On this Memorial Day Holiday, MAGA Supporters Should Remember that Our Brave Gave Their Lives for Freedom, Not Fascism

 This cartoon from the Washington Post's Ann Telnaes perfectly frames the disconnect between what the people who we honor on Memorial Day fought for and what those in the MAGA world hold dear.

From the Washington Posts Ann Telnaes[/caption]

Telnaes is absolutely right.

The fallen who bravely fought the forces of evil and oppression around the world and in this country would be shocked that there is a sizable portion of the public and in elected office that thinks the MAGA extremist authoritarian and fascist attributes of burning books, denying and distorting history and science, suppressing the right to vote, repressing reproductive freedom, and discriminating against minorities is preferable to the Democratic and Republic values of majority rule, civil liberties, social justice, and reality.

When people honor those who paid the ultimate price for this country, think of the true American values they fought for. Those are the values that made this country the City on the Hill and the beacon our grandparents and great-grandparents made the journey for to create better lives for themselves and their descendants.

The values the MAGA Extremist fringe hold should be shunned and defeated at the ballot box.

The people who fought for the United States gave their lives so we the people could have the freedom to do just that and create a better society where people are lifted up and humanity moves forward.

Remember that when it is time to vote in 2023, 2024, and beyond.

 

 

Editorial Cartoons for the Week from Blog for Arizona

 

Happy Memorial Day

 

It Appears that President Biden and his Team are Better Negotiators on the Debt Limit than We Gave Them Credit for

Photo from CNN. 

Last night, Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, after a reported hour-and-a-half phone call between the two, concluded a deal in principle that had been mostly worked out by their negotiating teams, to raise the national debt ceiling in exchange for spending and other measures sought by the former Party of Lincoln.

It appears that with the details of the deal that were leaked over the last ten to twelve hours, worries about President Biden and his team's (Budget Director Shalanda Young and Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti) negotiating skills (including those slightly expressed by myself in an earlier piece) may have been premature, and pundits who credited Kevin McCarthy and his allies for their abilities to steer an agreement that strongly favored their MAGA- Trumpist-Terrorist priorities may have been duped.

From several news sources like the Washington Post,  CNN, NPR, and Axios, it appears the proverbs the devil is in the details, and speaking softly and carrying a big stick is pertinent here.

While Speaker McCarthy and his principal negotiators Representative Garret Graves and Patrick Henry fed journalists daily narratives of how they were holding out for Trumpist-MAGA principals, the deal in principle that was concluded by both sides last night (May 27, 2023) shows how successful President Biden and his team were in beating back MAGA-Terrorist Demands.

The MAGA Terrorists wanted to extend the debt ceiling for only one year at about a trillion and a half dollars.

The deal calls for extending the debt ceiling until January 2025 for more than twice that amount.

The MAGA Terrorists wanted to cut spending in nondefense and veterans domestic programs by 22 percent. They also wanted spending caps for either six or ten years.

In the current deal, spending levels in those areas will be capped at 2023 levels for the next fiscal year and rise by one percent in 2025 with caps expiring after that.

The MAGA Terrorists wanted to stop the President's Student Loan Forgiveness plan and repeal the key components of the Inflation Reduction Act like the energy tax credits and the funds to help the I.R.S. go after tax cheats.

The current deal, as reported, does not touch the Student Loan Forgiveness Plan although Republicans are probably counting on the Supreme Court, fresh off gutting portions of the wetlands part of the Clean Water Act this last week, to do their dirty work for them. The Energy Tax Credits, probably in a trade-off for a streamlined permitting process for energy production, stayed. The Administration has only promised to cut about two billion dollars from their I.R.S. enforcement budget.

The MAGA Terrorists wanted to impose onerous work requirements on people on Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps,) and Welfare.

While the details on the new welfare work requirements have not been leaked yet, there will be no work requirements on Medicaid, and the new ones on SNAP (raising the age to report work from 50 to 54,) while stupid, are fairly modest and will expire in 2030 unless Congress and the President at that time decide to renew. Furthermore, exemptions for members of the veterans and homeless community were incorporated into the new SNAP requirements.

While the Biden team did not get any revenue-increasing measures in the deal, it is clear from the details that have been released that for all the criticism (including again from this writer) that the President was not out in front enough every day framing the narrative of these negotiations, it appears that his strategy of working behind the scenes to secure the best deal possible for Democrats in this period of divided government has worked.

After the deal was announced, the President released the below statement through the White House Press room and social media:

"Earlier this evening, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement in principle.

It is an important step forward that reduces spending while protecting critical programs for working people and growing the economy for everyone. And, the agreement protects my and Congressional Democrats’ key priorities and legislative accomplishments.

The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. That’s the responsibility of governing.

And, this agreement is good news for the American people, because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost.

Over the next day, our negotiating teams will finalize legislative text and the agreement will go to the United States House and Senate. I strongly urge both chambers to pass the agreement right away."

The road to passage in Congress starts now.

Expect more Democrats to vote for this measure than Republicans whose MAGA-Terrorist-Chaos Caucus members are already whining and threatening "war"  about the details that have been released.

Even MAGA-loving Senators like Mike Lee of Utah (expect others like Rand Paul not to be too far behind) are threatening to delay the process. It will be interesting to see if Enemy of the People Mitch McConnell can corral his own MAGA members.

Stay Tuned.

The fight is not over yet.

 

 

 

 

 

President Biden Needs to Stop Negotiating with the McCarthy-Trump-Led MAGA-Terrorist Economic Hostage Takers

Photo from NBC News.

It is time for President Biden to step away from negotiating with the McCarthy-Trump-Led MAGA Terrorist Economic Hostage Takers over the debt ceiling.

It is evident from the last 24 to 48 hours in reporting from various media sources that Traitor and Trumpist Enabler Kevin I needed 15 rounds of votes to become Speaker McCarthy is more concerned with keeping the gavel even if his right-wing extremist apostates in the House, who have been openly encouraged by the twice impeached-twice indicted-twice popular vote loser-twice KKK endorsed former occupant of the Oval Office, want to throw the American and Global Economy into a tailspin if they do not get all of what they want in debt ceiling negotiations.

Need proof. According to reporting in the Washington Post (and recounted by AZ Blue Meanie,) McCarthy's two negotiators assigned to deal with President Biden's representatives appeared to signal that if the Democrats want to lift the debt ceiling, they need to buy their draconian cuts on domestic spending and new add on demands for F.B.I. defunding and immigration policies before a vote comes to the House floor.

These McCarthy-Trump-led MAGA Terrorist Economic Hostage Takers are so arrogant in their own stupidity and disdain for economic fundamentals that Matt How Old was She Gaetz publicly acknowledged that his party was holding the debt ceiling hostage.

It is time for President Biden to stop negotiations and address the American People and tell them what the McCarthy-Trump-led MAGA Terrorist Economic Hostage Takers are trying to do and rally support, especially for those 18 former Party of Lincoln officeholders that come from districts Biden won.

He should also tell the American People that, thanks to these McCarthty- Trump-led MAGA Terrorist Economic Hostage Takers, a default on the nation's debts may happen and to prepare for a potentially rough economic stretch of at least a couple of weeks unless these Traitors start thinking about the good of the country instead of their Trumpist base and get serious about compromising.

Defaulting on the nation's debt would be horrible.

Given recent comments from the MAGA Terrorists, their bait and switch my way or the highway approach may make that happen.

Unfortunately, what would be more horrible is enabling these McCarthy-Trump-led MAGA Terrorist Economic Hostage Takers because if they can get away with it now, they will try and get away with it again and again and again.

The economy would eventually recover from default.

American Democracy would die if the MAGA terrorists get their way.

President Biden needs to break this MAGA terrorist cycle before it takes firm hold. He should also invoke the 14th Amendment and use whatever strategy the Treasury can employ to make any pain less severe and forestall future debt crises like minting a five trillion dollar coin.

Stay Tuned

 

 

 

President Biden Needs to Bypass the MAGA Economic Terrorists in the House and Speak Directly to the American People

 MAGA Economic Terrorists posing as House Republicans have shown they will not budge much right now (or maybe ever) on their unreasonable demands to cut domestic spending (but leave defense spending at high or higher levels and the Trump tax cuts for the rich and largest corporations) in their negotiations with the White House on raising the debt ceiling.

No surprise there. For Republicans making life easier for a child who needs a quality Head Start Program or KidsCare or food stamps is sinful while funding unneeded weapons programs and giving tax breaks to churches and fossil fuel industries is the work of God.

President Biden should do what he did before the 2022 midterms when he delivered a prime-time address on the threat to American Democracy at the hand of many of these same MAGA Terrorists that are holding the nation's full faith and credit hostage.

That speech, along with the threats against reproductive freedom and the LGBTQ community, helped frame what was at stake for the electorate. The results across the country contained and repelled the move toward Trump- Putin-Orban-Erdogan styled autocracy, in most cases, in purple and blue states.

Unfortunately, red states like Florida, Nebraska, and Texas are going full steam ahead on adopting Anti-Democratic and Anti-Civil Rights legislation.

The President needs to go before the American People and frame the debate again on the debate ceiling.

To be fair, Mr. Biden has been doing this consistently in response to questions from reporters for the last several weeks including the press conference earlier today in Hiroshima, Japan following the end of the G-7 Summit.

At the beginning of the press conference, the President reminded the journalists that:

"I've done my part. I've put forward a proposal to cut spending by more than a trillion dollars on top of the nearly three trillion dollars in deficit reduction that I previously proposed through the combination of spending cuts and new revenues. Now it is time for the other side to move. They're from their extreme positions because much of what they've already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable. So, let me be clear. I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects, for example, a 30 billion dollar tax break for the oil industry which made 200 billion last year. They don't need an incentive of another 30 billion dollars while putting the health care of 21 million Americans at risk by going after Medicaid. I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects 200 billion in excess payments for the pharmaceutical industries and refusing to count that while cutting over a hundred thousand school teachers' and assistants' jobs, 30,000 law enforcement officers cut across the entire United States of America. I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistance at risk for nearly one million Americans. It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely on their partisan terms. They have to move as well. All four Congressional leaders agree with me that default, let me say this again, default is not an option and I expect each of these leaders to live up to that commitment. America has never defaulted. Never defaulted on our debt and it never will..."

Later in response to the Republican focus on domestic spending cuts and their intransigence toward revenue increases, the President said:

"The idea that my Republican colleagues want to continue the two trillion dollar tax cut that had profound negative effects on the economy from the Trump Administration...we need more people who are qualified to be able to look at the tax returns of the thousand billionaires in America...we would save somewhere between 200 billion and 400 billion dollars in tax revenue...they say revenue is off the table. Revenue is not off the table..."

In these comments, the President framed what was at stake for the country very well and rightfully painted the MAGA Republicans (the ones who have not proposed a budget of their own) as the inflexible economic extremists-terrorist-hostage takers.

Now the President should repeat what he did last fall in his address to protect American Democracy and deliver a prime-time address to the American People.

This is also a page out of the Bill Clinton book.

Readers should remember that President Clinton, in dealing with the extremist House Republicans of Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and Tom DeLay, pulled the budget debate rug out from under them by delivering a prime-time address from the Oval Office, offering a balanced budget proposal on terms that, after two Government shutdowns, were mostly agreed to.

Biden should take the same approach as Clinton, frame the debate before the American People, and push the MAGA terrorists into a corner that their extremist positions can not prevail from.

Stay Tuned.

 

Editorial Cartoons for the Week from Blog for Arizona