Maybe they were also the ones who stole his trains of thought.
His trips to Europe were two weeks before the debate...
Anyway, I thought they were blaming a cold and/or being over-prepared...
why kick that beehive before it's ACTUALLY necessary?
Because by the time it's actually necessary, you're fucked. Case in point, if Sotomayor had resigned last year, her replacement would have sailed through, and there could be a 40 year old solidly liberal justice in her place, penning equally liberal opinions and poised to continue doing so for decades.
But she didn't, so if she acts now, her replacement would get caught up in "senate can't nominate in election years for reasons" BS. Big political fight, but one that's winnable since Dems ultimately hold the Senate.
If she puts it off yet further, she would have to continue for the next 4, possibly 8+ years. And maybe by that time the democrats don't have both the presidency and senate anymore, so her replacement is a less liberal consensus candidate.
Failing to think strategically is an extremely bad idea when it comes to institutions like the Supreme Court.
You haven't put any thought into the situation.
SC justices are appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. Both are currently held by the democrats, the latter narrowly. Both are likely to flip next year. Sotomayor is over 70, diabetic, and travels with a medic.
If she wanted to do the right thing for the causes she believes in, she should have resigned during the past one or two years. Biden would have been able to replace her with a younger, equally liberal justice. But she didn't and probably won't, so if she dies anytime in the next 4 years (or 8 years if the Rs win the presidential election after that) then the court goes 7-2 and will remain conservative-dominated for decades.
Yes, the best time for her to step down would have been earlier (same issue with Biden dropping out). But the second best time is now.
Not perish.
To look virtuous without contributing anything substantive towards your cause.
At this point, the one substantive thing Sotomayor can do is resign and make way for an ideologically aligned replacement. And this, she doesn't do.
If she's so concerned, she should resign. Let Biden nominate her replacement.
By staying on, she's basically signalling she doesn't care about the court going 7-2 after she drops dead during Trump's second term. No lessons learned from the RBG fiasco. What's the point of writing these long eloquent dissents that never end up swaying anything?
US presidents acting in their official capacity were always immune to prosecution for murder. Johnson and Nixon wiped out entire villages in Vietnam, never held accountable.
Polling of hypotheticals is notoriously flaky. If a fresh D comes in as nominee, all the "have to beat Trump" talking points will still be there, and all the "this guy has dementia" talking points will be wiped away. It's hard to imagine any other nominee having negatives that could be worse than credible accusations of dementia.
Edit: except for Harris.
According to Biden,
- Trump is a once in a generation threat to democracy that must be defeated at any cost.
- He, Biden, an 81 year old guy with even lower approval ratings than Trump, should be the guy who goes up against Trump. Nobody else on the D bench should be allowed to try.
Great logic.
Oh by the way, there are no signs that Sotomayor is planning to retire either...
Oh good, I guess Biden has absolutely nothing to worry about then...
Okay, so he's still able to read off a teleprompter and seem "forceful". Now put him in front of the editorial board of any major newspaper for an hour long interview.
Nate Silver's 2024 election model is out. Currently assigning Trump a 65% chance.
As our model launches, either Biden or Trump could easily win — but the odds are in the ex-president’s favor.
Nate Silver's model for the 2024 election is out, currently predicts a 65% chance of a Trump victory.
As our model launches, either Biden or Trump could easily win — but the odds are in the ex-president’s favor.
From the individual consumer's point of view, it totally makes sense to keep guzzling gasoline. US gas prices are far cheaper than elsewhere in the developed world, even after inflation. US carmakers have priced EVs at premium price points, and the charging infrastructure is mediocre. Add to this Biden's lock-out of EV imports and efforts to keep gas prices down ahead of the elections.
Anyway, it's a difficult set of problems, but I would not characterize Biden administration's climate record as being "full of wins". They're like a startup that brags about receiving lots of VC funding (big wins!), but flailing about when it comes to delivering an actual product.
The Biden admin's main selling point on climate is bragging about how much funding they've gotten from Congress. That's a legislative achievement, but the execution part -- which is the point of their branch of government -- has been incredibly rocky. You got $7.5B in funding for EV charging yielding 8 EV chargers nationwide. And Biden has slapped big tariffs on Chinese solar panels and EVs, so that renewables will get more expensive and American carmakers who are skeptical about the EV transition will get to drag their feet even more.
South Korean and Japanese universities under pressure to lift tuition fees
Financial and competitive challenges to universities in Japan and South Korea have put tuition fee hikes on the horizon.
In the US, skyrocketing tuition fees are a major political issue, with pressure for student loan forgiveness, etc.
So it's interesting to see two East Asian countries having the opposite problem: tuition fees are too LOW, straining university finances and hindering the objective of delivering a good education.
Obviously, there's a more disturbing background at play here, but churches shouldn't be untaxed in the first instance. The dude literally said to render unto Caesar, etc. etc.
Render unto Netanyahu the things that are Netanyahu's.
TLDR: Unskew those polls! Media biased against Democrats! No one could possibly vote for a convicted felon! Biden is fine!
Sheesh.
Just Google for Mihoyo and Energy Singularity. They invested $65M back in 2022.
This is the one that's partly funded by Mihoyo, using the absurd amounts of money they made with Genshin Impact.
The power of the anime waifu, in the palm of your hand...
The company is growing stronger—and less vulnerable
Archive link: https://archive.is/vGKin
Janet Yellen urges EU to raise tariffs on Chinese solar panels and wind turbines
Comments come as Commission president hints EU could impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles
Complains about overproduction of green technology, because it's important we don't have too much green technology....
France imposes state of emergency in New Caledonia as unrest continues
Always weird to me how France is so insistent on clinging to its colonial empire, two decades into the 21st century, despite the headaches that causes.
Biden hikes tariffs on Chinese EVs, solar cells, steel, aluminum
Biden administration is announcing plans to slap new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment.
Climate change and inflation are both important, so we're going to make it as expensive as possible to switch away from fossil fuels.
Are you into politics to win — or to feel good about yourself?
Japan sorely needs separate surnames
Japan should implement a legal framework for selective separate surnames as part of an initial stride towards gender equality.
The Developmental Implications of the CFA Franc
RSAF will be conducting airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza
An RSAF C-130 transport aircraft will stay on to conduct humanitarian airdrop operations staged out of Jordan.
The twilight of US trade leadership
The continued US retreat from global trade leadership since 2017 is enabling the ascent of China's state-capitalist model.
Foreign interference law invoked for the first time against naturalised Singaporean businessman
He is assessed to have shown susceptibility to being influenced by foreign actors. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Guess which country is doing the alleged interference...
"Mr Chan, the managing director of several real estate investment firms, was invited to attend China’s annual Two Sessions parliamentary meetings in March 2023 as an “overseas Chinese representative”."
Singapore will continue to grow its relationship with Taiwan based on the "One China" policy, said the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Read more at straitstimes.com.
I'm somewhat surprised that Singapore chose to stick its neck out with a statement, since you-know-who won't like this...
And how Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, is changing
This is a great article about how online shopping, logistics, and infrastructure are improving lives in Indonesia.
For those without a sub: https://archive.is/KB9KK
China announced new laws to limit microtransactions, affecting major corporations like Tencent.
These laws will ban rewards for spending money within a game for the first time, ban rewards for buying consecutive microtransactions, and ban rewards for daily log-ins.
Harvard President Claudine Gay to Submit 3 Additional Corrections, Corporation Says Improper Citations Fall Short of Research Misconduct
Harvard President Claudine Gay will request three corrections to her 1997 Ph.D. dissertation in the latest series of updates Gay has submitted amid mounting allegations of plagiarism against the University’s embattled leader.