“Enquiring Minds Want To Know”—National Enquirer motto
Joe Biden is too old for a second term as President. That said, he should be commended for the significant legislation passed on his watch, laws that MAGA news downplays even though the legislation positively benefits their audience and their lives. The following lists the more important laws MAGA’s “fair and balanced” reporting conveniently ignores.
— Inflation Reduction Act. It didn’t reduce inflation, but it curbs methane gas emissions, requires Medicare to negotiate prices, and caps insulin at $35 a month for Medicare recipients.
— Election Count Reform Act. Designed to prevent another Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow a valid election by removing the Vice-President from decision making. Mike Pence, a dying breed—a principled Republican.
— Safer Communities Act. Supports state “red flag” laws to deny guns to degenerate mental incompetents like the Parkland school and Sebring bank killers. Opposed by the gun lobby as unconstitutional.
— Chips Act. Major investment in semiconductors made in America, not Red China or Taiwan.
— Infrastructure Act. A Trump promise never kept. Billions for roads and bridges along with broadband access to rural areas similar to the New Deal TVA.
Two other noteworthy bills in the hopper worth mentioning:
— The Dignity Bill. Addresses the asylum controversy on immigration. This bipartisan effort currently languishes in committee, blocked since convicted felon Donald Trump has ordered his Congressional sycophants that the immigration crisis be kept alive until the election to enhance his chances of winning. Team Trump is NOT Team USA.
— Reclassifying marijuana from Stage I (heroin, LSD) to Stage III (tylenol, steroids). This would stop jailing users for possessing a product no more dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, which are regulated for safety and taxed for income. If the MAGA “Reefer Madness” crowd opposes this measure as soft on crime, the drug cartels should thank them for supporting their lucrative, violent, and deadly business.
This partial list of POTUS #46 accomplishments with a razor-thin Congressional majority gets little or no airtime/print in MAGA media. If POTUS #45 becomes POTUS #47, his first new law will probably be to change Inauguration Day to Coronation Day. The crowning, however, might have to be conducted from a jail cell.
MAGAs, this writing is not your “fake news” rubbish. Let it all sink into your “fair and balanced” Enquiring Minds.
ED ENGLER, Sebring, Fla.
When the headlines get too much to bear—which nowadays is always—I console myself by anticipating Hal Crowther’s thoughtful perspective and seasoned wisdom. Commiserating with and learning from Crowther’s columns helps me keep my bearings (I started to write “keep me sane,” but that’s probably too optimistic).
While Crowther isn’t infallible, it’s usually foolish to reject his arguments outright. But one reader actually went there in a clueless letter to the editor (“Clueless on Gaza?”, 7/1-15/24 issue, responding to “Campus in Crisis: Clueless on Gaza” by Crowther in the 6/15/24 TPP), which contained this petulant pearl of un-wisdom: “I have never seen any proof of the atrocities said to have been committed at that time, Oct. 7.”
Seriously? I used to assume TPP readers to be informed and reasonable, even in their disagreements. But this has me wondering what’s in the water and whether we have any hope of fighting the good fight when would-be allies are so willfully ignorant.
To give further attention to this annoying letter would be to spend too much time in the muck. So instead, I’ll hold my tongue and await the next Crowther column, which I know will set me aright.
JIM GARDNER, Asheville, NC
P.S. And a belated thank you for including Alexandra Petri’s brilliant satire in your pages. Hurrah!
Thank you James Cullen and John Young [in the 8/1/24 TPP]: Yes we must “keep ridin’ with Biden” and yes the “debate analysis is about lies, period.”
If we were to follow the advice of people like Gene Lyons and open up the convention to Newsom and Whitmer and Booker and … then we would find that one of them had a wayward child and another had given a state contract to an in-law and another had written a provocative thesis and another had seen a psychiatrist and another had a bitter divorce with a still angry spouse … No governor would be suitable because they were too parochial and no senator would be acceptable because they lack executive experience.
The primaries are over and the delegates are pledged. Period. Congenital nay-sayers will never stop. If delegates were released and a new, unknown-to-the-general-public, leader was finally selected – after no doubt bruising battles – then people like Lyons would likely (once again) question that outcome.
Does Lyons (and J. Alter) really think that “[the Trump campaign] would have only a short time to make anything stick”? With computers and consultants it would take less than a month to ferret out weaknesses and outline deceitful messages. And less than a month thereafter would come a barrage of clever lying nasty commercials. And then, yes, there would be no time to respond to these.
Both Cullen and Young rightly explore Trump debate lies. Excellent – don’t stop. And Froma Harrop’s ideas on what Biden should do now are thoughtful and germane. As I write this there are only three full months (August, September, October) until the election. The war has already begun, the skirmishers have already been deployed, but the main battles lie ahead. Every day counts. Lead, follow or get out of the way.
JOHN PALMER, Huntington, W.V.
Look, I really don’t understand the correlation between Trump, MAGA Christianity and reality .
According to MAGA and their “Christian Warriors,” Trump’s sins, no matter how egregious they were or currently are, should now be totally forgiven in order to elect him as president and thus make America a Christian country and “Great Again.”
But what about Trump’s future sins? In essence, I guess that Trump could now have a secret, sexual affair with Mike Johnson’s wife or get spanked with a magazine by the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or perhaps even be convicted of sexual abuse of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s wife, like he was with E. Jean Carroll, but then, no problem, all of Trump’s sins would be totally forgiven again by his faithful MAGA “Christian Warriors,” because Trump is a Great Christian, even though he doesn’t read the Bible, but instead sells it in order to keep his head above water due to legal and financial problems. Evidently, to them, the sinner is far more important than the sins, especially when it helps them politically, economically and religiously.
Look, Trump isn’t the savior that these MAGA “Christians Warriors” so desperately want to believe he is. Hey, remember that First Commandment, when God said “You shalt not have false gods before Me”? Well, that false god is before these MAGA “Christian Warriors” in full force right now and his name is “False Fat Donny” and he is taking advantage of them big-time, just like he has always done to people all of his rotten, selfish, obnoxious and non-Christian life.
MIKE EKLUND, La Porte, Ind.
I’m one of those citizens who firmly believes that instead of allowing the voters to decide the outcome of the 2020 Democratic primary, the Democratic National Committee did a lot of arm-twisting to ensure that many of the candidates dropped out sooner rather than later and throw their support to Biden. Well, look what their interference has wrought. Couple that with Biden’s broken promise to be a “transitional” president, a promise that reeked of slippery, lawyerly vagueness, and here we are.
Only Trump can outmatch Biden’s self-absorption and hubris in this election. The terrifying possibility looms that an unctuous, unhinged, convicted felon who could win the “Liar of the Century” award, if such an award existed, may very well become president yet again. Even worse, Trump’s round two would be aided by the Supreme Court and the Heritage Foundation with their evil 2025 project, players who aren’t even bothering to hide their extreme agendas.
It could soon be “Night in America”, i.e. the age of Fascism, and a reading of history shows that once it takes root, it’s very hard to overcome that noxious weed. I’m tempted to end this letter with another “F” word that encapsulates my horror, but I’ll be civilized and leave it to the PP reader’s imagination.
SUSAN ODEGARD, Westminster West, Vt.
In a 1851 journal entry, kindly Ralph Waldo Emerson rather coolly remarked: “The whole world is a serious of balanced antagonisms.” As Joe Biden and Don Trump cross swords or break lances, this verity is trenchantly illustrated.
Balanced antagonisms indeed! Opinions are like hard times, since everybody has plenty of them throughout our society. Whether seen as farce or melodrama, the drollery deserves somewhat cautious critique, passions running high.
Who decides when sociologists, philosophers and shrewd savants disagree? Why, we do, constitutionally. As sure as astrology morphed into astronomy, and alchemy became chemistry, the multitudes shall trash away the chaff.
WILLIAM DAUENHAUER, Willowick, Ohio
From The Progressive Populist, August 15, 2024
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