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It is time for Joe Biden to fish or cut bait. The president can either pursue the unreachable goal of bipartisanship with recalcitrant Republicans, who have zippo intent of giving the Democrat a legislative victory, or take command of his bold agenda.
In negotiating with Republicans, Biden looks like Charlie Brown attempting to kick the football, when Lucy yanks the ball away at the last moment and Charlie winds up flat on his back.
Dust yourself off, Joe. This is no time for Peanuts and the gang.
Dump that “good and decent guy image” and put the screws to Democrats Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema and line them up to kill the filibuster, which empowers the minority against majority rule.
Time is running short because America’s democracy is at stake, according to a “statement of concern” signed by more than 165 historians, scholars and academics, as of June 3.
Released June 1, the document is called “The Threats to American Democracy and the Need for National Voting and Election Administration Standards."
From the Letter: "It is always far better for major democracy reforms to be bipartisan, to give change the broadest possible legitimacy. However, in the current hyper-polarized political context such broad bipartisan support is sadly lacking. Elected Republican leaders have had numerous opportunities to repudiate Trump and his 'Stop the Steal' crusade, which led to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Each time, they have sidestepped the truth and enabled the lie to spread."
The signers “urge Congress to do whatever is necessary—including suspending the filibuster—to pass national voting and election administration standards that both guarantee the vote to all Americans equally, and prevent state legislatures from manipulating the rules to manufacture the result they want.
“Our democracy is fundamentally at stake. History will judge what we do at this moment."
Meanwhile, Biden may cave to Republican demands not to overturn the Trump tax cuts, in exchange for their support for a watered-down deal on infrastructure.
Time to show some spine, Joe.
Trump bails out from the wild and woolly world of blogging, not from jail. The former president has shut down his blog. “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” lasted a pittance, 29 days. The world is a saner place.
The former tweeter-in-chief pulled the plug on the blog because he was infuriated by its measly readership, according to the Washington Post.
The 88M cultists who followed Trump on Twitter failed to migrate to the blog, which was billed as “a beacon of freedom.”
Trump’s blog attracted fewer visitors than Petfinder, pet adoption service and Delish, recipe site. That's an embarrassing setback for the super-egoist.
But don't worry, Team Trump is working on another platform. The MAGA crowd waits with bated breath.
Investors in AMC Entertainment, which is riding the meme stock rollercoaster, may lose their shirts but at least they will get a free large popcorn out of the deal.
The stock price tanked 33 percent on June 3 after AMC announced plans to sell more than 11M shares into the already overheated market. After the price collapsed, trading was suspended.
On June 2, the stock doubled to $66.25 after CEO Adam Aron offered his company’s “extraordinary base of enthusiastic and passional individual investors” the AMC Investor Connect communications platform.
Aron will communicate directly with AMC Investor Connect participants, invite them to special screenings, and serve them a free large popcorn when they take in a movie this summer.
While AMC woos retail investors, it told the Securities and Exchange Commission that many of the rubes are going to be taken to the cleaners.
The company’s prospectus warns that stock buyers may “incur substantial losses” due to the crazy volatility of the shares. It notes that AMC shares traded as low as $1.91 on Jan. 5, and touched a high of $72.62 on June 2.
The company admits that trading in its shares is a crap shoot.
“We believe that the recent volatility and our current market prices reflect market and trading dynamics unrelated to our underlying business, or macro or industry fundamentals, and we do not know how long these dynamics will last,” says the SEC filing. “Under the circumstances, we caution you against investing in our Class A common stock, unless you are prepared to incur the risk of losing all or a substantial portion of your investment.”
Suckers beware, but enjoy the popcorn. Ask for some extra butter for the popcorn, that's the least you deserve.
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