President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko Kishida by the Grand Staircase for tonight’s state dinner at the White House. pic.twitter.com/H5YeaH2C0i
— Reda (@RedaMor_) April 11, 2024
STAR TREK STATE DINNER:
Japan PM Fumio Kishida: "Let me conclude with the line from Star Trek: To boldly go where no one has gone before. By the way, @GeorgeTakei who played Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman of the USS Enterprise, also has roots in Hiroshima … Boldly go. Cheers!" pic.twitter.com/FJGPRdMH5K
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) April 11, 2024
Per the Associated Press:
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cracked jokes and invoked a touchstone of American culture as he quoted from “Star Trek” at Wednesday’s state dinner, telling guests at the White House that he hoped the “unshakable relationship” between his country and the U.S. would “boldly go where no one had gone before.”…
Kishida, who spoke in English, and President Joe Biden exchanged warm toasts to each other and the decades-long, alliance between their nations as top figures from business, sports and politics — including an ex-president — looked on. The two leaders, who expressed a genuine friendship, pledged to continue to knit together their countries’ interests in the face of global challenges.
Biden, 81, said he and Kishida, 66, came of age as their countries forged a strong bond in the decades after they were pitted against each other in World War II.
“We both remember the choices that were made to forge a friendship,” Biden said. “We both remember the hard work, what it has done to find healing.”
“Tonight,” Biden continued, “We pledge to keep going.”…
Among those at head table with Bidens and Kishidas for Japan state dinner: Hunter Biden's daughter Finnegan, Hillary and Bill Clinton, fruits and nuts billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick, singer Ikuta Lilas, Robert De Niro, US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel's daughter Ilana,… pic.twitter.com/ndh7qoJw0c
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 11, 2024
Tonight's fabulous State Dinner with VP and Second Gentleman ?? ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/monIUvmQW8
— KAMALA NATION (@KamalaNation) April 11, 2024
Of course, it’s nice everyone noting how wonderful and happy she looks.
But it’s hard not to see her and think that, in a just world, this should be her State Dinner in the 8th year of her presidency. pic.twitter.com/QapDsZJxqA
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) April 11, 2024
Hiroshi Mikitani, founder & head of the Rakuten Group:
????????????State Dinner???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????https://t.co/DVnU0xqMkN pic.twitter.com/30p8QHiVE0
— ????? Hiroshi (Mickey) Mikitani (@hmikitani) April 12, 2024
Special guests, Teachers of the Year (bless Dr. Biden):
Ummmm… The 2024 ToYs are headed to a State dinner @ the White House w/ President Joe Biden & First Lady Dr. Jill Biden! The most brilliant, genius, compassionate educators I’ve ever known. This #ILTOY24 can’t believe she gets to be in the same room as them! @ISBEnews @estl189 pic.twitter.com/NVaoWlfqoj
— Bri Morales #ILTOY24 (@queenh0neyb) April 11, 2024
There’s always one guy doesn’t get the memo… Look, when you’ve worked so hard & spent so much money, you want to show off the merchandise to best effect. And I’m sure Ms. Sanchez felt the same way.
Fuckin' bezos arriving at the WHITE HOUSE for a state dinner.
The White House is not mar-a-lago, jeff. Put some clothes on your mail-order date…
No fucking class. pic.twitter.com/oN5aHZj6t6— Roger ZenAF (@RogerZenAF) April 11, 2024
Clintons, De Niro, and more attend White House state dinner https://t.co/j90eT5bGQ8 pic.twitter.com/uSB0OIPbXl
— TIME (@TIME) April 11, 2024
WH State dinner April10/24 for Japanese PM Kishida and his wife. Menu: California roll/Rib eye steak/fricassee of fava beans, morels and cipollini/ sesame oil sabayon/salted caramel pistachio cake/cherry ice cream pic.twitter.com/flyLYf0xbg
— Ed Kwok? (@kwok_xian) April 11, 2024
… [Paul] Simon is one of Jill Biden’s favorite artists, the White House said, adding that she chose him as a special tribute to Kishida because the prime minister also admires his music…
Paul Simon sings Graceland for President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and the guests at the White House state dinner. pic.twitter.com/dRIQzcfHah
— Reda (@RedaMor_) April 11, 2024
HumboldtBlue
Tony Jay
Yet another advert for why Democrats are far better at the ‘Government of a country’ thing than whatever the Republicans are now.
eclare
I loved Dr. Jill’s dress for this, it was gorgeous. As for Bezos, wow, tits on toast.
Rusty
I look at these pictures and think how I am glad that we again have a president and first lady (and VP and second gentleman! ) that represent our better selves. I’m generally against the hero worship and mythology making around leaders, but I am glad to have leaders that I feel my children could look up to and want to emulate, that they represent our better selves. Thank you Mr. President.
Jay
Sorry, not sorry.
I am not going to go off on Lauren Sanchez for her “style”.
It’s a whole “thing” these days, for older women on a Red Carpet.
yes, my wife watches TMZ.
John Revolta
What? No hamberders?
Tony Jay
@Jay:
Is that who Cleavage Gulch lady is?
In these situations I always ask myself the same question. Would I complain if Diane Guerrero turned up in the same dress?
And the answer is always no. No, I would not.
Jay
I love the shout out to George Takei.
Jay
@Tony Jay:
Okay, sometimes I catch snippets of TMZ out of the corner of my eye,….
Tony Jay
@Jay:
It’s all part of the give and take of a healthy relationship and how we build up a resistance to Get Off My Lawn syndrome in later years.
NotMax
Showcasing the food – pics at the link can be embiggened.
(Look for the RWNJs to bellow over the weekend about the inclusion of fava beans.)
Jay
@Tony Jay:
Downton Abby,…….. yet I still survive and love her.
eclare
@Jay:
I also watch TMZ, no, that is trashy.
Jay
@eclare:
It’s a thing these days, not a good thing, but a thing.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@eclare: I think that may be the tackiest dress I have ever seen. I guess Bezos likes cheap and obvious.
Martin
The Resnicks aren’t good people, but they give checks to the right party. I mean, they could be worse, but holy shit could they be better.
Debbie(Aussie)
The Aussie PM and his fiancée were guests also.
MagdaInBlack
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Couture by Fredericks of Hollywood.
piratedan
@HumboldtBlue: yeah, I believe that article should be a front page post.
It emphasizes what many of us have noted. That a lot of our fellow citizens have been lied to for decades and that the right has done incredible work to keep them angry, misinformed and pointed at the folks least responsible for their ills. The fact that still as many of them vote for Dems as they do is thanks to those skills picked up in public schools and so many awesome teachers, skills that so many are lacking or actively avoiding.
Mel
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Agreed. The whole look spun right past sexy, then vampy, then campy on the style dial, and headed straight into Scary Clown territory.
opiejeanne
@MagdaInBlack: Frederick’s of Hollywood! That was the company I was trying to remember the name of, when I first saw that dress.
p.a.
@HumboldtBlue: In magic time machine conservaturd universe, pointing out the reasons for the resentment causes the resentment.
Shalimar
I really don’t think Hillary would have gotten a 2nd term. She would have handled Covid ten times better than Trump did, but it wouldn’t have stopped Republicans from blaming her for it and running on the number of dead. Which I think would have been much more effective with normies than pointing out Trump’s obvious incompetence was.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Who knows?
lowtechcyclist
We’re not in a just world, and even if she’d won in 2016, you know what would have happened in 2020: her Administration would have done all the right things in response to the pandemic, but Covid would have killed twenty or thirty thousand Americans no matter what. The GOP would have crucified her over that, the MSM would have made it seem like the GOP spoke the truth, and she’d have been a one-term President.
ETA: Beaten to it by Shalimar!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@piratedan: Which may explain why public schools are targeted for obliteration by the right-wingers, through voucher programs , starving schools of funds and supplies, and making it functionally impossible for public-school teachers to earn a living.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Were she on a HOLLYWOOD Red Carpet, I would not bat an eye. But WH State Dinner……c’mon.
Princess
I’m going to give it to Sanchez for solving the middle aged lady upper arm problem. Well done.
But she needs to fire her plastic surgeon. Yes, her body her choice, but we don’t need to find it attractive.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I HOPE what explains that dress is Jeff wrote a $5 million check to Democratic political operations for every square inch of skin his date exposed. Not that I really have a problem with the dress – I could see how some might find it more than a little tacky but there’s no law against tacky and if that’s what she wanted to wear and she’s happy with it more power to her.
That said, Dr. Jill is a stone cold fox and a case study in aging gracefully. Biden brought the prettier, smarter and classier date.
lowtechcyclist
@Princess:
Indeed. The attraction of pillow-sized lips continues to mystify me.
MagdaInBlack
@lowtechcyclist: Blow-up doll lips.
Ken
I’m sure the people who coordinate these events check if any guests have dietary restrictions or allergies, but screening for enzyme deficiencies sounds trickier.
Frankensteinbeck
The Star Trek quote does not surprise me. My brief career in Japanese television news taught me that mainstream, respectable Japanese culture is obsessively geeky about American entertainment.
@Jay:
Oh, this is absolutely a red carpet dress. Not even particularly provocative for one, although the way her cleavage bulges is a bit tacky and ruins what could be a pretty dress.
Red carpet dresses aren’t actually for formal events, though. They’re for modeling shows, Cannes, entertainment type events. Tasteless in this environment.
stinger
Please tell me George Takei was invited.
Ohio Mom
@NotMax: I enjoyed those photos, thanks.
The food looks scrumptious but what small portions. Guess that is how they all keep their their youthful figures.
Mousebumples
@Baud: I think COVID could have been like Swine Flu under Obama with competent leadership (eg President H Clinton). Trump broke so much, including surveillance in China, and probably also didn’t have a great diplomatic relationship with them either.
Ohio Mom
@opiejeanne: A gazillion years ago, somewhere around the late 1970s/very early 1980s, the mall in the Cincinnati suburb of northeast Kentucky had a Frederick’s of Hollywood store. The merchandise was preposterous.
It was more funny than sexy to me. Very silly and a lot of it looked very uncomfortable. All the better to inspire you to fully strip I suppose.
jonas
@Tony Jay: Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sanchez. Former LA morning news personality.
Brachiator
They didn’t serve hamburgers?
Ramona
@Mousebumples: I could be very wrong here but my impression is that Swine flu, SARS and the other novel viruses that preceded CoViD brought down those who were infected and hard so they didn’t have the chance to spread the virus as widely. Covid’s relatively long incubation period gives the virus far too many chances to spread. Shalimar’s estimate of 30,000 dying in the USA sounds reasonable under the most optimistic scenario and the GOP and idiot mainstream press would have crucified President Hilary!
Kay
@HumboldtBlue:
That was good. I don’t know why people can’t just look at it honestly. Also- there are lots of white rural people who are not resentful. So how is it possible they exist? If white rural resentment is the fault of Democrats or urban people then how is it there are 40, 30, 25% or so of white rural people who are not resentful? They’re immune. Why? How are they different?
mrmoshpotato
@stinger:
I hope so too. Better than inviting Bezos.
Geminid
This morning’s Politico Playbook has an item on Vice President Harris’s planned appearance in Tucson, Arizona today. She is expected to speak on abortion rights and go after Donald Trump with the gloves off. Should be good.
Baud
@Kay:
Is it that high? I always assumed most of the Dem vote in rural areas was minorities.
Baud
Apparently, we believe Dem presidents can’t successfully handle crises without losing elections.
bbleh
Whenever I see pix like these, I have the feeling that a lot of the smiles are genuine and that I would enjoy being at one of these events, in contrast to ones from the previous WH, where everybody seems to be gritting their teeth and I have the feeling I would want to run screaming.
SiubhanDuinne
Both Dr. Jill and MVP Harris looked smashing. I can’t decide which of their dresses I love more — they are both gorgeous.
RedDirtGirl
@piratedan: I hope we do have a front page post about this. I have a good friend with a long history of activism, including anti-racism work going back to the 70s, and she has been working with an org called RUBI, the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. It seems like a great group made up of small and large “d” democrats that are unwilling to write off the rural population as solidly red.
I applaud their work, but often wonder if to do that they have to convince themselves that the racism is not as strong as it really is.
opiejeanne
@Ohio Mom: They advertised in the guide to tv shows that came with the LA Times when I was a kid. it seemed kind of silly, the ads for crotchless panties and sheer babydoll pjs.
Mousebumples
@Ramona: definitely could be, but I’m also not sure how much the virus mutated before China couldn’t contain it anymore. 🤷♀️
opiejeanne
@Kay: Maybe they read books?
opiejeanne
@mrmoshpotato: Heck, invite them both. I’m sure there’s room at the table.
Kay
@Baud:
No, it would only be minorities in the rural south – that’s important though and often missed- rural black people in the south are a huge voting group and they vote for Democrats. But that woudn’t be true in the midwest, northeast or new england- in those places rural = white.
But my county is 92% white. He references one of the immune people in the article – a farmer contacted him to tell him he was correct.
cmorenc
@Tony Jay:
I wouldn’t complain, either – I have no clue who Diane Guerrero is, so if I complained I’d come across as a fool ranting about something I didn’t know shit about.
artem1s
@lowtechcyclist:
Hate to say it but some asshole white regular guy pseudo Dem probably would have tried to primaried her. Successful or not the party would be tearing itself apart the way the GOP is now.
Kay
@Baud:
Democrats don’t have to throw people under the bus or pretend to be rural – they’re not going to get a majority of white rural people anyway – just approach the white people who are somewhat receptive and not resentful.
Media and Republicans always start from this subordinate place, where they think we should pretend to be something we’re not and beg for their votes. No. I’m not doing that.
Obama didn’t actually harm any white rural people! That never happened! I don’t have to apologize for imaginary wrongs and either do urban people. Are urban people demanding an apology from rural people? No, they are not. Why is this only one way?
grubert
Thought for a long time that rural folk actually have it pretty good. All the same tech the city folk have, mostly.. plus fresh air, plenty of elbow room and infrastructure partially subsidized by city taxes. Almost a luxury.
Would like a clear headed study into just how much harder rurals actually work. Is driving a tractor really all that worse then driving a dump truck or delivery van? And there’s plenty of rural slackers too..
To even ask these questions would get extremely angry responses in many places
Fwiw, I grew up in rural north mn, and know farmers who get up at four am every day to milk cows.. but also know city folk with tough work schedules too
RevRick
Graceland is a fitting tribute for the Biden administration, especially in contrast to the utter gracelessness of the disaster of 1/20/17-1/20/21. Think of how humorless the previous administration was: all snarl and pout. But here we have a Japanese Prime Minister comfortably making Star Trek references. Heck, they even welcome ill-clad street people like Ms. Sanchez into the event.
Baud
@Kay:
Yeah, I agree. There’s always people who want us to make nice with people who don’t like us, and then blame us when we try and fail because they don’t like us.
Baud
@grubert:
A lot of rural communities are suffering, but a lot of that is self-inflected.
ETA: Medicaid expansion and rural hospitals is the poster child for that phenomenon, but it’s much deeper than that.
gvg
@Ohio Mom: Before the internet, they carried ALL sizes of bras. Normal people bras, not just to be seen in the bedroom, but working day or special occasion such as strapless prom dress bras. If you were at all out of the most common sizes such as small or large or had had a mastectomy, Fredricks was a useful store.
The store’s most promoted merchandise was tacky though…
Matt McIrvin
@Kay:
He genuinely did harm them emotionally by making them know that the President was Black and that society’s values were changing away from the ones they supported. It was harm that they deserved and that it was good to do to them. I hope we harm them some more in this way. I’m done feeling charitable–it’s a lot better than the harm I could be wishing on them (I only do that on bad days).
prostratedragon
Overview of TFG’s dodgy appeal bond, now with Cayman Island reinsurers for AG James potentially to deal with; with my emphasis:
These methods took off in the 80s, and at the time they eere.noticed in connection with the Russians who were moving in on the Mafia. There was a gasoline skimmer whose name I saw again recently but can’t recall off hand, who was noted for enmeshing his scams in such a blizzard of paper that teams of investigators struggled to work through them. The explanation given at the time was that dealing with Soviet bureaucracy had induced certain expertise of high order [ordure?]. Now, of course, there are many non-Russian imitators about.
Kay
We’ve talked about this here:
So, two things. First, the shift is pretty small in the US. I don’t think it will actually matter in our Presidential election.
And the shift goes the other way for young women:
I;ve been saying for years that Democratic outreach in rural counties should be focused on women. They are substantially more liberal than men.
grubert
@Baud: thought refusing Medicare expansion was a Republican thing..
Now I have to figure they ain’t as bright as city mice… but then I knew that by experience. Of my graduating class of 75 kids, I know who stayed and who moved to the city.
lowtechcyclist
@artem1s:
That wouldn’t have been due to ‘failure’ to deal with Covid, though – Super Tuesday came and went before we shut down due to Covid, and the filing deadlines for primaries had long since passed.
Do you think someone would have challenged Hillary even before Covid? Doesn’t seem like a good opportunity for a challenger.
Baud
@grubert:
Republican = white rural areas. They’re the dedicated and
spiritualcultural base.ETA: Edited
NotMax
@gvg
Strictly for grins, a promo spot sent to radio stations during the early 1970s by Warner Brothers records.
:)
Kay
Some of the shift in young men is young men who went from Right to far Right, which is obviously not great but also means it won’t impact our elections much- they were on the Right to begin with.
grubert
@Baud: most definitely..
But not all.. there’s that one cute and smart girl, a California transplant, I had a crush on. She stayed rural and is still liberal as anything.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s hard to be a moderate right person these days.
grubert
@lowtechcyclist: I wonder how Hillary would have dealt with the Russian influence and espionage problem. She knew about it and would have had the ability to do something about it.
Early prevention… might have kept Putin out of Ukraine.. maybe.
frosty
@grubert: Rural people don’t all have the same tech as cities. Try getting a cell signal some places. Or broadband cable.
Baud
@frosty:
Dems have been trying to get broadband to rural areas for years. Guess who opposes it?
ETA
https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/resources/federal/federal-funding#:~:text=In%20November%202021%2C%20President%20Biden,provided%20%2465%20billion%20for%20broadband.
frosty
@Baud: ‘xactly!
evodevo
@lowtechcyclist: Yes..what IS it with that?? And it certainly doesn’t do Kim Guilfoyle or Jennifer Coolidge any good, it just looks grotesque…On the other hand, I blame Brigitte Bardot for starting it LOL
Geminid
@Kay: I would add that rural Hispanics are an important voting group in parts of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. States from Delaware south to Georgia and west to Arizona all have plenty of minority voters in rural areas.
I believe these states were all singled out for special attention under the Voting Rights Act. Alabama could get another Democratic Representative from a new district drawn because of a VRA lawsuit. It has a large population of rural black people.
Kay
@Geminid:
Right. I skipped the sw and w.
Looking at men/women differences in voting, Latinos have the biggest split of all the groups – Latino women are more liberal than Latino men by the largest margin. White people have the second largest split – white women more liberal than white men. Black people and Asians have the smallest.
Kay
@Baud:
The researchers attribute young men going from Right to far Right to media – social and otherwise.
The Joe Rogan Effect. They find a bubble and stay in it.
Geminid
@Kay: I’ll be interested to see how Arizona’s male Hispanic voters respond to Ruben Gallego. One thing Gallego may have going for him here is that he is a Marine Corps veteran. So is Arizona’s new Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes.
Arizona’s Hispanics generally have trailed their Anglo counterparts in political participation, but they have been catching up in recent years. Fontes and now Gallego give them visible representation at a high level, and that could help close the gap even further.
Uncle Cosmo
@HumboldtBlue: Saw that in Old Thing Cole’s open thread last night & clicked over. Good piece, though its focus on pushing back at critics somewhat reduces its effectiveness.
The Jacobs article at Politico (that this alludes to) makes a large to-do over the distinction between resentment (which he considers a valid response to the rural plight) and rage (which he does not). It seems to me he misses or minimizes the key role played by status. Resentment at getting (what they perceive as) the shitty end of the stick becomes rage when passed across the catalyst of outsiders (including wimmins & minorities but also them-thar hifalutin’ big-city types in general) who use educational and socioeconomic situations to demean the rurals’ status.[1]
I wonder if Jacobs’ take isn’t colored by his interactions with his subjects. Rural folk can be quite courteous to outsiders when they believe they’re being taken seriously[2]; IMO it’s the perception (justified or not) that they’re being demeaned or diminished by strangers who arrogate to themselves superior status that triggers the rage.[3] Maybe he never triggered it.
[1] Recall the Southron yeomanry of the 1860s who fought and bled and died in the tens of thousands for their slaveholding aristocracy even though most of them had no chance of ever owning a single slave, because of their status as free men. Remember LBJ’s astute observation: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
[2] I’m certain I read someone, somewhere, say that a human being is neither an angel nor a devil, but both. I have heard of or witnessed acts of great kindness from people whose views otherwise were quite repulsive. (John Rabe, the Nazi businessman who helped save 200,000 lives during the Rape of Nanjing, is a case in point.) I have also seen some pretty shitty behavior from people considered above reproach, sometimes in the form of a sudden volte-face (Alan Dershowitz comes to mind.) IMO we are all on that moral/ethical spectrum, and very few are at either endpoint, whether we like to admit it or not.
[3] I post as the child of hillbillies who left The Sticks for the Big City and its factory jobs in 1940; most summers we spent Dad’s vacation visiting aunts, uncles & cousins in Mom’s home town. The part of Baltimore we made home was at the time of my birth the largest unincorporate metropolitan area in the USA. and a sizeable fraction of its population (1950 census ~82,000) had likewise left Appalachia to settle here. TBH I think a distinction can be made between poorer folks who chose to stay in economically-depressed areas and those who took the chance to leave and seek a better life elsewhere – and that applies to those who voluntarily crossed the ocean to the US as well as POC who moved northward and bright students headed for urban colleges as well as “redneck refugees”.
tokyokie
tfg would have had Ted Nugent playing Cat Scratch Fever.
Paul in KY
@Tony Jay: Man, that was a whupping you guys took at Anfield! Was gobsmacked when I saw score. Think you can still get them, though.
Paul in KY
@Mel: I just saw it. Looks like she was wearing a formal negligee to the evening dinner of the Honorable Society of Call Girls ™.
Paul in KY
@Kay: In general, they are the ones who can see through the Repub BS machine.
Paul in KY
@artem1s: I think she would have won re-election. I’m betting her response to COVID would have been great & that would have won her the 2nd term.
Paul in KY
@grubert: Anecdata here: Good friend of mine married into a family that owns a 100 acre farm. Grows a bunch of stuff and has cattle. We were looking at a house he was in process of building when his father-in-law drove by on a tractor going to do something. After we waved & spoke & he drove off, my friend looked at me and said “When you own a farm, there is something you have to do every fucking day.”
Paul in KY
@grubert: She would have figuratively twisted his balls off. That’s why he was Hell bent on trying to get her beat.