Joe Biden and Boris Johnson face political nightmares
By: Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Joe Biden and Boris Johnson face political nightmares
Here's a theory about Joe Biden 's struggles.
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We don't make excuses for politicians. And big errors sent Biden's approval ratings plummeting: He downplayed raging inflation, overpromised on a pandemic that mocks political timetables and presided over a debacle in Afghanistan. But it's also fair to ask whether any other modern president has faced the crescendo of crises that have haunted Biden.
He's fighting a virus that has proved uncannily adept at exposing the social and political fault lines in US society. Many economic problems that are making him unpopular are global, not local, including the supply chain crunches making goods more expensive. He is also opposed by a Republican Party and right-wing misinformation machine that is a stranger to truth and democracy, whose contempt for science makes managing the Covid-19 disaster harder. All the while, Biden's defeated predecessor, Donald Trump, undermines his legitimacy every day with lies of a stolen election.
The figures were never in Biden's favor. A 50-50 Senate and a tiny House majority don't make for easy success. And despite passing some impressive legacy laws, including a rare bipartisan overhaul of creaking US infrastructure, a dark national mood may be depriving him of due credit. Americans are exhausted, divided against one another, fed up with rising prices and fearful about the impact of lost months of school for their kids. It's dawning on them that a disease that emerged in 2019 is going to dominate their lives deep into 2022.
It's always dangerous when a White House looks overtaken by events. And when the President is 79, any sign of lost grip is magnified. Whispers are growing about Biden's prospects in 2024 . Both uncontrollable events and his own choices have put him in a perilous position as the year ends. But America itself also looks increasingly ungovernable.
'A significant step forward in our path out of the pandemic'
A glimmer of hope: Biden on Tuesday touted a report by US pharma company Pfizer that an experimental pill cuts the risk of hospitalization or death from Covid-19 by 89%, if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms.
"This news provides another potentially powerful tool in our fight against the virus, including the Omicron variant," Biden said in a statement, adding that his administration has "already placed an order for enough of these pills to treat 10 million Americans."
Vaccination remains the most important preventative measure, he cautioned, "but if this treatment is indeed authorized -- and once the pills are widely available -- it will mark a significant step forward in our path out of the pandemic."
Postcard from London
While Biden is having a terrible time, his UK counterpart, Boris Johnson, is thrashing through a political nightmare that even his hyperbole-saturated vocabulary would struggle to describe.
Early in the pandemic, Meanwhile would often pass along anecdotes about politicians caught breaking the very rules they inflicted on everyone else — by popping out for dinner or a haircut during lockdown, for instance. The British Prime Minister has elevated the genre to an art form : Multiple recent sightings of Johnson without a mask at public events where they are recommended only underscored impressions that the Eton-educated PM thinks rules for normal people don't apply to him.
Now devastating revelations of parties inside Downing Street last year -- at a time when Brits were told not to comfort dying relatives in hospital or celebrate Christmas -- have pitched his government into mayhem. A limp Labour opposition is finally gaining traction.
The timing of the crisis is especially damaging. Johnson is imposing new restrictions to counter the ravenous Omicron variant of Covid-19, raising the question of why citizens should comply, given his past flouting of public health ordinances. (By the way, it's not surprising that Omicron is surging. Crowds thronging Oxford Street, packed pubs and jammed trains heading into London last weekend were disorienting for a visitor used to Washington's still sparsely populated streets and watering holes that now declare last call midway through the evening because of a lack of custom.)
Johnson's plight deepened on Tuesday with a rebellion by nearly 100 Tory lawmakers who voted against new Covid-19 restrictions. If the party loses a massive majority in a by-election in the Conservative heartland of Shropshire on Thursday, there will be outright panic on the backbenches.
Johnson may be hanging on now only because of his reputation as the ultimate political escapologist — he once turned being stuck on a zip line before a massive press pack into a political triumph. But his credibility is shredded. Time could be running out for the leader of a party with a record of ruthlessly dispatching prime ministers whose electoral magic fades.
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Woody Guthrie wrote a song called "Which Side Are You On?" There was polarization back then as well as now, but I think it must be a lot worse now.
Unfortunately, no, he didn't...
The song was written in 1931... By Florence Reece, wife of Union Organizer Samuel Reese after a raid on his home in which Florence and his kids were terrorized for Sam's union organizing activities during the Harlan County Miners Strike .... AKA the Harland County War...
It was first sung by her at several union rallies during the war... The 1930's of course was an era of great turmoil in American society still suffering from the depression and people were railing against the establishment of the day... Union movements back then were very progressive in nature and leaned heavily on socialist influences for emotional support... Money was scarce, Jobs were scarce, There wasn't any government help cause there wasn't any money... People had to learn to survive on their own.... Fortunately, it isn't like that today although there are many who would like to create it....
The song touches all the liberal progressive bases, How the people win/won against "They"; an end to war, the end to war they are speaking about is the corporate /wealthy war against the people, and YEA democrats are in power we have WON, VOTE democrat to show them, Yep, they also fought Reaganomics (fifth verse) called it a curse fought it to a standstill, In 1931 {chuckle}........
I think your beginning to get the point, these aren't the original '31 lyrics to the song, but a very creative re-write to dupe someone into making the claim that today is the same as 1931, depression swaddled America... (they've been fighting the good fight for almost 100 years)
The lyrics above hits on very nearly EVERY modern progressive socialist theme/meme of TODAY....
And based upon this I have to say probably NO ONE has ever sang this song in a public performance....
The original lyrics ...
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
My daddy was a miner,
And I'm a miner's son,
He'll be with you fellow workers
Until this battle's won.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Come all you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Thanks Buzz, had a good laugh....
Oh I just learned a bit more about this searching for information...
Woody probably did sing this at one point or another, when he was a member of Pete Seeger's Almanac Singers ... Although authorship of that version is credited to Pete Seeger...
Reece's lyrics "Which Side Are You On" has been rewritten with different lyrics by other musicians. Pete Seeger made changes to it and the lyrics were almost totally changed by The Freedom Singers, and again by Len Chandler, so Woody Guthrie was not the only person who rewrote different lyrics to the song. I copied the Woody Guthrie lyrics from this web site (link)-> ->
You will note that the "LYRICS" web site credits Woody Guthrie as being the author of those lyrics, as does LYRICSFREAK (link) -> ->
And as it happens, Reece wrote her words but did not compose the melody...
(link)-> ->
I usually do my research BEFORE I jump to wrong conclusions and I don't laugh at other's mistakes, especially when in fact, as in this case, it was NOT a mistake.
I don't expect an apology.
Really?
Florence Reese ...
Evidently not thorough enough...
I'm going to point this out cause I wish an explanation... If you please...
Fifth verse... Second stanza... as you posted...
If Woody Guthrie wrote those lyrics how did he know about Reganomics when he died in '67? Reaganomics was a term coined by liberals to describe President Reagan's economic policies in the mid '80's
Almost 20 years after Woody died and 25 years after he stopped writing....
How did Woody write those lyrics?
Either Woody coined the term because Reagan was a rich well-known celebrity back then and Woody was known to be a socialist who did not exactly like capitalists, or someone else, like Pete Seeger changed Woody's original lyrics to insert that stanza, or else both lyrics web sites made a mistake. However, I'm quite aware, as are a number of other members of NT, of why it is so important for you to make such an issue over it.
It is almost 11 p.m. here and I'm heading for bed, so this seed is locked for the night. I will unlock it in the morning.
Unlocked for CIVIL commentary.
I see no purpose in keeping this seed unlocked.