surprised that a group of ignominious grifters who claim to be working on behalf of the public or supporters of the commonweal are likely to have committed perjury. These people aren’t in it for a greater cause. They lie and cheat because it goes to their personal benefit.

Does anyone actually imagine that except for the most delusional among them, these people truly thought that Trump won the election and therefore it was up to their machinations to maintain the sovereignty of the Republic in an unsullied manner? Or did they simply think that because they were in the good graces of the Boss this would redound to their well-being: Four more years of feeding on the stew of the Swamp that they, and he, loudly proclaimed they were draining.

And after he retired from office to his Schlagmetal-gilted palace, they thought they would have the opportunity to get a position at the Heritage Foundation or other group that once actually supported conservative beliefs only to surrender their values for a seat at the table where they could tug their forelocks and pledge fealty to a man who probably thinks Edmund Burke is the name of the title character of Burke’s Law. (For those of you who don’t remember the TV show of 1963-1966, Amos Burke was a millionaire L.A. police detective who was driven around in a Rolls — but at least he solved crimes and didn’t commit them.)

Back to the firework that didn’t have the anticipated explosive display.

Many people probably thought that the proverbial jig would be up for Trump, that he would be charged with not just something, but many things. What these people had long anticipated would finally come to pass.

And it hasn’t. This doesn’t mean that it won’t. It doesn’t mean that Trump has slithered away once again. It simply means that the old saw is right: “The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, but exceedingly fine.”

Let’s look at the situation from another perspective, one that has to do with things like discerning right from wrong and feeling shame for one’s bad actions.

Does anyone think that Trump was telling the truth when he told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “As you know, every single state … we won every state” or “There’s no way I lost Georgia. There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes”?

And by “anyone” this includes those who were brought before the grand jury. They know that was simply not so. But they also know that Trump was able to lie while in office some extraordinarily large number of times (The Washington Post calculated over 30,000, so even if we imagine that this is a “fake” calculation borne of Jeff Bezos owning the Post and we cut it down to 10% of that figure, that’s still 3,000 lies—and he was in office for 1,460 days, so that’s approximately a lie every other day.)

The surprising — and disappointing — thing is that people who claim to uphold laws like those codified in the Ten Commandments (a refresher — Nine: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” — which simply means: “Don’t lie”), give this a pass and don’t shun the man but continue to work toward his elevation.

A dud firework is sad. This is simply pathetic. These people — including Donald Trump — should be ashamed of themselves.

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What is Right

We want to hear from you about …

•Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley becomes the second Republican, after former President Trump, to declare candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Never-Trumper conservatives point to the fact that recent polls show the still-undeclared Ron DeSantis leading Trump by a significant margin, so any additional candidates dilute the Florida governor’s lead. Thus, some pundits have asked whether Haley is really running to be her former boss’ running mate.

•Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called out Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) proposal last year to push legislation that would result in reviewing Social Security and Medicare funding every five years.

•Coverage and analysis of President Biden’s State of the Union address, plus commentary by Stephen Macaulay, “Say Goodbye, Joe,” in this column and Ken Zino, “Biden’s Strategy Wins,” in the left column.

•Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Republican response to Biden’s State of the Union address in this column, and Rep. Delia Ramirez’s (D-IL) “progressive” response on behalf of the Working Families Party, in the left column.

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Feinstein to Retire

Democratic California Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff didn’t exactly shove Sen. Dianne Feinstein off her re-election bid. They did give her more than a gentle nudge when they declared their candidacies for her seat before she revealed her intentions for 2024. On Tuesday, Feinstein finally announced she will step down after her current term ends in January 2025.

Feinstein was San Francisco’s first female mayor when she won a special election to the Senate in 1992 and is a traditional liberal Democrat who bridges the party’s young progressives with older centrists.

Porter, who announced her candidacy for the seat in mid-January, was first elected to California’s 45^th District in 2018, taking much of the traditional Republican stronghold of Orange County. She was redistricted last year into California’s 47^th, which she won in November.

Schiff was first elected to the House in 2000 to represent California’s 30^th District covering the San Gabriel valley east of Los Angeles. He was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2019 to 2022, and now serves as its ranking Democratic member. He announced his candidacy for Feinstein’s seat in late January.

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Biden's Big SOTU

SOTU WEEK 2023

It’s time for President Biden to declare victory and go home, our right-column pundit, Stephen Macaulay wrote after the State of the Union address. But Democrats from both wings of the party have renewed enthusiasm for Biden in the 2024 presidential race after last Tuesday’s speech.

“I have to say, the speech was very good. As far as Biden can be pulled to the left and signal what his priorities are … I thought it was masterful,” Angelo Greco, a Democratic analyst who worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, told The Hill.

The address “proved that the center of gravity has shifted in American politics,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in the same report.

On the other side of the left-of-center spectrum, pundit E.J. Dionne writes in his Washington Post column that Biden is instead tracking to the middle to challenge Republican for the blue-collar vote.

“Biden’s bet – and it’s a wager many successful governors made last year – is that Democrats can wing back blue-collar voters,” Dionne says.

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…meanwhile…

(The annual inflation rate fell to 6.4% in January, from a rate of 6.5% the month earlier. Scroll down this column for the story.)

THURSDAY 2/16/23

Report: Meadows Subpoenaed in 1/6 Case – Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation of Donald J. Trump’s role in the January 6^th Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed the most loyal of the ex-president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, CNN reports, citing a single source. According to the report, Smith subpoenaed Meadows in January.

•••

11,780 – Thursday is the day for release of three parts of a Georgia special grand jury report on Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 vote for Joe Biden. (Remember; the former president told Georgia Secretary of State George Raffensperger (R) he only needed 11,780 votes to overturn the state’s Electoral College.)

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on Monday announced release of portions of the report despite pleas by prosecutors to hold off until they make a decision on charges, Newsweek says. The special grand jury interviewed 75 witnesses, including Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) as part of the investigation.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 2/15/23

DOJ to Seek Crime-Fraud Exception – If you’re one of the many Democrats or never-Trumper Republicans who have wondered what’s taking Attorney General Merrick Garland so long on moving toward indictments for myriad investigations of the former president, your time may be coming. Federal prosecutors will seek the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege in order to compel M. Evan Corcoran, an attorney for Donald J. Trump, to answer questions related to classified documents held at Mar-a-Lago after the former president’s term ended, unnamed sources told The New York Times. Prosecutors are seeking the exception to determine whether Corcoran’s legal advice or services were used in the obstruction of justice, the report says.

Can’t Quit Him: Meanwhile, Trump’s former vice president and target of January 6^th Capitol insurrectionists, Mike Pence, plans to resist testimony before a grand jury in that case, two people familiar with the investigation told Politico. According to the report, Pence will not claim executive privilege, but as former president of the Senate will plead legislative privilege.

--TL

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...meanwhile...

TUESDAY 2/14/23

Inflation Continues to Ease, But – The annual Consumer Price Index dropped another 0.1% to 6.4% for January, the Commerce Department reports, though the month-over-month rate is up 0.2%. The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics says shelter was “overall the largest contributor,” accounting for nearly half of all monthly items, though a January spike in gas (“all types,” including diesel, which is not a gas) was up 2.4% after six months of steady decline, up 1.5% over a year earlier. Fuel oil prices dropped 2.7% for January but is up 27.7% annually.

The index for all prices except food and energy was up 0.4% last month, the BLS says. The Federal Reserve thus has seen its shadow, so expect more interest rate hikes for much of the year.

•••

Brainerd to Lead National Economic Council – Vice chair of the Federal Reserve Lael Brainard will be named director of the White House National Economic Council as Brian Deese, who has served that function since the beginning of the Biden administration steps down, several outlets have reported. Brainard is described as a champion of Wall Street regulation and for policies to expand the labor market, The Washington Post reports, which plays into President Biden’s effort to once again make the Democratic Party the party of blue-collar workers.

CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin notes on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the appointment will make Brainard a likely candidate for Treasury secretary if, and when, Janet Yellin steps down.

•••

Mass Shootings This Year – Monday’s mass shooting at the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing counts as the 67^th of the year, so far. That’s 67 mass shootings in just six-plus weeks. Three are dead and five injured at MSU, as is the 42-year-old suspect, apparently of a self-inflicted gun shot.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile...

MONDAY 2/13/23

Hey, UFO, Are You a Spy? – U.S. military forces shot down a third unidentified object Sunday, this one over Lake Huron off the Michigan shore, NPR reports. A second, cylindrical-shaped object was shot down over Canadian airspace Saturday. The first such UFO was shot down over Montana last Friday following criticism, especially by Republican politicians who objected to President Biden for allowing a larger object definitively described as a Chinese spy balloon to hover over U.S. airspace for about a week before it was shot down past the Atlantic coast of South Carolina.

The Pentagon outlined the difference between the latest UFO and the Chinese spy balloon in a press statement released after Sunday’s downing.

“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in the statement (per Morning Edition).

•••

This Week – The full Senate is in session Monday through Friday. The House is not in session all week. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the January Consumer Price Index Tuesday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Haley Declares

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as UN ambassador under ex-President Trump is now officially a challenger to her former boss in the race for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee. She announced her candidacy on social media (above).

Haley is expected to make her announcement live at an event in her home state in two days.

Note: Trump famously does not like competition in what he still considers his party, but Haley entering the field is expected to cut into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ lead over Trump in two-candidate polls. DeSantis has yet to declare.

•••

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McConnell Calls Out Scott

MONDAY 2/13/23

A proposal that would require Congressional reauthorization every five years of all federal programs, including Medicare and Social Security, is not a Republican plan, “that was the Rick Scott plan,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Kentucky radio host Terry Meiners last Thursday, Aaron Blake writes in The Washington Post. As Blake notes, President Biden acknowledged in his State of the Union address last Tuesday that only a few Republicans endorsed it – though it wasn’t enough to prevent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from yelling out, “liar!” during his speech.

Scott challenged McConnell after the midterms for the GOP Senate leadership, but McConnell told reporters last week that the challenge had nothing to do with his calling out the Republican senator from Florida.

Could this be the further moderation of McConnell, who toured infrastructure projects in Kentucky and Ohio with Biden before the president’s address and who has been at odds with party leader Donald J. Trump since the January 6^th Capitol insurrection?

Meanwhile: Former UN ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to announce her 2024 presidential campaign Friday, February 17.

•••

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Biden’s Strategy Wins

By Ken Zino

Presidents Biden began his State of the Union speech to set this up: “The story of America is a story of progress and resilience … We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again.” The president too was stronger -- much stronger. He used the Republican politics of grievance and destructive posturing against them to promote another two years of progressive headway.

“We’re building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years. This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives,” Biden said.

Then Biden out-foxed, the Republicans starting with a jab at Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “I look forward to working with you,” he said, adding the caveat; “I don’t want to ruin your reputation.” Biden then loaded his speech with facts in the spirit of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who in similar situations called on his political opponents to look at the record.

Enter a tsunami of Administration triumphs:

“Two years ago, our economy was reeling.”
“As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years.”
“Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.”
“And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”
"As we gather here tonight, we are writing the next chapter in the great American story, a story of progress and resilience. I define our country in one word: Possibilities.”

Republicans face crossroads. Will sanity prevail and dump Trump and his losing, racist, sexist, fascist, insurrectionist ways? A party overhaul is needed. Biden Democrats did it: Look at the party’s stunning reversal of a global trade policy that had made the rich richer and harmed the middle class. Now the rest of the Democratic Party is firmly backing Biden’s policy of building and buying American.

Biden’s jab at Republicans who wish to end Social Security was brilliant. When a witness heckler said that it wasn’t so, Biden offered to produce the document. Heckling ensued claiming it was only one individual’s position (Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who also was chair of the party’s midterm campaigns last year).

Biden used an assumptive close that shut down the obstructionist noise. “So Medicare and Social Security are off the books in the next budget?” Biden stared them down, into silence.

During his first State of the Union, Biden’s Unity Agenda sought areas where both parties could work together and make progress for We The People. These are now -- again -- populist policies that only heartless Republicans could oppose: a “moonshot” at finding a cure for cancer; delivering on obligations to veterans; tackling the mental health crisis; beating the opioid and overdose epidemic; immigration reform.

I realize that many Republicans have a George Santos-like relationship to facts. However, Biden signed more than 300 bipartisan bills. And the positive effects of, say, his infrastructure bill are just beginning, including projects in Republican districts where Biden promised to attend the groundbreaking ceremonies.

Biden Tuesday announced a new wave of plans toward more progress, with better results for families. Along the way, Biden had Republicans on the ropes with jab after jab and devastating left hooks.

The president said he was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans to enact major legislation that delivers on all aspects of this agenda. This starts with the deficit. As I looked at the Republicans, I saw later-day Benedict Arnolds who spent too much on tax cuts for the rich. Now they want the middle class, the poor and retired to pay the price for their actions.

Biden’s predecessor signed nearly $2 trillion worth of unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. This Republican deficit went up every year under Trump’s mis-administration. Biden has cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion. Democratic reforms to take on Big Pharma, lower prescription costs, and make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars more.

Here’s the key to the winning strategy: Biden knows that the work to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out is far from done. “Let’s finish the job” is the rallying cry. Biden teased the budget he will send to Congress on March 9^th, building on the historic economic progress of the past two years by continuing to invest in America and its people, continuing to lower costs for families; for child care, housing, college costs and health care, while protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and reducing the deficit through additional reforms.

Why abandon a winning strategy?

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COMMENT in this column or email editors@thehustings.news. Tell us in the subject line whether you lean “left” or “right”.

Biden Negotiates Budget in SOTU

By Todd Lassa

In the buildup to his sucker-punch of MAGA Republicans, President Biden in his State of the Union address repeated recent Democratic talking points of how he has cut the federal deficit after Congress raised the debt ceiling for his “predecessor.” Even without mentioning Donald J. Trump by name, Biden riled up those Republicans in the House of Representatives who remain resolute in support of said predecessor by describing the last administration’s budget battle in a manner few would have expected from the longtime politician.

“For the last two years my administration has cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion. The largest deficit reduction in American history.” Biden’s fellow Democrats began applauding. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), sitting behind the president and next to Vice President Kamala Harris, appeared to be looking in the direction of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) while he silently mouthed appeals to shut up.

“In the previous administration, the deficit went up four years in a row,” Biden continued. “Because those deficits, no president added more to the national debt in any four years of my predecessor. Nearly 25% of the entire national debt that took over 200 years to accumulate was added by just one administration alone … the last one.”

GOP grumbling began to build.

“That’s a fact,” Biden dug in. “Check it out.”

Boos from the MAGA wing rose to a crescendo when Biden said “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset … some Republicans. … I’m politely not naming them, but it’s being proposed.”

From the Republican side of the gallery, MTG rose to call out “Liar!” She took Biden’s bait.

“So, folks,” Biden responded, “as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the table.”

Biden Tuesday evening gave his most loyal supporters reason to feel good about his deft balance of pugilistic politics and bipartisan comity. But it’s hard to tell whether the most progressive Democrats were sufficiently impressed with the considerable dose of anti-supply-side reverse-Reaganomics that Biden served up.

“Let’s sit down and discuss our mutual plans together” for raising the debt ceiling, Biden continued. He wants to cut the deficit by another $2 trillion. This will entail Biden’s decidedly un-bipartisan plan to impose a minimum 15% tax on billion-dollar businesses and raise taxes for rich individuals (while funding better IRS enforcement) but with no tax increases for anyone making less than $400,000 per year.

Continuing with his theme of a more blue-collar, less limousine-liberal Democratic Party, Biden outlined his new Junk Fee Protection Act, which would reduce exorbitant bank overdrafts and credit card late fees, and force airlines to return payments for cancelled flights.

Biden called for restoration of the full Child Tax Credit and proposed a public education package that would make pre-school available to all 3- and 4-year-olds, increase public school teacher pay, increase Pell Grants and expand two-year colleges.

With Row Vaughn and Rodney Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, in the audience as guests of first lady Jill Biden, the president voiced support for police, but said, “when police violate the public trust, they must be held accountable.” He called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Calling out Brandon Tsay, another guest of the first lady, who in January disarmed a shooter at a Monterey Park, California, Lunar New Year celebration, Biden demanded a ban on assault weapons.

He called on Congress to “restore the right” taken away by the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

“If Congress passes a national ban [on abortion], I will veto it,” Biden said.

And Biden expressed continued support of Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Some hard-conservative Republicans want to limit U.S. spending on military aide, while a few MAGA Republicans are more blatantly sympathetic to Vladimir Putin.

“Putin’s invasion has been a test for the ages,” Biden said. “Would we stand for the defense of democracy?”

For at least the two-plus hours of his State of the Union address Tuesday night, it was hard to objectively avoid the conclusion that President Biden was owning the MAGAs. But as Capitol Hill returns to the cold, hard reality of a politically split 118^thCongress, much of Biden’s agenda still faces likely opposition in the House, as well as four more months of arguments against raising the debt ceiling.

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Say Goodbye, Joe

By Stephen Macaulay

Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company with a wide range of investments. The so-called “Oracle of Omaha”—a moniker he earned because of prescient investment decisions that have made a whole lot of people a whole lot of money — is 92. His sidekick (a.k.a., Berkshire vice chairman) Charlie Munger is 99.

And so we wonder about Joe Biden, president of the United States (a.k.a., leader of the free world), who is 80. His birthday is November 20, 1942, so fifteen days after the 2024 presidential election, he will be 82.

If Buffett or Munger make a mistake — a big mistake — in their roles at Berkshire Hathaway, then, comparatively speaking, the fallout will be limited. Lots of people will lose lots of money, but the losses are bounded.

If Biden makes a mistake — a big mistake — in his role as the guy who has access to the nuclear codes, then comparatively speaking, the fallout will be horrifying.

Too much? Weren’t people feeling profoundly uneasy a few years back knowing that Trump had access to the codes?

According to recent polling by Gallup, Biden averaged a 41% job approval rating during his second year in office (January 20, 2022 to January 19, 2023).

Arguably, 41% is the very definition of “meh.”

And while people might pound the desk and say “But Trump was worse!,” while true, Gallup measured that in his second year (January 20, 2018 to January 19, 2019) Trump was at 40.4%.

Arguably, 0.6% is the very definition of “not much.”

Consider this:

There are three things that are required of someone who is running for president:

Natural-born citizen of the United States
At least 35 years old
Resident of the U.S. for 14 years

Scranton, Pennsylvania-born Biden checks all those boxes. No question about it.

But here’s an interesting thing: Biden first ran for president in 1988. That’s 35 years ago.

So arguably someone who was born the year he made his first unsuccessful attempt could run against the Biden.

As he might put it, “C’mon, man.”

Biden has been committed to public service since winning a seat on the New Castle County Council in Delaware in 1970. More than half a century ago.

There can be little doubt of the man’s dedication to helping make his county — or his country — a better place.

Certainly being president puts him in a good place to do this — and he has certainly done a considerable amount of good, with things including the Inflation Reduction Act to the CHIPS and Science Act to actual infrastructure funding rather than another week of bloviation.

Certainly he has a list of other accomplishments that he’d like to check off. While this is laudable, it simply may be something he may not even get a chance to start working on. It seems as though the country — yes, even Democrats — thinks there needs to be change of a generational nature.

In his State of the Union he said he wanted to “finish the job.”

The job is never finished. There is always something else to do in the same way the Buffett has another investment to make.

One of the phrases heard over the past few years was that there are too many politicians who are putting “party ahead of country.”

All of his good work notwithstanding, it seems as though if Joe Biden decides to run again he’ll be putting “personal interest ahead of country.”

Stepping down doesn’t mean he’s out. He becomes the quintessential “elder statesman.” His predecessor didn’t get that gig.

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COMMENT in this column or email editors@thehustings.news. Tell us whether you lean “right” or “left” in the subject line.

Response from the Prog Left

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will not give the sole response to President Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday. Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez also will follow up with a response, this from the progressive left, according to The Nation.

Ramirez “will counsel that Democrats can and must offer a bold progressive program as the counterpoint to Republican obstruction and extremism,” according to the report.

“That gives Democrats an opportunity – if we can seize it,” Ramirez told The Nation. Her response to the address is on behalf of the Working Families Party, described as “promoting a progressive agenda deeply rooted in commitments to economic, social, racial justice, climate action and just foreign policy.”

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White House SOTU Guests …

RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, are among the 25 White House guests for first lady Jill Biden’s box at President Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Other guests of the first lady include Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who was brutally attacked by an intruder at their San Francisco home last autumn, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova, U2 lead singer and HIV/AIDS and anti-poverty activist Bono, Lynette Bonar, who opened a special cancer center on a Native American reservation, and Ruth Cohen, a Holocaust survivor and special guest of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.

For a complete list of Jill Biden’s guests, go to https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/02/07/the-white-house-announces-guest-list-for-the-first-ladys-box-for-the-2023-state-of-the-union-address/

--Compiled and Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Arkansas Governor Has GOP Response

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will give the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. Sanders, 40, is the nation’s youngest governor, BBC notes, and is a rising star in the GOP. She is also the daughter of Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and political commentator who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and ran for president in 2008 and 2016.

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Illinois Republican Won’t Attend – Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) plans to stay away from the Capitol Tuesday night and avoid President Biden’s State of the Union address completely, Newsweek reports. Miller cites Biden’s “lies” on energy prices, immigration and the Justice Department’s probe into classified documents discovered at the president’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.

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Club for Growth Snubs Trump – The Club for Growth, an anti-tax organization that spent nearly $150 million in the last two election cycles has invited six potential Republican 2024 presidential candidates to its annual donor event in Florida next month. None of them are former President Trump, The New York Times reports. In a recent Club for Growth internal poll, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis beat President Biden by three points and Donald J. Trump by seven points.

The other five Republicans invited are Trump’s UN ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The Koch Brothers’ donor network, led by Americans for Prosperity, also has pivoted from Trump, turning “the page on the past,” with plans to financially support the ex-president’s opponents in next year’s GOP primaries, according to an internal memo viewed by the NYT.

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