President Biden vowed Tuesday to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed into the water when a cargo ship rammed into it, echoing what some Maryland officials said earlier but adding that he expects the federal government to foot the bill.

“It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “This is going to take some time, but the people of Baltimore can count on us though to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopen and the bridge is rebuilt.”

He said he spoke with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday morning, as well as Maryland officials including its congressional delegation and two U.S. senators. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to the Baltimore site.

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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    8 months ago

    It will surprise no one to know that 2/3rds of this is total factual bullshit (edit: grossly misleading). I touched elsewhere on some of the big substantive things like wage inequality or emissions reductions that have improved dramatically under his presidency, but the homelessness I don’t think had been brought up. So:

    • Homelessness has been going down steadily, and we’re nowhere near the 647,000 people record set around 2007. There was, recently, a big jump up between 2018 and 2020. I guess Biden really fucked up letting it get away from him during that time before we leveled off the growth again just recently? (Edit: This is 100% wrong – homelessness did in fact spike to record levels in 2023 after the end of that chart, when Covid aid ran out)
    • 2023 was, as far as I know, the biggest year for strikes in history. If Biden’s a strike breaker he’s doing a real shitty job at it. He did break the rail strike which would have done some amount of damage to the wider economy (you know, the inflation that some people like to blame Biden for?), but after that happened his labor department kept working the issue with the railroads and got the workers the sick days they were striking for in the first place.

    Record oil production is accurate. I would balance that against the war in Ukraine, record inflation, his positive action on the emissions side which is the biggest single action a US president has ever taken on the climate… but yes there’s some amount of actual nuance and judgement there. The other two bullet points are respectively purely made up and grossly unfair, though.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      homelessness did in fact spike to record levels in 2023 after the end of that chart when Covid aid ran out

      Hmm, surely the fact that the House went to the fascists who stopped funding COVID aid programs because they literally don’t believe it exists had no effect on the homeless population, right?

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        8 months ago

        Oh, yeah, I definitely 100% agree that it wasn’t Biden’s fault, for that among a couple of different reasons. But that’s a separate topic from, did it even happen in the first place.

        • Billiam@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t saying you did. But there’s plenty of people who would say that’s Biden’s fault, when the problem (as was predicted at the time) was caused by Republicans in Congress. Just like how ending COVID stimulus programs threw millions of children back into poverty.

    • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      What is this - balanced, referenced comment with sources and corrections when new info came to light???

      Don’t care about that other crap - Biden should get on to supporting this.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        8 months ago

        Oh shit – yeah, you’re 100% right on homelessness, I hadn’t seen that. Mostly I look at sources that haven’t been updated for 2023 yet. But yeah that’s 100% accurate, I edited my comment.

        So your railroad story is from December 2022 – i.e. right after the strike broke, but before there had been time for the labor department to secure sick days for the workers, including at the exact union that guy’s a member of.

        Here’s another story about it.

        Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, said: “It’s a significant set of quiet victories. It shows that it really makes a difference to have a pro-labor president.”

        Here’s another from early on, and then here’s the update from June when 60% of workers had their sick leave.

        Is that enough? Not really. I agree with Tormey’s anger about how he’s being treated, especially in December 2022 when the wounds would still have been fresh, and I’m sure on the whole balance he’s still getting fucked. It’s a goddamned shame. My point was more that Biden had the chance to break strikes on behalf of around 450,000 striking workers in 2023, and he didn’t. Why do you think he didn’t break any of those strikes?

        • Nudding@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I’m not doing any more homework for you, when your bad faith attempts at propaganda are that lazy.

          Not clicking any more of your links and shit either dude. Have a nice day.

          • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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            Ah yes, the famous propagandist’s trick of saying “Oh hey you’re right, let me edit my comment to reflect the new reality I just learned about.” I see them do it all the time, it’s a hallmark.

            Quitting while you’re ahead for the moment, instead of being willing to delve into any of the other issues surrounding the claims you were making, does seem pretty wise though. I’d probably do the same in your position. Have a good one.

            • Nudding@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Sorry I generally don’t read you’re replies, lol. I’m sure you can guess why.

              Buh bye now.

              • stanleytweedle@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                From what I’ve seen I’m guessing it’s because you only half understand the saying “it’s better to close your mouth and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt”.

              • Captainvaqina
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                8 months ago

                You’re absolutely pathetic. We’re all laughing at your bullshit.

          • Psychodelic@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Are you intentionally framing your thoughts and opinions in the most insufferable way possible? If so, why?

            It’s like you could’ve made a decent point but then tried really hard to make it as disrespectfully as possible

            • Nudding@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              You think I’m here to entertain you or something? If my points are good, take them. If not, fuck off.

              • Psychodelic@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                That’s the thing, we can’t tell if they’re good or not because of your poor communication skills and shitty attitude.

                It’s clearly a skill issue. lol

                • Nudding@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Me: genocide is bad

                  You: I can’t tell what this guy is trying to communicate. What a shitty attitude. Lol

            • Nudding@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Every time I interact with them it’s a wall of text and links and it’s all fluffy propaganda bullshit.

              Sorry, but I’m just not into it.

                • Nudding@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  So… You just want to insult me or do you want to talk about Biden’s record oil production or should I just report and move on?

              • yarr@feddit.nl
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                8 months ago

                Every time I interact with them it’s a wall of text and links

                Some call this supporting evidence and nuance. Complex issues don’t always fit into catchy little zingers and glib sound-bites, as much as Fox News would like you to believe. One should not object to the length of a given piece of text, rather one should object to the contents. If you think what he said is a pile of crap, let’s hear why.

                  • yarr@feddit.nl
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                    8 months ago

                    If it’s so plainly bullshit, you should have no trouble refuting it. Just asserting “it’s bullshit” doesn’t leave the readers any smarter.

          • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            You can just say, “I don’t have any valid points to make, sorry bye” instead of this absolutely pathetic comment. Talk about bad faith…