If there's anything constructive for Democrats in office to have learned from the Trump administration, it's that Do All The Things is a workable strategy. Set up a positive feedback loop and let success breed success.
I'm sure there's a big pile of executive orders waiting for Uncle Joe to sign on the afternoon of the first day. I've seen things like "rejoin Paris climate agreement" and "revoke Keystone XXL pipeline permits" floating around, and I have to assume that some Biden people have been working on this very subject for months already, and are not just fired up but ready to go.
Fired or sideline Michael Ellis at NSA.
"Keystone XXL"
Is that a newer one bigger than the previous version?
It's the one Matthew McConaughey knew was a bad idea.
He's extending the student loan pause. I heard he was sending an immigration proposal almost immediately.
Behind the scenes, secure all documents and begin assessing what was destroyed.
Back Navalny. If he wants it. But I really hope something anti-Putin is high on Biden's agenda.
Storm row is right.
Just under 27 hours to go.
Re-enter Open Skies and pressuring the Russians to do the same.
Announce that the US will re-enter the JCPOA and will lift all sanctions on Iran once it returns to its terms but in a humanitarian gesture of good will immediately lift all sanctions pertaining to medical supplies.
Have the NSA release the pee tape.
Also, prosecutions. Politically Biden might not want his hands on it, but Trump has got away with rampant law-breaking so far simply due to a combination of the bed of nails thing, and Republicans supporting him. If prosecutions of the more unprecedented stuff, like emoluments, would look unacceptably political, there's the Presidential Records Act and other unassailable stuff, as in 7.
Backing Navalny is just words. Kill all the Russians in Libya.
I want opinions about this thing (sorry, audio). I don't fully understand, but it sounds to me as if the 14th Amendment allows people to be permanently banned from office for engaging in insurrection, and something called the KKK Act allows something similar. So, why not the insurrection-and-exclusion for all the insurrectionists (probably no Mussolinis in there but you never know) and Trump & C, and, separately, also for all the 120whatever Republicans who tried to steal the election. And the Malheur assholes and Bundies.
What did I ever do to you?
it's that Do All The Things is a workable strategy
I hope I never hear about the concept of doling out (or preserving) political capital again.
Biden's first overseas trip should be to NATO HQ in Brussels.
I'm trying to decide where my first overseas trip will be.
Honestly, I'll probably just go back to Canada if travel is allowed this summer. The food was good if you avoid Tim Hortons, the prices were good, the scenery great, and the people nice.
You could take an overseas path to Canada. But it's not the most direct.
I think Canada could be considered an overlake trip, though.
WE ARE TOO CANADIAN
20 A person can hike through some pretty high country to Goat Haunt, and then take a boat into Canada, but IME it's a whole lot easier to just drive either 89 or 93.
Canada is so large that, odd as it may seem, the direct great circle routes from there to Pbg pass over the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.
Twenty, twenty, twenty four hours to go.
These men who seem to know my crime
Have impeached my ass a second time
Pennsylvanians, I saw this morning that your secretary of health has got an assistant Cabinet nomination, and wow, the shitty half of the state sure has been shitty to her while she was trying to save their lives.
Re OP: paid sick leave. FMLA is better than nothing but not by much. There will never be a better time for it.
26, 27: 23 hours, 23 minutes, modulo the time it takes this comment to refresh. No nuclear attack so far. I expect some kind of pardons at the last minute, but at this point I don't expect an effective get-out-of-jail-free card for all his supports. Maybe this is overly optimistic but I anticipate schadenfreude.
I'm anon this time, but have been on three calls with Biden-Harris transition team folks in the past week or so and have been absolutely delighted with the ambitious, well-thought-out Day 1 plans they are planning for my field.
It is immensely clear that at least in one area, they are FULLY prepared to hit the ground running with excellent policies, including executive orders, other administrative actions, and new legislation.
They have announced good hires (people who have been either fighting the good fight at the state/local level during the Trump years, or have served as a "shadow govt" of former Obama officials working on federal policy as advocates the last four years), and already have language written for a lot of their proposals. I'm mildly skeptical of the legislative lead they're depending on in the Senate (he's not exactly beloved by other Dems) but I don't think that matters as much as a lot of the other pieces.
Sorry to be vague but figured folks would appreciate good news even if vague!
McConnell has moved from anonymous stories to reporters about his anger to outright blaming Trump in public.
I am also aware of an absolutely fantastic ex-colleague of mine who's going to be quite senior within DOJ.
Head of my previous employer is now a cabinet member which is also having an interesting ripple effect at the place he's leaving. He has no tolerance for ignorant politicians so I'm looking forward to committee testimony, although I'm not sure the most proudly ignorant Republicans would be on the relevant committees.
There was an interesting article the other day on how Biden's team not only foresaw the administration's obstruction of the transition but actively planned long in advance on how to overcome it. It was a very encouraging read.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/biden-s-team-transition-many-months-making-n1254570
It is just straight up so much more relaxing to read the news these days. It doesn't matter if things are objectively good yet - I understand they are not - reading about things which are trending towards the right direction is so much more fun than reading about destruction.
I think in his first 24 hours, Biden should hold a press conference with an aerial view of the empty National Mall and insist that there were more people at his inauguration than Trump's.
Pennsylvanians: is John Fetterman a good prospect to win the Senate seat back in 2022?
And will he bring sugar and tea and rum?
I don't know. I was debating whether to contribute or not, but decided to stick with my "no money for the primary" rule. I don't know of anyone else
41: His cousin (a tech millionaire) is an old friend of sorts from high school. They cohosted a house candidate fundraiser that I was invited to, which I donated for but didn't attend due to Zoom fatigue. I regret that a little now that he's kind of a celebrity. Well, maybe I'll have another chance down the road.
MC: Must demur on killing all Russian in Libya. Not b/c I don't think it's a good thing to do [yeah, I'm fuckin' pissed at Putin, why do you ask?] but b/c I don't think it's as effective as other options.
Do whatever it takes to impound every dollar, every house, every share, every bond, that's traceable back to Putin or his oligarchs, or their assignees/proxies. Every dollar. Block them from our financial system. This will cost Putin far more of what he cares about, than anything else. I remember that a big reason the USSR failed, was that the price of oil dropped (Reagan & the Saudis did that) and the Russians didn't have the foreign exchange to import enough wheat to feed their population. Boom, regime over. Do it to them again. Get all our allies in on the act.
Use that money to balance all our budgets. Make the fucker pay.
I read that the first bill the Senate takes up is the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. And that Biden will send across an immigration reform bill tomorrow. My mom told me the "path to citizenship" will be 8yr. Gah. I wish it were two. We need those new citizens to be able to vote.
Aha, I see the Dem AG is considered the frontrunner among likely nominees.
41: I gave up making political predictions after being resoundingly wrong in 2008. I can tell you that the LG is extremely tall and in some quarters is beloved for his endorsement of legal marijuana. In other quarters (sometimes overlapping) he is despised because of his formerly undocumented immigrant Latina wife.
The AG is extremely not-tall. He had a good but relatively undistinguished mainstream Dem career until his present role, when he took surprisingly useful stances on protecting consumers and otherwise being a good AG. At least in my arm's-length constituent experience.
No idea who else is likely to run. Both of the above are white guys.
45: If AP and Wash Post are to be believed, it's an 8-year path to citizenship at the longest end, but ~2 million Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status holders would be on a faster path. We shall see.
Meanwhile, Hawley just blocked the speedy confirmation of Biden's new Secretary of Homeland Security. Whatever your feelings on immigration, this is bad news. DHS oversees a boatload of really really important stuff and having an "Acting" in that role is no good right now. As I was just reminded, on January 20, 2017 Trump already had John Kelly *confirmed* in that role.
39: I am so accustomed to a feeling of impending doom that I haven't quite worked out how to feel not-awful yet. But objectively, I have to admit the world has taken a sharp turn for the better.*
*assuming the next 24 hours are no more appalling than we expect them to be.
Great to see that Schumer and, I guess, Manchin have learned absolutely nothing in the last 12 years.
Hopefully this is just a poor summary, but any agreement which is predicated on Mitch's honest and earnest cooperation represents a gigantic fucking waste of time.
Jentleson (former Reid deputy CoS and author of book on why the Senate has come to suck) seems to think it's not a big deal as long as any ties in committees do get advanced to a floor vote. However, if it includes language locking the filibuster in place for the next two years, he says Dems should tell Mitch to F off.
I just assume that must be what Manchin wants. It's depressing but he's got all the power.
One of the most senior new DOD appointees gave me a personal tour of the Pentagon 15 years ago, so he has my full support. He was polite enough at the time to not mention how incredibly hungover I was.
This seems to be a theme - I know lots of people saying some version of "I only really know anything about one person who's been appointed, but that person is fantastic."
For me, it's Alondra Nelson. She's just great.
I wonder if Manchin could be appealed to with a filibuster reform, something which kept it formally in place but limited its abuse; members must hold the floor and they cannot last more than a week or something.
It's still anti democratic nonsense but, well, you go to war with the centrist Senators you have, or something.
This was very much a theme in 2008. Marty Lederman. Phil Carter.
He's not been here in a few months.
42 great comment. Hadn't heard of him, but according to Wikipedia he may be bringing legal cannabis at least.
Biden and Schumer will need to maneuver things so that the Republicans are having a filibuster on something that Manchin wants and will help his constituents. The filibuster is one thing as an abstract principle, but another thing entirely when it prevents genuine priorities.
Maybe 2k payments will do it -- Republicans are dumb enough, as we've seen, on that issue. Manchin can't go back to his constituents with a shrug on that one: everyone will say 'you had the majority, you should have gotten it done.'
I'd really like him to do something about UCSIS bureaucracy. The wait time for naturalization is way longer than it was, because they are doing fewer and requiring interviews for employment based green cards. Tim has wanted to apply, but was waiting forTrump to leave.
This democracy reform bill would be amazing, even if the Supremes try to whittle away parts of it.
Here's a tune on YouTube they should call Jan. 19, 2021.
61: I imagine you know this, but just in case not: If you want to be technical about it, it's not USCIS bureaucracy, or at least not in any commonly understood sense of the term.
The delays are because Stephen Miller authored a bunch of administrative policy changes that deliberately added ludicrous amounts of hoops to essentially every type of immigration status USCIS issues, which slowed down processing for everything (definitely including naturalization); because Trump used accounting tricks to take money from USCIS (a fee-funded agency that Congress doesn't generally appropriate money to, so less money = slower processing times) and give it to ICE for his precious wall; and because the politically appointed leadership of USCIS has prioritized Trump's (Miller's) agenda far, far above any potential "customer service" they might be expected to provide.
And, in fairness, because the last three administrations (GWB, Obama, Trump) have all consecutively screwed up the procurement and implementation process of a new online application/processing system.
The good news is that Biden has appointed truly outstanding folks to fix this. The bad news is that Miller is competent enough that there is more broken in USCIS than probably any other federal agency. And I don't say that lightly. (It's partly a consequence of the fact that the executive branch has so darn much power over immigration to begin with.)
So where are the pardons? Can Biden be sworn in at 12:01 am?
Well, he just pardoned Bannon. I can laugh about that, I suppose. I want to never think about Trump again, but I'll make an exception for any prosecutions and suits against him.
I'm also looking forward to two or three years of being outraged about why we can't have nice things, rather than why we can't have (something like) democracy. It's all good!*
* not applicable in PR, DC, to those who are dead, and those in cages. call your doctor if your elation lasts longer than four hours.
This is bringing me comfort and anxiety. Not too late to bomb Iran? Would the Admirals even pick up the phone anymore?
Weren't Bannon's crimes highly state-prosecutable?
68 Yes, and jeopardy doesn't attach.
The list is up: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/
An executive order to get the babies out of the camps and back with their parents.
71: The entry for Paul Erickson stands out rather sharply from the rest...
End US support for the Saudi war in Yemen.
Release the report on the assassination of Khashoggi.
Immediate moratorium on deportations until we can find out what the hell is going on. Make that for all immigration law enforcement activity by ICE.
Reverse the recent deportations and separations.
Are we still separating children from their parents. End that.
64: Thanks, Witt. I did know that USCIS was fee funded. I also knew that political decisions were made (didn't realize Miller was still in the picture), but I was not aware that they transferred the fees to the order wall.
If Bannon is pardoned, he can be made to testify, no? Or is that a effected by how prosecutable any crimes were under state laws.
Among other things Biden is going to rejoin W.H.O., halt federal executions and rescind the ban on transgender people in the military, all today.
His sorry ass has departed the White House. Oh glorious day!
Amusing that right after the Atlantic article comparing our situation to Third Republic France, he pardons a guy named Boulanger.
72. And suspend diplomatic relations with the UK until they do likewise.
I hope they remember that not all the kids are either caged or with their families - a lot were probably dubiously adopted via Christian agencies, all of which needs to be audited.
Here's a nice list of Biden's Day One executive orders.
Biden is going to fool us all by being the guy who bombs Iran.
Biden has too much social/interpersonal intelligence for that. In other words, he can read the room and know there's no appetite for it.
Did everyone get your "Biden 2020: Be disappointed by someone new old" shirts?
And Biden should immediately reinstate the ethics rules that Trump just rescinded so former staffers can't become lobbyists right now.
Before we get too excited about appointments, it sounds like anti-monopoly people are not super happy.
Hmm, let me try again with the link.
That is like 30,000th on the list of things I'm worried about.
"Biden is going to fool us all by being the guy who bombs Iran."
I believe it is now 15 years since I first had to calm down someone on this website about the imminent war with Iran.
x.trapnel: Paging Senator Warren, Senator Warren please pick up the Batphone.
But seriously, she's been on this beat for a long time: I hope she can (ahem) reshape heads.
92: I remember that argument, I think. I was skeptical that the US would actually go to war with Iran at that point, and I remember thinking the day after the 2004 election "At least we'll find out if Bush will really bomb Iran."
91: Bombing Iran or the antitrust issues?
I do worry about Amazon taking over everything.
