Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

If Germany was Texas, Holocaust would neither be remembered nor taught here, since we would "feel guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress" due to our national origin.

"Now that you all have seen the body cam footage, I have an important message for everyone in America," DePape told KTVU's Amber Lee of. "You're welcome."

Quote:

[...]
A senior U.S. official told NBC News that the U.S. government had sought to have both Griner and Whelan released as part of a swap with the Kremlin, which wanted the return of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the U.S. But the official said Russia has treated Whelan differently because he is an accused spy, and that the Kremlin ultimately gave the White House the choice of either Griner or no one after different options were proposed.

The official added that Whelan's sister was informed on Wednesday about the process to release Griner, a player on the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, and that another senior U.S. official was able to speak with Whelan from prison Thursday and inform him about the outcome of the negotiations.

Whelan's Russian lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, also said Thursday that the deal was an exchange of "one to one," and that choosing Griner, 32, appeared "more humane" because she is a woman and an Olympic champion, while Whelan was in the military and it is "easier for him to be in custody."
[...]

NBC

Ever hear of a "wildcat" strike?

Oh really?

How many non-union replacement workers has he hired?

Congratulations, Argentina.

Live Updates: House Committee Meets Privately About Releasing Trump’s Taxes

Agreed. The man needs to be held accountable for his actions all the way along his presidency.

Trump was the man responsible for the shocking disrespect around the globe for the US. He turned the USA into a mockery during those four years.

Who can forget him being laughed at so many times at global events at his wild and false claims? Consequently, there was a loss of trust and credibility of the US that he engendered that is extremely important and that I think the world is still reeling from.

Even though he's gone, we are still watching politicians like Walker, De Santis, and Santos get votes which doesn't instil faith in the future of the USA.

Where will the US be when Biden's done?

If the people at the top don't prosecute that man it's bad news for the US.

Saudi Arabia tossing its collective hat in with the BRICS nations should be front and centre in the "news" that matters.

Cite some examples. Should Obama likewise be "held accountable" for his invasions of sovereign nations? The street rape and murder of Libya's loved leader? With zero "plans" for what happened to the shining light of north Africa after that murder?

I remain convinced that the man convicted of the bombings, Al Megrahi remains innocent.
That's the only part of the Lockerbie bombing I am convinced of.
Trying to blame the Clintons is absurd.
If Libya was not to blame Iran is a more likely culprit, although I do think Libyan parties were involved, just not Megrahi, he was a patsy.

When President Biden gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he will have a lot to boast about.

He’s presided over record job creation and the lowest unemployment rate in over 50 years. Whereas Donald Trump’s infrastructure weeks were a running joke, Biden signed the largest infusion of federal funds into infrastructure in more than a decade. His Inflation Reduction Act made a historic investment in clean energy; the head of the International Energy Agency called it the most important climate action since the 2015 Paris climate accord. (And incidentally, inflation is finally coming down.) Biden rallied Western nations to support Ukraine against Russia’s imperialist invasion and ended America’s long, fruitless war in Afghanistan, albeit with an ugly and ignominious exit. His administration capped insulin prices for seniors, codified federal recognition of gay marriage and shot down that spy balloon everyone was freaking out about. He’s on track to appoint more federal judges than Trump.

Biden can also take a victory lap for Trump’s declining influence. Lots of pundits rolled their eyes when Biden sought to make the midterms a referendum on the MAGA movement’s threat to American democracy. Voters didn’t. Even more than Trump’s defeat in 2020, the loss of Trumpist candidates like Arizona’s Kari Lake and Georgia’s Herschel Walker in 2022 convinced many Republicans they need to move on from their onetime hero.

In other words, Biden has been a great president. He’s made good on an uncommon number of campaign promises. He should be celebrated on Tuesday. But he should not run again.

It’s been widely reported that Biden plans to use the State of the Union to set up his case for re-election. There’s a rift in the Democratic Party about whether this is wise for an 80-year-old to do. Democratic officials are largely on board, at least publicly, but the majority of Democratic voters are not. “Democrats say he’s done a good job but he’s too old,” said Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist who conducts regular voter focus groups. “He’ll be closer to 90 than 80 by the end of his second term.” Perhaps reflecting this dynamic, a Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that while 78 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents approved of the job Biden has done as president, 58 percent of them wanted a different candidate next year.

The arguments for sticking with Biden are not trivial. In addition to his successful record, he has the benefit of incumbency. Primaries are expensive, exhausting, bruising affairs. If only Biden were just a few years younger, it would not be worth the Democratic Party enduring one.

But it’s hard to ignore the toll of Biden’s years, no matter how hard elected Democrats try. In some ways, the more sympathetic you are to Biden, the harder it can be to watch him stumble over his words, a tendency that can’t be entirely explained by his stutter. Longwell said Democrats in her focus group talked about holding their breath every time he speaks. And while Biden was able to campaign virtually in 2020, in 2024 we will almost certainly be back to a grueling real-world campaign schedule, which he would have to power through while running the country. It’s a herculean task for a 60-year-old and a near impossible one for an octogenarian.

If Biden faces Trump, who will be 78 next year, that might not matter. It is worrying that in the Washington Post/ABC poll, Trump was slightly ahead in a hypothetical rematch, but Trump’s negatives tend to go up the more he’s in the public eye, and a presidential campaign would give him plenty of chances to remind Americans of his unique malignancy. But with many polls showing Trump’s popularity slipping and with the deep-pocketed Koch network lining up against him, chances are good that Biden’s competitor will be someone much younger, like Ron DeSantis, who will be 46 in 2024. Barring some radical shift in the national mood, the candidates will be vying for leadership of a deeply dissatisfied country desperate for change. For Democrats, the visual contrast alone could be devastating.

Plenty of Democrats worry that if Biden steps aside, the nomination will go to Vice President Kamala Harris, who polls poorly. But Democrats have a deep bench, including politicians who’ve won in important purple states, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. Biden said he wanted to be a bridge to the next generation of Democrats. There are quite a few promising people qualified to cross it. A primary will give Democrats the chance to find the one who is suited for this moment.

The last time I wrote about Biden being too old, he was at a low moment in his presidency, with inflation soaring and his Build Back Better agenda stalled. Had he decided not to run for re-election then, it probably would have looked like an admission of failure. Now his political legacy seems more secure. He’ll cement it if he has the uncommon wisdom to know when the time has come for a valediction, not a relaunch.

But it’s hard to ignore the toll of Biden’s years, no matter how hard elected Democrats try. In some ways, the more sympathetic you are to Biden, the harder it can be to watch him stumble over his words, a tendency that can’t be entirely explained by his stutter. Longwell said Democrats in her focus group talked about holding their breath every time he speaks. And while Biden was able to campaign virtually in 2020, in 2024 we will almost certainly be back to a grueling real-world campaign schedule, which he would have to power through while running the country. It’s a herculean task for a 60-year-old and a near impossible one for an octogenarian….<snip>


…The last time I wrote about Biden being too old, he was at a low moment in his presidency, with inflation soaring and his Build Back Better agenda stalled. Had he decided not to run for re-election then, it probably would have looked like an admission of failure. Now his political legacy seems more secure. He’ll cement it if he has the uncommon wisdom to know when the time has come for a valediction, not a relaunch.

I have a commercial license to fly hot air and gas (helium) balloons.

Balloons are ALWAYS at the mercy of the wind they are in. They can NEVER maneuver in any way within that stream of air. However, they have limited ability to maneuver in relation to the ground. They do this by changing to an altitude that has a wind favorable to the direction they want to go. If they want to loiter over an area, they would have to find an altitude where there was zero wind. You almost never find a wind going exactly in the direction you want to go, so you constantly change altitude to, sort of, tack in the direction you want to go, almost like a sailboat trying to sail in a direction upwind.

That’s how the google Loon balloons worked. They communicated winds aloft information to one another and used weather forecasts. With that information, they could “loiter” over a general area by continually correcting their altitude to go in a favorable direction, the net result being that they could stay within a relatively small (in terms of miles) area. They were communication balloons so they didn’t have to do this as precisely as one would have to do for a spy camera. But if there were no favorable winds, they couldn’t stay where they were needed.

I raced both hot air and gas balloons around the U.S. and Mexico. Our objective with hot air balloons was usually to take off and fly to a specific spot marked by big X. The one to land the closest was the winner. It required constant knowledge of other winds aloft. Sometimes we would spit over the side of the gondola and watch the path the spit took to detect different wind directions. Probably not a useful technique for an unmanned spy balloon over Montana. Other races were won by going the farthest distance from the take off site; the direction was irrelevant.