[Discussion] Welcome to the Biden Administration!

Anything related to Biden and his upcoming administration. May this thread be less active and controversial as that last guys thread.

Create a toothless program called “Pedophiles are Bad” and then when the Democratic president ends the useless program, “Oh, see, they’re pro-pedophile. Q was right.”

DSGamer wrote:

Create a toothless program called “Pedophiles are Bad” and then when the Democratic president ends the useless program, “Oh, see, they’re pro-pedophile. Q was right.”

The party of "small government", folks.

Counterpoint: create a program called "launch pedophiles into the sun." Brag that you have launched 10x as many pedophiles into the sun as the comparable Republican program. 10x0=0, so you are mathematically correct. That's just science.

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Threading a needle there. I wonder what sort of leverage we've gained here. We still want them to stop fighting in Yemen, and we're now keeping more of their elite families from getting an education here, so we've got some cards in play. It's just a shame from a human rights angle.

Trump let the Saudis off the hook with the killing. We've been cozy with the Sauds for way too long to suddenly pretend we now care about their horrific history of human rights abuses when clearly we haven't done anything about our own abuses.

Reaper81 wrote:

Trump let the Saudis off the hook with the killing. We've been cozy with the Sauds for way too long to suddenly pretend we now care about their horrific history of human rights abuses when clearly we haven't done anything about our own abuses.

We could try to fix both.

Mixolyde wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:

Trump let the Saudis off the hook with the killing. We've been cozy with the Sauds for way too long to suddenly pretend we now care about their horrific history of human rights abuses when clearly we haven't done anything about our own abuses.

We could try to fix both.

How?

Specifically, how without destabilizing the entire global oil economy?

Like, why do you think we HAVEN'T made that attempt before?

The Saudi's have us over a barrel. Specifically, around 10 million barrels a day.

I still don't understand why we were just fine with 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers being Saudis.

I think Jonman made the case. Black blood runs the world.

The last word in your sentence answered your question.

I have serious problems with keeping them as allies, but I don't think there is any good way to extricate us out of the situation. I really don't like us selling them weapons.

Nevin73 wrote:

I don't think there is any good way to extricate us out of the situation.

The stupid thing is that the best way to stick it to the Saudis and erode their leverage is to go whole-hog on clean energy. If the US drastically reduced it's oil needs, it would also drastically reduce the Saudi's influence.

The stupid part of that is that that's chump change in term of benefit compared to all the other benefits that would come along with that shift (you know, like still having a functional ecosystem that will support human life in 100 years).

And we're still not doing it.

Jonman wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

I don't think there is any good way to extricate us out of the situation.

The stupid thing is that the best way to stick it to the Saudis and erode their leverage is to go whole-hog on clean energy. If the US drastically reduced it's oil needs, it would also drastically reduce the Saudi's influence.

The stupid part of that is that that's chump change in term of benefit compared to all the other benefits that would come along with that shift (you know, like still having a functional ecosystem that will support human life in 100 years).

And we're still not doing it.

Or... and hear me out here... we sell the Saudis F-35s fighters and M1 tanks.

Reaper81 wrote:
Jonman wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

I don't think there is any good way to extricate us out of the situation.

The stupid thing is that the best way to stick it to the Saudis and erode their leverage is to go whole-hog on clean energy. If the US drastically reduced it's oil needs, it would also drastically reduce the Saudi's influence.

The stupid part of that is that that's chump change in term of benefit compared to all the other benefits that would come along with that shift (you know, like still having a functional ecosystem that will support human life in 100 years).

And we're still not doing it.

Or... and hear me out here... we sell the Saudis F-35s fighters and M1 tanks.

That got a chuckle. And it sets up another round of shredding our stuff to keep it out of our former ally's hands.

Poor Maverick
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A surge in migrant children detained at the border is straining shelters.

The number of unaccompanied migrant children detained along the southern border has tripled in the last two weeks to more than 3,250, filling facilities akin to jails as the Biden administration struggles to find room for them in shelters, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

More than 1,360 of the children have been detained beyond the 72 hours permitted by law before a child must be transferred to a shelter, according to one of the documents, dated March 8. The figures highlight the growing pressure on President Biden to address the increased number of people trying to cross the border in the belief that he will be more welcoming to them than former President Donald J. Trump was.

Cue the conservatives saying that viciousness and cruelty work.

Malor wrote:

Cue the conservatives saying that viciousness and cruelty work.

No, they're highlighting the "akin to jails" part, noting that Biden is no better than Trump in this regard.

Republicans don't care about the kids in jail, only that Biden is doing it, and Democrats don't care that the kids are in jail if Biden is doing it.

Welcome to the dystopia!

Natus wrote:
Malor wrote:

Cue the conservatives saying that viciousness and cruelty work.

No, they're highlighting the "akin to jails" part, noting that Biden is no better than Trump in this regard.

The perception is what matters to people trying to cross the border.

Just put them in hotels, for f*ck's sake.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Republicans don't care about the kids in jail, only that Biden is doing it, and Democrats don't care that the kids are in jail if Biden is doing it.

No

So. How excited are we about what's in that stim pak?

Big money going toward cutting child poverty. Like, huge.

Targeted dollars going to lower 60% of incomes.

Lots more for dependent care support.

I'm hopeful so far. Pod Save America's latest episode gushed over it. It's potentially life-changing for many people that were barely helped by previous packages.

Top_Shelf wrote:

So. How excited are we about what's in that stim pak?

Big money going toward cutting child poverty. Like, huge.

Targeted dollars going to lower 60% of incomes.

Lots more for dependent care support.

It's a start.

A good start, don't get me wrong, and universes better than we'd ever expect from a Republican administration, but it's just a start, and there's a lot more work remaining to be done.

No more taxing of forgiven education loan money.

I'm not getting a dime from the new stimulus bill, and I'm f*cking fine with it. I want more money to go to the people that are struggling to make ends meet.

I wish it raised the minimum wage, but hey... centrists really like working across the aisle to make it look like they like everyone.

Vrikk wrote:

I'm not getting a dime from the new stimulus bill, and I'm f*cking fine with it. I want more money to go to the people that are struggling to make ends meet.

I wish it raised the minimum wage, but hey... centrists really like working across the aisle to make it look like they like everyone.

Yup. We're just below the phase-out, so we're getting the full whack. We don't remotely need it. I'm likely gonna be donating a significant proportion of it to a local food bank, precisely because that's where it's gonna do the most good.

Vrikk wrote:

I'm not getting a dime from the new stimulus bill, and I'm f*cking fine with it. I want more money to go to the people that are struggling to make ends meet.

I wish it raised the minimum wage, but hey... centrists really like working across the aisle to make it look like they like everyone.

I think it's more that they wanted to get the bill through and the $15 wage was never going to pass with the near non-existent margin in the Senate.

The Republicans were never going to give an inch, as we all know, so this clearly came down to centrist Democrats vs everyone else. And that's okay, because the bill did get out and any more waiting would put us in the position that nothing would get passed.

If Biden wants to fight for the minimum wage hike, it'll be done separately. And that's okay, it's a fight that seems better fought on its own than delaying a relief bill.

Damn it's nice to have an adult in charge. That was a solid address.

President Biden's approval on COVID-19 steady as country wary about reopening: POLL

“More than two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) approve of Biden's approach to the pandemic — a consistent result since he took office in January. At a moment of deep political polarization, his steady approval is also reinforced by positive marks from 35 percent of Republicans, 67 percent of independents and an overwhelming 98 percent of Democrats in the poll.”