President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I held at least some belief in polling and pollsters until sometime around 2015.

Now, I know that they really mean nothing here. I might look at fivethirtyeight now and then and like it when I see Biden in the lead, but I'll always know the margin for error is huge.

 

One of my favorite time-killers while stuck in a boring online meeting is to roam around Google Maps. The NYC environs is always a good place. For example, I just looked up the bridge and damn if you're not spot-on with that description.

Google Maps

 

I’m certainly in favor of congestion pricing. I assume this is to avoid the issue before the election for suburban Long Island and Westchester democrats looking to keep or win back congressional seats.

Hopefully it’ll happen early next year.

 

Between the weather and the traffic it's a wonder those metal hunks aren't collapsing everywhere.

 

A law firm which I worked for had a great deal where we could park for $175 a month near where I worked and I used my commuter benefits so it was dirt cheap. When I switched jobs before I moved to the burbs and I had to find a spot near where I lived, it was $500 a month with post-tax dollars. Brutal.

 

Years ago, I picked up my mom and aunt in Brooklyn to drive them to an event in Manhattan. They were horrified when I took the tunnel instead of the Manhattan Bridge and still mention it 15 years later.

 

Since my son and his wife moved from Crown Heights further east in Brooklyn in Ocean Hill, driving is now the least worst way to get to his house. It sucks bad, mind you, but it's better than Amtrak followed by an hour ride on the C train if you've got any kind of luggage at all. But I have not driven into Manhattan for over 20 years now, and that will never change.

 

As crazy as traffic gets here in DC, I’m glad all of our bridges are still free.

I think I-66 is the only route into the city where you have to pay a toll. And that’s to drive on the road itself, whether you’re going downtown or not.

 

I always liked taking the Parkway.

 

I did a reverse commute from Manhattan to Westchester years and years ago. Parking anywhere within 40 blocks of my place was cost prohibitive, and I wasn't about to try to find street parking with my late hours, then have to move the car for alternate side. I found a parking lot in the Bronx near the subway that was a third of the cost, so I took that. Took the subway there and drove the rest of the way.

I was never so happy to change jobs and get rid of that car.

 

OK. so the WSJ piece today has received some serious pushback, as a variety of Democratic Senators and Congresspeople have said they were interviewed for the story, refuted its basic premise, and none were quoted. Then, digging a hole a little deeper, one of the two bylined reporters went on CNN and, well, started off by saying the facts of the story are not in dispute. Host responds, "actually, they are totally in dispute." Word salad response. When confronted by the earlier story in which former Speaker McCarthy had praised Biden's acuity, a contradiction to what he told the WSJ, reporter said, "he had to say that because he had to get along with Biden." OK, so he lied to other reporters, but to you he's telling the gospel truth.
These two should not be working in journalism. But then they don't. They work for Rupert Murdoch. Even by that standard, this oughta be a firing offense. Put a little effort into that hit job, willya? This one fell apart in a morning.