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Search For President Biden’s Score Card

Search For President Biden’s Score Card

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Right after I wrote and posted Donald Trump Score Card I wanted to post a score card for President Biden.  My immediate research was a bit shocking because the web sites that I visited seemed to diminish the importance of Biden.  How could this be?   I got to think that because Biden was president for a longer time than Trump and done way more than Trump that there might be more instances of failed effort.  I had no solution until I went to my local Barnes & Noble Book Store and just by luck spotted a magazine that I had never seen before, Washington Monthly (Special Spring Books Issue) April/May 2024.  This magazine title showed “Who Got More Done? The Monthly’s presidential accomplishment index”.   That title sold me instantly!  I purchased the magazine without opening it up and when I got home I immediately used my computer to look up the reputation of Washington Monthly.  I was impressed.

I then open the magazine and turn to the page “Introduction:  Who Got The More Done?,  page 8.  and was immediately pleased to see a graphic showing how Biden ranked against Trump.

TRUMP +3

BIDEN. +14

 

I am really impressed with this magazine publication.

 

POSTED: 5/20/2024
Posted by Score Card.

 

 

 

 

Forces Of Alleged Greed Working Against The USA.

Forces Of Alleged Greed Working Against The USA.

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If we were to measure any single politician by his or her voting record, one might come up with some sort of accurate analysis of what that person believes in, stands for, and is wiling to fight for.  There is a sort of natural self serving  division or dichotomy that politicians often exhibit, self interests vs what is best for constituents. There is the wishes for what is best for the people, who the politician represents, and then the wishes of the political donors who typically give the most financial support.  So there may be three factors, self interest, donor interests and constituent interests.  It too often occurs that what is best for the people and the nation is not what the donor class wishes to take place.  This is an often obvious conflict.  This some times explains why a particular politician supports or rejects particular legislation and it often comes down to donor support.

Joseph Manchin III, an American politician, a “Democrat” and businessman and senior United States senator from West Virginia appears to be working for the Republican Party when looking at his alleged obstruction of pending Democratic legislation in 2021.  This senator along with Kyrsten Sinema  have vastly diminished the Democratic agenda and resulting reputation of that party.  This strongly works to improve the GOP but not the American public.

Why?  What could be the reason for allegedly working for the gains and betterment of the Republican Party?

One rather obvious answer is that the political contributors for Joe Manchin tell him that this is what they want.  They definitely do not want higher corporate taxes, spending that expands the national debt, restricts their industrial sector, and anything else that is perceived as being a negative factor toward their corporate success and profits.

Look at the donor list for Joseph Manchin provided below.  Note how many businesses in the list might work for the GOP and against the Democratic Party.  His donor list favors giving to Republicans.  The smaller amount of donations to Democrats just might be to Joseph Manchin to sway his vote to give back to his self serving libertarian billionaires.

Rank

Contributor

Total

Individuals

PACs

1

Tellurian Inc (Oil & Gas; Natural Gas transmission & distribution). 62.28% to Democrats, 37.72% to Republicans

$24,750

$19,750

$5,000

2

Starkey Hearing Technologies.  Pharmaceuticals/Health Products; Medical Devices & Supplies.   0.00% to Democrats, 100.00% to Republicans

$19,900

$17,400

$2,500

3

Votesane PAC.  73.91% to GOP and 26.09% to Democrats.

$19,500

$19,500

$0

4

SV Angel LLC

$11,600

$11,600

$0

5

United Distributors

$11,600

$11,600

$0

6

Student Systems Software

$11,600

$11,600

$0

7

Continental Resources.   0.00% to Democrats, 100.00% to Republicans

$10,100

$5,100

$5,000

8

Coterra Energy

$10,000

$5,000

$5,000

9

Apollo Global Management

$10,000

$5,000

$5,000

10

Arena Energy

$10,000

$10,000

$0

11

Nacero Inc

$10,000

$10,000

$0

12

SoftBank Corp

$8,700

$8,700

$0

13

Coury Financial

$8,700

$8,700

$0

14

Crow Holdings

$8,400

$8,400

$0

15

Baker, Donelson et al.   58.88% to Democrats, 41.12% to Republicans

$8,300

$5,800

$2,500

16

National Mining Assn  14.44% to Democrats, 85.56% to Republicans

$8,000

$2,000

$6,000

17

LHC Group. 49.93% to Democrats, 50.07% to Republicans

$7,900

$2,900

$5,000

18

Akin, Gump et al   44.59% to Democrats, 54.74% to Republicans

$7,500

$6,000

$1,500

19

CBRE Group

$6,800

$6,800

$0

20

Jones Walker LLP.   23.56% to Democrats, 74.34% to Republicans

$6,500

$1,500

$5,000

Source:  https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/joe-manchin/contributors?cid=N00032838&cycle=2022

We are now agonizing over two senators who control the future of this country due to apparent past American voter ignorance.

Summary:  It is incredibly unfortunate and somewhat stupid that the American voting public apparently really screwed up the last national election by not giving President Biden a larger working congressional majority.  2020 was the big win the Democrats needed and didn’t get.  The result is that the American public now really wants the President Biden’s three-part agenda to rescue, recover, and rebuild the country to succeed.  But the American public failed to view how to best improve their future as a result of their vote.  This situation is now, today, compounded by allowing just a few politicians to wield control over the Democratic agenda.  Just a couple of alleged corrupt Democrat politicians can now work toward their own selfish ends that their GOP donors wish them to while trying to hide who is paying them off using snowball theatrics.

Possible Solution:  The American public should consider not supporting any individual and corporation that is now, or in the recent past, who has been discovered working against the Build Back Better Agenda.  Let’s send these corporations a direct message that they can no longer hide behind their paid politicians when they work against what is best for the whole nation.  Corporate greed will no longer be tolerated!

References:  How Not to Let Corporations Kill Biden’s Agenda,  Oct. 21, 2021

Related Issue:  In The Atlantic magazine, November 2021 issue there is a very good article, The Men Who Are Killing America’s Newspapers, Inside Alden Global Capital, The Secretive Hedge Fund Gutting Newsrooms and Damaging Democracy by McKay Coppins.  This article reveals how Alden Global is diminishing, eviscerating, some of this country’s best newspapers to gain monetary gain over all other considerations.   This is just one more example of powerful corporate money interests working toward ruining the United States of America.  

Summary:  In the examples above, you should can come to realize that corporate greed often times works against the values and best interests of the American people.  Currently, the United States is under attack by the forces that want to remove our Democracy and replace it with an authoritarian form of government so that the plutocracy class of people gains control.  Congress should come up with some form of protections.

 

 

Posted October 23, 2021

Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper endorses Trump for allegedly flawed reasons.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper endorses Trump for allegedly flawed reasons.

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This entry is part 7 of 11 in the series Donald Trump

The Editorial Board of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, October 31, 2020, endorsed Donald Trump to continue being the president of the United States in the article titled:

The man and the record

They listed a lot of reasons for their endorsement but almost all were, allegedly, false when fact checking their claims.  Following are some major reasons they listed:

“Under Donald Trump the economy, pre-COVID, boomed, like no time since the 1950s.”

WRONG: “… growth in Trump’s initial three years in office was 2.5 percent — barely above Obama and well below the growth under the Clinton, Reagan and Johnson administrations.”

_____

“Unemployment for Black Americans is lower than it has ever been, under any president of either party.”

Wrong:  Under Obama the black unemployment rate started at 12.7% and slowly improved down to 7.5% which equals 5.2% improvement.  Trump’s administration kept this improvement going from 7.5% down to 5.4% which equals a 2.1% improvement, less than half as the Obama administration accomplished.

_____

“Under Mr. Trump, our trade relationships have vastly improved and our trade deals have been rewritten.”

Wrong: “President Donald Trump is painting a false picture of a U.S. economy unaffected by his trade war with China and other countries.”

_____

“He has put America first, just as he said he would.”

Wrong: “Instead of putting America first, he has put Donald first.”

_____

“He also kept his promise to appoint originalists to the Supreme Court of the United States. His third appointment, Amy Coney Barrett, is the best of all — a jurist whose mind and character and scholarship ARE first class.”

Wrong:  “… the nation now suffers a president, a Senate and a Supreme Court that do not represent the views or wishes of a majority of our people.”

“We may soon learn whether Justice Barrett is the independent jurist who strictly and honorably follows the law, or whether she will bring the court into further disrepute as the American people increasingly see it as simply another partisan branch of government.”

_____

“Under Mr. Trump the United States achieved energy independence for the first time in the lifetimes of most of us.”

Wrong:  “It is true that in the final months of 2019, “the US gradually moved into being a net exporter of crude and products,” he said, meaning the country exports more than it imports.”

“But the US is still importing 7 million barrels per day of crude and more than a million barrels of refined products,”

“United States is not yet strictly speaking energy independent”

 

Conclusion:  If you perform an Internet search to find out if this newspaper is biased or not you should discover that it is right leaning.  From this posting example, one might also draw the conclusion that this newspaper is allegedly dishonest at a time in our history that we really need clarity and honesty.

 

 

Posted November 2, 2020

Wall Street Journal Opinion “I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.”

Wall Street Journal Opinion “I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.”

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I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.

He has weaknesses, but his presidency has been successful.

By Michael I. Krauss

This opinion piece appeared in the September 3, 2020, print edition as ‘I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.’

This opinion piece can also be found here:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-was-never-trump-not-anymore-11599087108

The Wall Street Journal offers good news reporting but their opinion section appears to be flawed.  

“… nearly 300 of The Journal’s news staff members sent a letter to the paper’s publisher, Almar Latour, condemning the opinion desk’s “lack of fact-checking and transparency.”

Following is just one example showing the problem that the WSJ has with their opinion section:

Claim:  the president has performed his duties and genuinely tried to keep his promises.

Answer: 

Over all? I think it is fair to say that he has in many respects tried to follow through on what he campaigned on, keeping in mind that his platform was unusually confused and contradictory. But I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that he’s anything special when it comes to keeping or at least trying to keep promises, and given his rambling campaign rhetoric, my guess is that he probably gave worse hints about his policy direction in the White House than most.

He is, however, unusually good at pointing out explicitly when he is acting in accord with his campaign rhetoric. That’s a real skill, and he deserves at least a bit of credit for it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/opinion/trump-promises-campaign-2016.html

Claim:  He not only insisted that immigration conform to the rule of law, but advocated for and (where legally permitted) built a border wall.

Answer:

Why the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies are the United States’ loss and the rest of the world’s gain

1. These actions will motivate companies to move jobs out of the U.S.

2. Entrepreneurial immigrants will start businesses outside of the U.S.

3. Investors will seek investment opportunities elsewhere.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/07/20/why-the-trump-administrations-anti-immigration-policies-are-the-united-states-loss-and-the-rest-of-the-worlds-gain/

 

Claim: The president has appointed more than 200 federal judges, most of whom are superb and committed to finding the law, not making it up.

Answer: 

Trump’s high appointment numbers reflect not only an accommodating, filibuster-free Senate but also the over 100 vacancies that McConnell gave him by his unprecedented refusal to confirm more than only a handful of nominees in Obama’s final two years.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/06/26/trumps-200th-judicial-appointment-less-than-meets-the-eye/

——-

“They are largely white and male,” said Vanita Gupta, who runs the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “It is an astonishing lack of representation.”

“These are far more extreme judges than even President George W. Bush put on the bench, and we’re moving in the wrong direction,”

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/886285772/trump-and-mcconnell-via-swath-of-judges-will-affect-u-s-law-for-decades

Claim: He has followed through on his promise to reduce taxes and to begin deregulating the economy, creating a remarkable boom that reduced unemployment for minorities to the lowest rates ever recorded.

Answer:

where Trump goes too far is in touting this economy as the “best ever” and trying to portray the end of the Obama era as dire and himself as the hero flying in on the Trump jet to save the day. He has taken steps such as tax cuts to keep the economy growing and increase competitiveness, but he’s also inflicted pain. His tariffs have hurt U.S. manufacturing and agriculture. And his tax cuts and increased government spending have added substantially to the national debt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/04/trump-touts-his-economy-best-ever-data-is-more-mixed/

Claim: the president promoted a historic peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Answer:

But the agreement generated an immediate backlash in the region from opposite sides of the ideological spectrum. At least some Israeli settlers and their political allies were disappointed that Mr. Netanyahu would give up his plan to claim sovereignty over West Bank territory, while Palestinians felt abandoned by an Arab nation leaving them to remain locked in an untenable status quo even without the threat of annexation.

“This is a black day in the history of Palestine,” Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, said in an interview shortly before the Palestinian ambassador to the Emirates was recalled in protest. “This agreement is a total departure from the Arab consensus. The Palestinian people have not authorized anyone to make concessions to Israel in exchange for anything.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/us/politics/trump-israel-united-arab-emirates-uae.html?auth=login-google

Claim:  He formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there (as former presidents promised to do but never did).

Answer:

But none of the previous presidents followed through — one reason being that the move would appear to put the US squarely on the side of Israel.

As the country that has led the Israeli-Palestinian peace process negotiations for the past 25 years, the US is “supposed to be acting like the fireman,” he said. “Instead, we’re acting like the arsonist — we’re making things worse.”

The embassy move could also make the chances of a peace deal, already remote given that the two sides haven’t held serious peace talks in years, nearly impossible.

https://www.vox.com/2018/5/14/17340798/jerusalem-embassy-israel-palestinians-us-trump

Claim: Mr. Trump withdrew from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, the signing of which was possibly the single worst act of the Obama presidency.

Answer:

British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the U.S. to “do everything possible to preserve the gains for nuclear non-proliferation brought about” by the agreement “by allowing for a continued enforcement of its main elements.”

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/08/609383603/trump-u-s-will-withdraw-from-iran-nuclear-deal

Claim:The president eliminated Iranian terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani, essentially crushed ISIS, and neutralized its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Answer:

NO Contradictions found

Claim: He signed the Taylor Force Act into law, cutting off aid to the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays support to the families of terrorists.

Answer: 

NO Contradictions found

Claim:  Mr. Trump recognized that a cold war exists with China, and he has taken concrete steps to counter that country’s efforts to weaken our republic.

Answer:

Nearly four years later, none of these goals have been realized, and it is hard to think of a single aspect of Sino-American relations that has evolved favorably for the United States.

https://warontherocks.com/2020/07/what-should-come-after-trumps-failed-china-policy/

Claim: signed an executive order combating anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Answer:

But not all Jewish organizations or activists celebrated the announcement.

Jewish Democratic Council of America executive director Halie Soifer instead attacked the president and said “he is partially responsible” for the rise in antisemitism in American and therefore “just three days after President Trump characterized Jews as money-hungry ‘killers,’ President Trump has zero credibility to take meaningful action to combat the scourge of antisemitism.”

Soifer said that, “If President Trump truly wanted to combat antisemitism, he would accept responsibility for his role in perpetuating antisemitic conspiracy theories and emboldening white nationalism.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/trump-expected-to-issue-executive-order-against-antisemitism-on-campus-610540

Claim: promoting school choice to advance poor communities, despite unrelenting opposition from teachers’ unions.

Answer: 

Trump’s budget also includes massive cuts to federal education programs — some $9.2 billion from the current level of $68 billion in federal K-12 education spending. “To boost funding for charter schools while reducing it for other vital programs that help our students.

https://edsource.org/2017/trumps-proposed-cuts-to-education-funding-creates-friction-in-charter-school-community/583796

Claim: the president has named many excellent cabinet members.

Answer:

“Ethics Be Damned: More than half of Trump’s 20-person Cabinet has engaged in questionable or unethical conduct“

 

 

 

Posted 9/7/2020

Alleged Softening of Negative Reporting by the Wall Street Journal of the Trump Administration.

Alleged Softening of Negative Reporting by the Wall Street Journal of the Trump Administration.

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The Los Angeles Times ran a story on their front page Wednesday August 19, 2000 titled “GOP-LED PANEL DETAILS RUSSIA’S 2016 ROLE”  and leads off their story with this first paragraph:

“WASHINGTON – President Trump’s 20016 campaign eagerly capitalized on Russia’s efforts to meddle in the U.S. election four years ago, according to a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee that raises new concerns about connections between his top aids and Moscow.”

The Wall Street Journal put this story in their paper the same day as the LA Times.   They put it back three pages and allegedly wrote the story in such a way that really softened the negative impact toward the Trump administration by somewhat obfuscating the facts to soften the message against Trump.

“Washington – Members of the 2016 Trump campaign represented a major counterintelligence risk to the U.S. due to their frequent contacts with individuals with close ties to the Russian government.”

A new book is coming out Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth  By Brian Stelter.

Enablers are a big problem.

 

Posted August 23 2020

Does The Shocking New York Times Article Have Another Purpose?

Does The Shocking New York Times Article Have Another Purpose?

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Was there any secret purpose to release to the New York Times the shocking story: F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia? Or, was this story just the result of darn good reporters digging this stuff up? Let’s examine a couple of reasons why someone in the FBI, Muller’s investigation group or the New York court system might have informed the New York Times about the facts behind this story to the Times:

#1) Some government employee just might have secretly released the details to the New York Times, to better tie the hands of incoming Attorney General, William P. Barr who Trump seems to have picked knowing of Barr’s opposition to the Mueller’s investigation and may shut it down.

#2) Another possibility is that Mueller, might have some proof that President Trump knowingly colluded with the Russians. Someone close to that investigation would realize that selling this “fact” to the American public is not a one step process of drawing the curtain away suddenly to reveal. A way better tactic is to more slowly show the “facts” to the public. It might be way more intelligent to turn the public’s attention toward the curtain and slowly slide the reveal from under the curtain, inch by inch. The New York Times article could be the first glimpse of what is to come next.

Posted January 12, 2019