More than 70 percent of Americans surveyed in a new poll say
the Biden administration should ban Russian oil over Moscow's invasion of
Ukraine, even if it leads to higher gas prices in the U.S.
The Quinnipiac poll found that 71 percent of respondents
supported a ban on Russian oil, including 66 percent of Republicans and 82
percent of Democrats. Slightly more than 1 in 5 respondents — 22 percent — were
opposed and 7 percent did not know or did not answer.
Evidently, President Biden already had recognized the
public's wishes because within a few hours he would, as widely expected, announce
We're banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy.
That means Russian oil will no longer be accepted at US ports and the American
people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine. This is a move
that has strong bipartisan support for Congress and I believe in the country.
Biden made the decision both because it would be popular and
it is the right thing to do- but hopefully, primarily for the latter reason.
Public opinion has a way of swaying with events. Even though
people were warned that prices might rise if imports from Russia were banned,
the impact of paying the higher prices and even of merely seeing them posted at
gas stations will be felt. The media will do stories on location about higher
prices at the pump.
And oh, those Republican members of Congress. Ohio's Jim Jordan tweeted numerous times on
Tuesday alone to criticize President Biden for high gas prices, including theinstant classic "Remember how cheap gas was during the Trump
Administration?"
Unconvinced by a President who stated "I think the
virus is going to be—it’s going to be fine," motorists drove dramatically
less than usual. President Trump had nothing to do with gas prices being
relatively low in 2020. But that won't stop some people from blaming Biden for
higher prices. And even many of those who don't blame Biden for the surge in
gas prices will nonetheless feel pinched and believe things are going in the
wrong direction in the country.
So do what you have to do, Mr. President. But when the oil
companies profiteer off the war waged upon Ukraine by Russia, it's not them the GOP and the traditional media will blame.
On Friday's episode of The View, Elie Mystal of The Nation joined the cast to talk about what he called "a couple of missed
opportunities" in President Biden's State of the Union address. In the segment
(seen beginning at 14:08 of the video
below), Mystal noted.
One, I would have made a connection between the
authoritarians we're fighting in Europe and the authoritarians we're fighting
in Washington, D.C. Like, you figure the insurrection caucus literally heckled
him and I wouldn't have gone out like that. If they would have heckled me, I
would have come right back at them with- I don't see how you get through the
entire State of the Union without mentioning the attack on our capital.
Just as a Democrat could sometime go at the media for obsessing on alleged Democratic disunity and not continually accommodating Republicans for comity's sake, Biden should have confronted the GOP enemies of the nation and connected them to the insurrectionists abroad. Leaving the "you're bad, we're not" terrain to the GOP is tactically unwise.
Mystal acknowledged that the President issued his
declaration endorsing increased police funding because "he's trying to be
nice. This is why people elected Biden." Though especially true in Biden's
case, this is how Democrats get elected when they get elected. Democrats want to project "comity"
and as Mystal pointed out, "he wants to bring people together, so that's
why he did it."
If Biden was elected because he's seen as trying to play
nice with others, I believe he was nominated for a slightly different reason. Turning to "the other big missed opportunity," Mystal argued
... that's Mr. Fund the Police. Look, can we just talk as
adults? Does anybody in good faith think that the problem with police brutality
in this country is tha the police aren't funded enough?
I'm guessing that's a rhetorical question, and Mystal
continued
Do we think there's a cop on the street saying (mocking
voice here) "like, you know, I was gonna let that man live but I just
didn't have the funding and the training to understand what humans look like.
If only I had gotten a raise, that black man might have lived. Like, that's not
what's happening," alright.
So when Biden says fund the police, fund them, fund them,
what I hear is "I don't care anymore, I don't care, I don't care, I don't
care." Yeah, that's his commitment to police reform. He's done with it.
You will notice at 17:22 scattered, approving laughter.
Scattered. What you will not see or hear during Mystal's emphatic, eloquent
remarks is applause. There was none.
There was none because it's not only Biden who is done with
police reform. It's the American people who are done with police reform
(assuming we ever weren't). To be sure, it will die a fitful death, one step
forward, one or two steps backward. But it is over.
Its moment was relatively brief.
It was during the summer of 2020, into the autumn of 2020, soon after
the presidential nomination was assured for the man who in 2008 bragged that
the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 could be called the "Biden Crime Law."
That was the law which was credited, or blamed, for mass incarceration,
particularly of young black males- or for what is worse for many Democrats,
exclusively black males.
Yet, that was the Joe Biden who, despite early missteps in
the campaign, ended up easily dispatching his last remaining challenger, Bernie
Sanders. Having been arguably the
Democrat most (aside from President Clinton) responsible for passage of
legislation enormously- supposedly- very unpopular among the Democratic (and
many unaffiliated) voters of 2020, Democrats across the country hoisted Joseph R. Biden Jr. upon their shoulders and carried him to the ultimate political victory.
Citing job approval by blacks that is tepid for a Democratic
president, Mystal noted "tell me, please, the black voter that he won with
that speech last night. I'd like to meet him." Or her. That weakness could prove problematic for a President,
if his approval is very low, seeking re-nomination in a Party whose base is
comprised of non-young black women. However, Biden probably believes that is a
storm he could weather and that if the American people have little confidence
in him 18 months from now, standing for re-election might be an option he can
pass on.
Biden could declare, to Mystal’s displeasure, “we
should all agree. The answer is not to defund the police. The answer is to FUND
the police with the resources and training they need to protect our
communities.” It seems that for the American people generally, as
for The View audience which did not rally to Mystal's genuinely stirring
rhetoric, the black lives matter movement is over. It had its day, actually its
several months. But it appears that an exceptional slogan, in this case the
inarguable and inspiring "black lives matter," is not enough to
sustain a movement.
The Montana Standardnotes that the Biden Administration
"announced it would continue its leasing pause as it retooled the way it
calculates climate change costs associated with fossil fuels extracted from
public lands." More recently
Tensions hit a new level this week as Congress turned its
attention to oil and gas supply challenges exacerbated by Russia’s war in
Ukraine. Demands for domestic oil production sparked a flurry of congressional
bills.
At issue is a now 15-month pause on federal land oil and gas
leases, initially triggered by an executive order on Jan. 27, 2021, as the new
administration reviewed climate impacts of fossil fuels from public lands. That
pause segued into a legal dispute in 14 states with Republican governments,
Montana included, suing over the pause.
“There were leases the Trump administration had all prepared
and ready to go for first quarter 2021, and the Biden administration came in
and put a halt to it,” said Kathleen Sgamma, Western Energy Alliance president.
“There has not been a lease sale in Montana for all of 2021 and now there won’t
be one for the first quarter of 2022.”
On Thursday, a Fox News White House correspondent, noting
the President had "talked about increasing domestic manufacturing to bring
down prices on inflated items," asked the Press Secretary "so why not
apply the same logic to energy and increase domestic production here?" Jen
Psaki replied “Well, there are 9,000 approved oil leases that the oil companies
are not tapping into currently. So I
would ask them that question,”
One reporter raised the same issue on Friday after he spoke
to the American Petroleum Institute and Psaki responded
The fact is that onshore alone at the start of this year the
industry had more than 9,000 unused permits to drill in the United States....
and of the more than 37 million acres under lease offshore nd onshore to the
oil and gas industry, nearly 60% are currently non-producing...
Overall, what we need to do here is reduce our dependence on
oil. Europeans are doing that, we're doing that, and what I think we're all
going through now is this discussion of banning oil imports and the volatility
in the global market- oil markets- is a reminder of that. So there's no
shortage of drilling leases than can be used domestically to enhance production
in this moment. The oil and gas industry is literally sitting on stockpile
leases and permits.
That's good journalism when the media confronts a
spokesperson for the President about a crucial issue and then follows up on it
at the next available opportunity.
Though informed and prepared, Jen Psaki on this answer alone
should not turn Chris Meloni's "perhaps" to "undoubtedly."
But surely she's in the running.
The annual State of the Union address is a spectacle, and an
overrated one at that. Lauren Boebert took care of
the first; Joe Biden, the second.
The President asked for passage of several initiatives, including
the Bipartisan Innovation Act; PRO Act; Freedom to Vote Act; John Lewis Voting
Rights Act; Disclose Act; Equality Act. Additionally, he called for authorizing
Medicare to negotiate drug prices and lowering the cost of insulin for
diabetics; cutting the cost of child care; greater funding for police; pre-kindergarten for 3- and 4- year old
children; 15% minimum tax rate on corporations; a pathway to citizenship for
Dreamers; protecting access to child care; increased mental health care;
comprehensive health care for veterans; cutting cancer death rates.
It was a fairly impressive laundry list with little reason
for a viewer to sign on to any particular program. Certainly, there was no
effort to attribute responsibility to any particular legislator or political
party for the failure to achieve these aims.
The President mentioned "Republican" all of three
times. Two of them:
Tonight, we meet as Democrats Republicans and Independents.
But most importantly as Americans. (We're all the same, all on the same team-
insurrectionists included).
Since she’s been nominated, she’s received a broad range of
support—from the Fraternal Order of Police to former judges appointed by
Democrats and Republicans. (Even the cops like her!)
The President's agenda has been flagging due to opposition from the GOP and, in a few instances, one or two Democratic senators. So the most telling note of bipartisanship was "I ask Democrats and
Republicans alike: Pass my budget and keep our neighborhoods safe." The
message from this Democratic president was clear. No party is to be held
responsible for the lack of progress on his aims and goals. And if his budget
is passed, neighborhoods made safe, and peace and harmony with justice and
equality is achieved, no one political party will be responsible.
Many voters who aren't usually captivated by politics tune in to the State of the
Union address. And the message that was sent to them was that no one can be
held accountable for what has not yet been accomplished, nor should one
individual or party can be applauded if legislation is passed and progress
made.
President Biden's approval rating shot up following the
Address. Though more likely a bounce than a bump, the Administration probably
is delighted. Nonetheless, if effective
legislation is not enacted, the GOP will surely convince the public that
responsibility lies solely with the guys and gals- Democrats- in charge.
However, if Congress does enact legislation favored by the President, voters
will credit Republicans and Democrats evenly.
Heads, Republicans and Democrats win. Tails, Democrats lose.
It might end up helping Joe Biden in November of 2024. But
his rhetorical approach undermines prospects for his Party this November, a
chance he seems very willing to take.
I thought Desantis was all about supposedly respecting the rights of parents to make choices for their kids?Apparently, not if those choices conflict with his political agenda and ambition. pic.twitter.com/r1ICsX3NTm
In a video that has been viewed millions of times, Gov. Ron
DeSantis asked a group of Hillsborough County High School students to remove
their masks during his press conference at USF Wednesday morning on new state
funding for cybersecurity education.
“I would tell (the governor) to stop bullying kids,” Kevin
Brown Sr. told News Channel 8 in an exclusive interview. His son is one of the
seven students from Middleton High School at the press conference.
Dawn Marshall told News Channel 8 she is very upset about
how the governor spoke to her son and the other students, adding she had told
him to wear a mask in school.
“You do not have to wear those masks,” Gov. DeSantis said.
“I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we’ve
gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this
is ridiculous.”
Marshall said her initial reaction to seeing her Eric in the
video was “he knows I’m gonna say something, his eyebrows went up and he looked
shocked.”
“It’s just shocking that the governor told these kids take
off your mask,” she said. “He pretty much said take off your mask, it’s stupid,
and take off your mask your parents don’t matter.”
This is a funny, not-so-funny turn of events for the
right-wing governor. In October, defending the practice of threatening officials at school board meetings, DeSantis
claimed
As we continue to see the use of fear and intimidation to
suppress opposition to the regime, we’re going to find new ways to be able to
empower parents’ rights to decide what is best for their children. Parents
across the state should know that their freedoms are going to be protected
here, and that the state of Florida has your back.
Shorter DeSantis: it's not the right of parents to recommend their
children wear a mask in school but it's the prerogative of a governor to go around
the parents to intimidate the young
people.
It's really not surprising, however. The governor who in October (and no doubt
now) would argue that Florida parents "should know that their freedoms are
going to be protected" believes that a female parent should not have any
right to terminate a pregnancy beyond the fifteenth week. Power to tell a
teacher what to teach? Of course. Power
to end a pregnancy? Certainly not. And certainly not the power to persuade
their own child to wear a mask in school.
It's almost enough to make one think that Ron DeSantis is
thinking less of parents and children in Florida than likely voters in a
Republican presidential primary.
It would be better were, Jon Cooper, who identifies himself as former
national finance chair of Draft Biden 2016, Long Island Campaign chair for Barack Obama & Majority Leader of Suffolk County
Legislature, were joking. No such luck. Also, the other guy below.
Yes Jon we love our 🌶 Peppermint Patty and a shot of Psaki every day.
We all have had those
head slapping moments when we say "I wish I had thought of it at that
time." Jen Psaki made this remark
the morning after the State of Union address, not during the speech. And not
many people know who Psaki is, and even fewer care. The President himself
should have responded, pointedly and politely to Representatives Boebert and
Greene, in real time.
Moreover, apropos of good cop, bad cop, if anyone should
employ a passive-aggressive tone, it's the President. None of his surrogates
should be so passive and indirect as to say "I think that says a lot more
about them than it does about how important these priorities are." If it
says something about them, say it; cowardice is not a strategy. And if one is
going to say something as ineffectual as "it says a lot more about
them...., please leave out the "I
think." It's not a theory; it is
observable fact and even if it's not, voters must not be led to think it's only
your opinion.
The President speaks of "burn pits,"of headaches, numbness, dizziness, and even
cancer suffered by American soldiers, gets heckled, and the most the
Administration can come up with is- well, not much. It was an opportunity
wasted, and there will be only so many of them before November.
Assistant professor Nicholas Creel noted six days ago
Several prominent Republicans are currently claiming that,
were Donald Trump still president, Russia would have never dared to invade
Ukraine. Not only does this sort of talk needlessly turn our foreign policy
into a partisan issue, it is also resting on assertions that are offensively
disconnected from reality.
The core of this contention rests on the idea that Trump was
a strong leader who Russian President Vladimir Putin would have never dared crossed.
The notion that Trump would have shown so much strength as to have deterred
Russian aggression requires that we forget both who Trump is and what he did as
president. Even a cursory look at these two things will yield ample evidence
which suggests that the former president would have been neither capable nor
willing to do anything to stop Ukraine's invasion.
If anything, there are more Republicans taking up this line
now because the vast majority of Republicans have finally conceded that Putin
isn't really a good guy, while they still must condemn the Democratic
President. Creel explains that the Kremlin's decision to invade Ukraine
rests, in no small part, on the fear that Ukraine could join
said alliance and annihilate its long standing hold over Eastern Europe. Trump
was, at best, outwardly indifferent to Ukraine joining NATO. President Joe
Biden, on the other hand, openly told Ukraine not even three months ago that
membership was essentially theirs for the taking. If anything, it is precisely
because Biden took this stronger stance that cuts against Russian interests
that Putin felt he had no choice but to take Ukraine by force now, before it
enjoyed a powerful shield of protection from the United States and Western
Europe.
Former Security Council official Fiona Hill told Politico
the other day
Putin tried to warn Trump about this, but I don’t think Trump
figured out what he was saying. In one of the last meetings between Putin and
Trump when I was there, Putin was making the point that: “Well you know,
Donald, we have these hypersonic missiles.” And Trump was saying, “Well, we
will get them too.” Putin was saying, “Well, yes, you will get them eventually,
but we’ve got them first.” There was a menace in this exchange. Putin was
putting us on notice that if push came to shove in some confrontational
environment that the nuclear option would be on the table.
Putin didn't tell President 45 that Russia wouldn't move
against Ukraine as long as Trump was President. He threatened him with the use
of hypersonic missiles, described here as " a revolutionary new type of
weapon, one that would have the unprecedented ability to maneuver and then to
strike almost any target in the world within a matter of minutes." Trump
may not have fully understood what the Russian President was saying, but it is
clear that Putin believed he had an ace in the hole, one of the factors which encouraged him to invade Ukraine.
If the presidency of Joe Biden also has emboldened Putin,
Republicans have not clearly explained how. That may have ensued because President Trump spent four years trying to destroy the
capacity of European nations to act in concert to curb aggressive behavior by
the Kremlin. And with the notable
exception of Senator Mitt Romney,
Republicans aided and abetted him.
