Having a busy day today
I’m having an unusually busy day today and I’m getting a late start at blogging. I probably will be posting this evening.
Meanwhile, I think this is an interesting video:
Are you going to watch Biden’s State of the Union speech tonight?
I don’t want to watch it but I will.
It’s like driving by a car wreck. You can’t not look.
Won’t watch, but then, I usually don’t. Will follow commentary. I suppose they will have Biden hopped up on amphetamines to make it possible for him to talk at night.
Have any quality livebloggers committed? I just can’t bring myself to watch it. SotU’s are painful even when there’s a President I like.
Not sure what the point of watching “Biden” might be.
Masochism, perhaps.
Anyway, back in “Uncontested Election”(TM) news:
“Wisconsin voting probe chief urges Legislature to consider decertifying 2020 election;
“Former Supreme Court justice Mike Gableman cites evidence that “most vulnerable citizens” in nursing homes were defrauded, Mark Zuckerberg donations were improper and some rule changes were illegal.”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/gableman-releases-wisconsin-voting-audit-focus-ballots-vulnerable-nursing
I’m washing my hair.
It is an interesting video. The Estonian points out that, like Ukraine, it’s up to the countries in Russia’s sights to put up a spirited defense. If they can hold out for some days, it changes the equation.
Very interesting video.
Those nations that border Russia are very alert as to Putin’s strategy – past, present and future – and are not susceptible or led astray by Russian propaganda which attempts to shift blame for Russian behaviour onto Western / EU / NATO
NO, I will not watch joke bidet’s sorry state of the union address.
I’m certain that I couldn’t stomach an hour or so of nonstop lies from our fraudulent pResident. Like Kate, I’ll read a bit of hopefully insightful commentary. Rashida Tlaib’s critical response to Biden promises to be illuminating… and may upstage Biden.
Um, er…FWIW, if you prefer to save time you can read it in about four minutes, give or take, in the following leaked and unredacted post:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/real-state-union
I would have to stay up till 2:00 AM here. I’ll probably hear enough about it tomorrow.
Not just no – hell no. Listening to politicians speak makes me embarrassed to be a member of the human race.
If Stephen Green drunkblogs SOTU, I’ll have his feed going in a small window.
Neo:Are you going to watch Biden’s State of the Union speech tonight?
I was going to make some snarky remark, but decided that a “no” would suffice.
I don’t know when I last saw a State of the Union address- decades ago. So, it’s not just disgust with Slow Joe for me.
Barry Meislin
Um, er…FWIW, if you prefer to save time you can read it in about four minutes, give or take, in the following leaked and unredacted post:
Which is one reason I hardly ever watch speech videos or TV news or political speeches.
One exception: watching various Bernie Sanders’s bloviations on Latin America, which are entertaining me for the utter ignorance he displays about Latin America. While Bernie claims that he is enlightening the “ignorant” multitudes about Latin America, he actually knows next to nothing about Latin America.
Fremdschamen. That’s the German word for feeling embarrassment for someone else. That’s what I feel when I listen to Biden speak. I hate that feeling so I will not watch.
Stephen Green will be live-blogging at PJ Media, but the link isn’t up yet.
Gregory Harper:
I never heard that word before, but what a great word! I know the sentiment very well. I used to feel that way in assemblies in school when someone played an instrument or sang very very badly. I’d put my head down and wish I could hide under my seat and cover my ears, I was so embarrassed for them. It’s a weird feeling, especially if you’re not close to the person.
If Joe Biden was just an ordinary, deteriorating old man refusing to accept that his time has passed, I too would feel embarrassment for him.
But Joe Biden is as unethical as they come.
He sold his soul for worldly gain from an early age.
May he reap the reward in the afterlife that he deserves.
More evidence of the highly intelligent elites within the US govt.
Pakistan announced it will be buying bunch of Russian wheat and natl gas from Russia.
And the American taxpayer gives millions of $$$ in aid to Pakistan.
Since you asked, the US is still going to “work with” Russia to finalize an Iran nuke deal.
Does Iran hate the USA or Israel more?
Which has higher odds of occurring;
1. Iran abiding by any nuke deal?
2. Putin unilaterally and without pre-conditions withdrawing from Ukraine?
3. A 2-foot diameter meteor lodging itself in the windshield of your car?
I will vote before all of Neo’s commentators; I vote # 3 as most likely.
Please cast a vote.
No voter ID needed nor proof of residency nor citizenship; but you will be required to prove you’ve had two jabs and two boosters, checked for hemorrhoids, plus you have to be wearing a mask.
If you can’t meet these basic requirements, you are a deplorable and an ignorant clinger to your guns and bibles
The stupidity and idiocy of the American ruling class could plug up a Black Hole.
Neo:
I also get embarrassed for others easily. I once attended a conference at which a young woman was giving her first presentation and was extremely nervous. She had a lavalier microphone clipped to her blouse and you could hear her very nervous breathing. She started to stammer and I just wanted to leave the room but I had to present next.
Re: Fremdschamen
Gregory Harper:
From the speakers who brought us schadenfreude, an indispensable word which seems not to exist in English. Can “fremdschamen” be far behind?
German is a great language!
Some college friends and I were once playing a dictionary game — someone picks a word, everyone comes up with a definition plus the real definition, then someone reads all the definitions and the others vote on the real definition.
Of course, we were stoned so half the fun was making up definitions which would make people laugh.
Anyway, I picked “fremd,” a real English word, though going back to Middle English, meaning “strange, foreign.”
The winning entry for laughter: “I was fremd!”
Stephen Green will be live-blogging at PJ Media, but the link isn’t up yet.
Kate:
Right you are and here the link is with sample comment:
______________________________
I thought it was just A d d e r a l l, but it looks and sounds like Dr. Feelgood has injected Biden with the Full JFK Special.
If you don’t know you’re Camelot history, Kennedy was jacked up on a real cocktail of stuff to fight his Addisons.
https://pjmedia.com/liveblog/2022/03/01/drunkblogging-the-2022-state-of-the-union-address-n219
_______________________________
And here’s Dr. Feelgood, the band, doing “She Does It Right” for “The Geordie Scene.” They were pub rock, but the punks were watching and stole all the Doctor’s mojo they could.
–Dr Feelgood, “She Does It Right (1975)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHNZUop7OK0
This word ‘fremdschämen’ was not in my old Wahrig and unfindable on woerterbuch.de, so I at first thought it was a fake word. But in something called the Online-Wortschatz-Informationssystem Deutsch, there is an interesting bit of commentary on the fact that this neologism first started to appear around 2009, which explains why I missed it. (My edition of Wahrig dates back to around 1990.)
In the spirit of attempting to echo our nice German language thread from earlier, I’d like to politely insist that we spell it with the umlaut or the -ae- orthography, as ‘fremdschamen’ is most definitely not a word. 🙂
huxley and Gregory Harper,
The middle English definition is also the Germanic meaning; “stranger, foreign.” You know the German verb “to speak” = “sprechen” as in “Ich spreche kein Deutsch.” So, a “Sproche” is a “language” and a “Fremdensproche” is a “foreign language.”
Philip Sells:
I’m going to wait until AI solves our umlaut-etc. problems. I’m still traumatized from internationalization programming in the 90s.
I’m glad you explained why such a useful, necessary word hasn’t already migrated to us English speakers.
“Cringeworthy” is sort of in the area but lacks the empathy component, which Gregory Harper delineates.
I’ve never been able to handle the Comedy of Shame well. I walked out on “The Heartbreak Kid” in the 70s because I felt so bad for the woman being humiliated.
I too get embarrassed for others unless they themselves have a good sense of humor about it. I generally can laugh through a lot of personal humiliation, so that’s my instinct, and if I see someone else in an embarrassing situation who is also taking it lightly I can laugh with them. But if it hurts them, I hurt too.
But the worst, by far, is when someone has true, sincere and immense hope for something and their hopes are dashed. Especially when this happens to a child or a woman. When my best friend was 12 his father was diagnosed with a brain tumor and my friend hoped for a miracle, as did I and many others. His father died not long after the diagnosis. I hurt immensely for my friend’s personal loss, but I also knew his spirit had been irreparably damaged.
Seeing noble peoples’ spirits get crushed crushes me. This is happening now to so many people in Ukraine.
huxley,
I’m with you on the comedy of shame and “The Heartbreak Kid.” I don’t find humiliation funny. Even in an absurd, slapstick scene like Ethly Merman’s banana peel slip up in, “It’s a Mad, etc… World…”
If it appears in a comedy where the sufferer is in on it, or appreciates it for its absurdity or learns from it, then I often appreciate it.
“The stupidity and idiocy of the American ruling class could plug up a Black Hole.” JohnTyler
I’ve arrived at the conclusion that their stupidity and idiocy is the result of embracing subjective reality over objective reality. Subjective ‘reality’ has no ‘feedback mechanism”, whereas we determine objective reality by its feedback mechanism.
On the other hand… “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” Albert Einstein
@ huxley & Rufus > “I don’t find humiliation funny.”
I quit watching the Andy Griffith Show because I really didn’t like the way Barney Fife was treated. Yes, it was a schtick, but I knew too many earnest, well-meaning people who were in his behavioral boat and it didn’t amuse me.
“If it appears in a comedy where the sufferer is in on it, or appreciates it for its absurdity or learns from it, then I often appreciate it.”
Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton.
Well, I took one for the team and watched the SOTU all the way through.
IF you knew nothing about Biden or the actual State of the Union, it would have sounded like a standard campaign stump speech.
He didn’t fall apart, use weird words, mess up his note cards or teleprompter (more than a couple of minor glitches); he overused “I get it,” “look,” “let’s get it done,” and “folks,” but didn’t produce any of his familiar rhetorical tics (“here’s the thing,” “C’mon man”).
He did make sure we knew, several times, that he was being crystal clear.
The general caveats for the following summary are that somehow bad things just happen (although he didn’t mention Trump specifically), there was no acknowledgement of any possible connection to his & Democrat policies or actions, he would fix everything amiss in your life, and it would all be free.
Apparently, if YOU don’t directly pay for something, it doesn’t cost anything.
He never said anything about who WOULD pay for it – “the government” was implied – so in fact YOU will pay for whatever you get one way or another. Subsidies were clearly the method for some things (child care, Covid treatments) and force was the method for others (Medicare “negotiating” with Pharma on drug prices, increased taxes and regulations).
All of this would be funded by making the wealthy pay their fair share, and he repeated the already-debunked promise that no one making under $400,000 would see their taxes rise even a dime.
He started by praising Ukraine (as he should), and outlining his current and coming responses to continue to pressure Putin to quit. Let’s hope they work, but they are too late and too little.
Somewhere in the middle, he announced that Covid was over and the school & business lockdowns were through for now, but he was going to get things ready for the inevitable next variation outbreak by stockpiling new vaccines and treatments, and by vaxxing the entire world. He announced a new DOJ “office of Covid fraud” and I’m okay with that, so long as it doesn’t just magically only find conservative or wypipo scammers.
He went down the laundry list of Democrat priorities, but only made brief shout-outs on some issues: abortion aka maternal health care, LGBTQ rights aka transgender privilege, gun safety aka restrictions, unbridled unionizaton, $15 minimum wage, protecting voting rights aka ending rational regulations, approving his SCOTUS nomination and one other nominee I didn’t catch.
He expounded a bit more on: lower-cost child care aka subsidies, spent an inordinate amount of time on electric vehicles at different points (apparently, if you aren’t paying to put gas in your car, your energy cost to “fill up” is zero), and vowed to whip inflation (now) – which appears to be solely due to price gouging by businesses.
He concentrated his efforts on “kitchen table” policies by touting his Build Back Better Bill without ever naming it: repairing infrastructure (roads and bridges were all he mentioned, but we remember what was in the Bill), reducing drug prices (by cutting profit margins for makers), cutting energy costs to fight climate change (no, he is not going to reopen the pipelines or gas wells).
“New approaches” that merited long explanations included a boat-load of issues on which his rhetoric, on the surface, was essentially undistinguishable from center-right Republicans.
I won’t give the detail for each one but none of them were severely out of line with conservative priorities (although, as always, the Devil is IN the details of the implementation): fixing immigration to reduce drugs and human traffickers & make legal processes faster and cheaper (he didn’t promise to end his stealth infiltration of illegals); fix the VA and give more support to veterans, especially those suffering from inhalation effects of the “burn pits” in Iraq (because he made 40 trips over there and “gets it” and that’s what killed his son Beau); end cancer as we know it (aka job security for researchers & Pharma); improve nursing home care with higher standards (yep, gonna be free to do that); break up monopolies (selected ones); restore trust and safety, and also hold law enforcement accountable, but primarily “fund the police” (that’s exactly what he said several times; he did NOT make any reference to racism systemic or otherwise); fix the opioid crisis (no, Hunter’s not giving the money back to China); address mental health problems (no, he didn’t mention the homeless hordes); rein in social media and other predators of our children (he didn’t cite ending Drag Queen Story Hours or CRT).
One episode almost made me laugh.
In his “Build a Better America” segment, he spoke at length about making all government projects buy materials “stamped made in America” (navy ships were his example); he was going to implement incentives to re-shore American jobs (the devil’s detail is doing it by the enactment of international capital gains tax minimums); there would be no more Rust Belt (although he tripped on the words here, I think he was slightly off-script) and cited a new Intel plant to be built in Iowa (replacing ethanol, perhaps?); he would fight back against China (by doing all this stuff, not, you know, fighting BACK against China); and encouraging investment in America, not foreign countries.
He did everything but put on a red hat and shout, “Make America Great Again!”
The audience even broke into a brief round of the “USA! USA!” chant.
Totally bizarre.
But he exited the room on his own two feet, and although he wasn’t highly energetic, he wasn’t noticeably defunct either.
And that’s my class report for today.
@ Barry > “FWIW, if you prefer to save time you can read it in about four minutes, give or take, in the following leaked and unredacted post:”
Well, yeah, but Biden wasn’t going to say any of that out loud in public.
ZH linked to this source, for the people who want to review the actual State of the Nation, er, Union (Brandon himself made that blip).
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/the-real-state-of-the-union-34697/
by Simon Black.
@ Barry on the open thread > ““Election Inspector Sues Delaware Over Early Voting, Permanent Absentee Voter Status”—’
That jogged my memory about one “verbal typo” Biden made, while talking about investments and corporations. He gave a shout-out to some other Delawareans in the Chamber, and said, roughly, “More American corporations are incorporated in America than anywhere else.”
He meant in Delaware, of course, and that is true.
I still remember some poor schlub doing voice-over commentary on Pope John Paul II’s election, who solemnly intoned, “And once again we remind you that this is the first time in centuries that the cardinals have selected a Pope who is not Catholic.”
She meant not Italian, of course.
Now, if she had said that same thing later about Francis….
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.fineartamerica.com%2Fimages%2Fartworkimages%2Fmediumlarge%2F3%2Fi-speak-fluent-typo-elijah-biddell.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
I picked up this link somewhere tonight.
Haven’t seen one to the full speech yet, but I’m sure it will be out.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/01/excerpts-from-president-bidens-state-of-the-union-address-as-prepared-for-delivery/
The applause greeting the second section was what made me visualize the Democrats all wearing MAGA hats.
I’m not sure which side of the aisle was doing the “USA” chant. 😉
Boldly fisking where no pundit has gone before:
(1a) He is not speaking of Trudeau.
(1b) “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means”
(2a) He is not economically literate.
(2b) That was a wish list, not a plan.
And Trump was doing all of those things with the EO’s you reversed on your Day One.
And you should add “unleash American energy sources and open the Keystone pipeline” while you’re at it.
FWIW, Washington Examiner has some posts up already.
Just take a look at their main page and pick one that interests you.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/
Some I liked just from the headline.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cnns-jake-tapper-praises-bidens-address-considering-his-speaking-talents-and-challenges
And to think there was a time when we called Jake the last honest reporter in America.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/joe-manchin-sits-with-republicans-during-state-of-the-union
He was Romney’s guest; are they forming a new Party of Two?
* * *
Yep – pretty much what I said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/biden-mailed-it-in
“Apart from a brief introduction touching on recent events in Ukraine, almost all of Biden’s address could have been pulled from any boilerplate Democratic campaign speech delivered in the past two decades.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/restoring-america-bidens-made-in-america-pledge-is-a-bunch-of-malarkey
“President Joe Biden almost sounded like a populist during his State of the Union address. If only he meant any of it.”
* * *
Canon to left of him, cannon to right of him, volleyed and thundered…
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/democratic-lawmakers-deliver-state-of-the-union-responses-despite-being-party-in-power
“Despite delivering his own response, Gottheimer, a centrist, called Tlaib’s decision to deliver a response to Biden’s speech “counterproductive” in remarks to Axios.
“It’s like keying your own car and slashing your own tires,” Gottheimer said.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/biden-gave-a-speech-but-senator-rand-paul-gave-the-real-state-of-the-union
“Tonight, you heard a speech by someone who doesn’t know what’s going on in the union,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday night. “Or at least he is hoping you don’t know.”
Thanks very much AF. Yeoman’s service. Not sure I could have survived that National BS session. Hypocrisy you’d need a machete to cut through…
JFM…I washed my hair on the weekend so a better use of my time was spent browsing this German English dictionary. For you German buffs out there, check it out. There is also an online forum where discussions about word meaning and usage is possible. Other languages also possible.
https://www.dict.cc/?l=e
More (yawn) developments in “Uncontested Elections”(TM) “news”:
“Georgia elections chief vows to ‘follow the money’ in harvesting probe, prosecute if warranted;
“Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says next step is to get State Elections Board to issue subpoena targeting whistleblower who claims he was paid to illegally collect ballots.”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/georgia-elections-chief-vows-follow-money-harvesting-probe-prosecute-if
Raffensperger? Raffensperger? Wasn’t he the guy who went AWOL somewhere back in November 2020 (but not before remembering to trash Trump)?
– – – – – – – – –
Psst. And for some Pfizer “news”…that you probably shouldn’t know about…
(Quietly! Softly!)
“Pfizer’s COVID vaccine efficacy goes negative for younger kids, government study finds”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/pfizers-covid-vaccine-efficacy-goes-negative-younger-kids-government
“CUMULATIVE ANALYSIS OF POST-AUTHORIZATION ADVERSE EVENT REPORTS OF PF-07302048 (BNT162B2) RECEIVED THROUGH 28-FEB-2021”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2022/03/01/cumulative-analysis-of-post-authorization-adverse-event-reports-of-pf-07302048-bnt162b2-received-through-28-feb-2021/
“The Most Honest Elections in History”, continued….
Sort of a repost, but it’s rather apropos given the gravitas of “Biden”‘s STFU massage:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/zuckerberg-election-funds-violated-wisconsin-bribery-laws-special-counsel-finds
File under: “Promise them Everything but give them gArbage…”?
Apparently “Biden” is still drooling about “UNITY” (I guess it’s a “key” word; though “he”‘s brandishing it around like it’s a weapon)…
Here’s John Solomon’s take on the current state of the Democrats:
“Civil war? Biden’s ‘unity agenda’ speech can’t mask the divided state of his own party;
“A News Analysis: In his first State of the Union, the president was dissed from both sides of his Democratic Party as moderate Manchin sat with GOP and progressives aired counter programming.”—
https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/civil-war-bidens-unity-agenda-speech-cant-mask-divided-state-his-own-party
Sounds like a three-ring circus, which would be amusing were it not for the many crises—mostly caused, intentionally by Democratic party policies—that are swirling about…and which will likely worsen.
We are all Uranians today LOLOLOLOLOLOL
AesopFan, thanks for your summary. Well done, which is a lot more than I can say for Biden.
New York Post editorial: “It was an unserious speech for deadly serious times. Lord help us.”
https://nypost.com/2022/03/01/bidens-unserious-state-of-the-union/
I watched it.
Anyone know what drugs kept Biden propped up?
‘Ick been in begin….., unh, unh, …., you know, ….., the thing.’
President Brandon’s STFU speech is reported to be historically awesome in its awesomeness by the media.
AesopFan,
Thank you for the summary.
If Putin does
pound, pound, pound,
the pround Ukrainians
into the
ground, ground, ground.
Will Brandon make a
sound, sound, sound?
Ask the Iranians.
A shrewd SOTU observation from VodkaPundit:
______________________________
I just won a bet with myself.
Biden kept it to an hour. That’s as long as he’s good for, as I noted during the Democratic primary debates in 2019-2020, and throughout the 2020 campaign, and during various events during his first year in office.
He’s got a solid 60 minutes in him — provided he’s had plenty of rest and a visit from Dr. Feelgood — followed by a rapid decline.
So he kept it to an hour.
And that’s the only thing he got right tonight.
–Stephen Green, “Puddin’ Time! The First A d d e r a l l-Fueled SOTU”
https://pjmedia.com/liveblog/2022/03/01/drunkblogging-the-2022-state-of-the-union-address-n219
And to think there was a time when we called Jake [Tapper] the last honest reporter in America.
AesopFan:
Yeah. I remember that during the Obama years. What happened there?
(Other than that it keeps happening to those in Washington. Some kind of pod people thing, perhaps.)
A disjointed laundry list of spending ideas and the most unworkable way to fight inflation – “Don’t cut wages, don’t raise your prices, cut your costs.” OMG, where? Energy costs? Maintenace costs? Raw materials costs? Biden proves he KNOWS NOTHING about economics.
Some lines he stole from Trump. “Buy American! Made completely in America! Bring manufacturing back to America!” All good ideas, which he has no intention of
making happen.
“Secure our borders and reform our immigration laws.” Code for amnesty for illegals and bringing more “refugees” to our cities. Especially the blue cities.
His energy was manic. The speech was mostly shouted, he stepped on his applause lines, and it was apparent that he did not want to linger past the time when the meds start to wear off. Not as difficult to watch as I anticipated, but it was a pedestrian effort overall.
LET’S GO BRANDON!!!
Thanks, Aesop, for that digest. Sounds like it was an attempt at the usual circus act, only more so.
@ J J > “The speech was mostly shouted, he stepped on his applause lines”
He whispered into the mike at least twice; I marked it on my Power Line Bingo Card. (But I never got 5 in a row, darn it.)
Also: I don’t think his script had (pause for applause) in the right places.