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SEPTEMBER 20-21,  2023

MORE BIDEN EMBARRASSMENT.  This has got to stop.  He's the chief of state, and he can't get through a brief meeting.  From the New York Post: 

Another day, another slip-up.

President Biden on Thursday expressed his admiration for the “Congressional Black Caucus” during a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in his latest head-scratching moment.

The gaffe came as he delivered a speech in Washington at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 46th Annual Gala. 

Biden, 80, celebrated gala award recipient Sister Norma Pimental, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, right before the blunder. 

“I know Sister Norma lives the lessons nuns taught me growing up. Lessons based on the Gospel of Matthew: feed the hungry, care for the sick, welcome strangers,” the president said. “They echo what my dad taught me, and I mean this sincerely, my dad used to say, ‘Everyone, everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.’” 

“The Congressional Black Caucus embodies all those values,” he added, without stopping to correct himself. 

Biden’s latest verbal mistake comes a week after he was ripped for inferring that African American and Hispanic workers don’t have “high school diplomas.”

“We’ve seen record lows in unemployment particularly — and I’ve focused on this my whole career — particularly for African Americans and Hispanic workers and veterans, you know, the workers without high school diplomas,” he said during an event at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland last week.

Biden boasted Thursday about the number of Hispanic members in his Cabinet and took credit for “record low” Latino unemployment and other economic gains in the Hispanic community under his watch. 

He also accused Republicans of “gutting the immigration system” during former President Donald Trump’s time in office and continuing to “undermine our border security today, blocking bipartisan reform.”

Biden looked over to both sides of the stage after concluding his remarks, and he put his palms up as he appeared to ask someone off camera for directions on which way to exit the stage.

Nearly two-thirds of Hispanic voters –  60% – disapprove of Biden’s job performance as president, according to a June Pew Research poll.

COMMENT:  He also insulted the president of Brazil by walking off after a press conference without shaking his hand. 

It just isn't funny anymore.  It is likely that the president's condition will get worse, not better.  Under any reasonable circumstances, a patriotic president as impaired as Biden would step down, or at least pledge not to run for the presidency again.  But the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris moving to the presidency has given Biden plenty of cover.  Harris makes Biden look like Abraham Lincoln. 

But I do wonder whether Biden will suffer a huge personal setback, and will be forced out of the race, creating a crisis for his party and his country. 

Next year will not be a dull election year.

September 21, 2023       Permalink

A SHARP WARNING.  One of the things we like to do at Urgent Agenda is to direct our readers' attention to things they might otherwise not notice.  Well, here's one of them.  President Roosevelt called America the "arsenal of democracy."  It turns out that the arsenal, the backbone of our defense, has gotten several coatings of rust.  We are not prepared for a sustained conflict, and our enemies know it.  From the New York Post: 

WASHINGTON – As defense manufacturers struggle to keep up with the Pentagon’s needs and the threat from China grows, the chairman of a key House subcommittee told industry leaders Wednesday to shift from the current peacetime production pace and get on a “war footing.”

“In my opinion, we have not mobilized to prevent a war in the Pacific,” Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation subcommittee head Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) said. “We have not moved to maximum production rates of long-range precision fires.”

Hindered by the after-effects of slowed production during the COVID-19 pandemic and the task of keeping Ukraine stocked with the systems they need to fight off Russia, the defense base has been unable even to refill the Pentagon’s dwindling weapons stockpiles, let alone produce new defense capabilities.

With 10 days left of the 2023 fiscal year, the Pentagon has failed to spend its entire weapons and development budget largely because the defense industry’s slowed production rate left it unable to fulfill the orders, according to Gallagher.

“In one week, $11 billion of previously appropriated defense money – previous year’s money we’ve already given to the Defense Department – is going to evaporate [and] will turn into a pumpkin on midnight on September 30,” he said, referencing the expiration of prior unspent funds with the coming of the new fiscal year.

The hearing came one week after Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall gave a sobering speech in which he said China is rapidly galvanizing its military in preparation for a potential conflict.

“The intelligence couldn’t be clearer. China is preparing for war, and specifically for a war with the United States,” Gallagher said, paraphrasing Kendall. “If we took this warning from the secretary of the Air Force seriously, and thereby got serious about preventing a war with China, preventing World War III, we would immediately shift the Pentagon away from a posture optimized for peacetime efficiency and onto a war footing.”

“We would embrace that basic paradox,” he added, “that to avoid a war we have to adopt a war footing.”

Warning that a war with China “has the potential to make previous world wars look restrained in comparison,” Gallagher asked representatives from Anduril Industries, Saildrone, Inc. and defense industry powerhouse Lockheed Martin how the government can help allay issues causing the slow production pace.

“Tell us … what we need to do to fix this problem; what we need to do to turbocharge our innovation enterprise in defense; what we need to do to defibrillate a sclerotic defense industrial base and thereby prevent war – which is the business we are all in,” he said. “We cannot keep wasting time.”

It’s not a new problem; Gallagher said he’d been discussing the issue for years with military and industry leaders. But the matter is becoming more urgent as China grows and revolutionizes its military.

COMMENT:  A thoughtful man with a serious message.  We saw in World War II what lack of preparedness did to us.  We pledged that we would learn our lesson.  But World War II is now ancient history, and the lesson is being forgotten.  Indeed, we have a young generation that probably doesn't know when World War II was fought. 

We are lacking in the kind of trusted leadership that could lead us out of this potential nightmare.  That could be our undoing. 

September 21, 2023       Permalink

SEPTEMBER 18-19,  2023

AMERICANS REJECT OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM.  The system itself is under fire.  But would a third party provide the solution?  From Axios: 

Americans' views of the U.S. political system have reached new lows, according to a survey that reveals near-record distrust of the government, disgust with both political parties and general exhaustion over all the divisiveness.

Why it matters: The survey by Pew Research Center reflects the growing distaste with the nation's politics as congressional infighting threatens a government shutdown and the 2024 presidential race appears headed toward a Biden-Trump matchup most Americans don't want.

Four times as many Americans have unfavorable views of both parties today than they did in 2002 — an all-time high, with Republicans and Democrats equally unpopular, the survey found.

Trust in the government is near a 70-year low, with just 16% of the public saying they trust the federal government at least most of the time.

Two in three Americans say they always or often feel "exhausted" when they think about politics. The top two words they use to describe U.S. politics are "divisive" and "corrupt."

Zoom in: The problem could get worse as younger generations make up greater shares of the population. Younger people are far more likely to be critical of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

37% of 18- to 29-year-olds had unfavorable views of both parties, compared to just 16% of those 65 or older.

A growing number of younger voters are rejecting the two-party system and claiming to be independent, as Axios has reported.

Between the lines: A third-party solution is not so straightforward, however.

68% of Americans overall say they at least somewhat wish there were more parties to choose from, but they're not convinced that having more than two major parties would make it easier to solve the nation's problems.

Only about a quarter think so, while another quarter say more parties would make solutions more difficult.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  This is a very well done survey, although the results are not shocking.  There is a general sense of the nation failing.  The last time we had this was in the late 1970s, when Jimmy Carter was in the White House, and the solution was Ronald Reagan, who was elected president in 1980.

Are there any Reagans today?  I don't think so.  What the nation needs is an individual who has exhibited greatness and is seen to be above politics – which is what the Republican Party had in 1952 when it nominated General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower as its presidential candidate.  "Ike" needed no introduction to the American people, and went on to serve two terms in the White House.  Name the Eisenhower of today.

September 19, 2023       Permalink 

HOW TO SAVE NEW YORK (CHOKE):  The brave New York City Council, which meets only five blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, has figured out the steps necessary to save New York from its current slide downward.   It is so inspiring to see devoted public servants at work.  From Fox: 

As New York City cripples under monumental budget cuts due to a migrant crisis straining public resources, the city council is planning to consider a series of measures that would, among other things, remove statues of major historical figures like George Washington and create a reparations task force. 

The items are included in New York City’s council agenda for Tuesday, September 19, 2023. The council’s Cultural Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on a measure to remove works of art on city property that "depict a person who owned enslaved persons or directly benefited economically from slavery, or who participated in systemic crimes against indigenous peoples or other crimes against humanity." 

This criteria would include figures like America’s first president George Washington, Dutch governor and New York settler Peter Stuyvesant, as well as Christopher Columbus – all of whom have statues throughout the city. 

If the Public Design Commission (PDC) determined not to remove the work of art, then it would be required to include a plan to install an "explanatory plaque" next to the work of art. The proposal would also require PDC to consult with the Department of Education to install plaques on sidewalks or other public space adjacent to schools named after a person that fits the criteria. 

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a proposal to create a task force to "consider the impact of slavery and pas injustices for African Americans in New York City and reparations for such injustices." 

Other proposals call for anti-racism training for human services contractors and city employees as well as requiring the placement of an information sign near the intersection of Wall and Pearl Streets "to mark the site of New York’s first slave market." 

These proposals come as the city has been crippled under extreme budget cuts due to the influx of migrants the city's mayor says are straining public resources. 

NYC Mayor Eric Adams said last week that the influx of tens of thousands of migrants will bring a "financial tsunami" as departments are forced to slash budgets to accommodate the new arrivals. 

The mayor further warned that every city department will likely see budget cuts to address the anticipated $12 billion price tag of the migrant crisis. 

COMMENT:  I have no doubt that, thanks to the visionary actions of the City Council, tourists from all over the world will flock to...Florida.

The New York City Council is to the left of Lenin.  If Joe Stalin came to town, they'd throw him a banquet.

September 19, 2023       Permalink