The Biden administration (was: The NEW 2020 Election Thread)

[cineater]

When people are hired because they're family members or just fit an agenda without any prior knowledge in the field. For example, Brazil has a health minister with no experience in the field, but he's a military guy, so it fits the agenda of their president.

What amazes me is how easily some people are moved toward certain beliefs by claims like those that Kamala Harris got her position "just because she's a woman of color" but don't even pretend to give a shit about Trump's giving a ton of unqualified people positions just for their loyalty and proximity/relation to him.

But that's all we heard about her.  When did anybody really make an effort to point out her qualifications?  The media went to great lengths to point out that she's a woman and is a minority. 

I can tell you nothing pisses me off more then when somebody points out that I'm a woman.  Like I don't fit there and don't have the right.  Fuck I'm tried of fighting for the right to do something just because I don't fit a fucking stereotype.  Stop pointing it out.  Yes you can argue that it's helping people to see they have stereotyped folks but when you're a stereotype it just distracts from what you are trying to do and you feel belittle by the whole thing.  God damn it, let's talk about what I am doing not what fucking sex I am.  You know that conversation always leads to how I'm doing because I'm a woman.  You just can't get out of that loop and look at the work being done.

[cineater]

Just goes to show you that some need very little to show their "anger".

Not exactly anti fascist when you smash windows of a Democratic party office.

That's one thing about working in government, do you stay and serve the greater good or save yourself and get the fuck out?  I could not have worked for Trump but how do you turn your back and walk away to leave it to him?

That's what happens when politics are more important than science and facts.

When people are hired because they're family members or just fit an agenda without any prior knowledge in the field. For example, Brazil has a health minister with no experience in the field, but he's a military guy, so it fits the agenda of their president.






/jarmo

I was thinking of a guy like Pence.  He had the qualifications for the job but then he was under Trump.  I think he's been on damage control for the last 4 years.  He realized Trump was a crazy once he got deeper involved, should have walked away to save his career and a lot of abuse but stayed.  Did he see himself as having an in and he was trying to keep even worse things from happening?  You'd see Trump walk stuff back.  Maybe Pence was the one getting to him.  Maybe we owe Pence a lot more then we know.

[jarmo]

I was thinking of a guy like Pence.  He had the qualifications for the job but then he was under Trump.  I think he's been on damage control for the last 4 years.  He realized Trump was a crazy once he got deeper involved, should have walked away to save his career and a lot of abuse but stayed.  Did he see himself as having an in and he was trying to keep even worse things from happening?  You'd see Trump walk stuff back.  Maybe Pence was the one getting to him.  Maybe we owe Pence a lot more then we know.

Sometimes it's as simple as "this might be my big chance even though it's not exactly like I envisioned it....". You'd rather go with it, than burn that bridge.

Many Republicans chose that path in the last four years. Going from against to supporting Trump and his lies.


Opportunists always tend to do that.

Report: Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution

Anyone surprised?





/jarmo

[cineater]

I was thinking of a guy like Pence.  He had the qualifications for the job but then he was under Trump.  I think he's been on damage control for the last 4 years.  He realized Trump was a crazy once he got deeper involved, should have walked away to save his career and a lot of abuse but stayed.  Did he see himself as having an in and he was trying to keep even worse things from happening?  You'd see Trump walk stuff back.  Maybe Pence was the one getting to him.  Maybe we owe Pence a lot more then we know.

Sometimes it's as simple as "this might be my big chance even though it's not exactly like I envisioned it....". You'd rather go with it, than burn that bridge.

Many Republicans chose that path in the last four years. Going from against to supporting Trump and his lies.


Opportunists always tend to do that.

Report: Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution

Anyone surprised?





/jarmo

Yeah there were several folks who did that.  I wouldn't say many turned.  I would say many didn't speak out and against, just rode it out.

[sandman]

Report: Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-biden-admin-discovers-trump-had-zero-plans-for-covid-vaccine-distribution

This actually debunked by Fauci.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vaccine-biden-trump/

“What's False
However, the Trump administration did have a plan in place for distributing COVID-19 vaccines, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's chief COVID-19 medical adviser, said the new administration would incorporate some aspects of that Trump-era strategy in its ongoing work.“

[sandman]

Not exactly anti fascist.....

Exactly! Again, don’t let their name fool you.

Twitter actually suspended Antifa accounts.  Twitter is anti-Antifa! Which is great to see.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2021/01/22/twitter-suspends-antifa-accounts-with-over-71k-followers/amp/

[jarmo]

Another reason not to be scared of anti fascists. Most of the real threat is from the opposite end.

Yet again, the right, along with Trump, like to portray these multiple groups as all belonging to one big group. Just like they tried painting anyone who doesn't agree with them as socialists and radicals.

And just like every right wing extremist isn't part of the KKK, not everyone to the left is Antifa. 




/jarmo

[PermissionToLand]

But that's all we heard about her.  When did anybody really make an effort to point out her qualifications?  The media went to great lengths to point out that she's a woman and is a minority. 

I can tell you nothing pisses me off more then when somebody points out that I'm a woman.  Like I don't fit there and don't have the right.  Fuck I'm tried of fighting for the right to do something just because I don't fit a fucking stereotype.  Stop pointing it out.  Yes you can argue that it's helping people to see they have stereotyped folks but when you're a stereotype it just distracts from what you are trying to do and you feel belittle by the whole thing.  God damn it, let's talk about what I am doing not what fucking sex I am.  You know that conversation always leads to how I'm doing because I'm a woman.  You just can't get out of that loop and look at the work being done.

What news have you been watching? I've been hearing about her record as an attorney general more than anything. The problem is that when one comment is made about her being a woman of color, it then gets tortured to death by right wing media because it plays into their narrative of "identity politics". For example, while trump supporters were storming the capitol, what was Tucker Carlson talking about? Kneeling during the national anthem.

In the end, you end up hearing about these things 10X more from fox news feigning outrage than the original comments themselves. And that's the point. They want to blow up every small offhand comment into a larger narrative and they want to distract with red meat "culture war" stuff to keep your eyes off what is really going on.

That said, the first woman of color becoming VP is a historical event. You can't expect people not to talk about it.

Now, in your case, I assume when people point out your gender, it's not because you were breaking historical ground in some way. That, I agree is unnecessary. I'm not sure what scenarios you have in mind specifically, but you don't have to explain if you don't want, of course. It's a difficult subject because it's very nuanced. For example, there is a real problem with absolute "colorblindness", as much as it seems on the surface to be treating people equally, because it also means blindness to how people are treated differently. There is a lot of sociological literature on this subject, in regard to racism:

https://lithub.com/science-the-colorblind-approach-to-racism-doesnt-work/

https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/schools/law/lawreviews/journals/bctwj/24_2/07_FMS.htm

[PermissionToLand]

Exactly! Again, don’t let their name fool you.

Twitter actually suspended Antifa accounts.  Twitter is anti-Antifa! Which is great to see.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2021/01/22/twitter-suspends-antifa-accounts-with-over-71k-followers/amp/

So are conservatives going to stop crying persecution by tech companies now?

[jarmo]

So are conservatives going to stop crying persecution by tech companies now?

Are they gonna acknowledge the role they had in what happened in DC? Or is it just about unity nowadays?



In other news, Biden got rid off the Diet Coke button!





/jarmo

[tim_m]

That said, the first woman of color becoming VP is a historical event. You can't expect people not to talk about it.

Exactly, you can't not acknowledge this. A Black South Asian woman Vice President walked into the Whitehouse Wednesday afternoon. You have to acknowledge what this means to women and people of color.

[pilferk]

Report: Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-biden-admin-discovers-trump-had-zero-plans-for-covid-vaccine-distribution

The reality is the plan the Trump had in place was rudimentary, at best, and was basically "Vaccine manufacturers will drop off vaccine to the states and let them figure it out".  The fed logistics coordination basically ended when the vaccine hit the states runway. I would argue the headline should have been "Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution Directly to People's Arms" or something like that.

Because the truth is that the Trump admin had almost no plan to actually get shots in arms.  They asked for plans from the states for distribution, which the fed was supposed to review and approve.  They approved some shitty fucking plans (see Florida, for example). And then they concerned themselves with getting FedEx and UPS to pickup boxes and deliver them to states.  Once that happened, the Trump admin pretty much washed their hands of the whole process. Their "plan"  was, in a nutshell: "We are getting the states plenty of vaccine. What they do after that is their problem."  THATS the part where there really was no plan.

The logistics in the plan they DID have also sucked. They were not equitable, and they made zero sense in terms of population or need or anything else.  And they didn't even follow a lot of their own plan, in terms of tracking and stockpiling.  That's one of the issues the new administration is dealing with: They literally don't know what they have, what the states have, and where any of it is.  States say they've sent all this information to the fed...but nobody can find the repository (if there even was one). THIS is why you leave the CDC involved in this process....they are masters of this kind of data tracking and sourcing.

So, what Biden's admin now has to do is take the woefully inadequate logistical plan, beef it up, add tracing and data analytics so they actually know what's going on, and then extend that initial plan all the way to getting shots in arms.  In terms of from manufacture to inoculation, the incoming administration had about 20% of a bad plan that wasn't being followed, and they needed to create 80 percent of the plan, to then apply to 50 states, to get the shots from delivery into people's actual arms.

The facts are these: There was a very rudimentary plan on the back end. There was no real plan from the point of delivery by the manufacturers to get the vaccine distributed into people's arms. The previous administration thought it prudent to wash their hands of that part of the plan...which is the hardest, most complicated, part of the process. The "plan" was to let the states deal with it, without any real logistical support or guidelines.  Calling THAT a plan is disingenious, IMHO, and meant to deflect from the fact the Trump admin failed at this whole process.  I see that's what the conservative media has latched on to: "There was a plan"!  When the Biden admin says "there wasn't a plan", I take that to mean there wasn't a plan to actually get shots in arms. I think that's the logical interpretation, given what the Biden plan covers.

The point, of course, outside of that deflective semantic argument  (which seems to be the talking point of the conservative media): The Trump admin, once again, failed bigly in handling this virus.  Their plan, even for what it did cover, was inadequate, wasn't followed, and left us worse off than we should otherwise have been if there were actual capable people in charge of this process, or actual accountability within the previous administration. On top of that, their plan was incomplete, given the gargantuan nature of the task at hand. It didn't get the vaccine all the way to delivery into citizens arms. This wasn't something that should have been "left to the states".  It's something that practically the begged for the fed to lend a helping hand.  It's the exact kind of large scale logistical disaster response....albeit across 50 states...that the fed is geared to handle.

That's what Biden means to do...a complete plan, from end to end.  With adequate tracking and data analytics so that they know where everything is, and what's happening to it.  Right now, that lack of information is fucking things up, royally.

[jarmo]

The problem is that too often people think "they'll figure it out". "Let the market figure it out, they don't need to be told what to do" etc etc.

And what happens? When you don't give people specific rules to follow, they'll take liberties.

Everyone wants to make a profit, the bigger the better. Without clear instruction and rules, that's usually a recipe for fuck ups.


There's a reason why sports have rules instead of letting the players figure it out!




/jarmo

[PermissionToLand]

Are they gonna acknowledge the role they had in what happened in DC? Or is it just about unity nowadays?



In other news, Biden got rid off the Diet Coke button!





/jarmo

It's like somebody kicking you in the nuts and then saying "Gee, where did all this division come from? Why can't you be more civil?"

[jarmo]

Many have made the mistake of not acknowledging their past before trying uniting. Then it's never dealt with.....

Countries that were dictatorships didn't try to find out what was done in the name of the regime, and who did what. No one held accountable for things done.


In this case, I don't understand how people who were elected in elections can sit there and act like nothing is wrong, when just a few weeks ago they were supporting people who were trying to stop democracy.


Speaking of consequences, Rudy was sued for $1.3bn by the voting machine company....




President Biden to Sign Executive Order Strengthening Buy American Provisions, Ensuring Future of America is Made in America by All of America’s Workers

Executive Order on Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform






/jarmo

[PermissionToLand]

Report: Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-biden-admin-discovers-trump-had-zero-plans-for-covid-vaccine-distribution

The reality is the plan the Trump had in place was rudimentary, at best, and was basically "Vaccine manufacturers will drop off vaccine to the states and let them figure it out".  The fed logistics coordination basically ended when the vaccine hit the states runway. I would argue the headline should have been "Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution Directly to People's Arms" or something like that.

Because the truth is that the Trump admin had almost no plan to actually get shots in arms.  They asked for plans from the states for distribution, which the fed was supposed to review and approve.  They approved some shitty fucking plans (see Florida, for example). And then they concerned themselves with getting FedEx and UPS to pickup boxes and deliver them to states.  Once that happened, the Trump admin pretty much washed their hands of the whole process. Their "plan"  was, in a nutshell: "We are getting the states plenty of vaccine. What they do after that is their problem."  THATS the part where there really was no plan.

The logistics in the plan they DID have also sucked. They were not equitable, and they made zero sense in terms of population or need or anything else.  And they didn't even follow a lot of their own plan, in terms of tracking and stockpiling.  That's one of the issues the new administration is dealing with: They literally don't know what they have, what the states have, and where any of it is.  States say they've sent all this information to the fed...but nobody can find the repository (if there even was one). THIS is why you leave the CDC involved in this process....they are masters of this kind of data tracking and sourcing.

So, what Biden's admin now has to do is take the woefully inadequate logistical plan, beef it up, add tracing and data analytics so they actually know what's going on, and then extend that initial plan all the way to getting shots in arms.  In terms of from manufacture to inoculation, the incoming administration had about 20% of a bad plan that wasn't being followed, and they needed to create 80 percent of the plan, to then apply to 50 states, to get the shots from delivery into people's actual arms.

The facts are these: There was a very rudimentary plan on the back end. There was no real plan from the point of delivery by the manufacturers to get the vaccine distributed into people's arms. The previous administration thought it prudent to wash their hands of that part of the plan...which is the hardest, most complicated, part of the process. The "plan" was to let the states deal with it, without any real logistical support or guidelines.  Calling THAT a plan is disingenious, IMHO, and meant to deflect from the fact the Trump admin failed at this whole process.  I see that's what the conservative media has latched on to: "There was a plan"!  When the Biden admin says "there wasn't a plan", I take that to mean there wasn't a plan to actually get shots in arms. I think that's the logical interpretation, given what the Biden plan covers.

The point, of course, outside of that deflective semantic argument  (which seems to be the talking point of the conservative media): The Trump admin, once again, failed bigly in handling this virus.  Their plan, even for what it did cover, was inadequate, wasn't followed, and left us worse off than we should otherwise have been if there were actual capable people in charge of this process, or actual accountability within the previous administration. On top of that, their plan was incomplete, given the gargantuan nature of the task at hand. It didn't get the vaccine all the way to delivery into citizens arms. This wasn't something that should have been "left to the states".  It's something that practically the begged for the fed to lend a helping hand.  It's the exact kind of large scale logistical disaster response....albeit across 50 states...that the fed is geared to handle.

That's what Biden means to do...a complete plan, from end to end.  With adequate tracking and data analytics so that they know where everything is, and what's happening to it.  Right now, that lack of information is fucking things up, royally.

That's far too much nuance. We just need a quick "gotcha" for Sandy so he can "own the libs" with a Snopes "mixed" rating and then dust off his hands and walk away. Waters muddied, job done.

Even if you take at face value that they are against the federal government guiding the states' distribution in principle, there is no excuse to not use the federal government as a practical tool when states are coming up short and asking for help. Unless, I suppose, one is more concerned with abstract ideological principles than actually saving lives and serving the functions of basic governance...

[pilferk]

Are they gonna acknowledge the role they had in what happened in DC? Or is it just about unity nowadays?



In other news, Biden got rid off the Diet Coke button!





/jarmo

It's like somebody kicking you in the nuts and then saying "gee, where did all this division come from? Why can't you be more civil?"

Exactly this.

"Why can't you be civil to us, and foster unity, after we've kicked you in the nuts repeatedly."

[PermissionToLand]

FBI: Texan charged in Capitol riot tweeted ‘Assassinate AOC’

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-dallas-media-social-media-95cd441fb6adb55502f0300230f33eac

[pilferk]

That's far too much nuance. We just need a quick "gotcha" for Sandy so he can "own the libs" with a Snopes "mixed" rating and then dust off his hands and walk away. Waters muddied, job done.

Gotta be honest: I skip his posts entirely so didn't know he'd latched on to the talking point.  It doesn't surprise me: typical troll tactic.  Muddy the water, play a semantic game, and ignore the larger point.  Trolls thrive on shit like that. It's a game of distraction, misdirection, and outright lying.  It's why I don't play it. They won't answer direct questions, they won't engage in good faith discussion. It's all intellectual dishonesty, faux pearl clutching, and obvious propaganda, to try to get a reaction. I mean, it's the general uninventive troll playbook.

Trolls prove who they are all by themselves.  I don't feel the need to feed them. YMMV.

Even if you take at face value that they are against the federal government guiding the states' distribution in principle, there is no excuse to not use the federal government as a practical tool when states are coming up short and asking for help. Unless, I suppose, one is more concerned with abstract ideological principles than actually saving lives and serving the functions of basic governance...

I can't even give them that much leeway.  If this was a hurricane that destroyed a city (unless it was in Puerto Rico), they would have unleashed the guard, the army, and every other resource they could for logistics and support.  It's one of the times "big government" is agreed by everyone to be effective.

If this was some sort kneeling to an ideological principal, it was a damn shitty one that endangered every life in the US.  

[pilferk]

FBI: Texan charged in Capitol riot tweeted ‘Assassinate AOC’

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-dallas-media-social-media-95cd441fb6adb55502f0300230f33eac

I can't say I'm surprised.

And yet, you have conservatives bitching over lost followers and bans.  Talk about petty, superficial and callous

This was the type of shit that was getting people banned.