Beltway Insider: Biden/SOTU, GOP Rebuttal, Turkey/Syrian Earthquake Updates, Bert Bacharach

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 12 February 2023 12:29; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden's annual State of Union address, which presented his accomplishments, was interrupted repeatedly by attention seeking members of the GOP, who believe that the vocal and televised shaming of the president does something for their cause.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending February 12, 2023 increased by 0.7% to 42.7% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.6% to 52.1% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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State of The Union

President Joseph Biden delivered the annual State of the Union address this week emphasizing the American people the accomplishments of the past two years. Over the past two years, the American people have witness threats to the institution of democracy, as the January 6 insurrections attempted to subvert the democratic process, hold our elected leader's hostage, and burn the presidential election results, and a nation split on the devastation of the coronavirus.

The President's speech, which was interrupted on several occasions by members of the Republican party who are determined to use any opportunity to position themselves in the media attention and to secure the subsequent television appearances, explained the American people are better today than when he assumed the office in January 2021.

His results are clear: "Covid no longer controls our lives; So, let's look at the results. Unemployment rate at 3.4%, a 50-year low. Near record low unemployment for Black and Hispanic workers. We've already created 800,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs, the fastest growth in 40 years."

Creating jobs, building the nation's infrastructure "These projects will put hundreds of thousands of people to work rebuilding our highways, bridges, railroads, tunnels, ports and airports, clean water, and high-speed internet across America."

He ended his 90-minute speech, by saying, "So I have come here to fulfil my constitutional duty to report on the state of the union. And here is my report. Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong."

"Newly-elected Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders delivered the GOP rebuttal to President Biden's second State of the Union address Tuesday, calling for a "new generation of Republican leadership" and describing the choice between Democrats and Republicans as a choice "between normal or crazy," reported Foxnews.com.

The extremism exhibited in both Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who throughout the State of the Union shouted unfounded accusations and exhibited disruptive, unrestrained, and inappropriate behavior as did many of her fellow Representatives, fuels the January 6 insurrection belief of stolen elections, the democrats are thieves, responsible for the destruction of America and just enforces a chasm, a deep divide with no common ground.

Turkey/Syrian Earthquake Worst Natural Disaster on Record

As the death toll continues to climb and is currently reaching upwards of 33,000, from the multiple earthquakes, and subsequent significant aftershocks, that struck the Turkey/Syrian region six days ago, on February 6, 2023, the natural disaster is expected to become known as the worst in the region and possibly in recorded history.

Considering the shallow depth of just 11.5 miles of the initial 7.8 quake, which struck at 4:17am, a general belief is that the majority of the region's 1.85 million residents were still sleeping, which could mean when the searches are called off and the operation switches from rescue to recovery, the death toll could reach upwards of 100,000.

For rescuers working tirelessly digging through debris piles, expectation of finding anyone alive is waning and yet they continue. The survival and rescue stories, which act as adrenaline and small beacons of hope, are few: a newborn still connected to his mother's umbilical cord; two children wedged between concreate slabs, a toddler in winter pajamas pulled from the rubble; stories of the old and the young, some with understanding of what they have suffered and survived and others, thankfully, oblivious.

Tens of Thousands Feared Dead, Missing, After Massive Quakes Strike Turkey

Metro Populations Effected

The metro population of Kahramanmaras, in 2021 had risen to 560,000 and the entire Gaziantep region, which suffered the worst of the multiple earthquakes, had a population of 1.85million in 2023. The region of Syria effected, which is still suffering to the ongoing civil war, are situated along the northern border.

"Towns in rebel-held northwest Syria, which is close to the quakes' epicenter, witnessed massive devastation. Other areas of Syria including the cities of Aleppo, Lattakia and Hama recorded significant impacts, including lives lost and building collapses. The earthquake was felt as far as Qamishli and Raqqa in eastern Syria," the United States Institute of Peace reported.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the aftershocks affected regions as far south as Tel Aviv, Israel, which experienced a 4.1 magnitude quake and as far north as the North Baltic state of Georgia, which felt a small tremblor registering a magnitude of 2.4 on the Richter scale.

The below image, from the USGS website represented the major and minor earthquakes in the region, more than 100 have been recorded, which began with the deep red areas representing the two 7.8-7.5 magnitude quakes, and the additional red circles representing the 6.8 immediate aftershock, followed by many 5.5 magnitude and above and the gradient shades representing reducing magnitude. The aftershocks, which rattled the region for days, were on the 4.4 magnitude scale.

World Response

International aid has been on site over the past week in the region with earthquake search and rescue teams from as far away as Los Angeles, California, where a 78 member team, trained to work in 24 hour rotations, brought state of the art search equipment and canines trained to detect the scent of the breath joined 130 nations, from across Europe, Australia and Japan in hopes of finding survivors as conditions and probability deteriorate.

Gaziantep, Turkey, which is the closest major city to the northern Syrian border, and a hub for international aid organizations, was extremely hard hit which makes getting to Syria even more challenging.

"The Italian Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a news release, "A new shipment of aid is now departing from Pisa airport and will land in the coming hours in Beirut and then be transferred by land to Syria. It consists of four ambulances and 14 doctors, as well as medicines and medical supplies, offered by the San Donato Group, which will be destined for the Syrian Red Crescent to assist the people in Syria," reported CNN.com.

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Combined Factors Spell Unprecedented Devastation

Turkey is located on the Anatolian Peninsula, one of the most deforming regions of the earth surface, essentially like de-construction, the surface in the region is slowly changing. The earth's surface which causes destabilization and gives way to earthquakes which because of its continual deformation the region will become increasingly unstable, which means a greater propensity of earthquakes and massive earthquakes of this current magnitude or worse.

A failure in Earthquake building codes in the hard hit Gaziantep region is already coming under scrutiny as both Turkey and Syrian officials are detaining builders over shoddy construction which contributed to the massive loss of life as buildings pancaked in the collapse.

"Turkey's Justice Ministry Bekir Bozdag said it opened "earthquake crimes investigation" offices to probe possible negligence or wrongdoing that left buildings vulnerable to collapse during the quakes. Authorities have identified some 134 suspects and arrested at least 14 people over alleged building negligence, Turkish media reported," reported The Washington Post.

The failure of proper earthquake building codes, which call for three specific features in construction, essentially a shock absorber in the buildings base and reinforced steel in the building's construction, and sprinkler systems along with shutters on the windows to stop glass shards and projectile glass injury, has become the focus of the collapse of so many of the region's buildings and why in the images the public sees side by side one building standing with no damage and the other pancaked into a debris pile.

Other Devasting Earthquakes

The Turkey/Syrian devastation has already surpassed the 2011 Japanese Fukushima earthquake death toll, which measured 7.0 magnitude, and was followed by a 9.0-9.1 underwater earthquake that generated a tsunami, which killed 19,759 and injured 6,167. The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake which registered a magnitude of 9.0-9.3 generated a massive tsunami that killed 227,898 people. Neither of these register on the ten worst earthquakes in recorded history as the majority of the deaths came from the subsequent tsunamis.

The ten worst list does include the August 9, 1138, earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, that killed 230,000 and the December 28, 1908, Italy, Messina where 70,000-100,000 died which ranks at number ten on the list, which unfortunately could fall.

Vaccine Totals

As of February 12, 2023, in the United States, 958,658,535 vaccines have been distributed, and 670,306,507 have been administered with a 7-day increase weekly increase of 705,667 doses. More than 90% of the population have received the two-dose vaccine. (Date from the CDC). As of February 12, 2023, 13,168,938,724 vaccines doses have been administered worldwide (Data from WHO).

Coronavirus Totals

Mandates have been altered or lifted in most urban areas with limited exceptions, and the population is encouraged to maintain personal protective practices. Masks are optional and tolerated. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the week ending February 12, 2023, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 755,385,709 people, with a 7-day increase of 1,366,868 with a total worldwide death toll of 6,817,478 deaths, and a 7-day death rate increase of 15,910. (Data from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

Infections rates in the United States are also on the rise. For the 7-day period ending February 12, 2023, the total confirmed cases rose to 102,736,819 people with new confirmed cases increasing by 289,381 with a 7-day average of 41,340 cases per day. The coronavirus has claimed 1,110,364 total deaths, adding 4,540 more deaths over the 7-day period. (Data from the CDC).

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Bert Bacharach, Singer, Songwriter, Dies

Bert Bacharach, who has been called one of the most influential songwriters of the 20^th century, died this week of natural causes. He was 94.

Bacharach redefined the ballad genre, penning 39 hits with singer Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand, and countless others. Throughout his life he wrote 125 top 40 hits in both he United States and the UK. The winner of countless awards, he was awarded three Academy Awards, six Grammys, and one Emmy.

"Bacharach is described by writer William Farina as "a composer whose venerable name can be linked with just about every other prominent musical artist of his era." In later years, his songs were newly appropriated for the soundtracks of major feature films, by which time "tributes, compilations, and revivals were to be found everywhere," reported Wikipedia.

Bacharach is survived by his wife, Jane Hansen and two children.

For more information on President Joe Biden w ww.whitehouse.gov.