Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The revolution will be supervised.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Safer America: President Biden (LIVE) at 3:30

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Like all Presidents, he’s generally way behind schedule in these things, and I assume he will be again today. I’m not complaining, mind you. He’s a busy person. And maybe he’ll surprise me.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:   That could be a game changer.

    We cannot keep assault weapons out of schoolrooms.  Or theatres.  Or malls.

    Non whack-job parents, and sane people everywhere, will vote for that.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    Protect abortion rights/healthcare.  Against assault weapons.  For voting rights.  Fight climate change.

    Those are a winning coalition of issues for Democrats this fall.

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    Joe is shouting.  I don’t blame him.

    Just quipped about deer wearing Kevlar vests.

    Very angry that Uvalde parents had to provide DNA. Because their little kids were unidentifiable after the teenager got hands on the assault weapon.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    I hope voters get to see this speech.

    Parents — especially mothers — will find it compelling.

  18. 18.

    japa21

    Law enforcement in the background. Good idea.​
      NFLTG Biden is going at Republicans tooth and nail. I love it.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    Mexicans complaining about the guns coming over their border.

    More plain speaking like this.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    Talking about MAGA Republicans in Congress, defending the mob.

    And that is the great majority of them.  Let’s face it.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    Biden:  America’s back.

    Macron:  For how long?

    Another leader telling him what Europeans saw, watching January 6 on their media.

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    “I’m opposed to defunding the police.  I’m also opposed to defunding the FBI.”

    I wonder if Democrats will get more than usual law enforcement votes this midterm. One can hope.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    This is a very powerful speech. I love Joe Biden, especially when he gets worked up like this.

    Did anybody else pick up on a heavy dose of sarcasm the couple of times he referred to “My MAGA friends in Congress”?

  31. 31.

    C Stars

    goddangit, just missed it! Clicked play as he was saying “God protect our troops,” then the marching band started up

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    Joe is definitely shining a light on the sad state of affairs with MAGAs and insurrectionists and people who are calling for violence in the streets.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @zhena gogolia: The last twenty minutes is very strong.   You can’t support the police, if you support the insurrection on January 6th.

     “To all MAGA Republicans – DON’T tell me you support law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened on the 6th! You can’t do it! You can’t do it! For God’s sake man, whose side are you on!?”

  41. 41.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    I wonder if Democrats will get more than usual law enforcement votes this midterm. One can hope.

    Well, these uniformed folks seem to like him!

  42. 42.

    CaseyL

    That was a good, powerful speech.

    He called out the GOP numerous times, and Lindsey the Lamprey.

    I hope he brings the same fire on Thursday.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    Missed the first part of that one.

    I trust it had plenty for our media betters to clutch their pearls and dicks over.  You go, Joe.

    I hope a lot of voters see that speech, and not just the soundbites.

  48. 48.

    Suzanne

    I think it’s funny that when the POTUS wants to go somewhere to represent high crime, he goes to Philly, and when he wants to go somewhere to represent blue-collar tradespeople, he goes to Pittsburgh. PA gets so much attention!

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    In all truth, the first few minutes were kind of “ol’ Grampa Joe” and are quite missable. But BOY HOWDY, once the substance of the message kicked in, it was terrific.

    I sometimes wonder if he does that purposely. Start off a little slow, a little bumbling, and then when the audience members (and pundits and journalists!) are lulled into a state of somnolent acceptance, POW! WHAP! Joe delivers one fabulous knockout punch after another.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    I think Uvalde broke a lot of people.

    And, face it, there isn’t much the cops can do once an assault weapon is in a school building.  Of course, the Uvalde fools did not even try.

    Enough.

  62. 62.

    HumboldtBlue

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    In all truth, the first few minutes were kind of “ol’ Grampa Joe” and are quite missable.

    Yup, I wrote and deleted a comment, “what is he talking about?”

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:  No.  He didn’t call out Graham by name.  In my hearing.  So that one might go over normies’ heads.

    Although.  There has been a lot of blowback for Graham’s statement. So maybe there’s some awareness in the non-political junkie world.

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: we’ll see if the stuck piglet squeals

    Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins 15m

    Without naming him, President Biden criticizes Sen. Graham’s comment about riots in the street if Trump’s prosecuted. “The idea you turn on a TV and see senior senators and congressmen saying, ‘If such and such happens, there will be blood in the street.’ Where the hell are we?”

  68. 68.

    zhena gogolia

    @JPL: Yeah, won’t hold my breath for that.

    ETA: When all is said and done, he’s the best leader Russia has ever had.

    ETA: And of course that’s a low bar. But still.

  70. 70.

    Elizabelle

    And:  the Fuck the Fucking NY Time$$ has this blurb up re Biden’s speech, which they haven’t covered yet.

    Biden Will Call Out Republicans on Guns and Crime in Pennsylvania Speech

    President Biden is expected to discuss his plans on gun crime in an address in Wilkes-Barre, PA, after months of trying to blunt attacks that he is soft on crime.

    Soft on crime. Got that?

    Fuck the fucking NY Time$$, and their horrible, horrible editors and publisher.

    Actually, Biden turned the tables on the FTF NY Time$$ too. He called out Republicans for supporting insurrection. That … would seem to be a crime, no?

  71. 71.

    SpaceUnit

    I’m still watching on lag.  Joe sounds great.

    Also, no teleprompter.  He’s winging it.

  75. 75.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SpaceUnit:

    Also, no teleprompter. He’s winging it.

    Yes, I noticed that too and meant to mention it. Tells me that this is a topic that he (a) has given a lot of thought to, and (b) feels very strongly about.

  77. 77.

    C Stars

    I really think the Republicans see his orientation toward basic human decency as profanity. They’ve so lost their way that the idea of a politician who does not spout grievance and violence and self-aggrandizement is an affront to them. The idea of a President having a persona that espouses compassion and mutual respect is actually repulsive, in their eyes.

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    As of about 90 seconds ago, neither the NYT nor WaPo had anything about Gorbachev. Are they just being super-cautious about not jumping the gun, or are they asleep at the switch?

  81. 81.

    lollipopguild

    @C Stars: They want a trump/rambo/jesus person with a machine gun who will lead a “purge” of all the people they do not like.

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    @SiubhanDuinne: My phone blew up with alerts from WaPo, NYT, CNN, etc., starting about 15 minutes ago. I guess they hit the news alerts before updating the websites these days.

  86. 86.

    El Muneco

    @Elizabelle: The editor had to cut the original last line of the submitted story, which was “Mind you, it’s us who are accusing him of being soft on crime.”

  93. 93.

    Elizabelle

    History will be kind to Gorbachev.

    I remember his trip to Washington DC, and the excitement when he got out of his limo to shake hands with passerby.

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    Reuters, on Gorbachev:  (it’s a small story, at present):

    … When pro-democracy protests swept across the Soviet bloc nations of communist Eastern Europe in 1989, he refrained from using force – unlike previous Kremlin leaders who had sent tanks to crush uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

    But the protests fuelled aspirations for autonomy in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, which disintegrated over the next two years in chaotic fashion.
    Gorbachev struggled in vain to prevent that collapse.

    On becoming general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985, aged just 54, he had set out to revitalise the system by introducing limited political and economic freedoms, but his reforms spun out of control.

    His policy of ‘glasnost’ – free speech – allowed previously unthinkable criticism of the party and the state, but also emboldened nationalists who began to press for independence in the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and elsewhere.

    Many Russians never forgave Gorbachev for the turbulence that his reforms unleashed, considering the subsequent plunge in their living standards too high a price to pay for democracy.

    After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news outlet Zvezda: “He gave us all freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it.”

  96. 96.

    Ken

    @Elizabelle: I trust it had plenty for our media betters to clutch their pearls

    If he had said only, “We all love America” — that would have been enough.

    (Riffing a bit on the dayenu.)

  97. 97.

    stinger

    Came late, but have now watched Joe’s speech. Thanks so much, WaterGirl.

    Some people get annoyed by his repetitions and what are almost verbal tics, but first of all, as a visual learner I appreciate repetition when the information is all audio. And second, it’s very different to watch a political event on a screen versus being there in person. Ask Howard Dean.

  98. 98.

    cain

    @Elizabelle: It’s hard to say you need good guys with guns, when some much is predicated on the good guys knowing to be effective at their jobs and also not be cowardly assholes.

    Uvalde shows that in such a scenario, there isn'[t any good guys and people and children died.

  99. 99.

    MazeDancer

    Mr. Biden was great! Yelled many a “You tell ’em, Joe!”. Assume I was not alone.

  101. 101.

    catatonia

    I had just moved to DC when Gorby came calling in 1987. My friend and I were both taken by him so much, we hopped the fence at the (then) Soviet compound on Wisconsin Avenue, in his honor. Probably the single stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life. My friend kept saying, if we get caught, Gorby will let us off. Alcohol, of course, was involved. I guess there weren’t ubiquitous CC cameras back then, or maybe the monitor was asleep. Anyway, we got away with it.

    But RIP Mikhail. How he towers, ethically, above all the Soviet/Russian leaders of the past, oh, 150 years or so.

  102. 102.

    cain

    @catatonia: ​But RIP Mikhail. How he towers, ethically, above all the Soviet/Russian leaders of the past, oh, 150 years or so.

     

    And our own leaders – especially the Republican ones. Reagan has been given credit for ending the cold war – American never won it. Gorbachev did the reforms needed, and sadly we did not help them navigate that. That was our bad.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @C Stars:

    They view anyone not exactly like themselves to be inferior.

    They do not get that there is a range of humanity, of people that work with their hands, and of people who actually work period, that humans can have compassion, and aren’t riddled with greed and hate. Because if they didn’t see the world the way they do, they couldn’t live with their shitty selves. And they can’t understand improvement, especially of themselves.

    In their minds they are perfect, but their minds are cesspools full of bullshit, greed and hate.

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