The Biden Presidency - 2020

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Butter

Why is this thread already obsessed with immigration? It's maybe 138th of the problems facing this country. Scapegoating immigrants probably lands at a solid 20th.

Because that’s what Fox News has been touting the past few days and as such it appears online and on social media. It’s also an attempt to change the narrative from “Trump did bad thing” to “look the Brown people are coming”. Just red meat to a large swath of folks.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Butter

Why is this thread already obsessed with immigration? It's maybe 138th of the problems facing this country. Scapegoating immigrants probably lands at a solid 20th.

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Because that’s what Fox News has been touting the past few days and as such it appears online and on social media. It’s also an attempt to change the narrative from “Trump did bad thing” to “look the Brown people are coming”. Just red meat to a large swath of folks.

It's eliciting a yawn from most posters

SI

[tarcone]

Immigration is one of the key narratives that got Trump elected.

Show the masses what they should be afraid of and then scare them as much as possible.

[cuervo72]

Because it's one of Edward's talking points.

[Edward64]

Glad to know the radical SJW for the brown illegals have moved on elsewhere.

Specifically to legal immigration, it has & will define us as a country (societal changes, global competitiveness etc.) and has been a policy hot spot for a while. So don't know why it wouldn't be in a Biden Presidency thread.

But I'll go with the crowd and stick it into the Coronavirus non-political thread.

[cuervo72]

Glad to know it's radical to see them as people.

[Edward64]

Everyone on this board sees them as people. There is no question. Radical applies to all the other stuff but keep on twisting words and intent.

[SackAttack]

Blowing the 'SJW' dogwhistle makes it absolutely clear what your intent was, Trollward.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Blowing the 'SJW' dogwhistle makes it absolutely clear what your intent was, Trollward.

Zing! Arrgh, you got me.

That was pretty good. Oblivious hypocrisy.

[Edward64]

Sounds as if Schumer & McConnell have found a way to work together. But I've read older articles that said they aren't exactly chummy though.

Dems get to set the agenda so that is good.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/polit...eal/index.html

The top two Senate leaders are nearing a power-sharing agreement to hash out how the evenly divided chamber will operate, with Democrats in charge of setting the schedule but both parties likely to hold an equal number of seats on Senate committees, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The negotiations between Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have been built largely around how the Senate operated the last time the body was split 50-50: When George W. Bush initially became president in 2001. Final details are still being sorted out between the two leaders, sources said.

Similar to those rules, set in January 2001, Schumer and McConnell aides are discussing allowing bills and nominations to advance to the Senate floor even if they are tied during committee votes, something that could become common given that each party is expected to have the same number of seats on committees.

Democrats will hold the chairmanships of the committees, giving them power to set the agenda, and Schumer will be granted the title of majority leader since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will cast tiebreaking votes on the floor.

[GrantDawg]

Actually, it sounds pretty boiler-plate. Schumer might have push back from some of his more moderate members if he got too greedy. In the end, the Dems still have the upper hand, though by a hair.

[albionmoonlight]

The ability to get things to the floor is the real power (or, more like the ability to keep the GOP from keeping things from getting to the floor is the real power).

[JPhillips]

Parler is back with all traffic routed through Russian servers.

On a related note, did you know the US government can surveil communications that originate in the US if they go through foreign servers?

[Edward64]

It's pretty much a no-brainer for Biden to not provide intel, security briefings to Trump after Jan 20.

[Ben E Lou]

Maybe the President-Elect thinks immigration is a first-day issue...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...3e2_story.html

[COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]President-elect Joe Biden will roll out a sweeping overhaul of nation’s immigration laws the day he is inaugurated, including an eight-year pathway to citizenship for immigrants without legal status and an expansion of refugee admissions, alongside an enforcement plan that deploys technology to patrol the border.

[COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]Biden’s legislative proposal, which will be sent to Congress on Wednesday, also includes a heavy focus on addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, a key part of Biden’s foreign policy portfolio when he served as vice president.[/color]

[/color]

[COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]The centerpiece of the plan from Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris is the eight-year pathway, which would put millions of qualifying immigrants in a temporary status for five years, and then grant them a green card once they meet certain requirements such as a background check and payment of taxes. They would be able to apply for citizenship three years later.

[/color]

[CrimsonFox]

Well I mean he CAN sign multiple things the first day Get that signin' hand ready and have a hand-massage therapist on hand to handle cramps!

[bob]

Two questions I haven’t answered about this potential $600 -> $2000 stimulus.

1. How does the calculation work. Right now, for every $20 of income you make over the threshold, you lose $1 of stimulus. Will this new $1400 be processed as a new stimulus payment subject to that same calculation or as an modification to the original payment?

2. Which payments go up to $2000? Just the parents or some / all dependents too?

[bob]

To clarify #1.

Single person, no dependents. Original $600 Stimulus starts to phase out at $75k, fully gone at $87k. $600 - ($87k-75k) / 20 = 0

Let’s say a person makes $87k. Is this a change to the original stimulus, so this person would get the $1400, or do we run this money through the calculation again, which means they get $800?

$2000 - ($87k-75k) / 20 = $1400

Or

$1400 - ($87k-75k) / 20 = $800

[GrantDawg]

I don't know the answer for number one, but number two is everyone including kids and adult dependants.

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[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Butter

Why is this thread already obsessed with immigration? It's maybe 138th of the problems facing this country. Scapegoating immigrants probably lands at a solid 20th.

Immigration doesn't seem to rank "138th" on Biden's list considering it's a day one issue.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...6a62a8acd59730

[Butter]

I look forward to you continuing to vomit your very founded "concerns" about our immigration policy across this thread almost daily.

[albionmoonlight]

Like predicted, Manchin's "opposition" to Biden's stimulus plan is/was a fluid issue. It's all part of the negotiations that are happening and will happen. Some in back rooms. Some in the media.

We are all going to be surprised to remember how things can work with people in the WH who work hard and who understand and respect Congress's role in the process.

Important policy news this weekend: @Sen_JoeManchin went on Inside West Virginia Politics and kept the door open to higher stimulus checks up to $2,000 (he prefers they be targeted but didn't draw a red line) and called for spending as much as $4 trillion (!) on infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/yG0aBBcxve

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 19, 2021

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Immigration doesn't seem to rank "138th" on Biden's list considering it's a day one issue.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...6a62a8acd59730

Now you see what you got me accused of?

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Butter

I look forward to you continuing to vomit your very founded "concerns" about our immigration policy across this thread almost daily.

Butter,

I think you and me need to hug.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Butter,

I think you and me need to hug.

now now boys, its fist pumps only in the time of COVID

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

now now boys, its fist pumps only in the time of COVID

Or those weird elbow tap things

SI

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Like predicted, Manchin's "opposition" to Biden's stimulus plan is/was a fluid issue.

"Contested legislation must go through ME now, and that is a fact that Imma make sure all y'all blue and red beeyatches RECOGNIZE!!!"

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Glad to know the radical SJW for the brown illegals have moved on elsewhere.

Specifically to legal immigration, it has & will define us as a country (societal changes, global competitiveness etc.) and has been a policy hot spot for a while. So don't know why it wouldn't be in a Biden Presidency thread.

But I'll go with the crowd and stick it into the Coronavirus non-political thread.

Taking a racially based far right agenda that aligns you very closely with Trump and trying to normalize it by calling any disagreement "radical SJW" is a pretty solid line there. Well done.

I think most of us have been consistent on immigration since you started making it the #1 or #2 focus on the board at every opportunity years ago. It's a non issue. We have laws and we should enforce them. But we shouldn't really make this a focus at all. I don't think that's radical in the slightest. And you of all people don't get to define radical by yourself, fuck that.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Radii

We have laws and we should enforce them. But we shouldn't really make this a focus at all.

Glad to get into a productive discussion with you but suspect we (the royal we) don't want to go there.

We will agree to disagree on the quote above re: whether that laws are actually being enforced.

[CrimsonFox]

really tired of all the articles saying "what biden will do on his first day"

I mean how do these people know? JUst what the heck is going on

[molson]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Or those weird elbow tap things

SI

I'm glad that seems to have phased out.

I prefer awkward nods with both parties kind of half-waiting to see what the other will do.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm glad that seems to have phased out.

I prefer awkward nods with both parties kind of half-waiting to see what the other will do.

I've tried peace signs and awkward blown kisses and likewise felt weird. Maybe we should all just have surprised eye contact then jerk our heads down to the ground and walk quickly past. That could be our national handshake

[bhlloy]

I can assure you that has been the British national handshake for at least the last 40 years. Get your own thing.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I can assure you that has been the British national handshake for at least the last 40 years. Get your own thing.

[Edward64]

I vote for this ... and then hand sanitizer right after.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I vote for this ... and then hand sanitizer right after.

I prefer the fists turning into a squid and floating away

[CrimsonFox]

and then there was THIS awkward moment



The drive by fistbump without making eyecontact then the creepy patronizing pat on the back seems like a winner for the US

[GrantDawg]

Josh Hawley blocking the speedy nomination of the DHS head just shows there is no end to his duchebaggery.

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[albionmoonlight]

McConnell must be loving that. Hawley gumming up the new admin and being willing to own it personally (instead of making it a GOP-wide issue).

[ISiddiqui]

The Memorial Service for the Covid 19 victims was lovely. It so surreal to think this is really the first time the President of the United States (granted Biden isn't President yet) has acknowledged the massive death toll of Covid.

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[Edward64]

I assume this is good for the Israelis and since it's already a reality, okay with the frenemies in the region. Probably the smart thing to do.

Bibi played his cards well with the Trump admin. It will be great if Biden can maintain the "normalization" momentum.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-ne...c457c2340ef46f

President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the State Department told senators at his confirmation hearing that the incoming administration recognizes Jerusalem as the Capitol of Israel and said it would leave the US embassy in the contested holy city.

Asked if he recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol, Antony Blinken said, “yes.” And asked if the US embassy would remain in Jerusalem, Blinken again said, “yes.”

Both moves by the Trump administration were deeply controversial, as both Israelis and Palestinians claim the holy city as their capitol. The status of Jerusalem is such a thorny issue that international consensus was to leave discussion about it to the end of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Previous peace negotiations had included the idea that each side would claim a different part of the city as its capitol.

The Trump administration abandoned those internationally accepted parameters, stopped engaging with Palestinians, unilaterally moved its embassy to Jerusalem and recognized the city as Israel’s capitol.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Glad to get into a productive discussion with you but suspect we (the royal we) don't want to go there.

We will agree to disagree on the quote above re: whether that laws are actually being enforced.

I feel like we've been having the same immigration debate since 2015. I feel like we need to make an active push as a nation to remove racism from our discussions around immigration and after that the rest of you can have all the conversations you want, my focus is elsewhere. Primarily, racism at home.

I'm happy to move to conversations where you can call me a radical and have it possibly actually be true

Something like this:

Truth, human decency, facts, the Constitution, Congress, democracy, science, history, logic, religion, the universal nature of mathematics & reality itself...

Ain’t shit when compared to the indefatigable delusion of Whiteness https://t.co/EBTDxjZ7dk

— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) January 19, 2021

[CrimsonFox]

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Radii

I feel like we've been having the same immigration debate since 2015. I feel like we need to make an active push as a nation to remove racism from our discussions around immigration and after that the rest of you can have all the conversations you want, my focus is elsewhere. Primarily, racism at home.

I'm happy to move to conversations where you can call me a radical and have it possibly actually be true

I think you are a reasonable person. It makes absolute sense to discuss illegal & legal immigration because it's now Biden's to own and he's doing something about it. Re: racism, true or partially true, it's part of the narrative now with immigration and they (inevitably) go hand in hand.

It's like weird we don't want to discuss it here but glad to create a separate thread so others won't have to deal with it. I can somewhat respect that as I didn't want to deal with the never ending Trump bashing on the Coronavirus "non-political" thread and said as much.

If you were offended by the "radical SJW" statement, I apologize. I was reacting to others (not you) in what I believe to be "in kind" sarcasm.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

I prefer the fists turning into a squid and floating away

[Edward64]

I'm beginning to like this Blinken fella.

Obviously, how Trump approached it did not produce great results but it is reassuring to know that Blinken agrees with high-level stance. Here's hoping he has a better approach.

Antony Blinken, Joe Biden's State Department Pick, Says Donald Trump 'Got It Right' on China

President-elect Joe Biden's secretary of state nominee welcomed bipartisan foreign policy ideas and said President Donald Trump was largely right in taking a hard stance toward China during his tenure in the White House.

The incoming president's pick to lead the U.S. State Department, former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, told Senate confirmation hearing members that "no party has a monopoly on good ideas." Blinken reiterated his opposition to "the way Trump went about" implementing his foreign policy, but he supported the president's peace efforts in Israel and the Balkans. In regards to China, which current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused of committing "genocide" on Tuesday, Blinken said he supports Trump's approach of leveraging U.S. strength.

[PilotMan]

hard line and tariffs have always been more the feeling of the left than that right when it came to China. The right has only been interested in opening the markets, globalization and free market. Any tariffs would have been met with vitriol for the most part. There will be a few things that are held over for sure, but they will have been things that for the most part were never part of the historical R positions.

The whole genocide thing is just one of those things that they had no interest addressing until it didn't hurt them one way or the other.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

The whole genocide thing is just one of those things that they had no interest addressing until it didn't hurt them one way or the other.

The Uyghurs and Rohingyas situation is definitely messed up. Knowing Biden, he feels for them. But being realistic, I'm not sure any President can do much about the Uyghurs because, right or wrong, they belong to China.

However, Myanmar re: Rohingyas should be susceptible to the US carrot & big stick approach if Biden really, really wanted to make a difference.

There are some other messed up ethnic groups in Africa. But after the Somalia "Black Hawk Down" incident & pull-out, it's understandable that US doesn't want to get too involved.

[GrantDawg]

As we enter this new day and era, I expect we are going to get a flurry of actions and reactions. There is a laundry list of Presidential executive orders coming, most countering the former President along with others dealing with the virus. An impeachment trail is going to eat the news, but they are going to have to move on confirming appointments along with trying to get some major legislation through (covid bill, John Lewis voters right act, and immigration reforms seem to be the first three).
The fact that Trump is still going to take up so much oxygen because of the trial really pisses me off, but nothing can be done now. The question is how long will it go, and what will be the outcome? How badly is it going to interfere with good governance?

The other big question, what will be the thing that takes out the Biden honeymoon period? Something always does. I could believe that Biden might have had a longer honeymoon than normal just because of what we have been through the last 4 years. Will he?

[GrantDawg]

A few of the flurry of orders:

Count undocumented ppl in Census, begin rolling back Trump enviro actions and raising emission standards, create Covid response coordinator, rescind Trump interior immigration enforcement policy, dump 1776 Commission, do "Whole-of-Government Initiative to Advance Racial Equity"

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 20, 2021