Joe Biden made his support for social security, medicare and medicaid clear in his 2023 State of the Union address; the Republican have made their opposition to social programs clear since 1935.

Obama's Cat Food Commission co-[chaired by Erskine Bowles and the odious Alan Simpson,  was headed toward cuts in entitlement programs but was saved, quite inadvertently, by the ineptness of then Speaker Boehner and his merry band of "tea party republicans" who could not take the package deal.

 Vice President Biden was quietly involved in debt ceiling negotiations at that time and observed and surely learned from that experience.

Reducing the stakes to two 80-year olds, is grossly out of whack and constitutes harsh bothsiderism. The Constitution provides for succession, if a vacancy occurs. Vice President Harris is a competent and worth successor, if God forbid, that should be necessary. And, illness and death are not the lone province of the young.

I have no problems at all either with Pres. Biden's age or mental acuity.

Also, I haven't seen any of those anonymous "several news reports" that you're not linking to and whose veracity is unverified.

"This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn't read in front of a church he doesn't attend, invoking laws he doesn't understand against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference, exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke after failing to protect us from an epidemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish inanity."

The threat posed by Trump and the MAGA-dominated GOP has clearly not waned in the wake of that sinister man's rather decisive defeat in the 2020 election. Regarding the tepid support thus far for President Biden, the Rolling Stones probably said it best:

"You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometime, you'll find
You get what you need."

With Trump chumming and the sharks circling, you don't just leap in to test the waters. Your wisest and sanest choice is to stay aboard ship. And for all our collective doubts about him prior to 2020, I freely admit that Joe Biden has proved to be a remarkably good and capable captain. Without any reservations on my part, I recommend we stick with him.

The exact amount is unclear, but if Crow paid all four years at the two schools, the cost would have exceeded $150,000.

Neither the Court nor Clarence responded to questions.  It is absurd, in and of itself that the potential offense is that Thomas did not report the "gift" rather than defining the "gift" as a bribe punishable by law.  An investigation appears warranted.  I

Four Proud Boys guilty of seditious conspiracy over US Capitol riot
Published
35 minutes ago

The average hourly rate was 4.4 percent, up from 4.2 percent.

However, the economy is facing disaster if the Republicans in Congress do not allow the debt ceiling to be raised so as to pay bills already incurred.

Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate in Economics and NYTimes columnist, urges the Biden Administration to do whatever it takes to get through this Republican ploy to undermine the economy of the country, and the world, other than giving in to their extortion.

Krugman says "Let's not make a deal" with these extremists. Rather, if necessary, (a) The president should declare that he must implement duly enacted legislation and a debt ceiling that prevents him from doing so, is unconstitutional, or (b) issue premium bonds, or (c) mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin, as permitted by law.

Eight Trump Electors in Georgia Have Accepted Immunity

May 5, 2023 at 5:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

"At least eight of the 16 Georgia Republicans who convened in December 2020 to declare Donald Trump the winner of the presidential contest despite his loss in the state have accepted immunity deals from Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating alleged election interference," the Washington Post reports.

"Prosecutors with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told the eight that they will not be charged with crimes if they testify truthfully in her sprawling investigation into efforts by Trump, his campaign and his allies to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia

He had the softest of sofball questions given to him the other day - what was the last country you visited?  He just spent three days in Irland last week.  It was billed as a homecoming, a very personal visit, which I'm sure it was.  To not recall it less than a week later!  As Biden would say "come on man".

Given his advanced age, Biden's decision to seek a second term is a huge roll of the dice.

According to several news reports, Biden is only running again because he doesn't believe Kamala Harris is prepared to serve as President. If these reports are true, this is an incredible indictment of uncle Joe.

Scientists Use GPT AI to Passively Read People's Thoughts in Breakthrough
An AI model similar to ChatGPT was combined with fMRI readings to non-invasively decode continuous language from subjects, a new study reports.

F lorida Would Allow Trans Kids to Be Taken From Families

May 4, 2023 at 3:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 133 Comments

"The Florida legislature passed a bill Thursday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care," the New Republic reports.

"The measure now goes to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has previously expressed support for it and will likely sign it into law

The theory takes aim at Section Four of the 14th Amendment which states the "validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

14th Amendment: Can Biden declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional? - USA Today

According to a report from Juliegrace Brufke writing for Axios, as the budget deadline approaches members of the moderate wing of the party worry they will be blamed if things fall apart because McCarthy let members of the Freedom Caucus call the shots and likely won't bend as negotiations heat up.

Add to that, the report states, members feel "blindsided" by some of the concessions McCarthy made after telling them there would be no additional changes