Yes, The State of our Union is Strong

Thanks to the efforts of President Biden and the Democratic majority of the previous Congress, the State of our Union is stronger than it has been in years. Outgoing White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain cited more examples in his final White House speech: “Student loan debt relief. Record low Black and Brown unemployment. The PACT act for veterans. A sweeping marijuana pardon. The Respect for Marriage Act. The most Americans ever with health coverage. Ending the longest war in American history. We’ve seen a dramatic drop in child poverty, the lowest unemployment rate in fifty years, the deficit cut more than any President. And the most jobs created in any two years in US history.”

MAGA Republicans try to distract from these achievements by grabbing the media spotlight with bizarre allegations about and investigations into Dr. Fauci, Biden’s son or spy balloons. But while they flail about, the hundreds of great projects started during the 117th Congress in the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration, roll along.

You may also have been frustrated by how much MAGA Republican treachery was minimized by our national media during the Trump era. Many famous journalists and elite pundits on TV thought they were being “balanced” by presenting Republican lies as if they were just one side of the news. So here are some resources for those of you who prefer to balance Republican lies with facts:  

References

Government websites

• Maps of Progress | Build.gov | The White House “These maps show how much funding has been announced for work within states, including a breakdown by category of funding. 

• Or you can go straight to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Maps Dashboard | D2D 

• The Biden-Harris Record | The White House – there are some great graphics here along with lists of their achievements by category

• Press releases | U.S. Department of Commerce, include regular updates on Infrastructure, CHIPS & Science Act, and other commercial developments. You can find sets of press releases by topic too:

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) | U.S. Department of Commerce

• ICT Supply Chain | U.S. Department of Commerce (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain) 

• Biden-Harris Administration Announces More Than $224 Million in High-Speed Internet Grants for Tribal Lands | U.S. Department of Commerce

• DOT Infrastructure Programs and Projects | US Department of Transportation

• US Department of Transportation Newsroom    

• Environmental Protection Agency (can select updates via topics of interest)

• Chemicals and Toxics Topics | US EPA  

• Environmental Justice | US EPA 

• Justice News | DOJ While we’re waiting for indictments for more seditionists, big and small, the Department of Justice’s Press Releases can be filtered by topics, and by component:

• Office of the Attorney General (1,580) 

• Civil Rights Division (3,623)

• Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) (75)

• Criminal Division (5,354)

• and more

• U.S. Department of Labor has a useful website with news and achievements by topic 

Media Analysis

• PressRun.media by the late Eric Boehlert, a veteran media critic who monitored right-wing misinformation for years, first as a staff writer for Salon, then a  senior fellow at Media Matters for America for ten years and later a media critic at Daily Kos. 

• Why is the press rooting against Biden? - by Eric Boehlert

• How the media normalized QAnon smear of historic Black nominee

• The media's Hunter Biden debacle / Whitewater II - by Eric Boehlert   

• News & Analysis | Media Matters for America 

• LA Times’ sympathetic profile of Fox News’ Bill Melugin lets him off the hook for his role in the network’s racism | Media Matters for America

• Americano Media wants to be the Spanish-language Fox News. Here’s what you need to know about it.  

• PressThink, a project of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, is written by Jay Rosen.

• The "here's where we're coming from" statement in journalism - PressThink

• The coming confrontation between the American press and the Republican Party - PressThink  

President Biden’s accomplishments

• What Biden Has Done Blog, lists of accomplishments in different categories and time periods 

• Ron Klain’s speech of February 2, 2023

---