Biden delivers again.

February 22, 2024

Hello, friends and readers!

My Managing Editor and I continued our trip down the Mississippi today, driving from Minneapolis to Dubuque. The Mississippi River and environs are awe-inspiring! I have included a photo (below) taken from one of many “scenic overlooks” along the Great River Road.

President Biden continues to advance the interests of the American people by delivering on promises made in 2020, while the ramifications of the Alabama in vitro decision continued to cause chaos across America. The full extent of the MAGA plan to convert America into a theocracy run by religious fundamentalists came into view. Any American who doubts the threat posed by their plan isn’t paying attention! At root, their plan is grounded in denying women agency over their bodies and reproductive choices.

There is more, so I will dispense with the throat-clearing and dive into the news!

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Joe Biden announces a new round of student loan forgiveness!

During his 2020 campaign, Joe Biden promised to forgive the educational debt of tens of millions of Americans. Biden issued an executive order that would have forgiven up to $20,000 in debt for tens of millions of Americans (for total forgiveness of $430 billion). Republicans objected to the loan forgiveness and the Supreme Court ultimately struck down Biden’s executive order (in June 2023).

Undeterred, Biden proceeded to forgive smaller tranches of debt using specifically enumerated exceptions created by Congress. On Wednesday, President Biden announced the cancelation of the loans of 153,000 borrowers in the total amount of $1.2 billion. The latest action brings the total amount of student loans forgiven by the Biden administration to $138 billion—about a third of the original amount proposed by Biden. See White House Fact Sheet, President Biden Cancels Student Debt for more than 150,000 Student Loan Borrowers Ahead of Schedule.

Per the Fact Sheet,

The Biden-Harris Administration has now approved nearly $138 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 3.9 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions. The borrowers receiving relief are the first to benefit from a SAVE plan policy that provides debt forgiveness to borrowers who have been in repayment after as little as 10 years and took out $12,000 or less in student loans.

President Biden vowed to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class – not a barrier to opportunity. Already, the President has cancelled more student debt than any President in history – delivering lifechanging relief to students and families – and has created the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever: the SAVE plan.

It is important that we amplify the good news of Biden’s forgiveness of $138 billion in student loans—a third of the original but a substantial amount, nonetheless. Biden’s actions have provided relief for 3.9 million Americans. And yet, many mistakenly believe that Biden failed to deliver on his promises—when he is doing everything possible to keep that promise despite Republican obstructionism.

And here I want to insert a brief story of how readers objecting to coverage in the NYTimes may be helping to shape the narrative to be more favorable for Joe Biden.

When I first received a news alert from the NYTimes about Biden’s loan forgiveness on Wednesday, the story had the title, “A Beleaguered Biden Chips Away at Student Loan Debt, Bit by Bit.” When I went to get a free link to include in this newsletter, the headline had changed to “Biden Chips Away at Student Loan Debt, Bit by Bit, Amid High Expectations.” (Accessible to all.)

The substance of the article is the same, but one headline suggests that Biden is “beleaguered,” while another suggests he is working diligently to deliver on his promises.

But, as the Times article notes, many borrowers are confused as to why they are not included in the nearly 4 million Americans whose debt has been forgiven. It is our job to help spread the word that Biden is, in fact, chipping away bit by bit against an obstructionist Congress and Supreme Court.

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The Alabama Supreme Court decision regarding frozen embryos continues to cause chaos, confusion, and fear.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that a frozen embryo held in storage outside the human body is a “human child” for purposes of a wrongful death statute. Although the opinion deals with a civil lawsuit (not a criminal prosecution), the reasoning could be applied to murder prosecutions by the Alabama Supreme Court. The possibility of civil liability for wrongful death or criminal liability for murder arising out of in vitro fertilization procedures caused the largest IVF facility in Alabama to cease the fertility procedures. See CNN, Days after Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children, one facility pauses IVF treatment.

There are reasons to believe that the rationale in Burdick-Aysenne v. Center for Reproductive Medicine will not be applied to the criminal context, as explained by Ian Millhiser in Vox, The Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF opinion saying embryos are children, explained. Millhiser’s explication of the legal reasoning in Burdick is superb; if you want to dig deep into the legal history and context, Millhiser’s article is the place to start.

Millhiser explains that “Alabama’s criminal homicide law applies only to “an unborn child in utero.” Frozen embryos stored in cryogenic freezers are not “in utero.” Therefore, any reasonable observer would conclude that the handling of frozen embryos stored in cryogenic containers are not “human children in utero.”

The problem is that at least one member of the Alabama Supreme Court invoked religious dogma in setting forth his rationale for joining the majority opinion. Chief Justice Parker wrote a concurring opinion that included the following:

Man's creation in God's image is the basis of the general prohibition on the intentional taking of human life. See Genesis 9:6.

[T]the doctrine of the sanctity of life is rooted in the Sixth Commandment: "You shall not murder." Exodus 20:13

Aquinas taught that "it is in no way lawful to slay the innocent" because "we ought to love the nature which God has made, and which is destroyed by slaying him."

Calvin explained the reason for the Sixth Commandment this way: "Man is both the image of God and our flesh. Wherefore, if we would not violate the image of God, we must hold the person of man sacred."

In summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the People of Alabama encompasses the following: (1) God made every person in His image; (2) each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate; and (3) human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.

[Alabama law] recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life -- that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.

But the fact that at least one member of the Alabama Supreme Court (the Chief Justice) believes that religious dogma and faith can and should supersede civil law, no reasonable person in Alabama should take comfort in the notion that the criminal laws apply only to “an unborn child in utero.”  

Caution is especially warranted given that Chief Justice Parker recently appeared on the podcast of a QAnon conspiracy theorist and endorsed the so-called “Seven Mountains Mandate a theological approach that calls on Christians to impose fundamentalist values on all aspects of American life.” See Media Matters, Alabama Supreme Court chief justice spreads Christian nationalist rhetoric on QAnon conspiracy theorist's show.

In short, resorting to legal reasoning and precedent may provide little comfort when the Alabama Chief Justice looks not at the state law and constitution but to the Bible and the commentary of Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin when deciding a civil action for damages caused by the destruction of cryogenically frozen embryos.

Alabama’s Supreme Court has inflicted cruelty and anxiety on thousands of couples trying to conceive and tens of thousands of medical professionals assisting them. Joyce Vance lives in Alabama. She posted the following on Wednesday:

Just contemplating my life in a state where frozen embryos have more rights than I do . . . .

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A few quick citations (for independent study)

I have run out of time (and have limited bandwidth at our hotel), so I am cutting the newsletter short here. But please check out these articles as well:

Putin threatens Navalny’s widow: Russia Issues Chilling Warnings to Navalny’s Widow - CEPA.

Josh Marshall post on Twitter: Think tank charged with staffing out new Trump admin says key goal is "ending recreational sex" and "returning the danger to sex".  What a platform to run on!

Pop quiz: How would you have written this headline? Politico: Poll: Nearly 70 percent of voters say Biden is too old to serve again. Relevant fact: The article was about a Quinnipiac poll “conducted from Feb. 15 to Feb. 19, found that 49 percent of registered voters support Biden and 45 percent back Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup.”

Possible trade for better judge in Trump's defense secrets trial: Aileen Cannon might get kicked off the Trump classified docs case. (slate.com) by Norman L. Eisen and Joshua Kolb.

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Concluding Thoughts.

One reason my wife and I are on our road trip down the Mississippi River is that we wanted to connect with readers who are fighting to preserve democracy in red states. I hear from such readers every week. They feel isolated and forgotten but continue the battle nonetheless.

We drove more than 200 miles today through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. We saw only one political flag. It said, “Trump 2024: The Revenge Tour.” One flag, 200-plus miles, and it was enough to make us mad. That’s the point of political terrorism—to create anxiety, anger, and panic far beyond the petty acts of attention-starved bullies.

So, here’s my thought: If you can, let others know that you support Biden-Harris. No threats. No ugliness. No political terrorism. Just a fact. I realize that may not be possible in red states or some parts of purple or blue states. But a small act of support showing pride in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can go a long way to diluting the ugliness of Trump's sloganeering.

Talk to you tomorrow!

The Mississippi River from Wisconsin, looking Southwest, 2/21/24.