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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 19, 2021 23:25:03 GMT
Whatsa matter, Huckle -- you never had a pet turtle?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 20, 2021 7:37:18 GMT
I'm wondering how many executive orders Biden is going to sign on his first day. I think about 3 or 4 have been announced in advance (Paris climate agreement, rejoining .WHO, Muslim country travel ban, immigration reform...). Some things like immigration reform or new climate change policies seem much too complicated to put into a quick presidential decree. Other things that I've seen on the list are simple (transgender rights in the military, quickly leagalising 11 million "Dreamers") would not give a consensual image of national unity if unwrapped with the first day's presents.
Being president is probably going to be a tough job. I don't know if he'll have as much time to hit the golf links as his predecessor did.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 20, 2021 17:35:53 GMT
Okay, I think the Biden speech gave me diabetes, but that was to be expected.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 20, 2021 17:51:44 GMT
So, apparently President Biden is going to sign 17 executive orders today.
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Post by bjd on Jan 20, 2021 19:42:13 GMT
I know it's petty but I find Jill Biden much more stylish and well-dressed than Melania Trump. Melania always looks as though Trump told her what to wear -- those belted wide skirts and stiletto heels.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 20, 2021 23:14:18 GMT
To respond to your comment with a single sentence: Jill Biden is a lady.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 21, 2021 5:10:57 GMT
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Post by Kimby on Jan 21, 2021 5:14:13 GMT
The Bidens won’t be redecorating the family quarters at the White House, or the Oval Office, because there’s so much work to do.
I’m hoping the Obama drapes are in storage and could be brought back easily. Joe might feel more at home.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 21, 2021 6:51:34 GMT
Kimby, the Oval Office has already been somewhat redecorated. The drapes & the rug are now the ones used by Clinton. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/20/biden-oval-office/I've seen a bunch of stories today about the deep cleaning done before the Bidens moved in. Also, their personal belongings were moved in for them today. I imagine most of the family rooms no longer look anything the way they did before. No pictures so far and believe me, I have looked.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 21, 2021 7:11:24 GMT
I'm surprised that so many things can be done through executive action. Of course I was already surprised at how Trump could so so many things the same way. If so many things can be done with a presidential signature, I don't see much point in the legislature.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 21, 2021 7:23:51 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 21, 2021 7:40:23 GMT
According to the figures I can find, Obama signed more executive orders than Trump - 276 to 212. Balance that though with Trump only serving one term. FDR holds the record at 3,522. For those serving one term or less, the following have issued more orders - JFK, Taft, Hoover, Harding, Johnson and Carter. I may have missed one or two but that is on a quick look.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 23, 2021 21:56:16 GMT
I don’t think Biden has much interest in the UK. There is often talk of the “special relationship “ but I think that has been dead for some time. Obama didn’t have much interest and I just discount Trump whatever.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 5:18:06 GMT
What I have read is that there is so much to repair in the United States that Biden will not being paying much attention to Europe or other continents for awhie. Perhaps he can send his Secretary of State on an introductory voyage.
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Post by bjd on Jan 24, 2021 7:35:05 GMT
Not only that Biden has lots of keep him busy domestically and on the international front with China, Iran, etc., but there is also his Irish heritage which was emphasized repeatedly in news articles. I think the UK is at the back of the line for his interest. In keeping with that remark about the "special relationship" being so special that only the Brits know about it.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 24, 2021 10:04:36 GMT
The "special relationship" was based on cooperation in past conflicts but bearing in mind America is not great at honouring it's veterans (come in Mr Trump) there is little chance of it enduring.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 24, 2021 10:13:58 GMT
There was a situation before his inauguration which made me think this isn't going to go well.
He was going somewhere with a throng of reporters when one said something like " Mr Biden, do you have word for the BBC? To which he replied "the BBC? I'm Irish!".
What the f*** does that mean? He's not Irish, he's American. Or is he a moist eyed plastic paddy dreaming of the old peat fires and his mammy and bumping off a few Protestants.
You'd think a 78 year old politician might have learnt a bit of diplomacy.
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Post by mossie on Jan 24, 2021 11:01:59 GMT
Mick you must realise that he is part of the Master Race and that we minions should grovel before him. As for the so called "special Relationship", that is a one way street. Please don't mention the war, it took the Japs to drag America into it, kicking and screaming. Up until then the Yanks had been following their two main war aims: 1. to strip all the wealth out of UK by selling us overpriced arms, and 2. to dismantle the British Empire.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 12:27:30 GMT
We're just lucky that they went on to pillaging the natural resources of South America and the Middle East once they had squeezed all of the juice out of Europe.
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Post by whatagain on Jan 24, 2021 14:26:22 GMT
I am unfortunately with Mossie on WW2. Britain made it that the Allies didn't lose the war. Had UK succumbed or sided with evil or signed a truce like the French, there was NO way US could have come to Europe. So i think they would have left is there. In 41 FDR listened to Churchill. In 44 no more.
As for the special relationship, the first signs are that after 4 years of 'AMERICA FIRST' we will get 4 years of 'BUY AMERICAN'.
One of the first things Biden did was to cancel an oleoduc (oil pipe) or gazoduc (gas pipe) that would have made it possible for Canada to sell into US.
No way mate. We buy US, get lost, seems to be the message. Source : CNN.
Why not after all. And why did we all think US was an american dream and that they liked us ?
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Post by casimira on Jan 24, 2021 14:36:29 GMT
Maybe I missed it, but I have not heard one word or mention of EDUCATION or anything remotely related.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 16:11:46 GMT
One of the first things Biden did was to cancel an oleoduc (oil pipe) or gazoduc (gas pipe) that would have made it possible for Canada to sell into US. And thank god for cancelling the oil pipeline. If they keep building crap like this, people will continue to believe that fossil fuels are the future, as they continue to do in Texas. I saw an "amusing" interview with a Texan Trump supporter on CNN who was saying that he would NEVER give Biden a chance. "I haven't believed a word he said in 47 years and I'm only 43 years old."
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Post by casimira on Jan 24, 2021 16:21:28 GMT
The cancelling of the pipeline does not sit well with Canadian PM Trudeau. Of course it's all about greed so no surprises there. For someone who paints himself a liberal, Trudeau's true colors have proven themselves to be just a veil.
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Post by bjd on Jan 24, 2021 18:10:55 GMT
Trudeau is trying to be all things to all people and it doesn't work. There are no Liberal MPs in either Alberta or Saskatchewan (the two provinces where the oil sands are), so he gets no political support from them at all.
The Conservative premier of Alberta spends his time complaining about the pipeline being cancelled, saying Trudeau should impose sanctions on the States (!), but the whole thing was a bad idea to start with. And there are two other pipelines that already exist, as well as indigenous people and environmentalists protesting about a pipeline that is supposed to run to the coast of British Columbia.
Of course, there are all those people who went to live and work in Alberta when there were lots of oil sands jobs (until the huge fires a few years ago), but there is no future in the oil industry, especially one which relies on high oil prices to make extraction worthwhile and also pollutes terribly.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 18:20:27 GMT
In terms of Biden, he will already have an almost impossible task of reducing the oil industry in both Texas and Alaska.
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Post by casimira on Jan 24, 2021 18:55:06 GMT
In terms of Biden, he will already have an almost impossible task of reducing the oil industry in both Texas and Alaska. Don't forget Louisiana...
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 18:57:22 GMT
I was giving Louisiana the benefit of the doubt due to the offshore drilling. It took California a long time, but most of the offshore drills have disappeared.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2021 19:48:30 GMT
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Post by htmb on Jan 24, 2021 21:22:45 GMT
Thanks for the last link, Bixa. I’m hopeful we will soon see the beginnings of an all encompassing federal plan, but it will take great minds and lots of cooperation to begin to build a workable educational system that interconnects with economic recovery as well as health and safety. The federal government oversees funding and can control and coerce states by providing/denying funds, but it’s the state governments that have the real power when it comes to properly educating children and paying teachers decent salaries.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2021 23:33:33 GMT
Absolutely, Htmb -- something which, as an educator, you know from the ground up. I don't think Biden's words about equity are empty, but there is a frightening amount of work that needs to be done to implement it. For one thing, the concept of "education" has to be really thought about and expanded beyond the automatic K through 12 vision of basic education. And what teachers do needs to be really thought about and respected. Before the pandemic forced kids to stay home, I had been shocked to find out how skimpy the qualifications to home-school children are. It appears anyone can just decide to do that, which is a terrible dismissal of teachers as prepared people with a vocation to do what they do. It's obvious that many people were not well served by those years in school and what can be done to rectify that is part of a whole range of problems. If people can read and write and show a certain level of education, they can be hired, whether or not they are psychologically suited for the job. If they can't show that they attended x number of years of school, they're going to earn poorly. This group is automatically set up for exploitation, not only in terms of what they get, but what the people they're supposed to serve will get. A case in point would be workers hired for nursing homes. Some of those people will be brilliant at the job because of they are drawn to that kind of caring work. Others will be there because it's the only work available to them, although they're not at all suited to it. Both the good ones and the poor ones will be paid the same & none will be truly vetted nor valued. By the same token, many people are well qualified on paper for jobs, and the basic skills they learned in school allow them to shine on tests. Again, there needs to be a deeper level of deciding who should be in certain jobs. As former teachers, students, or parents, we've all encountered people who shouldn't be teaching, for instance. And certainly, for the people hired to protect us, there has to be some kind of psychological screening to keep from hiring the ones who'll kneel on necks. I'm off on a tangent here, but all I really meant to do was to link two news stories that point up how poor leadership and pointless politicization of basic practicality trickles down to rather hatefully putting everyone at risk. Teacher’s obituary asked people to wear masks. Georgia school board members refusedand Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator.Apologies for veering off topic!
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