and the Commander in Thief is still trash talking about using executive orders to come after our guns...

yeah, that will work

Interesting rumblings about what might be going through Uncah Joe's head these days - with, of course, "might" being the operative word. Is it a strategy, is he spending most of every day drooling and staring at the wall, is he scared spitless because he knows he's the beneficiary of what half or more of the country is absolutely certain was a brazenly stolen election? Whatever may be the case, Biden's signalling an awfully hesitant approach to exercising power at present. Interestingly enough, though, he's going to push for a massive infrastructure plan - which is arguably needed, of course, but also bound to be a fountain of cash for his cronies among the unions, local politicians and rich white contractors absent major oversight and discipline. IOW, the old white guys are gonna get paid first!

quote:

Biden's First Month Was A 'Honeymoon', But Bigger Challenges Loom Ahead
Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters, 2/21/21

One month into the job, President Joe Biden is on the cusp of securing a bigger economic rescue package than during the 2009 financial crisis. He has wiped out his predecessor Donald Trump's policies from climate change to travel bans, while the U.S. daily COVID-19 vaccine distribution rate grew 55%. That may have been the easy part.

The White House's broad strategy - avoid unwinnable political fights, focus on policies with mass voter appeal, and mostly ignore Republican attacks - will be increasingly difficult in the months ahead, Democrats and Republicans say, even as millions more are vaccinated and the economy rebounds. "They've got some problems right around the corner," said Jim Manley, once a top aide to former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Biden has made many of the changes he has clear authority to do by executive action. Landmines going forward include pushing laws on which the Democratic Party is divided, such as college debt relief, tax hikes and curbs on the energy industry. Then there are the intractable policy fights that have defined American politics for a generation, including who can become a citizen, how easy it should be to vote, whether the government should pay for healthcare, and who should carry a gun. Meanwhile, many tricky issues, from trade tariffs to China policy to tech oversight, are still under review at the White House.

Democrats are working to pass their economic stimulus package with or without Republican support before a critical mid-March deadline when expanded unemployment insurance expires. The bill only needs a majority vote, because it will be passed as part of a process called reconciliation, but that requires every Democrat to side with the White House. Doubts are growing that the bill will include a provision raising the federal minimum wage to $15, which would sorely disappoint liberal Democrats. "I've been shocked at how disciplined the Left has been; I'm not sure how much that's going to last," Manley said. "I can see there's some fissures developing."

Those cracks were on display when some Democrats, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, criticized Biden after he said told (sic; this article was obviously a little rushed and had two crappy editors - IC) a Feb. 16 CNN town hall he disagrees with members of his party who want to forgive $50,000 in student debt. A comprehensive White House-backed immigration bill unveiled on Feb. 18 is not expected to pass the Senate; the second-ranked Democrat, Dick Durbin, is among those suggesting a less-ambitious effort that focuses on immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Republicans are reshuffling after the Trump years, said Paul Shumaker, a Republican strategist behind Senator Thom Tillis' hard-fought re-election in North Carolina. Biden could unite them by overreaching on taxes and spending, he noted, while doing too little on these issues will disappoint some of his Democratic base. "He's enjoying a honeymoon period, but everyone knows that honeymoon's going to come to an end," Shumaker said.

White House aides say the policy agenda they plan to push in the coming months has bipartisan voter appeal, and they believe Republicans in Congress could ultimately be forced to support it by their constituents. "Is he going to be focused on winning every last Republican over? No, of course not," said White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, a longtime Biden confidant. "But is he going to reach out and speak to people on both sides of the aisle - is he going to work to put forward plans that meets (sic - IC) the needs of people of both parties - yes, he absolutely is."

Biden's early polling numbers suggest that will be a challenge. Some 56% of Americans approve of his performance as president, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-February, but just 20% of Republicans. The White House's bipartisan hopes lie in an infrastructure plan, still in the embryonic stages of development, that is expected to exceed the scale, scope and price tag of the roughly $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. The measure is almost certainly going to both expand the deficit and require some tax increases, measures expected to spur opposition. It is likely to be peppered with measures on climate change, and could also include Biden's proposed subsidies for college, according to several people briefed on early conversations.

Putting the pieces together will be tough without a full senior staff, including Biden's pick for budget director, Neera Tanden, whose confirmation has run into Democratic opposition from Senator Joe Manchin, who also opposed including the minimum wage in the stimulus bill. Nonetheless, the Left's expectations for Biden remain high. "The administration came out bold and strong," said Luis Hernandez, a youth gun violence prevention activist who met with senior administration officials last week. "There's much more to be done."

Some compression for space, original text at http://news.yahoo.com/bidens-f...igger-120828326.html

We are not in Kansas anymore

Merrick Garland (nominee for AG) tells senators:

https://www.breitbart.com/poli...and-courthouse-riot/

Portland Riots May Not Be ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Because Courthouse Was Closed

Judge Merrick Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday that Antifa’s attacks on the U.S. courthouse in Portland last year may not have been “domestic terrorism,” because unlike the Capitol riot, they took place at night when the court was not “in operation.”

Garland:
"So an attack on a courthouse, while in operation, trying to prevent judges from actually deciding cases, that plainly is domestic extremism, domestic terrorism. An attack simply on a government property at night, or any other kind of circumstances, is a clear crime and a serious one, and should be punished. I don’t know enough about the facts of the example you’re talking about. But that’s where I draw the line. One is — both are criminal, but one is a core attack on our democratic institutions."

former AG Barr:

Behind the veil of “protests,” highly organized violent operators have carried out direct attacks on federal personnel and property, particularly the federal courthouse in Portland. Shielded by the crowds, which make it difficult for law enforcement to detect or reach them, violent opportunists in Portland have attacked the courthouse and federal officers with explosives, lasers, projectiles, and other dangerous devices. In some cases, purported “journalists” or “legal observers” have provided cover for the violent offenders; in others, individuals wearing supposed press badges have themselves attacked law enforcement or trespassed on federal property. More than 200 federal officers have been injured in Portland alone.

the statute does not confine acts of domestic terrorism to working hours.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

adding:

Garland:

"I think the first thing I should do as part of my briefings on the Capitol Bombing are briefings with Director Wray as to where he sees the biggest threat.."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sdy,

So would a closed school not be firearms prohibited or a closed church or synagogue being burned not a hate crime?

Didn't those assaulting the courthouse try to lock those inside and burn it down? Weren't there a number of or ongoing attacks on the courthouse?

Most loved president in history. You know, the one who garnered 80+ million votes, the highest in US history. What a load of crap.

Because after all it's so much more important to be this than a strong POTUS who looks out for our energy independence, the ChiCom threat, Iran threat, invasion at our border....



Biden leans into empathizer-in-chief role

By Amie Parnes and Morgan Chalfant - 02/24/21 06:00 AM EST



President Biden has been leaning hard into his role as the nation’s empathizer-in-chief as he contends with multiple tragedies during his first month in office.

Biden will travel to Texas on Friday with first lady Jill Biden as the state grapples with the effects of deadly and rare winter storms.

The trip follows a moment of silence Monday and a candle-lit tribute from the White House to the 500,000 Americans who died of COVID-19. Standing in the White House Cross Hall, Biden addressed the country not only as president but as a man who is deeply familiar with loss.

“I know all too well. I know what it’s like to not be there when it happens,” Biden said, standing alongside the first lady as well as Vice President Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.

“I know what it’s like when you are there, holding their hands, as they look in your eye and they slip away. That black hole in your chest, you feel like you’re being sucked into it,” he said.

Biden, who ran his presidential campaign on uniting a country grappling with a deadly pandemic, has been touched by grief multiple times throughout his political career, losing his wife and infant daughter in a car crash, and decades later, his son to brain cancer.

His political brand increasingly has been one in which his supporters cast the 78-year-old president as a messenger of empathy and the right man for the moment.

Biden’s remarks on Monday stood in clear contrast to the approach that his predecessor, former President Trump, took to the pandemic.

“Empathy is the superpower that helped distinguish Joe Biden through the primaries and in his general election match-up against Donald Trump,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne. “It’s no surprise that this is a core part of his profile as president one month in."

Trump was regularly criticized for lacking empathy in talking about the pandemic, which he regularly downplayed. He did not make a special effort to mark the lives lost from the coronavirus, which Trump often saw as a political crisis that he blamed on China — where the first clusters of cases were found.

When the U.S. surpassed 100,000 million dead last May, Trump tweeted condolences a day later.

Biden has made a concerted push to acknowledge the pain of the pandemic. On the eve of his inauguration, Biden participated in a memorial for those who had died from the coronavirus at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

“This is part of the return to normalcy,” said Doug Heye, former Republican National Committee spokesman, noting Biden’s visit over the weekend to former GOP Sen. Bob Dole, who recently revealed his stage four lung cancer diagnosis. “That is a marked contrast to what we’ve seen from the past four years and was a selling point for Biden in the campaign.”

The challenge for Biden and his administration, Heye said, would be to also communicate hopeful messages that motivate enough Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine so that the country can return to a degree of normal life.

Biden’s push for unity and compassion has also been scrutinized in his nomination of Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Lawmakers opposed to her nomination have complained that her past inflammatory tweets do not represent the unity that Biden espoused on the campaign trail.

“Given how much they’ve leaned on, and I think rightly, that he’s trying to make America good again and will be that consoler in chief that Americans have looked at president to be … it will be even more important for him to always toe that line because when he doesn’t those examples will be glaring,” Heye said.

Those who have worked with Biden describe him as someone who genuinely cares about others and who has sought to make personal connections with those he meets throughout his career, regardless of their background or identity.

On the campaign trail, he was known to hand out his phone number to grieving mothers. He’ll offer reassuring words on rope lines and at events. He’s even been known to pray with supporters.

Moe Vela, a former aide to Biden during the Obama administration, said that advisers often left a 10-minute buffer for Biden when he would walk through the back of a restaurant through the kitchen, because he would always stop and say “hello” to staff.

“They love you first and ask questions later,” Vela said of the president and first lady, describing them as “unconditional lovers.”

Biden has taken a noticeably behind-the-scenes approach to the situation in Texas and surrounding states amid the bout of extreme winter weather. He approved emergency declarations in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma and held phone calls with governors last week, signing a major disaster declaration for Texas on Saturday that authorized more federal resources for the response.

While the White House said he was regularly briefed on the situation, Biden has not yet delivered extended remarks on the storms, and Friday’s visit to Houston will represent his first opportunity to do so.

At the White House press briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden is expected to meet with local leaders to discuss the winter storm relief efforts, the progress communities are making toward recovery and “the incredible resilience shown by the people of Houston and Texas.”

A longtime Biden aide added that “there is no one better to provide comforting words” to a state reeling from the storms in the middle of a pandemic.

“It’s become a bit cliche, but he was made for this,” the aide said.

https://thehill.com/homenews/a...thizer-in-chief-role

"Empathy is [a] superpower"? BWAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

"I feel your pain." I'm not actually going to do anything about it; the fact is that I have no idea what to do about it, but "I" sure do "feel your pain."

There's a few people in TX wondering about corrupt joe's 'empathy' for their plight.

quote:

Originally posted by BMR:


Biden leans into empathizer-in-chief role

Ugh. Another newer stupid corporate buzzphrase I'm sick of hearing

normally I don't bother w typos and grammar but

In the Hill article above

"When the U.S. surpassed 100,000 million dead last May"

That's some serious dead

"empathizer-in-chief" maybe Biden should have tried out for Pope

^^^^Yes, I noticed that astronomical number, too.

No politician in U.S. history ever benefited from tragedies as much as Biden. This is not said to diminish the sadness of those losses, but just to point out how despicably opportunistic he is. Lying for years that his wife and daughter were killed by a guy who “drank his lunch” is one example.

Tweet with video clip of Biden painfully bumbling and stumbling through a speech from a guy named Benny Johnson (he's on Newsmax TV too) I follow:

My God, this guy cannot even follow a teleprompter anymore, how is he going to be the Commander In Chief?

Shame on Joe Biden’s family for doing this to him. Shame

^^ Well, unless we can get both him and Harris impeached, convicted and driven from office, I'd say we're hoping he's squatting in the White House right up to November, 2024. That should keep Dr. Jill busy too, yes?

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
^^ Well, unless we can get both him and Harris impeached, convicted and driven from office, I'd say we're hoping he's squatting in the White House right up to November, 2024. That should keep Dr. Jill busy too, yes?

If both become impeached and removed, I believe the speaker of the house becomes president with the senate majority leader as vice president.

Cool. As deranged as Pelosi is, she can't possibly get much more done than Biden or Harris. And Schumer as Veep? That would be downright hilarious.

And then the impeachment process begins against those two...You see, the thing about Majority leaders is that their job is to be the ones who say "no". No one in DC likes to hear the word "no". In fact, they tend to remember it, and resent it a little more each time they remember it.

Biden is Very Poor at conveying empathy. It comes across as insincere and unfeeling. Notice the way he holds his arms out to the side like he is welcoming his flock to Church.

Clinton was good at this sort of thing. I hate to say it but he could connect with people and they believed him. {I am not a Clinton fan BTW}.

President pro tempore of the Senate is in line behind speaker. Currently that position is held by Leahy.

For those that have had to take keys away from an elderly parent, you will have sympathy for the Democrats.

Democrats Ask Biden To Surrender Keys On Nuclear Launches

House Democrats have asked President Joe Biden to give other officials the authority to launch nuclear weapons, an action which he currently has sole authority to do.

California Rep. Jimmy Panetta spearheaded the Monday letter, which was signed by nearly three dozen House Democrats, Politico reported.

Vesting one person with this authority entails real risks,” the letter reads.