When Joe Biden Takes the White House, What’s Next for the Left?
BY
The American left has been transformed over the past four years under President Donald Trump. But the Left will have to organize and fight just as hard under President Joe Biden.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/joe-biden-president-left-strategy-dsa
** Babblemod has closed the earlier, less adulatory, 'Biden Regime' thread, without explanation or consultation. Please review its contents for critical information on the American warcriminal President Joe Biden contained therein:
The Biden Regime
https://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/biden-regime-1
'The Beltway Blob is going to love the new Secretary of State'
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1351637518467403776
"The biggest neocon in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, is thrilled by Tony Blinken's response to his questions, starting with him agreeing that Iran is 'the world's worst sponsor of terrorism.'
Because Israel.
Blinken is a pretty uninspiring choice. Pressure from the House rank and file needs to be kept on him and Biden
"...He is intimately familiar with the full scope of the President-elect's foreign policy views as well as the issues of utmost concern to the Jewish community, including full-throated support for the US-Israel relationship, widening the growing circle of Arab-Israel peace, the fight against global antisemitism, and the danger posed by Iran and its proxies...Blinken reaffirmed the former Vice President's support for Israel and his opposition to the BDS movement.
'You can count on Joe Biden to make sure Israel has what it needs.'
AJC Welcomes Nomination of Antony Blinken as Incoming US Secretary of State
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release/ajc-welcomes-nomination-of-anton...
Some things never change. But cue trained babble seals to slap flippers and bark in joyous celebration.
'But Russia...But China...But Iran...'
dp
You must have been under the mistaken impression that he was considering Rashida Tlaib for Secretary of State. Let's see what actions they take, or do not take, rather than boilerplate statements at confirmation hearings.
The American state is an evil enemy no matter who helms it or which flavour of minion sits in which chair. This administration will be the worst yet. Behind the full-court press of an amped up media sell of identity politics and empty virtue-signalling gestures, this will be first and foremost a war party. Within and without. You'll see. We all will. Count on it.
'The Beltway Blob is going to love the new Secretary of State'
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1351637518467403776
"The biggest neocon in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, is thrilled by Tony Blinken's response to his questions, starting with him agreeing that Iran is 'the world's worst sponsor of terrorism.'
Because Israel.
I would agree that they are among the worst at sponsoring terrorism. The US is definitely numero uno and I think the Saudi's might come in second. I suspect that Iran would not even make the top ten of a real list.
Biden Institute Reportedly Won't Disclose Donors Even as Inauguration Looms
https://nypost.com/2021/01/18/biden-institute-wont-disclose-donors-even-...
"...But unlike other foundations and groups carrying Biden's name, which were shut down in 2019 when he announced his White House bid, The Biden Institute will continue to exist and fundraise as the 78-year-old takes the Oval Office Wednesday - sparking concern that donors trying to curry favor with the administration will continue funneling monehy to the organization, Politico reported Monday.
The Biden family has been dogged by allegations of impropriety and charges that Biden's scandal-scarred son Hunter Biden swapped access to his VP father to land multi-million [dollar] deals in China and Ukraine as first revealed by the Post.* 'They should at the very least disclose their donors, and I think the Biden family should at the very least take their name off it if they're going to continue to raise money,' Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer in President George W Bush's White House, told Politico."
*Biden initially attempted to discount the corruption allegations as a 'Russian disinformation campaign' and the story was censored and suppressed by msm and Silicon Valley social media platforms during the election campaign. After, it was revealed the authorities were indeed in possession of the laptop and there was an official FBI investigation underway.
Although Trump was relentlessly attacked from every quarter on his own corrupt practices, watch the US deep state, msm and government bury this story and ensure it goes nowhere, now that Uncle Joe is safely esconced in the Oval Office, the leader of the 'Free World'.
Pepe Escobar: Baghdad on the Potomac - Welcome to the Blue Zone
http://thesaker.is/baghdad-on-the-potomac-welcome-to-the-blue-zone/
"The seasons opening of the Joe and Kammy Regime Change Show could not be a more appropriate roomful of mirrors reflecting the self-declared US 'political elite.' Only satire is capable of doing justice to what is, de facto, the Potemkin inauguration of a hologram. So welcome to the most popular president in history, inaugurated in secrecy and fearful of his own, fake Praetorian Guard. The Global South has seen this grisly show before - in endless reruns. But never as a hologram Hollywood flick.
Close attention should be paid to a key item: 'Colossal Rebuilding of the Military'. This is what is going to play a key role beyond January 20 - as Gen Flynn has been extremely busy showing evidence to the military at all levels, of how 'compromised' is the new Hologram in Chief. And then there's the rolling, never-ending November 3 drama. Blame should be duly apportioned. Impeachment, digital witch-hunts, rounding up 'domestic terrorists', that is not enough. 'Foreign interference is a must..."
In his first hours as president, Joe Biden will aim to strike at the heart of President Donald Trump’s policy legacy, signing a series of executive actions that reverse his predecessor’s orders on immigration, climate change and handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden on Wednesday will end construction on Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall, end the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization and revoke the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline,
'May God bless America. May God bless our troops.' - Biden inauguration: 1/20/2021
God Bless America - by Harold Pinter
http://www.haroldpinter.org/politics/god_bless_america.shtml
Here they go again/ The Yanks in their armoured parade/ Chanting their ballads of joy/ As they gallop across the big world/ Praising America's God..."
Biden's Key Role in the Crime of the Century: The 2003 US Invasion of Iraq
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/01/19/bidens-key-role-in-the-crime...
'Take this son of a bitch down.' Biden's support for regime change in Iraq cast back to the late 1990s." See also link to Part 1 at end of article.
Bernie sums it up well.
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1351668009849520130
Economy was worse in January 2009.
I dunno. The recovery was always a mirage where full-time jobs were replaced by temp/gig work and the economy was hollowed out with private equity buying companies up and stripping them bare. Stats were boosted but you didn't have to dig very hard to see it was a house of cards ready to be knocked down during the next crisis (a mere 12 years later). I'd say it's worse now because it's further down that trajectory and doesn't look to be slowing down.
You have some very good points, melovesproles. In the 10+ years since the financial collapse, what ever job gains were made were basically in the gig economy or warehousing temp/low wage work that fueled both big box and online retail giants. It's hard to fathom these days how to move forward establishing decent wages in full-time blue and white collar jobs (I feel ancient just using those terms).
Those 2 Democratic Georgia Senators are looking larger and larger every minute
https://www.axios.com/joe-biden-cabinet-america-rising-5f62a9ae-d7e5-47b...
A source told CNN on Thursday morning that the new administration will “have to build everything from scratch” thanks to former President Donald Trump’s reported lack of strategy with the vaccine rollout.
“There is nothing for us to rework,” they said.
Biden will have to start from “square one,” said another source, who called Trump’s nonexistent distribution plan “just further affirmation of complete incompetence.”
JFK
Brayden Harrington — the boy with the stutter who spoke at the DNC — is reciting from JFK’s inaugural address at tonight’s concert. He’s wearing a bow tie. Really brave.
— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) January 21, 2021
Canadians should cheer as new U.S. government pushes sweeping election reforms
Please chip in to support more articles like this. Support rabble.ca for as little as $5 per month!
January 21, 2021
The now former U.S. president and his frenzied supporters claim U.S. elections, and especially the most recent one, are corrupt and rigged. Strange as it seems, they are correct -- although not at all in the way they mean.
The fundamental flaw in U.S. elections is not that dead people vote, or that voting machines change votes, or that mail-in ballots are fraudulent. All of those claims are examples of big-lie politics. They would be laughable were their impact not so deadly.
What is wrong with the U.S. election process is that it makes it extremely difficult for a good many citizens to exercise their right to vote, especially the young, Black people, and people of colour. As well, U.S. election laws give self-interested political officials the power to creatively draw electoral boundaries in ways that suit their purely partisan interests.
There is now a chance -- if, perhaps, only a slim one -- the new U.S. government will reform those anti-democratic practices.
Environment and energy are priorities for Canadians
A new president has assumed office, pledging a return to civility and respect for truth, and promising to restore and repair democracy in the U.S.
Of more immediate interest to Canada is that President Joe Biden has also re-joined the Paris accord on climate change, and begun the task of restoring multiple environmental regulations Donald Trump scrapped.
Those regulations relate to fuel standards, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, national parks and forests (including some on the Canada-U.S. border), offshore drilling, Arctic drilling, and much more. Most have direct and consequential impacts on Canada.
The other side of the environmental coin, as we all know, is Biden's revocation of the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. That's a blow to Alberta's fossil-fuel industry. Perhaps it will motivate Albertans, and, indeed, all Canadians, to look harder at sustainable, less polluting, renewable forms of energy, such as wind and tidal power.
Environment and energy are key elements of our relationship with the U.S. They have been for many decades.
But we Canadians should also care about Americans' democracy agenda, in particular, as it relates to the way in which they conduct their elections.
A big piece of reform legislation
As Biden and the new vice-president Kamala Harris take office, both houses of the U.S. Congress are considering a massive bill called For the People. If passed, this bill would have a near-revolutionary effect on the U.S. practice of electoral democracy.
For the People's stated aims are: "to expand Americans' access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy."
It's heady stuff.
In Canada, federal and provincial governments are separate and distinct when it comes to their elections. Each order of government runs its own show. Not so in the U.S. There the states manage and regulate all elections, even for president and other federal offices.
For the People seeks to get the states to run fairer elections, through federal financial incentives and the federal government's authority under the 14th amendment, which gives it the duty to "protect the right to vote."
One of the bill's main goals is to abolish age-old practices that impede the right to vote for members of minority groups. Among those is some states' practice of "purging" citizens who failed to vote in at least two elections from their electoral lists. For the People would put a hard stop to that.
For the People would also oblige the states to automatically register all voters, and would end gerrymandering, by establishing non-partisan redistricting commissions. Among the bill's other requirements would be 15 early voting days in all states and equal access for all Americans to voting by mail.
Many of these reforms would mirror decades-old electoral practices in Canada and most other established democracies.
In Canada, for instance, we have had a permanent voters' list for nearly 25 years. Even before that, at election time a non-partisan agency, Elections Canada, would assure that every eligible Canadian was registered to vote.
Canadians have never had to personally go to a local government office and register themselves, which is still a widespread U.S. practice.
There is one measure in For the People which is sure to incur much vociferous opposition. The bill would restore the right to vote for U.S. citizens with past criminal convictions. Many U.S. states now ban convicted felons from voting, even after they have served their time.
Again, the U.S. is very much an outlier in this regard. Very few democracies deny the right to vote to former prisoners who are out of jail and living in the community. In fact, Canada even extends the vote to citizens who are currently incarcerated.
And there's more.
This major U.S. democratic reform bill would guarantee the right of citizens to same-day voter registration, would assure that all voting machines provide a paper version for each ballot cast, and would prohibit state election officials from taking part in partisan political campaigns.
There are also some crucial non-election-related provisions in For the People.
For instance, the bill would require U.S. presidents and vice-presidents to provide full public financial disclosure (including their tax information) and to divest themselves of holdings that could engender conflicts of interest. A future Donald Trump would not be able to conduct private business while president, and would have to publicly release all his tax returns.
Electoral chicanery and attacks on Elections Canada
Canada took its time to establish a fair, open and universal electoral democracy.
In one province, Quebec, women did not get the right to vote until 1940. And it was not until 1960 that Progressive Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker saw to it that the franchise was extended to First Nations people (who, at the time, were known, officially, as status Indians).
However, for many decades we have benefited from a well-managed voting system, with entirely non-partisan and professional Elections Canada taking the lead.
Mercifully, there have been few incidents of chicanery during Canadian election campaigns. One such rare case was the so-called robocall affair, during the 2011 campaign. That was when pre-recorded fraudsters, claiming to be from Elections Canada, called voters to falsely tell them their polling locations had been moved.
Only one government in recent memory openly tried to undermine Elections Canada, the government led by Conservative Stephen Harper. It happened in 2014, when Harper's democratic reform minister Pierre Poilievre brought in the oxymoronically named Fair Elections Act.
Among other outrages, Poilievre's legislation weakened Elections Canada's capacity to investigate electoral abuses. As well, his act created onerous new ID requirements, which made it more difficult for many to vote.
The Trudeau Liberals rolled back most of those undemocratic electoral measures.
U.S. has never fully democratized elections
In the U.S., the current Congress and the newly elected president must confront more than a century of well-established anti-democratic practices.
As the drafters of For the People put it in the preamble to their bill:
"Congress finds that racial discrimination in access to voting and the political process persists. Voting restrictions, redistricting, and other electoral practices and processes continue to disproportionately impact communities of colour in the United States and do so as a result of both intentional racial discrimination, structural racism, and the ongoing structural socioeconomic effects of historical racial discrimination."
And that's only a small part of an old, old story.
The Democratic party has a majority in the House of Representatives, enough to pass this legislation, even if no Republicans agree. In the Senate, however, to limit the time for debate on a bill, and end a filibuster which can effectively kill any legislation, you need 60 votes.
There are 50 Democrats in the Senate, meaning, if the Democratic senators all support For the People, they will still need the help of 10 Republicans to get the bill to President Biden's desk. Getting those 10 will be a tall order, but not necessarily impossible.
Stay tuned. This fight has only just been joined in earnest.
Karl Nerenberg has been a journalist and filmmaker for more than 25 years. He is rabble's politics reporter.
Image credit: ehpien/Flickr
https://rabble.ca/news/2021/01/canadians-should-cheer-new-us-government-...
New First Kitty!
Joe Biden has been president for 34 hours. pic.twitter.com/yCXMscW9mo
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) January 22, 2021
We have to stop going backwards. Democrats should figure out a way to turn this around
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-21/instacart-to-cut-1-90...
Biden wants to remove the word "alien"
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/politics/alien-biden-immigration-law/inde...
-------
https://abcnews.go.com/US/capitol-rioter-allegedly-posted-pelosis-office...
Thanks MegB
--------------------------
More good news
As Fox News suffers layoffs and mass defections by viewers, they have to change their game. They can’t be the Fictional News Channel anymore. We are in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis caused by Donald Trump and a Republican senate. Fox News viewers, who skew older and poorer than CNN and MSNBC, know that. Fox is lying to them and they get it.
Roger Ailes would have changed with the times.
https://www.showbiz411.com/2021/01/22/inauguration-cable-ratings-cnn-tri...
--------------------
Amanda Gorman's Poem and Bernie's Mitts were Wednesday's highlites for me.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/01/22/news/transformative-toronto-...
Barack Obama!!!
https://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/barack-obama
Here we go again...
Twenty-three minutes after assuming the presidency, Joe Biden demanded the resignation of Peter Robb, the notoriously anti-union general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board appointed by Donald Trump. Robb refused to resign, so Biden fired him. Alice Stock, another anti-union Trump appointee, then assumed the role of acting general counsel—and Biden demanded her resignation the next day. Stock also refused to resign, so Biden fired her, too.
Both Robb and Stock, who relentlessly undermined unions’ ability to organize and bargain, are now complaining that Biden fired them without just cause. Stock went so far as to suggest that Robb’s firing was illegal. She is wrong. Robb and Stock were at-will employees of the executive. Like the countless American workers whom they prevented from unionizing, they had no guarantee against termination without just cause. Biden did not violate any laws. He simply gave the nation’s chief union busters a taste of their own medicine.
Bernie Sanders Is Right, and Joe Biden Is Wrong. We Still Need Medicare for All.
BY
Joe Biden and the Democratic establishment refuse to push Medicare for All even as COVID-19 continues to ravage the country. That’s all the more reason for us to demand, alongside Bernie Sanders, that everyone get the health care they need free of charge until the pandemic is over.
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/bernie-sanders-biden-administration-medic...
Sweet!
Biden gives Trump's union busters a taste of their own medicine
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/peter-robb-alice-stock-nlrb-...
This administration will be the worst yet. Behind the full-court press of an amped up media sell of identity politics and empty virtue-signalling gestures, this will be first and foremost a war party. Within and without. You'll see. We all will. Count on it.
NDPP, I hope this doesn't make you puke but I hope that Biden's presidency helps increase peace and justice in our world. I hope I am not being naive but within 4 years we will be able to evaluate the Biden presidency and I hope things work out well.
If Joe Biden Moves Left, You Can Thank the Left
Joe Biden has issued a raft of executive orders that are surprisingly progressive. But we know who to thank: the organized left, which has helped transform US politics.
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/joe-biden-administration-liberalism-policy
The Jimmy Dore Show
Biden drops public option - betrays campaign promise
That didn't take long.
He hasn't dropped it. At least not yet. But he didn't deliver it in the first two days.
Quite inspirational!
Transcript of Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/535052-read-transcript-of-amanda-gorma...
This town powered America for decades. What do we owe them?
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/23/opinions/biden-climate-change-gillette-wy...
To Ole White Joe & J Lo re 'This Land is Your Land...' (and vid)
https://twitter.com/realcreewarrior/status/1352609124895211521
Cuz everyone needs a reminder.
Biden Pentagon Pick Could Make Up to $1.7 M From Leaving Raytheon
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/533631-biden-pentagon-pick-could-make...
"President Joe Biden's choice to be Defense secretary, retired Gen Lloyd Austen, stands to make up to $1.7 million when he leaves the board of defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp...according to his financial disclosure form. Austen took a board seat at United Technologies Corp shortly after he retired from the military in 2016. He became a board member at Raytheon after it merged with United Technologies in 2020..."
Nice pick Uncle Joe! Who better to lead the US military than a warpig from the arms industry?
Biden drops public option - betrays campaign promise
That didn't take long.
Maybe this should be fact checked? It would be terrible if it was true.
Democrats looking to introduce bill that would offer families at least $3k per child
The IRS would send $300 monthly checks for families with a child under 6 and $250 payments for children between 6 and 17
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-bill-families-at-least-3k-per...
Democrats looking to introduce bill that would offer families at least $3k per child.
These kinds of disbursements are a good way of dealing with income inequality. They should be made permanent on both sides of the border.
Biden drops public option - betrays campaign promise
That didn't take long.
Maybe this should be fact checked? It would be terrible if it was true.
[quote=NDPP]
Of course it's fucking true. Why wouldn't it be? Joe Biden's been a crooked snake for his entire half century in politics. There's hardly a lack of evidence. Where have you been? That'll teach you to only read the Dem Yanqui propaganda? Better try again...
Joe Biden Lifted His Health Care Plan From Insurance Industry Lobbyists
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/joe-biden-public-option-health-insura...
"Instead of pushing a promised public health care option or expanding Medicare or any of the other health reforms the US desperately needs, Joe Biden's health care reform draws from proposals from for-profit health insurance companies..."
How Biden Helped Stop Bankruptcy Protection for Millions Just Before a Recession
https://www.gq.com/story/joe-biden-bankruptcy-bill
"...Biden was one of the bill's major Democratic Champions. As political writer Alexander Cockburn once wrote, 'the first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations which use the tiny state as a drop box and legal sanctuary. Biden has never failed his masters in this primary task. Find any bill that sticks it to the ordinary folk on behalf of the Money Power and you'll likely detect Biden's hand at work."
What the Democrats hope to do on healthcare now
Biden drops public option - betrays campaign promise
That didn't take long.
Maybe this should be fact checked? It would be terrible if it was true.
Of course it's fucking true. Why wouldn't it be? Joe Biden's been a crooked snake for his entire half century in politics. There's hardly a lack of evidence. Where have you been? That'll teach you to only read the Dem Yanqui propaganda? Better try again...
Joe Biden Lifted His Health Care Plan From Insurance Industry Lobbyists
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/joe-biden-public-option-health-insura...
"Instead of pushing a promised public health care option or expanding Medicare or any of the other health reforms the US desperately needs, Joe Biden's health care reform draws from proposals from for-profit health insurance companies..."
How Biden Helped Stop Bankruptcy Protection for Millions Just Before a Recession
https://www.gq.com/story/joe-biden-bankruptcy-bill
"...Biden was one of the bill's major Democratic Champions. As political writer Alexander Cockburn once wrote, 'the first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations which use the tiny state as a drop box and legal sanctuary. Biden has never failed his masters in this primary task. Find any bill that sticks it to the ordinary folk on behalf of the Money Power and you'll likely detect Biden's hand at work."
That's his COVID relief package, not his health care plan. He's not going want a drawn out debate over health insurance policy when he's trying to get emergency relief to individuals.
Miguel Cardona is being given one of the most important positions in the new administration
Betty DeVos and the politics of fear
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/24/betsy-devos-and-the-politics-of-fear-a-...
Biden's Secretary of State Nominee Endorses Lies About Chinese 'genocide' of Uyghurs
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/23/uygh-j23.html
"These statements are a sure demonstration that the Biden administration will escalate the war drive against China, which began with the Obama administration's 'pivot to Asia' and was accelerated under the Trump administration. The American establishment as a whole, even as it is enmeshed in the profound economic, political and social crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, is determined to prevent, by all available means, China from challenging US global hegemony. The charge of 'genocide' is tantamount to a declaration of war..."
The political roots of Amanda Gorman’s genius
From Maya Angelou to Gil Scott-Heron, the inaugural poet laureate comes from a long line of activist poets of color.
National youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman reads a poem during Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. | Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/23/amanda-gorman-poetry-461490
