President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed decrees on Friday to declare four Ukrainian regions part of Russia as the Kremlin seeks to solidify its tenuous hold over Ukrainian territory through a widely denounced illegal annexation.
“This is the will of millions of people,” he said. “This is their right, their inalienable right.”
The Russian leader spoke in the chandeliered St. George’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace — the same place where he declared in March 2014 that the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was part of Russia.
Hundreds of Russian members of Parliament and regional governors sat in the audience for Mr. Putin’s speech, as well as many of his cabinet ministers and the four Russian-imposed leaders of the occupied Ukrainian regions.
Ukraine and its Western partners have called the annexation illegal, with the Biden administration saying that it is ready to impose additional sanctions on Russia if it proceeds. As Mr. Putin spoke, leaders in the European Union issued a statement saying that they “firmly reject and unequivocally condemn” the annexation.
Mr. Putin declared Western elites “the enemy,” one that is seeking to destroy Russia. They “want to see us as a colony,” Mr. Putin said. “It is critically important for them that all countries give up their sovereignty in favor of the United States.”
He reeled off a litany of Western military actions stretching over centuries — from the British Opium War in China in the 19th century to Allied firebombings of Germany and the Vietnam and Korean Wars.
The United States, he said, was the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war. “By the way, they created a precedent,” Mr. Putin added in an aside. …
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine responded to Russia’s claims to have annexed four Ukrainian provinces by announcing Ukraine is applying for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO,” Mr. Zelensky said in a statement posted on the presidential website. He said Ukraine was already cooperating closely with NATO and argued that Ukraine’s army has already helped secure alliance members in Europe against Russian aggression by inflicting battlefield defeats on the Russian army in Ukraine.
“It is in Ukraine that the fate of democracy in the confrontation with tyranny is being decided,” he said. “It is here, with the firmness of our state borders, that we can secure the firmness of the borders of all European states. Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine’s application could be fast-tracked similarly to the applications of Sweden and Finland. …
President Vladimir V. Putin on Friday asserted that Russia would take control of four Ukrainian regions and decried the United States for “Satanism” in a speech that marked an escalation in Moscow’s war against Ukraine and positioned Russia, in starkly confrontational terms, as fighting an existential battle with Western elites he deemed “the enemy.”
Speaking to hundreds of Russian lawmakers and governors in a grand Kremlin hall, Mr. Putin said that the residents of the four regions — which are still partially controlled by Ukrainian forces — would become Russia’s citizens “forever.” He then held a signing ceremony with the Russian-installed heads of those regions to start the official annexation process, before clasping hands with them and chanting “Russia! Russia!”
Mr. Putin’s address came against a backdrop of Russian embarrassments on the battlefield, where Ukraine’s forces have scored stunning victories in recent weeks in the east. Even as the Russian leader spoke, officials said the Ukrainian army had moved closer to encircling the Russian-occupied town of Lyman, a strategically important hub in the Donetsk region that lies inside the territory Mr. Putin is claiming.
Even by Mr. Putin’s increasingly antagonistic standards, the speech was extraordinary, a combination of bluster and menace that mixed conspiratorial riffs against the American-led “neocolonial system” with an appeal to the world to see Russia as the leader of an uprising against American power. …
President Biden condemned Russia’s claimed annexation of captured Ukrainian territory on Friday, responding to Moscow’s latest escalation with a range of sanctions and a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin that the United States would defend “every single inch” of NATO territory from a potential attack.
Hours after Mr. Putin gave a speech asserting Russian control over four eastern Ukrainian regions, Mr. Biden called the action a “fraudulent” violation of international law that showed “contempt for peaceful nations everywhere.”
“The United States is never going to recognize this, and quite frankly the world is not going to recognize it either,” Mr. Biden said from the White House. “He can’t seize his neighbor’s territory and get away with it. It is as simple as that.”
World leaders rallied around Mr. Biden in a forceful collective denunciation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Emmanuel Macron of France said Russia had committed a “serious violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty” and vowed on Twitter to help Ukraine “recover its full sovereignty over its entire territory.”
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, called Mr. Putin’s move “an illegal and illegitimate land grab” and pledged to continue assisting Ukraine until it defeated the aggressor.
Even among Russia’s traditional allies, no country stepped forward to recognize the annexation. Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, issued a statement before Mr. Putin’s speech calling for “respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the noninterference in the internal affairs of other states.” …
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine responded to Russia’s claims by announcing that he was fast-tracking his country’s application to NATO. In a video, he accused the Kremlin of trying to “steal something that does not belong to it.”
“Ukraine will not allow that,” he said.
But Mr. Zelensky’s request to join the alliance drew a less resounding response.
“Right now, our view is that the best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical, on-the-ground support in Ukraine,” said Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser.
Retired US Army LT COL Alex Vindman, Ukrainian-American of some note, said on MASNBC last night that now is unfortunately not the time to admit Ukraine to Nato, given exigent circumstances.
A few days ago AB asked me to write something in reply to USATODAY report on a speech Biden gave in which he spoke briefly about Republican plan to sunset Social Security.
(Article quotes Glenn Kessler in WashPost – behind a paywall.)
The Washington Post handed down four “Pinocchios” to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., for her claim warning of the “end” Social Security and Medicare if Republicans take control of Congress.
Murray, who is fighting in a tightening reelection battle against GOP challenger Tiffany Smiley, tweeted on Sunday, “Republicans plan to end Social Security and Medicare if they take back the Senate.”
Glenn Kessler, the Post’s fact-checker, characterized Murray’s tweet as a “‘Mediscare’ attack” to win over senior voters.
“Don’t worry, seniors: There is no such plan,” Kessler assured elderly readers.
Kessler outlined Democrats’ long history of unsubstantiated attacks towards Republicans over intentions to gut Social Security and Medicare, stressing that the new attacks going into the November elections are “just as empty as the previous ones.”
The Murray campaign told Kessler, “One of Tiffany Smiley’s biggest champions is Rick Scott, who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee and wrote its agenda which proposes gutting Social Security and Medicare. If Republicans like Smiley disagree, they should call on Rick Scott to be removed as Chair or stop taking money from the NRSC, which she has refused to do. We are absolutely going to make sure Tiffany Smiley is held accountable for how the official Senate Republican campaign agenda would harm Washington seniors.”
Except Kessler outlined how Scott’s “Rescue America” plan, which proposed “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years” unless renewed by Congress, was widely rejected by GOP leadership including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He also noted that Scott himself stressed he did not want to end Social Security and Medicare. …
(Personally, I would not put much faith in notions that GOP pols are NOT going to do anything they say they are not going to do if it will reduce social spending.)
yes. Wash Post is lying. usual type of lie…that is they don’t say any single thing that is not true, but everything they say is designed to fool people and bring them harm, i will say more about this if anyone cares. Tomorrow.
well, i can’t say for sure kessler said no actual untruths because i haven’t read the article. but the Rs have been trying to kill SS for 85 years. and the R’s are mad at Johnson for saying so outloud before an election.
I am not quite ready to pay for a Wash Post subscription, although it is currently way less expensive than the NYT. It appears that the Fox News summary posted is pretty complete, if you trust Fox to do this, just this once.
I am tempted though. More likely to do so than to sign up (again) for Amazon Prime, somewhat less likely than to occasionally shop at our nearby Whole Foods. But I am indeed a dedicated Amazon consumer.
I suspect that Fox News is happy to put up ‘info’ that suggests Patty Murray is so determined to go all out to hold on to her Senate seat that she will reinforce notions that GOP Senators are not averse to threatening efforts to keep Social Security secure. Just as they are willing to plead for hurricane relief funding when their states need it. Just not when sanctuary states do.
sorry. i thought you already had a Post subscription. I will try to phrase my answer so people know i am quoting a secondary source.
i won’t pay for Post or Times myself. and I have found that their subsidiaries on line are dedicated liars about SS also.
To borrow a bon mot from Napoleon “God is on the side of the biggest liars.” I am terminally depressed by saying the same thing over and over for fifteen years and not only not having it make a difference, but haing to put up with the “litle liars” who show up on line to “refute” what I am saying, which they do without regard to making any sense at all…becaue they know that the people will not notice. “sense” not being what they are paying for, but the thrill of “being right” in their own eyes, or at least “owning the libs” which I am one, except on AB where I am a MAGA moron because I sometimes have something to say that does not fit the party line.
as it is I have desperate things to accomplish in my own life today, and will try to reply to Post and USATODAY in time for the Sunday papers, but don’t count on me saying anything i haven’t said before.
Doesn’t seem to be much demand for my comments about attacks on Social Security, depite previous show of interest. Which may work out fine. I am very tired.
Ron (RC) Weakley (A.K.A., Darryl For A While At EV) says:
Please do not despair. You can preach here at AB if you have the time and energy – or not if that is not the case. It will not change outcomes. AB reader ship is the choir and just a small one at that. Here in the AB choir everyone (save maybe Eric377) already share your feelings about SS and the R-wingnuts, even MAGA morons like us. OTOH, anything that each of us can do to bring out the vote for Dems this fall will be time well spent. That is something that I appreciate about EMike that more than makes up for everything else.
I looked at the USATODAY article. it had very little to do with Biden’s speech. They just used it to print some “fair and balanced” factoids about SS that served the lie that SS was going broke and needed to be fixed. I was working on specific answers to the claims. It actually takes a lot of time to do my own fact checking and try to write something readable.
I found a video of Biden’s speech… it was not as easy to find on-line as you would expect. I guess that not very many people saw the actual speech. I wrote a summary of it so AB would have some idea what Biden actually said.
While looking for the speech I ran across many other articles about SS showing that the usual attacks against SS were well underway. The task of refuting them all was impossible and very discouraging. It has been said that one of the chief tortures of hell is having to look on the face of the Devil. Reading the lies about SS is like that.
Meanwhile our Dobbs here on AB found an article about an article behind a paywall on Washington Post whose fact checker, Glenn Kessler, called Biden’s speech a lie…”the usual Dem lie “Mediscaring the people to get votes.”There has never been a Republican effort to end Social Security.” This was such a bold faced lie itself, it makes me want to respond the way Billy Budd respnded to Claggart [i can explain that if no one has read Billy Budd), but Kessler is behind a pay wall, Billy Budd was hanged for what he did….and Claggart was actually the name of the Captain who hanged him: I have forgotten the name of the liar Budd punched….so I would have to do my own fact-checking to write something that would not discredit me forever in the eyes of the people who need an excuse to discredit me and thereby SS forever. And I may not have time for that. Maybe when you find yourself in an evil smelling place with people with bad manners (and not the slightest interest in “truth”) it’s time to stop preaching.
Billy Budd was a sailor impressed (i.e. forcibly removed) from an American frigate ‘The Rights of Man’ to serve on a British warship, resisted, killed Master-at-arms John Claggart, was to be hung for mutiny, in an unpublished novella from Herman Melville which became regarded as his 2nd best work & was published long after his death. As I recall, the best thing about the story was the name of the American ship Billy Budd was removed from.
As his former ship moves off, Budd shouts, “And good-bye to you too, old Rights-of-Man.” (Wikipedia)
This has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.
this is an open thread. my comments were quite personal: reasons why I was finding it hard to write anymore about Social Security.
speaking of fact checking, while i was checking Kessler I found (they say) that he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Years ago on a blog far away I mentioned that Pete Perterson, a lying enemy of Social Security, was president of the Council on Foreign Relations. I got called a liar for that. Seems Peterson had already retired by the time I mentioned his position as president. There are facts then there are facts that are lies.
I did finally get to read the actual Kessler article. It was long and convoluted enough that Kessler could claim to be innocent of lying…except that everything he said added up to a damned lie about Social Security. Which is the way they operate.
Kessler’s op-ed in the WashPost is about Patty Murray’s assertion that the GOP is out to kill Social Security, which they deny of course. Joe Biden’s speech is apparently about GOP Sen Rick Scott indicating he wants some cutbacks or did some months ago & has since backed off, I understand.
(This is probably sloppy politicking all around, but bases need to be stoked & funds need to be raised, and the mid-term election is only about a month away.)
… the House Republican Conference has released a new “agenda” document, entitled “Commitment to America.” The document, clearly designed for online consumption, has lots of bells and whistles and factoids about the hellish reign of Joe Biden and his “Democrat” Party. What it doesn’t have is a whole lot of specificity, unlike the unfortunate “agenda” that Republican Senate Campaign Committee chairman Rick Scott released earlier this year to the near-universal horror of his colleagues, who don’t want to be identified with the proposed sunsetting of Social Security and Medicare. …
if you wish to promote my comment above re Kessler and Biden to a separate post
I would be happy if you preserved it as is. i would add a disclaimer to it that apparenty (third hand) Kessler was talking about Patty Murray. But since Biden was saying the same thing, I regard my error as “not a significant difference.”
Life is too short to chase down every non=significant error. But too important to fail to tell non-significant from significant.
Well. you won’t find out from me. I only read about it third hand, and because the “fact checker” …Glenn Kessler….is behind a paywall you are going to have to find it for yourself.
So, I don’t know but I been told that Kessler gave Biden “three Pinocchios” for saying that the Republicans want to destroy Social Security…just as the Democrats have lied about the Republicans wanting to destroy Social Security every election for as long as man can remember.
I checked on Biden’s speech. I can’t find any lies about Republicans wanting to destroy Social Security. Biden did read from a pamphlet that Republican Senator Ron Scott wrote calling for every law including Social Security to be sunsetted after five years. Biden also said that 158 Republican Congressmen had signed on to the plan. And he pointed out that “sunsetting” Social Security would mean you would not get the benefits you have been paying for all your life. And he did point out that with Social Security on the chopping block every five years the chances of it being chopped were anywhere from high to certain.The Republicans would only need to win one election. Biden also pointed out that “security” was what people who paid into Social Security were paying for.
Now it turns out that a lot of Republicans have distanced themselves from the plan. It is my opinion…you can fact check that…that the R’s are not so much against the Scott plan as they are against talking about it before an election. That might hurt their chances of winning. And of course they can’t kill Social Security if they can’t win the election.
Kessler went on to say that the Dems have been lying “Mediscaring the voters” every election…for as long as man can remember (Kessler didn’t actually say “as long as man can remember”: I said that to translate the way he said it. Of course, you need to ask how long what man can remember: fact checking is a tricky business. The Republicans have been trying to kill Social Security for as long as I can remember, and I have been paying close attention since 1992. But of course they always say they are trying to “strengthen and preserve” Social Security, which means cut it until they can drown it in the bathtub.
Kessler seems to think that since the Republicans have failed to destroy Social Security so far that proves they have not been trying to destroy it.
Well, if you have not been paying attention, you might believe that.
the above comment has not been fact-checked. there may be some minor errors.
Ron (RC) Weakley (A.K.A., Darryl For A While At EV) says:
In any case though, as much as I believe in the value of SS, then it is that value which also makes me believe ending SS would actually be the “third rail” that all politicians once believed that it was. Many seniors now in the passing of generations vote for Republicans, but they are not deep thinkers and have no idea how they would survive without their monthly SS benefits. Rather they take SS for granted. Far too many of today’s seniors are voting reactionary on cultural issues rather than progressive on economic issues. The vast majority of US voters would be in no way able to retire without SS, but seniors face serious work place restrictions on continuing in the work force. Those that are forced to retire on too little income will still have a lot of free time on their hands along with a grudge against those that stole their future.
all true. but they will have no way to vote the bastards out. not only will they have no idea what happened to SS (they will think it “went broke”) and keep voting for Republicans who promise to keep them safe from criminals, immigrants, and radical left socialist Democrats.
But by then the election process will be entirely in the hands of Republicans, as they will call themselves, and it won’t matter what they think.
Wilmington (Ohio) News Journal – Sen Sherrod Brown – Oct 1
Everything we do ought to come back to the Dignity of Work – the idea that hard work should pay off for everyone, no matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of work you do. And when work has dignity, people have a secure retirement.
That means everyone can count on Medicare and Social Security.
That shouldn’t be partisan. Social Security is one of the most popular and most unifying institutions in the country.
Yet Republican politicians in Washington always come after it – it’s their answer for how to pay for anything, from handouts to corporations that ship jobs overseas to tax cuts for the wealthy.
We’ve heard about plans to privatize Social Security. We’ve heard about plans to means-test it, limiting which Americans can depend on Social Security.
The details differ, but the plan is always the same – to kill off this bedrock of our middle class.
This time, it’s Senator Rick Scott. He proposed a plan that would end Social Security within five years.
We’ve seen some Republican politicians try to run away from Senator Scott’s plan – even though he’s one of their Senate leaders. And we know that Republican politicians in Congress have proposed different schemes to undermine Social Security over and over.
It’s why this week, I introduced a resolution to protect Social Security and ensure it remains a guarantee for every American.
Ohioans pay into Social Security with every paycheck, and they want to know they can count on it when they retire. Workers should not have to worry with every election that politicians are going to try to take away the retirement they earned.
I hope members of both parties will join us, put this to rest, and show Americans that if you work hard all your life and pay into Social Security, your retirement security will be there for you.
It must be hard to be Rick Scott. The junior senator from Florida began the year with an ambitious bid for party leadership among his fellow Republicans, releasing an “11-Point Plan to Rescue America.”
For his effort, Scott received a vigorous, bipartisan spanking. It lasted for months, ending only last week when Scott agreed to purge his 11-point agenda of its most unpopular element — a suggestion to raise taxes on half of all Americans.
To be clear, though, Scott no longer has an 11-point agenda. That was the old plan, which he has deleted from his website. The new, improved Scott plan contains a full 12 points. …temporarily accurate) data point: “Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.” …
If Scott was trying to develop a set of compelling talking points, he did a fine job — for Democrats. They immediately seized on his tax proposal, with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer describing it on Twitter as “the Republican plan to raise taxes on more than half of Americans.”
Scott should maybe have labeled his original document an “11-Point Plan to Rescue Democrats.”That political reality was not lost on the actual leader among today’s elected Republicans. Almost immediately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave Scott’s plan the coolest of cold shoulders. That political reality was not lost on the actual leader among today’s elected Republicans. Almost immediately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave Scott’s plan the coolest of cold shoulders.
TAXES
EDITORS’ PICKRick Scott Reconsiders, Decides Tax Hike For Half The Country Is Probably A Bad IdeaJoseph ThorndikeContributorTax NotesContributor GroupJun 17, 2022,04:39pm EDT Listen to article7 minutes
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 24: Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks to reporters after a closed-door lunch … [+]
GETTY IMAGES
It must be hard to be Rick Scott. The junior senator from Florida began the year with an ambitious bid for party leadership among his fellow Republicans, releasing an “11-Point Plan to Rescue America.”
For his effort, Scott received a vigorous, bipartisan spanking. It lasted for months, ending only last week when Scott agreed to purge his 11-point agenda of its most unpopular element — a suggestion to raise taxes on half of all Americans.
To be clear, though, Scott no longer has an 11-point agenda. That was the old plan, which he has deleted from his website. The new, improved Scott plan contains a full 12 points.
(The 12th point adds some income taxes, on ‘people under 60’.)
And, in contrast to his original suggestion that more people should pay taxes, Scott now argues that more people should work, and also pay taxes.
Feel free to mull over that distinction in search of a difference.
When Scott released his original plan in February, reporters fixated on its clear declarative statement that “all Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game.” Just in case anyone was confused about the impact and scope of this principle, Scott also provided a useful (and roughly if only temporarily accurate) data point: “Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.”
If Scott was trying to develop a set of compelling talking points, he did a fine job — for Democrats. They immediately seized on his tax proposal, with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer describing it on Twitter as “the Republican plan to raise taxes on more than half of Americans.”
Scott should maybe have labeled his original document an “11-Point Plan to Rescue Democrats.”
That political reality was not lost on the actual leader among today’s elected Republicans. Almost immediately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave Scott’s plan the coolest of cold shoulders.
Philippine Billionaire Ayala, Gokongwei Families To Merge Banking Units
“If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority next year, I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide in consultation with my members what to put on the floor,” McConnell said. “Let me tell you what will not be on our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.” …
Point 12 locks in Trump tax cuts, does other awful things to make budget approvals next to impossible, establishes the line-item veto, also includes this on federal taxes.
Fight the government’s war on work: Able bodied Americans under 60, who do not have young children or incapacitated dependents, should work. We need them pulling the wagon and paying taxes, not sitting at home taking money from the government. Currently, far too many Americans who can work are living off of the hard work of others, and have no ‘skin in the game’. Government must never again incentivize people to not work by paying them more to stay home.
Scott wants more people paying taxes. It troubles him to think that currently many people do not earn enough to be required to pay income taxes.
It must be hard to be Rick Scott. The junior senator from Florida began the year with an ambitious bid for party leadership among his fellow Republicans, releasing an “11-Point Plan to Rescue America.”
For his effort, Scott received a vigorous, bipartisan spanking. It lasted for months, ending only last week when Scott agreed to purge his 11-point agenda of its most unpopular element — a suggestion to raise taxes on half of all Americans.
To be clear, though, Scott no longer has an 11-point agenda. That was the old plan, which he has deleted from his website. The new, improved Scott plan contains a full 12 points. …
Comments from Mitch McConnell in the Forbes article…
“If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority next year, I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide in consultation with my members what to put on the floor,” McConnell said. “Let me tell you what will not be on our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.” …
In Sham Annexation, Putin Declares 4 Ukrainian Regions Part of Russia
NY Times – Sep 30
Ukraine submits an application to join NATO
NY Times – Sep 30
Putin’s speech on annexation paints a stark picture of a face-off with the West
NY Times – Sep 30
Biden calls on the world to punish Russia and issues a warning to Putin
NY Times – Oct 1
Retired US Army LT COL Alex Vindman, Ukrainian-American of some note, said on MASNBC last night that now is unfortunately not the time to admit Ukraine to Nato, given exigent circumstances.
ibid.
A few days ago AB asked me to write something in reply to USATODAY report on a speech Biden gave in which he spoke briefly about Republican plan to sunset Social Security.
This guy does a better job than I would have.
Does the above have anything to do with the following?
WaPo gives Sen. Patty Murray ‘Four Pinocchios’ for saying Republicans plan to ‘end’ Social Security, Medicare
Fox News – Sep 27
(Article quotes Glenn Kessler in WashPost – behind a paywall.)
The false claim that Senate Republicans ‘plan to end Social Security and Medicare’
Washington Post – Sep 27 ($$$)
And, why is Dark Brandon pointing his finger at Voldemort?
Dobbs
yes. Wash Post is lying. usual type of lie…that is they don’t say any single thing that is not true, but everything they say is designed to fool people and bring them harm, i will say more about this if anyone cares. Tomorrow.
well, i can’t say for sure kessler said no actual untruths because i haven’t read the article. but the Rs have been trying to kill SS for 85 years. and the R’s are mad at Johnson for saying so outloud before an election.
please if you can, give us the entire article
you have the floor.
I am not quite ready to pay for a Wash Post subscription, although it is currently way less expensive than the NYT. It appears that the Fox News summary posted is pretty complete, if you trust Fox to do this, just this once.
I am tempted though. More likely to do so than to sign up (again) for Amazon Prime, somewhat less likely than to occasionally shop at our nearby Whole Foods. But I am indeed a dedicated Amazon consumer.
I suspect that Fox News is happy to put up ‘info’ that suggests Patty Murray is so determined to go all out to hold on to her Senate seat that she will reinforce notions that GOP Senators are not averse to threatening efforts to keep Social Security secure. Just as they are willing to plead for hurricane relief funding when their states need it. Just not when sanctuary states do.
There’s no doubt that Washingtonians should be reminded of the dangers of electing a GOP senator for their famously liberal state.
Washington ranked as the 7th best state — but only among Democrats. For Republicans, we’re 45th.
Seattle Times – April 2021
Dobbs,
sorry. i thought you already had a Post subscription. I will try to phrase my answer so people know i am quoting a secondary source.
i won’t pay for Post or Times myself. and I have found that their subsidiaries on line are dedicated liars about SS also.
To borrow a bon mot from Napoleon “God is on the side of the biggest liars.” I am terminally depressed by saying the same thing over and over for fifteen years and not only not having it make a difference, but haing to put up with the “litle liars” who show up on line to “refute” what I am saying, which they do without regard to making any sense at all…becaue they know that the people will not notice. “sense” not being what they are paying for, but the thrill of “being right” in their own eyes, or at least “owning the libs” which I am one, except on AB where I am a MAGA moron because I sometimes have something to say that does not fit the party line.
as it is I have desperate things to accomplish in my own life today, and will try to reply to Post and USATODAY in time for the Sunday papers, but don’t count on me saying anything i haven’t said before.
Doesn’t seem to be much demand for my comments about attacks on Social Security, depite previous show of interest. Which may work out fine. I am very tired.
Coberly,
Please do not despair. You can preach here at AB if you have the time and energy – or not if that is not the case. It will not change outcomes. AB reader ship is the choir and just a small one at that. Here in the AB choir everyone (save maybe Eric377) already share your feelings about SS and the R-wingnuts, even MAGA morons like us. OTOH, anything that each of us can do to bring out the vote for Dems this fall will be time well spent. That is something that I appreciate about EMike that more than makes up for everything else.
Take care.
Ron
thank you.
I looked at the USATODAY article. it had very little to do with Biden’s speech. They just used it to print some “fair and balanced” factoids about SS that served the lie that SS was going broke and needed to be fixed. I was working on specific answers to the claims. It actually takes a lot of time to do my own fact checking and try to write something readable.
I found a video of Biden’s speech… it was not as easy to find on-line as you would expect. I guess that not very many people saw the actual speech. I wrote a summary of it so AB would have some idea what Biden actually said.
While looking for the speech I ran across many other articles about SS showing that the usual attacks against SS were well underway. The task of refuting them all was impossible and very discouraging. It has been said that one of the chief tortures of hell is having to look on the face of the Devil. Reading the lies about SS is like that.
Meanwhile our Dobbs here on AB found an article about an article behind a paywall on Washington Post whose fact checker, Glenn Kessler, called Biden’s speech a lie…”the usual Dem lie “Mediscaring the people to get votes.”There has never been a Republican effort to end Social Security.” This was such a bold faced lie itself, it makes me want to respond the way Billy Budd respnded to Claggart [i can explain that if no one has read Billy Budd), but Kessler is behind a pay wall, Billy Budd was hanged for what he did….and Claggart was actually the name of the Captain who hanged him: I have forgotten the name of the liar Budd punched….so I would have to do my own fact-checking to write something that would not discredit me forever in the eyes of the people who need an excuse to discredit me and thereby SS forever. And I may not have time for that. Maybe when you find yourself in an evil smelling place with people with bad manners (and not the slightest interest in “truth”) it’s time to stop preaching.
I was right the fist time. The bad guy was Claggert. The captain was Vere.
you’d have to read the story yourself. Wiki does not give it the flavor Melville did. Turns it into just another Hollywood movie.
Billy Budd was a sailor impressed (i.e. forcibly removed) from an American frigate ‘The Rights of Man’ to serve on a British warship, resisted, killed Master-at-arms John Claggart, was to be hung for mutiny, in an unpublished novella from Herman Melville which became regarded as his 2nd best work & was published long after his death. As I recall, the best thing about the story was the name of the American ship Billy Budd was removed from.
As his former ship moves off, Budd shouts, “And good-bye to you too, old Rights-of-Man.” (Wikipedia)
This has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.
Fred
your summary of Billy Budd is apparently a summary of the movie..a bastardized version of Melville’s story.
Fred
this is an open thread. my comments were quite personal: reasons why I was finding it hard to write anymore about Social Security.
speaking of fact checking, while i was checking Kessler I found (they say) that he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Years ago on a blog far away I mentioned that Pete Perterson, a lying enemy of Social Security, was president of the Council on Foreign Relations. I got called a liar for that. Seems Peterson had already retired by the time I mentioned his position as president. There are facts then there are facts that are lies.
I did finally get to read the actual Kessler article. It was long and convoluted enough that Kessler could claim to be innocent of lying…except that everything he said added up to a damned lie about Social Security. Which is the way they operate.
If you need the article. I can probably get a version of it. I can usually find it after a search. Just give me the title and I will try.
The false claim that Senate Republicans ‘plan to end Social Security and Medicare’
Kessler’s op-ed in the WashPost is about Patty Murray’s assertion that the GOP is out to kill Social Security, which they deny of course. Joe Biden’s speech is apparently about GOP Sen Rick Scott indicating he wants some cutbacks or did some months ago & has since backed off, I understand.
(This is probably sloppy politicking all around, but bases need to be stoked & funds need to be raised, and the mid-term election is only about a month away.)
House Republicans Release Their Vague ‘Agenda’ for 2023
NY Mag – Sep 23
… the House Republican Conference has released a new “agenda” document, entitled “Commitment to America.” The document, clearly designed for online consumption, has lots of bells and whistles and factoids about the hellish reign of Joe Biden and his “Democrat” Party. What it doesn’t have is a whole lot of specificity, unlike the unfortunate “agenda” that Republican Senate Campaign Committee chairman Rick Scott released earlier this year to the near-universal horror of his colleagues, who don’t want to be identified with the proposed sunsetting of Social Security and Medicare. …
Run
if you wish to promote my comment above re Kessler and Biden to a separate post
I would be happy if you preserved it as is. i would add a disclaimer to it that apparenty (third hand) Kessler was talking about Patty Murray. But since Biden was saying the same thing, I regard my error as “not a significant difference.”
Life is too short to chase down every non=significant error. But too important to fail to tell non-significant from significant.
Run
apparently “my comment below.” fact checking is a bitch.
Did Biden Lie About
Social Security or is
Washington Post’s
Fact Checker a
Damned Liar
Well. you won’t find out from me. I only read about it third hand, and because the “fact checker” …Glenn Kessler….is behind a paywall you are going to have to find it for yourself.
So, I don’t know but I been told that Kessler gave Biden “three Pinocchios” for saying that the Republicans want to destroy Social Security…just as the Democrats have lied about the Republicans wanting to destroy Social Security every election for as long as man can remember.
I checked on Biden’s speech. I can’t find any lies about Republicans wanting to destroy Social Security. Biden did read from a pamphlet that Republican Senator Ron Scott wrote calling for every law including Social Security to be sunsetted after five years. Biden also said that 158 Republican Congressmen had signed on to the plan. And he pointed out that “sunsetting” Social Security would mean you would not get the benefits you have been paying for all your life. And he did point out that with Social Security on the chopping block every five years the chances of it being chopped were anywhere from high to certain.The Republicans would only need to win one election. Biden also pointed out that “security” was what people who paid into Social Security were paying for.
Now it turns out that a lot of Republicans have distanced themselves from the plan. It is my opinion…you can fact check that…that the R’s are not so much against the Scott plan as they are against talking about it before an election. That might hurt their chances of winning. And of course they can’t kill Social Security if they can’t win the election.
Kessler went on to say that the Dems have been lying “Mediscaring the voters” every election…for as long as man can remember (Kessler didn’t actually say “as long as man can remember”: I said that to translate the way he said it. Of course, you need to ask how long what man can remember: fact checking is a tricky business. The Republicans have been trying to kill Social Security for as long as I can remember, and I have been paying close attention since 1992. But of course they always say they are trying to “strengthen and preserve” Social Security, which means cut it until they can drown it in the bathtub.
Kessler seems to think that since the Republicans have failed to destroy Social Security so far that proves they have not been trying to destroy it.
Well, if you have not been paying attention, you might believe that.
the above comment has not been fact-checked. there may be some minor errors.
Coberly,
It is good that you do what you can.
In any case though, as much as I believe in the value of SS, then it is that value which also makes me believe ending SS would actually be the “third rail” that all politicians once believed that it was. Many seniors now in the passing of generations vote for Republicans, but they are not deep thinkers and have no idea how they would survive without their monthly SS benefits. Rather they take SS for granted. Far too many of today’s seniors are voting reactionary on cultural issues rather than progressive on economic issues. The vast majority of US voters would be in no way able to retire without SS, but seniors face serious work place restrictions on continuing in the work force. Those that are forced to retire on too little income will still have a lot of free time on their hands along with a grudge against those that stole their future.
Ron
all true. but they will have no way to vote the bastards out. not only will they have no idea what happened to SS (they will think it “went broke”) and keep voting for Republicans who promise to keep them safe from criminals, immigrants, and radical left socialist Democrats.
But by then the election process will be entirely in the hands of Republicans, as they will call themselves, and it won’t matter what they think.
Protecting Social Security from politicians’ attacks
Wilmington (Ohio) News Journal – Sen Sherrod Brown – Oct 1
Everything we do ought to come back to the Dignity of Work – the idea that hard work should pay off for everyone, no matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of work you do. And when work has dignity, people have a secure retirement.
That means everyone can count on Medicare and Social Security.
That shouldn’t be partisan. Social Security is one of the most popular and most unifying institutions in the country.
Yet Republican politicians in Washington always come after it – it’s their answer for how to pay for anything, from handouts to corporations that ship jobs overseas to tax cuts for the wealthy.
We’ve heard about plans to privatize Social Security. We’ve heard about plans to means-test it, limiting which Americans can depend on Social Security.
The details differ, but the plan is always the same – to kill off this bedrock of our middle class.
This time, it’s Senator Rick Scott. He proposed a plan that would end Social Security within five years.
We’ve seen some Republican politicians try to run away from Senator Scott’s plan – even though he’s one of their Senate leaders. And we know that Republican politicians in Congress have proposed different schemes to undermine Social Security over and over.
It’s why this week, I introduced a resolution to protect Social Security and ensure it remains a guarantee for every American.
Ohioans pay into Social Security with every paycheck, and they want to know they can count on it when they retire. Workers should not have to worry with every election that politicians are going to try to take away the retirement they earned.
I hope members of both parties will join us, put this to rest, and show Americans that if you work hard all your life and pay into Social Security, your retirement security will be there for you.
Senator Rick Scott Reconsiders
Forbes – June 17, 2022
FWIW, here’s a link to Rick Scott’s current 12 point plan
So how is this supposed to work?
Pay special attention, perhaps, to point 12
Cutting taxes
There’s a lot here not to like, for Dems. Basically, it’s very Trumpy.
Point 12 locks in Trump tax cuts, does other awful things to make budget approvals next to impossible, establishes the line-item veto, also includes this on federal taxes.
Scott wants more people paying taxes. It troubles him to think that currently many people do not earn enough to be required to pay income taxes.
Senator Rick Scott Reconsiders
Forbes – June 17, 2022
It must be hard to be Rick Scott. The junior senator from Florida began the year with an ambitious bid for party leadership among his fellow Republicans, releasing an “11-Point Plan to Rescue America.”
For his effort, Scott received a vigorous, bipartisan spanking. It lasted for months, ending only last week when Scott agreed to purge his 11-point agenda of its most unpopular element — a suggestion to raise taxes on half of all Americans.
To be clear, though, Scott no longer has an 11-point agenda. That was the old plan, which he has deleted from his website. The new, improved Scott plan contains a full 12 points. …
The link above contains the Scott plan from June.
There’s little, if anything, in this plan that Dems will find acceptable.
But it will appeal to most of the GOP base presumably.
Comments from Mitch McConnell in the Forbes article…
“If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority next year, I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide in consultation with my members what to put on the floor,” McConnell said. “Let me tell you what will not be on our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.” …
As for me, I will do what I can to hold onto & enlarge the Dem majorities in both houses of Congress.