Bernie Sanders

It's no wonder that Bernie Sanders has hitched his wagon to the Biden campaign. Joe Biden is the best candidate to advance Bernie's ideas. Here Bernie writes a pro-Biden essay in the New York Times.

Bernie Sanders: Joe Biden for President

By Bernie Sanders

Mr. Sanders is the senior senator from Vermont.

• July 13, 2024

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I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected. Why? Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar. It’s time to learn a lesson from the progressive and centrist forces in France who, despite profound political differences, came together this week to soundly defeat right-wing extremism.

I strongly disagree with Mr. Biden on the question of U.S. support for Israel’s horrific war against the Palestinian people. The United States should not provide Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government with another nickel as it continues to create one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history.

I strongly disagree with the president’s belief that the Affordable Care Act, as useful as it has been, will ever address America’s health care crisis. Our health care system is broken, dysfunctional and wildly expensive and needs to be replaced with a “Medicare for all” single-payer system. Health care is a human right.

And those are not my only disagreements with Mr. Biden.

But for over two weeks now, the corporate media has obsessively focused on the June presidential debate and the cognitive capabilities of a man who has, perhaps, the most difficult and stressful job in the world. The media has frantically searched for every living human being who no longer supports the president or any neurologist who wants to appear on TV. Unfortunately, too many Democrats have joined that circular firing squad.

Yes. I know: Mr. Biden is old, is prone to gaffes, walks stiffly and had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump. But this I also know: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate.

Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate. And with an effective campaign that speaks to the needs of working families, he will not only defeat Mr. Trump but beat him badly. It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking.

I understand that some Democrats get nervous about having to explain the president’s gaffes and misspeaking names. But unlike the Republicans, they do not have to explain away a candidate who now has 34 felony convictions and faces charges that could lead to dozens of additional convictions, who has been hit with a $5 million judgment after he was found liable in a sexual abuse case, who has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits, who has repeatedly gone bankrupt and who has told thousands of documented lies and falsehoods.

Supporters of Mr. Biden can speak proudly about a good and decent Democratic president with a record of real accomplishment. The Biden administration, as a result of the American Rescue Plan, helped rebuild the economy during the pandemic far faster than economists thought possible. At a time when people were terrified about the future, the president and those of us who supported him in Congress put Americans back to work, provided cash benefits to desperate parents and protected small businesses, hospitals, schools and child care centers.

After decades of talk about our crumbling roads, bridges and water systems, we put more money into rebuilding America’s infrastructure than ever before — which is projected to create millions of well-paying jobs. And we did not stop there. We made the largest-ever investment in climate action to save the planet. We canceled student debt for nearly five million financially strapped Americans. We cut prices for insulin and asthma inhalers, capped out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and got free vaccines to the American people. We battled to defend women’s rights in the face of moves by Trump-appointed jurists to roll back reproductive freedom and deny women the right to control their own bodies.

So, yes, Mr. Biden has a record to run on. A strong record. But he and his supporters should never suggest that what’s been accomplished is sufficient. To win the election, the president must do more than just defend his excellent record. He needs to propose and fight for a bold agenda that speaks to the needs of the vast majority of our people — the working families of this country, the people who have been left behind for far too long.

At a time when the billionaires have never had it so good and when the United States is experiencing virtually unprecedented income and wealth inequality, over 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, real weekly wages for the average worker have not risen in over 50 years, 25 percent of seniors live each year on $15,000 or less, we have a higher rate of childhood poverty than almost any other major country, and housing is becoming more and more unaffordable — among other crises.

This is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We can do better. We must do better. Joe Biden knows that. Donald Trump does not. Joe Biden wants to tax the rich so that we can fund the needs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. Donald Trump wants to cut taxes for the billionaire class. Joe Biden wants to expand Social Security benefits. Donald Trump and his friends want to weaken Social Security. Joe Biden wants to make it easier for workers to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits. Donald Trump wants to let multinational corporations get away with exploiting workers and ripping off consumers. Joe Biden respects democracy. Donald Trump attacks it.

This election offers a stark choice on issue after issue. If Mr. Biden and his supporters focus on these issues — and refuse to be divided and distracted — the president will rally working families to his side in the industrial Midwest swing states and elsewhere and win the November election. And let me say this as emphatically as I can: For the sake of our kids and future generations, he must win.

Original (Gifted)

L.A. Times

In addition to the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board has published a simple opinion that Trump is unfit. Biden might be old and stutters, but he doesn't want to destroy the country like Trump does. He doesn't want to round up millions of migrants, put them in detention camps and deport them. 

There is literally no end to the ugly things that Donald Trump wants to do, and we can use the (Nazi) Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 to get a glimpse of what these fascist authoritarians want to do to this country. I, probably like many, many others, urge you to read Project 2025.  Here is a good link to get you started: The People's Guide to Project 2025.

Editorial:  One candidate is patently unfit for the White House. It’s not Biden

by The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

July 11, 2024

Democrats are in crisis at the moment, divided over whether President Biden should stay in the race after his disastrous debate last month or clear the way for another, younger candidate. 

Biden’s shaky performance raised concerns about whether he can win in November, and prompted calls from prominent Democrats, columnists and others for him to step aside. It’s up to the Democratic Party to sort this out. But it’s time to refocus attention on the only candidate in the race who is patently unfit for office — any office — and an imminent threat to democracy: Donald Trump.

It’s unbelievable that the nation is spending so much time on the question of Biden’s verbal acuity, when the greatest concern ought to be that his challenger is a self-aggrandizing felon and twice-impeached election-denier. Trump fomented the Jan. 6 insurrection, shows contempt for the rule of law and shamelessly lies in pursuit of more power. He’s an authoritarian who admires murderous despots, wants to jail his political enemies and has publicly flirted with declaring himself a dictator on his first day back in office.

With fervent support from the Republican Party, he peddles cruelty, racism and misogyny, demonizing immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country,” demeaning women‘s looks and intelligence, and using disgustingly fascist language to criticize his opponents as “vermin.” He’s a man who lied about his wealth for years to cheat on his taxes, whose business was convicted of criminal tax fraud, and who’s been denounced by many former aides and Cabinet members as a  “malignant narcissist” who recklessly puts himself before the American people.

Trump is the only man in the presidential race manifestly unworthy of holding a position of power, and has no business ever returning to the White House. If the GOP had any decency left, its members would be discussing whether to dump Trump for a candidate who isn’t out to bulldoze democratic institutions in favor of autocracy.

Voters should resist viewing this contest through the politics-as-usual lens of past elections. This November is not about dueling personalities, middle-of-the-road policy differences, or as some might see it, an 81-year-old man being the lesser of two evils compared with a 78-year-old man. It’s nothing short of a referendum on our 248-year democracy, and a choice between a trustworthy public servant who upholds American values and a serial liar who wants to push the country into authoritarianism.

Leaders of the Democratic Party have to stop the self-defeating discussion about Biden’s fitness and decide whether to replace him or unify behind him. And Americans must start hearing more about how the records, positions and character of Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and any of the prominent Democrats being floated as possible replacements make them all unquestionably superior to Trump.

Original.

Blind Loyalty?

Dan Rather takes the position that I have held recently. That is: let the dissenters speak, let those who are worried about Biden speak out and be heard. This does not mean, of course, that we have to agree with them or automatically disagree with them. The open discussion of ideas and, well, everything, is part of the American experience. 

Blind Loyalty? That’s the Other Guy

The Democrats need discourse, not discord

DAN RATHER AND TEAM STEADY JUL 11

It’s been too hot in Texas to spend any meaningful time outside, which has left this reporter with few options except to watch the post-debate discourse on social media and cable news. Big mistake. Frankly, I am alarmed at what I’m witnessing. If you wonder why Donald Trump has been so quiet lately, it’s because he doesn’t need to campaign. Why waste a good lie and ad dollars when he can sit back and watch the Democrats implode? 

President Biden insists he’s in it to stay, bad debate or not. Those who question that decision, or support his withdrawal, are now being told some version of salute and get in line, don’t rock the boat, or change can’t happen. It’s similar to an expression by an old Texas football coach who once said you have to “dance with the one who brung you.” To do otherwise is apparently not acceptable.

It is shocking to me that to criticize Biden is now being labeled as blasphemous. To worry about our democracy under a president who is losing a step – or worse — is seen as unpatriotic or even somehow showing tacit support for Trump. 

In the same breath, I hear, “What about Trump? Why isn’t the media calling on him to get out?” I won’t speak for others, but at Steady I can point to hundreds of posts written over the past several years about why he is unfit to serve. If our position is unclear, then I have failed. Going forward, we will continue to highlight his lies and generally outrageous behavior.

Whether Biden should stay in the race is a discussion we all must be having. Yes, keeping Trump out of D.C. forever is vital. But to be silenced and shamed for the very act of questioning Biden’s ability to lead is undemocratic. We are better than that. If we have learned anything in the last eight years, it is that blind loyalty is dangerous — see Trump, Donald J.  

I am not, repeat NOT, endorsing a Biden withdrawal from the race. Nor am I endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, or anyone else. What I am endorsing is a conversation about strategy, one without intimidation. To be shouted down for raising your voice is un-American.

If this angers you, I’m sorry. I get it. The unknown is almost as terrifying as another four years of Donald Trump. But I am here to tell you, to the best of my ability in the days I have left on this earth, the truth, or as close to it as possible. And sometimes that is not pleasant. But our democracy needs a big injection of truth right now. And I mean right now, as in today.  

If we were kept in the dark by our journalists, or even worse, the White House staff or Biden campaign purposely deceiving us about the president’s health, it is beyond troubling. This cannot be swept under the rug. It needs sunshine. 

The loudest argument against having an open discussion is a lack of time to change course, which is, frankly, insulting. This is America. We can and will do what’s needed to protect our great country. Never say can’t … that’s a word on the outside of my vocabulary looking in. If you want the side eye from me, tell me something can’t be done.  

One final note — I’m most proud of the comments section on Steady. It is an open forum where intelligent, well-informed people have smart, civil debates. In response to a post last week, many of you were upset with even the notion of questioning the present course. That is your right. It is also the right of others to talk about a different way forward. Please allow them to do so.  

If you value independent journalism that provides critical information to protect our democracy, please consider upgrading as a supporting member. It allows me to keep Steady sustainable and free for those who cannot afford it, especially in an election season when we need everyone to see it. Thank you.

Original. 

Beryl from space

The wife and I have lived in and around Houston off and on for about 40 years. We survived many hurricanes during those years: Alicia, Allison, Ike, Rita, and several other not-so-deadly or expensive, but annoying, storms. We retired from working and left Houston in early  2017.

That summer, a Cat 4 Hurricane Harvey flooded most of Houston killing almost 70 people. I remember, we had just moved to the RGV (Rio Grande Valley). Harvey came up from the south and sat offshore about 100 miles east of Brownsville for several hours, as if it was considering whether or not to fuck with us. It wasn't all that huge of a storm yet. 

We went to bed nervously, hoping the storm wouldn't head for us overnight and we'd wake up and might not be able to flee (they close the bridge if sustained winds reach 45mph). When we woke the next morning, the storm was moving to the north, thank goodness. Rockport eventually got flattened and flooded, and then the storm went back out to sea, strengthened some more and then drifted over to Galveston. It hit with an 8'-12' storm surge, and dumped around 60" of rain on the Houston area. So glad we had moved six months before Harvey hit. That's called dumb luck.

 

Beryl Makes Landfall in Texas

After tearing through the Caribbean and the Yucatan Peninsula, Hurricane Beryl swept ashore over the Gulf Coast of Texas on July 8, 2024. The Category 1 storm had sustained winds of up to 80 miles (129 kilometers) per hour at landfall and brought high gusts and heavy rain to the Houston area.

This image (top of page) shows Beryl at 7:43 a.m. Central Daylight Time (12:43 Universal Time) on July 8, about 3 hours after making landfall near Matagorda, Texas. As it moved north toward Houston, Beryl dumped 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) of rain over the metro area. Local authorities reported flooding along roads, downed trees, and power outages. 

This GeoColor image (above) was captured by the ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) on the GOES-16 (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16). GeoColor images show natural color reflectance during the daytime and multi-spectral infrared bands at night. The satellite is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which includes the National Weather Service. NASA helps develop and launch the GOES series of satellites, which observe Earth from about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the equator.

(would have been an image inserted here, can be found here)

Beryl formed in the Atlantic Ocean on June 28 before explosively intensifying into a major hurricane. Rapid intensification occurs when wind speeds increase by at least 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour within 24 hours. Between the afternoon of June 29 and the morning of June 30, Beryl’s winds increased by 65 miles per hour to become an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane. 

This explosive strengthening was fueled, in part, by warm ocean temperatures. Across the Northern Hemisphere, ocean temperatures for the January-April period averaged 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit (1.18 degrees Celsius) above normal, according to NOAA. Despite the waning El Niño, temperatures at the sea surface and at deeper depths are still above average in many places, according to Josh Willis, an oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

After making landfall on Carriacou Island in the Caribbean on July 1, Beryl continued to strengthen. On July 2, the storm became the earliest Category 5 hurricane observed in the Atlantic basin in NOAA’s record. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took the photo above on July 2, as Beryl churned through the Caribbean Sea.

Beryl was downgraded to a tropical storm a few hours after making landfall on July 8, but as of noon local time in eastern Texas, hazardous winds and flooding rain continued to batter the region. Over 2.6 million people were without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.us.

Original.

Are hurricanes getting stronger? Yes.

Pitch

I would not normally do this, but I am posting the verbatim text from a recent email I got from the Biden team. Won't do it very often. 

It encapsulates simply what I have thought for awhile, namely, that the American people have seen Trump up close and they want no more of that chaos, grift, and bullshit. Sure, some people like him. Even love him. As if he's some kind of second coming. It's sad to see so many people identifying with authoritarian Trump, but let's remember we've had a sizable number of American Nazi's in this country before. Many, many Americans favored Hitler. That authoritarian streak continues in this country.

The American people have seen who Donald Trump really is.

The delusion.
The lying.
The racism.
The xenophobia.
The admiration of dictators.
The utter cruelty.

Instead of properly handling the COVID crisis, Trump played golf and told people to inject bleach. Instead of accepting the 2020 election results, Trump riled up a mob that ransacked our Capitol and violently attacked law enforcement.

Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy. And he is a threat to everything we hold dear.

It's our shared responsibility to defeat Trump once and for all and save our democracy -- but it will be impossible if donors like you sit on the sidelines.

The MAGA Right has stockpiled millions of dollars to spread absurd falsehoods, and we must respond with strength.

Your $25 to defeat Donald Trump can't wait another day. Another hour. It's needed immediately to fight back against Trump's lies and protect our freedoms. Will you pitch in $25 or any amount?

It's July

This happens now and then on this blog: I get rather involved in things unrelated to the blog and don't get around to making posts. Happens with my contributions to social media too. Lately there have been a few other things demanding my attention:

1) Hurricane Beryl, which threatened us with a direct hit for several days before bending northward and taking aim at the Houston area. All that packing and preparation to flee was good practice, I guess. Living on the coast, one has to really keep an eye on tropical storms. It's a little unnerving, to know that, for any given storm, we could lose the house and everything in it. Having a little Xanax now and then helps!

2) Family visits, which just blow everything out of the water. We had planned a trip up to Michigan recently but had to cancel it almost at the last minute. 7 members of the family were planning on coming up to "house-sit" for us while we were gone, but when we actually were here, it was a pretty crowded house. You don't really need to "entertain" the family, but you should. Don't want to be too much of a mudge, even if I am a bit of a mudge. Xanax helps here too.

3) Health. The wife has had more than her share of aches, pains, and other health issues over the last couple of weeks. Tending to her reminds me of all the hard work that goes into "caregiving" for a family member. It's exhausting, and it can be hard to find some time for yourself. I have a feeling that this will only intensify as we get older. Xanax, please?

4) Being lazy. That's subjective, of course, but I do not hesitate to put off until tomorrow what I could have done today. And by the time you get around to posting something, the news has already moved on to something else. Except for Biden's poor debate performance, that might just become an axiom of the news media. 

So there can often be large gaps between posts. C'est le vie. It's not that I am avoiding the news of the day, I'm just avoiding mentioning anything about it. And, no, I don't take that much Xanax, but it can sure help take the edge off sometimes. We live in very stressful times, and it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Since I don't drink like a fish, I seek other methods of stress relief.

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday, America! Let's don't give up our democracy in favor of this orange scourge of a lying criminal. We can do it!