The Presidential Events: March 2022

The Police:

The month of March began with the President's State of the Union. Fearing cratering popularity, the President tacked heavily to the center. This fails to address a problem; a significant percentage of his disapproval stems from young people, who held their noses and voted for Biden. He, like his Democratic predecessor, promised generational change, and has failed to deliver. Instead, Biden pledged to “fund the police.” Robberies are down, but homicides are up during the pandemic. With Republicans hitting Democrats as soft on crime, the person who wrote and co-sponsored the tough-on-crime bills of 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1994, wants more police and more prisons. He did this even though 2021 was a record year of civilians killed by police. Biden suggested during the 2020 primary that police should shoot people “in the leg instead of the heart.”

Manchin and Sinema, or the Reason Why Democrats Can't Do Anything:

During the State of the Union, Democratic Senator Manchin sat with Republicans. He might as well. He votes with them on civil rights, the filibuster, environmental legislation, Supreme Court justices, voting rights, and programs to alleviate poverty. Manchin refused to vote for Biden's signature legislation, and suffered zero repercussions. Instead, Democrats are still trying to woo him. Senate Majority Leader Schumer met Manchin for a one on one dinner that produced no results. Manchin continually hints that he would like to support a narrow Build Back Better legislation dealing with climate change, prescription drug prices, and deficit reduction. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Sinema (who also helped sink the BBB) reportedly mocked Biden while fundraising with Republicans.

With no appearance of pressure, Manchin, Sinema, and their conservative allies are free to do as they wish. Biden, the second coming of FDR, isn't of interest for what he is pursuing, but for what he isn't. Progressives published a list of executive orders that would lower healthcare costs, cancel student debt, and implement policies to reduce global warming. It would also give Democrats something to campaign on beyond their miserable infrastructure bill. Biden won't do any of it. His proposed 2023 federal budget focused on deficits, defense, and police. One progressive aim remained; a minimum tax on billionaires. But like everything Biden does, it's only a bone thrown to progressives. He won't pressure Congress to enact it, and it won't pass Congress.

The Coronavirus:

Democrats want to move on from the coronavirus. Party leaders want to show progress for the midterms, after criticizing Trump so profusely. The current numbers support a mildly optimistic approach. Daily cases are down from 58,000 in February to 28,000 in March. Hospitalizations fell from 47,000 to 16,000. And deaths decreased from 1,900 daily to 700. But those numbers are still unacceptable. With a new variant, another surge, or some other compounding factor they can become a tragedy.

For instance, the Biden administration repeatedly downplayed the severity of the Omicron variant, which led to a massive surge in cases, and unnecessary fatalities. As states ended masks mandates in school, 20% of child deaths from the coronavirus occurred during the Omicron wave.

At least the Supreme Court ruled that the military must obey the vaccine mandate.

The Environment:

At a time when the Antarctic should be cooling, and the Arctic slowly warming, both poles suffered devastating heatwaves. Antarctica recorded temperatures 40 Celsius above average, while the North Pole was 30 degrees Celsius above normal. Satellite data showed the collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf with a surface area of 1,200 sq km. Another warning system, the Great Barrier Reef suffered mass bleaching with dead coral visible from aerial surveys.

Meanwhile, the United States plans to build a system to ship massive amounts of liquefied natural gas to the European Union (to replace the EU's current supplier, Russia), locking in untold greenhouse gas emissions for decades.

Also on climate change, Democrats sank Sarah Bloom Raskin's nomination to the Federal Reserve's top bank overseer, because of her desire to consider climate change, and its risks to the global economic system.

Also on the environment, but not climate change; the United States Department of Agriculture killed nearly 2 million wild animals last year, from invasive birds and swine, to local animals like Canadian Geese, beavers, coyotes, deer, and doves. And the EPA, or whatever agency is supposed to protect the public from dangerous chemicals, allowed companies to poison food packaging with PFAS, a forever chemical which causes immune system issues and raises the risk of cancer.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine:

As punishment for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden pledged to obliterate the Russian economy. The US expanded sanctions, targeting 400 elite members of society. Some countries, like India, are undercutting the United State's plan to isolate Russia. The White House sent $500 million in aid, a combination of cash to be spent on government functions, military spending, and humanitarian relief. But while the United States sends money, training, and even weapons, it won't enforce a no-fly zone. A no fly zone would force the United States and NATO to shoot down Russian planes, to attack Russian forces in Russia. It would lead to direct conflict between two nuclear powers. Such a horrific event is not out of the question. Russia accused Ukraine of hosting biological and chemical weapons for the United States. The US denied the accusation. Biden said NATO would respond if the Kremlin escalated the war with chemical weapons.

Other:

Patriotic Americans are calling wealthy Russians, oligarchs. But how do they differ from the obscenely wealthy of the United States? Tax records analyzed by ProPublica show that the 25 wealthiest Americans (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, the Waltons, the DeVoses), paid only 3.4% in taxes. This is unsurprising. Since Congress slashed the budget of the IRS, audits of those who make $1 million or more yearly are down 75%. Meanwhile, Congress can spend leftover campaign money on personal expenses. Another step of legalized corruption, enabled by the Supreme Court and its desire to crush campaign finance law.

ICE detention centers with poor conditions are closing.

Barack Obama came into office pledging to reduce the US nuclear stockpile. Instead, he modernized it to the cost of $33.3 billion per year over thirty years. Biden is continuing that trend. His 2023 budget is $60 billion more than the previous year, far surpassing President Trump's military requisitions. It's an abomination of violence and waste. And the biggest increase is for nuclear weapons.

Recent:

Noita: Magic Without A Spark, but an Abundance of Fire

Relevant:

On This Earth Day, Everyone, Especially the Powerful, Are Still Acting Like Everything Is Normal

The Presidential Events: February 2022

Bernie Sanders is Like A Popular Version of the Affordable Care Act