The Douthat Solution: An Old-Fashioned Convention February 12, 2024February 12, 2024 Trump now admits January 6 was an “insurrection” — caused by Pelosi! So, yes, Biden is elderly (I’ll get to that) . . . but effective, steady, caring, experienced, and decent. Trump, by contrast, is a criminal who has lied, cheated, and scammed all his life; who prefers autocrats to democrats; aspires to be an autocrat himself; and for years kept a book of speeches about “vermin” and “impure blood” by his bedside. In his four years, Trump completely failed to fulfill his infrastructure promises. > Biden succeeded: A massive infrastructure revitalization is finally underway. In his four years, Trump completely failed to boost U.S. manufacturing. > Biden succeeded. The only better performance coming out of a recession was in 1948. In his four years, Trump completely failed to provide his oft-promised “terrific health care at a fraction of the cost” — never even revealing his plan, because he never had one. > Biden made progress: lowering the ranks of the uninsured to the fewest ever; capping insulin for seniors at $35/month and out-of-pocket costs for all a senior’s prescription drugs at $2,000 beginning next year; giving Medicare authority, finally, to negotiate drug prices. GRAPHIC INTERLUDE Click here for a less shrill, more nuanced — but still compelling — comparison and pass it on to those who think the economy . . . let alone the stock market . . . does better with Republicans at the helm. For a century, it’s been just the opposite. That strikes me as important for people to know. One more point before we get to Joe Biden’s age. Voters are finally beginning to notice the improving economy. It’s early — but encouraging. OK, so here’s what I think: Based on the facts, the President and his team have done, are doing, and will very likely continue to do a really good job for the American people. As I’ve argued before, “It’s Not Calisthenics” — any more than it was for Stephen Hawking and physics or Warren Buffett and capital allocation. Click here to be reminded of how much cash you would have left on the table had you sold your Berkshire Hathaway stock when Buffett turned 82. We’ve all seen the same TV clips; but everyone I know who sees the President regularly tells a different story. Did you see Senator Chris Coons speaking yesterday on ABC’s This Week? It’s really worth your time — and worth sharing. That said, I get (and I’m sure Joe and Jill get) that “perception is everything.” Which is why Ross Douthat’s suggestion — that Joe should step down in August and throw the nomination open at the Convention — does not strike me as crazy. It gives everyone more time to reflect and to see how the polling looks then, how Trump looks then, how people perceive the economy then, how the border situation* is looking then. In the meantime, I would argue, our course is clear: To help in every way we can to lay the groundwork for a huge Democratic turn-out in November — to hold the White House, hold the Senate, win back the House, and flip state legislatures blue. In case you can — and so many of you have! — please click here. And/or volunteer. Have a great week. Go, Chiefs! *Which of course is why Trump is trying so hard to keep America from solving its border crisis. He doesn’t care about human suffering or fentanyl trafficking; he cares about preserving the crisis so he can ride it into the White House and shut down the criminal proceedings he faces. Does anyone really doubt that?
Who Will Tell The People? February 8, 2024February 7, 2024 Tom Friedman in the indispensable New York Times: Every so often there is a piece of legislation on Capitol Hill that defines America and its values — that shows what kind of country we want to be. I would argue that when it comes to the $118.3 billion bipartisan compromise bill in the Senate to repair our broken immigration system and supply vital aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, its passage or failure won’t define just America but also the world that we’re going to inhabit. There are hinges in history, and this is one of them. What Washington does — or does not do — this year to support its allies and secure our border will say so much about our approach to security and stability in this new post-post-Cold War era. Will America carry the red, white and blue flag into the future or just a white flag? Given the pessimistic talk coming out of the Capitol, it is looking more and more like the white flag, autographed by Donald Trump. Barring some last-minute surprise that saves the compromise bill, a terrible thing is about to happen, thanks largely to a Republican Party that has lost its way as it falls in lock step behind a man whose philosophy is not “America First” but “Donald Trump First.” “Trump First” means that a bill that would strengthen America and its allies must be set aside so that America can continue to boil in polarization, Vladimir Putin can triumph in Ukraine and our southern border can remain an open sore — until and unless Trump becomes president once more. Our allies be damned. Our enemies be emboldened. Our children’s future security be mortgaged. Today’s G.O.P. bumper sticker: Trump First. Putin Second. America Third. . . . Who will tell the people that America is the tent pole that holds up the world? If we let that pole disintegrate, your kids won’t grow up in just a different America; they’ll grow up in a different world, and a much worse one. After Ukraine inflicted a terrible defeat on the Russian Army — thanks to U.S. and NATO funding and weapons — without costing a single American soldier’s life, Putin now has to be licking his chops at the thought that we will walk away from Ukraine, leaving him surely counting the days until Kyiv’s missile stocks run out and he will own the skies. Then it’s bombs away. . . . Yes, America still has considerable power, but that power led to influence because allies and enemies knew we were ready to use it to defend ourselves and help our friends defend themselves and our shared values. All of that will now be in doubt if this bill goes down for good. Remember this week, folks — because historians surely will. Marjorie: “I am the person who bought 100 shares of BOREF at $22 quite a few years ago. Yesterday I saw it has dropped to $2. What’s happened?” → After they demonstrated that WheelTug really works, I thought we’d be off to the races. But as each year passes without their getting the funding to complete the FAA certification required to begin serving the two dozen airlines queued up to lease systems, more and more shareholders give up and take their tax loss. I can’t say I blame them. Yet with Borealis now valued at less than $15 million — and WheelTug’s potential to save airlines and airports billions of dollars each year, and travelers hundreds of millions of hours sitting on the ground — I cling stubbornly to hope. (Borealis indirectly owns a little more than half of WheelTug.) I guess you could say my hopes are as high as ever, but my expectations nearly as low as when I first wrote about it.
Ann Coulter’s Advice For Trump February 7, 2024February 6, 2024 In case you missed it last month: The views of 17 of Trump’s hand-picked Cabinet secretaries. Not only are they people whom Mr. Trump chose — he claimed he would hire the “best people” — they are people who thought Mr. Trump was worth working for. But many of them quickly became alarmed. Even Ann Coulter, his one-time champion, has turned on him. Help save democracy. Become a poll worker. Everything you need to know to get started. BONUS Mr. Texas, by Lawrence Wright — a novel about the modern Texas legislature, lobbyists and all. Fun! It sure would be nice if a lot of Texans read it. The Audible edition includes some great original music at the end.
Trump Now Fully Owns The Immigration Crisis February 6, 2024February 5, 2024 I again commend Dana Milbank’s column: Blame for the border crisis now rests squarely on the shoulders of the Republican Congress and the strongman from whom they take their orders. (“We have a catastrophe at our southern border,” Mike Johnson said after ascending to the speakership in October. “Inaction is unacceptable, and we must come together and address the broken border.” . . . But then Trump intervened. . . . Suddenly, Johnson forgot everything he had previously said about border legislation.”) Share widely! If you prefer video, these three minutes start with a riff on oil, after which House members making it clear: Republicans are now squarely to blame for failing to address the border crisis — just as they were a decade ago, when they blocked the bi-partisan reform that had passed the Senate 68-32 and would have become law if only the Speaker had allowed it to come up for a vote. People need to know it’s Republicans who kill bi-partisan solutions to the border crisis. If they believe the crisis is real — as it is — they need to be furious with Republicans. As always, I cede the balance of my time to Lindsey Graham (60 seconds). BONUS Like movies? theater? TV? My friend Julian Schlossberg, a producer of all three, has just dropped the first episode of his new podcast, Movie Talk: an interview with F. Murray Abraham.
Will The Fever Break This Time? February 4, 2024February 3, 2024 I thought that because I had listened to Rachel Maddow’s ultra-amazing, ultra-compelling, ultra-relevant podcast — recommended here several times — I could skip Prequel. Well, I was wrong. Whether you read it or listen (at 1.4x), you may agree with the New York Times that it is a “ripping read [whose] parallels to the present day are strong, even startling.” (Have I ever mentioned that today’s Republican frontrunner kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside?) It’s not unlike another book I urged on you last month, A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them. Did you find time to read it? That fever was not some tiny fringe thing. Forty percent of the white men in Indiana were Klan members. Nearly a hundred United States Senators and Representatives were Klansmen. The two books tell totally different stories — but raise the same question. Will the fever break this time? Or will the pro-Hitler (see Prequel), pro-Klan (see Fever), kinda-pro-Putin (CNN for yourself), pro-strongman, “America Firsters” win this time? I love white Christian men as much as the next guy — I shared my life with two of them. (Catholics, but I checked: Catholics are Christian, and the Klan no longer hates them.) And I love America. But I also love democracy and civility and honesty and compassion and problem-solving and multiculturalism and the rule of law. And I would point out that blame for the border crisis now rests squarely on the shoulders of the Republican Congress and the strongman from whom they take their orders. In case you can help, click here. Or volunteer.
Whom Do You Trust? February 2, 2024February 1, 2024 David Klepper asks: ‘What happens when no one believes anything anymore?’ This is the world we seem headed toward, and sooner than almost anyone thought. One thing no MAGAn will believe: Biden’s Economic Record is Much Better than Trump’s. But it’s true. Writes Robert J. Shapiro, who oversaw the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the late 1990s: From growth and jobs to investment and business creation, the economy has performed substantially better under Biden than it did under Trump. Biden’s superior record holds even if we set aside the pandemic’s impact in 2020. The exception, of course, is inflation. But just as the COVID-19 pandemic led to the collapse in GDP and employment during Trump’s last year in office, it was also the main reason prices rose so much . . . . . . President Biden’s record not only eclipses Donald Trump’s, but when policy made a difference—on growth, employment, investment, and inflation—Biden stepped up and improved our economic conditions. Those are the facts. → The details are worth reading in full. And hey! Take this quick four-question quiz. It will make you feel smart. And rightly so. BONUS FOR BOOMERS As I noodled over what to title this post, the egregiously ungrammatical “Who Do You Trust” popped into my head. Johnny Carson before he was Johnny Carson. Enjoy. And have a great weekend.
A Warning To Heed February 1, 2024 I listened to Miles Taylor on a zoom yesterday, conducted from the safe house his family has had to move into, and bought Blowback, his new book. “Things aren’t as bad as you’ve been led to believe,” one insider told him before he signed on as Trump’s Homeland Security chief of staff. “They’re worse.” And would be much, much worse, he is certain, if Trump returned to power. More and more, we’re seeing Trump voters saying they’d prefer a dictatorship to democracy if the dictator were Trump. (Watch just two minutes.) At the same time, lawmakers fear for their safety — not just their jobs, their lives — if they oppose the great leader. Just as in Russia or North Korea. Poll workers, too. The threat is huge. Taylor believes it’s 50/50 that American democracy ends November 5. We’re going to win — we have to — but right now, it’s a tossup. If you’re in a position to help, click here. Or volunteer.
A Tale Of Two Dinners January 31, 2024February 4, 2024 There’s only one restaurant within dining distance of me that sports two Michelin stars (and none with three). Frugal, simple lad that I am, I had never heard of it. Until last week when a super generous Democratic donor and his wife invited me as their guest. What to wear? And what to eat! I looked up the menu to see what was in store and saw the Dover sole in brown butter and lemon sauce, first entree listed, $129 plus tax and tip (so $165). Not stated: whether it came with fries. Clearly not a place I would go on my own — but hey! An hour before I was going to call an Uber, my host called. He’d been felled by the flu, or whatever this thing is that’s going around. I felt bad for him — there’s nothing worse than being sick — but immediately saw the bright side and reached into the freezer for the plant-based fake chicken I had recently bought. I knew roughly where I had placed it, and the shape of the box . . . yet somehow found myself holding a similarly shaped box of Green Giant sugar snap peas. I didn’t remember ever having tried to cook snap peas, let alone buying this particular box; and was not entirely sure what snap peas were . . . but life is an adventure. Three servings to the box, 40 calories to the serving, five minutes from freezer to palate. I noted, as the microwave was whirring, that my peas promised to be “better if used by 25Feb2017” but as long-time readers know, I scoff at such promises. And I’m here to tell you that, while not an entire dinner in themselves, my snap peas were sweet and delicious. The sole, I’m sure, would have been at least as good, and I was really sorry to miss seeing my truly wonderful friends, but I had a fine night. Ad it’s not just snap peas. I’m going more and more vegetarian. Which got me into an argument with two friends at a sensibly priced vegan restaurant last night over whether vegetables could possibly be more nutritious if you cooked them. I mean (I argued) how could that be? So I just now asked ChatGPT and it turns out we were basically both right. Or half right, depending on the vegetable: Raw vegetables are rich in enzymes that aid digestion and provide essential nutrients such as potassium, fiber, and folate 1. However, cooking vegetables can break down their cell walls to release more of their nutrients. When cooked, some vegetables can provide more antioxidants like lutein, beta-carotene, and lycopene than when you eat them raw 2. That being said, the best way to consume vegetables depends on the type of vegetable. Some are better eaten raw; others, cooked. Here are some examples of vegetables that are more nutritious when cooked: Tomatoes: Cooking tomatoes increases the bioavailability of lycopene, an antioxidant that is beneficial for heart health 1. Spinach: Cooking spinach increases the bioavailability of vitamins A and E, calcium, iron, and protein 1. Carrots: Cooking carrots increases the bioavailability of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that is beneficial for eye health 1. Asparagus: Cooking asparagus increases the bioavailability of vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as folate 1. Mushrooms: Cooking mushrooms increases the bioavailability of ergothioneine, an antioxidant that is beneficial for brain health 1. Here are some examples of vegetables that are better eaten raw: Kale: Eating kale raw preserves its vitamin C content, which is beneficial for immune health 1. Broccoli: Eating broccoli raw preserves its sulforaphane content, which is beneficial for cancer prevention 1. Bell peppers: Eating bell peppers raw preserves their vitamin C content, which is beneficial for immune health 1. Onions: Eating onions raw preserves their quercetin content, which is beneficial for heart health 1. It’s important to incorporate a variety of both raw and cooked vegetables into your diet to reap the benefits of each. On a roll, I figured I’d drill down on a couple of others (because the “buffalo cauliflower wings” were what had touched off our debate in the first place; and because . . . what about red cabbage?) Cauliflower can be consumed both raw and cooked, and both have their own benefits. Raw cauliflower is rich in enzymes that aid digestion and provide essential nutrients such as potassium, fiber, and folate 1. However, cooking cauliflower can break down its cell walls to release more of its nutrients. When cooked, cauliflower can provide more antioxidants like lutein, beta-carotene, and lycopene than when you eat it raw 234. According to a registered dietitian nutritionist, Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, there’s no denying that cauliflower is packed with health perks. “Cauliflower contains about two grams of fiber and two of protein, and it’s high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties,” Ehsani says 2. That being said, the impact heat can have on the nutritional value of cauliflower can vary depending on two main factors: how hot and for how long you cook it. One study found that steaming and boiling cauliflower resulted in a loss of antioxidant activity 3. Another study found that cooking cauliflower increases indole levels 4. In conclusion, both raw and cooked cauliflower are healthy and provide essential nutrients. It’s important to incorporate a variety of both raw and cooked vegetables into your diet to reap the benefits of each. Raw red cabbage is rich in enzymes that aid digestion and provide essential nutrients such as potassium, fiber, and folate 1. However, cooking red cabbage can break down its cell walls to release more of its nutrients. When cooked, red cabbage can provide more antioxidants like anthocyanins than when you eat it raw 23. According to eMediHealth, a health and wellness website, steaming or microwaving red cabbage increases its antioxidant availability. Steaming also makes red cabbage easier to digest. It reduces the amount of nitrites that bind to nutrients and prevents their absorption 2. In other words: eat vegetables any way you like. They’re good for you. And they don’t have to be flown in from Dover and deboned. You’re welcome. [NOTE: I’m traveling. If some huge news just broke and you wondered why I posted about vegetables, it’s because I wrote this Monday.]
Is Fed Tightening The Real Reason Inflation Has Dropped So Sharply? No, And Yet . . . January 30, 2024January 29, 2024 Paul London in The Hill: Articles about the economy in recent months often praise the Federal Reserve’s success in taming inflation . . . [and] inflation has indeed come down from a peak of roughly 9 percent in mid-2022 to 3 percent or even less in January 2024. More price reductions are predicted by economists for what such predictions are worth. The important point, however, is that the recent moderation in prices is the result of causes that have little to do with the Fed or its policies, and emphasis on the Fed role lets the real culprits for inflation get away with it. What has happened is that the main causes of price increases in 2022 and early 2023 have been reduced or eliminated. COVID-related shortages of computer chips, new and used cars and the like are no longer raising prices. Ships aren’t lined up to be unloaded at ports. Truck drivers are back on the road and domestic trucking services are less expensive. Gasoline prices have come back to levels of a few years ago. Falling prices for the last several months are basically the result of supply catching up after Covid interruptions. Once-overwhelmed supply chains have filled up and returned to normal. Energy and especially gasoline prices have fallen back, reducing the price of many other goods and services. U.S. oil, natural gas and green energy production has surged. Markets seem to have adjusted to the Ukraine War and to Russian, Saudi and Iranian efforts to raise prices. There is still upward pressure on prices as wholesalers and retailers of goods and services try to “pass through” earlier increases, but not all of these efforts will succeed. In short, improvements on the supply side are what is moderating inflation. . . . Government and private sector actions to deal with the COVID crisis, reopen supply chains, expand energy production, and invest in infrastructure get short shrift when in fact they have done far more to fight inflation than Fed monetary policy. That said, as I learned from interviewing Fed Chair Paul Volcker 40+ years ago, inflation has perhaps as much to do with psychology as economics or monetary policy. If the Fed hadn’t been perceived as willing to do “whatever it takes” to defeat inflation, inflationary expectations might have been higher. And inflationary expectations can be self-fulfilling. PRKR Some encouraging news. In November, with the stock around 8 cents, I lamented: ParkerVision made its appeal yesterday. You can read about it here and, in more detail, here. Lord knows I’m gun-shy by now; but if you own PRKR (with money, in this case, you basically have already lost) — currently valued at barely $7 million — I would hold on to see what happens. Who knows? The good guys might finally win. I would say the same here at 17 cents.
Guess Who’s Keeping The Border Open NOW January 29, 2024January 29, 2024 Trump is trying to kill the immigration deal so he alone can fix it. ‘Massive mistake’: Trump’s allies are turning against him for his latest blunder Former President Donald Trump’s heavy lean on Senate Republicans to tank in-progress talks on a bipartisan package for foreign defense aid and border security, solely for the purpose of keeping the border issue hot for Republicans to campaign on, has started to trigger backlash from within their own party — and is even making some allies of the former president uncomfortable, said MSNBC’s Ryan Nobles on Friday . . . Gumming up the works has what Trump may see as the added benefit: delaying aid to Ukraine. If he’s one day prevented from doing business in New York, he might at least get to build that hotel in Moscow. Bill O’Reilly supported Florida’s book ban law until it came for his books. Which brings to mind: Have a great week.