#46 President Joseph "Joe" Robinette Biden Jr. 11/20/42 Scorpio & VP Kamala Devi Harris 10/20/64 Libra

[p0rtia]

I also rolled my eyes when I saw the jobs graphic above. I think it deserves to be called out, and I think the WH/Labor social media team should wise up and knock it off. Being dishonest in their boasting is why I stopped giving my bucks to the DNC.

That said, I'll judge the Biden admin by their overall approach.

I've listened to every one of Psaki's pressers, and she does been damn fair when comparing pandemic numbers with current and pre-pandemic numbers. In the early months she called out reporters who wanted Biden to resign (exaggeration) because the job numbers were lower than they thought they should be, or the the gas prices were higher, insisting on a fair context. This past week she has been having a modest gloat fest about the job numbers, which comes with a reminder that we are coming back, and still have a long way to go.

Likewise the jobs dude (not Marty) at the most recent presser could not be budged from his "we don't comment on monthly fluctuations" stance.

So yeah, a few social media posts are just a reminder of what not to do, and are not representative.

[MN-Skeptic]

I'm not nearly as upset by the jobs graph from the standpoint that Biden's job growth numbers are also a reflection of how horrible Trump's management of the pandemic was.

[bob]

I'm not nearly as upset by the jobs graph from the standpoint that Biden's job growth numbers are also a reflection of how horrible Trump's management of the pandemic was.

Basically, yeah: If the numbers were 2020 Q1/Q2 vs. 2021 Q1*/Q2, the jobs numbers would be, to a large extent, actually a commentary on pandemic management.


* While acknowledging Biden didn't start presidenting until the 20th, etc.

[SuzieC]

This has never happened to me before. I watched President Biden's 4th of July speech with tears running down my face. Actually I never watched 4th of July speeches before and certainly shunned Trump's. I feel that our country has barely escaped a deeply terrifying horror.

I loved Biden's speech. I have hope.

[Lani]

This has never happened to me before. I watched President Biden's 4th of July speech with tears running down my face. Actually I never watched 4th of July speeches before and certainly shunned Trump's. I feel that our country has barely escaped a deeply terrifying horror.

I loved Biden's speech. I have hope.

Well, with a great review like that, I had to find the video!

[Uninformed]

A “reinforcement”(?) of the President’s speech.

[Lani]

I learned about the mistreatment of Filipinos when I moved to Hawaii in the early 80's.

They waited 54 years, until after most of them were dead. It was not until 1990 that Congress finally addressed this particular stain on our honor and granted them citizenship. (Their promised benefits were not even brought to a vote until 2008, when most of the happy men I saw that day were dead.)

https://popehat.substack.com/p/the-fourth-of-july

It is shameful that the US did that to them.

Many of us (most?) think about discrimination as being a Black/White thing, but we have a terrible history of discrimination & murder of other groups, including Irish, Eastern Europeans, Jews, Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos.

[RTH10260]

Pentagon Cancels a Disputed $10 Billion Technology Contract
The decision puts an end to years of legal wrangling over the contract, for 10 years of cloud-computing services.

By Kate Conger and David E. Sanger
July 6, 2021

The Defense Department said on Tuesday that it would not go forward with a lucrative cloud-computing contract that had become the subject of a contentious legal battle amid claims of interference by the Trump administration.

The Pentagon had warned Congress in January that it might walk away from the contract if a federal court agreed to consider whether former President Donald J. Trump interfered in a process that awarded the $10 billion contract to Microsoft over its tech rival Amazon, saying that the question would result in lengthy litigation and untenable delays.

The Defense Department said in a news release on Tuesday that the contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, known as JEDI, “no longer meets its needs,” but it said it would solicit bids from Amazon and Microsoft on future cloud-computing contracts.

The Pentagon statement made for a quiet end to years of legal wrangling and dueling technology claims over what many considered to be the marquee contract for providing cloud-computing services to the federal government.

A senior administration official said that soon after the Biden administration took office, it began a review that quickly concluded that the costly arguments over JEDI had been so lengthy that the system would be outdated as soon as it was deployed.

“With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI cloud contract, which has been long delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the D.O.D.’s capability gaps,’’ the Pentagon said in an announcement.

Instead, the Pentagon proposed a new cloud architecture called the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability. And the Pentagon made clear that only Microsoft and Amazon Web Services had the capacity to build it. The Pentagon’s announcement suggested that it would buy technology from both companies, rather than awarding one large contract to a single provider, as it had for JEDI.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/06/tech ... elled.html

[bob]

CNN: Biden fires top official at Social Security Administration after he refuses to resign:

President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul after he refused to submit his resignation as the President had requested, a White House official told CNN.

Biden had asked for the top two officials at the Social Security Administration to submit their resignations, the White House official told CNN, but only Saul refused. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to submit his resignation, the official said, and it was accepted.

"For the record," Carolyn Colvin (Obama's Social Security commish (who covered up Obama's social-security fraud )) resigned on January 20, 2017.

[Volkonski]

Good. Now do something about the head of the Postal Service.

[neonzx]

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1
President Biden has nominated the first out lesbian to an ambassador-level position in U.S. history. Chantale Wong has been appointed U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank, which works to foster economic growth in the Asia-Pacific Region.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

bob - Questions. I haz them.

"For the record," Carolyn Colvin (Obama's Social Security commish (who covered up Obama's social-security fraud )) resigned on January 20, 2017.

[noblepa]

bob - Questions. I haz them.

"For the record," Carolyn Colvin (Obama's Social Security commish (who covered up Obama's social-security fraud )) resigned on January 20, 2017.

Yeah. I didn't understand this comment, either. Is he seriously accusing Ms. Colvin of a crime, or is he being sarcastic and mocking the birthers? Is he trying to imply that her resignation constitutes some sort of confession?

It is not at all uncommon for government officials, especially ones appointed by the president, to resign when a new president, of the other party, is elected. In fact, it is the norm.

[neonzx]

bob - Questions. I haz them.

"For the record," Carolyn Colvin (Obama's Social Security commish (who covered up Obama's social-security fraud )) resigned on January 20, 2017.

Yeah. I didn't understand this comment, either. Is he seriously accusing Ms. Colvin of a crime, or is he being sarcastic and mocking the birthers? Is he trying to imply that her resignation constitutes some sort of confession?

Found a little background...

The Baltimore Sun |
Dec 05, 2014 at 11:01 AM

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/b ... story.html

But on Wednesday, all 11 Republicans on the committee signed a letter raising objections over an inspector general's investigation into a dysfunctional computer system and whether agency officials misled Congress and auditors about the extent of the problem.
[More Maryland news] Two women shot dead in Baltimore County in separate incidents; one person charged »

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the senior Republican on the committee, has placed a formal hold on her confirmation, complicating efforts to approve her this year.

Colvin said she will answer "forthrightly" a series of questions posed by the Republican senators by Monday.

"Many of the same questions they're asking now we already answered prior to my hearing," she said. "Other than that, there's not much I can say because it's an open investigation."

The six-year-old, $300 million computer program was intended to speed the processing of disability claims, but auditors say it has been able to handle only 700 out of millions of claims.

Aides have long noted that the program was implemented under Colvin's predecessor, Bush appointee Michael J. Astrue. And they have said that Colvin began a thorough investigation of the matter when she took over the agency last year.

What Hatch and other Republicans say concerns them now is an investigation that has since come to light into whether Social Security officials "misled or withheld any information from the Congress" about the scope of the problem.

To avoid a conflict of interest, the investigation is being conducted by the inspector general for the U.S. Small Business Administration. A spokesman for that agency was unable to answer questions about the probe.

"We cannot in good faith allow a nomination for any position that requires the advice and consent of the Senate to proceed to a vote as long as the specter of a potential criminal investigation surrounds the nominee and/or those in their inner circle," Hatch and the other Republicans wrote Wednesday.

[bob]

bob - Questions. I haz them.

"For the record," Carolyn Colvin (Obama's Social Security commish (who covered up Obama's social-security fraud )) resigned on January 20, 2017.

Taitz sued Colvin, alleging she was part of the "Connecticut SSN" caper.

Colvin was the commish for only four years; she resigned when the new administration took over (unlike the just ousted commish).

(But Colvin also was the acting commish, so she didn't have a six-year term.)

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Thanks, bob and neonzx!

[Kendra]

Biden was on fire just now. TFG must be twitching his thumbs not being able to spit back on Twitter.

[much ado]

Biden was on fire just now. TFG must be twitching his thumbs not being able to spit back on Twitter.

Biden on fire? I'd heard he had completely lost it and was not capable of coherent speech anymore.

[raison de arizona]

Biden was on fire just now. TFG must be twitching his thumbs not being able to spit back on Twitter.

Popular RWNJ sentiment is that Biden/Dems are "panicking". Example A:

If that's what they think "panic" is, I shudder to think how they'd react to _real_ panic...

[raison de arizona]

Let’s ride.

5D9FA92F-80E7-4C64-937D-5E4C621F0F95.png (411.27 KiB) Viewed 4555 times

Olivia Rodrigo and the O.G.

[RTH10260]

Olivia Rodrigo: Pop princess pushes president's plan for more jabs

BENGHAZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!

MORE BOYCOTTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[raison de arizona]

Volume check!

[RTH10260]

Biden Administration Transfers Its First Detainee From Guantánamo Bay
The Biden team picked up where the Obama administration left off with the repatriation of a Moroccan man, reducing the prison population to 39.

By Carol Rosenberg and Charlie Savage
July 19, 2021, 5:02 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday transferred its first detainee out of Guantánamo Bay, repatriating a Moroccan man who had been recommended for discharge from the wartime prison starting in 2016 but nevertheless remained there during the Trump years.

The transfer of the man, Abdul Latif Nasser, 56, was the first sign of a renewed effort under President Biden to winnow the population of prisoners by sending them to other countries that promise to ensure the men remain under security measures. Mr. Nasser was never charged with a crime.

The transfer process, which was pursued by the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, had atrophied under Donald J. Trump. With Mr. Nasser’s departure, there are now 39 prisoners at Guantánamo, 11 of whom have been charged with war crimes. At its peak in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan, the prison complex at the U.S. naval base there held about 675 men.

Far more complex policy decisions about transfers await the Biden team, including whether to transfer a mentally ill Saudi man, Mohammed al-Qahtani, who was tortured at Guantánamo and is considered to have been one of several candidates to be a potential 20th hijacker on 9/11.



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/us/p ... eased.html

[RTH10260]

AHHHH - making space to quarantine all those covid delta patients......

[p0rtia]

My primary reason for voting for Obama was his promise to close down Guantanamo.

Twelve years.