Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE – FOUR MORE DAYS

Urgent Agenda will soon begin its 14th year.  It is a 7-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year operation.  We depend on subscriptions and donations to keep going.  We are entering the most important mid-term election campaign in recent memory, and we believe our service will continue to be valuable to readers.

Subscribers and donators not only support our work, they participate in our Forum, which contains their posts and replies to their posts.   Subscribers and donators write on any subject they wish.  The Forum is emailed once a week. 

We do hope you join us.  To do so, simply go to SUBSCRIPTIONS, in the right-hand column opposite these words.  You can use PayPal, or SENDINC, which is a reader favorite for its security and simplicity.  Or, should you wish to use a traditional paper check, please send me an email at
comments@urgentagenda.com, and I'll provide an address.  Subscriptions are $48 a year, or $26 for six months.

Welcome to Urgent Agenda.

SEPTEMBER 30,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

SYMBOL OF OUR TIMES – FROM BIZPACREVIEW.COM:   Democrat-controlled Chicago has come up with at least a partial solution, albeit sad and weak, to the epidemic of deadly gun crime that turns almost every weekend into a municipal bloodbath.  Officials are installing 400-plus, wall-mounted bleeding control kits in nearly 300 public buildings in the Windy City as well as at medical clinics, senior facilities, and possibly subway stations and parks. The kits are evidently meant to be used as a stopgap measure before EMTs arrive to render treatment to victims. “Each of the kits contain enough supplies to treat eight victims, with tourniquets, gauze, shears, gloves and an instruction manual,” NBC Chicago reported about the initiative.  According to Rich Guidice, Chicago’s emergency management and communications (OEMC) executive director, “The box has eight tourniquets and also gauze, so it’s basically to stop the bleeding.”  “We’re living in different times. And we’re doing our best to adapt to the environment that we’re living in,” he added, describing the additional supplies as “just another layer of security and protection.”  Geez.  What can we say to this?  What can we really say?  What a comment on what this country is becoming. 

September 30, 2021       Permalink

THE TRAIN WRECK – OVERNIGHT:  The Democratic Party is hopelessly split, and one can only wonder why there is no talk of a new center-left party, which would certainly pick up significant support from the sane members of the electorate.  From Fox: 

Congressional Democrats Thursday night called off an effort to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill through the House after negotiations on their reconciliation bill stalled, leaving the two major pieces of President Biden's economic agenda in limbo. 

The failure to pass the infrastructure bill so far this week – and the failure to come to an agreement on what the reconciliation bill should look like – were major blows to congressional Democrats and the president. And they underscore both Democrats' razor-thin majorities in Congress and their internal divisions. 

But the two bills were not necessarily dead yet, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., continued to express optimism as she left the Capitol early Friday morning. 

"We're not trillions apart," she said at 12:01 a.m. "There'll be a vote today."

House progressives have for months said that they would not vote for the infrastructure bill unless the reconciliation bill is passed first through both chambers of Congress. But meanwhile, House moderates extracted a promise from Pelosi to bring up the infrastructure bill before the end of September in exchange for their votes for the budget resolution in August. 
Against a deadline

Slow negotiations, however, on the framework of the reconciliation package between moderates like Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and party leaders butted up against the deadline for the infrastructure vote. 

This created a situation in which progressives demanded immediate action on reconciliation in order for them to vote on infrastructure, and moderates simply demanded immediate action on infrastructure. 

Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and White House liaisons Susan Rice and Brian Deese tried until late Thursday night to reach a deal before House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., announced there would be no further votes for the evening. 

Shortly after that, Problem Solvers Caucus Chairman Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., walked briskly into Pelosi's office, holding a phone to his head and appearing displeased. Gottheimer was one of the infrastructure bill's biggest supporters in the House. 

He left the speaker's office a little over a half-hour later. Gottheimer declined to speak to reporters on both occasions. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki had said in a Thursday statement that an agreement was close. 
"A great deal of progress has been made this week, and we are closer to an agreement than ever. But we are not there yet, and so, we will need some additional time to finish the work, starting [Friday] morning first thing," Psaki said. 

COMMENT:  The party now is essentially controlled by the militant left.  They are fanatical and have no idea how government in a democracy works.  It is time to begin discussions about the formation of a new center-left party. 

September 30, 2021       Permalink

SEPTEMBER 29,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

MADNESS, SHEER MADNESS – FROM CNBC:  Google-owned YouTube banned prominent anti-vaccine accounts in an effort to strengthen its policies on misinformation around vaccines, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. It will also ban misinformation on all vaccines that are confirmed to be safe by the World Health Organization and local health authorities.  Social media companies have said since the beginning of the pandemic that they're trying to stop the spread of coronavirus misinformation. But falsehoods have continued to run rampant as companies struggle to police the constant flood of posts and uploads to their platforms.  As part of the crackdown, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed it removed pages associated with high-profile misinformation spreaders like Joseph Mercola, Erin Elizabeth, Sherri Tenpenny and the Children's Health Defense Fund, which is associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  Until now, YouTube banned videos that said the coronavirus vaccine was ineffective or dangerous. Under, the new policy, it will block videos that spread misinformation about all commonly used vaccines, like the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.  "We've steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we're now at a point where it's more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines," the company said.  A dangerous move. Journalism long ago established protocols for giving readers a warning that assertions in a story have not been validated.  Warnings like that are common.  I oppose bans because, almost inevitably, a valuable piece of information will be banned from the marketplace of ideas, and people will be hurt.

September 29, 2021       Permalink

THE SINKING SHIP – OVERNIGHT:  It looks like the president's agenda in Congress is collapsing.  The once-great Democratic Party is at war with itself.  I'm so sad.  From Fox: 

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Wednesday that he would not support "spending trillions more" on social programs, highlighting an ongoing dispute between the moderate Democrat and party leaders that threatens to derail negotiations on President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending bill.

In a lengthy statement on the negotiations, Manchin said he has "made clear to the President and Democratic leaders" that it would be the "definition of fiscal insanity" to greenlight more spending despite funding shortages for social security and Medicare. Manchin also cited concerns about the potential impact on inflation and the shaky U.S. economic recovery.

"While I am hopeful that common ground can be found that would result in another historic investment in our nation, I cannot – and will not - support trillions in spending or an all or nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces," Manchin said. "There is a better way and I believe we can find it if we are willing to continue to negotiate in good faith."

The Left, which is demanding that Congress pass the full $3.5 trillion spending bill, was having none of it. "Progressives won’t back down on delivering paid leave, education, health care, child care, and climate action because of an arbitrary deadline," said Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. "We’re sticking to our deal and delivering for the people."

Manchin’s remarks followed days of intense dialogue between top Democrats regarding the spending bill, which consists of social programs that were left out of a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Biden met separately with Manchin and fellow moderate Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on multiple occasions this week in a bid to find common ground.

COMMENT:  Once again we see the reckless influence of the far left of the Democratic Party.  They have the intellectual maturity of 12-year-olds.  They don't understand the impact of the nation spending money it doesn't have.  They really believe that "the rich" will be made to pay the bills.  And, of course, they know almost nothing about running a federal program and making it work for the American people.  Congresswoman Jayapal is a Washington-state socialist, and her meanderings demonstrate the hopelessness of government control. 

The left may think that blocking programs is the way to gain influence.  In reality, it probably will make moderate Democrats much more enthusiastic about purging the nutbags from the party, as was done in the mid-1940s.

September 29,  2021     Permalink