The NYT reports.
I would like to link to a list or timeline showing the Biden Administration's rejection and more recent acceptance of Trump ideas/policies. There seems to be a cluster of them lately. It's causing opinion pieces like "Be careful, Biden. You might be inviting a challenge from the left" (in yesterday's WaPo).
Biden’s attempts to position himself as a centrist are Politics 101. Last week, he decided not to veto a bill that would overturn D.C.’s controversial crime bill. And this week, he approved an oil drilling project in Alaska. Both issues could have been political liabilities; Republicans had successfully painted the D.C. proposal as soft on crime, and they are making increased energy development in the United States a major focus. Biden clearly wanted to avoid attacks on both fronts.
But neither of Biden’s decisions is popular with the Democratic left. Progressives want a less punitive approach to crime, and environmentalists are furious over the potentially negative effects of drilling in Alaska’s Arctic region.....
But Biden is on track to win the nomination. Why appease lefties now and have to pivot later? Pivot now and be on track to win the election. It's so obvious it's no wonder his people are leaning into this strategy.
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Sometimes, being a complete failure can cause you to re-examine your policy choices, assuming failure is to be avoided. Too often, the left chooses failure deliberately. See Inga, Chuck et al.
Is there anything Democrats actually do with conviction, or is it always just about maintaining power?
"I would like to link to a list or timeline showing the Biden Administration's rejection and more recent acceptance of Trump ideas/policies."
Careful. Your vessel might get abruptly torqued.
The China-owned company worries me less than the Biden Administration.
It would be interesting to read through that list, but remember it's not Biden. It's Biden's handlers. And give them credit for knowing how politics works from the inside out, just like possums feasting on a carcass.
Most democrat politicians run most of their elections as centrists if not outright conservatives. It’s simply a variation of his 2020 strategy to pander about a “return to normal” while telling lefty audiences he would “end oil” and other nonsense. Democrats are safe in the knowledge that their extreme positions will be obscured by a willing press corps that will also highlight and magnify any deceptive centrist rhetoric. Approving one new drilling project is a small price to pay while he goes all-in on the green dream in every other way and ruins more perfectly fine home appliances that are doing no harm.
But Biden is on track to win the nomination.
How in the hell did we get here???
Tag: "Biden is like Trump."
I really like the Althouse blog subject-tags; I'm not sure if any commenter mentions them more than I do.
I pay attention to them, but I hadn't ever looked carefully at "Biden is like Trump." Althouse has made considerable use of the tag since 2022; it's an interesting mix of posts that have gotten the tag.
My biggest disappointment is that the tag doesn't go back far enough in time to the pullout from Afghanistan in August of 2021. If ever there was good reason to apply a tag retroactively, that would be it.
Scott Adams makes the great point that it's not so much data integrity but rather influence.
That the CCP can promote and amplify videos and viewpoints in order to sway opinions and even elections.
"Your vessel"
Are you talking to me? I'm not in anyone's boat. I dislike both parties and am simply realistic about the fact that it's between the 2 of them. It's called "cruel neutrality." When it hurts you, you know which boat *you* are in.
Wait. I know it's not a boat. Vessel. You're harking back to the previous post about chiropractors and neck artery dissection.
I thought TikTok already was de-Sinified years ago. I guess not. Also, how do they know that if the company is sold, the software won't have backdoors that still allow China access?
Is Biden really doing this? How many decisions does he actually make himself? I didn't think Ron Klain was running things either, but now that people say that Ron's moved to the campaign team, he (or the campaign team) may be dictating policy.
I especially like when people use material from earlier posts. I was just irritated by your inclusion of, seemingly, me.
I think this is basically what ordinary voters wanted from Biden. He's basically diet Trump. He gets constant pressure to swing left from his advisors and party grandees, but on the limited handful of occasions when we've seen his unfiltered response to events, his instincts are basically centrist, which is to say, Trump-y. And then his minders give him another talking to and he says something different.
The one incident that stands out in my mind is when he was asked by the press about reports that the government was agreeing to settlements with illegal immigrants where we would pay them something like $400,000, and he dismissed it as crazy talk (after which administration functionaries had to clarify that yes, it was under discussion, and then later decided not to settle after all). Sometimes it's not entirely helpful, e.g. where he kept deviating from our carefully calibrated wordgame around the One China policy by saying we would defend Taiwan (August 18, 2021, September 18, 2022), or where he told Russia that we wouldn't necessarily respond to an invasion of the Ukraine if it were a "minor incursion." (January 19, 2022) But I think even in situations like that, he's still channeling the same mostly centrist inclinations that Trump was.
I think letting Biden be Biden could be disastrous, since he might go back to challenging critics to fist-fights, calling soldiers "stupid bastards," and deriding less than comely young women as "dog faced." But politically, I do think the progressives who dominate(d) his administration are on the back foot now, since their policies have not been working out particularly well, which is giving Biden (and any sensible people still left around him) more space to do the needful.
Anything that helps our enemy is bad for us. Is this simple fact that hard to understand?!?!
He's running.
April 11 (Reuters) - Video-sharing app TikTok's advertisement revenue is likely to triple in 2022 to more than $11 billion, exceeding the combined sales of its rivals Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Snap Inc (SNAP.N), according to research firm Insider Intelligence.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktoks-ad-revenue-surpass-twitter-snapchat-combined-2022-report-2022-04-11/
Isn't that what this is all about?
I don't understand how this works since I do not use Tik-Tok but I read recently that there is a growing trend to use Tik-Tok for search instead of Google. That seems dangerous to google if true.
No wonder they are lobbying like crazy to kill TikTok.
John Henry
It takes a while for the adverse effects Biden's reversal of Trump's policies to become indelible in the hippocampus, at which time the Biden lizard-brain reacts. This is government as a 9th grade science project.
In a few days, Joe will be interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel and talk about the National Science Foundation prize he received as a high school junior. He'll say he turned it down because he wanted to be an All-American wide receiver at the Naval Academy.
China already has all the personal data theh could ask for they have corrupted the youth mission accomplished
Now that the pressure is ratcheting up on the Biden family graft from China, it's amusing to see Joe's puppeteers go after the Chi-Coms to diffuse the situation, albeit mildly. Must be an election coming up.
I have a technical and a legal question about banning TikTok
1) How will they do it? I can access any server anywhere in the world by typing the URL. Even if Congress could, somehow, keep any US based server from hosting it, how would they keep non-US servers from hosting it? Say in Mexico or Canada?
"the internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it" (I first heard this in the 80s.)
2) Is there a first Amendment issue here? It feels like govt censoring what I can see on the internet violates 1A somehow.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
By censoring my right to see tiktok and/or upload to it, are they not abridging my freedom of speech?
Some tiktok videos are, arguably, journalism. Maybe all are. Would govt be abridging freedom of the press by censoring tiktok? I'm pretty sure that the Supremes have found they cannot do that even if they claim national security in other cases.
Note that I am talking only about legal speech on TikTok. Govt would (might?) have the power to censor illegal speech on TikTok but I've not seen any allegations of that.
John Henry
Uploading a handkerchief to Richard. You can use it to wipe the shit off your nose.
John Henry
"The Biden administration wants TikTok’s Chinese ownership to sell the app or face a possible ban, TikTok said on Wednesday....
... as the White House hardens its stance.... The new demand... is a significant shift in the Biden administration’s position.... It harks back to the position of former President Donald J. Trump, who threatened to ban TikTok unless it was sold to an American company...."
What horseshit!
I challenge dipshit Chuck to show how Biden's fuck up in Afghanistan was like Trump in any way. I mean, I know Chuck is going to try claim that Biden implemented Trump's plan, but the simple fact is this- Trump didn't fuck it up, Biden did.
I don't know how long they have existed but I recently found YouTube "Shorts" which seems designed to compete with TikTok.
I've lost an inordinate amount of time to them. It has decided that I like 3rd world ironmongery and I seem to get a lot of those. Like making truck axles from anchor chain in Pakistan. Casting brake drums in Egypt.
I always like seeing things made and like hot metal work so I am happy to have them recommended. It is pretty amazing what they accomplish more or less by hand, with machines that were scrapped in the US in the 40s.
Often pouring molten steel in shorts and sandals. So perhaps not for Ann.
Sure is a time sink, though.
John Henry
"Most democrat politicians run most of their elections as centrists if not outright conservatives."
And that, unfortunately, is also how they act when crafting or voting on new legislation.
Before China divests from Tik Tok, I think we should demand that China divest from the Biden Family.
I’m no fan of TikTok. I get the concerns regarding it and the joy many get from it, but most of this isn’t a dog for me to put in the hunt. However, the notion that we can demand investors in one country to divest their interest in a company or the company face sanction is, in my view, bad policy. Especially adding to that the divestment is to the benefit of the demanding country. It seems like an excellent way for another country to take over IP by just demanding you giving it to them or be blocked from their market. This type of policy is already occurring due to sanctions on Russia, forcing western companies to divest their interest that they had staked in Russian countries for financial and supply chain purposes. But at least those are sanctions related to a war. Biden is proposing this with a country we are not yet at war.
To the extent the host is right that this policy is a bit of Biden acting like Trump, I do think Trump just wanted to ban it without conditions. That will start trade wars and maybe shooting wars too, but not quite the same as demanding China sell TikTok to another country or we ban it.
The progressives in Congress are unhappy, but the progressives in the administration are probably behind doing whatever it takes to get Biden reelected. They know he'll tack back in their direction if he gets a second term.
I don't know what Biden is by nature, but by habit he's part of the Senate club, and part of the Democratic Party, and focused on advancing his career. Biden's clubbish habits make him talk about moderation and consensus. His partisanship led him to follow the party further left (though not so far as to threaten his funding sources). Now his careerism leads him back towards the center.
That is, if we assume that Biden actually still has "agency" and is making decisions. Was Biden really aware of the conflict between his centrist talk and the more divisive policies and rhetoric his administration has pursued? I don't think so, and not just because of senility. He was never that much of a thinker. Looking at Congress lately, I would be surprised if Biden was always heavily dependent on staffers to do his thinking.
Darkisland, I get those too, but in my case it's probably a side effect of my addiction to r/Machinists and r/welding. The scary part, Aside from the gross lack of safety, is that I can't believe the metal parts being made are of any metallurgical quality at all. They may look nice, but they are going to fail in service.
Where does Saint Joseph of Scranton's recent recitation of his Parable of the Epiphany fall along the Trump/not-Trump continuum?
I read somewhere that many right-leaning or alt-right social media users who had been kicked off other platforms have turned to TikTok to get their messages out. This is especially true with the 12 - 16-year-old demographic who have embraced TikTok, abandoning the other platforms since their output is considered too 'edgy' or 'controversial'. Thus, the reason the Biden admin is all out on a ban is to cut off any dissent from areas in opposition. This may appear to be a tin-foil hat explanation but given various revelations over the past three years, it may have merit.
"I challenge dipshit Chuck to show how Biden's fuck up in Afghanistan was like Trump in any way. I mean, I know Chuck is going to try claim that Biden implemented Trump's plan, but the simple fact is this- Trump didn't fuck it up, Biden did."
Well, actually, Bush/Cheney initially fucked up by invading Afghanistan, and kept fucking up by staying there, (and creating a torture regime). Obama fucked up by staying in Afghanistan, and ramping up the use of drones as weapons in the war. Trump fucked up by listening to the Generals and staying in Afghanistan. In vacating Afghanistan, Biden fucked up the least of this murderous row of war criminals.
LLR-democratical Chuck: "Tag: "Biden is like Trump."
I really like the Althouse blog subject-tags; I'm not sure if any commenter mentions them more than I do."
Creepy Eddie Haskell-like Chuck now actively seeking validation for his Eddie-Haskell-ness!
Yancey Ward: "I challenge dipshit Chuck to show how Biden's fuck up in Afghanistan was like Trump in any way. I mean, I know Chuck is going to try claim that Biden implemented Trump's plan, but the simple fact is this- Trump didn't fuck it up, Biden did."
It was worse than that!
LLR-democratical Chuck actually claimed it was precisely Trump's plan and that Biden had no choice but to execute it!!
LLR-democratical Chuck, pushing his standard boiler-plate Media Matters lies, became quite livid when he was laughed off the thread with such a buffoonish attempt at blame-shifting.
Rabel: "Where does Saint Joseph of Scranton's recent recitation of his Parable of the Epiphany fall along the Trump/not-Trump continuum?"
It should be noted that Saint Joseph of Scranton is the first Saint documented to be a black, Puerto Rican Jew that supported gay marriage back in the 60's and also was arrested trying to free Nelson Mandela after curing cancer at least 4 times.
So you have to allow the communist chinese or the progressive US left working though the FBI spy on you. Pick your poison. And, I sure none of this is motivated by Google and Facebook losing out to a better platform. This is ALL about YOUR SAFETY.
Yancey Ward said...
"I challenge dipshit Chuck to show how Biden's fuck up in Afghanistan was like Trump in any way. "
You're dealing with a sociopath. Just to be clear. The plan was not Trumps. The plan was and is the militaries. The joint chiefs have a plan for everything. Literally. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was being implemented before Biden pushed the panic button. Despite all our technical military expertise the US military is really, really good at logistics. In both directions. Creepy Chuck is, as usual, full of .....
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