President Biden will not take a cognitive test as part of his upcoming physical exam, the White House confirmed Monday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, does not believe a cognitive test is necessary.
  • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
    23·
    9 months ago

    This title is a bit misleading: it implies that the whitehouse is deciding on not going through with a cognitive test rather than the fact that a cognitive test isn’t expected for the physical exam, unless the doctor is worried and recommends one. The doctor hasn’t recommended one in this case.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1912·
    9 months ago

    Democrats have to protect their genocide at all costs. Even if it’s forcing you to deny obvious reality in a way that’s somehow more egregious than Baghdad Bob. This is just pathetic, even for Blue MAGA.

    edit: Fuck yeah, two threads for comparison:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/7p1z8x/wh_trumps_physical_wont_include_psychiatric/ 8,494 points (96% upvoted)

    https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1apflhk/bidens_upcoming_physical_exam_will_not_include_a/ 0 points (15% upvoted)

  • Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    53·
    9 months ago

    Libs made fun of Trump for saying if you stop testing covid numbers will go down then use the exact same strategy to prove Biden isn’t completely over the hill.

  • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    97·
    9 months ago

    Glad to hear the country isn’t wasting resources putting Biden through a test everyone knows he’ll fail anyway

  • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
    23·
    9 months ago

    You guys aren’t wrong, definitely a genocide. I’m balancing foreign genocide vs potential domestic civil war and/or successful authoritarian coup, both of which seem like a remarkably high probability by my estimation. We’ve got the groundwork in place. The redcaps are ready to rise up and have been for a while now, they just need marching orders and a coherent mass.

    I wish to christ this wasn’t the equation I was balancing. But it is. I’m voting for not-gop, which happens to take the form of fucking dARK bRANDON.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
              12·
              9 months ago

              Easy. I already said it’s fair if you don’t want to answer the question.

              I’m just skeptical of people who say they believe Trump is a fascist threat and their response is to vote. If we’re on the verge of a takeover we can’t just wait until November to do something about it.

              • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
                21·
                9 months ago

                My official, considered response is definitely “Voting is the legally prescribed method for correction.” Why did they include the second amendment if it’s not legal to use? 🤷‍♀️

                Your skepticism is valuable and appropriate. Violating opsec is not.

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
                  8·
                  9 months ago

                  Well there’s the three boxes theory: ballot box, soap box, ammo box.

                  I think we have to use our voices to pressure Biden by any means necessary, and this is the other legally prescribed method. As long as his campaign is certain that you will vote for him no matter what he does, he will take advantage of you. You’re silencing yourself.

              • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
                1·
                9 months ago

                I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

                Edit: It occurs to me that you might just be young enough for it not to be common knowledge that the NSA is spying on everything you do, and not merely gullible. They have tapped your phone and are listening in. They are monitoring your internet activity. They are recording all of it and are becoming increasingly sophisticated at analyzing the data in enormous quantities.

                • pan_troglodytes@programming.devEnglish
                  1·
                  9 months ago

                  I actually saw a bridge for sale on a website recently - 160 foot steel truss bridge for use in the logging industry - $0.50/foot.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPM
      145·
      9 months ago

      Thing is that Biden has been in office for over three years, and all the trends leading towards the outcomes you’ve noted have only gotten worse in that time.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPM
          114·
          9 months ago

          Same solution as people faced under every oppressive regime. Organize, educate, and build a worker movement. You can start reading about how worker movements were organized in US back in 1930s that lead to the New Deal.

          • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            Sure, and I’m amazed to see the recent resurgence in successful union organization. I was told about company towns in high school, but what they didn’t teach me in high school is how those company towns were defeated. You’re right, I love that alternative. Now how do I wake up my friends and neighbors? I’ve been woken up to the dangers here. They haven’t, and when I attempt, they resist like I’m asking them to put on the glasses.

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPM
              74·
              9 months ago

              Not everybody is going to be receptive, especially if they’re not experiencing the problems you’re concerned with themselves. The best strategy is to focus on people who are already starting to question things and to help them develop a better understanding of what’s happening and what effective actions they can take. Ultimately, every movement starts with a few people and then grows as the ideas spread. It’s very likely there are orgs around you that you could participate with. So, that’s certainly something to consider.

              • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
                11·
                9 months ago

                How best can I identify these people? I’ve made it clear I don’t trust the internet or “apps” or whatever. Nobody seems to want to communicate or meet up face-to-face or via any other trustworthy medium for a huge variety of reasons, most predominantly simple inconvenience, which is… disheartening. I’ve tried organizing directly in my workplaces before. I’ve been “unofficially warned” several times and outright fired twice. I’ve gone to city council meetings which were remarkably similar to parks and rec’s representation without the comic relief. I’ve tried speaking directly with my neighbors as tenants, who are usually totally disinterested because, like you stated, they aren’t experiencing the same problems, or, because of political affiliation, are actively hostile to the proposal. The one guy I spoke to that was actually interested in principle said that the legal protections afforded to tenant organizations in my state were so poor that it positively allows retaliation, and that he didn’t feel safe organizing under those conditions, which I can’t blame him for. Organizing with the democrats is… Well, I don’t organize with the democrats, despite my nose-holding at the polling station.

                So how do I identify these people? Where are they? I’m genuinely terrified of approaching the “wrong” person. I’m also apprehensive about being a leader, which I fear is actually called for in this situation since I don’t see anyone else stepping up to take a swing around here.

                • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPM
                  74·
                  9 months ago

                  The question you’re asking is probably the most important question that needs to be asked right now. How to organize and how to find like minded people is something that’s the first step towards any real change.

                  I can’t help you with the specifics since I have no idea what the situation is like in your area. In my city there are a number of socialist orgs, and they meet face to face. I definitely think any actual serious organizing needs to happen offline, and if people can’t be bothered to make even the effort to meet in person it’s safe to say they’re not really serious about effecting any actual change. Perhaps look if there are organizations that meet up to do mutual aid, help homeless people, and so on. There must be shelters where people volunteer at to help. Getting involved and talking with people like that would be a good start.

                  If there really is nothing around you and you genuinely feel motivated enough to organize people then stepping up might be the thing to do. To do that you have to first figure out what your politics actually are. How you think things should work, how they work now, why the problems you see exist, and how you think they should be solved. It’s also worth thinking about why current movements in US are failing and what you think needs to be done differently to succeed. The reality is that there are millions of people just like yourself who are in the same situation as you. And as long as people stay atomized and isolated, then they stay powerless.

                  Unfortunately, there’s no recipe that you can follow here, and there’s no guarantee of success. This is a process of trying things, evaluating the results, and iterating on what you’re doing. Good news is that there are lots of examples of successful worker movements around the world that can be learned from. There are no easy answers here, but the only way that’s guaranteed to fail is to do nothing but vote every 4 years.

        • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
          23·
          9 months ago

          They’re either not going to respond, or provide a solution which helps Trump (“vote third party”, “Don’t vote!”).

          The 2 party system of the US is what’s causing this issue. If there was a way for multiple parties to exist in the US, Biden would have to worry about a non Trump candidate who would advocate for all the similar things as him, while also agreeing that what Israel is doing is genocide.

          The reality is: either vote Biden to push for a Democratic president who is slowly moving towards criticizing Israel, or vote for Trump to push a Republican president who would probably be completely fine with Israel’s genocide so long as Netanyahu say’s he’s a nice guy.

          Palestinians pushing to oust Biden are either knowingly or unknowingly pushing to have continued genocide under the leadership of a republican president.

          Regardless, I feel for the Palestinian people’s frustrations. The US is providing support for genocide, even if the Biden administration and congress are slowly beginning to criticize Israel.

          • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            or vote for Trump to push a Republican president who would probably be completely fine with Israel’s genocide so long as Netanyahu say’s he’s a nice guy.

            • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
              11·
              9 months ago

              I guess you’re trying to insult me. Feel free to correct me. Otherwise your lack of a real response just proves me right.

              • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPM
                43·
                9 months ago

                The reality is that it doesn’t matter how many parties you have. What matters is whose interests these parties represent, which is governed by who has actual political leverage. In pretty much every western society, large capitalists are the ones who control the political system. These are the people who own the media, pay for political campaigns, lobbying, and other forms of political influence. The working majority has little leverage within a system where money plays such a disproportionate role. The political system is built by the class that holds power in society and it’s built to function in the interest of this class.

                • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
                  11·
                  9 months ago

                  I’ll agree that the wealthy have more control and influence than the average person. That said, multiple parties at least makes it more expensive and difficult to influence politicians. As it is now, you only have to contribute to 1 of 2 parties in order to push your agenda. If there were 3 or 6, you’d need to push several in order to gain the same amount of control.

    • pudcollar [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      71·
      9 months ago

      they just need marching orders and a coherent mass

      They’re not going to be permitted to be organized in any meaningful way. All they’re gonna do is stochastic terrorism and isolated hate crimes. What are they gonna do, institute fascism? We’re already there. That’s why they were handled with kid gloves in the Capitol building, it’s theirs already. Corporations already run both capitalist parties and they’ll manipulate the masses to preserve the status quo. Who would a civil war be between? Who would be permitted by our corporate overlords to organize such a thing? What would their goals be? The real threat of fascism is once we hit the next depression and mass discontent needs to be smothered with totalitarian nationalism.

      • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        I mostly agree with you. But this idea of “permission” doesn’t grok. They don’t need legal/corporate permission if they’re being not-so-secretly empowered by the fascist mechanisms you have already alluded to. They don’t need law if their organization is more powerful than (or actively colluding with) the enforcers of that law. If your alternative is overthrowing capitalism, is it such a stretch of the imagination that their solution is overthrowing democracy?

        I don’t know where the battle lines would be drawn. I’ve heard people make good-sounding arguments for urban vs rural, but I think the states supporting texas’ border… policy… demonstrate an alarming willingness to defy federal authority. Further, the fact Brandon hasn’t yet recalled them is powerfully suggestive, in my opinion, that he doesn’t actually have de facto command of these units, despite his supposed authority as commander in chief. Further still, this article was incredibly chilling for me to read. We have acted on precisely none of these excellent suggestions since they were made three years ago. I don’t hold out hopeful prospects of a peaceful solution here. The most likely avenue for peace qua peace in my opinion, is probably through a bloodless authoritarian coup. It would be a mistake to allow such an event to take place.

          • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyzEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            This isn’t hexbear, it’s fediverse. I’m on mander, you’re on hexbear (which I wouldn’t deign to visit and only extend grudging tolerance to users thereof on good behavior), the post is on lemmy.ml. You betray your ignorance about more than just federated networking here.

            Anyway, if democracy is overthrown then what does it fucking matter who I vote for?

            • WashedAnus [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
              5·
              9 months ago

              https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

              Unless you’re wealthy, it doesn’t matter who you vote for. Your interests are not represented, and will not be represented. This isn’t accidental, this is the system working as intended (See: Federalist 10). The US constitution was created by wealthy white men to enshrine the minority power of wealthy white men as the law of the land.

              The good news is that political activity is not just limited to voting! Voting in federal elections is mostly a waste of time, as the differences between candidates and major parties is largely just rhetorical. If you must vote, concentrate on local elections, where you might be able to fend off the interests of the powerful landlord and corporate lobbies. But, there’s much more you can do! It just requires you to put in effort personally. Political organizing largely can’t be done at a keyboard. You need to talk to and form relationships with your coworkers and neighbors. Organize a union at work, a tenants’ union among your neighbors, undertake the task of actually educating yourself politically, feed the unhoused and treat them like human beings. Engage in direct action against the power elite who are killing us and our planet.

              Regardless of what task you set yourself to, it requires you to logout, touch-grass, and engage with other human beings.

    • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      94·
      9 months ago

      You guys aren’t wrong, definitely a genocide. I’m balancing foreign genocide vs potential domestic civil war and/or successful authoritarian coup, both of which seem like a remarkably high probability by my estimation. We’ve got the groundwork in place. The redcaps are ready to rise up and have been for a while now, they just need marching orders and a coherent mass.

      I wish to christ this wasn’t the equation I was balancing. But it is. I’m voting for not-gop, which happens to take the form of fucking daRk BraNdOn.

      lol.

      edit: Also question from the back. Why are you voting for a genocide for the sanctity of your right to vote for the person committing a genocide? Is it to make yourself sound like Christ sacrificing yourself for the sanctity of democratic norms which have resulted in the 99% Hitler you’re voting for committing genocide?