Biden's fantasy farewell speech
It's like the last two years in Gaza never happened.
It’s day 467 of Israel’s war on Gaza. Earlier this week, The Lancet reported that Palestinian casualties in Gaza have been underreported by nearly 40%, and the total number of people dead, mostly civilians, is around 70,000.
Palestinians are celebrating the announced ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The agreement provides for the swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Humanitarian workers say a significant increase in humanitarian aid, including as many as 600 trucks of food, tents, medical supplies, and fuel per day, is also expected to begin flowing into the devastated enclave on Sunday.
The Farewell Address
Biden’s speechwriters wrote him a beautiful, legacy-protecting, self-congratulatory farewell address filled with an extensive list of his personal accomplishments — some deserved, some not — including a current bustling war economy (Bidenomics) and the just-announced ceasefire in Gaza.
Who knows? — If this had been a campaign speech delivered months ago, it may have helped turn the failed campaign around and energized his now demoralized electoral base.
The speech left the party’s old guard joyful, relieved, and nostalgic, especially after handing over the keys to the White House to Trump and his crew of MAGA imperialist land grabbers, incompetents, and sexual predators.
I guess DNC leaders forgot for the moment how they had personally blamed Biden for their election loss and pilloried him for not dropping out of the race sooner.
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The farewell speech began with Biden taking personal credit for today’s announced ceasefire and hostage swap agreement in the continuing Israeli genocidal war on Gaza. But recall, it’s basically the same agreement Hamas accepted 6 months ago before additional tens of thousands more Palestinians, many of them children, were slaughtered. It’s a slaughter that is still going on, even as I’m writing this.
The problem was Biden and Blinken's failure to leverage American support to force Israel to accept the agreement after Hamas said they were willing to abide by its terms. There was no incentive for Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire until lame-duck Biden became a non-factor and Trump emerged as the main power broker.
Netanyahu has told his ministers that he has assurances from President-elect Donald Trump that fighting could resume if Hamas doesn’t fulfill its part of the agreement.
So, no matter how hard he tries, Biden is not going to come out as the hero in all this nor be able to shake his Genocide Joe legacy.
After watching how the bombing of Lebanon is continuing 10 days after the ceasefire agreement was signed there, you get an idea of how little these agreements mean to the Israeli regime and how easy it will be for them to find excuses in order to continue warring on Gaza and the West Bank.
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BIDEN’S FARWELL — After eight months of nonstop negotiation, my administration—by my administration—reached a cease-fire and a hostage deal with Israel and Hamas. I laid out the elements of this plan in great detail in May of this year. My team developed and negotiated this plan, which will be largely implemented by the incoming administration.
As the ink was still drying on the new agreement, Biden and Trump were each boasting and claiming credit for it, even while the IDF was still firebombing hundreds of civilians across the Gaza Strip.
TRUMP — “This EPIC ceasefire could only happen because of our Historic Victory in November. It showed the world my Administration will seek peace and ensure the safety of Americans and our Allies.”
Then came the news this morning that Netanyahu had, at least temporarily, blown up the agreement. Who could have predicted that? Then, the Israeli cabinet delayed a vote on the ceasefire proposal while it continued to pound Gaza. At least 81 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Ben-Gvir has announced he will resign from Netanyahu’s government if it ratifies the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Finally, this evening, it was announced that the Israeli government had approved the agreement. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
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Biden discovers the Oligarchy
Biden’s writers, remembering the lasting impact of President Eisenhower’s warning about the “military-industrial complex,” gave him a memorable warning of his own to deliver: Beware the hi-tech oligarchs.
Six days — six decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well.
Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.
My first reaction was, "Great! Where the hell has that been these past four years and longer?" But then I recalled this WaPo piece I reposted back in 2016. Yes, many of these same tech billionaires, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates, have been underwriting Democrats as well as Republicans for years. It’s what autocrats do.
