by Owen | 0657, 19 Feb 2121 | Politics | 33 Comments
I’m fairly certain that I could find a dozen similar quotes from our Founders that say just this. We did not learn this in the last four years.
“We have learned actually over the course of the past four years, that democracy, as he will put it, doesn’t happen by accident — that we have to work at it, that we need to fight for it,” the official said.
by Owen | 2050, 17 Feb 2121 | Foreign Affairs, Politics | 4 Comments
Nothing says “let’s be allies” like crapping all over the guy who runs the country.
The Biden administration has said it expects Saudi Arabia to “change its approach” to the US and signalled that it wants to minimise any direct contact between the president and the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The stance marks an abrupt change compared with the Trump administration, which showered the young heir with attention and praise. It comes as intelligence officials are preparing to release – possibly as early as next week – a declassified report to Congress that will describe its assessment of the crown prince’s alleged culpability in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the US-based Washington Post journalist who was killed by Saudi officials in 2018.
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, this week said Joe Biden intended to “recalibrate” the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, and considered King Salman – not Prince Mohammed – to be his counterpart. While the designation might technically be true, the 35-year-old prince is widely seen as running Saudi Arabia and has direct relations with other foreign leaders.
by Owen | 1929, 11 Feb 2121 | Politics | 4 Comments
There a states in worse shape than Florida. So why Florida?
The White House is reportedly considering domestic travel restrictions including in Florida, as variant cases of the coronavirus surge in the Sunshine State, while Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing back against any possible restrictions, calling them “absurd.”
Officials with the Biden Administration said they are having conversations about anything that could help mitigate spread, including Florida travel restrictions, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
And why is Biden opening up our borders to thousands of illegal aliens flooding our country while trying to wall off Florida? How many of those illegal border crossers are getting tested and quarantining?
In a letter to Congress on Thursday, Mr Biden wrote that the order was “unwarranted” and said that no further tax dollars will be spent on the wall.
by Owen | 2136, 6 Feb 2121 | Economy, Politics | 37 Comments
From the Milwaukee Business Journal.
The January presidential executive order canceling permits for TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL Pipeline could eliminate job opportunities for an estimated 2,000 construction workers who live in Wisconsin.
Two Wisconsin contractors, Michels Corp. of Brownsville and Precision Pipeline of Eau Claire, were among six that TC Energy hired in October to build about 800 miles of the Keystone pipeline across three states this year. The project starting in Hardisty, Alberta, in Canada would run through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
[…]
Although the actual construction would’ve happened outside of Wisconsin, Michels and Precision Pipeline would have hired Wisconsin union tradespeople for the projects, said Terrance McGowan, president and business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, located in Pewaukee.
by Owen | 1047, 6 Feb 2121 | Foreign Affairs, Politics | 7 Comments
More illegals means lower wages and higher taxes for Americans. Send your “thank you” cards to the White House. This is a direct result of his policies.
LOS ANGELES — President Biden’s first immigration crisis has already begun as thousands of families have surged toward the southwestern border in recent weeks, propelled by expectations of a friendlier reception and by a change in Mexican policy that makes it harder for the United States to expel some of the migrants.
More than 1,000 people who had been detained after crossing have been released into the country in recent days in a swift reversal from the Trump administration’s near shutdown of the border. Many more people are gathering on the Mexican side, aggravating conditions there and testing America’s ability and willingness to admit migrants during a pandemic.
New families every day have been collecting in Mexican border towns, sleeping in the streets, under bridges and in dry ditches, according to lawyers and aid groups working along the border. On Thursday in Mexicali, across from Calexico, Calif., desperate migrants could be seen trying to scale a border fence. A migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, just across a bridge from Texas, has boomed to 1,000 people over the past few weeks.
I guess we aren’t worried about the virus anymore if we’re allowing thousands of illegal immigrants to stream across our border, eh?
by Owen | 2015, 4 Feb 2121 | Foreign Affairs | 13 Comments
This is pretty simple. There are two power sources in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia and Iran. You can align with one or the other, but never both. By moving away from Saudi Arabia, Biden is necessarily aligning more with Iran.
The US is to end its support for offensive operations by its allies in Yemen, which has been devastated by a six-year war in which more than 110,000 people are believed to have died.
[…]
The Biden administration had already put a temporary halt on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
[…]
The US will raise the cap on refugee admissions from 15,000 to 125,000 for the fiscal year.
The withdrawal of US troops from Germany will be frozen and forces will remain at their current level of about 36,000. Under Mr Trump, the US was going to reduce its presence by 12,000, with about 5,600 to be deployed elsewhere in Europe.
by Owen | 0813, 30 Jan 2121 | Politics | 2 Comments
With Congress still deeply polarized following former President Donald Trump’s acrimonious exit, and with dangerous variants of the coronavirus circulating in the US, the President signaled a new sense of urgency Friday about the need to get his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package passed — even if he is not able to bring Republicans along.
by Owen | 1631, 24 Jan 2121 | Foreign Affairs | 1 Comment
I think it’s more likely than not that China makes a hard play for Taiwan within the next year.
Taiwan has reported a large incursion by Chinese warplanes for the second day running, a show of force that coincides with the first days of US President Joe Biden’s term of office.
Sunday’s operation involved 15 aircraft and followed a similar drill that led to a warning from Washington.
China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state.
Analysts say China is testing the level of support of Mr Biden for Taiwan.
by Owen | 1935, 23 Jan 2121 | Politics | 20 Comments
Yikes. I expect that come Congress Critters are looking at that too.
In Rasmussen Reports’ first Presidential Daily Tracking Poll of likely voters, the new Democratic president starts at 48% approving and 45% disapproving.
Notably, he is underwater with women (46% approve, 48% disapprove) and whites (43% approve, 51% disapprove).
Rasmussen’s daily survey number is an average of the last three days.
By comparison, Biden’s approval is ho-hum compared to former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, said the polling data.
Trump opened with a 56% approval rating. Just 44% disapproved. It was one of his highest ratings of his four years.
Obama started at 67% approval, 32% disapprove, which is also one of his highest ratings.
by Owen | 1927, 23 Jan 2121 | Foreign Affairs, Politics | 3 Comments
We’re disappointed too, Justin…
Upon taking office on Wednesday, Biden rescinded a permit for the pipeline via executive order, blocking completion of the project started almost a decade ago.
Trudeau had previously said it was ‘an important project for us,’ citing continental energy security and jobs, and reacted with disappointment Friday over its cancellation.
‘The prime minister raised Canada’s disappointment with the United States’ decision on the Keystone XL pipeline,’ Trudeau’s office said in its statement, but added that the prime minister emphasized the ‘important economic and energy security benefits of our bilateral energy relationship.’
by Owen | 2011, 21 Jan 2121 | Politics | 13 Comments
I haven’t been paying too close attention – busy with living and all that… but is this the first official “C’mon man!” of the Biden presidency?
But when challenged by a reporter who suggested the target might be too low, he snapped back: “When I announced it you all said that it’s not possible. Come on. Give me a break, man.”
On the issue itself, Biden is taking an entirely national approach to the Covid health concern instead of a federal one. I expect that will be his approach on most issues. The centralization of power and money in faraway Washington continues apace.
Meanwhile, his goals are not exactly revolutionary.
She said the Trump administration was provided 36 million doses and pushed out 17 million shots, or about 500,000 per day.
‘What we are proposing is to double that to about 1 million shots per day. We have outlined this goal and objective in coordination and consultation with our health and medical experts,’ she said.
While her numbers add up, what they don’t show is that the prior administration was already on a trajectory to boost the number of shots closer to the 1 million number, with shots per day jumping over 800,000 in the last five days before the inauguration, as more vaccine came online and as states and hospitals stepped up their efforts.
If the past week’s average trajectory were maintained, total vaccination would reach just short of 97 million in the 100 days since vaccines began on December 21, which is 31 days before Biden’s 100 million target.
by Owen | 1707, 16 Jan 2121 | Politics | 5 Comments
FYI:
Biden also plans on asking the Education Department to extend the federal hiatus on student loan payments and interest on federal student loans, rejoining the Paris Climate Accords and undoing the Trump administration’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.
Biden also will issue a mask mandate on federal property and interstate travel and extend a pause on evictions and foreclosures.
I’m curious how they will implement and enforce an interstate mask mandate. The airlines are already enforcing mask wearing, so this really only applies to people driving between states. Will federal agents staff the border to enforce compliance? How long is the mandate in effect? For example, if I drive from Appleton to Des Moines, do I have to wear a mask the whole way because I cross a boarder? Or do I just have to wear it when actually crossing the border?
Oh, and Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself.
by Owen | 1654, 5 Dec 2020 | Politics | 8 Comments
Whatever. His story on this has changed so many times that who knows what the truth is?
“In my view,” Biden told CNN, “there was one option there that was remaining: you could have done one more very low flight … spying down on the site” – a compound in Abbottabad – “to determine whether this was Bin Laden, because again, there was no certainty.
“ … And so I looked around the table, I said, ‘I didn’t think we had this many economists in the room. On the one hand, the other hand.’ I said, ‘Mr President,’ to give him space, I said, ‘I think you should wait.’ And do one more pass.’ Knowing that if you made the lower pass, they might observe it and he’d flee.”
Again echoing Obama, Biden said he and the president had a subsequent private discussion in which he advised the president to follow his instinct.
by Owen | 2017, 3 Dec 2020 | Politics | 5 Comments
No.
(CNN)President-elect Joe Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that he will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days after he takes office, in a sign of how Biden’s approach to the virus will be dramatically different to President Donald Trump’s response.
“Just 100 days to mask, not forever. 100 days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction,” Biden told Tapper during his first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris since winning the election. The full interview will air at 9 p.m. ET.
by Owen | 2207, 29 Nov 2020 | Politics | 6 Comments
The elderly are fragile. And, of course, the obligatory opaqueness we have come to expect from Biden.
Initially, Dr Kevin O’Connor said Biden ‘sustained a sprain of his right foot’ and that there was ‘no obvious fracture’.
But a subsequent CT scan ‘confirmed hairline (small) fractures of President-elect Biden’s lateral and intermediate cuneiform bones, which are in the mid-foot,’ according to a statement from O’Connor.
‘It is anticipated that he will likely require a walking boot for several weeks,’ O’Conner added.
Biden’s office said he was taken to the doctor ‘out of an abundance of caution’.
Reporters covering the president-elect were not afforded the opportunity to see Biden enter the doctor’s office, despite multiple requests.
Images showed Biden’s motorcade arriving to the Delaware Orthopaedic Specialists office on Sunday afternoon and leaving Sunday night.
by Owen | 1927, 24 Nov 2020 | Foreign Affairs, Politics | 18 Comments
(REUTERS) -U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday he did not want to see a guarded border between Ireland and the United Kingdom, adding that he had previously discussed the matter with the British and Irish prime ministers and other European leaders.
Biden had stressed the importance of protecting Northern Ireland’s peace deal in the Brexit process in a call with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier in the month, after Biden won the Nov. 3 U.S. election against President Donald Trump.
Johnson’s government is seeking a trade deal with the European Union but says it is willing to leave without one. That could complicate the situation at the sensitive Northern Irish border with Ireland – the UK’s only land border with the EU.
Biden told journalists in Wilmington, Delaware, that the border must be open.
“We do not want a guarded border,” he said, answering a question from a reporter on what he would say to Brexit negotiators.
I seem to remember the Left getting all in a tizzy about the Trump team talking to foreign leaders in 2016… but here we are.
by Owen | 2019, 23 Nov 2020 | Politics | 1 Comment
It looks like mostly retreads and lackeys. On the bright side, there don’t appear to be any overt communists yet. Perhaps the Bernie wing of the Democratic Party is to be frustrated yet again.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday tapped Obama-era officials for top national security and economic roles, signaling a stark shift from the Trump administration’s “America First” policies that disparaged international alliances and favored deregulation and tax cuts.
The picks include former Secretary of State John Kerry to take the lead on combating climate change. Biden is also expected to choose Janet Yellen, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama to lead the Federal Reserve, as the first woman to become treasury secretary.
Biden’s emerging Cabinet marks a return to a more traditional approach to governing, relying on veteran policymakers with deep expertise and strong relationships in Washington and global capitals. And with a roster that includes multiple women and people of color — some of whom are breaking historic barriers in their posts — Biden is fulfilling his campaign promise to lead a team that reflects the diversity of America.
The incoming president will nominate longtime adviser Antony Blinken to be secretary of state, lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas to be homeland security secretary and Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be ambassador to the United Nations. Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, will be nominated as director of national intelligence, the first woman to hold that post.
by Owen | 2204, 16 Nov 2020 | Politics | 5 Comments
But make no mistake: now that Biden’s won the election, he owes this country real racial justice reform.
He must start with the most obvious steps: executive orders that address the immediate need for federal remedies to protect Black and Brown citizens from police brutality; appointing a special prosecutor to investigate both criminal and civil rights violations in the Floyd, Taylor, Blake, Cole and Anderson cases. More broadly, Biden must recognize that poverty and racism are pandemics in their own right, each of which has been exacerbated by Covid-19. Beginning to remedy them will require not just an emergency economic stabilization package, but a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions for the next 12 months, and a prioritization of funding for the communities of color hit hardest by the virus.
These demands are not coming from Kenosha alone, but from all across the country, where the Black Lives Matter movement – the largest social uprising in our nation’s history – has inspired a new generation of voters and activists. So while racial justice leaders may have helped Biden take back the White House, come January 2021, we’ll be reminding him exactly who got him there.
by Owen | 0726, 9 Nov 2020 | Politics | 0 Comments
Ummm.. states haven’t even certified their results yet. Biden isn’t the President Elect until the Electoral College votes. This is utterly acceptable.
The Trump appointee in charge of initiating the formal transition to a Joe Biden-led administration has so far refused to sign off on the necessary paperwork to begin the process, raising concerns over whether there will be a smooth transfer of power.
Emily Murphy was tapped by President Trump to head the General Services Administration, the agency in charge of federal buildings.
By law, if a new president is elected, the GSA administrator is required to sign paperwork that officially hands over millions of dollars to the transition team of the incoming administration, formally launching the handover process.
by Owen | 0858, 2 Nov 2020 | Politics | 6 Comments
Ouch. It’s going to be a long four months before Harris takes over if he wins.
‘Sleepy’ Joe Biden was caught napping twice during a rally in Michigan on Saturday, missing his cue to appear on stage and then forgetting his mask as he walked off it.
The 77-year-old was speaking at a rally in Flint alongside Barack Obama when he suffered the ‘senior moments’, just the latest in a series of gaffes that have dogged his presidential run.
The first came as Obama had just finished warming up for his old Vice President, and tried to welcome him to the stage by shouting: ‘My friend, the next President of the United State of America, Joe Biden!’
But Biden was nowhere to be seen, prompting Obama to shout for him again.
Eventually Biden emerged, jogging over to the stage from a nearby school building as Obama tried to get the crowd – who were confined to their cars as a Covid precaution – fired up, shouting: ‘Honk if you’re ready!’
During the rally itself, Biden also appeared to stumble over the word ‘healthcare’ while lining up a shot against the latest member of the Supreme Court – a Trump nominee – Amy Coney Barrett.
‘Donald Trump thinks health care is a privilege, Barack and I think it’s a right to have badakathcare,’ he said.
He fumbled again at the end of the rally, as Obama returned to the stage wearing a facemask and the two waved to the crowd before going off together.
Biden – who was wearing a mask as he emerged – appeared to forget he wasn’t wearing one as he departed.
Obama stopped him at the top of the stage steps and said a few words to him, after which he jogged back to the podium in search of the face covering.
After about 20 second of fumbling, Biden eventually found the face covering in his pocket and put it back in place.
