Today, I’m announcing the first members of my national security and foreign policy team. They will rally the world to take on our challenges like no other—challenges that no one nation can face alone.
It’s time to restore American leadership. I trust this group to do just that. pic.twitter.com/uKE5JG45Ts
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 23, 2020
And you can believe me — we are up for that challenge!
The moment @JoeBiden and I walk into the White House, we will inherit a series of unprecedented challenges. Today's announced national security and foreign policy leaders have the knowledge and expertise to keep our country safe and restore America’s leadership around the world.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 24, 2020
Nearly three weeks since Election Day, President-elect Joe Biden can officially begin his transition. This after the head of the General Services Administration formally signed off on the hand-over process https://t.co/rLl3PoY744 pic.twitter.com/pp1EGKrYZ1
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 24, 2020
And there it is. The .gov @Transition46 website.https://t.co/IHoO9PlELJ
— Mari Manoogian (@MariManoogian) November 24, 2020
And then while every one was all distracted, he coyly went and picked a bunch of other very qualified people for other roles.
He obviously has some crazy scheme cooked up to just hire competent people who are good at their jobs – even if they aren’t his kids!!
Intriguing.
2/2— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) November 23, 2020
This is the future liberals want. https://t.co/dMwLSKX91z
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) November 23, 2020
I voted for Biden on his promise to #MakeAmericaBoringAgain and he’s already delivering. https://t.co/Os9Ryzxkbw
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) November 23, 2020
Baud
Media, especially Poltico, are trying their best to drum up controversy about the appointments though. Be forewarned.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love that the head of Homeland Security is an immigrant.
Anne Laurie
@Baud: The only people more miserable right now than the remaining Oval Office holdouts are our Failed Media Village Idiots.
I drink their copious tears!
sixthdoctor
“Inherit a series of unprecedented challenges” is a verrry diplomatic way of saying you’re being asked to clean the Augean Stables without a brush…
germy
debbie
I think the appointments so far are wonderful and I have no expectation the appointments still to be name will be any less wonderful.
Go, Joe!
Anne Laurie
Not just an immigrant, but a brown Spanish-speaking refugee!… from Cuba, so the ‘better class’ of MAGAts can’t even slag off on his parents without looking like even bigger bigots/hypocrites than they already do.
debbie
@germy:
I was proud to vote for him.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
Those articles right now – geez.
MattF
@Baud: They will fail. So far, Yellen is the only one that has any name recognition. And she’s so obviously qualified and uncontroversial that it would be embarrassing to oppose her. Also, I expect that the battle for clicks will fade out and a lot of wannabe news sites, like Politico, will find themselves in the classic cartoon moment of having run past the edge of the cliff.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Amazon has two of my books on sale again this morning. THE WYSMAN is $11.40 instead of $14.99. DEEP AS A TOMB is $12.83 instead of $17.95. Maybe for Christmas? Both YA fantasies.
Often when they get cheap like that, I buy them myself to resell at book fairs, but well, you know.
germy
germy
MattF
@germy: Murphy will lose her job very soon, and she’s undoubtedly aware of that.
germy
One final “outreach” from the trump administration to the Hispanic Community
germy
@MattF:
Maybe Fox & Friends needs a fourth?
WereBear
The GD press corpse wants the White House to be a reality show again.
MattF
Trump fan art. Note the UFO.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear: For some definitions of “reality.”
Soprano2
I think Biden’s picks are good and strategic. He’s making it as difficult as possible for Republicans to gin up outrage over his picks and thus oppose them. I saw some early takes that he should be willing to fight to have Susan Rice as his Secretary of State, and all I could think is that she would be good, but all the hearings would be about her, and all the news would be about her and how controversial she is, and everything else he announced would be swallowed up in “But did you hear he wants Susan Rice for SofState?” Fox News is priming their viewers for him wanting Bernie and AOC for every cabinet position; he doesn’t need to add any fuel to that fire. Besides, we need competent but boring people to do the job of putting these departments back together, and so far it sounds like that’s the direction he’s heading. No distractions!!!
ByRookorbyCrook
How soul-crushing for politics to be boring? Political media failed with ‘exciting’ politics. They could stand to have some training wheels put back on and start assessing policy and the benefits of a working government. Asshats.
Soprano2
Well, she made herself at least temporarily unemployable anywhere except MAGA land. She should have done her damn job and then quit. Yet another low-quality Trump hire with no integrity.
Soprano2
My response to that is “fuck their feelings”. We were subjected to a reality show most of them secretly (or not so secretly) loved for 5 years, and hundreds of thousands (or even millions if you think about everyone who was adversely affected by the Trump administration) paid the price for them to be entertained. I hope they’re bored out of their minds for the next couple of years, until they adjust to “normal” again and realize that there is news to cover other than what the president just tweeted.
germy
Trump’s post-presidential memoir will probably just be a collection of his tweets, sold on his personal website for $99.95.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
If I didn’t already have them?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
mali muso
I am loving the competence and boredom. Bring it on!
Per last night’s thread on Barack Obama’s book, I used one of my Audible credits to get the audiobook and am now ensconced in his velvety voice. It still amazes me how we went from this incredibly erudite, intelligent and gifted man to the current amoeba squatting in the White House.
ByRookorbyCrook
Biden’s picks are important for this point in history. We need people that are familiar with how the government should work and can hit the ground running to repair 4 years of sabotage. Are we getting transformational picks who will redefine the Executive Branch for a generation? No. But then again after the Trump catastrophe, yes. We need the safe and boring to right the Ship of State. I imagine that the massive endeavor of repairing the Federal government will burnout people quickly. These are the trauma nurses and doctors. We will see many more names for these positions over the next 4 years, unfortunately.
dmsilev
@Soprano2: Those stories planted in the media over the last week or so about how she was a consummate professional torn by this hideous moral dilemma were, shall we say, a load of bullshit. Her tenure at GSA was marked by several instances of putting Trump’s welfare above that of the country, most notably in her handling of the lease that Trump Hotel has on the old (government owned) Post Office building in DC.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
speaking of bad movies, he’s managed to retweet Randy Quaid this morning.
Full Metal Wingnut
@Anne Laurie: He’s about my father’s age. As a Cuban myself, I am VERY pleased that a high profile member of my tribe isn’t a raving Republican lunatic.
Sab
My new natural gas powered back up generator just kicked in for it’s second weekly test run. Yay. Sounds like a loud leaf blower. I feel safer now for winter. Hope we never use it.
Starscream the cat is not amused at all. Verging on horrified.
TS (the original)
@Soprano2:
No-one who was appointed to a position by trump is above the pay grade of low-quality. I am looking forward to a large number of ambassadors having to come home & find themselves a job, rather than continue holidaying on the government dime. I doubt most of them had any understanding of the role/work involved in their job.
dr. bloor
There can be no worse fate for the denizens of MattyLand than to be forced for the next four years to think about the intricacies of foreign and domestic policies that actually affect people’s lives, and not Tiger Beat pieces designed to draw eyeballs and impress their drinking buddies.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: And yay for you!
I need to find a way to reach new potential readers. As the pandemic has worn on, my sales have fallen off a cliff.
WereBear
It was WHY. In the sense that some people really lost their shit over it, and became clinically insane.
Just because millions of people have a mental condition doesn’t mean it’s not one.
The Fat White Duchess
@Anne Laurie: A Jewish brown Spanish-speaking refugee. How’s that for efficiently trolling the [email protected]?
Good morning, all.
germy
WereBear
@Sab: I know how Starscream feels. But it’s better than scavenging the pantry because the fridge lost power.
mrmoshpotato
Silly Hoarse! Governing is for adults!
dmsilev
@germy:
He’ll set up an onlyfans.com account.
Betty Cracker
I just purchased the first article of clothing for a pet, ever. Got an argyle sweater on the way for Badger, the alleged “Boston” terrier, who is FREEZING TO DEATH because it’s 65 degrees and I opened a window. (The high is 79 today.) Seriously, he’s sitting here glaring balefully at me and shivering as if we occupy a Siberian gulag. Such a drama llama! And he’ll probably refuse to wear the sweater.
germy
A new day.
https://buildbackbetter.gov/
Building back better means helping small businesses and entrepreneurs come out the other side of this crisis strong, while demanding more from corporate America. We’ve seen the second bailout in 12 years for big corporations and Wall Street. Meanwhile, small businesses had to jump through hoops and many couldn’t access the relief they needed. President-elect Biden is working to ensure that corporate America finally pays their fair share in taxes, puts their workers and communities first rather than their shareholders, and respects their workers’ power and voice in the workplace. And Biden will help small businesses manage through the pandemic and recover, so that millions of entrepreneurs can get back on their feet and carry this economy forward.
mali muso
@WereBear: No lie told. White supremacy is a helluva drug.
Brachiator
@Baud:
I am still in the honeymoon period with respect to the Biden administration. I just don’t care about negative media stories. Also, the Beltway media is on probation as far as I am concerned.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear:
And they should be mercilessly slapped with their own skeletons for it. Oh, and why is Chuck Todd?
germy
@Betty Cracker:
And booties to keep his paws from freezing in the Florida cold?
Betty Cracker
@germy: I’m genuinely hopeful about Team Biden’s economic approach so far. I would not have said that a year ago. The pandemic changed things.
Aleta
@germy: Giuliani revved the police up and they swarmed out and terrorized black people trapped in their cars. As part of his strategy to win his 1st election as mayor by defeating Dinkins. Which iirc is when Trump donated cash to G’s campaign.
NotMax
@Baud
Nothing signals a return to normal like Politico turning their faux tabloid suckitude up to 11.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: The Whiniest Story Ever Told by a Soviet Shitpile Mobster Manbaby
Aleta
@germy: With misaligned layout and errors in date sequence and pages coming loose from the binding.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
A post (with pictures) or it didn’t happen. ? Pretty please with a banana split on top.
TS (the original)
@germy:
There is more information on that website about Biden/Harris appointees than I have ever seen anywhere related to trump appointees.
I am intrigued as to how many senior positions there are in an administration & how many trump actually filled. Where does the money come from to pay them & if trump appointed only a small % of the normal number, what happened to the cash that was available for the remainder.
Kristine
@Dorothy A. Winsor: mine were okay for a few months, but fell off a cliff this month.
‘course, it would help if I added something new to shake things up.
Benw
It’s like Voltron, but boring
germy
@Aleta: And of course the ink will rub off.
We’ll be able to identify MAGATs by the ink stains on their fingers.
Betty Cracker
@mrmoshpotato: Too late — he’s burrowed under the covers. Sunlight doesn’t get into our house much because of the trees, but there’s one spot on the floor that gets some late-morning light. When he emerges to occupy it, I’ll try to get a photo then. Seems rude to disturb him now…
getsmartin
@Sab: We installed a standby generator last year. It dutifully provided about 72 hours of service after losing grid power in the aftermath of recent Hurricane Zeta. Money well spent…
OzarkHillbilly
Sab
@germy: Northern Florida gets cold in the winter if you don’t have much fur. When we moved to Ohio I didn’t notice much temperature change because I finally got boots and a coat.
We are setting the thermostat at 60 degrees this winter. Humans very comfy (sweatered.) Cocker okay. Cats are curled into little balls with their noses and feet covered. But they are very, very fluffy this year.
Cameron
So ‘boring’ is the new ‘exciting.’ I kinda like that. I think I could get used to it.
Ken
“Welcome to the White House Press Room! Remember, forty go in, but only twenty get out! And now the Press Secretary is revealing today’s weapon…. meat cleavers!“
Feathers
Keeping fingers crossed that Biden can keep himself from offering Rahm a reputation cleansing. I’m hoping his people point out that it would really hurt the Georgia Senate races. One thing we are learning is that Democrats need to be squeaky clean. The Republicans will always try to fling poo, and it sucks, but we need to take this into account.
Rusty
My hope is that the picks for the Department of Education are not infected with charter school bullsh** and recognize the struggle many families are having putting their kids through college. Keeping my fingers crossed because the picks have been very good so far.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Have you thought about creating a teacher’s guide complete with lesson plans and assessment tools for one or more of your books and offering that to middle school teachers in these overextended times? Not kidding. It’s a version of loss leader that is very popular these days.
Betty Cracker
New non-election polling numbers from Gallup:
I’ve become used to the steadiness of Trump’s job approval ratings now that I’ve accepted that somewhere around 40% of my fellow citizens are in a cult that overlaps with the usual percentage of any population who are just bone-stupid. But the Republican “satisfaction with nation” number is amusing. Haha, enjoy that shit sandwich, motherfuckers!
germy
The senor staff looks like a good team. More to come.
https://buildbackbetter.gov/the-administration/white-house-senior-staff/
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: Little short-haired guys like that can’t generate large amounts of body heat, and lack the insulation to make the most of it.
He might wind up like my mother’s Papillon. He started out in the frozen North, so he had boots and a jacket. But by the time she moved to Florida, he loved the attention he got, and demanded that he wear one of his outfits for every outdoor excursion.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I like the way you think.
Gin & Tonic
@TS (the original): The vast majority of US Ambassadors are career Foreign Service Officers, who have continued to do yeoman’s work through the hollowing-out of the State Department (e.g. Marie Yovanovich.) The big-dollar politically-connected Ambassadors are very few.
Immanentize
@The Fat White Duchess: When I lived in Miami, a large number of my friends were Jewbans. We used to hang out Friday on Miami Beach after work and mock the fox furred Lebovitchers. Not the nicest thing we ever did. Nor the least nice.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: I used to have a discussion guide for FINDERS KEEPERS, which is a safely middle-grade book. It got lost when I switched web sites at one point. Maybe I should dig it out again.
germy
@Rusty:
Scroll down this link to see his Dept. of Education transition:
https://buildbackbetter.gov/the-transition/agency-review-teams/
For example:
Beth Antunez – American Federation of Teachers
Jeffro
@Soprano2:
I think I saw a Fox News screen shot that had Ilhan Omar for Homeland Security and Bernie Sanders for Defense, among others…Fox folks, you are going to push it just a little too far, and even the trumpistas will figure out how your little Outrage Factory really works. Nobody could possibly believe that shit.
Now if y’all will excuse me, I’m off to go troll my dad and bro, expressing my DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT that apparently no one from the Antifa High Command has yet been given a Cabinet position… ;)
sherparick
For the bibliophiles I found this really good blog that reviews books, both new & old ones that the reviewer thinks are worth a fresh read.
“…Of course, quality art and quality literature do not belong sitting up in a loft somewhere or on the forgotten back stacks, but should be admired and read, respectively, by successive generations…”
https://regarp.com/why-the-regarp-book-blog/
Jeffro
Couldn’t agree (or LOL) more. It tracks with their warped perception of how the economy magically “improved” once trumpov took office…oh, OK, Republicans. Jan 21st 2017 the whole thing just took off like a rocket, didn’t it? (eyeroll)
Immanentize
@germy: Dinkens was a damn fine man who got a handle on the City.
Someone needs to get a handle on the NYPD pronto. I really had very high hopes for DiBlassio. Now I have hopes he goes away soon and is replaced by someone whose soul is not mortgaged to the cops.
Lyrics from LCD Soundsystem
New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down.
It’s a great video, starring Kermit the Frog. Perfect.
The Fat White Duchess
@Immanentize: I take no issue with mocking Lubavitschers. (Nor Satmarers, who just might be even worse.)
Danielx
@Baud:
Well, of course they are. When all else fails, an article consisting of “let’s you and him/her fight” will always pass the editors.
Immanentize
Ha! Autocorrect turned “Dinkens” into “Dunkin’s”. Guess what State I live in!!
PS. When the Immp was wee, he somehow figured out that with a small movement of one letter, “Dunkin” became “Unkind.”. We have called it Unkind Donuts ever since.
Omnes Omnibus
@germy: I looked at the NatSec team again and I was struck by the number of them who have a personal and/or professional connection to refugee and immigration issues. Enough that it cannot be coincidence.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: Done.
germy
@Omnes Omnibus:
Definitely not a coincidence. He’s sending a good message. It’s a great team.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Heh. We used tor refer to United Parcel Service as Untied Parcel Service.
Has your matriculator returned to the nest by now?
Immanentize
@The Fat White Duchess: Why are they wearing heavy winter coats? And those fur hats! These are not the Steppes, it’s the beach! Havana would treat you well — go! One of my lawyer friends fell in with them. He liked the drinking and male bonding and complete disinterest in regulating wealth accumulation. Perfect tribe for Jared.
We also made fun of Santas around Xmas — Is that wool suit so you can sweat off pounds?
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Damn. Did you really just whip that up?
Benw
Aw I just read that the Arecibo telescope is going to be decommissioned. It operated for nearly 60 years!
germy
The Biden-Harris administration will work with Congress to pass police reform legislation including:
Immanentize
@NotMax: HE HAS ARRIVED. Not been here 12 hours, yet I already have three times the normal number of dirty dishes? And laundry day will once again be laundry DAYS. But I am very happy and relieved. Escaping Covid, Texas is no small feat.
Sab
@Gin & Tonic: We wouldn’t need all these fucking political appointment ambassadors if we would just fund the State Department so that its ambassadors could afford to do their jobs without relying on private wealth. They need to entertain. They need to bail out lost Americans abroad. They need to do other stuff.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: It was written a couple of years ago, but got lost when I changed web sites and wound up with just a blog. My DIL really did vet the questions for me, adjusting them for state set goals
ETA: I’m so happy the Immp made it home. I hope you two survive living together again.
Immanentize
@germy:. I love it all, except these are really small beginnings for what needs to happen.
This is just standard DOJ stuff and needn’t go to Congress at all. Did those cops really think that Trump had ushered in a Thousand Year Regime?
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Enjoy. We lost our empty-nester status a couple of months ago, and it’s … different.
Sab
@Immanentize: Yay. I have three kids as essential workers. I am so glad you got yours off and away and then home safe.
TS (the original)
@Gin & Tonic:
They are obviously the ones I have heard of – but it was also my understanding that trump fired all (most?) ambassadors when he was appointed. I know it was about 2 years before Australia got an ambassador when trump became president.
I don’t think he was previously in the foreign service.
Next door we also have Scott Brown as the Ambassador to NZ.
BR
The thing that I hope Biden gets is that he not only can be but *needs* to be a transformational president like FDR, or the nationalistic swamp will put forward another candidate who cares nothing for laws and everything for power and will have enough swing voters to get in.
Sab
@Omnes Omnibus: God I hope so.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s great! Now where did you go to middle/high school? Do you have contacts? Did any of your college friends become education administrators? Teachers Union leaders? Can you become helpful/active in your new hometown area education bureaucracy? Get a base then take over the State. Then the Country. Then the WORLD (isn’t your publisher a bunch of Brits?)
HAAAHAHAHAAAHA!
(Sorry, got carried away)
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
Pictures, or you’re telling a fib :)
Danielx
@Betty Cracker:
“Dissatisfaction with nation” would come closer to their feelings, but still not cover the full spectrum. I took a dive into Parler last night and seriously needed to shower afterward; one visit was more than enough. It’s a combination of a toxic waste pit and open sewer, and its denizens want to kill everybody who doesn’t subscribe to their insane ideology. Which consists in large part of wanting to kill everybody who doesn’t subscribe to their insane ideology.
And the profound stupidity…was a guy on there who claimed he’d taken out a second mortgage on his house to support Trump’s re-election and effort to steal the election. All I could think was “there is Donald Trump’s ideal voter, right there”.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Two months will fly by. Yes, I will feel put upon occasionally, but he is such a good human. I’ll like having him around. For two months max.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: DOA in the Senate.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Yeah…Little Imma is home :)
Sab
@WereBear: Being a cat he can’t relate. His food comes in bags and cans. He doesn’t realize that I am at an age where his canned cat food is now considered reasonable for us to eat.
Immanentize
@TS (the original): UGH. Scott Brown is coming back to Boston to become the Dean of New England School of Law (crosstown rival sort of) this January. I think the plan is to make some secular version of Liberty in the North.
Bluegirlfromwyo
@ByRookorbyCrook: I’m dying for a blue MABA (make America boring again) hat. Who’s with me?
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: Meanwhile, Left Twitter is convinced that the Democratic Party is self-immolating because Biden isn’t giving them anything.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Swanee Hunt was one of the latter category. I met her and worked with some of her attaches in Austria one summer. She seemed like a very effective and interested Ambassador. And the people around her were quite devoted.
Sab
Nothing much lost, but my last three comments got eated.
Immanentize
@Jeffro: Troll on my Dude!
Sab
TESTING
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: You’re scaring me! LOL
SiubhanDuinne
@MattF:
Note the completely unperturbed gull (pigeon?) perched on a fencepost as a blazing train speeds by. The iconography in these things is preposterous.
Sab
TESTING! ! !
Soprano2
Charter schools started out as a not too bad thing in some circumstances. Then the for-profit world found them, and now they’re mostly crap. It’s really too bad, they weren’t completely awful. It can’t be worse than Ms. “Wants to Abolish Public Schools and Send All Kids to Christian Schools” DeVos that we have now.
Llelldorin
@Betty Cracker: I’m curious if the number of Republicans is holding steady. “Republicans are getting crazier” and “Sane people are leaving the Republican Party” look exactly the same if you restrict to Republicans only.
Gin & Tonic
@TS (the original): Australia and New Zealand have historically gotten politicians or business people as Ambassadors, not FSO’s. Lucky you.
Lawfare tells me that historically about 30% of US Ambassadors are not FSO’s. I thought the number was smaller. But I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a political appointee who wants to live in, say Paraguay or the Central African Republic.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin: Left Twitter’s gonna Left Twitter no matter what, so (shrug)
It’ll be interested when we’re 6 months into this administration, with Biden/Harris having knocked out two dozen items on the Left Twitter wish list…I mean, I know the complaints won’t stop, but it’ll be funny to watch them fumble for something, anything to criticize!
Ruckus
@Anne Laurie:
I don’t. I want to wash them away with a fully charged fire hose, aimed directly at the source. Wide open.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
“Fear can be an effective motivator”. ?
And with that — off to review some scholarship….
Immanentize
@Soprano2: I think that Jill Biden is firmly in the Public Education side of the schools debate. I would be surprised to see Rhee or Arne accolites get at top spot at Ed.
Benw
@Danielx: a few STOP THE STEAL and COUNT LEGAL VOTES yard signs have popped up around me. It’s kind of considerate, really. They spent their own money and time to self identify as a dangerous moron who should be avoided!
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I would guess that at least half of that 30% that aren’t FSOs have other qualifications that would make them a good fit. Swanee Hunt and Pamela Harriman would come to mind.
Keithly
@Bluegirlfromwyo: Beige. The color must be beige. That is all.
PenAndKey
Ok, I just have to get this off my chest. Did anyone else burst into laughter when they realized Antony Blinken’s twitter handle is ABlinken? Or is it just because I’ve seen Robinhood: Men In Tights too often for my own good?
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t believe I was taking the opposite position.
Sab
Wasting way too much time here. Very much a good thing I can’t comment any more.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I don’t believe I was arguing with you.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: They’re right to object to Rahm Emanuel being considered for anything.
raven
Excellent Ezra Klein podcast on why Hispanic’s Voted for you know who
Baud
@raven:
What’s the bottom line for those who can’t listen?
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: But who, outside of rumors coming out of Chicago, says that he is being considered for anything?
Another Scott
@ByRookorbyCrook:
I think we may be surprised.
Remember Biden’s slogan is “Build Back Better”. People who were there and know how the system worked then are often exactly the kind of people who know how to fix it to make it better.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Even without looking at their biographies, I am incredibly happy to see so many faces that include female, young, and a rainbow of skin tones.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
What a fine idea!
Frankensteinbeck
@Danielx:
Trump gave Americans permission to be the worst version of themselves, and for about 40% it was a drug. They are and will act like junkies whose supply gets shut off. Thank goodness the worst version of themselves is lazy and cowardly. They do love them some anonymous threats. No risk and you can do it from the easy chair.
This analogy works perfectly with why I think Trump will soon be forgotten. He was their dealer, but they have no actual loyalty to the dealer. They want the drug. When they’re sure the dealer has run out, fuck him, they’ll go elsewhere.
Almost Retired
I am absolutely thrilled about the Homeland Security pick. I know Mayorkas slightly from legal circles around town (we went to the same law school, but didn’t quite overlap). He’s brilliant and compassionate and exactly the person we need in that spot – the right guy to unfuckup the Department.
RobertDSC-Work
Glad to see Secretary Kerry getting a position. I really liked him as Secretary Of State.
Happy to have voted for him for President in the long ago.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Obligatory.
CaseyL
@PenAndKey: It’s been chuckled about over on Twitter.
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: But isn’t that the whole point of the exercise? Pick someone universally hated and claim Biden will pick him/her for … Whatever. Then, criticise such a horrible choice. Fox News does it (Omar for DHS) and the jackasses on the left do it (Rahm for, uh, something).
Neither will happen, but man were people pissed at Biden!
trollhattan
@Almost Retired:
Barely on topic: is there any talk about dismantling DHS into components that make more sense? It was a mongrel creation of Bush II comprising organizations that don’t fit together. Plenty of “abolish ICE” talk but I don’t think that would fix much, if anything at all.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
I know it’s been only a couple of months since you last saw him in person, but has the Immp changed in any noticeable way? (The way college freshmen traditionally do when they return home for the first time.)
So glad he’s back in the nest for a little while!
Jeffro
@Immanentize: done!
I added a part about trumpov’s “never conceding”, additional lawsuits, and wanting a paper-only revote in ‘suspect’ counties…you know, just like Hillary did back in 2016 (NOT)
It’s great being on the right side of history. =)
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
I want a picture of him in the sweater!
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato:
Or what he said.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
But we mean when he has the sweater so he’s so snuggly warm that he will pose willingly for pictures for his adoring fans.
Sab
resting
zhena gogolia
@Immanentize:
Great idea.
Jeffro
@Omnes Omnibus: truth.
There are all kinds of people being “floated” for just about everything…often by those same people, or their underlings. It’s not exactly “palace intrigue”, I guess it’s more “outside-the-palace intrigue”, or “I-want-inside-the-palace! intrigue”.
Me, I just want to put a resume in and help with the clean-up! No intrigue required. =)
germy
The last line of this statement:
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Wow. So good.
Villago Delenda Est
All this competence is scaring the shit out of Lil’ Marco.
germy
Soprano2
@Jeffro: If you look back, you’ll see that their perception that the economy improved happened right after Trump was elected, before he ever took office! It was crazy.
sab
testing
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: It will be fascinating to see how this all shakes out with the Trump cult. Sometimes I take your view (loyalty to Trump will fade quickly), but I’m not sure it will work that way. It’s hard to imagine Trump staying out of the spotlight since attention is the drug he craves, and it’s nigh impossible to picture him anointing a successor and staying out of that person’s lane. So there’s a chance he’ll keep the cult’s attention by sniping at would-be rivals from the sideline. Since that would be the most damaging outcome for the GOP, it’s the one I hope comes to pass.
Almost Retired
@trollhattan: I’m not aware of any serious talk about deconstructing the Frankenstein Monster that is the DHS, but it’s a good idea to consider it!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Baud: After all, competency is like math and science, controversial topics that are deeply offensive to many people.
trollhattan
@germy:
Honed his craft, he has.
I’ve noticed the Cletus Roundup has morphed into “Thoughts of Republican politicians and Trump voters who have decided Biden was elected president.” Hearing uncountable interviews, especially with Republican secretaries of state and basically anybody whose job includes counting votes.
I am learning so very much.
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
Trump will absolutely try to hold onto the reins and the adulation, but his base are as transactional as he is. He’s the guy who lost. He can’t validate them anymore. Plus, Trump is depressed, lazy, and has been relying on other people’s money that just ran out to run his Forever Campaign. Keeping himself loudly in his followers’ faces will be hard.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: That poll were the GOPers think the country is fucked over and yet think Trump is awesome sort of backs up my personal opinion that Trump’s base are merely fanbois.
trollhattan
@Almost Retired:
Will cautiously suggest we’re over our post 9/11 jitters (e.g., “America’s Mayor” doesn’t seem quite as popular as back in the day) and Antifa doesn’t make an adequate Al Qaeda substitute (such terrible organization and media skills). Just maybe it can become an open topic without freaking everybody out.
Organizational inertia suggests I’m dreaming.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Courageously, I always stand at the ready to sacrifice and serve my country as Ambassador in any of the following posts:
Costa Rica
Barbados
Spain
Italy
Greece
Vietnam
Barbados
Jamaica
Belgium
Switzerland
South Africa
Namibia
Australia
New Zealand
Tanzania
Argentina
Uruguay
Fiji
Aruba
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@trollhattan:
The same people who whine incessantly about 9-11 tend to be the same people who whine about fluoride in the water supply, Mayor Daley in the 1960 Presidential Election in Illinois, the Bay of Pigs, William Calley getting prosecuted, Carter’s Panama Canal turnover and leaving Vietnam.
NotMax
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
¿Por qué no los diecinueve?
:)
Yarrow
Finally!
RandomMonster
PA certified.
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: One of these things is not like the others.
CaseyL
I, too, want to see Badger in his winter gear :).
All the pet stores have clothing for dogs of all sizes. Startled me a little the other day, when I saw the racks for Very Large Dogs – I thought for a moment they were now selling clothes for humans, too, to match the doggie outfits. (And now that I say that, I bet someone somewhere is selling human-pet coordinated outfits).
I don’t see much of that for cats, though I think those are available online. I can’t fathom putting clothes on cats, other than the hairless breeds, because cats are Perfect As They Are.
zhena gogolia
@RandomMonster:
Yay. Even more yay that I wasn’t even thinking about it, as I was about MI all day yesterday.
Scout211
Hey, did you know that Bernie Kerik is on the Guiliani team “investigating” the Hunter Biden laptop? No? Well, USA Today is on it!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/24/hunter-biden-laptop-more-details-emerge-rudy-giuliani/6404635002/
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: They are looking for reasons to validate their unhappiness. It sucks when you realize that most people in the universe disagree with things you profoundly believe to be true or important, but you have to find a way to live with that reality.
Yarrow
@CaseyL: My neighbors have a yellow rain slicker outfit for the medium-large sized rescue dog. She is the cutest thing when she goes out in it.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Frankensteinbeck: Not just he lost, next year Trump will be just some really old dude that the mean old Liberals make jokes about when his name comes up and not the center of attention that has everyone upset.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
@RandomMonster:
So that means Trump’s going to deliver an official concession speech any minute now, right? Right?
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: LOLOLOLOLOL. Trump will never concede.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I ? Badger, so please please please post pics of Badger in his sweater.
MattF
Bret Stephens (yes, that Bret Stephens) goes into detail on the Dolchstoßlegende, and he does a good job. Worth reading, particularly if you don’t know much about it.
RandomMonster
@zhena gogolia: MI was driving me crazy yesterday, too.
zhena gogolia
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I’m already feeling his disappearance from my consciousness. What a blissful, blissful feeling.
germy
@CaseyL:
Cats are perfect as they are, but sometimes humans can’t help themselves:
https://www.thegreenhead.com/2007/12/kitty-wigs.php
NotMax
@SuiubhanDuinne
if thought it worth the time and energy would dash off “Not A Conceder” to the tune of “I’m A Believer.”
:)
Just One More Canuck
@Anne Laurie: What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their media
zhena gogolia
@RandomMonster:
Before going to work at 7:30 AM, I saw some commenter here confidently assert that both of the R members were going to vote no, and the legislature stood ready to name a slate of Trump electors, etc., etc. I didn’t have time to look into it before going to work, so I spent much of the day with that news impeding my thought processes.
RandomMonster
@Yarrow: He’ll concede that the election was stolen from him.
MattF
@SiubhanDuinne: Remember the episode that was billed as a retraction of his advocacy of the birther lie? That turned into an informercial for his hotels? Plus a word at the end about how we should be grateful that he raised the issue?
jonas
@Anne Laurie: With Trump, there was *always* something to write about. The reporting wrote itself: Trump flies off the handle over…; Trump appointee forces department employees to take loyalty oath; Trump Ambassador to Austria arrives in Sydney…
Now? President meets with labor group; President takes call from Icelandic prime minister about cooperation on fishing treaty; President spends morning studying reports.
Yawn. How are you going to generate clicks with that?
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
I, too, want to see photos of Badger in his Siberian gulag outfit.
SiubhanDuinne
@MattF:
I absolutely remember that.
germy
You all think Sidney Powell is finished? Think again, Libs
Amir Khalid
@Scout211:
I’m not sure what Rudy still sees in Kerik — or ever saw in him, for that matter. Maybe it’s just that they’re both members of the Way-Overrated Right-Wing Sleazeball Club.
RandomMonster
@zhena gogolia: Boring is going to be juuuuuuuuust fine.
jonas
Michigan, along with many other states, has laws stating that the electors are appointed based on the popular vote. A legislature cannot change that retroactively in order to reverse the (now certified) outcome of an election, so this was always #badlegaltakes.
mad citizen
Re: DHS and getting rid of it: I’m all for that, as well as getting rid of that “H” word–so bad. I doubt it will happen, though, given inertia of the bureaucracy, etc. Maybe they could do a “soft unwinding” so’s not many people/press would notice–switch budgets around, etc. One problem is the head is a Cabinet position. Just take it back to FEMA.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: I have the feeling that Bernie was helpful in assuring that Rudy had female companionship. It would be irresponsible not to speculate, of course.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Scout211: just saw this tweet, about the Hunter Laptop story, and I chuckled.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Please do it!
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bullshit.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Kerik later expressed surprise that “copy of the hard drive” did not in fact mean placing the hard drive atop the Xerox machine and making an image.
Jeffro
@jonas: Now? President meets with labor group; President takes call from Icelandic prime minister about cooperation on fishing treaty; President spends morning studying reports.
I hope Biden and his press secretary have some fun with this, maybe even on a daily basis.
Just roll up to the ol’ WH press room podium: “Today the President lobbied for Covid relief for working families/read all 8,000 words of his briefing/DIDN’T go golfing” and so on, all with a wink and a nod.
Rub their noses in it, Team Biden!
On alternate days, they can announce the latest fraud/embezzlement investigation into the previous administration…
trollhattan
@jonas:
If I sit close enough to the TV I can read some of the stuff the queen is reading or signing in “The Crown.” The other day is was a list of shellfish regulations.
patroclus
I’m still a little groggy after all the Ascertainment Day celebrations, but one thing I’m pleased about is that we can actually root for the markets again – it just topped 30,000 on the Dow for the first time ever! Apparently, investors all over the world are pleased about the door slamming shut on Trump and the good news about potential vaccines to end this long national nightmare.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Oh, okay. Not my best work. First draft, cobbled together after your request.
I thought loss was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me
Sad creeps out to get me
That’s the way it seemed
Coming out on top remained my dream
Then I saw the vote, I’m not a conceder
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
Won it all, I’m not a conceder
No way I’d lose it if I tried
.
CaseyL
@germy: Hah! The cats look… not displeased, actually. More bemused than anything else.
(Of course, in the next second, probably they did their best to claw the silly things off.)
CaseyL
@Jeffro: I, for one, joyously look forward to not waking up every morning with a jolt of anticipatory dread.
@NotMax: Excellent!
Yarrow
@Amir Khalid: He saw the Mob.
NotMax
@NotMax
If had editing capability would alter one line to read:
Not a mote of doubt in my mind
in order to be truer the the original’s rhyming scheme.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: She found the file and she whipped up the short paragraph at the top. My money’s on that, anyway, :-)
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Wondering if you saw my email? Cole had the idea to have a BJ Zoom on Thanksgiving since so many of us will be at home rather than elsewhere.
I wrote to try to enlist your aid in that endeavor.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: You got it!
Sebastian
@Immanentize:
I am starting to strongly believe we need an policing body for the police and I am talking about capable of dishing out deadly force policing body.
Cops should be treated like soldiers, court martialed not piped through a sympathetic and codependent legal system.
Sebastian
@Omnes Omnibus:
It warms my heart. He meant it when he said this is the fight for the soul of America.
NotMax
@Sebastian
Militarizing the punishment can serve as justification for militarizing the force. It’s the knee-jerk give no quarter police unions which are in need of temperance.
Sebastian
@Matt McIrvin:
The guys who threatened they would stay away from the polls and did everything to torpedo this thing?
Sebastian
@NotMax:
The unions gotta go anyway. All of them, fascist cesspools.
The militarization of the force has already happened and the toothpaste isn’t going back in.
We either need a draconic internal investigation system which won’t work because the PDs are too many and too split up or we police them overarching.
Groups that enforce the state’s privilege of violence cannot be judged under a system which inherently punishes all violence. This leads to these contortions and perversion of justice. Because they have the right to kill they have to be judged differently and we already have a system for that.
Can you imagine a shitpile fascist doughboy cop from Podunk, MI justifying his “I was afraid foh mah layff!” in front of a bunch of Marine Corps judges?
These shitpile cops are behaving like warlords and that’s not going to stop by minor reforms at the edges.
Steve in the ATL
@Sebastian:
OMG that’s almost as bad as “an historian”!
ThresherK
Watching Trump assemble his team was like watching an NFL draft board consisting solely of the Jets and Browns.
So nice to see a Presidential admin who knows what they’re doing.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
I don’t believe all that’s in there should be under one roof. I think that bush wanted it together because dick cheney thought it would make it stronger and easier to use as a bludgeon. Which of course it has been.
JAFD
@Gin & Tonic: Was a book, written 1983, The Diplomats by Martin Mayer.
One point therein “If you’re the Foreign Minister of a small country, would you rather have the American Ambassador be a career Foreign Service officer, or someone who can call the President and get called back within twelve hours ?”