Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
I have a sneaking suspicion that Ireland may go for broke and approve the Astra Zeneca vaccine sooner rather than later. No evidence , just a gut thought.
That's all well and good, but do they actually have any of it on order? The EU has approved the Moderna one, but they ain't got any and not getting any for months.
Don't they have one of AZN's half dozen manufacturing plants? If so, they could probably come to a deal
Are you sure?
Currently about 60 people are employed by AstraZeneca in Ireland with a wide range of expertise in different areas including sales, marketing, medical & regulatory affairs, IT, finance and administration.
Doesn't exactly sound like the sort of workforce ready to make millions of doses of a novel vaccine. More like the people to contact to for a nice ad, but not actually making it.
In all honesty, I would rather be a woman in Xi's China than a woman in, say, Saudi or Afghanistan. You have greater freedoms, and you have more respect from wider society. You are not automatically regarded as severely inferior.
Would you rather be a woman in Xi's China or a woman in Indonesia or Bangladesh? I mention those 2 countries as they are far more representative of the Islamic world: Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world; Bangladesh is at #4.
You deliberately and misleadingly picked the two countries which are worst for women, neither of which makes the top 10 countries by Muslim population. Indeed, by some estimates (but not others), China has more Muslims than either Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Constantly misrepresenting Islam by cherry-picking examples demonstrates that you're not interested in a reasoned discussion.
Given the difference in GDP per capita, which is ever widening. yes I would rather be a woman in China than Bangladesh
China: 8130.00 USD
Bangladesh: 1,698.26 USD
So your point is futile, as well as inane, and jejune, and banal. And dim. And boring.
Do I get to choose where in China I'm a woman?
That sounds like a dark acid tinged version of Aladdin.
While I condemn utterly the storming of the capitol in no uncertain terms I can't help thinking a lot here are wiffling when they huff and puff about it interrupting legal things.
All revolutions by their nature are illegal. Even the one that toppled Ceacescau and I think most would be applauding that one.
We condemn the capitol because we see it as democracy under threat ad that is currently how we govern ourselves therefore we see it as good. We applaud Ceacescu because it was a dictatorship and we see it as bad because thats not how we do things.
I do wonder though whether we are at the nether end of the representative democratic age, societies seem to polarised now and whoever is elected about half the country feels unrepresented. Look at america with republicans and democrats, brexit with remainers and leavers, the Johnson government where people claiming 53% of people voted against it. Macron and LePen though being french they seem to be more of the mind they don't really care who gets voted in as long as they don't try and implement any of the manifesto they got voted in for.
Is that to say democracy is dead? No but I think representative democracy is perhaps on life support in many places
Democracy needs renewal in a participatory direction, probably a radically participatory one. It's worth defending and preserving, but its flaws at the moment, in countries like the US and Britain, aren't just social and economic, but representational too.
It doesn't have flaws, it is working as intended.
The Americans just got rid of Trump and the Brits avoided his left wing mirror image last year. Two wins for democracy.
Any alternative system a Trump gets into power and he stays in power. Trump is on his way out now thanks to democracy working as it is supposed to do so.
It is Boris not Corbyn who is the British Trump. Charismatic and well-known from media appearances; winning the votes of those who'd lost their manufacturing jobs as the price of globalisation; blaming foreigners in Europe or China and Mexico. Boris is Trump.
No, Corbyn is Trump. Thankfully the Brits rejected him twice.
No, Boris is Trump. In addition to the similarities previously noted, both men are intelligent and highly educated but intellectually lazy; both are notoriously careless with facts; they are thin-skinned and duck accountability.
I hold Boris and Corbyn in very low regard, but if you take the worst halves of them combined, Trump is still in a completely different league of contempt. They both have some clear similarities with him, but also some clear differences.
Yes, quite.
Boris has elements of populism in his persona, but he is also a very smart man, an Eton scholar, Oxford star, speaks Ancient Greek, able to write (when he can be arsed) like a dream, and was a brilliant editor of probably the most revered political magazine in the world.
This is not necessarily the skillset you want in a PM, especially during a plague. Arguably many prior PMs would have handled it better (or not). The Pest has severely tested every leader on earth.
Comparing him to a delusional, narcissistic, demented, quasi-would-be tyrant like Trump is nuts. Boris is bad or or good or mediocre or whatever, but Trump is exceptional.
I cannot think of a worse leader elected by a major (or even minor) western democracy since 1945. Trump is in a class of his own. He makes Berlusconi look like Julius Caesar. I challenge PBers to give me someone inferior, or more damaging, in that era.
The Spectator is not "the most revered political magazine in the world".
And I speak as a former subscriber.
And by what measure was Johnson an "Oxford star"?
Have any PBers actually tried reading one of Boris Johnson's "books"?
Quite.
Boris is not a great speaker, and not even a terribly good writer. Dare I say it, Leon of this parish is far superior.
I own three of Boris's books (Churchill, Virgins, London) and two of Donald Trump's (Art of the Deal and Think Like a Billionaire).
And so?
And so I am not unthinkingly hostile to either man. And so I can objectively point out parallels between them. Oh yes, and so it answers the question, has anyone read Boris's books?
Given that Boris' book on Churchill has 2000+ reviews on amazon uk, with a very high rating of 4.5 stars, I fear the answer you dread is YES, people read his books
The reviews aren't what you might expect. Those that are interested in history give it one star. Those who start off saying "I like Boris" give it five stars. I haven't counted them but presumably there are more readers in the second group than the first.
Both groups agree the book is really about Boris Johnson and not Winston Churchill.
I think you judged that from the top review only. Most of the high ranked reviews aren't ones that are using it to say how much they like Boris.
In a sense Biden is going to have a breeze of a presidency. Every daily act of normality will be seen as restoring the calm governance of the republic.
On the other hand the future expects him to put in place constitutional changes that will stop someone with Trump's conditions every able to get near the Oval office again.
Biden is putting together a dreary cabinet. The two appointees lined up for tomorrow are Waldorf and Statler. And that sums it up beautifully.
What is actually going to happen, this presidency will remind everyone exactly why they voted Trump in the first place and Boris in U.K. Lazy misadventures over seas, wokeism, socialism, but overall just no clear sense what they want to do in the world.
I don't see how it is compatible that it will be both a dreary cabinet and one full of wokeism and socialism, since those are not known brands of Biden's dreary approach.
I know this is hard for you to grasp: Biden will be an excellent president.
I think you've missed kle4's point there to be fair.
While I condemn utterly the storming of the capitol in no uncertain terms I can't help thinking a lot here are wiffling when they huff and puff about it interrupting legal things.
All revolutions by their nature are illegal. Even the one that toppled Ceacescau and I think most would be applauding that one.
We condemn the capitol because we see it as democracy under threat ad that is currently how we govern ourselves therefore we see it as good. We applaud Ceacescu because it was a dictatorship and we see it as bad because thats not how we do things.
I do wonder though whether we are at the nether end of the representative democratic age, societies seem to polarised now and whoever is elected about half the country feels unrepresented. Look at america with republicans and democrats, brexit with remainers and leavers, the Johnson government where people claiming 53% of people voted against it. Macron and LePen though being french they seem to be more of the mind they don't really care who gets voted in as long as they don't try and implement any of the manifesto they got voted in for.
Is that to say democracy is dead? No but I think representative democracy is perhaps on life support in many places
Democracy needs renewal in a participatory direction, probably a radically participatory one. It's worth defending and preserving, but its flaws at the moment, in countries like the US and Britain, aren't just social and economic, but representational too.
It doesn't have flaws, it is working as intended.
The Americans just got rid of Trump and the Brits avoided his left wing mirror image last year. Two wins for democracy.
Any alternative system a Trump gets into power and he stays in power. Trump is on his way out now thanks to democracy working as it is supposed to do so.
It is Boris not Corbyn who is the British Trump. Charismatic and well-known from media appearances; winning the votes of those who'd lost their manufacturing jobs as the price of globalisation; blaming foreigners in Europe or China and Mexico. Boris is Trump.
No, Corbyn is Trump. Thankfully the Brits rejected him twice.
No, Boris is Trump. In addition to the similarities previously noted, both men are intelligent and highly educated but intellectually lazy; both are notoriously careless with facts; they are thin-skinned and duck accountability.
I hold Boris and Corbyn in very low regard, but if you take the worst halves of them combined, Trump is still in a completely different league of contempt. They both have some clear similarities with him, but also some clear differences.
Yes, quite.
Boris has elements of populism in his persona, but he is also a very smart man, an Eton scholar, Oxford star, speaks Ancient Greek, able to write (when he can be arsed) like a dream, and was a brilliant editor of probably the most revered political magazine in the world.
This is not necessarily the skillset you want in a PM, especially during a plague. Arguably many prior PMs would have handled it better (or not). The Pest has severely tested every leader on earth.
Comparing him to a delusional, narcissistic, demented, quasi-would-be tyrant like Trump is nuts. Boris is bad or or good or mediocre or whatever, but Trump is exceptional.
I cannot think of a worse leader elected by a major (or even minor) western democracy since 1945. Trump is in a class of his own. He makes Berlusconi look like Julius Caesar. I challenge PBers to give me someone inferior, or more damaging, in that era.
The Spectator is not "the most revered political magazine in the world".
And I speak as a former subscriber.
And by what measure was Johnson an "Oxford star"?
Have any PBers actually tried reading one of Boris Johnson's "books"?
Quite.
Boris is not a great speaker, and not even a terribly good writer. Dare I say it, Leon of this parish is far superior.
I own three of Boris's books (Churchill, Virgins, London) and two of Donald Trump's (Art of the Deal and Think Like a Billionaire).
And so?
And so I am not unthinkingly hostile to either man. And so I can objectively point out parallels between them. Oh yes, and so it answers the question, has anyone read Boris's books?
Given that Boris' book on Churchill has 2000+ reviews on amazon uk, with a very high rating of 4.5 stars, I fear the answer you dread is YES, people read his books
The reviews aren't what you might expect. Those that are interested in history give it one star. Those who start off saying "I like Boris" give it five stars. I haven't counted them but presumably there are more readers in the second group than the first.
Both groups agree the book is really about Boris Johnson and not Winston Churchill.
I think you judged that from the top review only. Most of the high ranked reviews aren't ones that are using it to say how much they like Boris.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
They've sure been boring compared to the previous guy. Many of them are qualified for the role, and none noticeably certifiable.
Good to see a handful of Brexiters finally concede it is economically damaging, albeit not worth worrying about because Covid.
Frustratingly, they (Alanbrooke, Leon) are also quite elderly and so unlikely to have to really experience the shitty mess they voted to deliver.
SeanT's kids will though
Who is this SeanT? I see him much talked about. He appears to loom large in your mind, like a kind of much younger, more virile, more handsome Trump, who is also f*cking your wife
LOL Leon. I guess you are the new SeanT.
This incarnation has all the manifold downsides of Sean without any of the upsides (of which, there were, admittedly, many).
‘Leon’ is a third-rare doom pornographer with zero sense of humour, and a boring, repetitive tone.
Time for a reboot - the other Seans were excellent on travel, London pubs, and wine.
He sounds quite the character. Charming, charismatic, and full of good stories.
All I know, from my private interaction with the moderators, is that he actively cuckolded about half a dozen regular commenters, and was thence driven from the site.
Slightly tedious on the subject of himself, though.
In a sense Biden is going to have a breeze of a presidency. Every daily act of normality will be seen as restoring the calm governance of the republic.
On the other hand the future expects him to put in place constitutional changes that will stop someone with Trump's conditions every able to get near the Oval office again.
Biden is putting together a dreary cabinet. The two appointees lined up for tomorrow are Waldorf and Statler. And that sums it up beautifully.
What is actually going to happen, this presidency will remind everyone exactly why they voted Trump in the first place and Boris in U.K. Lazy misadventures over seas, wokeism, socialism, but overall just no clear sense what they want to do in the world.
I don't see how it is compatible that it will be both a dreary cabinet and one full of wokeism and socialism, since those are not known brands of Biden's dreary approach.
I know this is hard for you to grasp: Biden will be an excellent president.
I think Biden could well be a very good president. I was disputing gealbhan's suggestion on its own terms.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
Reforming the Police and judicial system so they actually fight crimes instead of minorities is not festering a wound. It is doing what needs to be done.
Maybe, maybe even probably. Maybe even urgently.
But is this what you should be saying, right now, to 70m Trump voters - pretty much half the country - many of whom feel dismayed, disgruntled, or disenfranchised?
But Biden got 81 million votes. His percentage winning margin in November was 4.4%. Which isn't too shabby when you compare:
Hillary's margin of 2.1% in 2016 Obama's 3.9% in 2012 Obama's 7.2% in 2008 Bush's 2.4% in 2004 Gore's tiny 0.5% in 2000.
In a sense Biden is going to have a breeze of a presidency. Every daily act of normality will be seen as restoring the calm governance of the republic.
On the other hand the future expects him to put in place constitutional changes that will stop someone with Trump's conditions every able to get near the Oval office again.
Biden is putting together a dreary cabinet. The two appointees lined up for tomorrow are Waldorf and Statler. And that sums it up beautifully.
What is actually going to happen, this presidency will remind everyone exactly why they voted Trump in the first place and Boris in U.K. Lazy misadventures over seas, wokeism, socialism, but overall just no clear sense what they want to do in the world.
I don't see how it is compatible that it will be both a dreary cabinet and one full of wokeism and socialism, since those are not known brands of Biden's dreary approach.
I know this is hard for you to grasp: Biden will be an excellent president.
I think you've missed kle4's point there to be fair.
In a sense Biden is going to have a breeze of a presidency. Every daily act of normality will be seen as restoring the calm governance of the republic.
On the other hand the future expects him to put in place constitutional changes that will stop someone with Trump's conditions every able to get near the Oval office again.
Biden is putting together a dreary cabinet. The two appointees lined up for tomorrow are Waldorf and Statler. And that sums it up beautifully.
What is actually going to happen, this presidency will remind everyone exactly why they voted Trump in the first place and Boris in U.K. Lazy misadventures over seas, wokeism, socialism, but overall just no clear sense what they want to do in the world.
I don't see how it is compatible that it will be both a dreary cabinet and one full of wokeism and socialism, since those are not known brands of Biden's dreary approach.
I know this is hard for you to grasp: Biden will be an excellent president.
I think Biden could well be a very good president. I was disputing gealbhan's suggestion on its own terms.
I know, my post was aimed at G, not you. I fucked up the responses somehow. Apologies.
While I condemn utterly the storming of the capitol in no uncertain terms I can't help thinking a lot here are wiffling when they huff and puff about it interrupting legal things.
All revolutions by their nature are illegal. Even the one that toppled Ceacescau and I think most would be applauding that one.
We condemn the capitol because we see it as democracy under threat ad that is currently how we govern ourselves therefore we see it as good. We applaud Ceacescu because it was a dictatorship and we see it as bad because thats not how we do things.
I do wonder though whether we are at the nether end of the representative democratic age, societies seem to polarised now and whoever is elected about half the country feels unrepresented. Look at america with republicans and democrats, brexit with remainers and leavers, the Johnson government where people claiming 53% of people voted against it. Macron and LePen though being french they seem to be more of the mind they don't really care who gets voted in as long as they don't try and implement any of the manifesto they got voted in for.
Is that to say democracy is dead? No but I think representative democracy is perhaps on life support in many places
Democracy needs renewal in a participatory direction, probably a radically participatory one. It's worth defending and preserving, but its flaws at the moment, in countries like the US and Britain, aren't just social and economic, but representational too.
It doesn't have flaws, it is working as intended.
The Americans just got rid of Trump and the Brits avoided his left wing mirror image last year. Two wins for democracy.
Any alternative system a Trump gets into power and he stays in power. Trump is on his way out now thanks to democracy working as it is supposed to do so.
It is Boris not Corbyn who is the British Trump. Charismatic and well-known from media appearances; winning the votes of those who'd lost their manufacturing jobs as the price of globalisation; blaming foreigners in Europe or China and Mexico. Boris is Trump.
No, Corbyn is Trump. Thankfully the Brits rejected him twice.
No, Boris is Trump. In addition to the similarities previously noted, both men are intelligent and highly educated but intellectually lazy; both are notoriously careless with facts; they are thin-skinned and duck accountability.
I hold Boris and Corbyn in very low regard, but if you take the worst halves of them combined, Trump is still in a completely different league of contempt. They both have some clear similarities with him, but also some clear differences.
Yes, quite.
Boris has elements of populism in his persona, but he is also a very smart man, an Eton scholar, Oxford star, speaks Ancient Greek, able to write (when he can be arsed) like a dream, and was a brilliant editor of probably the most revered political magazine in the world.
This is not necessarily the skillset you want in a PM, especially during a plague. Arguably many prior PMs would have handled it better (or not). The Pest has severely tested every leader on earth.
Comparing him to a delusional, narcissistic, demented, quasi-would-be tyrant like Trump is nuts. Boris is bad or or good or mediocre or whatever, but Trump is exceptional.
I cannot think of a worse leader elected by a major (or even minor) western democracy since 1945. Trump is in a class of his own. He makes Berlusconi look like Julius Caesar. I challenge PBers to give me someone inferior, or more damaging, in that era.
The Spectator is not "the most revered political magazine in the world".
And I speak as a former subscriber.
I think Leon also admires him for his talent for baseless hyperbole.
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
They've sure been boring compared to the previous guy. Many of them are qualified for the role, and none noticeably certifiable.
Who were the ones who lasted from start to finish under Trump? It's probably more than I'd imagine.
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
They've sure been boring compared to the previous guy. Many of them are qualified for the role, and none noticeably certifiable.
Indeed, drearily competent and sane. How one pines for the good old days!
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
Reforming the Police and judicial system so they actually fight crimes instead of minorities is not festering a wound. It is doing what needs to be done.
Maybe, maybe even probably. Maybe even urgently.
But is this what you should be saying, right now, to 70m Trump voters - pretty much half the country - many of whom feel dismayed, disgruntled, or disenfranchised?
No, it is not. This is not statesmanship. It is goading of the loser, it is stoking of the fires.
There are plenty of ways to condemn yesterday's utterly disgraceful scenes without making the atmosphere worse. Biden did exactly that with his first response, last night. Yet now, Biden's Democrats seem like they want to double down on the mad identity politics and rub the noses of the Republicans in their defeat. This seems to me, as an outsider, like a tragic mistake. Akin to the British shooting the Irish rebels in 1916, in a strange way,
I hope I am wrong, and yielding to hyperbole, which is not unknown.
Now I am going to watch The Crown, and our beloved and calming Queen. Goodnight PB.
Yes. Yes it is what they should be saying. Yes it is statesmanship.
Saying in calm tones why there must be equal protection under the law is absolutely what should be said.
Saying in calm tones why reform is needed is absolutely what should be said.
If you think dealing with the fact that the Police are prepared to attack unarmed peaceful protestors but not prepared to stop a preplanned nationally televised invasion of the Capitol is "identity politics" then there is no helping you.
If you think telling the Police to stop shooting unarmed black men and to start preventing crimes instead is shooting the Irish then there is no helping you.
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
In all honesty, I would rather be a woman in Xi's China than a woman in, say, Saudi or Afghanistan. You have greater freedoms, and you have more respect from wider society. You are not automatically regarded as severely inferior.
Would you rather be a woman in Xi's China or a woman in Indonesia or Bangladesh? I mention those 2 countries as they are far more representative of the Islamic world: Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world; Bangladesh is at #4.
You deliberately and misleadingly picked the two countries which are worst for women, neither of which makes the top 10 countries by Muslim population. Indeed, by some estimates (but not others), China has more Muslims than either Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Constantly misrepresenting Islam by cherry-picking examples demonstrates that you're not interested in a reasoned discussion.
Given the difference in GDP per capita, which is ever widening. yes I would rather be a woman in China than Bangladesh
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
Got to love a politician called Marcia Fudge....
It IS a funny name, and one that makes yours truly a wee bit peckish every time it's encountered.
She's actually a pretty good Congresswoman, and as chair of Black Congressional Caucus has been a workhorse rather than a show pony.
BTW, the special election to fill her seat in Congress, which is the east (Black) side of Cleveland, will feature an intra-party battle for the Democratic nomination between establishment and progressives.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
I think it is important that as a criticism of some of the actions in the UK is how the protests were perceived as somewhat divorced from the UK context, when making that criticism one should not, therefore, translate it into criticism of the movement in its context of the USA, where it will be of much greater relevance and power. And that need not then mean endorsement of the rioting and excesses as you put it.
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
Got to love a politician called Marcia Fudge....
She would be perfect for a role in the EU Commission.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
I think there's strong support for it in many elements of across the UK too. I certainly support it and I know a lot of people who do. Witnessing Floyd's death and the countless atrocities seen since - we can be very glad we don't have this in this country, while wanting reform in the USA.
What passes for the Policing in America is not worthy of a first world nation. The sooner it is reformed the better.
And absolutely to the suggestion earlier that the culture and recruitment of the Policing needs to be reformed. Too many Police in the US seem to be recruited from ex-military and act as if they're at war on the streets - and at war against black criminals supposedly. The entire mindset is messed up.
I would suggest root and branch reform but also looking at ensuring more recruitment direct from Colleges (Universities).
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
They've sure been boring compared to the previous guy. Many of them are qualified for the role, and none noticeably certifiable.
Who were the ones who lasted from start to finish under Trump? It's probably more than I'd imagine.
Treasury - Steve Mnuchin Agriculture - Sonny Purdue Commerce - Wilbur Ross Housing & Urban Development - Ben Carson Transportation - Elaine Chao (until yesterday when she decided to resign effective 1.11.21) Education - Betty DeVos Trade Representative - Robert Lighthizer
NOT an impressive list!, with possible exception of Mnuchin, who looks to be the only one who isn't an embarrassment, a crook or a do-nothing (sometimes all three).
Been some chatter on PB that Joe Biden's cabinet picks have been boring, unimpressive, so forth & so on.
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries: State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State) Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair) Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command) Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee) Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico) Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa) Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist) Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative) Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus) Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate) Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education) Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA) Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank: White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden) US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee) Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA) Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality) Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress) Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia) Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA) US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
Got to love a politician called Marcia Fudge....
She would be perfect for a role in the EU Commission.
But she wouldn't need to come to work until five to midnight!
Didn't he cede his time in the debate as a sop to those wanting to put a stop to the theatrics entirely? He was making a performance, not leading a debate or trying to make important points. I have zero doubt he supports what those rioters did yesterday 100%.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
I can't speak for what most Brits think, but I can say that PB is collection of very weird people. And who knows, maybe it is a representative sample. But I say with all sincerity, I fucking hope it isn't.
I am not sure that is quite true. I believe that is a video from before he went on to address the crowd. I might be wrong though.
That's what it looks like. They're in a 'green room' tent waiting for Trump's cue to go on stage.
Interesting that this message was put out: "any use of “Gloria” by any political candidate, neither implies, nor constitutes, any endorsement of said political candidate on behalf of the late Laura Branigan"
Man like that will probably love being cancelled unfortunately, regardless of the reason being pretty firm.
He's in it for the publicity, which is why most politicos "write" (in the broadest sense of the word) "books (ditto).
Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were great writers, and (especially WSC) needed the money. But the publicity was paramount, along with desire to "make" their own history, on the page as in life.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
I can't speak for what most Brits think, but I can say that PB is collection of very weird people. And who knows, maybe it is a representative sample. But I say with all sincerity, I fucking hope it isn't.
Nonsense, there's no group more on the pulse of the nation and who embodies it more.
BTW, has no one considered the most terrible restriction of the last year - no thursday night by-elections?
Man like that will probably love being cancelled unfortunately, regardless of the reason being pretty firm.
He's in it for the publicity, which is why most politicos "write" (in the broadest sense of the word) "books (ditto).
Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were great writers, and (especially WSC) needed the money. But the publicity was paramount, along with desire to "make" their own history, on the page as in life.
"History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it." WSC.
Edit. Apparently he didn't say that. But you get the idea...
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
The comparison, surely, is not with BLM protests in general, but specifically the Washington protest which was met by phalanxes of armed paramilitaries.
Man like that will probably love being cancelled unfortunately, regardless of the reason being pretty firm.
He's in it for the publicity, which is why most politicos "write" (in the broadest sense of the word) "books (ditto).
Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were great writers, and (especially WSC) needed the money. But the publicity was paramount, along with desire to "make" their own history, on the page as in life.
"History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it." WSC.
Edit. Apparently he didn't say that. But you get the idea...
It was most kind to him - his WWII history deal made him a very rich man indeed.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
I think there's strong support for it in many elements of across the UK too. I certainly support it and I know a lot of people who do. Witnessing Floyd's death and the countless atrocities seen since - we can be very glad we don't have this in this country, while wanting reform in the USA.
What passes for the Policing in America is not worthy of a first world nation. The sooner it is reformed the better.
And absolutely to the suggestion earlier that the culture and recruitment of the Policing needs to be reformed. Too many Police in the US seem to be recruited from ex-military and act as if they're at war on the streets - and at war against black criminals supposedly. The entire mindset is messed up.
I would suggest root and branch reform but also looking at ensuring more recruitment direct from Colleges (Universities).
So going to College gives us better police? This is total balls. Policing is a trade, that is taught & learned. You don't need have to have a degree.
The top and bottom of US policing is that it is extraordinarily decentralised, with multiple police forces even within a small area which leads to fiefdoms being created without sufficient oversight & ability to build effective leadership that a larger structure might enable. Local police are also often crappily paid with the result that those with a bit of wit can do better elsewhere.
Organisations like the FBI on the other hand, on the whole extremely good.
BLM movement will not regain any momentum it had in the UK because many of those behind it were using it as a vehicle for issues that had nothing to do with the perceived point of BLM. In short it got hijacked from a single cause and I think that has dawned on many people. It also became a grandstander and somehow a thing that you couldn't criticise without somehow being racist or more generously ignorant. No cause, or its adherents at least, is above criticism.
From where I sit, I wouldn't support it for those reasons.
Biden’s comments that BLM protestors would have been treated differently - while true - is hardly fucking salient unless he’s planning an investigation into the Capitol Guard.
Not a good omen.
Did he say that? Way to go, to deepen the Culture Wars. Idiotic.
The Police shouldn't be armed thugs beating up those they dislike or shooting those who have the wrong skin colour, they should be professionals doing a job.
I just feel this is a non sequitur to the events or yesterday.
The attempted coup was an attack on democracy, incited by a President who has spent the past four years trying to subvert the rule of law.
The message that I want to hear from Biden/Harris is that an attack on the rule of law cannot be tolerated and that no-one - not even the President of the USA - can be above it.
I do not - at this juncture - want to hear Ms Harris talking about race. Apart from the fact that the rioters tended to be white incels, race is a non-sequitur.
It is not a non sequitur it is entirely relevant. She is not talking about race - she is talking about the rule of law. She is talking about justice. These things matter.
It is worth asking a question why the Police can use tear gas on unarmed peaceful protestors and journalists to clear the streets - but they can't prevent a pre-planned, forewarned, pre-announced invasion of the Capitol by those they knew were coming with that intention?
The Police need complete and utter root and branch reform. They need new leadership. They need to be able to do the basics and Police to stop actual crimes like what we saw yesterday and not concentrate on attacking the unarmed.
It is worth asking that definitely. But she doesn’t.
Precisely.
She's just pouring petrol on the fire. This is nuts.
Biden, Pence and Romney all made excellent speeches yesterday. "Let's get back to work". Totally condemning the Trumpite idiots, and rightly so.
One day later America is picking the scab of its ultimate wound: racial injustice, in a way that will only make the wound fester. It is madness. I am a Briton looking at the most important western country in the West, and our greatest ally, carefully tearing itself to shreds. Desperate stuff.
To be fair, she is simply reflecting just about every black commentator on any channel yesterday, whose immediate comparator for how the riot was dealt with was BLM protests.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Precisely.
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
I think there's strong support for it in many elements of across the UK too. I certainly support it and I know a lot of people who do. Witnessing Floyd's death and the countless atrocities seen since - we can be very glad we don't have this in this country, while wanting reform in the USA.
What passes for the Policing in America is not worthy of a first world nation. The sooner it is reformed the better.
And absolutely to the suggestion earlier that the culture and recruitment of the Policing needs to be reformed. Too many Police in the US seem to be recruited from ex-military and act as if they're at war on the streets - and at war against black criminals supposedly. The entire mindset is messed up.
I would suggest root and branch reform but also looking at ensuring more recruitment direct from Colleges (Universities).
I agree with you. There is much more support for the aims of BLM, both here and in the USA, than many of the posters on here think. But it puts you in an interesting position. Because the vast majority of the support for BLM over here comes from Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters, whereas virtually all the hostility comes from Tories and, dare I say it, Brexiteers. You must find it interesting being out of kilter on BLM with the latter groups. I'm not suggesting you're completely alone, but it must be pretty lonely. Good on you, though.
Comments
Personally disagree, and below is the full list as of today (still with a couple "to be decided")
Cabinet Secretaries:
State - Anthony Blinken (former National Security Advisor and former Deputy Secretary of State)
Treasury - Janet Yellin (former Federal Reserve Chair)
Defense - Lloyd Austin (former commander US Central Command)
Justice - Merrick Garland (former US Appeals Court judge & SCOTUS nominee)
Interior - Deb Haaland (former US Representative from New Mexico)
Agriculture - Tom Vilsack (former USDA Secretary and former Governor of Iowa)
Commerce - Gina Raimondo (current Governor of Rhode Island, was on 2020 VP shortlist)
Labor - Marty Walsh (current Mayor of Boston
Health & Human Services - Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of California, former US Representative)
Housing & Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (now US Representative from Ohio, chair of Congressional Black Caucus)
Transportation - Pete Buttigeg (former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN and 2020 presidential candidate)
Energy - Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan)
Education - Miguel Cardona (current Connecticut Commissioner of Education)
Veterans Affairs - Dennis McDonough (former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, former Deputy NSA)
Homeland Security - Alejandro Mayorkas (former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security)
Officials of Cabinet Rank:
White House Chief of Staff - Ron Klain (former White House Ebola Relief Coordinator, former Chief of Staff for VP Biden)
US Trade Representative - Katherine Tai (trade counsel for US House Ways & Means Committee)
Director of National Intelligence - Avril Haines (former Deputy NSA, former Deputy Director of CIA)
Director of Central Intelligence Agency - to be announced
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Michael S. Regan (now Director of North Carolina Dep of Enviro Quality)
Office of Management & Budget Director - Neera Tanden (now CEO of Center for American Progress)
Administrator of Small Business Administration - to be decided
Ambassador to United Nations - Linda Thomas-Greenfield (former Assistant SOS for African Affairs, former director general US Foreign Service, former Ambassador to Liberia)
Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - Cecilia Rouse4 (current Dean of Princeton School of Public & International Affairs, former member CEA)
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry (former US Secretary of State, former presidential nominee, former US Senator)
Currently about 60 people are employed by AstraZeneca in Ireland with a wide range of expertise in different areas including sales, marketing, medical & regulatory affairs, IT, finance and administration.
https://www.astrazeneca.com/country-sites/ireland.html
Doesn't exactly sound like the sort of workforce ready to make millions of doses of a novel vaccine. More like the people to contact to for a nice ad, but not actually making it.
I think it is easy for white people living in the UK to dismiss how front and centre race and personal security is to black people in the US.
One of my wife's colleagues, a 6' 3" ex-military physician, who happens to be black, is worried every day he drives to work in deeply rural MD (think more like WV than Bethesda) whether he will be pulled over by the police and, if so, how badly hurt he'll be. My wife suggested that he drive to work in scrubs with his stethoscope around his neck. This is simply something we white people do not even consider, let alone have in the forefront of our minds.
Many of them are qualified for the role, and none noticeably certifiable.
But Biden got 81 million votes. His percentage winning margin in November was 4.4%.
Which isn't too shabby when you compare:
Hillary's margin of 2.1% in 2016
Obama's 3.9% in 2012
Obama's 7.2% in 2008
Bush's 2.4% in 2004
Gore's tiny 0.5% in 2000.
The US *seems* to have been more divided in 2000.
Saying in calm tones why there must be equal protection under the law is absolutely what should be said.
Saying in calm tones why reform is needed is absolutely what should be said.
If you think dealing with the fact that the Police are prepared to attack unarmed peaceful protestors but not prepared to stop a preplanned nationally televised invasion of the Capitol is "identity politics" then there is no helping you.
If you think telling the Police to stop shooting unarmed black men and to start preventing crimes instead is shooting the Irish then there is no helping you.
https://twitter.com/simonschuster/status/1347323295214030850
Most Brits (it seems from PB) think of BLM as wokeism gone wild. This is NOT the view in the US, for reasons just stated.
Fact that Black people are at greater risk of targeting and actual harm from police is something that most White people in the United States understand. The death of George Floyd was straw that broke the camel's back.
Thus strong level of support for BLM - not for rioting and other wretched excesses, but the basic message - has been strong since Floyd's death, and across a wide and often surprising demographic and political spectrum.
She's actually a pretty good Congresswoman, and as chair of Black Congressional Caucus has been a workhorse rather than a show pony.
BTW, the special election to fill her seat in Congress, which is the east (Black) side of Cleveland, will feature an intra-party battle for the Democratic nomination between establishment and progressives.
What passes for the Policing in America is not worthy of a first world nation. The sooner it is reformed the better.
And absolutely to the suggestion earlier that the culture and recruitment of the Policing needs to be reformed. Too many Police in the US seem to be recruited from ex-military and act as if they're at war on the streets - and at war against black criminals supposedly. The entire mindset is messed up.
I would suggest root and branch reform but also looking at ensuring more recruitment direct from Colleges (Universities).
That will change the story some more.
https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1347327743004995585?s=20
But it is "identity politics" to suggest the Policing was messed up and the rule of law needs to be upheld equally. 🙄
Agriculture - Sonny Purdue
Commerce - Wilbur Ross
Housing & Urban Development - Ben Carson
Transportation - Elaine Chao (until yesterday when she decided to resign effective 1.11.21)
Education - Betty DeVos
Trade Representative - Robert Lighthizer
NOT an impressive list!, with possible exception of Mnuchin, who looks to be the only one who isn't an embarrassment, a crook or a do-nothing (sometimes all three).
But do NOT bet on it!
And who knows, maybe it is a representative sample. But I say with all sincerity, I fucking hope it isn't.
Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were great writers, and (especially WSC) needed the money. But the publicity was paramount, along with desire to "make" their own history, on the page as in life.
BTW, has no one considered the most terrible restriction of the last year - no thursday night by-elections?
New Thread
WSC.
Edit. Apparently he didn't say that. But you get the idea...
The top and bottom of US policing is that it is extraordinarily decentralised, with multiple police forces even within a small area which leads to fiefdoms being created without sufficient oversight & ability to build effective leadership that a larger structure might enable. Local police are also often crappily paid with the result that those with a bit of wit can do better elsewhere.
Organisations like the FBI on the other hand, on the whole extremely good.
BLM movement will not regain any momentum it had in the UK because many of those behind it were using it as a vehicle for issues that had nothing to do with the perceived point of BLM. In short it got hijacked from a single cause and I think that has dawned on many people. It also became a grandstander and somehow a thing that you couldn't criticise without somehow being racist or more generously ignorant. No cause, or its adherents at least, is above criticism.
From where I sit, I wouldn't support it for those reasons.