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A litmus test for Biden

Posted: February 20, 2024 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

Deep within the bowels of The New York Times website is a blueprint of why Joe Biden is in trouble.

It took me a long time to track the analysis down because it got virtually no play on the Times’ opening web page. Maybe that’s because it shows how badly Biden is doing in the eyes of voters throughout the country.

The Times Opinion focus group included 13 undecided, independent voters. “To a striking degree, most of the participants tilted toward Mr. Trump, even though they disliked his personality,” the analysis offered.

“Almost all the voters (who range in age from 22 to 64) were most worried about the economy and how their groceries and other bills were too costly. Some were also deeply troubled by the crisis at the southern border, and some were concerned about the Israel-Gaza war and disliked U.S. aid to other countries,” the report continued.

When asked to describe Biden, the participants seemed particularly worried about his age and competence, using words like “senile” and “unfit.”

“I keep hearing the government say that things are getting better. I’d like to know who they’re asking, because I don’t see the economy getting better. I see us spending more money in our households, in the government. Here in New Hampshire, it’s never been this bad, ever,” said Robin, a 59-year-old retiree from New Hampshire. “They’re spending billions and billions of dollars on stuff that I don’t understand. Where is that going?”

Natalie, a 22-year-old college student in New Jersey, agreed. “I wanted to get my master’s, but it’s like I’m never going to be able to afford it. Where is the government’s money going? It should be going toward stuff like education. I’m never going to see loan forgiveness. I just see myself in debt forever.”

Twelve of the 13 participants said they viewed the economy as the most important issue in the election, while one chose the crisis in Israel and Gaza.

But the focus group also underlined some fundamental issues that Biden faces, particularly among ethnic groups that traditionally support Democrats.

For example, Yalena, a 22-year-old stay-at-home mom in Alabama, described Biden as “disingenuous.” Yalena, a Latina, added: ”I don’t feel like I’m being told the truth. I don’t feel like I’m being told anything upfront. I was just so disappointed — with the ounce of hope I had left — when we just started pouring money into the Israel conflict.”

Although Henry, a 60-year-old black consultant from Georgia, said he plans to vote for Biden, the president is “not inspiring at all.”

Gary, a 64-year-old driving instructor in Michigan, said he plans to vote for Trump but had some advice for the former president: “Stay off Twitter.”

Although the general election is months off, I hope DaTimes continues taling to this set of people who seem to have a better grasp of the state of the country than all of the pundits and talking heads combined.

A small percentage of Leftists, which includes Progressives, Socialists, Communists, and Fascists, see themselves as elite shepherds to the remainder of the population. These self appointed masters of the universe believe they have the right to rule over the masses who they believe to be unwashed and brainless.  These privileged leftists believe they are Pavlov and the common folk are the dog.

It is obvious that the Democratic Party is infested with this class of elitist Marxists   The paternalistic nature of the laws and edicts crammed down the throats of Americans by Democrats is a dead giveaway. 

Democrats found that most Americans were more resistant to outright rule by leftist masters than those that had never lived in the land of the free.  The Democrats learned they had to be more subtle in their attempts to impose their rule on Americans.  Bludgeoning Americans into submission did not work.  They found that nudging us in the direction they chose for us was more effective.  Barack Obama implemented the philosophy of nudge on the federal level.  He used the federal bureaucracy to infect the rest of the nation with this vile crap. When Trump took office this nudge nonsense faded into the background.  When I saw this article, The Obama ‘Nudge Unit’ Rides Again – American Thinker, I knew that we would soon be up to our eyeballs in this Marxist crap again.

The American Thinker article was good, however, I found that the original source material cited in the article was far more informative.  I used those sources as the backbone of the rest of this article. 

As you can see from this official White House document, 09-2022-Policy-Development-in-the-Social-and-Behavioral-Sciences-Subcommittee.pdf (whitehouse.gov), the Biden Regime is using nudge to force woke crap down our throats with subtlety.

The Biden-Harris Administration formally rechartered the Social and Behavioral Sciences Subcommittee (SBS) of the Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council in April 2022. The SBS coordinates policy action to address pressing social issues and Biden-Harris Administration priorities using the tools and insights of the social and behavioral sciences.

The social and behavioral sciences offer unique tools for describing, understanding, and addressing societal challenges, and assessing and evaluating initiatives, programs, and policies. As described in its Charter, the SBS leverages these tools to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s agenda, to carry out short-term, high-priority tasks, and to lay the groundwork for longer-term coordination of agency efforts related to the social and behavioral sciences. The first short-term task of the SBS is to deliver a whole-of-government framework or “blueprint” for the use of social and behavioral science research to advance evidence-based policymaking by April 30, 2023.

The SBS is co-chaired by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health, and comprises membership from a diverse range of Agencies, Departments, and Executive Offices. It provides a forum for collaborative, interagency work towards advancing equity through the activation of social and behavioral science evidence

This article, Obama’s effort to ‘nudge’ America (politico.com), contains a wealth of background information from the Obama era. It was not surprising to me that the author of this Politico article practically purred with delight as he describes this Marxist brainwashing because of how far to the left Politico leans.

For the past year, the Obama administration has been running an experiment: Is it possible to make policy more effective by using psychology on citizens?

The nickname is “nudging”—the idea that policymakers can change people’s behavior just by presenting choices or information differently. The classic example is requiring people to opt out of being an organ donor, instead of opting in, when they sign up for a driver’s license. Without any change in rules, the small tweak has boosted the number of registered organ donors in many states.

Nudging has gained a lot of high-profile advocates, including behavioral-law guru Cass Sunstein and former budget czar Peter Orszag. Not everyone likes the idea—“the behaviorists are saying that you, consumer, are stupid,” said Bill Shughart, a professor of public choice at Utah State University—but President Obama was intrigued enough that he actually hired Sunstein, a law professor at Harvard who co-wrote the best-known book about the topic, “Nudge.”

The president officially adopted the idea last year when he launched the White House’s Social and Behavioral Science Team (SBST), a cross-agency effort to bring behavioral science research into the policymaking process

OK, but is this really nudging?

The team’s projects were definitely a form of prodding—giving people little pokes to improve their behavior in some way. But the more muscular form of “nudge” involves what experts call changing the “choice architecture”—automatically enrolling employees in an optional 401(k), for instance, or making organ donors opt out.

This article contains a great definition: The Best—and Worst—Nudges, According to CHIBE Affiliates    – Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) (upenn.edu)

A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid. Nudges are not mandates. Putting fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not.”

This Nudge business is absolutely repugnant to the text and spirit of the Constitution. It reeks of collectivism whereas the Constitution was written to protect the liberty of each and every individual living in the United States.

This week pitchers and catchers are reporting for Spring Training which was a big deal for most of my lifetime here in New England. The Redsox however have fallen so far in the last five years that nobody seems to have noticed.

While I disagree with the assertion that giving away the store for a pitcher last season would have helped it seems impossible that the only move the Redsox have made was to fail to re-sign Turner who was a spark plug last season and wanted to stay.

It seems winning four World Series in 20 years has taken all the oomph out of the fans.


Yesterday the Celtics blew out the Nets by 50 points.

By the early third quarter the C’s were up by 30+ but they kept their starters in for a good chunk of the 3rd.

I can’t see it myself, if you’re up by 30 or more the bench should be on the floor. Every minute of playing time you give that bench makes it more likely that such players can step up if the painful necessity arises, but more importantly given the length of the season every minute you can rest the starters now will pay off when it counts in the playoffs.

On the plus side if the biggest thing you have to complain about is how you manage a 30 point lead you’re doing pretty good.


The Boston Bruins sit on top of their division with the best record in the east and the 2nd best record in the league a year after their record setting regular season year with two key players retired.

The real strength is the goaltending. Only one team has allowed fewer goals this season and only one other has a better goal differential.

I’ve seen them remain in games where they were outshot as much as 3-4 to 1 simply because the goaltending has been outstanding.

Anyone who thinks it would have been a good idea to trade one of them is out of their mind.


With the firing of Bill Belichick and the start of the new era in New England the Patriots are starting at the bottom.

It doesn’t seem to be a destination choice for coaches and it certainly isn’t one of choice for players. People were willing to come here to play with Brady and some were willing to come to be coached by Belichick who was considered the best, but now it’s the Chiefs who have that kind of star power where people will go there to play for Reid or play with Mahomes.

I don’t know how or if the new regime will do but if they manage to achieve anything at all it will be because they earned it.


Finally in pretend sports the draft for our 1972 league (and perhaps our 1997 league) is March 2nd.

We still have spots open if anyone is interested.

I have multiple first round picks and two picks in the 3rd, 5th and 6th so if I fall apart it’s all my fault.

By Christopher Harper

I’ve found an antidote to the swirling morass of bad news and vibes in current affairs. I’ve started reading a variety of books—both fiction and fact—about even worse times in history.

Author Bernard Cornwell provides an incredible array of terrible tales.

I just finished a quartet of books, The Grail Quest, which follows the trials and tribulations of an English archer, Thomas of Hookton, during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in the 14th Century. In the books, the English are ravaging and raping their way through Frances, including some of the bloodiest battles I have ever read. Two of his women die, and another is blinded. He’s excommunicated from the church as a heretic, and his village has been destroyed.

At the time, the Catholic Church was corrupt and split between Avignon, France, and Rome. The plague has killed one-third of the European population. Much of the population lives under corrupt counts and lords.

In the books, Thomas, the bastard son of an English priest, becomes entangled in the search for the grail, the cup used at the Last Supper. He runs into cardinals and kings who are trying to find the grail. Eventually, he locates the grail and tosses it into the sea because of all the evil it has wrought.

If you think times are tough now, you wouldn’t survived England or France in the 1300s!

Another book, The Wager by David Grann, puts today’s troubles into perspective. The nonfiction book isn’t about a bet but an English ship called by the name.

The ship left England in 1740 on a secret mission to capture a Spanish ship during a war between the two countries. En route, The Wager was wrecked on a remote island off the coast of South America. There, roughly 100 men divide themselves into three groups: those who follow the captain, those who follow the first mate, and those who follow neither. Many sailors die from starvation or extreme weather. 

Amazingly, each of the three groups sees some of the followers make it back to civilization, where some are considered mutineers, and the captain is a murderer for shooting one of them without due process. 

As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the government convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life and death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang. 

The final rulings reflect the desire of nearly all governments to put some sort of spin on what events happened and what they mean. 

Happy escape to historical reality!